An Indian tribe in Oklahoma hopes to launch an online gambling site serving international customers, assuming a federal judge says it’s okay.

Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma chairman Bobby Walkup recently issued a press release stating that on Dec. 23, the tribe asked a US District Court Judge in Oklahoma City to certify an arbitrator’s November ruling.

That ruling stated that an international-facing online gambling site was within the boundaries of the existing Oklahoma Tribal-State Gaming Compact and didn’t represent a violation of either state or federal law.

On Nov. 24, retired Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeal judge Charles Chapel issued a decision that the state’s tribal gaming compact allowed for the possibility of online gambling. Chapel said internet gaming was “merely using technology to play covered games” and didn’t “extend or restrict the scope of the games and does not amend the compact in any way.”

As an iGaming professional who has been attending industry conferences since 2005, its been an interesting ride watching organizers come and go, innovate and grow, start working together such as SiGMA and Clarion are doing at ICE 2016 and even acquire such as Clarion is doing with iGaming Business.

2015 was a decent year for conferences with the big companies putting on garish displays on the expo floors as usual, but I would say the big focus this year was on start-up companies and the innovation coming from those start-ups.  Sessions dedicated to Daily Fantasy Sports and eSports were also key focuses this year and were covered at just about each conference listed below.

There were also a few niche events introduced into our calendars in 2015, several of which have a lot of potential and are included in my list.  The rest are staples in our calendars but have earned their right due to consistent delivery from the industry’s conference organizers.

10) Matchbook Traders Conference

Eastern European online bookmaker Favbet says a competitor was behind an online attack on the company’s website over the Christmas holiday.

On Christmas Day, Favbet customers received emails from the site informing them that unscheduled “maintenance” was responsible for their inability to access the site for the previous few days. However, the message offered no timeline for when this maintenance would end and the site remained offline for several more days.

In an interview with Russian betting affiliate Bookmakersrating.ru, Favbet COO Sergei Efimenko said the site came under attack by unknown hackers while the majority of the company’s staff was celebrating the holidays at a corporate event.

Efimenko said that within hours of the attack’s launch, the attackers had “destroyed not only the main, but the backup database.” Efimenko said only a “well-built system of protection and resources” that were unknown to the attackers helped the site withstand the attack.

Eastern European online bookmaker Favbet says a competitor was behind an online attack on the company’s website over the Christmas holiday.

On Christmas Day, Favbet customers received emails from the site informing them that unscheduled “maintenance” was responsible for their inability to access the site for the previous few days. However, the message offered no timeline for when this maintenance would end and the site remained offline for several more days.

In an interview with Russian betting affiliate Bookmakersrating.ru, Favbet COO Sergei Efimenko said the site came under attack by unknown hackers while the majority of the company’s staff was celebrating the holidays at a corporate event.

Efimenko said that within hours of the attack’s launch, the attackers had “destroyed not only the main, but the backup database.” Efimenko said only a “well-built system of protection and resources” that were unknown to the attackers helped the site withstand the attack.

Fiesta Bowl

[Image Credit: Bleacher Report]

University Of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, AZ

FRIDAY, JAN. 1, 2016; 1:00 p.m. EST

Who have been the most fun and exciting poker players to interview during 2015? Lee Davy lists his favourite five, and they include the likes of Adam Pliska, Jennifer Harman and James Obst.

Here are my favourite interviews of 2015.

They all share something in common.

Vulnerability.

After eSports Team Ember founder, Jonathan Pan, revealed his players salaries to the rest of the world, Lee Davy ponders the value of the same happening one day in poker.

People always ask me how much I get paid for writing about poker. I always tell them the truth. I tell them what my salaries are with a gentle caution that it’s not necessarily a benchmark for average earnings.

This Christmas the eSports industry has been awash with blog posts and counter blog posts after Team Ember co-founder Jonathan Pan wrote on Medium revealing the wages of his playing staff. The highest of which was a gamer called Goldenglue who was paid a $65,000 base salary with $27,000 in bonuses. Pan believes the transparency of this information is paramount for his players because the flip side leaves eSports companies with greater leverage when negotiating player salaries.

It got me thinking about poker.

Daniel Negreanu nearly went to Burning Man in 2015 but backed out at the last minute. He is happy with his decision. Lee Davy provides nine reasons why he thinks he made a mistake.

I didn’t want to go to Burning Man.

I only went to make my wife happy.

I was worried about the dust, where to take a shit, and how to exist in a world where everyone except I was high on drugs.

Daniel Negreanu nearly went to Burning Man in 2015 but backed out at the last minute. He is happy with his decision. Lee Davy provides nine reasons why he thinks he made a mistake.

I didn’t want to go to Burning Man.

I only went to make my wife happy.

I was worried about the dust, where to take a shit, and how to exist in a world where everyone except I was high on drugs.