Pokerstars has made a fair number of announcements in the last year or so that they no doubt knew would be seen as bad news by their customers. However, it is their prerogative to run their business as they see fit and increasing rake, decreasing rewards and the like is entirely their choice, even if it effectively kills certain game types.

Clearly, Pokerstars have a PR team working on finding the best way to present these sorts of announcements to the player base in order to try to retain the greatest amount of business and keep profits high. The goodwill that Pokerstars had built up over years of consistently being the frontrunner in poker in all aspects of customer care has quickly been used up and given the content of the changes in question and the stark lack of any real good news to help balance things out, working in Pokerstars PR nowadays is an extremely tough job by anyone’s standards.

The issue is that now that times are tough, the communications department are trying too hard to spin each announcement as a positive change and I believe they have gone too far in their methods, veering into dishonesty and deceit and frankly insulting the intelligence of their customers in attempting to trick them.

Pokerstars latest announcement, posted on 21st March, detailed significant rake increases in a lot of their games. The decision was taken by their PR team to feature a section in the announcement titled “Comparison With Competitors”, showing an eye-catching chart that appears to show that Pokerstars rake is significantly lower than the competition, even after the changes. However, there are major flaws in what we are presented with and I believe Pokerstars are knowingly displaying poorly collated data in the hope it will be misinterpreted by many.

Pokerstars has made a fair number of announcements in the last year or so that they no doubt knew would be seen as bad news by their customers. However, it is their prerogative to run their business as they see fit and increasing rake, decreasing rewards and the like is entirely their choice, even if it effectively kills certain game types.

Clearly, Pokerstars have a PR team working on finding the best way to present these sorts of announcements to the player base in order to try to retain the greatest amount of business and keep profits high. The goodwill that Pokerstars had built up over years of consistently being the frontrunner in poker in all aspects of customer care has quickly been used up and given the content of the changes in question and the stark lack of any real good news to help balance things out, working in Pokerstars PR nowadays is an extremely tough job by anyone’s standards.

The issue is that now that times are tough, the communications department are trying too hard to spin each announcement as a positive change and I believe they have gone too far in their methods, veering into dishonesty and deceit and frankly insulting the intelligence of their customers in attempting to trick them.

Pokerstars latest announcement, posted on 21st March, detailed significant rake increases in a lot of their games. The decision was taken by their PR team to feature a section in the announcement titled “Comparison With Competitors”, showing an eye-catching chart that appears to show that Pokerstars rake is significantly lower than the competition, even after the changes. However, there are major flaws in what we are presented with and I believe Pokerstars are knowingly displaying poorly collated data in the hope it will be misinterpreted by many.

888Poker will sponsor the proposed 120 hours non-stop cash game festival in Aspers Casino, and Malta will be the second destination after this one.

888Poker will be amongst the sponsors for the upcoming 120-hour cash game festival. All the action will emanate from the card room at Aspers Casino, Stratford.

The second largest online poker room in the world made the announcement earlier today. They will join the likes of OlyBet, NordicBet and Guts.com.

Earlier this month 888Poker announced a 12-month deal with the Aspers Casino Poker Room ensuring their branding covers up the wood chip wallpaper, so this alliance makes perfect sense.

888Poker will sponsor the proposed 120 hours non-stop cash game festival in Aspers Casino, and Malta will be the second destination after this one.

888Poker will be amongst the sponsors for the upcoming 120-hour cash game festival. All the action will emanate from the card room at Aspers Casino, Stratford.

The second largest online poker room in the world made the announcement earlier today. They will join the likes of OlyBet, NordicBet and Guts.com.

Earlier this month 888Poker announced a 12-month deal with the Aspers Casino Poker Room ensuring their branding covers up the wood chip wallpaper, so this alliance makes perfect sense.

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment’s South Korean joint venture partner is looking for someone to take over its share in the Incheon integrated resort project.

In a filing on Monday with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Indonesian property developer Lippo Group said the two partners in the LOCZ Korea Corp joint venture had failed to make their land acquisition deal unconditional before the stipulated Dec. 31 deadline.

Shortly before Christmas, Lippo had warned that there was “no certainty” that the LOCZ Korea project would go ahead, in part because of the parties’ inability to agree to terms on the acquisition of the 89k-square-meter plot of land owned by MIDAN City Development Co Ltd, an indirect subsidiary of Lippo.

In Monday’s filing, Llippo emphasized that the deal wasn’t officially dead just yet. But for the first time, Lippo referenced the “current outlook for the gaming industry in North Asia,” reflecting the fact that the project was approved long before China’s leaders began choking off the flood of high-rolling gamblers to South Korea’s casinos.

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment’s South Korean joint venture partner is looking for someone to take over its share in the Incheon integrated resort project.

In a filing on Monday with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Indonesian property developer Lippo Group said the two partners in the LOCZ Korea Corp joint venture had failed to make their land acquisition deal unconditional before the stipulated Dec. 31 deadline.

Shortly before Christmas, Lippo had warned that there was “no certainty” that the LOCZ Korea project would go ahead, in part because of the parties’ inability to agree to terms on the acquisition of the 89k-square-meter plot of land owned by MIDAN City Development Co Ltd, an indirect subsidiary of Lippo.

In Monday’s filing, Llippo emphasized that the deal wasn’t officially dead just yet. But for the first time, Lippo referenced the “current outlook for the gaming industry in North Asia,” reflecting the fact that the project was approved long before China’s leaders began choking off the flood of high-rolling gamblers to South Korea’s casinos.

This is a guest contribution by Cory R. Levi B.A., LL.L., J.D. is a Quebec and Ontario licensed Attorney with the Montreal based law firm of Lazarus Charbonneau (www.lazchar.com) and works in the Gaming and Corporate law departments. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Last year, I wrote an article on the legal framework of Canada’s online gaming industry, specifically discussing the concept of the “Foreign Operators’ Principle” and how they legally offer their i-gaming products to Canadians without facing criminal prosecution.[1] But recently, with all of the rumours circulating about Canada being in the midst of reforming its current gaming framework, some questions have arisen as to whether Foreign Operators taking on Canadian-facing business will still be able to operate without legal consequence.

It goes without saying that Canada’s provinces have been unsuccessful in their attempt to launch their own self-run i-gaming platforms; British Colombia had complications with privacy controls, while Loto-Quebec just never met the targets it had initially forecasted, and while we cannot confirm nor deny these rumors, it’s pretty fair to assume that a regulated i-gaming regime, based on a licensing model, might finally help the provinces increase their bottom lines.

But what just might this model look like? Will it be something like the United States, where each province will have the discretion to determine whether or not it will regulate gaming, or will it be similar to the British model, where gaming will be regulated throughout the country? Will there be only a handful of licenses issued to existing Foreign Operators, or will any operator be allowed to apply? And even more, will this new model govern all forms of gaming (i.e. poker, casino, sports betting, fantasy), or will it be limited to just one type?

This is a guest contribution by Cory R. Levi B.A., LL.L., J.D. is a Quebec and Ontario licensed Attorney with the Montreal based law firm of Lazarus Charbonneau (www.lazchar.com) and works in the Gaming and Corporate law departments. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Last year, I wrote an article on the legal framework of Canada’s online gaming industry, specifically discussing the concept of the “Foreign Operators’ Principle” and how they legally offer their i-gaming products to Canadians without facing criminal prosecution.[1] But recently, with all of the rumours circulating about Canada being in the midst of reforming its current gaming framework, some questions have arisen as to whether Foreign Operators taking on Canadian-facing business will still be able to operate without legal consequence.

It goes without saying that Canada’s provinces have been unsuccessful in their attempt to launch their own self-run i-gaming platforms; British Colombia had complications with privacy controls, while Loto-Quebec just never met the targets it had initially forecasted, and while we cannot confirm nor deny these rumors, it’s pretty fair to assume that a regulated i-gaming regime, based on a licensing model, might finally help the provinces increase their bottom lines.

But what just might this model look like? Will it be something like the United States, where each province will have the discretion to determine whether or not it will regulate gaming, or will it be similar to the British model, where gaming will be regulated throughout the country? Will there be only a handful of licenses issued to existing Foreign Operators, or will any operator be allowed to apply? And even more, will this new model govern all forms of gaming (i.e. poker, casino, sports betting, fantasy), or will it be limited to just one type?

So where do you want to start? Should we talk about Yale beating up on Baylor? How about Cincinnati losing because of a last second dunk attempt? What if we discuss Iowa’s hilarious tip-in off of one of the worst last-shot-attempts in tournament history? How about Purdue losing to fucking Little Rock?! Or Stephen F. Austin tripping up West Virginia???

IT’S TOTAL MADNESS I TELL YOU!!!

Ok, I’m done now. Seriously. After the first weekend, almost everything starts to level out. One of the worst things we can do as gamblers is reflect too much on the past. We all know that the favorites usually ball out of control in the Sweet 16 and that the opening weekend is almost always full of surprises.

So instead of revisiting all the amazing moments from the opening rounds, let’s just look at a handful in a condensed March Madness recap before launching in to a super Sweet 16 Power Rankings.

So where do you want to start? Should we talk about Yale beating up on Baylor? How about Cincinnati losing because of a last second dunk attempt? What if we discuss Iowa’s hilarious tip-in off of one of the worst last-shot-attempts in tournament history? How about Purdue losing to fucking Little Rock?! Or Stephen F. Austin tripping up West Virginia???

IT’S TOTAL MADNESS I TELL YOU!!!

Ok, I’m done now. Seriously. After the first weekend, almost everything starts to level out. One of the worst things we can do as gamblers is reflect too much on the past. We all know that the favorites usually ball out of control in the Sweet 16 and that the opening weekend is almost always full of surprises.

So instead of revisiting all the amazing moments from the opening rounds, let’s just look at a handful in a condensed March Madness recap before launching in to a super Sweet 16 Power Rankings.