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A new online poker bill has arrived in California courtesy of Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (pictured right). Titled the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2015 (read it here), the bill differs from Mike Gatto’s AB 9 legislation by allowing state racetracks to join Indian tribes and card clubs in the state’s online poker industry.

More importantly, the AB 167 bill contains no specific ‘bad actor’ clause, at least, not the boilerplate prohibition of any company that accepted wagers from state residents after Dec. 31, 2006. Instead, it deems companies/people to be ineligible if they have “contemptuously defied a legislative investigative body” of a US state, the federal government or a foreign jurisdiction “when that body is engaged in the investigation of crimes relating to poker, official corruption related to poker activities or criminal profiteering activity or organized crime.”

Ditto for anyone convicted ‘in a court of competent jurisdiction of a felony for either having accepted a bet over the internet in violation of United States of California law, or having aided or abetted that unlawful activity.”

The bill also doesn’t contain any mention of the dreaded phrase “covered assets,” clauses that block the use of software, brands, databases and other tools of the trade if said tools had anything to do with any felonious activity. As is, the bill offers the least possible resistance to Amaya Gaming and its new PokerStars property of any California online poker bill to date.

Not so lucky is any tribe that operates a gaming site that accepts wagers from players not physically present on Indian lands, which would be ruled ineligible. This clause is directed squarely at the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel and their Desert Rose Bingo site, which utilizes virtual private network technology to interact with gamblers outside its tribal boundaries.

FELONIES FOR PLAYERS

Alarmingly, the bill warns that “any violation” of the Act would be punishable as a felony. The language states that “the offer or play of any gambling game provided over the Internet that is not an authorized Internet poker game permitted by the state” would be prohibited. For Californians, merely patronizing an unauthorized site is a felony, “punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code.”

Sports books are still dealing the New England Patriots as -1 favorites. I’m guessing that all this brouhaha about those deflated balls during the AFC title game hasn’t dampened the Pats’ outlook ahead of the big game. Not that it should because all the controversy surrounding this deflated balls really is being blown way out of proportion. But hey, people need to have stories to write and fans need something to talk about, right?

God forbid, but with the Super Bowl still 10 days away, we need as many storylines as we can get. So we’ll settle for the DeflateGate, at least until a real narrative comes out. But for now, all the controversy surrounding those deflated balls hasn’t turned off people from betting on New England. Now here’s the question: is this really the actual number or are the Seahawks getting tremendous value right now without anybody noticing it?

The simple answer is “no” and “yes”.

See, a lot happened during the conference championship games. Seattle had to come back from 16 points against the Green Bay Packers whereas the New England Patriots steamrolled the Indianapolis Colts, deflated balls or not. The short-sighted view would be to interpret those results in a manner that put the Seahawks in a vulnerable light and the Pats as the all-conquering powerhouse.

Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what happened because the Seahawks went from -2.5 favorites to 1-point underdogs, even before the Pats-Colts game finished. The public bet on New England pretty heavily and if there was ever a smart play at this point in time, it would be to take the Seahawks as the short underdogs.

That or you can opt to hold off on taking any action and wait for the public to continue pounding on the Patriots. That could drive the number up to -2 for New England, or maybe even -2.5. There is a precedent for this and it actually happened just last year when bettors were all over the Denver Broncos in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. We all know what happened after that. Nevada sportsbooks ended up posting $19.6 million in winnings.

So is it possible that Seattle’s being overlooked yet again? You bet it is.

Nevada has proposed amending its gambling legislation to make it illegal for anyone to profit from affiliate activity with online gambling sites not holding a Nevada license. Senate Bill 40 was pre-filed in December and referred to the judiciary committee in the hopes of passing in the 2015 session of the state legislature, which gets underway Feb. 2.

The one-page bill would amend Chapter 465 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, which includes language dealing with the transaction of wagers through ‘mediums of communication.’ It’s already illegal to accept or receive wagers without a Nevada gaming license, but SB 40 would extend that illegality to anyone who financially benefits from aiding someone offering illegal wagers.

Specifically, SB 40 makes in unlawful “to receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation or reward, or any percentage or share of the money or property played” with any person or entity not licensed for wagering by the state. The prohibition also applies to anyone “accepting or facilitating” wagers placed with unauthorized operators or for “transmitting or delivering anything of value resulting from a bet or wager” with the aforementioned rapscallions.

Assuming SB 40 passes, violators would be guilty of a category B felony, the penalty for which is a federal prison stint of between one and six years and/or a fine of up to $5k. The bill was made public the same day that a new California online poker bill proposed making it a felony for players to patronize any online gambling site not holding a state license. Must be something in the water.

While it seems evident that SB 40 would apply to revenue-sharing affiliates of international online gambling sites, concerns have already been raised that its broad language could be interpreted as applying to people who stake other players in poker games (online or otherwise). It would hardly be the first time legislators’ failure to get specific resulted in collateral damage.

The Macau Government Tourist Office reported that the city received 31.5 million visitors in 2014, a 7.5% increase over 2013.

Mainland visitors rose 8.5% to 28 million. Hong Kong and Taiwan remained the second and third biggest source markets for the city, although the total number of visitors from both jurisdictions registered year-on-year drops of 5% and 4.7%, amounting to 6.43 million and 953,000, respectively, whereas International visitor numbers dropped by 1.1%.

During an annual press conference yesterday, Director of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), Helena de Senna Fernandes, projected 5% growth in the number of visitors travelling to Macau during the Chinese New Year period this year, with around 1 million people expected to visit Macau in the first week of CNY.

“[MGTO] estimates that the number of visitors in the CNY period will have a mild growth compared to last year, with about 800,000 mainland visitors travelling to Macau [during that period].”

Macau casino revenue fell 2.6% to 351 billion patacas ($44 billion) in 2014. Analysts estimates that Macau gaming revenue for the whole of 2015 is likely to fall between 4% and 8% year-on-year. If the prediction of year-on-year decline comes to pass, it would continue a trend seen last year of rising visitor numbers but falling gaming revenue.

“The gambling business went down in the second half of last year, but tourist numbers continued to increase,” said Fernandes. “The growing momentum of mainland tourists was especially strong. We are thrilled to know tourists don’t necessarily come here to gamble.”

MGTO director also remarked that the government will start working on the tourism this year by conducting a large scale study on the city’s tourism, costing up to 20 million patacas.

Russia-facing online gambling sites will be subject to payment-blocking as the country prepares for the launch of its regulated online sports betting market this summer. Online gambling is considered illegal in Russia, but select online sports betting operators expect to receive official legal blessing to operate by June.

Yury Fedorov, president of Russia’s National Association of Bookmakers, told eGaming Review that the plan is for all approved online bookies to channel payment processing through a self-regulatory organization (SRO). This centralized processing will allow Russia’s digital watchdogs to better distinguish between legitimate online betting payments and those made with unsanctioned operators.

Fedorov said the SRO payment processing system was not yet operational, but once all systems were go, other online payment channels in Russia would be ordered to “stop the arrangement of payments for all companies that are not in the SROs.”

Shortly before Christmas, the First Self-Regulatory Organization of Russian Bookmakers (First SRO) was established with Oleg Zhuravsky as president. The SRO’s website claims that it has signed up 11 of the 27 companies currently licensed in Russia as bookmakers. Each of these 11 operators has contributed RUB 30m (US $460k) to a safety fund to ensure players’ financial interests are protected.

On Dec. 30, Zhuravsky told VPROGNOZE.ru that First SRO “intends to fight against illegal betting websites by applying international law.” Zhuravsky said “the decisions of foreign courts will force illegal operators to stop their activities in Russia” and that the focus of the fight would be on large publicly traded firms rather than “small and insignificant operators.” Zhuravsky suggested the first actions against these bigger companies would take place this spring.

In December, Russia imposed harsh new fines on anyone caught organizing gambling – land-based or online – outside the country’s designated gambling zones. Last March, Russia instructed internet service providers to block over 50 online gambling sites, including domains belonging to the likes of PokerStars, William Hill and Ladbrokes. Both Ladbrokes and Betfair subsequently announced their withdrawals from the Russian market.

Russian also recently added several Bitcoin-related websites to its blacklist. The sites included both domestic and international domains. The government has provided little information as to what prompted the move but Igor Chepkasov, chairman of the Crypto Currency Foundation of Russia, told Coindesk that it appeared to be “a dress rehearsal for the prohibition of Bitcoin in Russia.”

A trio of stories connected to the World Poker Tour as the Bay 101 Shooting Stars are announced, Vince Van Patten’s worst nightmares come true on an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Royal Flush Girl Ivy Tevez stars as one of the Girls of FHM January 2015 in the Philippines.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Stars event may not take place until March, but we already know the 52-players who will be carrying a bounty on their heads when the fun begins.

Live satellites for the event will start operating on Feb, 16 with a series of buy-ins ranging from $275, $550, and $1,100 planned throughout both Feb and March. There will be a two-day $2,100 event on Mar 8-9, a $25,000 High Roller event Mar 11-12, with the $7,500 televised Main Event scheduled to take place Mar 9 -13.

The Main Event will take place over five days, and players can re-enter, if eliminated, up to the beginning of Day 2. The chip leaders on Day 1A and Day 1B will both receive a $10,000 bonus and each Shooting Star will carry a $2,500 bounty on this mug.

The list is subject to change, but here it is as it stands today.

Daniel Negreanu

Antonio Esfandiari

Lee Davy reviews the remake of the 1974 movie The Gambler, and gives you his verdict on the movie that believes the only way out is all-in.

It hasn’t been a very good week for me on the movie front. The Birdman didn’t really take off, and The Wild only taught me that if I ever wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) then I would likely have my anus examined by a couple of crossbow holding rednecks.

So I was hoping The Gambler would restore my faith in cinema.

It didn’t.

I’m a gambling addict and so this movie should have been a match made in heaven, but I didn’t really get it? It didn’t connect with me, so how would it connect with the millions of people who are capable of playing roulette without placing a night with their wife on red?

The protagonist is Jim Bennett, a Literature Teacher played by Mark Wahlberg, who has a compulsion to bet everything that he has either playing blackjack or roulette (yes poker peeps you will be sorely disappointed). He isn’t playing to win. If that were the case he wouldn’t be drawing a card when he has 18 face up in a game of blackjack. He did. He hit.

By the time the movie starts he is already $250k deep in debt to a Korean gangster. Then, for no apparent reason (it becomes apparent as the movie progresses), a man approaches him and offers to stake him $50k – he takes it. I say no apparent reason because we never see the guy winning anything, which confuses the reasoning why people would give him money in the first place.

Canada’s Amaya Gaming has made a couple executive appointments, including the successful poaching of the former head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp’s (OLG) online gambling division just weeks after OLG’s long-delayed online gambling site PlayOLG.ca had its official launch.

On Wednesday, Amaya announced it had appointed George Sweny (pictured on the left) as its new VP of strategic ventures. Sweny’s resume includes stints with OLG’s predecessor, the Ontario Lottery Corporation, as well as the Interprovincial Lotteries Corporation, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and the bingo unit of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). Most recently, Sweny served as senior VP of OLG’s charitable and iGaming divisions.

Amaya also appointed Chris Lewis (pictured, in uniform), former Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, as an advisor to Amaya’s board of directors. Amaya CEO David Baazov said Lewis’ experience would enable the company to “continue to lead the way in security processes and procedures as well as integrity.” Baazov said Sweny’s “extensive gaming experience in both the public and private sector” would help Amaya maintain “the highest standards in responsible gaming.”

Meanwhile, BCLC has appointed Dr. Kahlil Philander as its new Director of Social Responsibility. Philander is the former director of research at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) International Gaming Institute. Philander also serves as Senior Policy Researcher at the Responsible Gambling Council of Canada (where Amaya’s new hire Sweny has a seat on the board).

Moving east, Loto-Quebec has revamped its responsible gaming initiative, based around the theme of “a game should remain a game.” The campaign, which will run between January 18 and March 15, strives to educate players of the role of chance in various types of gaming and to dispel commonly held myths. The campaign stresses that there are “no tricks or strategies that can improve your chances of winning” at various types of gambling but “there are strategies and tools to limit the risk of losing control.”

Liverpool-based betting operator Stanleybet has lost its court challenge of Italy’s right to issue betting licenses of shorter durations than those previously issued. The brouhaha began in mid-2012 after Italy decided to issue licenses for 2k new betting shops but stipulated that these licenses would be valid for a 40-month period, not the 12-year period previous licensees had enjoyed.

Stanleybet’s Malta-based subsidiary operates a number of data transmission centers (DTC) in Italy that remotely connect betting shop patrons to Stanleybet sites. These DTC had been operating in Italy for 15 years without a license, mainly because Italy had deemed international companies like Stanleybet ineligible for licenses.

When the European Union ordered Italy to play by the rules, Stanleybet argued that the 2012 tender process unfairly favored previous licensees, who enjoyed longer license periods and were allowed the freedom to transfer these licenses. Italy retorted that the new license duration was intended to align license expiry dates.

In a decision released on Thursday, the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) dismissed Stanleybet’s argument, saying Italy had the right to align its betting license expiry dates, which “may contribute to a coherent pursuit of the legitimate objectives of reducing gambling opportunities or of combating criminality linked to betting.” The CJEU also rubbished Stanleybet’s claim to being ‘new entrants’ given their previous unlicensed activities in the Italian market.

ITALY’S NEW VLT/AWP TAX KICKS IN

Meanwhile, Italy’s new tax on video lottery terminals (VLT) has taken effect. In December, Italian politicians approved a new tax on VLTs and amusement with prizes (AWP) machines. The tax is applied based on the number of machines each operator has, regardless of the revenue each machine generates. The law prompted many operators to reduce their number of machines in the hope of lessening their tax burden.

Italy expects to raise an additional €500m in annual revenue via the tax. Around €96m of this is expected to come from Lottomatica/Gtech, while B Plus will be dinged for around €85m. Other major contributors include Gamenet, (€46m), Sisal (€45m) and SNAI (€37m). DLA Piper gaming attorney Giulio Coraggio suspects the new tax could lead to a court challenge as well as a round of consolidation as smaller operators find the new tax makes business unsustainable.

An accident occurred on Tuesday at the construction site in the grounds of City of Dreams Macau casino resort, resulting to a death of a local construction worker.

A 29-year-old local worker died yesterday around 11 a.m., after falling 10 meters with a lifting machine he was operating at the City of Dreams construction site.

The accident took place near Gate No. 3 of the retail arcade expansion project site of City of Dreams in Cotai. The gross floor area of the expansion site occupies 17,000 square metres, according to the main contractor of the project, Chun Wo Development Holdings Ltd.

The Macau government ordered a contractor at City of Dreams Macau “to immediately suspend the use of all lifting appliances and requested an examination of the lifting procedures and equipment at the site.

“The Bureau will continue to investigate the cause of the accident and to pursue the legal responsibilities of relevant parties,” said Macau Labour Affairs Bureau in a statement.

The Bureau has also issued a suspension order to the City of Dreams retail arcade expansion site and an analysis report of the accident and updated measures of compliance to safety standards have to be submitted before work can resume at the site.

Head of Corporate Communications for Melco Crown Maggie Ma, told GGRAsia that the suspension will not delay ongoing extension works.

Echo Entertainment has bared a few items about its plans for its multi-billion-dollar casino and resort project in Brisbane. Some of the key highlights of the development will include five hotels, three residential towers, an underground mall that will be linked to a Ritz-Carlton hotel that will have its own casino, more than 50 restaurants and bars, a moonlight cinema, an infinity pool, and 12 football fields of public event space.

Echo is barred from divulging specific commercial details about its development because of rules in the competitive tender process issued by the government of Queensland. The Australian Business Review, quoting its sources, reported that Echo’s proposal will include close to 1,000 hotel rooms and a pair of residential skyscrapers rising up to 50 storeys with around 1,200 apartments.

The company also plans to relocate its existing casino from the Treasury building and move to The Arc, which will rise on the space where the government’s old Executive Building is located. A high-end mall developed by Chow Tai Fook, as well as an underground department store just below Queens Park, are also part of Echo’s proposal, as are Dorsett and Rosewood-branded hotels, and the aforementioned Ritz-Carlton hotel stretching across the top two floors of the Treasury building.

The Australian casino operator is making a bid for the casino license with the backing of Hong Kong-based firms Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium. Echo’s only competition for the license, James Packer’s Crown Resorts, has yet to divulge its own proposal, although it is believed that it will include two luxury hotels, a six-star hotel, and up to 2,500 apartments, among other items.

Despite the competing bid coming from its fierce rival, Echo remains bullish on its own proposal and has even indicated that it would generate as many as 8,000 jobs and attract around 1.4 million visitors in just its first year. The company said as much in a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, adding that around 2,000 jobs would be created during the construction phase.

The Queensland government is expected to announce the winning bidder in the first half of 2015.

Innovation is at the heart of the gambling industry and a good percentage of the innovation comes from our start-ups.

Start-up focused events have become a popular feature at conferences such as GiGse, EiG and now ICE Totally Gaming with everything from “start-up zones,” to carefully planned out “Launch Pads” and “Pitches”.

For the first time ever, we’ll be seeing a dedicated space at ICE for start-up pitches, hosted by Clarion and organized by GamCrowd.  The partnership between these two companies began at EiG 2014 and has continued into 2015 with the creation of “Pitch ICE”.

A total of twenty start-ups signed up for Pitch ICE through GamCrowd.  Each company has submitted a two-minute video about their product to GamCrowd’s site so interested parties can watch and get an idea of what pitches they want to attend live at ICE.

During the expo, each start-up will be granted a fifteen-minute time slot for both Tuesday and Wednesday on the Pitch ICE stage at booth N7-460.  Each pitch will be filmed and then posted on GamCrowd’s website after ICE finishes to provide further exposure, solicit voting and ultimately determine the winner.

“Pitch ICE offers start-up companies a unique opportunity to present their business ideas directly to the most important movers and shakers in the gambling industry,” GamCrowd CEO Chris North told CalvinAyre.com.  “That type of exposure and access to potential investors is priceless and would often take similar start-ups a long time to achieve, if ever”.

Clarion, the organizers of ICE Totally Gaming, also feel that Pitch ICE provides start-ups with a unique opportunity for exposure.

Ladbrokes returns to the Mexican market through Sportium, a joint venture with Spanish operator CIRSA.

This week, Sportium, a multi-channel betting operator in Spain and official betting partner of La Liga, had launched a new regulated website in Mexico, leveraging the regulated, offline operations of Casino Life, Cirsa’s Mexico casino business.

The new website can be found at www.casinolife.com.mx and comprises sports betting & casino products, bingo and over 200 slot games. SportiumBet is the sports betting service on the site and carries a broad range of betting markets with particular focus given to the popular sports of football, basketball, baseball and American football.

Ladbrokes first outlined plans to enter the Mexican igaming market in august 2013 but regulatory issues forced a delay until this year.

A statement released by the company said that the online gambling site was authorized by the Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior and that it “meets all legal requirements and measures necessary to ensure a fair and safe gaming environment.”

“Sportium continues to grow strongly through our retail and digital channels in Spain and we see further growth opportunities in that country.  However the strength of Cirsa’s extensive offline presence across Latin America now allows the joint venture to expand in that region. This digital entry into Mexico is very much a first step in our plans not the culmination,” said Damian Cope, managing director of Ladbrokes International.

“Our ongoing International expansion offers Ladbrokes an opportunity to diversify away from the UK market.  The success we have had at building and launching brands in Belgium, Spain, Australia, and now Mexico gives us confidence that we remain on track to build a portfolio of strong International businesses,” Cope added.

A couple of new hirings have happened in the iGaming industry, specifically involving Irish bookmaker Boylesports and British counterpart Gala Coral.

Boylesports has tabbed former NordicBet Managing Director Neill Garfield to be the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer.

Garfield’s new role with Boylesports is to lead the company’s efforts in expanding its presence past the Irish gaming market and into the UK market. The move is the latest indication that the Irish bookmaker is following through on its new #BetonBoyle re-branding plans, featuring a multi-content ad campaign that will now be spearheaded by Garfield.

According to EGR Magazine, Garfield is initially working out of the company’s Irish headquarters in Dundalk but is expected to move to Boylesports new office in Gibraltar.

The appointment also ends Boylesports’ three-month search for a replacement for former Marketing Director James Arnold. To its credit, the bookmaker seemed to have picked a good man for the job, at least when you consider Garfield’s track record in the industry. Before assuming his role with NordicBet, Garfield also spent time as a Marketing Manager for Paddy Power and heading Tom Waterhouse’s marketing services.

Meanwhile, Gala Coral made some management reshuffling of its own, promoting Robert Fell to head the company’s web and mobile division. The decision to promote Fell came after Gala Coral embarked on a reshuffling go its digital business. Once Fell assumes his new position to lead the development of the betting firm’s desktop and mobile products, he leaves behind his old mobile product development manager role, a position he took up shortly after joining Gala Coral in January 2014.

Before signing up with Gala Coral, Fell was a Product and Operations Manager of Paddy Power, a position he took up for almost three years. Fell’s promotion also comes at a few months after Gala Coral announced the merger of the Gala Interactive and Coral Interactive management teams. The merger led to the departure of the Coral Interactive Managing Director John O’Reilly.

Jose Montes has defeated Benjamin Keeline, in heads-up action, to win the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma.

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) continues to prosper as the event at the Choctaw Casino and Resort ends with yet another Season 11 record.

Event 11#: $1,675 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event attracted 1,363 entries, to create a total prize pool of $2,044,500, setting the record for the largest Main Event of the season. It’s the second record set at Choctaw after it also hosted the largest-ever WSOPC event, when Ray Henson defeated 4,053 players to take the first prize in the $365 NLH Re-Entry event.

Ray Henson didn’t get near the top of this one though. That honor is bestowed to Jose Montes who turned his fourth WSOPC cash into his most significant, winning the $352,669 first prize, and securing his seat in the season-ending WSOP National Championships.

With a field so large you could be excused for thinking the final table would resemble a school of fish, it didn’t turn out that way. Montes had to find his way through a final table containing a whole series of gold rings. Two time gold ring winner Ben Reason finishing sixth, ring winner Ryan Tepen finishing ninth, and Ben Keeline coming close to claiming his second ring with his runner-up finish.

“I can show my son one day.” Montes told the WSOP journalist when talking about his own gold ring.

Montes was referring to his 11-month old son. A son who was born on the same day as Montes. Now that’s what I call a man of fortune. There is already another bun the oven and Montes plans to use part of his six-figure sum to buy a new home.