The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement have improved the process for self exclusion from Internet gaming sites, but make sure you read the fine print before signing on the dotted line.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has improved the options for Internet Gaming self-exclusion. You can now log on to the DGE website, or NJPortal.com, and complete an online form that will exclude you from all New Jersey Internet gaming sites.

Previously, you had to open an Internet gaming account, before being allowed to self-exclude. All that has changed as of last week. The old forms of self-exclusion still exist. This includes walking into the DGE offices, or in person at racetracks around the Garden State.

“The Division of Gaming Enforcement has one of the most comprehensive responsible gaming programs in the country,” the Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck told Pokerfuse. “We strive to be innovative and remain at the forefront of Internet gaming regulation while giving individuals options to play online responsibly, or opt out if that is the right choice for them.”

The self-exclusion period can be for one, or five years, hence the warning to take a breather before hitting that return key. It’s also imperative that you read the fine print before opting for self-exclusion. Here are a few of the reasons why.

1. If you do opt for self-exclusion, and somehow manage to break your own vow, and play online. If you are caught, they will forfeit any winnings, and immediately remove you from the site.

2. By following this option you are opting to be self-excluded from ALL Internet gaming sites in New Jersey. Not just the one site that is giving you all that damned bad luck.

Two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Brian Rast, has launched Zen Poker Mentoring: poker training for the body, mind and soul, with the first class being rolled out in Las Vegas later this month.

With two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and $8m in live tournament earnings, tucked away in his treasure chest, Brian Rast knows a thing or two about the finer details of becoming a top notch poker player.

This is why his new venture Zen Poker Mentoring is going to be a great success.

But it’s not just Rast that makes this enterprise exciting.

It’s different.

Poker has evolved; a lot. But, in my humble opinion, the training that is available for poker players hasn’t kept pace. The record yourself playing poker and then posting the video way of doing things is old hat.

There is a movement growing. People call it many different things. I prefer to call it wellness. We are destroying the planet. We are destroying our bodies. More people are realizing this. More people are taking action.

Back to back FTOPS Leaderboard winner, Mark ‘Dipthrong’ Herm, gives his opinion on the XXVIII schedule, and PokerStars show they aren’t just playing lip service when it comes to SCOOP feedback.

There are many things that made Full Tilt famous: t-shirts adorned with donkeys, Rush Poker, and a bunch of robbing bastards immediately spring to mind. But it was an acronym that produced the most groin heat.I’m talking about FTOPS.

15-29 March 2015 are the dates when bedrooms all over the world will smell of sweaty farts as online poker players refuse to leave. FTOPS XXVIII (number 28 for those of you that didn’t go to school), will consists of 35-events, and the organizers have promised $4m in guarantees.

There is a little something for everyone.

The working class can get involved in the action. There are eight events carrying a $100 price tag. Although, you had better like No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), otherwise you will have to dig a little deeper to play. There are 25 NLHE events all-in-all.

The men and women with too much money can also get involved. Sunday, 22 March, sees the start of a two-day event that will cost $2,500 to enter, and carries a $350,000 guarantee.

There is also a $250 NLHE event carrying a $200,000 guarantee, and the $1,000 Main Event will take place Sunday, 29 March. There will be a million dollar guarantee for that one.

World Series of Poker Main Event fourth place finisher, Jorryt van Hoof, will be the special guest star at the upcoming British Poker Awards, due to take place at the Hippodrome on Monday, 23 Feb 2015.

The British Poker Awards (BPA) have announced that Jorryt van Hoof will be a special guest star at the award ceremony due to take place on Mon, 23 Feb 2015.

The Dutchman – who finished fourth at the 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, for a $3.8m score – will guest star in a specially arranged pro-am poker tournament, scheduled to take place after the awards have been distributed to the fortunate few.

“With the awards just a few days away, we’re hugely excited to welcome one of the standout poker players of 2014 for our fifth anniversary. Whoever knocks out Jorryt van Hoof from our pro-am tournament is set for a fantastic prize, so you won’t want to miss out!” said Michael Caselli, Bluff Europe Editor-in-Chief.

The special ‘Bounty Tournament’ will be organized by Bluff Europe. Unibet will be the sponsor, and they will supply all bounty prizes, as well as a little something special for the winner.

We are unsure who will be joining Jorryt in the game, but can confirm that Liv Boeree, Victoria Coren Mitchell and Neil Channing will be attending the annual bash at the Hippodrome. Coren Mitchell is one of three players each nominated for three awards: Patrick Leonard and Simon Deadman are the other two.

If you want to get involved in the game then head over to www.hippodrome.com to register. Hurry though. The tournament will be capped at 50 entrants. Tickets for the awards show are also still available at the same site.

UK-listed betting operator Ladbrokes is preparing to close another 50 betting shops as increased taxes and thinning margins take a bite out of retail profits.

The Sunday Times was first to break the news that Ladbrokes will announce the shop closures when it turns in its Q4 and FY 2014 report card on Thursday. The 50 shops due for the axe are in addition to the 90-odd closures Ladbrokes had previously announced. When the rubble clears, Lads’ remaining complement of UK betting shops will have fallen to around 2,150.

The announcement comes just ahead of the March 1 implementation of a hike in the Machine Games Duty. The rate is going up from 20% to 25%, and with fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) accounting for half of betting shop revenue, shops that were already struggling to clear a profit will have to go. Lads is far from alone in this regard, as rival William Hill announced the closure of over 100 shops last April.

News of the closure will be celebrated by the Daily Mail and the hordes of anti-FOBT campaigners who never fail to mention their ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ meme when discussing bet shops. (We’ve tried hard to push the ‘salted peanuts of gambling’ alternative but to no avail.)

UK councils have long advocated for more powers to be able to block new betting shops moving into their neighborhoods, even though bet shops are one of the only industries actually willing to occupy many vacant high street storefronts. Both the Association of British Bookmakers and the newly formed Senet Group have attempted to inject some reality into the betting shop discussion but it appears the taxman is winning.

As for Lads’ 2014 results, Morgan Stanley is forecasting revenue will be up 6% over 2013’s total but earnings will fall 7%. In addition to the increased machine duty, UK operators’ margins are having to adjust to the Dec. 1 imposition of the 15% online point of consumption tax.

Take Our Poll

The world’s top gambling hub recorded its first annual decline in 2014 since Macau began releasing financial figures in 2002 and is expected to continue to post a year-on-year drop in the coming months, which is why we decided to ask our readers, “Which gambling destination will benefit from Macau’s slowdown?”

42% voted for “Singapore” while 31% said that it will be “Las Vegas.” 23% belived that it will be “Philippines” and 2% for “Korea.”

Singapore presents an attractive alternative for Chinese gamblers given its proximity and the common use of Putonghua—also known as Mandarin. However, Singapore is feeling the effects of the drop-off and analysts believe that the Philippines and South Korea may be the next best bets for Chinese gamblers.

Total casino revenue on the Las Vegas strip fell as high-rolling baccarat players from China stayed home fearing President Xi’s corruption drive.

Sweden intends to delay its promised revamp of its online gambling market, despite having been called to account by the Court of Justice for the European Union.

Ardalan Shekarabi, minister for public administration, said plans for a national consultation on how best to end the online gambling monopoly of state-owned Svenska Spel will have to wait until the government finds the money to pay for it. This could come as early as April, when the next budget is due to be fixed, although the actual implementation of any new plan could be years away.

In the meantime, we’ve got three Swedish online gambling operators’ earnings reports to consider, which we’ll try to relate with a minimum of tedium. To help the fiscal medicine go down, we’ve littered this page with images of the lovely Sofia Hallqvist, a lads’ mag model who’s set to marry Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip after living in sin together for the past four years.

Way back in 2005, Sofia swapped spit with porn star Jenna Jameson during a trip to Las Vegas. (Top that, Kate Middleton!) Sofia claimed to not have known who Jameson was when the two crossed paths at a party and Jameson reportedly told Sofia she was the cutest girl she’d ever seen. No kidding…

CHERRY AB

Swedish gaming operator Cherry AB addressed the country’s gaming market in its Q4 results statement. New CEO Fredrik Burvall said Sweden had been “quite rightly” taken to the European Court for having “too long, delayed a re-regulation.” Burvall called for a “new order” and a “modernized legislation” that allowed companies like Cherry to “compete on equal terms.”

Cherry saw revenue rise by one-third in Q4 while setting records across all its verticals. Revenue in the three months ending Dec. 31 hit SEK 100.2m (US $12m) while operating losses narrowed to SEK 6.5m from 10.7m in Q4 2013. The quarter contained an SEK 4m cost related to the change at Cherry’s CEO position.

More light has been shed on Friday’s announced demise of Bitcoin poker site SealsWithClubs (SwC). On Saturday, SwC chairman Bryan Micon (pictured, in skivvies) posted a video to YouTube revealing that his Nevada home was raided on Feb. 11 by gun-toting agents armed with a search warrant issued by the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) “regarding SwC and Bitcoin poker.”

In the video (viewable below), Micon said he was handcuffed and led out of his house in his underwear while a “bunch of guys with guns” searched his house for eight hours and ultimately “stole most of my electronics.”

Micon maintains that he doesn’t believe he was “doing anything unethical” and says he wasn’t arrested or charged with any crime. Micon said the agents who conducted the raid “made it clear that they were very familiar with my social feeds and my entire output as a journalist.”

Micon noted that SwC cashouts were processing as promised and all Bitcoin funds were safe. As Micon put it: “Math does not bow down to guns.”

The timing of the raid coincides with the start of the events that SwC’s Friday announcement said led to the site’s “perpetual state of jeopardy.” Micon said there’d also been “an irregularity” with one of SwC’s data servers hosted by Voxility in Romania, although Micon said it was unclear to him what had transpired from a technical perspective.

The rest of SwC’s management team decided to quit but Micon has vowed to carry on. Micon has assembled a team that is “working extremely hard” to get the new swcpoker.eu domain up and running with the new SwC 2.0 software.

Micon made the announcement from his new base of operations in Antigua. Micon said he’d been planning a family trip to Antigua long before the raid but the developments prompted him to make the move permanent. Micon said he didn’t want his two-year-old daughter to grow up “in a police state where creativity is often met with guns and handcuffs and whatnot.”

World Series of Poker third-place finisher to play in special pro-am tournament at London ceremony

19 February 2015, London, UK (Press Release) — Organisers of the British Poker Awards, taking place in London on 23 February 2015, are proud to announce a special guest at this year’s ceremony at London’s Hippodrome Casino: World Series of Poker third-place finisher Jorryt van Hoof.

Van Hoof, one of Europe’s most respected players with more than $4m in live poker earnings, will have a bounty on his head at a specially-arranged pro-am tournament after the ceremony, organised by poker magazine Bluff Europe and sponsored by leading poker site Unibet.

Unibet will be giving away a range of special prizes, both for the winner of the tournament and for anyone who knocks out any of the five bounties. Poker fans can guarantee themselves a seat in the tournament by buying a ticket from www.hippodrome.com.

All guests will be able to enjoy a glitzy drinks reception courtesy of RankingHero.com, the world’s fastest-growing social poker platform. Some of the stars of the UK poker scene, including Liv Boeree, Neil Channing and Victoria Coren Mitchell, have already confirmed their attendance.

“With the awards just a few days away, we’re hugely excited to welcome one of the standout poker players of 2014 for our fifth anniversary. Whoever knocks out Jorryt van Hoof from our pro-am tournament is set for a fantastic prize, so you won’t want to miss out!” said Michael Caselli, Bluff Europe Editor-in-Chief.

Tickets for the British Poker Awards are available to the public from www.hippodromecasino.com.

Liberace played the opening act in 1955. Frank Sinatra once famously lived in one of its suites when he was a regular headline act in the 1990s. For all of Las Vegas’ iconic casinos, none stood taller than the Riviera Hotel & Casino. At least that was the sentiment in the past.

Despite its iconic status in Las Vegas, the Riviera is not immune to the changing times and if the board of directors for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) decide to buy the casino, the Riviera could very well be on its last days.

According to multiple reports, the LVCVA is in the final stages on deciding whether to buy the casino for the specific purpose of destroying it to make way for its $2.3 billion expansion plan for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Should the board give the green light on the sale, it is expected to pay $182.5 million to purchase the property from current owner the Riviera Holdings Corporation. As soon as that transaction is completed, the LVCVA will also spend an additional $8.5 million to pay for costs to close it down, or to be more specific, to raze it to the ground to make way for its expansion plans for the new convention center.

The Riviera currently sits on a 26-acre property, so the LVCVA will have plenty of space to follow through on building a host of amenities on the property, including 750,000 square feet of exhibition space. Before any of the newer and more modern operators began building their casinos in Las Vegas, the Riviera stood as one of the best in the city. It was considered as the first high-rise casino on the Strip, boasting around 2,000 hotel rooms and as much as 100,000 square feet of gambling space. It was the place to be in Las Vegas back then, having earned the reputation as a playground for some of the biggest celebrities in the world.

Now, all it has are memories of the halcyon days of Vegas gambling, a time when it stood tallest among the tall and biggest among the big. It has since been overshadowed – literally and figuratively – by more opulent resorts on the Strip and with it came an erosion in popularity among tourists.

So if the LVCVA votes in favor of purchasing the Riviera, we could be seeing a true end of an era for a casino that was one of the first to uphold Las Vegas’ reputation as a tourist and gambler’s paradise.

Few hours after MGM China Holdings Ltd. posted its Q4 and fiscal year revenue results for 2014, the company announced its plan to invest $100m this year to renovate its MGM Macau Hotel and casino.

MGM Chief Executive Grant Bowie said that the investment for the refurbishment of its hotel-casino is a way to remain competitive.

“Our future capital projects for MGM Macau include a redesigned main floor layout to improve traffic flow and operating efficiencies; as well we will be introducing a range of non-gaming products in the form of over 15 new retail outlets and re-conceptualized food and beverage offerings to add capacity and diversity,” Bowie added.

The company expects minimum impact to operations from the main floor revamp and finish the renovation by 3Q of this year.

The MGM Macau renovation plans started last year, which the company spent $45 million. The overall changes will include a total of 27 separate projects, which will be carried out over the period of three years.

MGM’s second Macau property, MGM Cotai, is due to open in in the second half of 2016 and was estimated at US$2.9 billion.

“Construction of the hotel towers have now reached the 16th floor and progress is moving quickly,” Bowie said.