Some of the women busted in Cyprus during a gambling raid two years ago are finally being hauled into court, including a 98 year-old woman as well as forty other women in total. most of the women are in their 70s and would gather once a week for an afternoon of poker and bridge for very small stakes. The raid occurred in November 2009 but the women are just now being required to appear in court; unfortunately two of the women have since died with several others now in a nurse home, according to the daughter of the 98 year-old [ Read More ]
Andrew Lang — who ran transaction processing companies that helped online poker companies send and receive money from clients in the US — pleaded guilty to charges in US District court including conspiracy to commit tax fraud and violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stemmed from the US government’s crackdown in April 2011 on three of the world’s largest online poker sites — including PokerStars and Full Tilt — that saw company executives and other middlemen such as Lang swept up in the prosecution and charged as well. Lang admitted [ Read More ]
Groupe Bernard Tapie is still trying to complete its planned purchase of online poker site Full Tilt Poker, with lingering financial issues holding up the sale and eventual return of money owed to former US and international customers of the site. A few weeks back stories surfaced that one roadblock to a completion of a deal was a claim by Chris Ferguson that he was owed millions by Full Tilt due to loaning the company funds from a personal account of Ferguson’s that was used for operating expenses in the wake of Black Friday. More recent stories have emerged that [ Read More ]
While one anonymous online slots fan is rejoicing, thousands of others were dejected to log onto their favorite onlne casino to see that the record jackpot at Beach Life slots had been hit over the weekend to the tune of $8,211,488. Beach Life had soared past its previous record high of $4.8 million (which was hit in July 2007) and cracked the $8 million mark for the first time before the jackpot was hit on Sunday, February 12. The winner’s details have yet to be revealed, including which casino powered by Playtech software they were playing at; popular casinos using the [ Read More ]
The official 2012 WSOP schedule has been announced, which will see a record 61 bracelet events held as well as the addition of a new event with a huge $1 million buy-in. While some were expecting more significant changes — including ditching the controversial November Nine format that sees the conclusion of the WSOP Main Event delayed a few months — the final schedule for 2012 WSOP events included only a few relatively minor changes. The November Nine format will return but the final table of nine players will pause on July 16 and resume in late October this year [ Read More ]
Stories surfaced over the weekend that one of the last obstacles in the sale of online poker site Full Tilt Poker to Groupe Bernard Tapie involves millions of dollars that Chris “Jesus” Ferguson held in personal accounts that were used for corporate purposes. Groupe Bernard Tapie agreed to acquire the troubled company on November 17th in a deal struck with the permission of the US Department of Justice and that would ultimately see Full Tilt’s assets sold to GBT for $80 million. The complicated deal included the US government taking responsibility for repaying an estimated $150 million owed to former [ Read More ]
Social games developer Zynga has made an about-face in regards to moving into the real money online gambling market, announcing last week that it was in fact seeking out partners to offer online poker or casino games for real money. As recently as a few months ago the company had stated that it had no plans whatsoever to dabble in the real money gambling market, content to use its tried-and-true business model of monetizing its games by selling advertising and offering players the chance to buy additional add-ons and items within its games. The company released the following statement about [ Read More ]
A Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison and ordered to repay $650,000 that he embezzled to fuel his video poker play at various Las Vegas casinos. Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe had admitted to embezzling parish votive candle, prayer, and gift shop funds for eight years from his northwest Las Vegas parish in order to support his video poker habit, claiming that he suffered from gambling addiction. He’d asked for probation so that he could continue to seek help for his gambling problem and to continue practicing as a priest and pay restitution to St. [ Read More ]
Groupe Bernard Tapie is still trying to complete its planned purchase of online poker site Full Tilt Poker, with lingering financial issues holding up the sale and eventual return of money owed to former US and international customers of the site. A few weeks back stories surfaced that one roadblock to a completion of a deal was a claim by Chris Ferguson that he was owed millions by Full Tilt due to loaning the company funds from a personal account of Ferguson’s that was used for operating expenses in the wake of Black Friday. More recent stories have emerged that [ Read More ]
The official 2012 WSOP schedule has been announced, which will see a record 61 bracelet events held as well as the addition of a new event with a huge $1 million buy-in. While some were expecting more significant changes — including ditching the controversial November Nine format that sees the conclusion of the WSOP Main Event delayed a few months — the final schedule for 2012 WSOP events included only a few relatively minor changes. The November Nine format will return but the final table of nine players will pause on July 16 and resume in late October this year [ Read More ]
