Another Harvard Blog

Online poker in Canada is soon going to be a legal form of playing as the finance minister of Quebec announced last weekend the first phase of plans to introduce online poker in the province by coming September, 2010. This is good news for all online poker players specially the college poker players who wish to hit the game in their mobile devices like laptops and mobile phones. Only you have to wait till September, then you are free to log into one of these legalized online poker sites and play your favorite poker game.

I think it is an innovative step to legalize the poker game online. The step is said to be a part of Loto Quebec’s intentions to offer online gambling services that would begin with sports betting and poker games. So, we are going to enjoy not only online poker games by plethora of online gambling games. Finance Minister Raymond Bechand said that the state is going to make a good sum of money, nearly $50 million in the first three years of new service that would be launched under this scheme. And Loto Quebec would be able to grasp a large part of $675 million online gambling in Canada and that would come from the game of poker. Why not, when we guys who are fans of poker are around?

But this good news is not a thrilling factor for all sectors. The naysayers are of the opinion that such a move will only increase the number of problems among gamblers in the new service. But the famous and big lottery group has slammed such allegations and is positive of the move. They have cited the support received from public health studies and reiterated that increasing gambling outlets specially legalize online poker and such gambling outlets won’t increase the problems of gamblers.

The offline casinos too are against the move made by Loto Quebec. They are of the opinion that such an introduction of online poker will only create troubles for offline casinos and they won’t be able to sustain the completion of online poker games. Croupiers working for Loto Quebec too are not in favor of such move of online gambling. The Chief Executive Officer and the President of Loto Quebec Alain Cousineau was positive of this move and said to negative reaction of different quarters, “This is a way for us to channel the gaming offering in a controlled circuit and environment whose integrity will be beyond reproach.”

To check and legitimize the online poker sites and also adopt measures to prevent underage playing or cheating, they promised some measures. The measures that they promise to adopt for the online gambling in Canada are – to include the requirement to verify players’ ages, limit the weekly fund transferring and also enable one to self exclude themselves from the site whenever one feels the need to do so.

Those who love online poker and wish to continue with the game would surely love this move of Loto Quebec of regulated online poker. Let those (subdivisions who are not in favor of this idea)  say whatever they like who have problem with such good step, all we need is reliable and regulated online poker sites to play the game we love to stick to 24 X 7.

Dear friends it is good to have an interest in poker, but the craziness should not be something that you violate the law of land! If the game of poker is prohibited in your area, you should respect it and should not try to play it illegally. There is no harm in playing poker games at home with friends or at small parties to just enjoy the moment, but to host the games with percentage share where the state doesn’t permit is completely illegal and if you are caught you would be sentenced with rigorous punishment. Something similar to that has happened in Michigan. Police raided illegal poker game being played by few people and arrested.

It is reported that in an undercover operation the Michigan police had arrested nearly twenty people with the charge or attending an illegal poker tournament. It is actually said that the team of police had started their surveillance from November 2009 with an undercover cop who used to attend the tournaments to track the members and group who organized all those tournaments. The undercover cop of Michigan State Police attended the tournaments like a player and surveyed in his own style everything about the illegal tournaments. The undercover cop attended some of the major poker tournaments and one major during last December. Before they raided, he paid a visit, a final one over the past weekend.

During the raid in the last weekend the Saturday’s tournament was held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Kentwood. The poker tournament was going on full swing when the people all of sudden arrested and the group was arrested and charged with attending the gaming places and frequenting the illegal poker areas. The punishment for such a crime could be up to 90 days in prison and community service as well.

Police confirmed that they got a warrant beforehand for the raid and arrest of the operator of these tournaments and those arrested. For evidence the Michigan Police State department seized a range of poker paraphernalia from the hotel, gaming cards, including poker chips, and cash. When the police raided the place they were little surprised to find the poker tournament being served well by topless dealers. The event was somewhat more than their imagination. And the angles of the night were also performing different kinds of aerobics during the event.

According to Sheriff, the group of poker players who call themselves the Grand Rapids Poker Club has the guts to openly promote their games in the public since some days in advance. Lt. Schram told the media, “They were so open about it that it was really unusual. They put out fliers, advertised on Craigslist and were trying to bring people in by telling them it was all legal.”

But the hotel owner distanced himself from the event and said his business is to deal with customers. What they do with the premises after booking is totally their business. He also informed that when the premise was booked he had no idea that they would be actually going for an illegal activity so open. He said piously, “We value our relationship with the City of Kentwood and its leaders, and the community in which we serve and as such, we have made changes to our event evaluation process to ensure 100 percent that this will never happen again.”

Must news for college and university guys and those who love to play online poker! If you are planning to play online poker these days you must abort the idea because you may not know, you may win the game but won’t receive the payment. That may happen because the Canadian Citizen who is responsible for online poker rooms’ transactions, Mr. Douglas Rennick, has been accused of processing payments for all online poker rooms and casino rooms by an act which says that such an activity is illegal under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. And his case has been held in contempt of court. Rennick has been charged with allegations that he doesn’t comply with the grand jury subpoena.

This man owns two companies, namely Account Services Corp and KJB Financial Corp. He is the sole financial holder of both these companies which engage in transfer of funds for online poker. You may not be aware but he has been the headache for US authorities for years that had been trying to put a halt at online poker games and playing in the entire country. But the companies and online poker sites with the ease of payment process have been functioning. These companies and the online poker sites that rely on this one reliable man have been continuously targeted by US authorities. The authorities were really frustrated with this man and the online sites as they couldn’t get their hands on the offshore poker rooms. But now with the case of contempt at court they are at much relief.

Mr. Rennick was somehow caught by the authorities and has been charged under three accounts. These three accounts are – conspiracy to engage in money laundering, conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling company; and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The contempt of court charge actually came only when he didn’t agree to comply with the subpoena issued by the grand jury. The payment processor’s counselors argued that this would breach their client’s rights underneath the Fifth Amendment where he is cosseted against self incrimination.

But the argument could not be much favored to save the man and the panel of three-judges disagreed and ruled, “Although the long-established ‘collective entity rule’ prevents corporations from availing themselves of the Fifth Amendment privilege, the companies contend that the Supreme Court’s decision in Braswell v. United States compels us to carve out an exception for one-person corporations.”

According to the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan, Mr. Rennick had indeed opened few numbers of bank accounts in the US between 2007 and 2009, with the sole purpose of getting money/funds from offshore online poker rooms and there is charge that he is not revealing the nature of these bank accounts to the authorities who have arrested him. It is alleged that nearly $350 million funds were transferred so far from a Cyprus Bank Account in the United States. The case can go really complicated and will have tremendous impact on the world of online poker rooms and their transactions.  So, dear friends don’t mess with online poker till the matter is resolved!

Guys if you are thinking of joining the upcoming Canadian Poker tournaments, you are really going to have a nice time there guys with Lacey Jones. The sexy and gorgeous poker babe is the slated to become the new face of the Canadian Poker tour. The news has been reported by various sources and has also been confirmed by officials and reliable sources. The beautiful and sexy babe Lacey is really going bring more attraction to the event.

Guys you are really going to have fun there with the slated face of Canadian poker around you. Lacey off late has been slated the sexiest and the hottest girl of poker. She has also been roped by the Canadian Poker association not only to represent the game/tour but also feature as the cover girl for the newly soon going to be released magazine called the Canadian Poker Player Magazine. More than that, the model would have a personal featured article, pictorial spread and close ups in the magazine.

Lacey Jones was first hired by Absolute Poker as a prop player in the tournament as a model and her performance got noticed by sponsors. Slowly she gained enough popularity with the use of social media and really appealing and provoking images in the sites like Myspace, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. She even promoted herself so well that she soon became the known face of poker. And today she is the hottest of all. Playing poker becomes more interesting when you have such a sexy and gorgeous damsels around and college guys would really love to do so. But a word of advice for all those who would put their eyes on her, try to concentrate on the game or the damsel is going to ruin your life!

Buzz is going around that CPT is looking to get more female players for the event along with the hot damsel to make the event more spectacular and attractive. This is actually a trick to draw more young players and players who adorn beauty of women to the tournament and also shot its fame. The promotion is also a means to increase the number of female players to the poker tournaments which saw a decline of women players over the years.

According to the Canadian Poker Tournament Lacey would be face of the tour as it travels across the places of Canada and the new face will actually benefit the poker tournament a lot. The CPT is hopeful that she will be able to draw more women players this time than the past two years. So guys, it is not only Lacey who is going to distract you from games, expect more pretty ladies out there with their talent and charm to destroy your money, what say? Anyway you have to remain cool and concentrate on your game rather than their bodies and figures to figure out how probable you are there to win.

It is said that the deal between them was made last November when Kelly Kellner, the president of CPT and Lacey came together in Costa Rica for the CPT/WPS Costa Rica Challenge. Kellner praised Lacey about her admiration she receives in Canada and the circle of CPT and it clicked.

One interesting that I wish to discuss with poker players specially those who are in college or university campus and love to play poker – why most poker players on the table are bachelors? Yes, have you ever observed this? If no observe the next time you go to play poker in some casino or any place, you will find most opposite hands unmarried men. How you do you guess they are bachelors? It is very easy – just have a look at their hands and fingers, you won’t find the wedding band worn by them those who are not married. While those who are married wear such bands or rings. Is there a particular theory behind this? Perhaps!

You will find that most professional poker players are unmarried and are not associated with any girlfriend, I guess though. That is because those who have always remain within the satellite sphere and surveillance of his girlfriend. That you can guess the way he talks over the phone or from his constant ringing of mobile phone.

Well, jokes apart, let us focus on the theory why most professional pokers are unmarried. The foremost reason off course could be that married man cannot concentrate well in the game, what say guys? Yes, he will always have his wife and family waiting at home for him. To be a professional poker player he has to make poker his girlfriend. Professionals earn a living from the game they play. One cannot concentrate in the game having fears of wife waiting with broom at home to thrash his head for returning late.

Though these reasoning may seem funniest theories for poker players being unmarried, but if you think deep then you will get the core meaning. Indeed professional pokers live and die life for poker. Just think how difficult at times you find a situation while playing poker with friends or in a casino. How hard you need to think to bring back the game in your favor, and dear friend to think that hard you have to erase the oxytocin hormone from your brain, the hormone of love!

I have asked this question to a lot of poker players and experts, that why poker players are mostly seen sans ‘wedding band.’ The only answer they give is that they are bachelors, but cannot provide a justification as to why they are bachelors! Now basically what I formulated is this theory. Please feel free to comment on the article and what do you think about my theory of professional poker players remaining bachelors.

If you are also interested in playing poker and wish to win a big name, then dear friend you need to find the reason too. Because if what I said is going to be the true theory, then you need guts to say bye to your girlfriend and take pledge to remain a bachelor for some time now! We are now in a position to find it early before it is too late. And another way to find the answer is to ask them personally. We need to put questions on few professional players about this and let’s see what they reply.

With the biggest online sports betting event of the year, the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV, kicking off this Sunday, it seemed like as good a time as any to talk a little bit about the legality of online sports betting.

There is no single governing authority or body responsible for the global licensing and regulation of online gambling, but instead, countries such as the United Kingdom have established clear cut laws and regulations that not only allow online gambling companies to lawfully operate within their countries borders, but also allow said companies to advertise their services and otherwise enjoy the same inalienable rights that would be given to any non-gambling company.

Some countries, like the United States, have taken a significantly more conservative approach to the online gambling industry. While making a sports bet in the U.K. is legal and as easy as walking into any one of the hundreds of totes in any given major city in the U.K. or logging on to any one of thousands of online gambling sites available to U.K. residents, the United States has taken a firm stance against online sports betting. Yet gambling in land-based casinos is legal in 19 of 50 states, Indian reserves in the majority of states have land-based casinos, and there are a number of racetracks spread throughout the continental Unites States that allow patrons to bet on horses, some even offer slots and video poker machines.

Gambling in the United States, online or otherwise, is regulated on the state level as opposed to the federal level. It is because of this style of regulation that land-based casinos and racetracks are legal in some states, but not others. The only states to have outlawed all forms of gambling all together are Utah and Hawaii, leaving 48 states with some form of legalized gambling. Even now several states, including California, are working on initiatives that could one day see the intra-state legalization of online poker, yet online sports betting is still frowned upon. The stigma attached to sports betting, both online and offline in the United States, is such that even though online poker may one day become legal in the majority of states, the chances of online sports betting being legalized in any form seems slim at best.

On September 30, 2006, the United States House of Representatives and Senate, in an effort to prevent its citizens from being able to gamble online, in particular with companies based outside the United States in online gambling friendly jurisdictions such as Antigua & Barbuda, Costa Rica, Malta and Gibraltar, passed the SAFE Port Act of 2006. Title VIII of the Act, better known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (or UIGEA), was a last minute addition to the SAFE Port Act of 2006 and didn’t appear in the Act until September 29, 2006, one day before the bill was passed in a late night, near empty session of the Senate.

Since the introduction of the UIGEA in the United States, a number of new organizations have been created, all with the ultimate goal of getting the UIGEA repealed, or at the least amended. The most recognizable and outspoken of all these organizations is likely the Poker Players Alliance, who advocate for the rights of online poker players around the world and have been trying since the introduction of the UIGEA to have online poker classified as a game of skill, as opposed to a game of chance or luck, which would carve it out of the UIGEA much like online horse betting has been carved out.

The creation of new outspoken organizations with the goal of repealing the UIGEA was likely one of the more minor results of the Act’s approval. As a result of the Act passing, the government of Antigua & Barbuda filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming the United States was breaking WTO rules, which eventually resulted in the WTO ruling the favor of Antigua & Barbuda, granting them the ability to lawfully wave United States patent and copyright laws.

Most recently Massachusetts’ Democratic Congressman and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank introduced a bill to overturn the gambling aspects of the SAFE Port Act of 2006, called the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, and though the bill has not yet been passed, it did succeed in delaying the implementation of the gambling portion of the UIGEA until December 1, 2010.

So this weekend, while you’re out at the bar with buddies, doing some Super Bowl betting and enjoying the game, don’t forget that there’s a battle of sorts going on behind the scenes, and the outcome may ultimately decide what you are and are not lawfully allowed to do with your own hard earned money.

Now all casino lovers who love to play table games like poker, blackjack, roulette and craps in Delaware no longer have to play it in clandestine. Good news to all young and all aged poker lovers who would visit Delaware and the population of the state. Delaware State Senate has approved and passed a bill called the Table Game Bill which allows people to play table games at Casinos across the state. It is expected that now casinos that currently run legally all games permitted by the state will expand their casino sizes and generate much needed fund into the state’s budget. Well, we are not concerned much about the state’s fund and taxation, we are interested in games that are allowed on tables.

But the state lottery commission has yet to announce which table games will be allowed in the state casinos. However it is expected dear friends that poker the king of all card games will undoubtedly find the most line up preference.

Perhaps Delaware is going to set examples for other states which are not in the mood to legalize some popular table games at casinos and online casino games. To everybody’s surprise guys there was very little opposition on the part of senate to this Table Game Bill which was first introduced by Democratic Governor Jack Markell. Everyone was of the opinion that it would be highly opposed by the opposition. The bill was entered by the State House on January 21 and passed 27-5 before coming  to front of State Senate on last Thursday and was passed by vote 15-4. Governor Markell signed the bill into a law, marking it as official acceptance of state. And the weekend was really full of rejoice throughout the state.

But this good news is not that too good for Atlantic City which is already facing a great drop in revenue from such games every year. Before it was Pennsylvania and now it is Delaware which are passing similar laws to make table games a legal affair in the state. There are many analysts who believe that the revenue on the table game may decrease with the new bill of Delaware in Atlanta City. Now both the neighboring states have legalized the casino table games. Pennsylvania has legalized the table games in the state several weeks before Delaware.

Cory Morowitz a gambling advisor said, “Atlantic City gets hit both by Delaware and Pennsylvania because they sit within the heart of our feeder markets. When Delaware gets table games, they will draw a lot from the D.C.-Baltimore corridor.” However Atlanta city has put a brave face by declaring to the media that the bill in Delaware is not going to affect the casinos of the state even in the least as the casinos of Atlanta city offer altogether very different kind of games. And there are much wider choices of games that you can play in the casinos of Atlanta City. The wider choice and availability of different games made J Corbo, the President of the Casino Association of New Jersey said, “We continue to believe that the variety of product and quality of non-gaming amenities we have bode well for Atlantic City’s future.”

Soon, Mr. Terminator may be signing papers to legalize online poker in the state of California. The Capitol Weekly reported that the State Indian Tribes are very anxious to play online poker and wish the state to legalize Internet poker. At present California doesn’t permit online poker as a legal game and if some websites are running them in clandestine, they are doing so illegally. However an issue was raised during last August when one of California’s biggest casino gaming tribes called the Morongo Band of Mission Indians demanded to legalize online poker games. They formed a group during August called the California Tribal Intrastate Internet Poker Consortium LLC.

According to the report they have been trying hard to put together the demands of other group of Indian tribes to legalize online poker in California. They are said to be working in pair with some large Los Angeles area card clubs like the Bicycle Club and the Commerce Casino. Though the deal and the pair of work between the Morongo Band of Mission and those card clubs are no longer active in strong mode, but the efforts are still going on to legalize the online poker in the state. They believe that such online poker and casino game at internet would ease gambling for those who wish to play from home or internet café instead of going to a Casino.

Morongo tribe spokesman Mr. Patrick Dorinson said to Capitol Weekly, “We’re still reaching out to different tribes. We’re trying to take into account everyone’s issue.” Though Mr. Dorinson is trying to encompass a bigger arm and raise the issue, the California Tribal Business Alliance (Cal-TBA) shows no interest in the poker game. The Cal-TBA group’s executive director, Allison Harvey is of the opinion that such legalization or running of online poker would exclusively bring a chaos. If the group wishes to carry on with their online poker sites it would definitely violate the law. And also legalizing the online poker also violates the gaming compacts with casino tribes of California. Such a step can make the state loss nearly $1 million it receives from gaming compacts with numerous Casinos in California.

Still, the issue would be taken by the Senate Governmental Organization Committee will take up the question of Internet poker when it meets on February 9. They will discuss the issue of internet poker in California and would give consent/opinions on the matter.

While Californians still have to wait for the online poker to get consent from the state, Delaware has signed the new act. The Senate legalized Atlantic City-style table games such as blackjack, poker, craps and roulette online. Gov. Jack Markell immediately signed the bill into law and this brought smiles to millions in Delaware who wish to play casino games online. Why not, after all the online poker and other games give you the opportunity to play the game from the comfort of your home. It saves time, energy, fuel, and you can keep away from the hazy and smoky environment of the casinos.

For all those folks who wish to play poker and other casino games in Russia can take a breath of relief! The first legal casino has begun its operation from Saturday. The country was really tough on casino culture and just six months ago there was a national cessation on all casino gambling. People ultimately had to hit the online sites for casino gambling, but that could never bring back the original charm of playing in smoked filled aroma, lighted and colorful casino surrounded by men and beautiful ladies from all walks of life.

After six months of moratorium the first Casino has opened inside the designated gambling zone. The lucky one is called the Oracle Casino which is located in the southern part of the nation and just one hour drive (60 miles) from Rostov. Though it was expected to be an auspicious moment, but low presence of gamblers and people made it a low profile opening. Only 500 people attended the grand opening of the casino and 100 engaged in different games. The gaming of Oracle, which is the first legal casino in Russia, has 200 slots machines, and 10 table games.

Just before six months one would not believe that gambling was a banned activity in the nation with the proliferating casinos in Moscow. However the government was hell bent on the casinos and prohibited nationwide running of the amusement centers. Perhaps different political pressures, discussions and economic losses have compelled the stated to think twice on the matter. The online websites escaping the route of taxes and other issues made the government to come up with idea of creating legalized gambling zones like you have smoking zones!

Now casinos and gambling is legally limited but to these remote zones only which has been assigned for casino resorts only. But the gambling operators and a big lobby of politicians and influential people are speaking against this policy of gambling zones. They argue that such wipe out of the casinos from towns and cities will lead to widespread job loss, promote black market gambling and very few would travel to such remote areas to play games in the casino. The low response of the opening of Oracle Casino proves the less inclined mood of people to go to remote casinos.

However the staff of Oracle Casino has some other things to say. They say that Russians will soon find the casino gambling in such a remote site interesting. And they are also planning to build exclusive hotels, motels, and other attractions near the casino gambling zones. Such facilities will slowly attract them to drive to casinos usually during weekends and holidays.

Valery Saparin, casino marketing director said, “We hope that a lot of people will be drawn to us in the near future.” He is of the opinion that within four months the casinos at such remote areas can expect more than 500 visitors every day.

Compare and contrast opening of casinos in America with that of Russia! It will take away the smile of those Russian Officials who are thinking that an opening with 500 people has really been a great success when they would hear about the latest opening of Las Vegas Sands’ Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, casino. There were startling 60,000 visitors to the casino in the first three days!

All poker fans and dreamers who wish to win millions in the game; here is an inspirational story for you! How about becoming a millionaire at 23? Well I am not talking about hereditary property and millionaire sons of millionaire dads! I am talking about someone who loves to play poker and get a chance to win millions in a tournament! It would be something amazing that you won’t be able to describe in words, right?

Something similar happened to this young fellow from Australia, the 23-yr-old Tyron Krost. Luckily he didn’t go mad! This guy has won the 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. He will have the luck to take back $2 million to his bank account. This Sydneysider, the real gem, competed against 745 competitors where some of the finest poker players came to participate. But he dared to take out the $2,000,000 first prize in the event and proved that you can too dream big and there is possibility to win. So, what say you all guys, should we not try and try again? Who knows the next number could be mine or yours!

The 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event saw nearly 745 participants and all whittled down to last 8 to play for the top prize. It was during 3.30 am during Saturday morning, this fellow got the morning cheers of, “Aussie, Aussie & Aussie” that echoed throughout the room and Krost was all red with this eyes half brimming due to some kind of unbelievable astonishment to his luck!

Krost belongs to Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and he eliminated Frederick Jensen to become the new Poker Millionaire. He is an ex-Moriah student and at present works for his family’s business of furniture. During his interview with J-Wire he narrated, “I have played against many of the world’s famous players on line but never at the table. I really was in awe of Annette Obrestad but was lucky enough to have her sitting on my left so I was ahead of her in the call.”

This is not the first win for this champ. Before this event Krost had won $35,000 in poker! This proves that guys you need to be consistent and you cannot directly dream to win something very big! It will come with small beginnings. When he was asked about his feelings for the AUD $2 million he replied, “It’s incredible. No words can describe it. The cards need to go for you…and they did.”

The 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event was held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. The marathon series of Krost lasted for 13 hours at the Final Table before making him the new poker king. Frederik Jensen, the Danish master of pokers also played a wonderful game and he could outplay others to bust out in second place winning AUD$1.1 million.

Guys, expect that this success story of Krost inspires us more to concentrate on the game and wish some luck to have good cards in the game too.