pokerDialog Blog

Next year poker amateur players in the US will be able to watch a new poker-themed TV program on the MyTV network and have a chance to win up to one million dollars in cash. Mike Sexton will host the show named Shuffle Up and Deal.

MyTV network, already available in over 50 million homes across the US, has already taped 13 thirty-minute episodes of the program where five amateur poker players choose their cards from an electronic board that the audience can see. Turning the cards contestants either get closer or further from the goal – to finish with the highest cash winning for the episode. Episode winners get a bonus round and later on compete for a progressive jackpot starting at $250,000 and increasing by $10,000 for each unhit episode.

In addition to that, Shuffle Up and Deal will also feature an interactive Follow The Ace segment in which players will participate for a chance to win $10,000.

The leading financial newspaper The Financial Times concludes that the scenario for online gambling looks good, especially in Europe. The opinion of the newspaper is based on the interviews with some top executives in the online gaming industry whose optimism is based on the more open policies carried out by many governments and increasing penetration of broadband services, particularly in the countries where it is low now.

Significant changes in Europe will take place within the following two-three years and the growth is believed to be driven by the consolidation of operators in the online gaming industry.

Introduction of new technologies and products like real time betting, sports betting products and gambling through mobile phones is another reason for the growth of the online gambling industry.

However, according to The Financial Times, the USA and China may remain difficult sectors for online gambling.

Leaks of private information from online casinos are a major concern in the industry now.

Some people claim online casinos sell players’ information to outside parties. However, there is much information in the industry indicating that employees within online casinos download the information and sell it to the third parties while online casinos actually stay unaware of the leaks.
Players gambling online at some of the top online casinos and internet gambling sites are guaranteed that their personal information is secure. In this vew, with employees stealing this information and selling to the third parties the whole idea of security systems seems to be ironic.

So far, there seems to be no way out, but strict and proper regulations for the online casino gambling industry.

Source : Poker Tube

Back in 2006 the US government has proclaimed act banning online companies and the services they provide and nowadays most of the planned events are looking at that legislative stone to regulate their own situations. The same situation with online gambling ban faces Australia with its gambling law from 2001. Online companies cannot offer gambling for real money, though hundreds of online companies continue to provide gambling services for millions of online gamblers.

Australian Productivity Commission has given the law another thought and recommends that online gambling should be legalized with corresponding tax obligation. The 1999 inquiry has been updated and new draft is being analyzed at the moment. The main issue that they face at the moment is that Poker constitutes only 4% of all gambling and there should be a way of controlling al the gambling facilities online.

The draft is expected to be completed and brought for the signature by the end of February 2010. Before handing over the paper with updated Act the Commission will once again gather all the information with feedback and numbers to make sure that there is no mistake and that most part of all the interested people agrees with it.

The situation will most probably be similar to the Italian solution where the government forced all world gambling companies to obtain corresponding domen name to be valid on the territory of the country. A bright example can be Party Poker, which obtained domen name in the “.it” zone. In this case the Poker giant doesn’t have to buy an office in Italy to legalize its services.

It was Tuesday morning when all the players were involved in a small tournament in the Fire Department when three armed men rushed into the premises and ordered everyone to lie on the floor. Police Chief investigates the robbery and supposes that this was an inner job as witnesses saw a person who was nervous most part of the evening and made frequent phone calls. He then left the building and possibly leaving the door open let the robbers in. He is suspected in cooperation with the robbers. When the three criminals were inside they addressed Sara Lazzarro with request to hand them the money. The reply was that she had no money and one of the three men hit the woman in the head several times. She was taken to the hospital once the robbers left. They searched her and took approximately $6k along.

Police chief says that they intentionally asked for Sara it means that they new who had the money. Police is currently looking for the person with the cell phone as the main suspect. The first thing what they plan to do is to find his cell phone and check the history of phone calls.

Gambling will now be banned in the Fire Dept because of the accident as it now considers to be bringing negative consequences.