Online Poker

Despite federal and state bans on online poker, as many as 1 million Californians spend a total of about $300 million annually playing the game - typically on websites based outside the country. Lawmakers have been debating for more than four years whether to create a legal outlet for these players but have been stymied by opposition from powerful Indian gambling interests. Those forces appear to have scuttled a new proposal by state Sens. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) and Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento)

Poker fanatics in Nevada now have an online play-from-home option to gamble.  The first legal online poker website launched Tuesday in the Silver State, home to the casino city of Las Vegas. The site, UltimatePoker.com , went up just two months after the cash-strapped state legalized online poker. PHOTOS: The strangest business sponsorships Nevada had been racing to beat New Jersey, which also legalized online gambling, in implementing wagering websites.

Re "Regulating online poker," Editorial, June 19 State Sens. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Rod Wright (D-Inglewood) deserve praise for their legislation to address online poker fraud. The 60 tribes and card rooms of the California Online Poker Assn., or COPA, have been working with legislators to authorize safe and secure online poker that generates new state revenue. COPA supports legislation that ensures technology vendors cannot exert financial control over state licensees acting as "false fronts," thereby weakening California's gaming regulations.

Already home to a major gaming industry, Nevada is preparing to take its expertise online after officials rapidly approved a law to become the first state in the nation to authorize what could become one of the most lucrative gambling markets still to be tapped. At the bill signing held in the same Capitol room where lawmakers legalized gambling some 80 years ago, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval formally put his signature to the law Thursday. By quickly moving the bill through the Legislature, Nevada gets ahead of rival New Jersey in the race to win the first slot in the online poker business, where billions of dollars are being wagered domestically and tens of billions of dollars are bet from around the world.

I got dealt some pretty bad hands in the last few days by forces far out of my control. I awoke April 15 to find that the feds had indicted 11 executives on multiple felony charges, including bank fraud and money laundering, at the three top sites in America's online poker market and seized their Web domains. If you logged on to Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars, you got to look at the shiny logo of the FBI. I like to play the 50-cent minimum, no-limit game on Full Tilt, and that's what I saw that Friday instead of direct access to the $216.

Already home to a major gaming industry, Nevada is preparing to take its expertise online after officials rapidly approved a law to become the first state in the nation to authorize what could become one of the most lucrative gambling markets still to be tapped. At the bill signing held in the same Capitol room where lawmakers legalized gambling some 80 years ago, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval formally put his signature to the law Thursday. By quickly moving the bill through the Legislature, Nevada gets ahead of rival New Jersey in the race to win the first slot in the online poker business, where billions of dollars are being wagered domestically and tens of billions of dollars are bet from around the world.

The often stop-and-go efforts to legalize online poker in the United States gained some steam in Nevada this week, as state lawmakers began considering legislation on the issue, a casino company joined the world's top online poker website in a push for federal action, and gambling regulators for the first time approved a plan by the world's largest casino company to offer online wagering overseas. On Thursday, Nevada gambling regulators approved a business relationship between Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Bradley Franzen, one of 11 executives charged in a crackdown against the three largest online poker sites open to U.S. players, has pleaded not guilty. Franzen, 41 and from Illinois, was released on $200,000 in bail after turning himself in to the FBI on Monday in New York. The 11 executives — three of whom were the respective founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker — were charged Friday with bank fraud, money laundering and violating gambling laws. The government also sought to recover $3 billion from the companies.

Who wants to bet that the recent federal crackdown on Internet poker sites won't stop Americans from playing poker online for money? Federal agents seized the websites of three of the world's most popular online poker companies Friday, indicted 11 of their executives and associates, and filed a lawsuit seeking at least $3 billion in penalties. It was the most extensive enforcement action taken by the government since Congress enacted a law in 2006 to prohibit banks, credit-card companies and others in the financial industry from processing online gambling transactions.

Two online poker sites shut down by the federal government last week have been permitted to start up again, but only to help players get their money back, authorities said. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars regained access to their domain names after striking agreements with the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, which Friday accused founders of the sites of bank and wire fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. The agreements prohibit the sites from allowing patrons in the U.S. to play for money on the venues.

As president of a company that just came out with a game on Facebook called "Sports Casino," Matthew Cullen is surprisingly OK with the prospect that the U.S. is not likely to see legalized online gambling anytime soon. Cullen's company, RocketPlay does, however, has put money on the odds that sports betting will be very popular on Facebook and other social platforms. That's because their game is free to play and involves betting with virtual currency, not the real kind. In many other respects, however, "Sports Casino" resembles many real-money online betting services that operate legally in the United Kingdom, where RocketPlay is based.

Two online poker websites accused of fraud and money laundering have reached a settlement under which customers will be reimbursed for the money they deposited with the sites. In a complicated deal, PokerStars, based on Britain's Isle of Man, agreed to acquire Full Tilt Poker and pay back Full Tilt Poker's customers. U.S. customers will be reimbursed from a $547-million government pool to be paid by PokerStars, while non-U.S. customers will be paid $184 million directly by PokerStars.

The world's largest Internet poker company, PokerStars, is settling with the government to the tune of $731 million more than a year after a crackdown on online gambling. And, in possibly the best part of the deal, the company is also buying former competitor Full Tilt Poker and paying back its customers, who were left locked out of their accounts after the site's U.S. operations were shut down last April . In the agreement with the Manhattan branch of the Department of Justice, PokerStars will forfeit $547 million to the government over three years.

Re "Polio may win this battle," June 27 Members of America's anti-vaccine movement now have like-minded allies in Pakistan's hard-line Taliban militants. But the conspiracy theory that members of the Pakistani Taliban based their decision on to end polio vaccines - that the CIA used a phony immunization program for spying - has some basis in fact. No one can say the same about the conspiracy theories offered in our country. Linda Williamson Granada Hills ALSO: Letters: A fair deal for online poker Letters: Historical ruling on healthcare Letters: Holder in contempt -- an attack by the NRA?

Re "Don't fear a PRI win," Opinion, June 24 Jorge G. Castañeda practically equates the likely triumph of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in Sunday's presidential election with the ultimate validation of the democratic achievements of the Mexican people. I view the PRI's return another way: the ultimate corroboration of how economic power can impose a candidate despite the democratic aspirations of the Mexican people. David Soto West Hills ALSO: Letters: Fighting polio in Pakistan Letters: A fair deal for online poker Letters: Historical ruling on healthcare  

Re "Regulating online poker," Editorial, June 19 State Sens. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Rod Wright (D-Inglewood) deserve praise for their legislation to address online poker fraud. The 60 tribes and card rooms of the California Online Poker Assn., or COPA, have been working with legislators to authorize safe and secure online poker that generates new state revenue. COPA supports legislation that ensures technology vendors cannot exert financial control over state licensees acting as "false fronts," thereby weakening California's gaming regulations.

With the nightclub Tao swathed in red and black, music pulsated and go-go dancers gyrated on raised platforms along the wall. The reserved signs, the felt on the billiard table and the models' Chinese-style dresses bore the same label: Bodog.com. The only thing missing was the online gambling site's flamboyant founder, 45-year-old Canadian Calvin Ayre, who was nowhere to be found.

A leading online poker company shut down by federal prosecutors is set to be bought by a group of European investors in a deal that could allow U.S. players to recover as much as $150 million. Full Tilt Poker was one of three online poker sites that had its American operations shut down on April 15 when the founders of all three sites were indicted on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and violating gambling laws. Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute Bet continued to operate outside the United States, though Wednesday, Full Tilt's international operations were suspended by regulators in the British Channel Islands.

Re "Holder loses some support," June 28 Regarding the vote to hold Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress: It's sad to think that a number of Democrats feel the need to kowtow to the National Rifle Assn. The NRA has morphed from an advocacy group for hunters into a radical mouthpiece for its largest benefactors, the gun manufacturers. Since the election of Barack Obama, the NRA has advanced the conspiracy theory that the president is somehow going to take away your guns, which coincidentally boosts gun sales.

Despite federal and state bans on online poker, as many as 1 million Californians spend a total of about $300 million annually playing the game - typically on websites based outside the country. Lawmakers have been debating for more than four years whether to create a legal outlet for these players but have been stymied by opposition from powerful Indian gambling interests. Those forces appear to have scuttled a new proposal by state Sens. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) and Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento)