Spokesman – The Coeur d’Alene Casino is ready to shuffle up and deal. The casino is advertising a May 2 opening date for its new poker room, with executives saying that Idaho’s constitutional ban on poker games doesn’t apply to the tribal-owned casino. But the Idaho Lottery Commission has different views, setting up a potential showdown over the casino’s six poker tables. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe plans to offer Texas Hold ’Em and Omaha at the casino. Those are card games of skill with players competing against each other for stakes and no house bank involved, said Helo Hancock, the tribe’s legislative director. The…

Card Player – Deutsche Bank is in talks with potential buyers of the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip, Bloomberg reported this week. The bank has owned the property for a handful of years. Germany’s largest bank could be looking for more than $2 billion for the casino, hotel and resort, and has attracted at least four possible bidders, the report said. The property’s actual value could be around $1.5 billion. According to the report, the complex “cost more than $3.9 billion to build and has never turned a profit…The Cosmopolitan reported 2013 earnings—before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—of $103…

iGaming Business – French online betting and gaming operator PMU has reported that despite a year-on-year drop in sales during the first quarter of 2014, its activity in the period was “in line with expectations”. The operator reported total sales of €2.6 billion ($3.6 billion) for Q1 of 2014, a decrease of 3.4% on the previous year. PMU’s horseracing business suffered the most with an overall drop of 4.5% in sales to €2.4 billion. French horseracing sales fell 7.4% to €2.2 billion in the quarter but this was slightly offset by a 45.6% jump to €192.1 million in international sales….

Legal US Poker Sites – The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland state legislators passed a bill on April 4 which would fine gamblers under 21 caught playing in a land-based casino. For the bill to become official, the bill will have to be signed by Governor Martin O’Malley. The bill is endorsed by Maryland casino operators, due to the deterrent factor provided by the fines and penalties for those who break the law. Prior to the bill’s passage, underage gamblers had no discouragement besides being thrown out of the casino, while the casino itself faced its own stiff fines. The…

Atari games will soon be partnered with gambling and lottery game developer Pariplay to bring the former’s classic video game brands to real-money gambling formats, the companies announced. Atari game brands — including Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong and Tempest — will be brought to Pariplay’s iLottery and iGaming platforms as well as its mobile and social online formats. Atari-branded lottery games will also be distributed through Pariplay’s network to third-parties who will use these games on their websites. “Atari was a pioneer in the interactive entertainment space, having built tremendous brand equity through their rich suite of beloved brands,”…

NJ Spotlight – As Atlantic City’s “Do AC” campaign enters its second year, the Atlantic City Alliance, a casino-funded marketing group, is refocusing its message, promoting specific events it hopes will pull in more tourists rather than emphasizing AC as a clean and safe place to visit. Atlantic City, meanwhile, is still struggling to find its feet. Entertainment and food revenue leveled off in 2013, according to the ACA’s 2014 report, after increasing for the previous four years. Casinos continued to lose money, although at a slower rate. And 2013 revenue was flat, or at least posted a very modest…