Poker News – If Spain and Italy thought shared liquidity was already a done deal, the latest news coming from the French National Assembly is going to be a the game changer nobody wanted. “We should simply realize that poker is a little out of fashion today,” said the Rapporteur of the Committee on Economic Affairs Razzy Hammadi on Wednesday to the French National Assembly while explaining his negative opinion about an amendment to the current gambling law which would open European shared liquidity. “I am against [European shared liquidity] as it would turn online poker into an uncontrollable ogre…

Reason – The Wall Street Journal reports that if fully legalized, by 2020 online gambling will generate the same amount of revenue as Las Vegas and Atlantic City combined: $9.3 billion. While online gambling can be made legal at the state level, Congress is considering several bills to legalize it nationwide. The latest Reason-Rupe pollfinds that a solid majority (65 percent) of Americans favor legalizing online gambling, while 32 percent think government should prohibit people from gambling in online poker games. Majorities of all partisans favor allowing Americans to play online poker, but independents who lean Republican were even more likely to favor (75…

Global Tax News – In the autumn of 2000 the Maltese government passed legislation enabling online betting centres to be set up in the country, and this legislation, coupled with provisions from the Income Tax Act written specifically for international companies, made Malta an attractive location for casino and sportsbook operations. Malta became the first EU member state to regulate internet gaming in May 2004 with its Remote Gaming Regulations under the Lotteries and Other Games Act 2001. A large number of companies from around the world expressed interest in Malta, including Stanley Leisure, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Unibet,…

Philly.com – New Jersey casinos added 20,000 Internet gambling accounts last week. The state’s Gaming Enforcement Division said Monday that 91,531 accounts had been created as of Sunday. The number of individual gamblers who have played so far has yet to be determined, though, as some users have created accounts with multiple gambling websites in New Jersey. Internet gambling began with a five-day trial period on Nov. 21 and launched publicly on Nov. 25. Seven casinos are offering online gambling, the most recent being the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, which began on Saturday. The others are the Borgata Hotel Casino…

Poker Update – Last Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing at which U.S. lawmakers looked at Rep. Joe Barton’s Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2013 has allowed the federal proposal to gain a certain degree of newfound respect. It’s a respect that had perhaps been missing when the Texas Republican first introduced H.R. 2666 in July. Rep. Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) indicated as much when he stated near the end of the hearing that he and some of his colleagues were not enamored of the bill upon their first reading over the summer. Terry jokingly said that lawmakers were of the mind that Barton’s…

The Golden Nugget Atlantic City has received final approval for online gambling in New Jersey. The land-based casino had deployed its GoldenNuggetCasino.com domain on a soft launch basis, but has now received full approval from regulator to launch a full service. The casino claims its website will feature the highest number of online games in the state with over 77 online slots, video poker and table games on offer from gaming specialists Amaya Gaming, Bally Technologies, IGT and SHFL Entertainment. As well as slot machines from traditional casinos, additional games that are not yet currently on the casino floor will…