Forbes – The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has suspended the review of PokerStars’ application for an online gambling license for two years, locking the world’s biggest online poker company out of the largest state to regulate online gambling. The decision is a big setback for PokerStars’ effort to return to the U.S. market, but New Jersey regulators are leaving the door open to reconsidering PokerStars’ application under certain circumstances. “The Division of Gaming Enforcement has determined that the application of Rational Services Limited (PokerStars) casino service industry licensure (CSIE) will be held in a suspended status for a…

ABC News – Organizations and advocates on all sides of the online gambling debate are cheering a Congressional hearing on the state of online gambling. The hearing took place Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. In his testimony, American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman praised the hearing as timely. He said the gambling lobby appreciated Congress’ leadership. The Gaming Association is pushing for a national regulatory structure for online gambling. On the other side of the spectrum, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling applauded Congress for “taking seriously the threat of Internet gambling” The coalition said…

iGaming Business – Online payment processor Skrill is to exit the Canadian online gaming market after confirming in an email to customers that it is to cease processing gambling payments in the country at the start of 2014. The email stated that payments to gambling merchants would no longer be processed from January 2, while payments from merchants will be halted on January 31. The firm said that it will be notifying active gamblers of the decision next week and will communicate this to its broader Canadian customer base. Skrill advised customers to “liaise with appropriate departments within your business…

iGaming Business – The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has highlighted the need for guidance in the app industry to protect consumers following a recent sweep of more than 350 app games in the Google Play and Apple App Stores. The ACCC discovered in its sweep that many ‘free’ games that appeal to children were not accompanied with ‘adequate disclosure’ about costs associated with app-based games. In addition, the ACCC found that less than 20% of children’s ‘free’ game apps across both platforms included information about how to restrict devices to prevent inadvertent in-app purchases. The sweep also highlighted the…

DoubleDown is opening up its metrics on social casino games, a bit. Today, it will disseminate a “social casino index” based on the game play data of six million monthly active users, showing where and how people play its games. For the most part, the report is just a science-y way of flaunting DoubleDown’s reach (and the company doubtless knows that trend-minded reporters are suckers for this sort of stuff). But John Clelland, global marketing VP at DoubleDown’s parent company, IGT, correctly highlighted one surprising factoid from the index. “We had this belief that men would make the highest bets,”…

iGaming Business – The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has released its first corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, which it said will serve as a ‘baseline measure’ of its efforts in various areas of social responsibility in the Canadian province of Ontario. The new report will replace various other methods OLG previously used to report social responsibility, which included a number of different progress and metric reports. OLG will use the new report to address responsible and problem gambling, earning and retaining customers’ trust, supporting staff in communities, strengthening communities, and reducing its overall impact on the environment. “Each…