Friday marked the official end for California’s online poker hopes in 2015, though it had been known for many weeks that the Golden State’s chances were essentially zero. The 2015 California legislative session ended on Sept. 11 with no consensus being reached by tribal groups, card clubs, racetracks and outside firms looking to get in on the most lucrative online poker market in the country. Amaya Gaming Group, owner of PokerStars, has been pushing hard in 2015, even sending some of its top pros to Sacramento to advocate for regulation, but to no avail. Tribal gaming is a $28.5 billion…

If New York opens the door to legalized online poker, there will be no shortage of gambling interests trying to get a piece of the action. Representatives from Caesars, MGM Resorts International and the state’s racetrack casinos were among those who testified Wednesday at a state Senate hearing on the future of Internet poker in New York, where it’s currently illegal. At various points, the individual gambling interests made the case — some subtly, others directly — that they’d be best-suited to hold an online-poker license should the game be legalized in the state, a step that’s far from certain….

Brazil has a long and complicated history when it comes to gambling in general and poker in particular. The latest development, according to an article published on CardsChat*, the country has passed a law banning the playing of online poker in public. Anyone caught using their mobile device to access an online poker site while in a public space now faces a stiff fine and, in certain cases, potentially a short jail sentence. At first glance, it may seems surprising that the Brazilian government would clamp down in this way, given that the overall trend seems to have been towards…

Efforts to legalize real-money online poker in California this year are likely dead, but that doesn’t mean stakeholders in a future industry there aren’t already gearing up for the long road ahead next year and possibly beyond. The most recent firm to form a partnership for online poker in the Golden State was Louisville-based Churchill Downs, according to a Thursday report from The Courier-Journal. The deal is with Crystal Casino & Hotel in Los Angeles and Ocean’s 11 in Oceanside, which are under the same ownership. The partnership means the groups would work together to bring a poker site to…

Over the weekend, the PokerStars Pro Tour concluded with its final four events. The last stop took place atTurlock Poker Room & Casino in Turlock, California, and another large turnout of support took place. Fans, poker players, and media members from around the Central Valley region flocked to the room, hoping to get the chance to meet with Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst. As previously mentioned, the PokerStars Pro Tour has been running since the middle of July, promoting awareness and support for legally, regulated online poker in the state. That’s something Mario Alvarez, Director of Casino Relations at Turlock…

PartyPoker, the online poker brand of bwin.party, has announced that players withdrawing funds via most banking options will no longer face processing fees. Customers withdrawing funds via popular banking methods such as Mastercard, Visa and PayPal were previously faced with processing fees. However, writing on the PartyPoker blog, director of games Golan Shaked said that after listening to feedback from players, the operator will halt these fees. “When we started our ‘Poker for the People’ campaign, withdrawal fees and our loyalty store were the two hottest topics raised at our live player forums,” Shaked said. “Our poker team has been…

Online poker operator 888 Group believes it is still at the table in the battle for the online gaming company Bwin.party. 888 Poker runs a popular website as well as online casino gaming, has arranged a meeting with Bwin this week. The move comes despite Bwin’s board declaring last week that a rival offer from GVC and Canadian poker giant Amaya was its preferred option. After that announcement, GVC chief executive Kenny Alexander, told City A.M. he was “just days away” from completing the deal. A spokesperson for GVC yesterday downplayed the challenge from 888, telling City A.M.: “We have…

On July 8th, just before the 2015 WSOP, it was reported in Las Vegas that last years Main Event World Series of Poker winner will not have the chance to defend his title this year, but there is no shortage of pro poker players and some celebrities that will be trying to win the $7.68 million top prize. There were 4,371 card players in total that were still in the no limit Texas Hold’em tournament at the beginning of the second session on Wednesday. The tournament officials declared that the prize pool of $60.3 million would be split between the…