Amaya shareholders have voted in favour of a proposal to rebrand the company as ’The Stars Group’. Announced last month alongside its first-quarter results, the new name required approval from shareholders in order for the firm to push ahead with plans. Amaya has now said that it expects the name to come into effect from August of this year and will coincide with the relocation of its head office to a new site in the Canadian city of Toronto. Meanwhile, shareholders at the firm’s AGM also voted to approve continuance under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), with Amaya to become…

Those hoping that New York will legalize online poker this year shouldn’t bet on it. Though the Senate recently passed the bill, Assembly Democrats, who discussed the issue behind closed doors last week, are not expected to take it up before the legislative session’s scheduled end Wednesday. “There was some opposition; we’ll pick it up next year more than likely,” said bill sponsor Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester County). More at New York Daily News

A bill that could lead to the legalisation of online poker in the US state of New York has been amended to include reference to so-called ‘bad actors’. Put forward by State Senator John Bonacic, Senate Bill S3898 has already been approved by the New York Senate Finance Committee and will soon go to a full vote at the State Senate. However, prior to the third and final reading of the bill before the full Senate vote, it was decided to amended the bill with the addition of a bad actor clause. The term, which has also been included in…

On Tuesday the New York Senate Finance Committee passed Sen. John Bonacic’s online poker bill, S 3898. The committee passed by a voice vote without debate or discussion. The bill now advances to the full Senate for consideration. Two Senate committees passed the proposal this year. The Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee Bonacic chairs unanimously approved the bill back in February. The Senate’s budget also included online poker before the New York Assembly stripped it out. New York’s online poker’s chances have been tough to handicap over the past two years. Last year, supporters of legal online poker were…

Nevada poker revenue held steady in March, despite a meaningful decline in the total number of poker rooms and tables compared to 2016, according to Nevada gaming regulators. While poker rooms in Nevada may be shrinking in number and size, they also appear to be becoming more efficient. In March 2016, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported 71 total poker rooms and 655 poker tables in the state. This year, the number of poker rooms dipped to 66 (a seven-percent decline) with total tables falling even further, down to 596 (a nine percent drop). Over a long timeframe, the decline…

The matter of advancement of AI poker (or artificial intelligence) is one that has long been an exciting topic for tech engineers and enthusiasts. Furthermore, in recent times, we have actually started to witness real developments in this field, making AI a reality instead of a science fiction fantasy. AI has been pitted against human intelligence in a number of different tasks, situations and games to find out how it will react to these challenges, with one of the latest examples of this testing being a game of poker in which AI was playing against human beings. Earlier this year,…