Online poker legislation has become a perennial event in California, with efforts stretching back some 10 years. Despite a decade of debate, the state still seems far away from getting a bill across the finish line. But that doesn’t mean lawmakers won’t try. California Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer introduced the state’s latest online poker legislative effort, the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act, which seeks to legalize and regulate online poker in the Golden State. Jones-Sawyer’s bill (AB 1677) would allow approved tribes and card rooms to offer online poker to anyone over the age of 21 located in the state of…

Thursday was not a particularly fun day for partypoker customers in the Czech Republic. Envisioning a fun – and hopefully profitable – session of online poker, players logged into their accounts only to find out that they are no longer allowed to play. Fortunately, it was not because of anything they did wrong, but because partypoker is withdrawing, at least temporarily, from the Czech market in response to the recent changes in the country’s gambling laws. It was Czech poker site PokerArena that first shined a light on the issue yesterday, posting a screenshot of the message players were greeted…

New Jersey online gambling regulators have issued a PokerStars fine of $25k for failing to ensure that out-of-state players couldn’t play on PokerStars New Jersey site. The fine was issued to Canada’s Amaya Gaming, who own PokerStars. On Wednesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) published a January 20 decision detailing how a “software flaw” enabled out-of-state patrons to gamble at PokerStarsNJ.com, in violation of the DGE’s strict intrastate gambling rules. The DGE said its investigation had revealed that “a limited number” of patrons had been allowed to wager while outside New Jersey’s borders “for a short period…

PokerStars has become the first online gambling operator to obtain a live games licence in the Czech Republic. The Amaya-owned company is expected to utilise the licence to launch a website in the country within the next few days, with Czech-based players able to access services via PokerStars.cz. Punters in the country will be able to access PokerStars’ established online poker games, as well as various internet casino titles such as blackjack and roulette. Online gaming has been legal in the Czech Republic since 2009, but legislation had restricted the market to domestic operators only. More at iGaming Business

The World Series of Poker has announced its schedule for 2017. It will begin on May 31 and run through until July 18, with 74 total events making this one of the busiest WSOP schedules ever. Naturally, most events are returning. The recurring events include the Millionaire Maker, the Monster Stack, the Little One For One Drop and both the Ladies’ and Seniors’ events. The $10,000 Main Event will begin on July 8, running for 10 days. Among other changes, $10,000 events will start players with 50,000 chips. Last year was a record-breaking one for the WSOP, with 107,833 total…

New York State Senator John Bonacic has reintroduced his online poker bill that was passed by the Senate last year. The bill, S 3898, was introduced on Jan. 27 and referred to the New York Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee. The committee is chaired by Bonacic. The bill is expected to sail through the Senate – it passed by a 53-5 margin in 2016. However, the Assembly will be a different story, as I detailed in this column. S 3898 would legalize online poker in the state of New York by classifying certain forms of poker as games of…