Virginia Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) had lost count on how many times she watched her gambling related bills flew straight in the garbage bin. But last Monday’s Senate General Laws Committee hearing was different for Lucas after of her bills, which would allow organizations that hold bingo games to also poker games, had finally been transmitted to the full Senate. The Daily Press reported that Lucas’ Senate Bill 1400 has hurdled the Senate Committee, albeit by a hairline. Voting 8-7, the Senate Committee approved her poker bill, thanks in-part to Sen. William R. DeSteph Jr., R-Virginia Beach, who surprisingly joined…

As we all know, California is the golden snitch that the United States online poker world wants to catch, but also as we all know, there has been attempt after attempt after attempt to get online poker legalized and regulated there, always to no avail. Would New York be an acceptable consolation prize? Well, perhaps not for Californians or poker players in most of the rest of the country, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. According to GamblingCompliance, there will be another push to pass an online poker bill this year. There have been a number of false starts in getting…

NOTE: This is not an online poker bill. Senator Louise Lucas has submitted an amended gambling bill that seeks to admit poker as a game of skill, therefore bypassing antiquated gambling legislation in the state. f the state of Virginia ever wakes up to the possibility that gambling is not as dangerous as selling tobacco by the aircraft carrier load then, citizens will have Democratic Senator Louise Lucas to thank. For the third successive year, Lucas has submitted her annual ditty that would legalize a form of gambling in the Old Dominion and this time her focus is on poker….

While PokerNews has been unable to confirm the exact reason for the timing of this from 888poker, it is believed to be due to the proposed amendment to the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 that some expect to pass in Australia in the near future. If passed, the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 mandates that online gaming operators offering services to Australian residents secure local licenses or face steep fines as high as A$6.75 million ($5.05 million). Unlike gaming regimes in other countries, individuals can also face heavy punishment if the bill is passed, with fines up to A$1.35 million…

The world’s largest online poker discussion forum, TwoPlusTwo, has again seen its virtual defenses breached. The site’s operators have confirmed that the forum was hacked at some point late in 2016, with the personal data then being offered for sale elsewhere on the Internet. The hacking and theft of the personal information was discovered by prominent British poker pro Max Silver, who disclosed the probable leak on Twitter as well as on the TwoPlusTwo forum itself. Silver reported hearing about the leak from a friend. The hack included the theft of email addresses, IP addresses, birthday, last login date, registered…

Formerly the world’s No. 1 professional tennis player and six-time major singles winner, Boris Becker is the latest stellar name to sign with partypoker as a brand ambassador. The online poker site has been busy recruiting ambassadors and sponsored professionals of late as it looks to expand its reach into countries around the world. This year alone, partypoker has signed Patrick Leonard, Roberto Romanello, Sam Trickett, Natalia Breviglieri, Jackie Glazier, Beata Jambrik and Joao Simao as ambassadors or sponsored pros, joining the legendary Mike Sexton, Tony Dunst and four-time world champion boxer Carl Froch on partypoker’s books. Becker, who was…