Finnish company RAY and Austria’s win2day have agreed a deal to share cross-border poker liquidity on Playtech’s online poker-powered network. Under the agreement, which Playtech described as an industry-first, the two firms will launch a joint network using liquidity from both player bases, with customers of each brand able to access omni-channel poker products on the Playtech network. Playtech said the deal represents the first time that two regulated entities have joined forces to share cross-border poker liquidity. The Finnish Ministry of Interior has approved the liquidity sharing agreement, with RAY previously limited to offering its online poker service to…

A dozen politically powerful American Indian tribes are not likely to reach the consensus needed to move an online poker bill in the 2017 California legislative session, tribal officials said this week. A tribal/card room coalition with Amaya/PokerStars plans to again introduce legislation to legalize California online poker, Robert Martin, chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, told Online Poker Report Wednesday. But Martin, whose tribe is business partners with PokerStars, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and three Los Angeles area card rooms, is not optimistic other tribal governments will agree on bill language that will grant…

The popular perception of poker includes a strange contradiction of luminous casinos and darkened backrooms. In the seventies and eighties, it was either a game you played beneath bright casino lights, surrounded by strangers and croupiers, or one in the privacy of a friend’s living room on a Friday night. In either case, poker was somewhat an exclusive club of expert players, pros, and close-knit groups of friends and coworkers. The game didn’t really gain much traction with the wider public until the early nineties, when the internet became more accessible and events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP)…

In what has been a surprising move (considering how late in the legislative session the action comes and the lack of previous interest in the subject), Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has filed a bill on the Senate agenda that looks to be taking up the action of either banning online gaming and poker or putting some teeth into the law that is used against the industry, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. Cotton’s bill, which was filed on Friday afternoon, is S. 3376 and it has been filed with the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, meaning…

Amaya Gaming has announced that it is to make a series of changes to the VIP programme for its PokerStars brand. In an email to customers, Amaya said a new rewards programme will be launched at some point next year, with the updated system to cover all PokerStars products, including the BetStars sportsbook. All players will move to the programme, although customers will not be required to play any specific product to build up certain rewards. “You won’t be required to play on any specific product, but your activity on all products will help you progress on your path to…

Momentum to get online poker legalized and regulated within the state of California has fallen by the wayside thanks to the legislative session ending Wednesday. Yet again, poker players have to wait until next year. There was serious progress made in 2016, as California lawmakers figured out a way to appease the racing industry and the tribes on one front by giving the former a nearly $60 million annual subsidy in exchange for not being eligible for online poker licenses. That deal was hashed out early in the year. California’s tracks already offer online wagering, the only form of online…