Poker News – While Poland keeps its online poker market in the hands of “grey operators” by continuing to ban the game from the country, DLA Piper Anna Wietrzyńska-Ciołkowska told PokerNews that the country’s missed tax revenues due to gambling restrictions could be about PLN 600 million — approximately €142 million. Since 2011, Poland’s online gambling market has been regulated by the Polish Gambling Act, a very restrictive set of norms that forbids online poker and allows online betting only on four operators holding state-issued licenses. Yet, on March 25, 2014, amendments to the Polish Gambling Act made it possible…

This Week in Gambling – Robert Smith, Treasurer of the CTBA Board and Chairman of the Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, will testify at the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization, during their informational hearing on Internet poker. The iPoker hearing is set for Wednesday, April 23 at 1:30 pm, in State Capitol, Room 4202. The hearing, was called by AGO Chair Isadore Hall, III, to promote a better understanding of the iPoker issue.  Two bills, AB 2291 (Jones-Sawyer) and SB 1366 (Correa), have been introduced this year that would legalize Internet poker in California.  CTBA member tribes are part of…

Press of Atlantic City – After an 11-year stint in Las Vegas, a high buy-in poker tournament drawing players from as far away as South Africa and Korea has left Sin City for Atlantic City. The reason, organizers say, is the New Jersey’s budding online gambling market. The championship event of the World Poker Tour kicked off Monday at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Running concurrently with it is the first New Jersey Championship of Online Poker, now the largest online tournament ever held in the U.S. since the legalization of online gambling. The World Poker Tour event is sponsored…

NJ.com – For those looking to play a hand of poker, pull down on a slot machine or roll the dice from the confines of their own homes, it seems Hudson County might just be the place to do it. During the first 100 days of legal online gambling in New Jersey, three Hudson County cities ranked among the top 20 municipalities in the state in terms of usage on websites operated by Caesars Interactive, according to a study done by the company. Jersey City ranked No. 2 on the list, while Hoboken (No. 4) and Bayonne (No. 14) were…

North Jersey – On any given Sunday, Mike Azzaro — or mikeycasino, as he’s known online — will travel from his home in Yonkers, N.Y., to a Ramsey hotel room for the night. The reason is not glamorous, but it is profitable: Azzaro, 27, is a professional poker player. Of the online players who have signed up to play in New Jersey at PartyPoker.com, 15 percent don’t live in the state. You must be within New Jersey’s borders to play, but residency isn’t required. That so many out-of-state players are traveling to New Jersey — call it “poker tourism” —…

Spokesman – The Coeur d’Alene Casino is ready to shuffle up and deal. The casino is advertising a May 2 opening date for its new poker room, with executives saying that Idaho’s constitutional ban on poker games doesn’t apply to the tribal-owned casino. But the Idaho Lottery Commission has different views, setting up a potential showdown over the casino’s six poker tables. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe plans to offer Texas Hold ’Em and Omaha at the casino. Those are card games of skill with players competing against each other for stakes and no house bank involved, said Helo Hancock, the tribe’s legislative director. The…

Gambling 911 – Another 1000 US-based customers are set to receive payments from Full Tilt Poker by the end of May. A claims administrator appointed by the US Government approved refunding of $82 million to some 30,000 players back in January and another $5 million was sent out to some 2200 claimants this month, however, that was only a small portion of monies that have been owed since Full Tilt Poker was forced to flee the US market in April 2011 following an indictment. The US Department of Justice placed the Garden City Group in charge of paying out those…

Poker News – Last week, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City filed a lawsuit against Phil Ivey seeking reimbursement of $9.626 million in winnings he won at the baccarat table during four sessions back in 2012. The nearly 60-page complaint, which PokerNews recently obtained in full, alleges that Ivey used “edge sorting” — a technique where in which he was able to spot tiny variations in the pattern printed on the backs of the cards. The suit also names card manufacturer Gemaco Inc., which designed the cards, as well as Ivey’s partner, Cheng Yin Sun, who reportedly accompanied…