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…

Poker News – Sweden’s authorities have indicted 10 people for what the Värmlands District Court described as a “major fraud case” involving an online poker scandal which occurred between 2007 and 2011. The incident supposedly involved a large number of players active on Sweden’s gambling company Svenska Spel and a number of other operators. According to a statement released on Wednesday by Sweden’s online gambling regulator Lotteriinspektionen, between 2007 and 2011 the 10 people involved in the court case gained unauthorized access to the operators’ databases and collected a large number of players’ personal data such as email addresses, password…

Poker News – According to a new report released by France’s online gaming regulator ARJEL, the country’s online poker regulated market has continued to decline despite tournament poker showing positive results. The negative trend that France’s online poker industry began experiencing in 2011 isn’t showing signs of recovery in 2014, as the number of active accounts in the first quarter of the year is 12% smaller than 2013. The decline in numbers is estimated to cost operators a 10% of their turnover. According to ARJEL’s report, bets at cash game tables fell by 19% during the first three months of…

Press of Atlantic City – More than 2,100 people who played in a poker tournament where fake chips were discovered will see a refund from Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. After a three-month investigation, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement issued an order Monday, allowing $1.7 million in prize money and refunds to be distributed to almost half of the people who entered the January contest. The investigation found that Borgata properly monitored the tournament and was not at fault. Meanwhile, officials acknowledged that the scam still may lead to other regulatory changes. Unprompted by regulators, Borgata has already…