This Week in Gambling

iGaming Business – Online payments provider Optimal Payments has entered into a partnership with the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in New Jersey provide its NETELLER service to the operator’s online gambling customers. Under the deal, the NETELLER service will be available to customers of the BorgataCasino.com, BorgataPoker.com and nj.partypoker.com websites. Users will be able to access their funds through their NETELLER and NET+ Card account, which Optimal Payments said can be used worldwide both online and at point-of-sale. “With Optimal Payments’ NETELLER service, we can increase conversions while delivering an enhanced customer experience, securely and confidently,” Borgata Hotel Casino…

Russian authorities have updated the country’s Internet blacklist nearly 600 different websites, including online poker sites, in an operation that some consider to be the first step of a major crackdown on online gambling. With a standard procedure that is usually adopted for censoring websites promoting child pornography and illegal drugs, on March 21, Russia’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocked access to a large number of online gambling sites including international giants like PokerStars, partypoker, Unibet and Titan Poker. “The request came straight from the prosecutor office,” said Maxim Ksenzov, the deputy head of Russia’s federal telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor, when…

Malta Today – Dragonara Gaming Limited, the operator of the foremost casino in Malta, and Poker Travel Israel, one of the leading international poker group travel operators, have signed a long-term collaboration agreement through which poker and casino players from Israel and Central Europe will be visiting the Dragonara Casino to participate in various organized events. The collaboration between Dragonara and Poker Travel started earlier last year and has already seen hundreds of players from Israel visiting Malta, especially during the tourism shoulder months. The collaboration will now be extended for players from central Europe as special ‘travel’ packages have…

Spy Ghana – Dr Charles Dwamena New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Caucus NPP China, Japan and Korea alling for the recall of Ghana’s Ambassador to Japan, HE Edmound Kofi Agbenutse. According to him, the Ambassador’s conducts are public humiliation to Ghana. “According to the Tokyo Police and media reports, Ambassador Agbenutse who’s lavish livelihood is catered for by Ghanaian tax payers, has been using his position as the president’s representative to Japan to support illegal Baccarat gambling by making available his residence located at Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward to illegal Japanese Baccarat gamblers whiles providing these gamblers with…

Lehigh Valley Live – Pennsylvania cut heavily into New Jersey’s gambling revenues with the opening of its own casinos over the last 7 1/2 years. In November, New Jersey struck back with the introduction of online gambling. Pennsylvania casinos in the eastern part of the state — including Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem — get a significant portion of their business from New Jersey residents. But have the four months of online gambling in New Jersey cut into Pennsylvania’s profits? Officials say it’s too early to tell. Pennsylvania gaming revenues have been largely on the decline since New Jersey’s online gambling…

Card Player – There are currently two bills on the table that could bring online poker to California and obviously, PokerStars wants in. California has a population of 38 million, roughly 14 times that of Nevada. With a state by state patchwork of online poker legislation in the works, the Golden State is one of the most sought after markets in the country. The site has reportedly entered negotiations with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, who operate the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon. While the Morongos may be the best way to get PokerStars’ foot in the…