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” —…

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…

An Orange County lawmaker has introduced legislation that, if passed, would legalize certain legalize internet poker, but only types of online poker games that are deemed to be contests of skill rather than luck. Currently, online poker is considered a game of luck and is illegal in New York state. The bill seeks to “amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law and the penal law, in relation to allowing certain interactive poker games.” According to the language of the bill, New York would authorize 10 online poker licenses. The licenses would come with a $10 million price tag and…

Poker News – Sheldon Adelson’s opposition increased this week, as the North American Association of State & Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) issued a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, contesting his proposed federal ban on online poker. “Our Association believes, and is on record, that all gaming should be left up to the individual states to determine the games that are offered, as well as the manner in which they are being delivered to their customers,” writes NASPL Executive Director David Gale. “This is, and has always been, a state’s right to make these decisions as they relate to gaming within its…

Poker News – As the Greek Organization of Football Prognostics (OPAP) announced its decision to focus on the creation of a new online sports betting platform in cooperation with GTECH, the risk of Greece running the next online poker monopoly in Europe is now considerably thinner. Although many thought Greece’s government could opt to close its market to international operators in 2014 and put a brand new monopoly in OPAP’s hands, the decision to focus on sports betting and not on poker is a game changer that is going to keep the country’s market open for a while longer. Even…

Las Vegas Review Journal – Nearly a year after the launch of real money online poker in Nevada, there’s a new wave of players who must pay taxes on Web poker winnings from 2013. In the years before regulated online gambling, offshore sites that skirted the law to attract U.S. players may not have cooperated with the Internal Revenue Service. But the legislation passed in Nevada and two other states means that the IRS has the means to easily trace online winnings. Nevada’s first regulated real money site, UltimatePoker.com, launched in April 2013, and WSOP.com followed later in the year….