Well, I asked you to elaborate and you've really failed to do so, except with respect to PokerNews; so,

Now re PokerNews ....so what, what does PokerNews promoting Caesars' brand, even for payola, have to do with NJ licensing PokerStars or not. ? You never read Card Player, the ultimate pay for print mouthpiece of the online poker industry ?

Now, put up or shut up and provide something to support your "impression" or your "feeling" or some the basis for

(a) your posting your "impression" the NJ CCC is being paid to delay PStars' application, You saw too many Sopranos episodes or watched the Godfather too many times, perhaps ?


(b) your utter failure to substantiate that the PPA is anything other than a "friend" of players, (who likely would love to see a PokerStars beachhead established on the sands of Atlantic City).

You are calling the PPA a lobbying force in NJ for Caesars against Stars ? ... nope, no way, not the PPA, sorry. One time federal lobbying partners, yes ... but Caesars' whore in NJ, nope, no way.

Ultimately the outcome of PokerStars desire to purchase the Atlantic Club, Atlantic City, New Jersey will tell all. If you can't see that their competitors are working against PokerStars and not for them anything you think i'm trying to say isn't going to change your mind. If Julius Entertainment owns 4 out of the 12 casinos in Atlantic City and they're a prominent member of the American Gaming Association (AGA) once could easily conclude that they're anti-PokerStars due to the filing of a petition by the AGA to The New Jersey Casino Control Commission in an obvious effort to derail the wishes of PokerStars. Julius Entertainment attempted to sell the Rio All-Suite hotel and that "brand" to PokerStars in February 2013. Don't try to sell your assets to PokerStars and then when they refuse turn around and use the AGA to call them criminals and unworthy of a casino license in New Jersey. That wasn't a plot from a sopranos episode in the last sentence... IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! If you embrace the "brand" eagerly you're pretty much embracing their obtructionist actions as well. A better policy would have been to be stand-offish to the "brand" until the outcome of the purchase of the Atlantic Club by PokerStars was settled. We'll embrace the "brand" whole-heartedly because a monopolistic real money online poker operator is better than none at all! Pure BS! If Julius Entertainment was a courageous entity they would welcome competition, raise their own bar and compete readily in the real money online poker world! I'd much rather play with the best of the best rather than settle for second best that passes out compensation to megaphones as if their warchest was bottomless. If public perception means absolutely nothing just come right out and admit to it. No need to be concerned about such things if your "brand" is working behind the scenes to monopolize the market and thus deny consumers of any real choices. When you're a monopoly you can pretty much do whatever the f*ck you please because ... there are NO alternatives!

Tom- I noticed you never mentioned that the PPA could be a puppet group for Stars/FT considering 95%+ of their funding came from those 2 sites for years.

At first I honestly thought you were a shill for Pstars... but in hindsight this can't be possible as Pokerstars would hire someone with better debating abilities.

From a players perspective the more competition the better. The cream will rise to the top in the end.

Cliffs:

Tom_0309: CE is blatantly and obviously bribing the PPA, PokerNews and the NJ CCC in order to stop PokerStars from getting a license in NJ.

DQ: Where is your proof?

Tom_0309: PokerNews ran four news articles that all have links that go to CE promotions.

DQ: How does that prove that CE is bribing the PPA or the NJ CCC; and how does paying PokerNews (if they do) to promote CE stop POkerStars from getting a NJ license?

Tom_0309: CE owns 4 out of the 12 casinos in NJ. And you can see the fact that CE is opposing PokerStars in NJ through the AGA to keep out the competition.

------------------------------------------------------
Is it my imagination or does Tom never actually provide any facts (or even rumors) that prove his bribery theory?

that's why they told me to stick to gifs.

i'm also terrible at keeping secrets

Why do you find this unusual? Business is business - happens all the time. Right now Apple and Samsung are involved in a death-match of world-wide patent lawsuits. But Samsung still provides Apple with parts for the I-Phone.

So - nothing to see here in NJ. Move along.

Yes, clearly Caesars is opposed to the licensing of PokerStars in N.J. That is hardly some epiphany on your part and is widely recognized here and in the industry. (News flash, Caesars was behind the prior year's veto of online gaming legislation in NJ., the failed attempt to insert a "bad boy" provision in this year's NJ version signed into law, behind the bad boy provision in Reid 2.0 in 2010 -2012, and likely behind Nevada's insertion of a bad boy provision into its own gaming statute in 2013.)

Where you leap from there, to announcing widespread corruption by Caesars, smearing both the NJCCC and the PPA, is where you go seriously off the rails ....

(FWIW, MGM presents a more interesting, conflicted subject for watching. IF PStars gets a NJ B&M license, MGM seems a lock to get back into NJ as well. While one one level you understand that the AGA "petition" was a shot at Strs, likely pushed by Caesars, consider the collateral effect its filing may be intended by Caesars to have on MGM's attempted re-entry into a regulated market which no allows full online casino gaming.)

You also give too much credit to Caesars re the reported attempt by CIE to sell off the Rio, (which is an asset CIE doesn't even own). I suspect the right hand (the Caesars talkng to the AGA and playing politics) had no clue what the left hand (CIE, reportedly Mitch Garber) had attempted to start doing. Real miscommunication, in a very large organization, leads to some embarrasing moments.

The bottom line is that Caesars brand and presence is so strong, it really can overcome many misteps and cannot screw things up over the long term, even State-by-State. It looks a likely first-mover in Nevada and benefits in NJ even if PStars gets in, there is a reason why the shares spiked 14% upon siging of the NJ bill.

Does anyone know what the April 10th meeting was about? Can't find it anywhere so I'm assuming no pokerstars talk yet?

If anyone has info please post I can't find any updates in the news

This one?
http://www.nj.gov/casinos/meetings/

Yeah, I guess that's it. That's too bad that they didn't talk about Stars (at least I didn't see it mentioned.)

Hopefully May 15th...

"... the Communications office of the CCC has confirmed that the licensing deliberations take place in meetings open to the public..."

http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/...-pattern-12623

this is the important point. And what we are trying to avoid in the future.

see, http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/pr20080410b.html (investigation revealed everything that's wrong with unregulated, illegal gambling.)
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf...p_its_new.html ("Stanley Ho['s...] health has declined precipitously in the last three years")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U._S._v._Scheinberg_et_al.
(“You are an unreformed con man and fraudster”)

http://www.legalpokersites.com/blog/...-license/3797/

Pokerstars license application is complete.. there is now a 90 day window for the state to determine whether or not to approve pokerstars for the license.. if approved, pokerstars will be up and running in jersey by the end of the year!

You are jumping the gun a bit. The application pending is for an interim casino license, not an interactive gaming license. This is probably how it will go:

1. DGE reviews and makes a recommendation to the CGC on granting the interim casino license to PS. (90 days)
2. The CGC reviews the application and recommendation, and possibly the AGA input, and grants PS the interim license (maybe 2 months or more).
3. PS completes the purchase and ownership transition of the Atlantic Club (another month or two).
4. PS applies for a permanent casino license and CGC grants it (maybe 3 months).
5. PS applies for interactive gaming license. (Maybe at same time as #4.)
6. Once granted, PS starts to build the necessary infrastructure in NJ.

My guess for PS online going live in NJ - if all goes smoothly - about a year.

Assuming the interactive licensing goes smoothly, how/when can NJ make a move to join international play?

what the **** man i just want to play.. im sick of this bull**** with merge lol

New Jersey Clock Starts Ticking for Rational Group (PokerStars parent):

http://www.bluff.com/news/new-jersey...l-group-41146/

What i'd really like to know is how is it that regulatory gaming boards in Nevada and New Jersey haven't taken any American Gaming Association (AGA) members to task for trying to sell their assets to who they deemed a "criminal enterprise". I'm definitely not a lawyer but it has got to be a GROSS breach of gaming laws in either Nevada or New Jersey to attempt to sell your casino and/or assets to who you believe is a "criminal enterprise". Is it really within the ethical bounds of Nevada and New Jersey gaming regulators if you try to sell your casino and/or assets to SELECTED "criminal enterprises"? How can the AGA result in near diplomatic immunity for its members who attempt to sell their casino and/or assets to a "criminal enterprise"? It's as if they were attempting a sinister sting operation but only succeeded in making themselves implicit in a chargeable crime. It's one thing to joke about selling your company to a "criminal enterprise" but to actually attempt it in reality is no different in the rules of ethical conduct that's demanded by regulatory gaming boards? I find it hard to see who isn't a criminal here.

Dear Nevada and New Jersey regulatory gaming boards: an AGA member (Julius Entertainment) tried to sell their casino and/or assets to who they consider a "criminal enterprise" (PokerStars)... PLEASE INVESTIGATE THIS! http://www.pocketfives.com/articles/...t-down-588181/, http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanva...to-new-jersey/, http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/o...f95c305c0.html

It's completely laughable! You try to claim your gaming conglomerate as based on nothing but pure ethical regulatory adherance but yet try to sell your casino and/or assets to who you consider a "criminal enterprise". Who you consider a "criminal enterprise" has not been charged with any crime in a court of law but you BLATANTLY broke the gaming laws of Nevada and New Jersey by willingly attempting to sell your casino and/or assets to who you believe is a "criminal enterprise". Does the AGA really shield its members from prosecution of any and all crimes? Exactly which AGA members deem PokerStars a "criminal enterprise"? All current members or just some of them? Did any of the signing members of the AGA petition to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in regard to the Rational Group, Atlantic Club, license/purchase application try to sell their casino and/ or assets to who they consider a "criminal enterprise"? If so, which AGA members? The AGA produced a petition to the NJ CCC, signed as an entity but one of their members tried to sell their casino and/or assets to a "criminal enterprise". Their petition has lost any credibility due to just that fact... not a plot to a sopranos episode, it's actual fact! Everything will probably turn out well in the end but I have absolutely no love whatsoever for the unnecessary and hyper-hypocritical drama. Though it could all just be a clever marketing technique.

I especially loved that part.

I'm a New Jersey resident. I'm eagerly awaiting (this should be more than obvious to you by now) the swift return to port of PokerStars (though I really don't expect them to have the virtual cards in the air until July 2014, at the earliest), to not only New Jersey but to the entire United States and ROW (probably within 3-5 years) as well. I apologize to all who may have been negatively affected by my wake of anticipation. Perhaps the last minute completion of paperwork by the Rational Group in regard to their Atlantic Club, Atlantic City, New Jersey temporary license authorization application was to see whether or not the NJ CCC was going to place unsurmountable hurdles in their way via adopting the AGA petition as valid. I guess no news was good news? At least now there's a clear disclosed dateline as to the licensing process. If by some chance the AGA petition is adopted (within 90 days from 4/10/13) the only viable way of playing on PS would be to pack-up and move away from this alleged land of the free. Why? Because it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Rational Group were to, in face of an AGA petition adoption by the NJ CCC, flip the Atlantic Club, Atlantic City, New Jersey property to another buyer and pick up their marble bag and completely abandon the U.S. online real money poker market... never to be heard from again. Pure and simple: this is a litmus test as to whether or not PS will return to the U.S. market. Failure = Abandonment. The U.S. real money online poker market will be forced to adopt mediocrity (yes, your non-PS software f*cking sucks!) at the behest of "vested" interests. I can only hope that "U.S. free-market capitalism" is truly free. Otherwise, i'd better brush-up on the Canadian national anthem. Ooooooohhh... Canadaaaaa... land of the free!? Time truly will tell... tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. :P :|

If we can get I-582 passed in WA, Pokerstars can set up shop here without buying a casino.

"...In evaluating Rational’s petition, the DGE is required to file a report with the Casino Control Commission by July 9. The commission then has 30 days to hold a hearing and rule on whether Rational should receive interim casino authorization..."

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/c...9bb2963f4.html

If you file an application for an interim license to operate/purchase a casino in the state of New Jersey and your application is incomplete, the state of New Jersey doesn't extend the courtesy of notifying you that your application is incomplete and thus invalid? I'm under the delusional impression that Rational Holdings filed an interim NJ casino license/purchase application two months ago but was not informed by the NJ gaming authorities that their application was incomplete. In other words: Rational was under the impression that the regulatory clock was set in motion two months ago but unbeknownst to them, due to a lack of communication on part of NJ gaming boards, it wasn't ticking at all. The AGA petition wasn't considered because the application to which it was tied to wasn't even completed in full and was in effect non-existant. You can't consider a petition on an application that doesn't exist. AGA petition was shelved in last months March NJ CCC monthly meeting solely due to an incomplete Rational interim license/purchase application? I guess that even in the advanced communication technologies of the 21st century effective communication is only as effective as those who wish to communicate... effectively. End result: an unnecessary two month delay.

I believe you are under the wrong impression. PS either knew at the time that they hadn't yet completed the application, or they were informed in a timely manner. They haven't been sitting around thinking it was complete as you theorize.

Try switching to decaf.

The "petition"'s credibility was never there. Nor was it a unanimous vote at the AGA to file it...... as one member made clear immediately.

If you really want to speculate on more angles in play, perhaps one AGA member wanted to kick a hornets nest at the New Jersey Commission just as another AGA member was seeking re-entry to tha market ? Or perhaps one AGA member who was seeking re-entry to the NJ market read the hand differently and ought to coat-tail on an expected PStas approval ?

The line on this matter: Caesars -$250K,, PokerStars +1 license, MGM +1re-entry. (Basically, however, Caesars still holds NJ and Nevada licenses, as well as X number of States' licenses. PLUS, I believe they will be one of the first two operators online in Nevada, with a launch for real money before the end of June, to sign up everyone in town for th WSOP....... maybe running ME satellites online ? )

Julius Entertainment is on very shaky ground financially (look up their financials on msn, reuters, bloomberg or wsj). Real money online poker may save them from outright bankruptcy. Think about recent moves they made; they tried to sell a casino and their "brand" to a competitor (who really isn't viable, for they have no permanent market presence in the U.S.) probably not to shore up their balance sheets but to bait a potential competitor into a deal that was prevented from going through (due to political connections), even if the purchase was agreed upon. Declare them unfit for a gaming license in the pure state of Nevada thus setting a precedent for their gaming license application pending in New Jersey. Cute as f*ck! They're a prominent member of the AGA and attempted to force a competitor out of the market with an UNPRECEDENTED (something that's never happened before) petition to the NJ CCC in hopes of avoiding a formidable opponent. Their recent actions scream of desperation and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were to dissolve before the end of the year. They are not in a position of strength they're in a position of weakness and thus more likely to be felted than not.

P.S. - They tried to sell one of their casinos to "whom they believe" is a "criminal enterprise". It doesn't matter one bit whether or not this "criminal enterprise" label is actually based upon actual and factual truth, what Nevada and New Jersey gaming regulators need to pay attention to is as follows: they offered to sell their casino to who they believe are criminals. If that's not a breach of gaming laws punishable by a swift revocation of any existing casino licenses I guess anything goes just so long as the right palms are greased. One rotten apple in teh barrel who proudly proclaims, "say hello to all my friends!". Actually hypocrisy is honorable in my eyes... just so long as you're not trying to conceal it. Better an honest liar than a deceitful "puritan". Just like the recent five hour energy advertising campaign you only succeed in making me think about my next cup of "caffienated" coffee, thanks! It's never a conspiracy... things just happen to work out in their overwhelming favor over, over and over again. It's coincidence! Or as most hypocrites would like to say, "it was gods' will!".