https://news.sky.com/story/ladbrokes...-deal-11452034

Cliffs

MGM joining forces with GVC holdings who own Partypoker.

Insiders say Partypoker likely to launch as part of the tie up, starting in Vegas.

GVC and MGM will then expand the partnership to other states which legalise the pastime, with as many as 15 likely to do so in the near future.

Only interested if they go back to old software and I can be the kid with red hat again

And players with racial bants against the dealer was always good for a lol

Just FYI, partypoker has been in NJ for almost 5 years. They partnered with Borgata. Borgata has been owned by MGM for a while now.

Was the whole BF fiasco fundamentally about Nevada/NJ gaming companies squeezing out the big online players (i.e. Stars, UB, Party, FTP) so they could eventually move in and monopolize the online industry? Sort of feels like it.

Enjoy!

Nah, too much time has passes in between, the industry is not that lucrative as it used to be after 7 years and since (the bottom line is) poker is not that popular anymore

I could interpret Black Friday as more of a bank fraud and money laundering case that took out online poker sites as collateral damage.

You could, but you would be wrong to do so. The prosecutions by the SDNY were specifically targeted at those three poker businesses, go read the indictments. It clearly was not an instance of "collateral damage".

Don't confuse OP, or the Brit writer, with the facts about poker ....

FWIW, the article was off base on the overall topic of sportsbetting prospects in the US as well.

As for the JV "deal" said to be announced this coming week, the actual JV terms would be interesting to see. Each is paying $100 million and for what, a State-level consultant/lobbyist feeding frenzy ? The contingencies and "outs" alone probably would run 50 pages. Stay tuned.

I have read the indictments. Those businesses were targeted for sketchy financial transactions, not for running a poker site. If they hadn't been using processors who did things like promise investments to a small bank in exchange for looking the other way on processing payments that they weren't supposed to, then perhaps they would have been ignored. That they probably wouldn't be able to find a way to operate in the US without using such shady methods is, I think, irrelevant.

The point of the indictments was to punish fraudulent financial practices. And then to punish any poker sites and their executives who cooperated with such fraud. They didn't go after anyone who wasn't involved with the payment processors they were targeting.

You cannot possibly be more wrong in your interpretation of both the indictment and underlying reality, did you miss Count 1 about violating the UIGEA and IGBA, both of which are predicated on an illegal gambling business ?

The point of the indictment was to bust the online poker businesses, going after the financial transactions supporting the illegal gambling businesses was the tactic.

https://www.scribd.com/document/5310...itar-Tom-et-al

The civil forfeiture action centered on the seizure of funds nd assets related to the illegal gambling businesses.

The whole indictment hinged on the poker operations being illegal gambling businesses and they were targeted as such. The financial transactions and charged violations of the UIGEA and IGBA are clearly predicated on alleged operation of illegal gambling businesses.

To me, it looks like the investigation started with looking at payment processors and they followed what led to three major poker sites. I don't think they started by targeting specific sites and trying to find crooked payment processors that they could link to them. I believe there were indictments before the UIGEA went into effect.

There were seizures of funds from poker operators, specifically, prior to this indictment.

Make no mistake about it, the effort was to prosecute selected online poker operators. Party had actually settled for $300 million, without being indicted.

There was however no federal law against offering online poker, absent a violation of a state or local law. The indictment alleged violation of both the UIGEA, which has Unlawful Internet Gambling right in its name, and the Illegal Gambling Business Act.

What led "them" to look at processors was that the processors were handling payments for US poker sites. In perhaps the most short-sighted snitching ever, someone* dropped a dime on Daniel Tzvetikof of Intabill while he was visiting the US, specfically Mandalay Bay. He was picked up and cut a deal against FTP and Stars. (*Apparently Intabill had stiffed FTP/Stars out of $400 million, someone was pissed.) But you read the indictment, so you already knew about Intabill.

Case closed ...

MGM to partner with NBA & WNBA with exclusive branding & data rights. Reported 3 years, $25 million.

https://www.legalsportsreport.com/22...-betting-deal/

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/sta...54765633937408

https://twitter.com/DustinGouker/sta...52859360567298

It was a lot lower than 400m. Best source for this story is http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/bo.../9781471113307

Written by https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...45&postcount=1

UIEGA passed about 8 years before BF. BF itself happened because of bad banking and an industry pushing their limits: processor tried to buy a small BANK for heavens sakes. Also their Political donations... PACS involved too; PS indirctly made contributions to about 40 congressmen from $2k-10k. All this added up to a govt jumping it. They might have had Sheldon, Sands, and a few others pushing for enforcement, but the big boys never wanted to touch online poker... except Harrahs a little bit, but they were 12 Billion in debt at the time and looking to change the status quo any way possible.

They tried to buy a bank so they could do their own processing... that was the straw

Revisionist nonsense, Wynn had made a deal with Stars just prior to Black Friday.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanv.../#70153453fae0

MGM also had reached a deal with Full Tilt.

Then came Black Friday.

Between FTP and Stars, I believe it was more than $50m. (His volume may have been $400 million, I stand corrected. https://www.pokernewsdaily.com/intab...-million-2974/

In any event, I was fortunate enough to never execute the Intabill processing agreement I had received from Tzvetkoff, in part because his company failed a gut check.

The internets confirm his arrest in 2010, which took place at Mandalay Bay:

"When Tzvetkoff arrived in Las Vegas for an internet billings conference in April 2010, he was arrested."

I found this article in one of the above articles

pretty interesting IMO, if you can get to the end of his babbling.

https://calvinayre.com/2011/06/29/bu...s-nonsensical/

I just hope the USA will be in the world player pool and not segregated like Italy.

I don't see any reason why the USA would be segregated either. And the world player pool would double over night. But on stuff like this you can't tell... they may find a reason to make USA segregated

Full compliance with the UIGEA wasn't required until June 1, 2010.

States can't enter into compacts with foreign powers without the consent of Congress, so a case can be made that states shouldn't be allowed to enter the same sort of agreements on an international level as the interstate compacts that are allowing multi-state player pools. At least, not without the approval of Congress. So, there is an argument that there are constitutional reasons for why the US player pool should be segregated until the federal government swings into action.

This is specifically addressed in some statewide online poker/casino legislative proposals, such as Michigan House Bill 4926 (Michigan Lawful Internet Gaming Act).

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/docume...7-HIB-4926.pdf

(Page 8, Lines 1-6)

"(3) The division may enter into agreements with other jurisdictions to facilitate, administer, and regulate multijurisdictional internet gaming by internet gaming licensees licensed by the division to the extent that entering into the agreement is consistent with state and federal laws and if the gaming under the agreement is conducted only in the United States."

^^ sigh.. that's a shame. Thought it may be like the good old days for a moment but clearly not

Nope. It was about an ahole DA who got Trumped FTW