ONLINE POKER NEWS
Poker group goes all in with $1-M tourney in RP
MANILA, Philippines—If morality were a poker game, then organizers of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) have just gone “all in” with their chips, whipping up a cash-rich tournament with a total pot of $1 million.
The tournament, which kicks off Tuesday at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City, offers a top prize of $280,000 with a buy-in of $2,500. And while organizers do admit that the tournament is still a form of gambling, they are scrambling to position poker into a particular niche in the sporting world.
“Obviously, poker news online is made up of 70 percent chance, 30 percent skill,” said Christopher Parker, the director of the Asian Poker Tour (APT).
“But as far as the APT is concerned, we’d like to channel it through sports focusing on the 30-percent skill rather than on the gambling aspect, the roll of the dice.”
That the APT chose the Philippines as its kickoff leg for this year’s tour whips up a sense of irony that almost mocks the way the country handles its vice problem.
On one hand, there are Roman Catholic bishops that constantly rail at the creation of new casinos and gambling-themed venues. On the other, there are the government-sanctioned forms of gambling like lotto. And that’s not taking into account the illegal numbers games that proliferate in the provinces.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has consistently spoken against gambling, even when it admitted that the “moral teaching does not prohibit some forms of gambling in certain situations.”
Albany cops probe heist at poker game
ALBANY -- Several men robbed an underground poker club at gunpoint over the weekend in a heist that netted the suspects thousands of dollars.
No arrests have been made and police had few details this morning.
The poker game was taking place inside a social club on North Allen Street and is one of several such clubs that operate in the area.
Generally, state law allows organized poker result games as long as the people running the games are not profiting from the proceeds.
Little Lakers sponsoring Poker Run on June 7
MILLERSPORT, OHIO - The Millersport Little Lakers will sponsor their first Poker Run on June 7, with a rain date of June 14. (May 27, 2008)
r46 years, poker club folds its hand
Seattle - When Grant Erwin started his poker club in 1962, there was no such thing as a personal computer, and new online poker accounting tool or an Excel worksheet. The eight or nine men who met monthly around kitchen tables in Seattle and Bellevue to play low-stakes poker kept track of their winnings with tokens in old baby-food jars, labeled with their names. (May 27, 2008)
Sweden to Consider Privatization of Online Gambling
Faced with continuing pressure from the European Union and the pending threat of being called before the European Court of Justice, Sweden is considering selling off some of the "less addictive" of its state-run gambling services in an attempt to bring itself more in line with EU laws regarding cross-border services.
Several Swedish outlets have reported that the "less addictive" games being considered for a possible spinoff include state-run lotteries, sports betting and poker, including many of the operations of the state-run Svenska Spel service, which has been at the center of the controversy in recent months. Svenska Spel has been assailed by outsiders for being the beneficiary of protectionist policies; while at the same time asserting that its own precarious position has crippled the service in its hopes of modernizing and remaining a competitive online player.
Other online-gambling services are not necessarily waiting for Sweden to take a course of action in their favor, despite the likely backing of the EU. On Friday, Betsson AB plans to open its betting shop in Sweden, offering a new private-enterprise option to Svenska Spel and ATG retail outlets. Pontius Lindwall, Betsson's CEO, said, "We are taking this opportunity to challenge the Swedish gaming monopoly as we see betting shops as an interesting development of our business. Betting shops complement our online offering and our aim is to create more freedom of choice for our players."
The effort to force Sweden's compliance with EU directives has not gone unnoticed by Swedish authorities. Svenska Spel is expected to file a complaint with officials after Friday's noon opening of the shop, and the same government officials have already announced their intent to closely monitor the new Betsson Stockholm outlet for violations of Sweden's existing Lottery Law.