-
The long-awaited revamp of PokerStars’ VIP rewards program will start rolling out in June, the company has announced. The system will replace the current decade-old “volume-driven” loyalty program with a personalized system of awarding random prizes. In a corporate blog post, Severin Rasset, PokerStars’ Director of Poker Innovation and...
-
The decision to restrict player liquidity in Portugal, as reported back in December, has resulted in members of ANAon—the Portuguese Player Association—angrily declaring that they will boycott nationally regulated online poker rooms. That is, unless the regulator agrees to shared international player liquidity—which does not look very likely at...
-
In an unprecedented move at the Gambling Compliance conference in Lisbon on Monday, SRIJ Director and Head of Online Gambling Manuela Bandeira announced that regulated online poker in Portugal would be segregated. This is a major blow to Portuguese players and online poker operators looking to enter the Portuguese market....
-
Those that play at the PokerStars Casino may notice a new tab at the top of the client. In addition to Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and other table games, Video Poker is now available in select markets and presumably will be rolled out further in the near future. PokerStars first...
-
During a conference call to discuss Amaya’s second quarter financial results, CEO David Baazov remarked that the companies expansion into new ID mean verticals will benefit its online poker players. Baazov contends that the addition of new customers that will be acquired via Amaya’s expansion into online casino and...
-
In just under six months, Portugal’s new gaming laws will be implemented under the supervision of the Office of the Inspection of Games, part of the Portuguese Institute of Tourism. The country has been considering the introduction of this legislation for over two years, and it has clearly benefited...
-
PokerStars has introduced “Spin & Go,” a new poker variant known collectively as Lottery Sit and Gos, first introduced on Winamax last year and now available on four of the top ten online poker networks globally. It is currently live on the segregated market in Spain. A rollout to other...
-
The Portuguese Council of Ministers has announced that it has approved the text of a draft bill which would liberalize its online gaming market. A few days ago, the government reserved time in the parliamentary calendar for a debate on the proposals before the end of the current legislative...
-
The day after the news of Amaya’s deal to buy the Rational Group was announced, its Spanish subsidiary REEL Spain, Plc received licenses to offer Blackjack and Roulette from the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ). Since Full Tilt does not operate in the Spanish regulated market, it...
-
Portugal’s government finally looks to be complying with demands from the Troika responsible for its bailout, and has signaled its intention to present new gambling laws to parliament. The government has used a procedural rule that allows it to book parliamentary time for a debate on the subject before...
-
A new Royal Decree published at the end of April spells out the responsibility regulated gambling operators in Spain have for complying with money laundering laws. Before winnings in excess of €2,500 can be paid out, operators must confirm the player’s identity by checking copies of identity documents. DGOJ...
-
The time is up for Portuguese delays on online gaming laws: the Troika has ordered the government to get legislation in place by the end of the month. New gaming legislation has been floating in the political arena for a few years, but the fiscal crisis in Portugal and...
-
The Socialist party in Spain has made a non-legislative proposal to end the practice of offering bonuses and other “inducements” to gamble. The prohibition would cover VIP loyalty schemes, that award points or prizes, and in doing so reward “excessive consumption.” The proposal was adopted by the Joint Commission...
-
Las Vegas Sands has scrapped its plan to build a hotel and casino mega-complex on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, the company announced Friday. “After months of on-going discussions with various levels of the Spanish government and continued internal due diligence, Las Vegas Sands Corp. said today that a...
-
Carlos Hernandez, the newly-appointed Director General of the Spanish online gaming regulator DGOJ, has drawn a clear path towards opening the online poker market in Spain from a segregated player pool to internationally-shared liquidity. In an interview conducted with Poker-Red Editor Jairo Moreno, Hernandez spoke in detail about...
-
The President of Madrid’s People’s Party has come out strongly in support of Sheldon Adelson’s EuroVegas project. The Eurovegas project plans were recently submitted to the Madrid regional government, but a vocal opposition campaign has emerged. In a regular column for Spain’s center-right ABC newspaper, Esperanza Aguirre, former president...
-
The farcical—but highly intimidating—bingo raid in Portugal last month has been followed by a raid on a private poker game in Madeira, a Portuguese autonomous region. The Atlantic island is a famous tourist destination. The National Republican Guard arrested 18 people at a private home where a poker game...
-
Enrique Alejo, Director of Spanish online gaming regulator the DGOJ, is “quite confident” that the online poker player pools in Spain and Italy will combine by the end of the year. The words come from multiple Spanish poker media reports (poker-red, poker10, pokerviu) of a recent meeting between regulators, players,...
-
The regulators from four European countries convened in Barcelona recently for a two-day meet to discuss regulatory co-operation. As part of a general discussion on information sharing, the regulators discussed the possibility of shared liquidity in online poker. The meeting took place June 19-June 20 between the Italy’s AAMS,...
-
A recent ruling in a Portuguese court calls for The Portuguese League for Professional Football (LPFP) to remove all advertising referring to online gaming company bwin.party. The ruling stems from litigation that started in 2005 when casino and lottery interests within Portugal objected to the actions of bwin. The...