July 27 2012, Brett Collson

Before everyone is glued to their televisions for the start of the London Olympic Games, we’re here to deliver Friday’s biggest stories in the world of poker. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re covering an online poker deal in California, the new bling of the European Poker Tour, and more.

In Case You Missed It

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released a discussion draft of a bill on Internet gaming on Thursday. PokerNews’ Matthew Kredell breaks down the details.

Olympians from all over the world have made their way to London for the 2012 Olympic Games. PokerNews spoke with some members of Team USA who enjoy playing poker during their down time from competition.

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week’s biggest winners and losers.

Poker coach Nick DiVella recently made a deep run in the World Series of Poker Main Event. In the latest Strategy With Kristy podcast, DiVella discussed some key hands he had along the way.

Day 2 of the 2012 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Queenstown Snowfest Main Event came to a close on Friday. Find out who advanced to Day 3 in our daily ANZPT recap.

Cantor Prepares for Online Poker in California

On Friday, Cantor Gaming and Horse Racing United announced an exclusive agreement under which Cantor would develop an Internet poker platform once online poker is legalized in California.

Cantor Gaming, which operates race and sports books across seven Las Vegas resorts, would provide Horse Racing United the technology and supporting infrastructure to operate an online poker site within state lines. The agreement is subject to Horse Racing United receiving a license to operate an intrastate gambling website. Horse Racing United is a not-for-profit organization representing the interests of substantially all Thoroughbred racing and breeding within California.

Horse Racing United and Cantor Gaming are both supporters of Senate Bill 1463, which was introduced in California last February. The bill seeks to generate “hundreds of millions of dollars” for the state in the fiscal year 2012-13. California is facing one of its most concerning budgetary crises in its history, and many state politicians have looked to online gaming to help get the budget under control.

“As other states begin to move to legalize online gaming, California is well positioned to leverage its size and generate revenue that otherwise would not exist,” said Lee M. Amaitis, president and CEO of Cantor Gaming. “If enacted, it will provide additional support to California’s horse racing industry.”

The online poker deal is the second made by Cantor Gaming in California. Last month, the company agreed to provide mobile gaming for Colusa Casino Resort.

Read more in Cantor Gaming’s press release.

New Watches for EPT Winners

When Season 9 of the European Poker Tour kicks off next month, a new piece of hardware will be up for grabs at every stop.

Each of the six EPT Main Event winners will receive a “Black and Steel” design Slyde by HD3 watch worth “5,480. In addition, the winner of the PokerStars.com and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final will receive a “Black and Rose Gold” design a retail value of “9,000.

“The EPT is delighted to be working with Slyde by HD3, and are very pleased to be offering our winners these beautiful watches as part of their prize,” said EPT President Edgar Stuchly. “We are looking forward to an exciting Season 9, and the fact that we are working with such a prestigious brand of luxury Swiss watches shows the appeal of the European Poker Tour to companies outside of poker.”

Season 9 gets under way Aug. 15 in Barcelona. The tour then makes stops in San Remo, Prague, the Bahamas, Deauville, London, and Berlin before the Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final in May 2013.

The full EPT schedule can be found right here at PokerNews.com.

888poker Revenue Skyrockets

888 Holdings Plc, which operates 888poker.com, announced this week that poker revenues for the second quarter of 2012 were up 59 percent over Q2 of 2011. Revenue reached $20 million from April 1 through June 30 of this year, up from $13 million last year.

888 also had 378,000 active business-to-consumer customers in the second quarter, a 63 percent increase over the same quarter last year. The company said the numbers were “primarily boosted by ongoing product improvements, targeted marketing and effective CRM.”

888 CEO Brian Mattingly credited the positive results to the company’s marketing campaigns and market-leading customer relationship management. “We have the right product offering and back office capabilities to grow and sustain market share, as indicated by the success in building a significant market share in the newly regulated Spanish poker market,” Mattingly said in a statement.

888poker has done well in the new Spanish gaming market, which opened early last month. According to PokerScout.com, 888poker.es ranks second to PokerStars.es in real-money ring game traffic. Meanwhile, 888poker’s dot-com offering ranks fourth overall behind PokerStars, iPoker and PartyPoker.

Read the full financial report at 888′s website.

Declarations in Queenstown

Liam O’Rourke won’t agree that he crushes online poker tournaments. We’ll let you be the judge after his chat with PokerNews’ Nicki Pickering during the ANZPT Queenstown Main Event.

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July 24 2012, Matthew Kredell

With talk that Senate leaders have come together on an online gambling bill to push in the lame-duck session between the November elections and the end of the year, Indian tribes may be preparing their own federal bill addressing Internet poker. The tribes will discuss the issue Thursday in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

“I think the timing [of the hearing] is around the idea that Indian tribes are interested in drafting their own legislation,” said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance. “They want to stake a claim to the process and feel that the best way for them to assert their interests is through their own bill.”

The hearing will take place at 2:15 p.m. eastern time from room 628 of the Senate Dirksen Building. A live webcast of the event will be available on the Indian Affairs website. Jon Porter, a former Congressman from Nevada and a lobbyist for the PPA, will testify at the hearing. The other witnesses are all from tribal interests: Tracie Stevens, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission; Bruce Bozsum, chairman of the Mohegan Tribe; Glen Gobin, secretary of the Tulalip Tribes; Jamie Hummingbird, chairman of the National Tribal Gaming Commissioners/Regulators; and Elizabeth Homer, an attorney who handles American Indian interests, particularly related to gaming.

The committee has met two times previously on this issue in the past nine months, with hearings held in February and November. The PPA was represented at both of those hearings, as well, with testimony given by chairman Alfonse D’Amato and litigation support director Patrick Fleming.

A separate bill drafted by the Indian tribes is very unlikely to pass but could make clear what the tribes would like to see in a bill purportedly being drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ari.).

Pappas made waves at the PPA’s Town Hall Meeting during the World Series of Poker three weeks ago when he said he believed a Reid-Kyl bill was written. GamblingCompliance.com later confirmed its sources had indicated Reid and Kyl have reached an agreement on Internet poker regulation. The National Journal, which covers politics on Capitol Hill, got quotes from both Reid and Kyl on the issue last week but would only report that the Senators were close on a deal.

It is believed such a bill would be a compromise to regulate Internet poker – a great interest to Reid and his constituents in Nevada – while strengthening The Wire Act and Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act against other forms of online gambling to appease Kyl, a long-time opponent of online gaming.

“Reid and Kyl haven’t contacted me to say there is an agreement, but based on things I’m hearing on Capitol Hill, I believe they’ve come to agreement on the language of a bill,” Pappas said. “At some point, the authors – Reid and Kyl – will see an appropriate time to push that bill.”

That time is expected to be during the lame-duck session, when it could be attached to a must-pass bill involving spending, taxes or the debt ceiling. Having support from the top Democrat and one of the top Republicans in the Senate seems like a good formula for getting a bill passed.

The PPA is working on making sure there is support for the issue on the other side of the Hill in the House of Representatives. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) told PokerNews last year that he thought there was support in the House if the issue could get up for a vote.

“We’re progressing very well,” Pappas said. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from members of Congress. There’s going to be some really key folks within the House Republican leadership that need to recognize that doing nothing is probably going to lead to greater expansion of gambling than with what Mr. Reid, Mr. Kyl and Mr. Barton are proposing. Helping them understand that has been one of our key talking points.”

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