It seems from various reports that the CAP 2008 held in Barcelona at the end of September, overall went very well with one exception; A poker freeroll tournament was raided and brought to an end by Spanish police, no doubt putting a big dampener on the event for the organisers who work so hard to do everything above the law of whatever country is hosting the events. Here’s an extract of the statement from CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com website;

”On the afternoon of Saturday, September 27, undercover Spanish police arrived at the ASOP event being held in Barcelona’s Hotel Princesa Sofia. The police proceeded to terminate the event due to legality issues regarding the game’s prize fund. Roughly 40 players had been participating in the tournament at the time.”

”According to representatives, the company, which had made every effort to abide by all applicable local laws, was caught off guard by the action. CAP legal representatives had cleared all legal issues prior to the event, making it clear to the appropriate authorities that the tournament was a private, ‘free roll’ style event and not open to the public.”

“We don’t put these tournaments on without permission, which is exactly why we have a specific registration system and a number of checks that affiliates have to go through to gain the password. This is on top of a number of other components to ensure we run an event that is completely legal,” stated Alex Pratt, an organizer for CAP Euro. “We obviously checked on Catalan and Spanish law prior to this event. The issue at this point seems to have arisen from a little-publicized change in Catalan law that occurred within the past year.”  No arrests were made, and fines levied by Spanish authorities were very minimal.

Kentucky Governor wants 141 gambling sites

News that spread like wildfire amongst gambling sites recently came from the State of Kentucky, where a court ruled that the state can seize the URLs of 141 internet gambling sites, that Kentucky governor Steve Beshear claims are illegal gambling sites. In what seemed to me to be the ramblings of a man who has no consideration what-so-ever for his constituents, rather his sole aim being to protect local sports betting and the taxes generated from it, he is quoted as saying ‘’ Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability and anonymity’’. Whilst justice and public safety secretary J. Michael Brown said ‘’ Illegal internet gambling poses a unique threat to our Commonwealth. For individuals, particularly our youth, it is tantamount to a virtual home invasion’’.

At a separate hearing on Thursday, the domain name registrars of the affected sites were asked formally for control of the URLs to be handed over. However, a temporary restraint was placed on any attempt to seize control of the domain names of the sites until the owners / operators of those sites have had their say in court.  Until such time, the domain names will be retained by their owners.

Don’t worry too much about these rantings, as most, if not all of the 141 internet gambling sites listed for seizure are not illegal, in fact they are licensed and regulated, and furthermore, they have alternate measures already in hand to re-direct the websites, should the Kentucky court turn out to be as crazy as the Kentucky Governor.

S 3616 – Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act

This week Senator Robert Menendez, of New Jersey, introduced a new bill, S 3616. This bill provides for the licensing of Internet skill game facilities, and provides for a full regulatory framework for skill games. The bill defines an Internet skill game as one ‘that uses simulated cards, dice, or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players, including poker, bridge, and mah jong’. This is one of the first bills to be released in the United States Congress that specifically identifies online poker.

In addition, S 3616 creates a regulatory and licensing framework that makes it unlawful for a person to operate an Internet skill game facility in interstate or foreign commerce without a license issued to such person.  If S 3616 were to become law, harsh penalties would be imposed on those who operate under its radar. The lengthy bill describes the criteria needed to be awarded a license as well as the information necessary for full disclosure of applicants, including detailed background checks.

More news on this as and when it happens.  Meanwhile it’s time for some Internet Rummy! This is available for players in U.S.A. Play for free or play for real and double your money up to $200. Take part in the daily freerolls, or join Gin Rummy, Oklahoma, Kaluki and Traditional Rummy Tournaments. And there’s a ‘learn how to play’ section if you haven’t played Internet rummy before. Don’t be like the Kentucky Guv, get on over and have some fun playing Rummy Royal!

A new political initiative by Frank Barney, Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, named the Payments System Protection Act of 2008,  has just been introduced to Congress, and pushes the federal authorities for a precise definition of exactly what constitutes ‘illegal’ Internet gambling in terms of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and its  supporting regulations.

The Bill asks Congress to direct the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System, in consultation with the U.S. Attorney General, to create “a formal process” to define what types of online gambling are unlawful in order to assist the U.S. financial services industry to comply with the burden of policing the UIGEA which Congress thrust upon it back in 2006.

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative political pressure group that supports regulation of the U.S. online gambling market is in favor of the measure, and stated that “Chairman Frank is doing the right thing by saying it is unfair to burden U.S. financial service companies with the job of Internet gambling police at a time when their undivided attention ought to be on the economy”.

WSOP Poker star to speak at CAP Euro

The CAP Euro 2008 event takes place this year in Barcelona, Spain between 25th – 28th September. The online gambling conference attracts many thousands of people, ranging from casino operators, to affiliates, to marketing agents, and many more. This year one of the speakers will be Jamie Gold, who was the winner of the biggest pot in the World Series of Poker history. I’ll bring you more on this story after the event.

PKR Poker Live in London

PKR poker are staging their first ever offline ‘Festival of tournament poker’ event. Dubbed ‘The community event of the year’ it is being staged on 14th to 16th November live in London.

Direct Satelites of $25 / $2.50 will be running every Tuesday at 19.40 GMT and Sunday at 18.10 GMT where one in 40 will qualify. There will also be a Lottery of $2.75 /14c running before each direct satelite, where one in ten will qualify. This is definitely a poker event not to be missed. Register Live now with PKR Poker.