Black Friday has officially claimed Cereus Network sites Absolute Poker and UB.com as parent company, Blanca Games, has submitted plans to liquidate with a goal of eventually repaying players a portion of the balances owed to them. On the U.S. legislative front, a hearing was held on Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee discussing the future of online poker in the country. Read about these stories and more in this edition of the PAS Weekly Industry Update.

Cereus Network Submits Plan for Liquidation: On Friday, the Cereus Network effectively closed down with an announcement that the battered poker room had submitted a liquidation plan to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval. The network has operated since Black Friday to non-US players, but has been a shadow of its former self with traffic down over 99% from Black Friday levels. Players had been receiving very sporadic cashouts of $250-$500 in the weeks leading up to the liquidation announcement.

New House Hearing on Online Poker: The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee held a two hour plus meeting on online poker in the United States. The mostly positive meeting focused on safeguards and consumer protection that would be required if and when online poker is regulated in the country. After the hearing, Chairwoman Rep Mary Bono Mack stated her desire to hold another hearing in the near future but to not expect any legislation to be attached to the Deficit Reduction package that must be decided upon by November 23rd. Check out PAS's summary on the day's events.

Full Tilt Poker Updates: : Early in the week, the Irish Times reported that Full Tilt Poker had made 180 of their 500 staff members "redundant," a plan that had Full Tilt Poker employees first became aware of in September.

In some interesting news, multiple players reported that they received telephone surveys from a magazine with ties to the Tapie investment group. In the survey, players were asked to choose between one of three options on how they would like to receive their funds in a hypothetical repayment scenario: 1) buying shares of Full Tilt with part of their funds 2) cash out immediately with a undermined penalty or 3) be paid in full but released in incremental payments over a year. The survey is noteworthy because it indicates the variety of payment resolutions that Tapie and his group are considering at this time as negotiations continue.

Everleaf Lowers Rake on USD Tables: In an effort to attract more U.S. players to their tables, the Everleaf Gaming Network will be slashing the maximum rake on all US Dollar tables to $1 through December. The move will primarily affect players at No Limit and Pot Limit tables. There is currently very little action at Limit tables on Everleaf, but players seated at these tables at limits of $2/$4 and above will also see the rake greatly reduced.

Latest Traffic Update from PokerScout: PokerScout's latest traffic report details a 1.2% traffic drop after a healthy gain the previous week. An exception to the trend was Merge Gaming, which saw it traffic increase another 7% after soaring 13% the week prior, up 20% since the network began accepting U.S. players for the first time since June. Merge Gaming is once again a top 10 room in terms of online poker traffic, with more than 2200 cash game players on the site during peak times.

Jottings: Entraction rakeback policy and VIP program change...Operators face difficult regulatory regime in Germany...UK unlikely to see Gaming Act changes in near future...Top five CPAs from U.S. poker rooms...Fertitta purchases CyberArts...Ongame promises to fight bots...Maryland Gov proves online poker battle is about the money...D-Amato distances himself from Full Tilt Poker.

Tags: absolute poker, barton bill, cereus, entraction, everleaf, full tilt, minted poker, noiq, ub.com

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‎ Poker Gaming , ‎ Poker Industry News

Be sure to follow the Poker Affiliate Solutions Twitter feed for the latest industry and marketing updates.

On Tuesday, US players at a PPA fly-in were given new hope as Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced that he would be introducing a brand new poker bill this year. Unfortunely, the industry was not immune to more bad news as the US government unsealed new indictments where 11 more online gambling domain names were seized. In this week’s edition of our weekly industry roundup, we take a look at these stories as well as progress with the Nevada poker bill and the shutdown of Quicktender. In European news, Spain has issued its first license in their new regulated market.

Latest “Blue Monday” Seizures Grab 11 more Domain Names: The settled dust kicked up a bit on Monday as a new indictment was unsealed that saw 3 more indictments and 11 new domain seizures. The most notable domain names seized were that of the Yatahay Network's True Poker and Doyles Room along with highly rated sportsbooks Bookmaker and Beted. True Poker, Doyles Room and Bookmaker almost immediately switched to the .ag domain name extension and are continuing to accept real money US play at the time of this writing.

Rep. Joe Barton Announces New Poker Bill: There is certainly a lot of anger brewing in the industry regarding the way the government is treating online poker right now, which could to lead to poker players aggressively getting behind a new poker bill. Poker players got a new taste of that at a PPA Fly-in on Tuesday, as Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced that he intends to introduce a new poker bill that would legalize and regulate online poker. Will the anger and activism of poker players and industry proponents finally be enough?

Usemywallet/Quicktender Shuts Down: Last week, we informed readers about the halting of UseMyWallet withdrawals due to suspicions that their funds had been seized. On Wednesda,y fears were realized when players started to receive emails and messages on the Usemywallet/Quicktender website that their service has been stopped indefinitely due to frozen accounts. Sure not to calm many nerves, the statement read: "at this time we are unable to confirm when or if we could make payments of remaining balances."

Spain Issues First License: EGamingReview has reported that Casino Grand Madrid, a brick and mortar operator, has received the first online gambling license in Space in the autonomous region of Madrid. The company will offer poker, blackjack, roulette and slots on a Playtech-based software platform. In the article, EGR says the new platform could be up and running within a month.

5/29 Clarification: In the original version of this story, we implied that the license was the first under the new nationally regulated Spanish market. The license was actually issued by the autonomous region of Madrid; the national legislation still needs to be submitted to the EC for a 3-month review. Thanks to commenter, Self Made, for pointing out our error.

Nevada Poker Bill Makes Quick Progress: A gutted version of Nevada's poker bill has passed the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee and will now go to a floor vote. If passed, the bill would authorize the NGC to adopt regulations for intrastate poker at a time DOJ approval is given or at a time federal law makes the position clear. The original bill would have prohibited the NGC from denying licenses to existing online poker sites such as PokerStars.

Traffic Update: Overall online poker traffic dropped 2.6% over the week, according to PokerScout. Much of the drop can be attributed to Full Tilt Poker traffic declining 11% over the week, possibly due to worries from the site's delay paying US players. On the Cereus Network, traffic is now down 96% since Black Friday as the site seemingly fights for survival. Merge Gaming Network has grown over 70% since Black Friday, and although traffic at the largest US-facing site is leveling off at the moment, they still have seen over 2,500 real money players during peak time in 23 out of 26 days in May. The site is almost as large as Cereus was pre-Black Friday. By comparison, before Black Friday the site previously averaged 1,400 real money players during peak times.

Jottings: Iowa governor signs poker study bill....Merge Gaming Rakeback Ends for New Players on June 1st. Network also stops accepting NEW players from 5 states...Bradley Franzen, whose company processed payments for poker sites has pleaded guilty ...USA Today reports on the PPA fly-in

Tags: blue monday, cereus, full tilt poker, merge, poker traffic, spain, usemywallet

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‎ Poker Gaming , ‎ Poker Industry News

Be sure to follow the Poker Affiliate Solutions Twitter feed for the latest industry and marketing updates.

Friday morning, Full Tilt Poker began making rakeback payments to US players that earned rakeback in the last few days before they closed their doors to US real money play. In this week’s Online Poker Industry update, we take a look at this development plus the latest from Cereus and the most recent traffic updates.

Full Tilt Poker Update: US players reported receiving rakeback payments on Friday morning for play from April 12th to April 15th. This is for rakeback that would have normally been paid on April 22nd (non-US players have continued to be paid as normal). Players funds still of course remain in limbo, but this news presents a positive step…Could player funds be next? The last statement released on May 15th said the following

Since April 15th and the days immediately following, Full Tilt Poker faced numerous challenges and hurdles to ensuring the smooth operation of its international business and the orderly return of US player funds. FTP has worked tirelessly to address these issues and has made significant progress on both fronts.

FTP's international business operations are returning to normal while we focus on ensuring the safe and orderly return of US player deposits. We are absolutely committed to making sure that US players are refunded as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay and the fact that we underestimated the time it would take to work through these issues. We will update our US players when we have more specific information to provide.

Cereus Network Blocks US players: Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars blocked US players from the tables almost immediately after April 15th. Absolute Poker and UB.com, on the other hand, gave players a warning in their client that US play was no longer allowed. Despite the warning, players were still able to sit down and play. On Thursday that changed, as players are now greeted with a message saying that games cannot be found.

California and Nevada New Urgency to Regulate?: One positive that could end up coming as a result of Black Friday is that states may be in more of hurry to get intrastate regulation done. We saw some more evidence of that this week in Nevada and California. EGR reported that AB258 has passed the Nevada state Assembly and now moves on to the Senate. In California, State Senator Lou Correa posted a press release on his site that SB 40 will be amended as an “urgency bill.” Correa stated “with federal action looming and the market wide open, we have to quickly authorize online poker in California.”

Lederer and Ferguson Leave PPA: The PPA announced on Monday that Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson have decided to step down from the PPA board. Because of the poker pros’ connections to Full Tilt Poker, many saw the affiliation post-Black Friday as a conflict of interest.

Traffic Update: PokerScout has released their latest traffic report. The Merge Gaming Network is up over 80% since Black Friday and reached 3,000 peak players for the second time on May 16th. Cereus network saw another 29% decline in traffic over the week bringing their total to a 83% decline.

Jottings: Doyle Brunson has left Doyles Room… Merge Gaming is no longer accepting new players from the state of New York…Usemywallet has halted withdrawals.

If you would like to see all the Black Friday updates from PAS over the first month, check out our last Black Friday post with a convenient summary.

Tags: black friday, california, cereus, full tilt poker, nevada, poker traffic, usemywallet

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‎ Poker Gaming , ‎ Poker Industry News

In breaking news, Absolute Poker has just released a statement that it has reached an agreement with the DOJ to provide them with “all necessary assurances that third parties may work with Absolute Poker to facilitate the return of funds, currently held by third party processors, to players located in the US. This provision is an important step to return US player funds.”

In today’s Black Friday update, we go over this surprising release as well as some other news related to Black Friday.

Absolute Poker Reaches Deal with DOJ: In the statement released today, Absolute Poker and UB.com state that the "top priority has always been, and remains, the refund of account balances to its US players" but goes on to state that "Unfortunately, the Company still faces several legal issues which must be navigated before funds can be paid out to US players."

Other highlights include an appointed Monitor, approved by the US Attorney's Office to insure compliance of the agreement. Cereus has also agreed to cease ALL real money play from players located in the US.

It’s probably safe to say that many did not see this coming. The Cereus Network has lost over 75% of their traffic since Black Friday and had a barrage of bad news hit the network ever since. The release is going to cause some skepticism, but this is a very hopeful sign going forward. This is definitely a topic we will be following closely going forward. The full statement can be read at the bottom of this post.

Cereus Network Statement on Raids and Sponsored Pros: On Saturday, Blanca responded to reports of raids on their Costa Rican offices with a press release. Then on Monday, UB.com and Absolute Poker announced the parting of ways with 11 poker pros including Joe Seebok, Prahlad Friedman, Eric Baldwin and Tiffany Michelle. In the statement released by Blanca Games they stated the following:

“Recently, Absolute Poker and UB ceased their U.S.-facing operations due to legal developments in the United States. To ensure the on-going viability of the business, it has been necessary to downsize certain aspects of Absolute Poker’s and UB’s operations. These efficiency measures have been taken to enable the brands to continue to operate their non-U.S.-facing business.”

Some former UB.com and Absolute Poker pros have weighed in.

Full Tilt Poker Update: Full Tilt Poker has stated that players will be updated during the week of May 15th with additional developments regarding the status of player funds.

PokerScout Traffic Update: PokerScout has released their lastest poker site traffic report. Merge Gaming continues to grow, now up 77% since Black Friday. They have now grown 157% over the last 12 months. Cake Poker and Bodog are both up 28% and Party Poker is the big European winner up 10%. The Yatahay Network is also up 207% over the last 12 months. The entire online market is down 18% since Black Friday, with much of the loss of overall traffic loss coming from Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars. Absolute Poker is also down over 75% the time period.

Jottings: Freakonomics have had some great articles on poker lately: Does poker pass the “daughter test”. Poker is a game of skill. Why the crackdown on internet poker is a mistake…Some online poker pros are debating moving abroad…PPA to host Member fly-in on May 23rd and May 24th…Internet gambling tempting Colorado B&Ms….In non-Black Friday news IGT is looking at acquiring the Entraction Network.

Full Absolute Poker statement can be read below:

ST. JOHN'S, ANTIGUA and BARBUDA--(Marketwire - May 10, 2011) - Absolute Poker, including the UB (formerly Ultimate Bet) brand, hereafter "Absolute Poker," issued the following statement today in relation to civil and criminal matters filed in federal court in Manhattan and made public on April 15, 2011:

Absolute Poker has reached an agreement with the United States Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York ("SDNY"). Under the agreement, the US Attorney's Office has agreed to provide all necessary assurances that third parties may work with Absolute Poker to facilitate the return of funds, currently held by third party processors, to players located in the US. This provision is an important step to returning US player funds.

The Company has also notified the SDNY that it has closed its US-facing operations, and it has agreed to the cessation of real money poker play in the US. As such, Absolute Poker has not requested the return of its worldwide domain names, Absolute Poker and UB, and today's agreement does not provide for their return. The agreement also provides for the appointment of Monitor, approved by the US Attorney's Office, to assess the Company's compliance with the terms of the agreement.

Absolute Poker's top priority has always been, and remains, the refund of account balances to its US players. Unfortunately, the Company still faces several legal issues which must be navigated before funds can be paid out to US players. The Company's US attorneys, Blank Rome LLP, continue to work diligently to resolve these issues, which is a necessary further step to facilitate the return of funds to players. Player funds, therefore, will not become immediately available for withdrawal as a result of today's agreement with the DOJ.

A Company spokesperson said: "Today's signing of the agreement with the DOJ is an important step towards the safe and efficient return of funds to our US players. We can now move as expeditiously as possible to collect player monies from third party processors as a prelude to establishing proper mechanisms for the return of funds to our US players. As previously announced, we have already taken specific actions to exit the US market by closing our US-facing operations. Blank Rome LLP will continue to engage in discussions with the SDNY in order to complete the necessary agreements for the final transfer of frozen fund balances to our US players. This remains our highest priority. We will continue to update our players and the poker community, as we move forward to resolve outstanding issues."

Updated 05-10-2011 at 05:40 PM by GonzoPAS (Update to details of Press release)

Tags: absolute poker, black friday, cereus, doj, player funds, ub.com

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‎ Poker Gaming , ‎ Poker Industry News