The Full Tilt Investor deal officially cleared a major hurdle late last week with a new deal signed by the GBT and the U.S. Department of Justice. On the regulation front, Nevada got one step closer to bringing online poker to the state. On a federal level, two new online poker hearings were held which debated the merits of regulation in the United States. Check out all of these stories and more in the PAS Weekly Industry Update. Full Tilt Update- Deal Signed: On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie officially came to terms on a deal that will have Full Tilt Poker forfeiting the assets of the poker site and related companies to the DOJ, which would then in turn sell the site to Groupe Bernard Tapie for $80 million. The DOJ will waive the civil charges against Full Tilt Poker but criminal charges will remain. U.S. players will need to file claims to the DOJ to be repaid their balances while GBT would be would reopen to non-U.S. players and would be responsible for repaying these players. A time frame has not been given on when players would be repaid or when Full Tilt would reopen, but Bernard Tapie had previously indicated that he wished for the site to be reopened by January 2012. Hearing Roundups: On Friday, the House Energy and Commerce committee held a follow-up hearing on regulating online poker in the U.S. Discussions again ranged from problem gambling to the benefits of regulation. Supporters such as John Campbell drew the parallel of online poker to Prohibition and the need for regulation to prevent unlicensed operators from operating, while Rep. Frank Wolf mentioned the online gambling-Jack Abramoff connection and an opinion that "online gambling is the crack cocaine of gambling" as reasons why online poker should not be regulated. You may view the hearing here. Meanwhile, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on the effects of regulated online poker on Native American tribes. American Indian groups want a share of internet gambling but do not wish to lose their sovereignty to receive it. If federal regulation occurs, Native Americas tribes want to be assured they would be allowed to operate, tax and license online gambling as well. The National Gaming Gaming Commission maintains that they have the expertise to regulate online gambling given their experience of overseeing 422 gambling facilities in 28 states which generate $27 billion in revenue. The hearing can be viewed here. Nevada to License Intrastate Online Poker: Starting in February of 2012, the Nevada Gaming Control Board will begin accepting applications for licenses to offer online poker within the state's borders. Nevada would become the first U.S. to offer regulated online poker. The District of Columbia also passed online poker legislation but efforts to bring games to the jurisdiction have stalled. In Pokeraddict's article, he theorizes that online poker in the state will not be profitable and that Nevada needs a federal solution -- where more states or countries are allowed to join the player pool -- in order to assure long term sustainability. Latest Traffic Update from PokerScout: Online Poker traffic for the week decreased 7.9% due in large part to the ending of the 70 billionth hand from PokerStars. Traffic at other top sites was mostly flat, although the Boss Network saw a 10% decline after a 19% increase the previous week. Despite the dip, a jackpot of €530,000 on the network still has not been hit and remains the highest in online poker. PAS News Reminder: Voting is ongoing for the iGB Awards . We would appreciate if PAS publishers and fans could show their support. Jottings: Unibet to re-enter French Market...Gross gaming revenue up 7% in Italy...After loses, Gigamedia will be changing course...Cyprus to crackdown on internet gambling...Kyl to possibly co-sponsor Senate online poker bill?
Two of the indicted figures on Black Friday have filed legal papers to fight the government's charges against them, arguing that sites such as Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were not "gambling businesses." In Full Tilt Poker news of the week, it came to light that the new investors could possibly give equity shares to Full Tilt Poker players owed the most money. These stories and more are a part of this week's Weekly Industry Update. Indicted Banker and Processor to Fight Charges: John Campos and Chad Elie, two of the individuals charged in the Black Friday indictments have each filed seperate legal documents to fight the charges brought against them by the Department of Justice. Campos is the Vice Chairman of the bank accused of deceptively facilitating funds between players and payment processors while Chad Elie processed payments between players and online poker companies. In one of the legal filings, it was stated that "PokerStars and Full Tilt are not ‘illegal gambling businesses’ under IGBA (Illegal Gambling Business Act" because they are not ‘gambling businesses’ at all,” says one of the legal filings. “To be ‘engaged in the business of betting or wagering’ requires that the business has a stake in the outcome of gambling contests, and the Indictment here fails to allege that the poker companies had any such stake." The filings devote a lot of their argument on poker being a game of skill. The IGBA lists nine activities regarded as gambling, none of which have anything in common with the game of poker. These filings represent a possible path to clarify the online poker legal situation in the United States, however, it's very likely that if proceedings are allowed to go on that it could take years to play out and by that time online poker could be made expressly legal anyway. Full Tilt Poker Updates: Equity Could be Offered to Some Players: According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the rescue of Full Tilt Poker could involve offering equity stakes to players owed the most money. Subject Poker also had a great article separating some fact from fiction, which included a denial of a denying of a report which stated that Tapie and company would only be willing to finance 5%-10% of the deal. An attorney of investor group also said that they are moving forward to complete the sale and strive to pay balances to Full Tilt Poker players that are due to them. Among the biggest hurdles of any deal remains a favorable agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. In the article, they also note that they regret the revoking of the Full Tilt Poker license by the AGCC and hope that would reconsider licensing Full TIlt under new ownership. It a separate Subject Poker report, it came to light that the acquisition agreement made between the two parties contains a clause requiring that an outside independent entity to monitor assets before the final sale. In a blog post this week, PAS touched on would it would take for Full Tilt Poker to relaunch. Latest Traffic Update from PokerScout: In this week's traffic report, PokerScout has declared the poker boom as officially dead. The article gets into details about the debate on whether recent overall traffic declines are a long term or short term phenomenon. As far as weekly traffic, numbers were mostly unchanged from the previous week. Merge Gaming saw the biggest biggest decline (6%) among top sites. They have now fallen behind Bodog as the largest U.S. facing online poker room in the world. Jottings: PPA to meet with DOJ regarding Full Tilt Poker player funds...Sportingbet sale to Ladbrokes clears obstacle...Slovakia looking to change online gambling laws...iPoker bot controversy an apparent misunderstanding...Parent company of Everest Poker faces non-complicance notice from Nasdaq...Estonia to recommend online gambling credit card ban...Companies laying the groundwork for online poker.
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