By Shari Geller
 
 
The seemingly endless process of bringing legal and regulated online poker to the U.S. encountered a significant setback today when the District of Columbia Council voted to repeal the city’s controversial Internet gambling law. 
 
Last year, Internet gambling was added to the city’s existing 2009 lottery contract as a “non-traditional games” option.  Internet gambling was subsequently legalized in the district through first-in-the-nation language added to a 2010 spending bill, making DC the first to have a law legalizing online poker on the books.
 

by Wendeen H. Eolis

 
50 MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
JOHN JUANDA AND TOM DWAN MAN UP
REPAYMENT REQUESTS DISSECTED  
TAPIE INVESTORS HAVE YET TO PONY UP  

Last week Full Tilt Poker and Group Bernard Tapie took their proposed deal to the next level of drama, with a Poker Stars pro known as the Robin Hood of Poker entering from stage right-- as a wild card.

Unlikely protagonists raised and re-raised each other in a frenzy of sensational but substantively incomplete statements to suit their respective purposes of the moment.  As a new week gets under way, the big picture is all too clear. Tapie’s proposed acquisition of Full Tilt assets is spinning on a slippery slope.

by Wendeen H. Eolis

 No formal confirmations of additional investors yet, but the noise is ever louder today; Group Bernard Tapie has  lined up at least one moneyman "ready to punt."  According to several generally informed sources familiar with weeks of efforts to raise more funds, GBT has locked up a commitment with at least one and maybe two  substantial participants to nail the acquisition of the Full Tilt brand. Additional funding might not be crucial, but for Tapie's reluctance to put in more capital of his own than suits his taste.

A lawyer close to one purported investor says, "The deal should get done." He estimates the time table for a re-launch of the FTP site as before the end of the first quarter."  Another lawyer, with strong ties in the current Full Tilt brouhaha says; "The die is cast; Full Tilt is effectively out of control; the deal is now unstoppable unless Tapie fails to deliver the necessary checks to the Court."

by Wendeen H. Eolis (Updated 01/20/12 6:58 EST)

The Parade of Unsung Departures - Updated

Special Note: This article updates the author's breaking news and follow up story about PokerStars CEO Gabi Campos ' departure plans, taking into account relevant communications--not marked confidential--between Poker Stars and the reporter.

In a personal email to this reporter one day after publication of the breaking news,  PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg confirmed "Gabi's (Campos) departure. Hours after Poker Player Newspaper broke the story, Poker Stars gave an exclusive statement to Poker News, attributed to "top officials" of the Company :

“Poker Stars announced today that Gabi Campos has decided to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2012, to pursue other opportunities. The company thanks Gabi for his hard work and commitment and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors. A search for Gabi’s replacement is under way.”

by Wendeen H. Eolis

PokerStars Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Campos Woslovsky’s current whereabouts are murky; only his closest associates may know his GPS location. But the buzz emanating from the Isle of Man offices of Poker Stars is loud and clear; Gabi Campos, as he is better known within Poker Stars, has left the building-- after a reign of less than two years.

By Shari Geller
 
The president of M Resort, Anthony Marnell III, recently joined Sheldon Adelson, Chairman of the Sands Corporation, in announcing his opposition to the legalization and regulation of online poker in the United States.  In a time when the efforts towards bringing online poker back to the U.S. is under attack from the religious right, the morality police and skittish lawmakers, opposition from those within the gambling family comes as a heavy blow.
 
The interview with Marnell was conducted Nevada Newsmakers, a statewide public affairs television program, on December 13, just a few days before the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a statement reversing its earlier position that the Wire Act made online poker illegal.  In the DoJ’s published opinion letter, the federal government claimed that the Wire Act did not apply to online poker. 
 

by Stanley R. Sludikoff, Publisher
[Read Part 1 Read Part 2]
 
There is no doubt that the United States of America has unclean hands in this mess. First Congress failed to protect its citizens when they knew that millions were playing poker on the internet. Instead a small minority of senators and representatives, who were seeking to legislate morality as they saw it, looked for a simple way to stop people from gambling on the internet.