Poker News: Italy; Vegas Hard Rock; Kentucky Seizes Domains

ITALY A BIG HIT
The recent official sanctioning of online poker in Italy is turning out rave financial reviews according to preliminary figures released by Microgame and Gioco Digitale, the two online companies tabbed to offer government-database linked online poker to Italian citizens. Despite being open only three hours a day during the Sep. 5-7 opening weekend, the sites drew several thousand real-money players. Those figures jumped again when the hours were expanded, and estimates are that hundreds of thousands of Italians may be playing on the sites within the next few months. Many larger Euro-based poker sites will also be integrating their software within Italy's new framework in the near future.

VEGAS HARD ROCK OPENS POKER LOUNGE WITH VIP TOURNEY
The Las Vegas edition of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino hosted a VIP poker tournament on Saturday night as part of the opening festivities for the casino's Hard Rock Poker Lounge. Poker pros and celebrities were out in force, including Scott Fischman, Anjela Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, Montel Williams, Andre Agassi, Randy Couture and Jermaine O'Neal. Up for grabs in the event: one of the Hard Rock's custom-designed chopper motorcycles. The new room plans to cater to an upscale, celebrity clientele, offering bottle service to the room's players, among other amenities.

KENTUCKY SEIZES ONLINE POKER NAMES
In a surprise political move labeled by many as a stunt, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear last week pushed through a court order to seize domain names connected to various online gaming sites allegedly accepting business from Kentucky residents.

The order, signed by a Franklin County (KY) Circuit Court judge, names 141 different Internet domains offering several different forms of online gaming, including sports betting, bingo, casino-style games and poker. Many major US-facing sites were listed in the complaint, including many of the biggest names in the online game: PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker. com, Doylesroom.com, and UltimateBet.com. It's not clear at press time how seriously this action should be taken, but the online sites are said to be taking it very seriously.

TO BE FRANK, IT'S A GOOD BILL
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank's second try at bringing about clarification and restriction to the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) jumped off to a better start than his first attempt, when his new measure passed a committee vote recently. The new measure from Frank (D-MA), the Payments System Protection Act of 2008 (H.R. 6870), cleared Frank's House Financial Services Committee on a 30-19 vote and will now move to the floor of the House for discussion.

Frank's revived measure attempts to limit the reach of the UIGEA to activities already banned under existing federal law, particularly sports betting. According to the bill, the UIGEA would be suspended except for "wagering of the type that is prohibited... (relating to professional and amateur sports protection)." Sites accepting sports wagers would be placed on a list of businesses to be blocked within 60 days after the bill becomes law. Of particular importance, beyond the specifications on sports betting, is the bill's requirement that the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, the agencies responsible for UIGEA oversight, develop strict guidelines as to what is and isn't currently legal under federal law.

John Caldwell is the Editor-In-Chief of PokerNews.com, a leading poker information portal. He spent 15 years in music artist management, working with Stone Temple Pilots, and Hootie and the Blowfish. Contact him at john@pokernews.com.