Walker Poker has been spamming bilked players offering them a 45% rakeback and a 100% Instant Deposit Bonus. The rumor on the street is that the UB/Absolute list has been leaked, so Walker may just be the first poker room to go fishing using that list. The trouble is many players have no idea who Walker Poker is and have been asking us about them.

After a little digging through our database we were able to find that Walker Poker appears to have grown out of the ashes of Wingows Poker, a Costa Rican-based poker site that went belly up in 2008. Walker Poker took over some (not all) of the customers and then had the players complete a convoluted rollover based on rake to get their money. Though rollovers are not uncommon in a bailout situation, at the time Walker did not use the term bailout. Even more disturbing is that players on one of Wingows poker platforms were left with nothing, completely stiffed in the takeover. Walker claimed they overtook only Wingows that was under Dobrosoft network, not the DGS driven poker room and thus left those players using that software out in the cold.

Walker is now part of the Merge Gaming Network which does have several very reputable sites like Lock Poker, Carbon Poker, Poker Host and Play Aces, amongst others. But Merge has/had a relationship with FutureBet/Game Tech which is/was a known problem provider. Both Wingows and Walker were FutureBet websites at one time and both, in addition to UB, use the Kanhawake Indians in Montreal, Canada as their licensing body and location for their servers.

So is it worth taking a shot with this poker room? Options for U.S. players are limited but since the games are all networked in nature, we cannot see any reason to stray from the best and most reputable sites on the Merge Network. That said, outside of the initial problem with the Wingows players, we have not heard of problems at Walker Poker. If players do decide to take the offer from their recent email blast, please tread lightly and report back as to your experience.

For starters the game was moved to the week before the Super Bowl and many of the players that participate in the NFL’s premier event are not available for the game. In addition, many players do not participate if they are nicked up in any way, after all it is a voluntary game. And finally football is a violent game, so many players ‘mail in’ their performances to avoid the potential for injury. So if the players don’t really care, why should we as fans care about the game? Basically the NFL Pro Bowl has become glamour event more than a football game

Another reason is that nobody watches. The NFL is all about revenue and the declining viewer stats for the Pro Bowl make for less advertising dollars. The ratings for the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl broadcast on NBC Sunday night dropped 8.1% to a 7.9 meaning roughly 10.74 million people were watching. The game drew an 8.6 rating the year before on Fox. Each televised regular season game averages better than 17.5 million viewers. Less viewers every year means less revenue from advertising.

But really, the #1 reason that the NFL is thinking of cancelling the Pro Bowl? Nobody Bets on it.

We tapped several sportsbooks offshore for their take on the game. What was reiterated by most books was that since the game isn’t watched much and is bet accordingly. most of the action is public action – playing over the total – and while the actual volume of wagers isn’t bad, the volume in terms of dollars is not noteworthy. Diamond Sports gave us some great insight into the game. “Sharps may dabble here and there if the number gets out of hand with over bettors, but sides don’t get out of hand either way. You would see much more line movement both on the side and total than typical – but that movement reflects the notion that not much volume comes on the game so the moves are quicker, yet on less action.”

The DSI representative went on to say that during the regular season there are usually “6-7 games that are bet heavily, 4 bet moderately, and then there are 4 duds. The NFL Pro Bowl gets about half the action that a regular Sunday ‘dud’ would get.”

So nobody watches, nobody cares and nobody bets on the NFL Pro Bowl. Maybe it is time to just let the game go and hand out the awards at a banquet.

It came as somewhat of a shock when it was announced a couple of days ago that Groupe Bernard Tapie’s (GBT) bid to buy the assets of Full Tilt Poker fell through but what was more startling was the news that PokerStars was in the running to purchase Full Tilt for $750 million. I spoke to people in the industry and while some weren’t anxious to discuss the situation until the arrangement was finalized, I did find a couple of sources who were willing to talk anonymously. According to one of those sources, who is very close to the situation, PokerStars’ interest in purchasing Full Tilt has nothing to do with the assets or player lists of the now defunct Full Tilt (after all most non American Full Tilt players have already gone to PokerStars and both PokerStars and any rejuvenated Full Tilt would still banned from accepting U.S. players), but rather PokerStars is interested with the agreement the company has reached with the DoJ which is far more valuable to them.

Apparently the DoJ was never that sold on GBT’s bid to buy the company. Many in the government believe Alderney jumped at GBT’s initial offer and tried to sell it to the DoJ and public because the jurisdiction had egg on their face and were worried how it would reflect on other licensees they had. But the DoJ wanted someone who would pay back all customers immediately and they also wanted compensation for their efforts in bringing down Full Tilt. The DoJ had already extorted err . . . ‘negotiated’ a settlement of $300 million from Party Poker and one of its founders Anurag Dikshitz plus they reached a settlement with 888 Gaming for their past wrongs. In exchange for those settlements charges against the companies were dropped and it appears they have been given a clean slate to pursue a license if and when online gambling is legalized stateside. The DoJ weren’t convinced that GBT had the assets to pay back all players and were specifically concerned that GBT would stiff Americans owed money and concentrate on repaying Rest of the World (ROW) players because Americans were already cut off from playing at Full Tilt, with or without new owners.

Nevertheless, by all accounts the DoJ had agreed in principal to let GBT purchase Full Tilt but they were still talking behind the scenes to other potential buyers who had the assets to pay back everyone immediately and give the DoJ their pound of flesh. The DoJ fears were realized when GBT made it clear that they weren’t prepared to fully reimburse American players immediately and ROW players that were owed money would only be able to withdraw only $100 from their accounts without penalty and the remainder would be subject to a rollover requirement. Moreover, there was a time frame in which the ROW players could play through the amounts owed and if they didn’t meet the requirement there would be a penalty. Both the DoJ and Alderney were worried that this concocted scheme of repaying players could result in a lawsuit against Full Tilt and everyone involved in the agreement. According to the source, someone at the DoJ contacted PokerStars and the 2 sides started working out a deal whereby PokerStars would purchase the assets of the company for $750 million. Under the agreement all players owed money would be reimbursed right away (a little over $300 million) with no strings attached and the remaining $400 million plus would go to the DoJ.

The question on everyone’s mind is why in the world PokerStars would want to buy Full Tilt’s assets and more importantly how it’s worth even close to $750 million. After all, the goodwill in the Full Tilt brand is more or less gone and PokerStars is by far and away the biggest poker site in the world even today. The 2 sources told me that the answer is in the details that probably will never be released to the general public. The DoJ most likely is prepared to make a deal with PokerStars similar to what was arranged with Party Poker. If that is indeed the case then the lawsuits filed by the DoJ against Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate will be dropped and PokerStars will effectively be given a pardon which will allow them to pursue a license to operate in the U.S. It’s highly unlikely they will endeavor to get a license themselves but will team up with one or more existing casinos. Don’t forget that Wynn had originally agreed to partner with PokerStars to offer a poker product to Nevada residents when the online product is legalized in the state and even though Wynn pulled out after Black Friday there will almost certainly be some renewed interest if PokerStars is given immunity. And as for Full Tilt they were willing to partner with Station Casinos so PokerStars would now have a couple of major partnerships already lined up and it seems just a matter of time before Nevada does legalize online poker. 888 Poker has already signed a partnership with Caesars and that deal was never cancelled since 888 was already effectively granted immunity after coming to an agreement with the DoJ after the passing of the UIGEA. As such, the agreement would be worth $750 million to PokerStars if they truly believe that online poker stateside will come sooner rather than later. And Wynn and Station will want to make sure the previous agreements are renewed so that Caesars doesn’t get a huge head start in offering online poker in Nevada.

Another motivation for the DoJ to come to an agreement that would repay players right away is that this is an election year. No doubt many in the government still recall how pissed off poker players effectively defeated Jim Leach in 2006 in his bid for re-election in Congress and the last thing Barak Obama needs is the PPA starting a campaign to defeat him because of Black Friday. If anything the agreement will likely win support from poker players because they are being repaid and one must remember that the DoJ exposed Full Tilt as a ponzi scheme.

If the deal goes through as expected, the rumor is that the repayment to American players will begin in early summer. Let’s hope so.

A survey of over 8000 poker players run by USGamingSurvey.com showed that after Black Friday over 80% of current online poker players stopped playing online poker. Those that remain do play at smaller sites and companies like Bovada and BetOnline have done a good job of grabbing some market share. But there are no sites that come even close to the player levels when that the Big 3 achieved when they were offering games to U.S. players. Consequently, online poker play in the US has been reduced to a trickle of what it once was.

We fully expected to see a great deal of news coverage regarding the anniversary of Black Friday. After all, with so many people stiffed out of money and so many players who used poker as a means to earn a living, we incorrectly assumed that players would be up in arms. $150 million in American players’ money is still frozen in accounts on Full Tilt Poker – plus millions more in accounts on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. Instead Black Friday passed without as much as whimper. There were no player demands or further lawsuits, no marches on the Capital and literally no coverage in the mainstream media. There was plenty of coverage in 2011 with the media blaring the DoJ statement that Full Tilt Poker was nothing more than a ‘ponzi scheme’, but online poke is now so limited in the U.S. that there was nary a peep regarding Black Friday on the Internet, print or TV, outside of several online gambling industry sites.

The one group that did get very involved with the anniversary was the Poker Players Alliance. The PPA had put up a new homepage for their website and asked players to get involved. Because of their campaign over 10,000 letters were sent to members of Congress. Though this is just a small percentage of poker players who are being stiffed by the US DoJ actions, 10,000 is a figure that should make someone stand up and take notice.

While licensed and regulated online poker in the post-Black Friday world appears to be a given, it still hasn’t happened. Online poker does make the news but the stories are of states looking to license, regulate and tax the industry or the fight over long shot bills in Congress. No one mentions the bilked players and the effects of the DoJ’s rampant actions against foreign companies.

Meanwhile at one year and counting the over 200,000 Full Tilt players who never received their funds after Black Friday sit and wait, apparently, quietly. And those that played at the Cereus network sites, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, should just stop waiting. They will never see s dime not before next year’s anniversary, not ever. It would be nice if someone in the media took notice.

“This all started in 2009 when the NFL got involved with state lotteries when the New England Patriots put their logo and name behind scratch-off lottery tickets. By the time the NFL season started nearly half of all NFL teams had signed up with lotteries. The scratch-off tickets have been very successful with annual sales for just about every team-themed game exceeding the 10 million dollar figure in sales. But you won’t find that kind of information anywhere on the NFL’s website. In fact, there are no articles relating to the state lottery/ NFL partnerships anywhere on the site.

Now the NFL has decided that sponsoring Lottery tickets isn’t enough, they also need to take casino advertising. Gambling ads and partnerships with gambling companies are good as long as their is no betting on the NFL product itself.

For the league which has fought long and hard to keep gambling on it’s sport just in Nevada, allowing casino ads wreaks of double standards. New Jersey is heading to the Supreme Court at some point in the next 12 months fighting to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and permit sportsbetting in the Garden State. My best bet is that the NFL will launch a major offensive to thwart New Jersey’s effort. There will be fact and figures about how gambling impacts families, kids will want to bet on the games and so forth. And, as in the Delaware case, the state will bring up the Lottery partnership, and now can heap Casino gambling onto that pile.

Many of my friends and colleagues do not see why I am outraged by this latest gambling-meets-NFL development. It is because you are either pro-gambling or anti-gambling. It’s a pretty black-and-white issue. You can be pro-gambling if you profit from the activity, but don’t participate in it. But you can’t be anti-gambling if you are turning a profit from it. So which is the NFL – pro or anti gambling? The quote above holds the key, “on our sport”.

Maybe the U.S. gambling industry should just offer the NFL a cut of the action, like their Lottery partnership does. It is not a far reach to see that the NFL would allow betting on its sport as long as the league could generate revenue from it. After all, the NFL has shown that they are pro-gambling as long as there is profit attached to it. Maybe that is why the NFL is now aligning itself with casinos. The NFL may be envisioning team-themed sportsbooks in every city where an NFL franchise has taken root. Or instead maybe they are aware that PASPA is on shaky Constitutional grounds and a Supreme Court fight will be very costly. Right now The league does not get one dime from Las Vegas’ weekly handle on NFL games, but in a post-PASPA world conceivably there is revenue to be made.

Frankly, I can’t wait to go to the ‘Pack Room’ at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay to bet on the storied NFL franchise or attend the ‘Lion’s Den’ at the Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit. It’s the next logical step if the NFL continues to look for ways to ‘partner’ with gambling companies.

Players are urged to bookmark the new dot-ag domain. We expect the new BetOnline.ag to offer the service expected from an Elite-rated sportsbook; including the earliest basketball odds, true MLB dime lines (a staple at BetOnline for years), and big bonuses.

Almost every Internet gambling-related domain that services U.S. customers has moved from the dot-com realm at this point and this change is nothing new. U.S. website seizures have forced almost every operator of a dot-com website to consider their options, including what domain extensions are available. Many sites have changed to a dot-eu address. We also expect to see the dot-co URL (a newer extension being pushed for company – in reality it’s for Columbia) being used for many sites moving forward.

For more information on BetOnline, click here or head to betonline.ag to see what they are all about.

Unfortunately for IlliniWx4Caster, he is not an OSGA member and thus only qualifies for a grand prize of $300. Leroy’s Momma will receive the 2nd place prize of a $200 Free Play at BetOnline and jellyroll will grab a $100 Free Play from JustBet.

“I really wanted to see a Kentucky/Ohio State showdown for the National Championship“, said Jim Quinn, OSGA president. “This would have been the first time ever that I would have had a shot at winning one of our contests.” But Ohio State lost on Saturday crushing OSGAJim’s chances and dropping him out of the cash pool down to 11th spot.

Contestants were awarded points in the bracket style contest and many were still alive going into the last weekend of the tourney, as the Final Four winners yielded 16 points and the tourney champion 24. The most points that could be accumulated were 184. IlliniWx4Caster finished with 138. Last year’s winner had just 111 points while previous winners had over 150 total points. The contest was a wild ride for many players who saw wild swings in the standings each week due to the stunning upsets of two #2 seeds in the first round and two #1′s going down in the Elite 8.

For players who were not in the running for the grand prize, the contest featured a consolation prize, a staple of the OSGA contest for the last 5 years. In all over 60 players are eligible for a free bet being offered by BetMania. Eligible players were truly knocked out early as the rules for this prize were that one of the Final Four selections had to lose the first two rounds. Missouri and Duke were the dominant cause for players receving this prize, but losses by Georgetown and Michigan also came into play.

Here is the prize breakdown. All winners will be contacted via email.

IlliniWx4Caster – $300 Cash Grand Prize
Leroy’s Momma - a $200 Free Play at BetOnline
jellyroll – a $100 Free Play at JustBet
3G, ebb1716, TheGuesser – $75 Cash EACH
Richards Final Four – $50 Cash
Places 6-10 – a $25 Free Play at BetOnline
Monte003
branman
OSGAJim
Orlando Knights
titusott

Congratulations to all who participated in the contest.

Look for great contests throughout the year and become a member today at osga.com, where ‘Members Get More’.

It’s been reported by several sources that the province of Ontario is ready to go full force into gambling. Right now there are full option casinos in Windsor, Niagara Falls and Orillia as well as some smaller charity and native casinos in other cities. Moreover each racetrack in Ontario offers slots.  Ontario also offers lotteries including a sports lottery that requires picking at least 3 games and there are at least a dozen racetracks.

While that list may seem ample to most American gambling pundits Ontario is looking for more and the initial target is the Greater Toronto Area. Paul Godfrey, the man who brought the Blue Jays to Toronto and who is now in charge of Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) was clear that he believed a Toronto casino could create up to 20,000 jobs as well as enticing more tourism. Expectations are that the casino will likely be built at the lakefront, now that Ontario Place has been set for closure, although other venues in the downtown corps are possible. Ontario is also finishing plans to create an online gambling site which will allow residents to bet on poker, slots and lotteries and there are plans to involve large box stores to help promote the gambling product.

I spoke to a developer from Toronto who seems quite aware of the plans and he informed me that the downtown Toronto casino is just the start. If all goes according to plan, (city council needs to approve the casino and development and not surprisingly some on the council are greatly opposed), then according to the developer the casino and possibly a large 5 star hotel could be built within 5 years. Then the province has its eye on other GTA locations for further development. In the west end of the city, Woodbine Racetrack has a large parcel of land and is quite interesting in developing a mega entertainment complex of which a casino and luxury hotel could be part of the plans. And in the East end, Ajax Downs, which has just undergone a major renovation, has room to build a major casino. Again Ajax city council would have to approve the plan.

Not surprisingly, gambling opponents who worry about issues like compulsive gambling, suicides, crime and prostitution are condemning the idea but Godfrey suggests that these opponents need to take their heads out of the sand since Ontarians are gambling anyways. But rather than seeing the money go offshore or to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, the money could stay in Ontario and generate over $1 billion in revenue which could be used for health, education and amateur sports (which is traditionally where the money from gambling has gone) as well as for infrastructure. Godfrey also challenged a councilor who vehemently opposed the idea to prove where cities have seen a dramatic increase in crime and prostitution just because a casino has gone up. In fact Godfrey pointed cities that recently built casinos where those concerns have not materialized. Godfrey and many gambling proponents suggest that you can’t compare 2012 to the dirty thirties.

The Ontario government could also be looking to Woodbine, Ajax Downs and other racetracks for another reason. It was recently announced in a budget that the racetracks, which get a percentage of the slots revenue run out of their facility will likely lose those revenues. The government calls it a subsidy but the racetracks say it’s payment for allowing the slots to run from their operation. It was also an agreement reached by the racetracks and the government over a decade ago. Slots bring in quite a bit of revenue but clearly a full casino would bring in much more and Godfrey stated that the government is looking at decentralizing OLG to allow for some private ownership. Currently the law requires that the province own and operate all gambling but Casino Windsor is partially owned and managed by Caesar’s and Casino Rama is managed by Penn National. So it’s not out of the question that a casino at say Woodbine or Mohawk racetrack could be partially owned and managed by Woodbine Entertainment to make up for lost slots revenue. Moreover, if and when the federal law prohibiting single game sports betting is overturned in the next few months, Woodbine and other pari-mutuel entities could be allowed to offer sports betting as an add on feature to horse racing, as is done in the UK and Australia. In fact Woodbine has just expanded its horse racing offers to allow betting into the UK and South African totes which allows Ontario horse bettors to wager up to 18 hours every day.

One issue not discussed but which will likely be brought forth at some point is the possibility of offering the product outside of Ontario. No doubt inter-provincial poker networks will at some point be created between BC, Quebec and Ontario but the Ontario government likely has its eye south of the border. As it stands the Canadian government won’t challenge U.S. law by allowing Americans to wager at Canadian gambling sites but if the UIGEA is amended or if remote gambling becomes rampant in the U.S. don’t be surprised to see Canadian gambling sites change their stance. One must remember that the U.S. already lost to Antigua at the WTO and while the USTR stated it would rewrite its commitments on gambling, to date it hasn’t. And Canada was one of the countries that asked for compensation as a result of being harmed by the decision to rewrite the commitments. If the U.S. does decide to offer interstate gambling, as is almost a certainty now, there is a very good chance the U.S. government will open the market to select countries of which Canada could very well be one. After all, the USTR wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if the issue was brought back to the WTO and if poker networks were already operating throughout the U.S. there would be no fear of real competition from other countries but allowing other countries to compete would finally kill the WTO case.

Toronto could very well become Las Vegas North in the next few years and considering the lack of snow and warm temperatures the last 2 winters, the city could very well be more like Las Vegas than most know.

In the wake of last week’s indictment of Bodog founder Calvin Ayre and dot com domain seizure, this move is not all that surprising and far from alarming. Many other sportsbooks and casinos as well as some poker networks have already implemented similar policies against states who have brought indictments against online gambling companies. Maryland and New York top this list. In addition, Washington state has a specific law barring Internet gambling and Utah has come out saying that they will ‘opt-out’ of any future federal legislation that permits online gambling.

In 2011, several sportsbooks stopped taking all new U.S. players in the wake of Black Friday and the subsequent seizure of dot com domains by the U.S. government. Players thought that this would be the end of places like BetUS, Sportsbook.com, The Greek and Hollywood. But just like those companies, the Bovada blockage of four states is just for new customers. Sportsbooks who stopped taking new players from the U.S. have all done quite well and because of many of the problems associated with new players, these books have thrived mining their existing customer databases.

Players who currently are active at Bovada from the aforementioned states are still eligible to play with the company and so far, so it the rest of the U.S. This is certainly not a reflection on the stability or reputation of Bovada, just another unfortunate sign of the times for U.S. online players.

After the ‘Black Friday’ domain seizures in April 2011, many online gambling companies moved from their dot com domains to ones registered outside the long arm of U.S Law to prevent further seizures. Immediately there were .ag domains and ultimately many have moved to a .eu domain extension. That is exactly what Bodog did. In April 2011 they moved to a .eu domain and never looked back.

As far as Ayre, following the UIGEA passage in 2006, he sold his U.S. -facing Bodog brand to the Morris Mohwak Gaming Group (MMGG) in the Kahnawake Indian reservation outside of Montreal, Canada. MMGG ultimately let the brand licensing agreement expire at the end of 2011 and moved all of the former players to a new brand, effectively ending an involvement of the Bodog name or brand in the U.S.

When the story broke on Tuesday, there was immediately a buzz in the industry. Many of the folks that we speak with regularly in the offshore world were ‘not surprised’ and we got more than one, ‘it’s about time’. You see, Ayre became both the poster boy for online gambling and for everything that you would NOT want to do if you had an offshore gambling house that caters to U.S. players. Bodog advertised all over the U.S. on billboards, radio ads, in magazine and print mailers and even via a Las Vegas conference, and Ayre was seen as a jet-setting playboy, flaunting his ‘illegal’ business in the face of the G-Men. Many industry insiders believe that the industry started getting more heat than was warranted after Ayre was featured in 2006 in Forbes magazine as a new billionaire. The story was titled ‘Catch Me If You Can’ and it seems that the Feds have done just that. Well kind of . . .

We saw the story and immediately reacted. After a brief meeting we all sat by the phones and chat lines waiting for an onslaught of players to ask about the situation. The story hit the mainstream media and within a few hours there were hundreds of stories in Google News. We waited and after a few hours and just a handful of inquiries had another meeting. “Why isn’t our phone ringing off the hook?” How come our chats lines have had just 2 inquiries on this?” After all, this was big news.

Apparently not to players.

Unfortunately for the Feds, this indictment and seizure has had little or no effect on the current operation servicing Bodog’s former customers and online gambling in general. In fact, unless you follow online gambling news (most players do not), you might never have heard of any seizures. Players had not been using bodog.com for nearly a year and the newly minted website and brand had taken hold of players browsers on Dec 14th, 2011, when even bodog.eu became dark.

In addition to the lack of inquiries here at OSGA, a quick perusal of the top online gambling forums and social media sites saw very little attention given to the seizure. So little, that it became obviously that online players either didn’t know or didn’t care about the DoJ actions. We have seen many stories about Bodog being shut down, including one claiming this was the Feds ‘biggest prize’. Really all of this could not be further from the truth. There has been no interruption for players and it’s business as usual for the Bodog Brands that do not face the United States, as well as for MMGG and their new U.S.-facing website.

So after nearly a decade and untold hours of investigative work, the G-Men essentially found a ‘dry’ warehouse. At a time when the U.S. economy is reeling and the national debt is skyrocketing, the cost of an investigation that started with Internal Revenue Service investigators in Maryland circa 2003 and immigration and customs officials launching a formal investigation in 2006 is absurd. At some point with all of that manpower and money someone should have noticed that bodog.com was no longer a gambling site. And they also should have figured out that Calvin Ayre, who announced after the UIGEA passage that he would not set foot on U.S. soil, was true. It has been over 5 years since he said that.

Yes, the U.S. DoJ did grab another domain and did indict more high profile online gambling entrepreneurs, but this one has to leave a bad taste in the mouths of prosecutors. They basically got nothing – no one that they will ever be able to put on trial and no change in player activity. In the last round of seizures the government did force several large poker operators out of the US, did scare tens of thousands of players away from playing online and did end up shutting down a few operations that stiffed players entirely; all goals of the current regime. But this latest escapade by the DOJ would cause even Eliot Ness to throw his hat in disgust.