Tony G wins seat in Lithuanian Election claims "today we made history"

The final results of the European elections have been announced and founder of Pokernews.com and Lithuanian businessman Tony G can add another achievement to an already impressive list as he gained a seat in the next European Parliament.

When he first announce his intention to run for European Parliament back in December 2013 he said politics is "a competition, a tournament or as a sit-n-go, we are all playing," he said. "Every country is playing and whoever plays the smartest, is going to be successful."

Tony G’s pro liberal party fared much better than originally expected as they became the country’s third biggest party with 16.5% of the votes meaning they will occupy two seats in the next European Parliament.

The colourful poker player also had the honor of winning the most votes of his party and said after the results were released "Today we made history in Lithuanian politics".

His election to European Parliament has been hailed as a great thing many people within the poker industry as he may have the influence to affect poker policy in Europe going forward. Senior member of PartyPoker.Bwin Warren Lush who was on site for the home stretch of the campaign and Election Day called this a “historical result”.

There has also been an overwhelming stream of positive feedback on Tony G’s Facebook and Twitter with many players and members of the industry congratulating him.

I am sure the poker world will be watching as Tony G makes his transition from competitive trash talking poker player to European Parliament member,

Bwin.party announce departure of three directors

Bwin.party announced on Friday 16th May the departure of three of their directors from the board, with Deputy Chairman Rod Perry retiring once a successor has been selected, while Manfred Bodner and Helmut Kern will be stepping down as non-executive directors after the companies annual general meeting on the 22nd May.

The online gambling firm said in a statement that they had commenced a search for three new independent directors to replace those departures and at the same time again urged investors to vote against SpringOwl’s nominations for directors to the board.

SpringOwl the investment vehicle of Jason Ader who owns 5.27% of bwin.party wants to see boardroom changes and include their own nominations to shake up the company and bring more profit back to the company for investors.

However a spokesperson for bwin.party said that due to “the increasing complexity of the group’s business and regulatory environment, combined with the length of service of a number of the non-executive directors and the need to prevent the board from becoming too large and unwieldy,” it had decided to search for three new independent directors.

As a major shareholder SpringOwl is allowed to nominate one director to the board so long as otter shareholders agreed to the nomination, but SpringOwl are pushing for a total of four new nominations to the bwin.party board something the firm is totally against and fighting hard to oppose come the AGM.

In a move to stop SpringOwl Bwin.party said it has appointed executive search firm Spence Stuart to conduct an international search to identify suitable candidates to join the board.

“Bwin.party is operating in a challenging and rapidly changing business environment. The steps we are announcing today will ensure that succession is in place to allow the board to anticipate and address the complexities of technological change, the inevitable transition to regulated and taxed markets and also to maximise the long-term value of the business for its shareholders, customers and employees,” Chairman-Elect Philip Yea said in a statement.

It is going to be a very fiery AGM and observers are split on how shareholders will vote on SpringOwl’s nominations, the outcome could jeopardize the position of CEO Norbert Teufelberger should the vote go in favour of Jason Ader and his nominations.

Holland online gambling bill stalls

Holland’s online gambling bill which was set to legalise internet gambling in the country is in danger of missing its 2015 target because opposition parties within the coalition government are trying to stall the progress of the bill.

A planned meeting to discuss the provisions of the bill was cancelled last week in attempt to delay the passage of the bill which was hoped to reach a parliamentary vote before the summer recess that starts in mid-July.

However many observers believe it will still make the deadline and will be passed in to law for 2015, whether that is the case depends on how much more opposition there is in the coming weeks to delay the bill.

Luis Suarez Signed as Poker Ambassador by 888poker

Luis Suarez is a name familiar to every single football fan out there. Liverpool's striker, who scored 31 goals this season and was awarded the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award, will now be testing his skills on the much smaller green felt as well. Suarez entered a sponsorship deal with one of the poker industry giants, 888poker, and he is amongst the top sporting superstars to sign this type of deal in the recent period.

Bringing Suarez aboard should give the company quite an exposure amongst those who love football but may not share the same interest for poker. The football star was presented during a press conference held today in Barcelona where he talked about this latest development as well as his future plans and the upcoming football World Cup. Senior Vice President of 888poker Itai Pazner did not try to hide the company’s excitement about their latest acquisition either:

Luis Suarez is an incredible sporting talent - passionate, competitive, technically gifted, and emotionally invested in the game. It’s those qualities that make him an exciting player to watch, in poker as well as football. It’s fantastic to have him on board.

The Uruguayan player should become an integral part of the 888poker team, playing both online and in live events. However, with the World Cup quickly approaching, it is somewhat hard to imagine Suarez will have a lot of time on his hands for poker, as he is primarily a football player.

When he does have time to play, Suarez will be joining a team already consisting of the famous cricketer Shane Warne, UFC Champion Georges St-Pierre, as well as poker stars JC Tran, Sofia Lovgren and Xuan Liu.

While Suarez’s talent and skill as a footballer are beyond any doubt, some eyebrows are being raised when considering his fairness. The football star has quite a history of suspensions and fines linked to his name throughout his career, and for some in the poker community, this may seem like a red flag.

On the other hand, there are hordes of fans who enjoy watching him perform his magic on the field and they will probably enjoy (maybe not to the same extent, but enjoy nonetheless) seeing him try his luck at the poker table and being actually able to sit across from him on the virtual felt, chat him up and even take some of his money away.

Although there is often some heat coming from the hardcore part of the poker community when it comes to signing sporting stars, the fact is that their fame and popularity simply bring new players to the game and, in the end, it is good for everyone – rooms, amateurs and professionals. Now we just have to wait and see how successful Suarez will be in a discipline that doesn’t require an actual ball to play ball.

Paddy Power boss to leave in 2015

Patrick Kennedy the CEO of Paddy Power is stepping down from his role after ten years at the helm of the Irish bookmaker.

“I have always had a personal view that after ten years at the helm, change is good, both for the business and the individual,” Kennedy said in a statement. He will leave his job as boss of Paddy Power in 2015 along with competitor William Hill boss Ralph Topping who is also leaving at the end of 2015.

Both bookmakers who have strong presence in land based retail units and online will be searching to find replacements for both men who have inspired their companies to be leading players in the industry.

Ministerial statement: Betting shops and gambling

Minister for gambling Helen Grant MP has made this statement to Parliament:

“The 2005 Gambling Act was introduced by the then Government with the aim of liberalising the gambling market in Great Britain. Nearly seven years on from the Act’s implementation, the gambling industry has developed in innovative ways, with new products now marketed and made available on a greater scale than ever before.

In many local communities concerns have been expressed about the clustering of betting shops on high streets. These shops contain highly sophisticated gaming machines that now make up a greater proportion of revenue than over the counter betting. In addition, we have seen significant growth in the scale of gambling advertising. The pervasive nature of such advertising means that both children and adults are exposed to a considerably greater amount of gambling advertising than ever before.

The Government wants to give local communities a proper voice so their views are taken into account when plans for a new betting shop are submitted. My Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, is therefore proposing a re-emphasis within the current planning classes. A smaller planning use class containing betting shops will mean that in future where it is proposed to convert a bank, building society or estate agents into a betting shop it would require a planning application. In addition, the Government will remove the ability for other premises such as restaurants and pubs to change use without being obliged to seek planning permission. The Department for Communities and Local Government will consult on the detail of proposals as part of a wider consultation on change of use in summer 2014.

Furthermore, given the growth in marketing and promotion of virtual and electronic gambling, which present fewer opportunities for face to face interaction, I believe new measures are necessary to ensure that vulnerable players are protected. I want players who use gaming machines to be in control of the choices they make. This is particularly important for users of category B2 gaming machines.
I have therefore decided that Government should adopt a precautionary approach and take targeted and proportionate action to protect players further when using high stake gaming machines on the high street.

I intend to require customers accessing stakes over £50 to use account-based play or load cash over the counter. Requiring better interaction between customer and operator for those engaged in high stake play improves opportunities for more effective provision of information and interventions. This measure will put an end to unsupervised cash staking above £50, which can rapidly result in significant losses. This is a sensible and balanced approach which allows players continued use of these machines on the high street, while ensuring greater opportunities for supervision and player protection.

In addition, the Gambling Commission is undertaking a review of its licence conditions and codes of practice with a view to strengthening their measures to protect players. In particular, the Gambling Commission intends to consult on requiring gaming machines in betting shops to present players with a choice to set limits on the maximum amount of time or money they want to spend before commencing play. The Gambling Commission is also looking at how additional measures to protect players of gaming machines, such as pauses in play and messaging, should be toughened and made mandatory.

The Government will now prepare the necessary impact assessments and regulatory measures to implement its proposed changes. I expect these changes to be implemented from October 2014.

South African online gambling bill published

A bill to legalize online gambling in South Africa was published in the Government Gazette on Wednesday, but even its author has suggested its chances of passing into law are “far from certain.” Democratic Alliance party shadow minister for trade and industry Geordin Hill-Lewis (pictured) first announced plans to introduce his draft bill back in January. The publication of his Remote Gambling Bill 2014 kicks off a 30-day public comment period, after which the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry will debate the bill’s merits before making a decision whether to pass it on to Parliament for a vote.

Hill-Lewis estimated the process will take at least nine months and acknowledged that his private member’s bill has an uphill climb ahead. But Hill-Lewis felt compelled to act given the lethargy the ruling African National Congress party has shown on moving this matter forward. Sports betting is currently the only legal form of online gambling in South Africa, but Hill-Lewis’ bill would allow operators to offer a wider variety of gambling options.

The bill would also allow the country’s 10 Provincial Licensing Authorities to issue as many online gambling licenses as they saw fit. Should an applicant fail to meet a licensing body’s “fit and proper persons” requirements, said applicant would be subject to a three-year time-out before being allowed to reapply. Should an issued license be revoked for whatever reason, the operator would face a one-year time-out. Operating without a license would carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, rising to 20 years for repeat offenders and financial penalties amounting to 10% of betting turnover.

Meanwhile, licensed online sports betting operator BetFlash has launched a new in-play wager offering for South African punters. The site, which launched last year, utilizes data supplied by Betradar to fuel its in-play product. Betradar covers up to 12k matches across 14 sports on a monthly basis. BetFlash GM Samantha McMurtrie didn’t spare the hype, saying she believed her offering to be “superior to any other in-play product currently in the South African market.”

Land-based bookmakers are expressing opposition to racetrack operator Phumelela Gaming & Leisure boosting fees to screen live racing in betting shops. Phumelela recently told bookies they’d need to pay 3% of their monthly revenue in exchange for the right to air races on televisions in betting shops. Though this percentage was later changed to a flat fee, some 37 bookmakers – most of them in Gauteng province – filed a legal challenge of the cash grab.

Phumelela, which owns five of the country’s nine racetracks, also owns 61% of the Tellytrack channel that broadcasts racing from both domestic and international tracks. While the channel is available to consumers as part of a cable package, bookies have to pay extra to air the races in their shops. Prean Nadu, GM of the Top Bet bookmaking chain, told MoneyWeb that the new fee was “a worrying case” that will “affect our business and the horse racing industry in general. With that system, we lose at the end of the day.’ Phumelela CEO Rian du Plessis countered that the channel was a “very valuable product” and that the increase in fees was “long overdue.”

Minnesota looks to kill state Lottery’s “online crack” scratch-off tickets

Minnesota’s pioneering use of online lottery scratch-off tickets could be headed for the ash-heap of history after a state House committee voted to ban the product. The Minnesota State Lottery made history in February by becoming the first US state lottery to offer online scratch-off tickets. While other state lotteries had offered online ticket sales – Illinois even offers a mobile app to purchase tickets – Minnesota pushed the envelope in February by offering an online version of their Spicy 7’s scratch-off tickets, which critics believe mimic slot machine gambling.

The Spicy 7’s have produced $170k in sales since their Feb. 6 online debut. Outraged politicians accused the Lottery of overstepping its mandate yet director Ed Van Petten insisted that the online scratchers were more of a promotional tool and pointed to increased sales at the state’s 3,100 lottery retailers as proof that the plan was working. Van Petten was also keenly aware that the average lottery player was skewing older and that changes were needed to keep the Lottery relevant in a digital age.

Unconvinced, legislators in both the House and Senate introduced legislation to take Spicy 7’s offline. The House Tax Committee held a hearing on Tuesday which featured a representative of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition taking a page out of Las Vegas Sands VP Andy Abboud’s book by holding up his smartphone and suggesting voters didn’t want to see it transformed into a lottery terminal. The not at all hysterical Rep. Greg Davids took this argument to its illogical conclusion, saying; “This is not the online lottery, this is online crack.”

Van Petten told the committee that he remains convinced the Lottery was within its legal mandate to launch the product while reminding everyone that killing the product could cost the state $2.5m if a key lottery vendor launched a breach-of-contract suit. An unsympathetic Rep. Ann Lenczewski, who chairs the Committee and sponsored the House legislation to kill off the Spicy 7’s, suggested that any financial damages wouldn’t be the state’s liability. “The lottery can eat that.”

On Thursday, the House Commerce Committee voted in favor of the legislation banning the online scratchers. The bill, which also seeks to shut down online sales of national lottery tickets as well as the Lottery’s ‘pay at the pump’ gas station pilot program, now heads to the House rules committee. Assuming it passes muster there, the next stop is a vote on the House floor.

Similar legislation is pending in the Senate and Majority Leader Tom Bakk has expressed confidence that it will pass. Gov. Mark Dayton has expressed concerns that legislators may be micromanaging the Lottery’s operations but has yet to express a firm opinion one way or the other on the issue.

On a cheerier note, last week marked the 25th anniversary of the Lottery’s birth. To celebrate, the Lottery unveiled a new logo, the first revamp the logo has undergone since its 1989 debut. The new logo features a variation of the loon on the old logo, but given the attitudes of state legislators, perhaps a whole bunch of certifiable loonies would have been more appropriate.

Bitcoin sportsbook Coinbet goes dark

Bitcoin-only online sportsbook Coinbet.cc has closed its doors mere months after the site first launched. Over the Easter holiday weekend, visitors to the site were greeted with a notice indicating that the site was “now closed.” The notice instructed players with outstanding balances to contact an email address to resolve their situation.

Players responding to the notice have been contacted by a “liquidation firm” claiming to have been retained by Coinbet “to ensure proper liquidation of all assets … All outstanding debts and accounts will be paid out in accordance with the arrangement made by Coinbet and the sale of all related assets.” Despite these vague assurances, few Coinbet players appear convinced they’ll be made whole anytime soon. Estimates of the total sum owed to Coinbet players range as high as $5m.

Why more governments should offer their citizens a one-in-a-million chance to win

People love lotteries. Almost half of Americans play at least once a year; Spain’s annual national lottery has been going strong for more than a century; and in China the national welfare lottery has collected $167 billion since it began in 1987. This love is unrequited: The odds of winning are abysmal, which can turn them into a tax on the poor.

But that’s why some economists love lotteries, too. They demonstrate a great way to trick people into doing things they ought to be doing anyhow.

Take Slovakia: Like some of its fiscally-troubled European brethren, the government finances itself through a value-added tax, which it’s having some trouble collecting, since businesses are not reporting their sales for VAT-collection. How do you change that? The government there recently started a new lottery that citizens could enter with a receipt from any purchase of more than €1. That turned the country’s lottery-loving citizenry into a corps of internal revenue inspectors, demanding receipts from merchants and, according to the finance minister, increasing VAT collections.

Their eagerness comes from a quirk of human psychology which, when documented, helped win Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics. Their research found that rational decisions about costs and benefits were distorted by how people framed them in their minds: People tend to embrace risk when there is a potentially large gain, and avoid it when there is potential for even a small loss. That’s why someone who will pay $5 for an infinitesimal chance to win a huge jackpot might not put away $5 they could spend today in a bank to save for the future.

That’s been a long-time message of Peter Tufano, an economist and dean of Oxford’s Said Business School. His non-profit, D2D Fund, promotes a number of programs to build financial assets for the poor that take advantage of this facet of human behavior. One of the most effective is known as the save to win fund. Consumers are encouraged to enter a “lottery” which is actually a savings account. The money they spend to enter is saved, and they become eligible for a cash prizes drawn from the combined interest earnings.

This is behavioral economics at work: While people won’t save money for the guaranteed-but-small return of interest on a certificate of deposit, they will pay for a tiny chance of a large return. Tufano’s pilot programs in the United States have led to $72.2 million in savings (pdf) for more than 40,000 account holders between 2009 and 2012. The lottery is a bonus, Tufano says—what’s important is that they are saving rather than spending or gambling their principal in the first place, making them more resilient to financial shocks.

Fans of these methods have been encouraging policymakers to use them more often. Four years ago, Harvard Business Review floated a proposal that would enter US taxpayers in a lottery as a way to encourage accurate and timely filing. But despite president Obama’s much bally-hooed “nudge”-friendly policy team, that plan hasn’t been implemented.

There are those that might object to lotteries as a nudge toward wise choices. Several religious faiths are skeptical, seeing gambling as sinful. Some governments, from China to many US states, are already using lotteries to fund social welfare or arts programs, and might not like to see competition from savings-building programs. And maybe it all feels a bit manipulative.

But if sweepstakes like these can be more widely useful, maybe we need a lottery that gives an entry ticket to every lawmaker who votes for smart social policies like these. After all, everything is about incentives.