The growing involvement of US Indian tribal gaming interests in debates on whether individual states should legalise online poker or not is addressed in an interesting article written by noted columnist Dave Palermo.

The 400 entrants and numerous railbirds attending the PokerStars European Poker Tour at the Grand Hyatt Berlin over the weekend copped a little more excitment than they had bargained for as six armed robbers stormed the place and made off with an amount of around €1 million.

Microgaming will be releasing its latest new games on March 4th, according to an operator press release this week. There are to be two new offerings, a video slot branded CashOccino, and a high quality addition to the provider's Gold Series of table games, Triple Action Hold'em Bonus Poker.

As yet unconfirmed reports circulating on the popular poker message board twoplustwo suggest that FBI agents may be probing the activities of the Full Tilt Poker site, online poker's second largest and global provider of Internet poker.

The House State Government Committee in Iowa may conduct a hearing as early as next week on a proposal to legalise and regulate online sports betting and perhaps other forms of e-gaming, according to a report from the Sioux City Journal.

The Gibraltar-based online gambling group 888.com has announced the release of a slew of new games in five different gaming categories, embracing video slots, scratch cards, card, keno and arcade offerings. Amazon Wild, a monster 5 reel 100 pay-line video slot heads the list, offering players a jungle theme with ancient temples and treasures, whilst Slotbox joins the Arcade gaming portfolio, providing a classic fixed odds arcade puzzle. In the Card Games section is the all-new Poker Fives, where players who correctly predict the outcome of the five dealt cards can profit.

The conferences and lobbying among tribal gambling groups - some for and others against legalising poker in California to close state budgetary gaps - has triggered some opposition from the California Tribal Business Alliance, which this week released the results of an independent study claiming that potential revenues may have been overstated.

Media statements released this week by online poker sites Players Only and Sportsbook have confirmed rumours circulating last week in affiliate circles that the two companies are about to move from the Cake Network to the Merge Poker Network. The moves could take place as early as mid-April, apparently, with one statement advising that Merge had agreed to migrate the online poker gaming activities of Jazette Enterprises to the Merge Gaming platform.

The twoplustwo message board has been on fire this week after disclosures were made that a Dutch player was having tax problems. The tax authorities are claiming a 29% cut of poker earnings in terms of the amended Betting and Gaming Tax Act, which claims the right to tax online winnings from foreign, but not domestic online gambling sites.

Q4, 2009 results posted this week by the Leisure and Gaming plc group show plunging revenues in casino and sports betting ameliorated by good poker results, especially in the Italian market. Figures to end December last year show revenues from casino products dived by almost 70% to €4.5 million, from €14.7 million in 2008, generating a net win reduced by a third to €200,000, from €300,000 last time. The dismal performance was attributed to the closure of Acropolis casino, a move to poker and a change of casino provider in Greece.