Online Casino and Gambling News: April 2011

The respected US business ratings service Moody's Investors entered the online poker legalisation discussion this week, commenting rather pessimistically on the recent Department of Justice actions against three major online poker sites.

When Steve Wynn, the famous Las Vegas gambling entrepreneur and founder of Wynn Resorts, had to distance himself from a lucrative partnership with top online poker provider PokerStars in the wake of Black Friday it must have rankled. Last week Wynn had some harsh words to say about the UIGEA in addressing a gathering of investors, according to Associated Press.

Duane Burcham, corporate spokesman for the international internet anti-fraud company Iovation, has announced the appointment of Philippe Mazurier as country manager leading the company's sales and business development efforts in France.

Interested parties intending to comment on the latest draft of the proposed new Spanish law on internet gambling will have to work quickly; having spent years discussing and drafting regulations, the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (LAE), has given industry stakeholders just 12 days in which to comment, with much of that time taken up by the Easter holiday period.

In the wake of Black Friday, PokerStars has commenced paying out its US players as it cooperates with the US Department of Justice, but it appears that Full Tilt Poker is still trying to organise the process.

Joint venture talks initiated earlier this year between Swedish gambling company Betsson and Italy's Alma Viva gaming division G.Matica Srl . have been terminated.

A new 25 pay line slot from RealTime Gaming (RTG) titled " Mice Dice " debuted this week.

A new online bingo offering went live this week at Bingo.ch , launched by Swiss lottery firm Swisslos Interkantonale Landeslotterie .

Who would have thunk it? The possibility that online gambling’s arch-enemy in the US political system, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, may be considering the legalisation of online poker!

CNN reports that online poker supporter and Harvard law professor Charles Neeson turned the bad news of Black Friday into a learning opportunity this week, asking his students: "The government seized online poker sites under a 2006 law that bans all financial institutions - banks, credit card companies, and online payment companies - from dealing with illegal Internet gambling.