Online Casino and Gambling News: June 2011

An American man with business interests in Costa Rica, who is believed to be a high roller at land casinos and is alleged to have connections with online gambling e-processing, was arrested over the weekend whilst in transit through Phoenix airport.

The online poker information site Quadjacks is currently carrying an unconfirmed report that PokerStars may be about to exit the Australian market following growing US pressure on the Australian authorities to investigate the poker giant's GP Information Services subsidiary and its activities.

Although he originally wanted to remain anonymous, the Sky Vegas big winner who recently hit a £2.64 million progressive jackpot on the Millionaire's Club slot revealed his identity over the weekend.

International Game Technology (IGT) has announced another games supply deal, this one with the UK online bingo group Mandalay Gaming Holdings Ltd.

Late Saturday night at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the question on everyone's lips was "is Phil Hellmuth going to win his 12th WSOP bracelet?" Alas, it was not to be as John Juanda gained the ascendency in the heads up and eventually took down event 16, the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship.

When federal legislation legalising online poker in the United States passes - and some say that could be as early as this year - the gambling state of Nevada will be good to go, thanks to two bills signed into state law Friday by Governor Brian Sandoval.

A bitter dispute involving the British Horserace Betting Levy Board, the British Horseracing Association and major betting exchange Betfair has been resolved following expert legal advice on the question of whether customers of UK betting exchanges are capable of being leviable bookmakers. At a meeting Friday the BHLB decided that it would not seek to impose any levy on the customers of betting exchanges.

Societe des loteries video du Quebec, a subsidiary of Loto-Quebec, has announced that International Game Technology (IGT) will provide 7,200 replacement video lottery terminals for the Quebec gaming outlets. The announcement comes after Loto-Quebec received government approval in December 2009 to proceed with replacing its VLTs to update machines currently in use. The replacement process is expected to start in 2012.

Newly released figures show Atlantic City's casinos had to endure another decline in revenues in May, showing an across the board slide of 9% to $290.6 million when compared with those of May 2010. Associated Press reports that the biggest loser was Trump Plaza Hotel Casino, down 25%, from $17.3 million last May to $13 million this May.

With 17 World Series of Poker events either completed or in progress by Friday, it appears that Black Friday has not had the dampening effect that many feared it would. Player turnouts have in general been good, with several events recording bigger entry fields than last year.