It’s only Wednesday and it’s been a busy week in the online poker world. Let’s take a look at what’s been making news in recent days in case you’ve been living under a rock. First, our attention turns to Bodog, where news broke on Wednesday that the federal government of the United States seized over $20 million from U.S. bank accounts that can be linked to Bodog. The money in question was held at four large U.S. banks – Bank of America, Sun Trust, Regions, and Wachovia. Although it has not been specifically stated, the money may have been used to process payments to Bodog customers in the United States who are requesting withdrawals. The latest news marks the end of a two year long investigation by authorities. The report and facts just stated are from Forbes magazine.
Second, on Friday, four Congressmen wrote the United States Treasury and Federal Reserve asking for clarification of the meaning of “unlawful internet gambling” in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The letter appeared on the website of the Poker Players Alliance. While it may seem like a no-brainer, no statute was ever written into the UIGEA to describe what exactly is allowed. Therefore, four Congressmen sought more information: Judy Riggert, Jim Gerloch, Christopher Shays, and Kevin McCarthy. All are Republicans, all voted for the UIGEA when it was up for debate in 2006 in the House of Representatives, and all have stated that they’ve sought to rebuff any resistance to implementing its regulations. Therefore, their opinions might weigh more with the Treasury and Federal Reserve.
The World Series of Poker continued to air on ESPN, with Events 1 and 2 in the books so far. Nenad Medic and Grant Hinkle have won their first WSOP bracelets on national television in the United States. Medic’s final table was a wild ride and featured Andy Bloch, Mike Sexton, and Kathy Liebert. The WSOP airs every Tuesday night at 9:00pm ET on the popular sports cable station. Next Tuesday, August 5th, the $5,000 mixed hold’em event will air. The Main Event will begin being broadcast on September 2nd and concludes on November 11th.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, in a press release from Friday, named Frank Catania, a former director of gaming in New Jersey, to head its independent investigative team into the scandal at Ultimate Bet. Catania helped the KGC outline its original regulations and has served as a consultant ever since. Ultimate Bet recently turned over its findings to the KGC, which will take an indefinite amount of time to formulate its own findings. The ultimate goal for the KGC is to ensure that UB is indeed all in the clear and has cleaned the cheating off of the site.
Finally, the PokerStars Sunday Million now has a $1.5 million guarantee. In case you’ve never played on the site before, PokerStars offers a fully-downloadable client. You can take advantage of all that Stars has to offer from the comfort of your very own Macbook. The Sunday Million is the Net’s premier online poker tournament, attracting thousands of players every week. A few weeks ago, the tournament had a $2 million guarantee as part of a site promotion and attracted well over 14,000 entrants.
It’s been a busy news week in the world of online poker and there are still two days left in the week. Look for all of the latest updates from MacPoker.net.