Caesars Interactive Entertainment and Harrah’s Philadelphia are not short on optimism for the Pennsylvania online casino market, with one executive saying she is “bullish” on the opportunity.
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The message shocked Max Silver. “We are no longer allowing gambling apps submitted by individual developers. This includes both real money gambling apps as well as apps that simulate a gambling experience.”
A poker player and trainer, Silver is the proprietor of the SnapShove app and it had been removed from Apple’s iOS App Store – and he didn’t know why.
“I received no email notification about the removal,” Silver told USPoker on Monday. “It wasn’t until a user messaged me saying he had a new device and was unable to download that I investigated and found we had been removed. The only notification I got was via the internal Apple control center.”
The message from Apple said SnapShove had been removed from the App Store and that Silver could no longer distribute gambling apps from the account. The company noted that it is attempting to curtail possible fraudulent activity and illegal gambling.
“In order to reduce fraudulent activity on the App Store and comply with government requests to address illegal online gambling activity, we are no longer allowing gambling apps submitted by individual developers,” the message from Apple reads. “This includes both real money gambling apps as well as apps that simulate a gambling experience.”
The move appears not to affect apps published by larger business entities. Apple notes: “Going forward only verified accounts from incorporated business entities may submit gambling apps for distribution on the App Store.”
As of Monday afternoon, poker apps by PokerStars, the World Series of Poker, Zynga, the World Poker Tour, and numerous others by major corporations were all still available and unaffected.
SnapShove is a mobile app offering game theory optimization for shoving all in as well as calling ranges for these types of situations. The app has been on the App Store since Silver began the business in February 2016, and he bills the service and website as “the best way to learn short stack perfection.” The service’s website says it has served 54,000 poker players worldwide including World Series of Poker bracelet winners (like Silver), super high roller champions, and many of the world’s top players.
SnapShove offers free access, but also more in-depth and unlimited access for those who download the “pro” version for $14.99. Silver notes that while the app serves those working on their poker game, there is no way to gamble on the app either directly or by simulation.
“I immediately appealed the situation citing the fact that SnapShove is clearly not a gambling app either in real money or simulated gambling and was swiftly denied,” Silver says. “It seems as they are expressly going after individual developers rather than corporations.”
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Visit WSOP NJAs a businessman as well as a player, the ban is a tough hit to SnapShove. Apple makes up about 60 percent of its revenue. Targeting individuals and entrepreneurs seems a bit unfair, but Silver says it is more frustrating because his app offers no way to directly wager or gamble. SnapShove functions as a training and tutorial medium, not as a means to play online.
“It more seems unfair that the app is clearly nothing to do with gambling or simulated gambling,” he says. “It’s no different than an app teaching blackjack basic strategy.”
As he works to remedy the situation, Silver so far has had no problems with Android devices and is sending his students to his website to access the app. He’s also looking for other solutions to get his app back up on Apple.
“I’m currently in the process of incorporating and will have SnapShove back to the App Store as soon as possible,” he says. “I’d like to apologize to any users affected.”
Incorporating takes some time and effort, however, certainly a major inconvenience. That could have at least been planned for if Silver had received more notice.
SnapShove isn’t the only app affected by the crackdown. MacRumors.com reports that others have also been taken down, even those unrelated at all to poker or wagering. In recent days, the company also began removing gambling and poker apps from the store in China and Norway as those governments asked the company to crack down on the offerings.
Like Silver, other independent app developers aired their frustrations on Twitter with the bans.
Just shy of its 10th anniversary, my Poker game (@thtouch) gets the boot from Apple. The reason? Gambling apps by individual developers are now banned. Doesn’t matter whether it involves money or is just a simulation.
pic.twitter.com/Wqhx9adeeX
— Pit Garbe (@leberwurstsaft) August 9, 2018
Apple has not commented much beyond the same message that Silver received. Developers looking to get back on the app may have to seek a similar solution that he’s looking into. In the meantime, frustration has not only come from publishers of these apps, but also from users.
Ludicrous. The app doesn’t even simulate playing a poker hand. Only does calculations and a quiz game. This is a hell of a stretch by @AppStore
— Dylan Linde (@DylanLinde) August 17, 2018
The post Crackdown: Developers Frustrated After Apple Bans Poker, Gambling Apps appeared first on .
Over half a million dollars in WCOOP tickets will be given away via freerolls available across PokerStars major markets.
As a goodwill gesture, the world’s leading online poker site PokerStars has announced freerolls across its major markets for the players affected by the recent DDoS attacks. In total over $650,000 will be given away via freerolls in the form of tournament tickets.
Although PokerStars has yet to make an official announcement on its website or social media, these “Players Freerolls” can be found in the poker clients with access to the global player pool, as well as the separate Southern European network (except Portugal), and the segregated Italian client.
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After limiting multi-tabling at cash games and implementing “Seat Me” last month, PokerStars is now trialing five-handed Zoom tables in Italy.
PokerStars, the world’s largest real-money online poker room, is trialing a new structure at the fast-fold tables for its Italian customers. All the Zoom tables excluding heads-up have become five-max instead of the standard six-max.
The change came into effect on August 13, as per the Italian poker news site, Italiapokerclub. Many players found this move surprising as there was no official communication from PokerStars prior to the change nor has there been confirmation or an explanation since.
The clash between the Pennsylvania Lottery and state casinos continues to amp up. The latest battle comes courtesy of the virtual sports monitor games rolled out by the PA Lottery.
In the lottery’s latest attempt to modernize its selection of games while attracting a younger crowd, Xpress Football and Xpress Car Racing went live last week. But like they were following the launch of the online lottery program, known as the PA iLottery, earlier this year, Pennsylvania casinos are not happy.
The PA Lottery already benefits from two highly successful platforms launched in 2018. Per Penn Live, Keno has generated $12.7 million since May 1 and is estimated to result in $62 million by the end of the fiscal year next summer. Similarly, the online lottery has raised $50.6 million since May 22 and could produce $300 million in the current fiscal year.
Now the PA Lottery has another new product: Xpress Sports. Xpress Football and Xpress Car Racing combine the experience of video games, sports betting, and slot machines, allowing users to wager on computer-simulated sporting events that are determined by random computerized drawings that occur every five minutes.
Betting odds derive from historical data and past performances of the virtual participants. Users can play and watch a livestream at PA Lottery retailers, bars, and restaurants that offer monitor games. The lottery estimates $55 million generated by Xpress Sports in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
“Following Keno’s very strong start, we expect that our Xpress Sports games will also be a big hit with our players,” PA Lottery executive director Drew Svitko said in a release. “These games are part of our continuing mission to modernize our business and generate new funds to benefit older Pennsylvanians.”
State casinos, though, believe the lottery has overstepped the bounds outlined in last year’s gambling expansion bill. Again.
Last October, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill to legalize online gambling in Pennsylvania, including online poker, online casino games, daily fantasy sports, and sports betting.
While the bill expanded the state’s selection of games, the PA Lottery began plans for modernizing its product. This year alone, iLottery and Keno were introduced to the state, as was the new PA Lottery mobile app.
Yet while the selection has pleased lottery players, that group does not include Pennsylvania casinos.
After Xpress Sports went live, the Pennsylvania Casino Gaming Coalition — composed of the state’s 13 casinos — quickly objected.
In an email, coalition spokesman David La Torre said Xpress Sports is violating regulations laid out in the 2017 bill.
“The Pennsylvania Lottery’s new game combines elements of online casino games, sports betting and slot machines — areas that are legislatively restricted to the commonwealth’s casino operators. We will continue to oppose their illegal attempts to cannibalize the state’s Casino industry.”
The coalition was already considering legal action against Wolf’s administration following the release of iLottery games. The casinos contend those games are too similar to the slot selection found at online casinos.
In June, the coalition sent a letter to Wolf imploring him to shut down the online lottery program.
“In virtually every way imaginable, Lottery’s iLottery program mimics a casino operation offering simulated casino-style games in direct contravention of (the law’s) express prohibition on Lottery offering ‘interactive lottery games which simulate casino-style games.”
The gambling expansion bill allows online lottery games, but with restrictions. Any “games that represent physical, Internet-based or monitor-based interactive lottery games which simulate casino-style lottery games” represent violations.
That, the coalition contends, is where the PA Lottery is in violation. The games must stop. Or else.
The post PA Lottery Xpress Sports Has Casinos Crying Foul…Again appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
Sports betting has become the shiny new toy for lawmakers across the land — and they just can’t seem to put it down. However, revenue numbers coming out of New Jersey continue to show that online gambling is actually the lucrative tax revenue source most truly desire.
Put simply, sports betting makes headlines, while online gambling makes money.
US states have been lining up to pass sports betting legislation since the Supreme Court gave them that right in May. However, revenue numbers for the first six weeks in the state that fought the legal battle to launch sports betting clearly show it isn’t worth as much as anyone hoped.
State lawmakers are desperate to find sources of tax revenue to help balance the budget. They get sold on sports betting based on the idea the state can get a piece of the estimated $150 billion wagered annually (according to the American Gaming Association.)
Unfortunately, they soon find out they can’t tax handle. So, while Americans may very well bet upwards of $150 billion on sports this year, the piece that sportsbooks keep in revenue and the tax revenue generated ends up significantly smaller.
Numbers released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement this week showed two significant things. The first is that NJ sportsbooks have taken in more than $57 million in bets since launch in mid-June. The second is that the operations earned just $7.3 million of that in revenue.
The state’s land-based sports betting revenue tax rate sits at 8.5 percent. Therefore, New Jersey’s piece of the pie has amounted to approximately $620,500 so far. It’s a number that isn’t going to make a significant dent in New Jersey’s $37.4 billion budget.
It’s true the state’s legal sports betting industry is just getting off the ground, and doing so in a traditionally dead time for sports. After all, the NFL and NBA seasons don’t get going until the fall. But, it may still be awhile until sports betting even approaches online casino.
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Visit DraftKings SportsbookThe New Jersey online gambling industry set a new record in July, generating close to $26 million in revenue. There’s every reason to believe it will continue to post similar numbers going forward.
In fact, July represented the 17th straight month NJ online casino and poker sites generated $20 million in revenue.
The state’s tax rate on online gambling revenue amounts to about 17.5 percent. Therefore, New Jersey’s cut in July was close to $4.55 million.
If New Jersey sportsbooks — like the new online DraftKings Sportsbook — continue on the same pace they started on, it will take almost a year before they generate the kind of tax revenue online gambling did last month alone.
In this day and age, widespread legal sports betting across the US still makes complete sense. It just doesn’t make the kind of dollars online gambling can.
So, the next time a politician stands up in a state legislature and claims sports betting is the magic pill that can help cure what ails the state’s budget, let’s hope another comes forward with a better idea. Preferably, an idea that can be backed up with significant numbers and not just flashy headlines meant to appeal to this country’s undying love of all things sports.
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WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event will carry a $3 million guarantee.
Borgata’s flagship series, the Borgata Poker Open returns for its September edition, and this time over $6.5 million will be given away making it one of the most attractive tournament action of the year in the Garden State.
The premiere live tournament series starts on September 4 and will run for two weeks with 23 main events and 19 secondary events. The biggest attraction of the series is, of course, the Borgata Poker Open Championship Event which will be a part of XVII season of the prestigious live tournament series, the World Poker Tour.
This story is breaking and will be updated accordingly
All summer, Pennsylvania sports fans have been waiting for one thing — a casino to officially apply for a sports betting license.
After months with no action, that day is finally here. Penn National Gaming, owners of Hollywood Casino and The Meadows, officially submitted the first application on Friday. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Tweeted the news:
Gaming Control Board has received first petition to request offering sports wagering from Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing, operator of @HollywoodPenn
— PGCB (@PAGamingControl) August 17, 2018
The license cost the company $10 million. The fee is a one-time fee. If approved, Penn National can offer both live and online sports betting in the state.
William Hill, one of the largest European sports betting companies, will partner with Penn National for both brick and mortar and mobile betting.
The application comes just two days after the PGCB released the latest temporary sports betting regulations. Many casinos said they were waiting to see what the regulations look like before formally applying. It appears Penn National approved of the latest set of updates and decided to pull the trigger.
Per the new regulations, casinos must submit sports betting applications 90 days in advance of launch. That puts launch in mid-November. However, the chairman of PGCB can shorten that window, so it is possible Penn National starts taking bets earlier than that.
PGCB’s next meeting is on Sept. 12, which is the earliest they can approve Penn National’s application though, so don’t expect them to take wagers during the first few weeks of football action.
The post Penn National Officially Submits The First Pennsylvania Sports Betting Application appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
When Phil Ivey returned to playing tournaments at the World Series of Poker this summer, fans rejoiced.
But his decision to buy into events might now hurt him in his $10.1 million edge sorting case against the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.
Ivey’s legal team is attempting to postpone payments owed to the casino from a legal ruling made in late 2016. Borgata filed a motion on Aug. 4 in federal court to deny Ivey and his team a delay in making payments and “avoid posting a bond.”
Lawyers representing Ivey claimed in July that the sum is such where the “enormity of that amount would clearly be of devastating impact.” The case was made that Borgata’s business would not be hurt should the judgment be further delayed.
In legal documents, Borgata called the statement made by Ivey’s team of the payment being of “irreparable harm” to be invalid.
“There is no testimony or evidence in this case that defendants will be prevented from pursuing their careers as professional gamblers if a stay is not granted,” lawyers representing Borgata said.
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Visit WSOP NJIvey’s play at the World Series of Poker this summer included buy-ins ranging from the $565 Colossus all the way up to the $1 million Big One for One Drop. The high volume from Ivey led to only four cashes. His best result came in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship where Ivey finished ninth for $111,447.
Prior to the WSOP in May, Ivey cashed for $2.3 million in Montenegro in the Triton High Roller Series, making two final tables and winning a Short Deck event. Those cashes marked the first for Ivey since January 2016’s Triton High Roller Series in Manilla.
Borgata used Ivey’s WSOP buy-ins as evidence that Ivey has “no problem coming up with” entry money for poker tournaments. The money won by Ivey this summer and in Montenegro is also cited by Borgata.
A track record of success including high stakes cash games and $26.2 million in career earnings is being used against Ivey by Borgata.
“Ivey’s skill and success as a professional poker player are well documented,” Borgata said of Ivey in court documents. “He is in the top three for poker winnings all time, and there is no suggestion that he cannot continue to be successful. Entrance fees for other poker tournaments are far less than $10,000 and one can play online poker with initial deposits of under $100. He is not in danger of being prevented from playing poker.”
Ivey did play in the recent Triton High Roller Series in Jeju, South Korea following the WSOP but did not cash in any events.
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