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Here are my thoughts on the most interesting stories in the gaming sector over the past week or so:

1. New Jersey Moves Forward on Intra-State Gaming – Yesterday, Monday, November 22^nd, the New Jersey State Senate passed S490, the succinctly-named “An Act permitting Internet wagering at Atlantic City casinos under certain circumstances and amending and supplementing the ‘Casino Control Act.’” The vote was 29-5 in favour. This bill authorizes Internet wagering at AC casinos; it would allow New Jersey residents and persons located outside of the US to place wagers on casino games by means of the Internet. All games that are permissible in a bricks and mortar AC casino could be offered over the Internet under this bill. S490 also provides for the imposition of a tax on such intra-state Internet wagering, monitoring and regulating the Internet offerings, and licensing fees. Now the bill will be taken up by the State Assembly’s Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee. New Jersey has elections in November of each odd-numbered year, so there is still considerable time to see this bill through to passage by the Assembly. It is looking more and more like the legislative i-gaming action in the US for the next little while will be at the state level and perhaps not in Congress. [NJLeg.state.nj.us]

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2. Quebec Launches Government Gaming Site – Loto-Quebec’s new Internet gaming site, www.espacejeux.com, went online last week. (It looks terrible, which is to be expected of a government-run casino site.) as of next week, Quebecers will be able to wager up to Cdn$9,999 per week on sundry interactive games. The poker offering will eventually share liquidity between Quebec and British Columbia, but only Quebecers are supposed to be permitted on Loto-Quebec’s site. [Montreal Gazette]

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3. New Zynga Game – Zynga, the popular social gaming developer, released CityVille. I haven’t played yet, but apparently it’s SimCity meets FarmVille. It will go live globally in the next few weeks. More proof that Zynga (and the social gaming sector, more generally) are key things to watch in the gaming industry as we go forward. [TechCrunch]

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4. The Status of Congress – Congress is currently in the lame-duck session between election day and the start of the 112^th Congress in January. Frank Fahrenkopf, President of the American Gaming Association and as keen an observer of the gaming industry in the US as anyone, said during G2E in Las Vegas last week that he doesn’t see online gaming legislation passing during the lame-duck session, but he left open the possibility that Internet gaming legislation could pass.  No surprise, but Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) thinks that, if anything passes during the lame-duck, it may be limited to legalizing Internet poker only: [Las Vegas Sun; Las Vegas Review-Journal]

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5. Las Vegas Cut-and-Paste Lawsuits – Righthaven LLC is a firm in Nevada that has sued dozens of parties over posting content on the Internet from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Some have alleged that Righthaven’s actions have been abusive. Comes now Righthaven with an indication that it will narrow its litigation campaign after a Nevada judge ruled that a realtor’s use of part of an LVRJ article constituted fair use. (The realtor reproduced 8 sentences of a 30 sentence news article on his blog.) See: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39767798/Righthaven-v-Realty-One-Order This is fascinating enough by itself, but the Nevada attorney who is a principal of Righthaven (Steven Gibson) is the same lawyer that is a member of the law firm Dicknson Wright PLLC, an international law firm with a respected gaming practice and now with a Las Vegas office. [Wired]

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Full Tilt Poker unleashed the 17th installment of its popular Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) on Wednesday and has already awarded 10 winners and more than $4 million in prizes through Saturday. The series, which began in 2006 and has run between two and four times per year, will offer a total of 34 tournaments through August 15th with more than $19 million in guaranteed prize money.

RPM Poker pro Brent “BRoberts85″ Roberts was the first FTOPS jersey winner, taking down the $216 No Limit Hold’em Event #1 for $164,358. Roberts, who has more than $1.2 million in online tournament winnings and close to $1 million in live earnings, bested a field of 4,591 players and a tough final table that included Sam “sammy_grinder” Grafton.

Other notable FTOPS XVII winners through Saturday include Mike “chapmoney” Chappus, who won the $300 Six-Handed Turbo No Limit Hold’em Shootout; Geoff “GeoffRas22″ Rasmussen, who took down the No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo; and Aaron “Aguskb” Gustavson, who was victorious in the $200 Rush No Limit Hold’em Turbo. Online pro Jason “jdpc27″ Wheeler defeated Andrew “Browndog19″ Brown to win the $535 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha Event #8 for $85,614.

Dozens of Full Tilt Red Pros have participated in FTOPS XVII already, but only Jeff Madsen has reached a final table. Madsen took third place in the $300 Six-Handed Turbo No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $28,460.

FTOPS XVII continues Sunday with Events #11, #12 and #13, with more than $2.5 million guaranteed prize money up for grabs. Meanwhile, here’s a look at the results from the first 10 events:

FTOPS XVII Event #1
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 4,591
Prize Pool: $918,200

1. Brent “Broberts85″ Roberts – $164,358
2. Doorbread – $113,857
3. Sam “sammy_grinder” Grafton – $81,536
4. safadave1 – $60,601
5. o_Omx – $44,992
6. 2PAIRDUECESUP – $31,219
7. LarryDavid23 – $21,119
8. bigdrug77 – $14,691
9. foldgish – $10,100

FTOPS XVII Event #2: Rush Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-in: $240+14
Entrants: 1,130
Prize Pool: $226,000

1. nolez7 – $50,850
2. maxxscam – $32,205
3. RymesWOrange – $23,843
4. bleu329 – $18,645
5. shhharp – $14,125
6. JCTurn – $10,170
7. NeasK – $6,780
8. poker4adummy – $5,085
9. ATM Denman – $3,616

FTOPS XVII Event #3: Six-Handed Turbo No Limit Hold’em Shootout
Buy-in: $300+22
Entrants: 1,296
Prize Pool: $388,800

1. Mike “chapmoney” Chappus – $68,040
2. Josh “professor plum” Prager – $42,768
3. Jeff Madsen – $28,460
4. j2the6th – $19,440
5. Karl “discomonkey” Fenton – $13,608
6. FTOPS XVII HERO – $9,331

FTOPS XVII Event #4: HORSE
Buy-in: $500+35
Entrants: 483
Prize Pool: $241,500

1. BacoPride – $41,932*
2. vengven – $40,133*
3. MichaelScarn – $39,651*
4. Ganerc-Callibso – $16,422
5. Kirbynator – $10,143
6. RaisingCat – $7,004
7. BowToYourSensei – $5,313
8. shuriken555 – $3,623
*Denotes three-way deal

FTOPS XVII Event #5: No Limit Hold ‘em
Buy-in: $200+16 (1 Rebuy + 1 Add-on)
Entrants: 1,342
Prize Pool: $666,800

1. FlopeDeNuts – $131,309
2. Matthias “goodvibe” Neu – $108,739
3. Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell – $67,514
4. Peter “breeth” Turmezey – $54,178
5. carlbrashia – $40,875
6. GinsasH – $30,006
7. Felipe “clotilda” Montenegro – $19,337
8. Joe “JBlaze20″ Chaplin – $14,003
9. Tim “Tim0thee” Adams – $10,002

FTOPS XVII Event #6: No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo
Buy-in: $310+12
Entrants: 1,422
Prize Pool: $440,820

1. Geoff “GeoffRas22″ Rasmussen – $94,776
2. Mauro “OMGitsGees” Gees – $59,952
3. dragon350z – $44,523
4. 5andnil8 – $35,266
5. Mike McGuire – $26,449
6. Brian “like7″ Lamanna – $18,955
7. oskaaar – $12,343
8. padirk165 – $8,816
9. Utensss – $6,171

FTOPS XVII Event #7: Stud Hi-Lo
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 589
Prize Pool: $117,800

1. Easy Pots – $23,085*
2. Dooks – $22,197*
3. 2the916K – $12,486
4. zoeprincess – $8,010
5. pepi55 – $4,947
6. roxmore2 – $3,416
7. St3phenHendry – $2,591
8. luadarko – $1,767
*Denotes two-way deal

FTOPS XVII Event #8: Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-in: $500+35
Entrants: 802
Prize Pool:  $401,000

1. Jason “jdpc27″ Wheeler – $85,614
2. Andrew “Browndog19″ Brown – $56,140
3. JJ COMMERCE – $40,100
4. Tdanger00 – $30,476
5. Justin “Arsonist88″ Shelton – $21,654
6. quantum leaper1 – $13,835

FTOPS XVII Event #9: No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys
Buy-in: $100+9
Entrants: 1,827
Prize Pool: $600,000

1. Andrew “SkillVille” Weisner – $110,669*
2. V3kk3d – $94,531*
3. Jeremy “endlessj83″ Menard – $60,600
4. Liam Crawford – $47,400
5. coffmeister – $35,400
6. Dan “WiLDmAn75″ Buzgon – $24,600
7. citizenmax – $15,000
8. 43forty – $10,200
9. losebigpots – $7,200
*Denotes two-way deal

FTOPS XVII Event #10: Rush No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Buy-in: $200+16
Entrants: 1,971
Prize Pool: $394,200

1. Aaron “Aguskb” Gustavson – $81,205
2. HNE SNE SPEAKNE – $53,611
3. Matt “All In At 420″ Stout – $39,814
4. Majstor TH – $31,142
5. Icemanmark – $23,258
6. Suicide King007 – $16,162
7. jaytheo40 – $9,855
8. betembo9 – $6,701
9. jake00mt – $4,730

FTOPS XVII concludes on August 15th with the $640 Main Event. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates.

Be aware of online gambling cheating going on.

A novice to online gambling gets more than he bargained for.

It’s here … the debate we all wanted in 2007, 2008, and 2009 is finally happening. And all signs point to good-for-poker. But we might wanna be careful what we wish for … not sure exactly how it’s gonna play out, but even if the laws we champion get passed post-haste it won’t be like we’re suddenly back in 2006, time-warped to an era when Jamie Gold was the only thing bad about poker. Ahh, the innocence …

Even as online gambling legislation that would effectively make online poker fully legal moves forward, so many different interests will be fighting to have things worded their way …

ABCNews.com gave today’s hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee some significant real estate … and in general the mainstream media has been chirping. Expect the chatter to increase as June 1 approaches. We’ll see if and when online gambling — and specifically poker — become something more than a side-snippet across the multiple channels of CableTalk TV.

Still, with this most recent movement on the McDermott bill — a little 2-hour committee hearing — we got one big step closer to the day when all those 10s of millions of Zynga poker players suddenly begin to play for real money.

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