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Everest Poker Announces 2006 Winter Olympics Promotion, Featuring Daily Prizes During All 16 Days of Events
Published: 2006-02-08
 MONTREAL, Quebec (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Everest Poker, the premier online poker room, has announced its Winter Olympics sweepstakes, 16 consecutive calendar days from February 11-26 where prizes will be awarded each day.
On each day, the country that wins the gold medal in the events listed below will be a determining factor. Of all the Everest Poker players from that country who play at least 50 hands on that day, 10 will be randomly chosen to win $30 in Bonus dollars.
February 11: Freestyle Skiing - Women's Moguls
February 12: Alpine Skiing - Men's Downhill
February 13: Snowboarding - Women's Half-Pipe
February 14: Biathlon - Men's 10km
February 15: Alpine Skiing - Women's Downhill
February 16: Speed Skating - Men's Team Pursuit
February 17: Skeleton - Men's Single
February 18: Alpine Skiing - Men's Super G
February 19: Speed Skating - Women's 1,000m
February 20: Ice Hockey - Women's Final
February 21: Bobsledding - Women's Double
February 22: Short Track - Women's 3,000m Relay
February 23: Curling - Women's Final
February 24: Speed Skating - Men's 10,000m
February 25: Bobsledding - Men's Four
February 26: Ice Hockey - Men's Final
"Awarding prizes based on what transpires during the Olympics gives the promotion an exciting twist," said Jonathan May, the Property Manager for Everest Poker. "It's a way to directly tie player activity at the poker tables with the sporting events in Torino. People are always proud of their country when it wins a gold medal, and now they can get a little poker Bonus out of it, too!"
Each day's promotion starts at 00:00 GMT and ends at 23:59 GMT. Each player may only win 1 prize over the entire promotion period. Eligible hands are raked hands at No Limit/Pot Limit tables $.25/$.25 stakes or higher, or Limit tables $.50/$1 stakes or higher. Tournament hands are ineligible for the promotion. Each player's country is determined by their registered address as of February 1, 2006.
Aside from the Winter Olympics promotion, Everest Poker is also currently featuring satellite tournaments for the following events:
* The EPT Grand Final, a European Poker Tour event, taking place March 8-11, 2006, at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
* The WPT Championship, a World Poker Tour event, taking place April 18-24, 2006, at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
For more information please visit www.everestpoker.com
ABOUT EVEREST POKER
Everest Poker is the first online poker room to be translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Everest Poker is a property of Ultra Internet Media ("UIM"), a premier global operator of online casinos. UIM's brands include Casino Elegance, Casino Fantasy, Casino Glamour, Casino Lux, Casino Treasure, Imperial Casino, Everest Casino and Everest Poker.
Incorporated in 1997, UIM is one of the pioneers of multi-lingual online casino gaming, translating its casino and poker websites and software into 15 languages. UIM entertains users every day from over 200 countries around the world.
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Internet poker plan needs help
Published: 2006-02-07
 By Janell Cole
BISMARCK – A Fargo legislator who wants to legalize Internet poker said he needs a financial commitment from Internet gambling companies before he can go forward with a proposed initiated measure.
Republican Rep. Jim Kasper said a statewide petition drive and campaign backing a constitutional amendment would be more expensive than he could bear.
“I need a million dollars,” he said.
During last year’s Legislature, Kasper sponsored a constitutional amendment and companion bill to legalize Internet poker. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected both.
Offshore Internet poker businesses and other online gaming experts lobbied and spoke for the bills, and Kasper appealed to some of the same businesses to help with an initiated measure.
But he’s received no commitment.
When Kasper revealed in November that he was considering an initiated measure, Nigel Payne, chief executive for Internet poker company Sportingbet PLC of London, told the Associated Press he would assess the possibility of helping Kasper with a campaign “when the initiative is fully developed … and make a considered decision at that time.”
But Kasper said he can’t commit to the measure without a promise of financial help, so the stalemate “may not be solvable.”
Payne could not be reached for comment.
Some don’t think an initiated measure would succeed.
Sue Schneider, who runs a Missouri company involved in the interactive gambling industry, believes a statewide initiative that requires gathering thousands of petition signatures and then a campaign is “maybe even more of a long shot” than Kasper’s bills in the 2005 session. Schneider was among those who lobbied for Kasper’s bills.
The willingness of online gaming companies to finance the campaign depends on whether “there are people who see the value in the revenues” that will result if Internet poker is legalized here, she said.
Even if the measure passes, Schneider said, the state would probably end up in court against the U.S. Department of Justice, which maintains that Internet gambling can’t be legalized by a state because of a federal law from the 1960s. The Senate voted down Kasper’s bills because of a Justice Department letter sent to state officials during the 2005 session.
One North Dakota gambling opponent also predicted voters would not approve an initiated measure.
“I think people are not looking for something like this,” said Warren DeKrey of Bismarck, chairman of the North Dakota Council on Gambling Problems. People overwhelmingly associate the offshore gambling industry with organized crime, he said.
“I would hope he (Kasper) would use some real good North Dakota common sense and drop it,” DeKrey said.
Other ideas Kasper has pursued as an outgrowth of his Internet poker efforts are not bearing fruit, either.
He and four other Republican House members traveled to Antigua in October to talk with the Caribbean nation’s government about Internet gambling, a major industry on the island. While there, they said, they saw a potential for wide-ranging North Dakota trade with Antigua.
Because Antigua must import 85 percent to 90 percent of its food, “there is huge opportunity for our state,” Kasper said.
He met with Gov. John Hoeven twice about the trade possibilities and educational exchanges with Antigua. Hoeven referred Kasper to Susan Geib, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Office.
Kasper and Geib met recently to discuss the Antigua trade opportunities.
Geib’s office provides companies with information on how to make sales in foreign countries, and it would help any North Dakota firm that wants to explore sales to Antigua, she and Hoeven said.
Any country that imports the vast majority of its food presents an opportunity for trade, Geib said. Two potentials are sales of beef and non-GMO soybeans to Antigua, she said.
Still, “Antigua would not be a top market. It’s a very small market.”
The two-island country of Antigua and Barbuda has a combined population of 68,722, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book’s July estimate.
“I think the trade options are going to be limited,” Hoeven said.
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson has led trade trips to foreign countries, including Cuba, which purchased food commodities from North Dakota companies.
But he said Kasper has never talked to him about the possibility of trade with Antigua.
“I have not heard a word,” Johnson said Tuesday.
One thing that may be holding up future discussions with Antigua is the lack of follow-up by its government.
Kasper has been waiting since October for the Antiguan government to send a letter to state officials outlining potential trade or educational opportunities for North Dakota.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830
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