US Poker Offers 3-06-2013

Similar to weekly updates for Canadians and UK players, FTR will start running this thread with the review of poker promotions, news, events, and everything else under the sun that can be of interest to U.S. players.

Chip King Promo by Carbon Poker

Carbon Poker just kicked off their new promo, the $10,000 Chip King promotion, on March 1, 2013. Starting Sunday, March 10th there will be a freeroll every Sunday (10th, 17th, 24th, 31st) all month long just for players who opt-in to the Chip King promotion and have earned at least 50 VIP Points in the month. Each week the prize pool for the Chip King Freeroll will grow. The first week we'll award $1,000 in free cash, the second week, $1,500, the third, $2,500. And finally, on March 31st the top 50 VIP Points earners between March 1st and 29th who have opted into Chip King will be entered into an exclusive $5,000 tournament, with custom starting stacks based on VIP Points earned.

Full details are here: http://www.carbonpoker.ag/promotions/chip-king.html.

Poker Players Alliance Optimistic Online Poker Approval by New Jersey will Convince Others to Follow Suit

With the February 26, 2013 signing of the online gambling bill into law, New Jersey became the third state, after Nevada and Delaware, to legalize online poker. Being as prominent state as it is (New Jersey is the 11th most populous, the most densely populated, and the third wealthiest by 2011 median household income state in the U.S.), this could prove to be a critical milestone in the legalization of online poker nation-wide.

John Pappas, the executive director of Poker Players Alliance, quite eloquently described the significance of this event and expressed the players' hopes in his recent comments. “New Jersey is a very big domino to fall, " he said in his comments. "Hopefully it will reignite some enthusiasm for other states to move forward. I think people view it as much more significant progress because it's in a state that's not just a gaming state. In Nevada, gaming is ubiquitous throughout the state. In New Jersey, it's just in a small pocket.”

New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak, the leading sponsor of the bill, also believes that that this is something special. "It's one thing to have a state like Nevada go ahead with Internet gaming.It's another thing to have an urban, wealthy Northeastern state like New Jersey take this step. I believe it will have tremendous reverberations throughout the country.”

This is not to mention the fact that the bill is backed by none other than Governor Christie, one of the most prominent governors in the nation, considered to be the leading contender for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016.

PokerStars Plans to Purchase a Land-based Casino in U.S. Face Opposition from American Gaming Association

In another development from New Jersey, a poker news hotspot of the recent weeks, American Gaming Association (AGA) filed a brief with two NJ state agencies, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and the Casino Control Commission, that opposes PokerStars plans to purchase the Atlantic Club Casino in Atlantic City. In the brief, AGA asserts that the purchase should not be allowed on the basis of alleged
"use of deceit, trickery and other illegal tactics” by PokerStars and operating " as a criminal enterprise for many years” in the United States.

PokerStars retorted in a statement by their spokesman, Eric Hollreiser, that “These are matters for expert regulators to determine, not self-interested partisans picking a public fight”. He also added that “the U.S. Department of Justice has said PokerStars is suitable to apply for a license in the U.S. and saw fit to give us the assets of our largest competitor and entrust us to compensate their customers outside of the U.S. We will continue to work with authorities, including the NJ regulators and other interested state regulators, to discuss our qualifications and allow them to comment on what they find.”

The legal path for re-entry of PokerStars into the U.S. market was cleared last year, when the U.S. Attorney office allowed them to acquire Full Tilt Poker under the condition of forfeiting $547 million to the U.S. Government. The deal also allowed operating real money online poker in the U.S. under both brands upon legalization of such activities at the state or federal level and when proper licenses are obtained.

It remains to be seen how much of an obstacle it will become for PokerStars, but their comment on "self-interested partisans" is echoed by others in the state, such as Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic City, who thinks that local operators, such as Caesars Entertainment, are "motivated by greed" in their ambition to keep foreign investors out.