The 2014 World Series of Poker is dominating the headlines as it heads into its second week of action, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been some other poker news floating around. With this in mind, it is time for the resurrection of what we like to call “In Case You Missed It!”
World Poker Tour Announces Partial Season XIII Schedule
Not content to let their brethren at the WSOP get all of the attention, the World Poker Tour announced last week a partial schedule for their upcoming Season XIII slate. “Season XII was a banner year for the World Poker Tour and our partners around the globe,” said WPT President Adam Pliska during the announcement of the partial slate. “From the WPT World Championship Sponsored by partypoker, held for the first time at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, a 1,795 record-setting field at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, and a greater than 55% increase in our viewership on FOX Sports Networks to our new collaboration with DeepStacks Poker Tour and three multi-year partnership deals with DraftKings, Monster Headphones, and Hublot, we couldn’t be happier with our expansion during Season XII or more excited about our plans for Season XIII.”
The “Main Tour” (the original one for the WPT) will kick off on August 23 at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA, with the venerable Legends of Poker. The tour will skip over to Cyprus for the Merit Classic (a non-television event) and come back to Atlantic City in September for the Borgata Poker Open. Jacksonville, FL, Johannesburg, South Africa, Montreal, Canada and the Bellagio in Las Vegas will take the “Main Tour” schedule to late December 2014.
Mixed in with the “Main Tour” are a plethora of National and Regional tournaments around the globe. In total, nine National tournaments and one Regional event will be joined by the first entry of the WPT500, set to take place at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on July 4. For a complete look at the WPT schedule through the end of December, visit the WPT website for more details.
Pennsylvania, Illinois Diverging Regarding Online Gaming?
As the question regarding online gaming and poker continues to rage across the United States, two states are seemingly taking divergent approaches to whether they should get in the game or not.
In Illinois, the attempts by Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (who led a notable hearing on the online gaming subject earlier this year) seems to have stalled over the expansion of land-based gaming in the state. A proposal to expand to as many as four new casinos in the state has gained no traction in the Illinois General Assembly; as a result of that indecision, Cullerton has tabled his action regarding online gaming and poker until the legislature resolves the casino issue.
There could be a different story when it comes to another burgeoning gaming market, however. In Pennsylvania – only weeks after threatening to criminalize online poker – the state legislature is mulling the possibility of passing some sort of online gaming legislation. That legislation, to be introduced by State Senator Edwin Erickson, will encompass only online poker with thoughts of potential expansion into full casino gaming. Some of the numbers may push potential suitors away, though; applicants would have to put up $5 million for a license and the taxation rate would be 14% of their gross revenues.
The two approaches by Illinois and Pennsylvania come as California continues to debate the issue, leaving many in those states wondering how soon – or if – they will be able to partake of online gaming under a regulated market at some point this year or next.
