Just 72 hours after the indictment of eleven senior executives and the owners of three of the United States most prominent internet poker sites, many European-based internet casinos are now racing to introduce poker sites in the hope of attracting U.S-based players.

In view of the fact the U.S Attorney’s Office levied charges against Isai Scheinberg the founder of PokerStars on Friday, Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar and nine other members for suspected fraud, money laundering and unlawful gambling. The player base on many rivals’ sites has gone up exponentially.

Pokerscout recently reported that the three affected poker sites experienced a significant drop in their traffic, whereas Full Tilt’s traffic dropped by a staggering 48% this week alone. On the contrary PKR’s traffic increased by 21% (for a non-U.S site the best), PartyPoker experienced a 9% increase, a 5% increase for 888Poker and iPoker network’s poker figures also increased by 4%. …

The executive director of the 1 million-members Poker Alliance players (PPA), John Pappas said that Friday’s federal actions against internet poker sites and its owners is basically a ‘declaration of war’ on poker players and the rights of poker players.

In a statement issued on Saturday his comments read as follow and he did not hold any punches back:

“All over the United States millions of Americans are fuming as a result of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) scathing attack on online poker sites. While the government’s focus may be on the internet casinos operating these sites, it’s clear as daylight that it’s a declaration of war on poker players and their freedom.”

“In the U.S at present there are more than 10 million online poker players without any decent poker sites to wager since many derive their livelihood from poker. Some have concerns whether they’ll receive their funds …

Eleven individuals regarded as the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker have been accused of alleged bank fraud, unlawful gambling offences which entailed money laundering in an indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors recently.

The 52-page indictment and civil complaint as seen by Cassaon-casino is seeking a minimum penalty which is approximately US$3bn in civil money laundering penalties from the three internet casinos and its defendants. They claim these parties “deceived or directed others in such a manner to hoodwink United States banks and financial organizations into processing billions of dollars in payments.”

The United States government imposed restraining orders against 76 bank accounts in fourteen countries used by these internet poker sites and their payment processors. The U.S government also seized five poker internet casinos. Poker players accessing these sites (PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com and UltimateBet.com) were notified by the FBI about the indictment. Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate of PokerStars, Raymond …

To regulate cyber gambling in Florida, Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla’s bill did not progress beyond the committee stage. As it stands it faced some stern opposition from groups such as the Florida Sheriff’s Association and the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), these groups felt that it could have created unjust monopolies.

With a split vote the SB812 bill was killed-off by the Senate Justice Committee, whilst two members voted in the bill’s favour (Democrat Gwen Margolis and Republican Charlie Dean) and two who opposed it (Republican Paula Dockery and Democrat Chris Smith).

All we can say, is that the bill on the regulation of internet casinos in Florida has been knocked right back right into the Stone Age. There was a glimmer of hope and everybody expected the bill to pass with flying colours since it passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee by a 10-2 vote only a month …

888 Holding’s outgoing CEO Gigi Levy informed its shareholders that it had a record quarter for Q1 2011 and increased its revenue by 6% compared to the previous three months. Levy also confirmed today that the possible Ladbrokes merger is definitely on the cards.

Levy in one of his last results calls as CEO of 888 Holdings, who announced his resignation, said the first quarter of 2011 had been a “fantastic quarter both in terms of revenue for the internet casino and the amount of new players signed up” and said the Ladbrokes is still on track.

“We’re progressing with the Ladbrokes deal,” he told the media. “We have double checked the wording for the RNS, after writing it deftly we read it and said ‘not having it is exactly the same’.”

Our group’s revenue rose by 9% year-on-year and by 6% in comparison to the last quarter of 2010 …

Betsson group CEO, Pontus Lindwall is to be elected to the board of the Swedish online casino on the 12th of May at its Annual General Meeting. This after nearly thirteen years in his current position.

 On the 1st of July he takes over as chairman and Magnus Silferberg Betsson’s current Malta chief executive will be the group’s new CEO.

“I’ve been the CEO of this company since January 1998 and since then it has developed into a very large organization,” Lindwall said.

“Every department in our group is expanding and it’s important we promote individuals that excel in the workplace as in Magnus’ case. He’s very familiar with the Company’s weaknesses and strong points; these are fundamental components if we are to succeed in a very competitive casino environment.”

David Bjork has been promoted to managing director of Betsson Business Solutions in January; the former Deloitte and PriceWaterhouse Cooper’s …

Spain is now one step closer to a regulated market, since its internet gambling proposals have been given the green light by Spanish congress.

This follows the approval of the draft gaming legislation two months ago, it will now appear before the senate. Should it be approved by the Spanish senate, it will then be passed on to the European Commission for approval before it’s legalised.

 El Mundo, Spain’s premier newspaper recently reported that internet gambling could be legalised as early as summer. Unfortunately there’s always a snag that complicates matters further, such as a transitional period that has been proposed, the reason for this is it enables internet casinos to regulate their status and sponsorship dealings”. However, this might compel the Spanish Association of Online Gamblers (AEDAPI) to object to it.

AEDAPI questioned the proposed black period introduction the previous week, in effect this could encourage players to wager …

Germany’s 16 states’ aims to do away with their domination on gambling and to revise its present gambling policies so that it complies with the European Union’s (EU) laws.

With regard to these movements, the web’s premier operators released a statement recently and congratulated Schleswig-Holstein’s positive stance to do away with its monopolistic traits. Gambling legalization will stand the state in good stead.

“Online gambling sites that operate in Europe have requested that all European governments comply with EU policies and regulations. A representative added: “The casino vendors await only the proclamation of the popular state’s new internet gambling policies.”

The bill proclaimed by the state is solely based on the feedback from internet casinos; according to them it’s a practical model which is in acquiescence with the European Court of Justice Guidelines and enables trustworthy internet casino vendors to offer German players a secure and lucrative service that favours EU …

Nevada’s poker bill remains on track as Assembly politicians contemplated a revised version which will aid intrastate poker, but requested that Congress must decide on internet casinos that will accept out-of-state and foreign based players.

Assembly Bill 258 has been passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee without any hiccups, with committee chair and bill sponsor William Horne telling Card Player that: “The parties approved that intranet poker is also on the cards and the Nevada Gaming Commission is going to license internet poker, before federal regulation takes place.”

The revised bill prohibits Nevada from regulating or taxing out-of-state play pending federal laws which is applicable to internet poker were in place or the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had given Nevada the green light.

It would appear that Horne’s comments contradicts an earlier report in the Las Vegas Sun that the Committee permitted a revised permitting the Nevada Gaming …

The legalization of internet gambling is looking rosier by the day in the US.

In a recent rapport released by Fitch Ratings, the company stated that it is not a “pipeline dream” anymore-the chances of it being legalised and regulated in the United States is highly probable.

According to the Boston Herald many US states are seriously contemplating online gambling proposals and new federal laws are being discussed on how to properly police it. How it might relief certain budget constraints. Some operators have upped the ante when it comes to their online initiatives . For example the likes of Wynn-PokerStars and Caesars-888 Holdings algamated.”

The Fitch report estimates that internet gambling profits generated in the United States from foreign based operators generate $5 billion to $6 billion per annum. The amount of foreign based companies could increase dramatically if the US revises its present gambling policies. Some analyst postulate …