Washington, DC (October 19, 2010) – In oral arguments presented today before the South Carolina Supreme Court, lawyers for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) adeptly debunked the supposition that the private residence in which a game of Texas Hold ‘Em was played was a “house of gaming,” while continuing to reinforce, as South Carolina lower courts agreed, that Texas Hold ‘Em is a game based predominantly on skill and therefore does not constitute gambling under state statute.

Washington, DC (July 28, 2010) –The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, today applauded passage of H.R. 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, by the House Financial Services Committee. The bipartisan 41-22 vote demonstrates that sensible regulation of Internet gaming is gaining support in Congress while prohibition continues to fail.

The bill of high capacity leisure centres, created in response to the leisure and gambling complex Gran Scala that International Leasure Development (ILD) aims to install in Ontiñena (Huesca), will demand promoters to this kind of developments to have a share capital of 10 million euros and hand in a guarantee.

A bill proposed by Texas State Representative Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) designed to expand poker's availability in Texas was passed by a House committee on Thursday. The bill, titled the "Poker Gaming Act of 2009" (H.B. 222), was passed by the House's Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee by a vote of 6-3.

Last March 5th, French Minister of Finance Eric Woerth gave the broad outlines of the bill on opening the Internet gambling market to competition. It will concern horse racing, sports betting and for casino games, only poker has been retained since roulette games, blackjack and slots have been officially put aside, the reason being that these are considered too addictive. The online gambling market should be legalized on 1 January 2010.

Austin, Texas - American Indian tribes in Texas are trying again to reopen their casinos with legislation filed Tuesday that would provide a defense to prosecution for tribes that operate limited casino gambling. Rep. Norma Chavez, an El Paso Democrat, filed a bill that would allow the Tigua tribe in El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe near Livingston to reopen casinos that were closed by court orders when the state opposed them.

Card rooms in Washington already get punished when they allow people under 18 to gamble. Now they say it’s time for the kids to get in trouble, too. A bill in the Legislature would make it a civil infraction for a minor to gamble, creating penalties similar to those for underage drinking. The state Senate voted unanimously Friday to approve the bill. It now must pass through the House and be signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

A bill has recently been presented in the House of Representatives, that aims to modify several articles of the law 26,215, related to the funding of political parties. Such project proposes to ban the contribution of companies or people that operate games of chance. The project was presented by deputies of the party Espacio Solidaridad e Igualdad, Leonardo Gorbacz, Nélida Belous, Delia Bisutti and Verónica Benas.

The Treasury for the Isle of Man has released proposals for the Gambling Supervision Bill of 2008, which would provide for the Gambling Supervision Commission on the island to become a Statutory Board. In addition, the proposals would expand on the Commission’s constitution, status and exercise of functions but not alter the body’s existing regulatory objectives.

Last week, South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, publicised a new bill being proposed to the government: the Interactive Gaming Tax Bill. By allowing online gambling to exist but regulating and taxing them, South Africa has created a stable industry with less black market activity than that of the US, critics claim. This measure, if undertaken, will tax gross gambling revenue outside of operators within the online gambling industry.

A bill has been presented in the Lower House of the Argentinean province of Buenos Aires which would ban gambling via any remote communication method including mobile phones and the internet. The bill would require telecommunications providers to block access to sites that offer any form of gambling, and proposes a penalty on both gaming operators and network providers equal to ten to twenty times the value of all bets received from within the province of Buenos Aires.

Money changers, money transfer service providers such as Western Union and credit card payment gateways like VISA and MasterCard will now come under the ambit of India’s anti-money laundering laws. A bill to amend the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal. After the Amendment Bill is passed by Parliament and comes into effect, businesses like casinos would also come under legal obligation to report their activities in the country.