Archive for May 2011

Canada’s gaming industry is booming, as firms from the country are responsible for some of the most popular video games, including Assassin’s Creed and FIFA Soccer. According to the Financial Post, a recent report states that the gaming industries in Quebec and Ontario are experiencing a great deal of success.

While Poker Stars has already started the process of returning funds to their players, Full Tilt Poker continues to have issues in the financial department. However, EGR Magazine has reported that one of the company’s Irish accounts has been unfrozen by the American Department of Justice, freeing up nearly $30 million of the $150 million that is owed to players in the United States. The account belonged to the Bank of Ireland and is just one of nine accounts that were frozen as part of the Black Friday indictments.

Tomorrow, two of the world’s best football teams will go head to head for the prestigious Champion’s League trophy. Barcelona will face Madrid at Wembley in London, their eleventh meeting in the finals for the UEFA championship.

Recently, there have been many false alarms concerning the legalization of online gambling in the United States. First, New Jersey came close to regulating the activity – then, Florida; however, nothing ever game of these two situations. Finally, Nevada has become the first state to have its online poker bill approved by the Senate.

This year, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have competed furiously to become the player with the most goals scored in a single year. The record was previously set by Telmo Zarra in 1950 and Hugo Sanchez in 1989. Now, Christiano Ronaldo is the new record holder, after scoring 41 goals this season.

Last Friday, Full Tilt Poker contacted American online poker players to inform them about the status of their refunds. The site has been slow to make any statements, while Poker Stars has already started issuing refunds to its former players.

Black Friday is over but the American Department of Justice is far from done with handing out indictments to illegal online poker rooms. Just one month after Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker were seized by the American government, the Department of Justice has seized ten more online gambling websites, including the popular Doyles’ Room.

There are hundreds of different ways to propose to your girlfriend. Today, men look for the most touching and unique ways to propose marriage, but it seems like everything has been done before. However, this is one marriage proposal that certainly has never been attempted previously.

The English Football Association (FA) has stated that it will not be voting in the upcoming election for the role of FIFA’s new president. According to a statement by the association, the FA claims that it is difficult to support either candidate: Sepp Blatter and Mohamed Bin Hammam.

No progress has been made by Full Tilt Poker, and as a result, American players are still waiting to cash out their funds.

After experiencing a dire hacker attack earlier this month, the PlayStation Network (PSN) is finally back online. To compensate players for the time they spent offline due to the attack, Sony has offered them an Apology Package, but they are not too pleased with its contents.

The new Xperia Play from Sony Ericsson was expected to change the mobile gaming industry, but the sales of the new device have been disappointing. The Playstation Phone comes equipped with a built-in controller, perfect for playing online poker and other online casino games, however mobile gamers seem to want to stick with their touch phones.

Android Honeycomb (also known as Android 3.0) is the latest version of the OS for Android devices. It has been touted as one of the best operating systems for mobile gaming and its developers are always looking for ways to improve the system for those wanting to play at online casinos and online poker websites. Recently, Google has released an upgrade for Honeycomb, Android 3.1, and it has some pretty impressive features for mobile gaming.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation just can’t seem to avoid controversy. Previously, the players were the ones that were being scammed by the system. Now, the OLG seems to be at it again, as new accounting practices see cities receiving less money for hosting casinos.

The founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker were some of the eleven individuals indicted recently by federal authorities in the U.S. for fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses. As a result, millions of American poker players are anxious about receiving refunds from their player accounts with these websites.

France’s national soccer league has been accused of racism after the league officials proposed a quota for African and Arabic players in training. The news has sparked a great deal of controversy and two investigations have been launched that will take place this week.

Gaming is the largest segment of Canada’s entertainment industry and supports more than 135,000 full-time jobs and generates almost $9 billion annually to fund government and community programs and services.

On April 2nd, Toronto-based law firm McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP filed a $1 billion class action lawsuit against Sony Entertainment and its associated companies. Sony is being accused of breaching the privacy of millions of customers, after a hacker scrapped credit card information from the company’s servers.

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars would be permitted to open up in order to refund players their money. PokerStars is the first of these two sites to announce its plans to start a refund program.