The Black Friday indictments sent reverberations across the online gambling world. It impacted the industry across the globe, not just in the United States. Since the indictment, the companies involved have come under more scrutiny and as a result, we have learned that Full Tilt Poker wasn’t engaging in the best business practices (to put it lightly).

At worst, Full Tilt was running a Ponzi scheme to defraud its customers. At best, they mismanaged their funds and ran out of money to cover what is owed to players. In either case, the customers are kind of out of luck, unless they can win a lawsuit (assuming Full Tilt is ever able to pay the suit). Alderney has stripped Full Tilt of their licenses and is reviewing their own practices.

Full Tilt was part of the UK’s White List, which allowed it to operate there without any regulation from the UK government. Now because of the problems with the poker room, there is a major push to do away with the White List, which essentially has the UK trusting other government regulators to do their job, and oversee the industry on their own. But is it a good idea?

Most online gambling operators oppose the idea for the simple reason that it will cost them money. They are currently able to operate in the UK tax-free, but are taxed and regulated wherever they are located. If the UK regulates them as well, they are being taxed again while not gaining any new business. If the casinos lose money, it might hurt the players. Businesses usually pass new costs on to the consumer. In this case, they might do it by getting rid of some of their best bonuses and promotions. Deals like allowing customers to use casino play slots for free could become a thing of the past.

On the other hand, if UK gambling customers feel safer with their own government doing the regulation, it could be a good thing. While the overseas regulators have been trusted so far, Alderney clearly dropped the ball by not noticing Full Tilt’s problems. So what do you think?

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has reinstated the gaming license of Full Tilt Poker, shortly after having revoked it. Though the embattled online poker room still cannot offer games to customers in the jurisdiction, it’s a small piece of good news for a company that has had nothing but bad (mostly of their own doing).

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is a regulatory agency run by the Mohawk tribe of Native Americans in Canada, south of Montreal. To maintain a gambling license from the KGC, its rules require that the company have a primary gambling license in a “comparable jurisdiction.” Full Tilt Poker was originally licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. However, after Alderney suspended Full Tilt’s license, the Kahnawake did the same, thinking that the company was no longer eligible.

However, since then, the KGC released a statement saying that the Aldnerney regulators have confirmed to the Commission, that even though Full Tilt’s license is suspended pending the outcome of a hearing, “these licenses are still considered to be valid.”

It’s a little unnerving that the Kahnawake regulators reinstated the license simply because they could. While it’s true that Full Tilt is shut down and cannot run their business until after the hearing anyway, the reputation of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and the whole industry is at stake here. With everything that is happening with Full Tilt, the correct response seems to be distancing yourself from them. If they are a bad apple, which they seem to be, the industry needs to make it clear that their kind is not tolerated.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK Culture Secretary, plans to initiate a massive overhaul of the online gambling regulations in the United Kingdom. Though there was already a push to do that, the recent Black Friday scandal in the United States and its impact on Full Tilt Poker has made reforms more urgent.

According to a spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Full Tilt scandal “highlights why the government is looking at reforming how overseas-based operators are regulated.” Currently, online gambling operators based overseas can accept UK customers and even advertise in the UK without having to obtain a license or submit to any regulation from the UK government. Instead, the UK Gambling Commission has always differed to foreign regulators, such as the government of Alderney, where Full Tilt Poker is licensed.

The problem is that due to the scandal, many UK customers are unable to recoup money won at the online poker room. When the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Full Tilt Poker’s founders, they also froze bank accounts related to the transactions, including some in the UK. Subsequent to the American indictments, the Alderney regulators revoked Full Tilt’s license, effectively shutting the company down. Anyone who still had money deposited with the company is out of luck, at least for the time being.

PokerStars was indicted along with Full Tilt Poker, but the former company has cooperated with the government and has returned all funds that players have requested. Full Tilt never did return the money and is now shut down. According to Hunt, the scandal with Full Tilt Poker shows why the UK government should be regulating any online gambling company that operates in their jurisdiction. A spokesman for the Culture Department said that they hope to make an announcement regarding new regulations “in the next few weeks.”

Phil Ivey, one of the biggest poker players in the world and one of the biggest endorsements of Full Tilt Poker, is now biting the hand that feeds him. Well, it’s not exactly like that, but he has turned on Full Tilt and has drawn a line in the sand, calling on them to make things right by their members.

Phil Ivey has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and is the second-ranked poker player in the world, behind only Erik Seidel. He appears in commercials for Full Tilt and regularly plays in live tournaments wearing Full Tilt gear, but he is now taking on his sponsor. Frustrated by the fact that American members haven’t been refunded their money, he has refused to play in the World Series of Poker this year or appear anywhere on their behalf.

Ivey says that he is embarrassed by the company and has had his name tarnished by association. Full Tilt Poker was one of the companies targeted by the Department of Justice on Black Friday. Like PokerStars, they reached a deal with the DOJ allowing them to reopen the domain to return money to American players. However, while PokerStars has announced that they have refunded all of the money, Full Tilt has not. Their latest response was to say that the money is “safe and secure and we are working to resolve the distribution of these funds.”

Ivey says that isn’t good enough. He is sitting out the World Series of Poker, saying that it is “not fair that I compete when others cannot.” He hopes that by taking on the company, he can help them quickly resolve the problem and pay the players. In addition to the name-calling, refusal to appear for Full Tilt and refusal to play in the WSOP, he is also suing Tiltware, the software provider for Full Tilt, on behalf of the players.“I sincerely hope this statement will ignite those capable of resolving the problems into immediate action,” he said.

I didn’t want to write about Kentucky again. I think it’s mostly a good state that gets a bad rap for a position on online gambling that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. So while other gambling writers are quick to beat down the Bluegrass State, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. But then Kentucky’s NCAA football team was routed by the Florida Gators, the team I hate more than any other. So while this may be kicking them while they’re down, I’m mad at Kentucky at the moment, so here goes…

In the most recent decision in a Kentucky court case that dates back to 2008, the state Supreme Court refused to pass judgment and then kicked the case back down to the circuit court where the case had started. You may remember the case where the state of Kentucky seized domains for some online gambling websites, an action that is being fought by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC).

Earlier this year, circuit court Judge Wingate ruled that the lawyers for iMEGA and IGC could not represent the domains and that the actual owners must be present. Since the owners were not present and a part of the proceedings, the case was dismissed. iMEGA and IGC then brought the case further up the ladder, where it eventually reached the state Supreme Court. There, they submitted affidavits from Pocket Kings and Yatahay Limited that affirmed they were the owners of the domain names Full Tilt Poker and TruePoker.com.

The Supreme Court then said that the new information had never been given to the circuit court, so they kicked it back down to them rather than making a ruling. While that might not necessarily be a bad thing, it’s clear that the Supreme Court is skeptical about the ownership of Pocket Kings and Yatahay Limited. In the order that passed the case back down to the circuit court, the Supreme Court stated that the lower court had “ruled correctly thus far in this case regarding standing issues.” They said that “until the circuit court determines that the domain owners or registrants are properly before the court, no one has established standing to proceed on a writ action.”

Only time will tell what will result from this decision. In all likelihood, this case will eventually go back to the state Supreme Court anyway.

Visitors to online casinos and other online gambling sites increased during the month of July, according to comScore. The company, which measures all kinds of Internet statistics, stated that online gambling websites had 13.4 million unique visitors during the month of July. That is an 11 percent increase from June.

So what caused a sharp spike in interest in online gambling during the month of July? No online casino visitors were polled, but it’s a safe bet that it has something to do with a little event during July called the World Series of Poker.

According to Jeff Hackett, Senior Vice President of comScore Media Metrix, the World Series of Poker tournament prompted “millions to visit online gambling sites to test their card-playing skills.” It’s not hard to believe that the tournament, which is now thoroughly covered by the likes of ESPN, among other media sources, would lead to an increased interest in online poker.

Not surprisingly, online poker websites saw the largest gains during July. PokerStars saw an 8 percent increase, Full Tilt Poker saw a 14% increase and Ultimate Bet saw an incredible increase of 33 percent more unique visitors in the month of July.

It is not known how many of those online gambling visitors were from the United States, where the World Series of Poker is held (in Las Vegas). The U.S. federal government currently acts on a de facto online poker ban, thanks to UIGEA, even though no federal ban on online gambling exists.

comScore provides digital marketing intelligence by measuring a variety of statistics for websites, online advertising and online traffic. They use statistical research, analytics and survey tools for their research.

This weekend, liberal bloggers, reporters and other activists got together in Las Vegas for one big evil progressive seminar called the Netroots Nation convention. It was a seminar in which radicals cried that the Obama administration is moving too slowly and hasn’t transformed the country enough, as if they expected us to already be a militarized nation under totalitarian rule at this time. Not quite yet. It was a conference where radicals lamented the lack of a public option (so far) in Obamacare, the fact that America is still a somewhat-capitalist country and the fact that Americans are starting to recognize radical organizations like the Tides Foundation, which basically launders money for radicals.

Even in a convention based on pushing agendas with which I couldn’t possibly disagree more, there was some positives, the main one being discussion on online poker. Professional poker player Andy Bloch, current Full Tilt sponsor and a former member of the MIT blackjack team, spoke about the industry. At the seminar, Bloch called on the government to legalize and regulate online poker, stating that denying Americans the ability to play the game violates their freedom of choice. Pro-freedom speeches aren’t exactly the norm at progressive conventions like Netroots, but the people were willing to hear him out.

Bloch said that a ban on online poker goes against freedom of choice and a free Internet and stressed that the activity is a mainstream one that people of all political stripes watch on TV. If it’s too dangerous for people to do, why are ESPN, Bravo, E! and countless other channels allowed to televise it?

Since he was speaking to radicals at Netroots, Bloch was sure to also take on a progressive tone regarding online poker. He talked about the additional revenue the government could generate and the responsibility of the government to protect people from themselves. Bloch said that the government is “forgoing billions in tax revenue when our budgets are most in need.” He also said that by not regulating the online poker industry, the government is “ignoring their responsibility to protect children and other vulnerable members of our society.”

Never mind the fact that protecting people from themselves is not the role of the government. Putting that aside, Bloch made good points at the convention, particularly when he criticized the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and pointed out that, despite the federal government’s opinion, some form of poker is legal in 48 out of 50 American states.

And that is where I agree with Bloch. If the federal government just gets out of the way and lets states handle the question of online poker, things will be a lot better. I imagine most states will opt to legalize online poker and many will tax it for additional revenue. An activity like poker was never meant to have federal intervention and that intervention must stop.

Full Tilt Poker is the focus of a new lawsuit after accusing two of its players of using bot software in its online poker rooms. The lawsuit comes from Lary “pokergirl_z” Kennedy and Greg Omotoy, two former Full Tilt Poker customers, and takes aim at both Full Tilt and Tiltware and several Team Full Tilt members including Andy Bloch, Perry Friedman, Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Allen Cunningham. The players are accusing Full Tilt of a laundry list of nasty things including fraud, false advertising, racketeering, unjust enrichment, libel and slander.

The details state that Full Tilt seized over $80,000 from the players’ accounts after they were suspected of using online poker bot software to increase their winnings. According to the suit, another player who goes by the name “The Complainer” suspected “pokergirl_z” of foul play and reported her. TheComplainer’s opinion is apparently held in very high regard with the company and pokergirl was then removed from the site and relieved of her winnings. According to Poker News Daily, these are not the only players The Complainer has outed.

The suit unleashes a number of damaging claims. Among them, that the online poker room, which claims to have operated as two separate entities (Tiltware and Vert Enterprises) is in fact one company and that they operated out of a Los Angeles office for over two years. It also says that Full Tilt itself uses bots to increase income on slow tables. Perhaps most damaging is the accusation of Team Full Tilt playing with Full Tilt’s money which equates them to the “house” in a casino, thereby classifying them as an online casino and not a card room, thus violating California state laws.

This is not the only lawsuit with which Full Tilt online poker is currently involved. Former Full Tilt employee Jason Newitt, who was let go after leaking confidential information onto the web, filed suit against his ex-online poker employer claiming he was “unfairly fired and that his distribution payments were unfairly ceased.”

As if that weren’t enough, just recently Brandon McSmith filed a lawsuit alleging that his idea for “Face the Ace” was stolen by Poker PROductions. Though Full Tilt Poker is not named in the suit, they are tied to the production as the show features Full Tilt Pros.