For many years poker has been one of the best love games in the USA. As American as apple pie – this game has become immensely popular world-wide due to the media coverage big tournaments attract. The advent of online poker has also features in this growth in popularity, and one of the really big changes being seen is that more and more females are playing. Once thought to be the domain of the male of the species, social poker has seen a growth rate of 22% for female fans throughout 2013.

IGT – otherwise known as International Game Technology are a global leader in the production of gaming tech. They provide gambling games to live casinos, as well as casinos online. This new data regarding player patterns, and preferences, was revealed from a US Social Casino Index project. The information comes from a pool of over six million players who make use of IGT’s DoubleDown Casino which is a Facebook powered product. It can be played online or by mobile, and lays claim to being the "world’s largest virtual casino".

While there is a difference between social gaming and gambling online for real money prizes. IGT provides games designed for both of these purposes. It is obvious why they need to keep a finger on the pulse of trends – because gambling is their business. It also pays to not that most states in the USA still do not allow online gambling for real money prizes. However, social gambling products can be monetized in various innovative ways.

The traditional way of thinking about poker being a male-dominated is definitely being thoroughly researched now. This information proves that female fans are increasing at a rapid rate. Gone are the days when ladies were banished to bingo, while the men got on with the serious business of playing this game of skill.

It is appealing to a far broader audience than ever before, and it is only a matter of time we believe, until we see even more females seated at the felt, in popular live competitions. At one time these competitions were also segregated to male and female competitors, but this is also something that has changed with the maturing of poker into an awesome card game for all. It does not distinguish between sex, race, age or physical ability. All a poker player needs to have to win is a very good game.

It is not the first time that online poker has been given the film treatment, it has already gone out in documentary form, as well as the subject matter for a recent Hollywood release of fiction. Now apparently this story is getting the Jay Rosenkrantz (Executive Producer) treatment, and he is debuting "Bet Raise Fold" to the broader public.

This story of a much maligned subject in the USA, premiered worldwide, on the 13th June, 2013, and being a high-stakes poker player himself – Rosenkrantz got the idea from his personal journey. Approximately seven years ago, the concept of creating a documentary on living the online poker lifestyle came to him, and now it’s been done. Rosenkrantz was a poker pro for an online website, and a regular contributor to Two Plus Two poker blog.

In commentary that Black Friday really made online poker a very big deal – he realized that this story was for real. The film itself has been produced together with some of the biggest names in this game, and production actually started before the fateful day. For those of you who don’t know, Black Friday took place on the 15th April 2011. It saw the closure of the biggest and most popular poker websites in the USA – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute, and Ultimate Poker. Only PokerStars survived.

This occurrence caused the producers of "Bet Raise Fold" to almost complete re-think their game plan in terms of making the film, creating a rather stiff challenge. As a result of this Rosenkrantz and Director Ryan Firpo landed up telling the historic tale of online poker. It has taken them three years to complete the project, with a great deal of collaboration, but for the most part all of the hard work was done by these two protagonists themselves – from directing, editing, watching hours, and hours of footage, to the actual filmmaking.

The original concept came about when Jay met another Two Plus Two’er called Dean Strachan, who was an economics student from the UK, and obviously also a poker player. They went to Atlantic City together and had a really great time. But they also thought that the characters who exist in this world that is online poker, would make really good material, and it is all history from there. The idea stayed put, and they started to make a documentary about this bunch of insane people.

The end goal is to get this film out to everyone who has ever played a hand of poker. There you have it, if you have played a hand of poker or online poker… this is the film to see. Actually, even if you have never played poker, it is still something to see.

Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) will host an exclusive poker star-studded party at the May Fair Hotel’s Crystal Room on 15th March for the official launch of the International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT). The invite-only event comes on the cusp of announcement regarding the partnership between ISPT and DTD.

The award-winning poker operator, DTD, has agreed to licence, operate, market and guarantee the ISPT event at Wembley Stadium on 31 May until 5 June 2013.  The buy-in levels start at €300 for Day 1 or €3000 for Day 2, with a €1M GTD prize for the winner. Simon Trumper, who takes over the reins as the new ISPT tournament director, recently explained that the structure of the event will closely mirror that of the WSOP Main Event.

DTD co-founder Rob Yong commented, "Organising the Caribbean Poker Party in St Kitts has whetted our appetite for more adventures outside of our four walls. This partnership with ISPT is a great challenge for us and we wish to start its success by hosting the official launch party on Friday at The May Fair Hotel."

The invite-only party features DJ Antonio Vendone, Martini Glass Dancers, DTD girls, complimentary drinks, ISPT information point, special guests & show, not to mention a Who’s Who of the poker community. Players and press that have received invites must RSVP by Wednesday 13th March. For press contact or for more information on the party, contact alex@dusktilldawnpoker.com.

There has been such a huge scandal surrounding the fact that Members of the Board of Tiltware lined their own pockets at the expense of fans who played at Full Tilt Poker (FTP), it really is about time that everything got sorted out now. Its seems that 2013 might be the year when everything falls into place, the Department of Justice are happy, and online gambling in the USA finally becomes legal. Well…one can only hope. At the centre of the FTP scandal have been Chris (Jesus) Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Rafe Furst – well mostly these players have been mentioned.

Rafe Furst has surrendered a Trust Fund held in a Swiss Bank Account (?), plus agreed to pay the DoJ about $150 000 in fines. Howard Lederer knew that the DoJ had set their sights on his mansion, and has managed to stave off the forfeiture of this piece of property by bargaining with the authorities to take something else instead. In fact he has pledged to them, the proceeds from the sale of a property in Twin Palms Circle Las Vegas, as well as traceable proceeds from the sale of his Kingsclear Court, Las Vegas, property. So that is two Las Vegas properties he is down, and there is only something like five to go.

He has also forfeited his 1965 Shelby Cobra , plus funds a Lloyds TSB International account located on the Isle of Man. We have no idea what the amount involved with this transaction is. There is also an additional retirement account which was arranged using FTP funds, and this too has gone to the feds.

Apparently these monetary amount, plus those being surrendered by Raef Furst are going directly into the $184 (or thereabouts) owed to US online poker players; if and when they are able to process their claims with the DoJ. One would however assume that some of the funds paid to them in the FTP sale to PokerStars would have been earmarked for this process. However, we don’t know the finer details of the sale, only how many millions it cost.

It appears that only Ray Bitar and Chris Fergusson have to settle with the DoJ, which might be a faster process now that these two gamblers have fessed up and settled. It certainly goes to show that big money can keep you out of jail, as most of the deals made with the DoJ have entailed, forfeiture of vast amounts of money to admit no wrong-doing, and avoid any future prosecution. This is what PokerStars, Rafe Furst and Howard Lederer are all currently paying for. We suppose they have learned one thing from this – that crime doesn’t pay, but if you can pay, you can also get off the charges.

These charges included but were not limited to "conspiracy to commit bank, and or wire fraud, money laundering, as well as operating an illegal online gambling business." An amendment to the charges also accused these people of misrepresentation in that player funds were "safe and secure" both prior to and after Black Friday.

We have been seeing the same news for what seems to be years, and very little changes in terms of Federal regulation for the game of online poker in the USA. Certainly the State of Nevada has made this form of gaming legal and is currently issuing licenses, but this is for intrastate poker online. The Federal Government has said as much – each state must decide, and legislate for themselves.

However, in December last year, the Department of Justice changed their stance on the matter of legality for online gambling. Basically the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 was revisited, and the DoJ opinion released that only sports betting is illegal. The online poker industry has mobilized rapidly, joint ventures are in place, and Nevada has passed legislation for online poker, while the state of Delaware has made legal the full gamut of casino games for the Internet.

The American Gaming Association has released a white paper, and they represent just about every US casino operator, as well as gambling equipment manufacturers. The report states that $4 billion is spent annually by American who play at offshore casino and poker websites. They peg the potential for the online gambling industry to make between $6 billion and $10 billion annually. Is the payday close for these operators, they seem to think so, but is it time to start picking winners?

The problem is actually three-fold; the industry can only look at the potential for regulating online poker for the meantime. The potential turnover for this game would not be $6 billion and $10 billion annually, only a fraction of this. The second problem is that online poker alone, might not be all that attractive a business proposition for potential operators, and the third issue is certain states will not opt to legalize and regulate, so, it needs to happen on a federal level. In its present position the market is much too small, or too shaky to be a viable proposition.

Overseas we see that online poker sites are closing their doors on a regular basis. While we see PokerStars doing well, they actually monopolizing the marketplace because of their massive liquidity. A good example would be IGT’s purchase of Entraction, only to find that they were compelled to close this poker network. Regulation in Europe is also a tricky task to breach. The Italian industry is failing, France is a nightmare of regulatory red tape, Will Hill Poker is losing business as is Bwin.party and others. Fortunately for 888 Poker, they also seem to be doing something right and their business has grown.

But what we are seeing is that online poker alone is not financially viable in many instances. Operators need to be able to offer the whole range of online gambling games. So, with the exception of Delaware which state apparently sees the bigger picture, very little can change if the Federal Government does not come to the party, and offering online poker without the addition of other Internet gambling games, simply won’t cut the mustard.