The company informed interested parties that Gamynia intended to maintain all existing WPT operations, and in addition had plans to enter the online gaming sector. Gamynia has secured the services of online gaming marketing company Hardway Investments Ltd. which will seek to exploit and develop the WPT brands with the goal of maximising future revenue opportunities.

WPTE will sell its television library with full intellectual property rights, brand names, trade names, certain assumed contracts and tangible personal property, but is to retain cash and cash equivalents, certain investments, and future foreign sponsorship revenues from previous seasons, along with the licence of Season Seven of the World Poker Tour to PokerStars. WPTE will be responsible for certain office lease and employee obligations.

The agreement is subject to approval by WPT shareholders, but the company’s statement points out that a group representing 39 percent of the WPTE’s stock has already committed to the deal. None of the cash flowing from the acquisition will be distributed to company shareholders, because WPTE plans on using the proceeds of the sale to develop or acquire a non-poker business.

Steve Lipscomb, the president and CEO of WPTE said that he believed the deal would enable the company to realise its full potential across both its existing businesses and the lucrative online gaming market.

“Gamynia and its partners possess highly complimentary resources which will help it invest in and effectively integrate with the World Poker Tour efficiently and profitably,” he said.

“In Gamynia, we have found a partner that already understands and fosters a spirit of cooperation in the online marketplace,” Lipscomb added. “We believe that Gamynia and Hardway Investments Ltd. are uniquely positioned to join with our current partners and guide the World Poker Tour brands to fulfill their potential in the global poker marketplace.

“Our Board of Directors believes that WPTE shareholders will derive more benefit from the WPT and PPT brands in cooperation with these significant online gaming entities. Of particular importance for our partners is the fact that Hardway Investments has an established track record of creating revenues and value in the online gaming marketplace. After the transaction, WPTE will move forward under a new name and [we] will employ our cash in a new venture by developing a new business or combining, through one or more strategic transactions, with companies that have significant unrealized value or growth potential”

Last Wednesday World Poker Tour Enterprises announced that it had enjoyed its second consecutive profitable quarter in Q2 of 2009. Revenues were lower than those during the same period in 2008 – from $5.1 million to $4.6 million – but WPTE was able to make a profit due to the lower production costs of Season VII of the WPT broadcasts. In addition, international distribution of WPT broadcasts and the continued growth of ClubWPT.com had pushed the group into the black. Overall, income from continuing operations was $370 000 in the second quarter of 2009, compared to a $3.3 million loss in the second quarter of 2008

The latest top American football team to lend its brand to scratchcard betting is the Dallas Cowboys in a deal with the Texas Lottery Commission announced Monday. The announcement revealed that the lottery will start a Dallas Cowboys scratch-off game August 17. The $5 tickets will have cash prizes of up to $100 000 as well as chances to win packages that include a stadium suite, private tours, and airfare and tickets to an away game.

National Football League officials have confirmed over a dozen other teams have signed or have started negotiating similar lottery deals since a ban on is form of betting was selectively ended in May this year.

“We’ve been examining this category carefully over the past few years,” said Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman. “We’ve become increasingly comfortable in easing our restrictions.”

The rationale applied is that since lottery tickets are based on chance and not the performance of athletes, the lottery partnerships are in order.

“We still maintain our strict restrictions on affiliations with gambling that’s based on the outcome of NFL games,” McCarthy said. “It [a lottery] has nothing to do with what takes place on the field.”

The NFL, the NCAA and other large sports leagues are currently suing to prevent the state of Delaware from allowing betting on individual sporting events, and the League’s vehement opposition to online gambling is well known.

Also announcing a partnership on scratchcards, New York Football Giants, Inc. and the Connecticut Lottery Corporation have entered into a licensing agreement that will launch a Giants-branded scratch ticket game across the state of Connecticut this fall.

“Connecticut is Giants territory,” said Anne M. Noble, CT Lottery President and CEO, “and we are very excited to kick off our fall season of sales with a blockbuster partner like the New York Giants. Brand recognition for the Giants is tremendous, and we expect the game to be a sellout success.”

CT Lottery will use the New York Giants logo to promote a new $5 scratch off game, whose August 26 launch will coincide with the upcoming 2009 NFL season.

“The Giants are proud to partner with the CT Lottery and bring an exciting, new Giants-branded lottery game to Giants fans across The Constitution State,” said Giants Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Stevens. “The Giants view Connecticut as an important part of our home tri-state market, and we appreciate the devoted and loyal support we receive from Giants fans throughout the state.”

On the New York Giants scratch game ticket, players will be able to win $4 million in cash prizes, including four top prizes of $50 000 each. Non-winning tickets can be returned to the CT Lottery for inclusion in a series of second-chance drawings to win a wide array of New York Giants experiential and merchandise prizes such as tickets to Giants home games, trips to Giants road games, VIP access at Giants Training Camp and authentic Giants helmets and game jerseys.

“While my time with Bluff was amazing and I’m very thankful for my experiences there, I am beyond thrilled to be now associated with the largest and most respected poker media website in the world,” said Parvis this week.

“Over the next month, you will immediately begin to see the transformation of PokerNews.com as we’ll be bringing you more news, lifestyle and entertainment, gossip, forum buzz, politics, interviews, and strategy than ever before. Our tech team is also hard at work rebuilding PokerNews.com, which will hopefully be launched within the next month or two. The new design will ensure that with all this new content comes a new look and feel that better reflects the editorial direction we’ll be taking.”

Hintze had earlier announced her departure, describing it as part of an ongoing transition in editorial outlook.

“I enjoyed my time at PokerNews and I wish them all the best in their future efforts,” said Hintze.

The introduction of synchronised breaks appears to be creating the biggest (positive) stir in the communities and could be launched as soon as this week. This enforced break concept is already in place at rival online poker provider Full Tilt Poker.com, where it has apparently been well received. There is speculation that the PokerStars synchronised breaks will take place at 55 minutes past every hour. In the case of rebuy tournaments, if a tournament is a rebuy tournament, there will be an extra short break at the end of the rebuy period to allow for add-ons to be made.

It is likely that initially only a handful of tournaments will feature the breaks, which will be clearly marked.

It is understood that Mixed Hold’em/Omaha, a game that is part of the PokerStars 2009 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) schedule starting soon is also available on the giant site’s cash game scene.

Further software tweaks may include improvements to registration information and the extension of the private game privilege to lower stakes players.

Beta-testing is apparently also imminent on a new multi-currency facility that will include Euros.

UPDATE:

Other improvements include:

Auto Add-On for Rebuy Tournaments.

Show Hole Cards When All-In (Ring Games): The default is now set to turn face cards up when all players are all-in in a ring game.

12-Hour Self Exclusion: This option lets players take a half day to relax if some time to cool off after a particularly wicked beat is needed.

The team’s deal with the Washington Lottery will see the introduction of Seahawks Winning Play Scratch tickets sold inside Qwest Field during home games and featuring a top prize of $50 000.

Players are also being given the chance to win a trip for two valued at $12 000 including airfare, accommodation and tickets to next year’s Super Bowl and Pro Bowl in Miami.

“The new Seahawks Winning Play Scratch ticket gives players another way to support their team throughout the season,” said Christopher Liu, Director for the Washington Lottery. “In addition, ticket proceeds help pay down the debt on Qwest Field and Event Center.”

Ron Jenkins, Vice-President Of Corporate Partnerships for the Seattle Seahawks said: “We are proud to extend our partnership with the Washington Lottery into a fun co-branded game for fans.”

Wired.com reports that a malicious ATM kiosk was positioned in the conference centre of the Riviera Hotel Casino, capturing data from an unknown number of hackers attending the conference before someone became suspicious.

An organiser for the conference said security authorities seized the device, but little information on its nature has been released. Witnesses said the kiosk was well-placed to avoid surveillance cameras.

“In any casino anything that is considered that high-value has a camera,” said Brian Markus, CEO of Aries Security who saw the machine, “They placed it where there were no [hotel] cameras visibly watching that exact spot.”

Markus said it was clear to him the ATM was fake when he looked at the smoked glass on the front of the machine. When he beamed a flashlight through the glass, instead of seeing a camera behind it, he saw that a PC had been set up to siphon card data.

The ATM had been placed right outside the hotel’s security office.

Over at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino a more conventional ATM modus operandi was in place, widespread press reports indicate. The U.S. Secret Service is apparently investigating this major ATM hack that stole money from users’ bank accounts from multiple machines.

The ATM scam first came to light when security researcher Chris Paget lost $200 to an ATM machine over the weekend at the hotel. Paget, who kept a running log of the events on his Twitter feed, alerted authorities after the machine took his credentials and debited his account, but didn’t spit out any cash. He said in his Twitter feed that he met other visitors who had lost money in a similar fashion, one of them reporting a loss of $1 000.

Paget was able to cancel his ATM card and reverse the transaction through his bank, he tweeted.

Again, little firm information had been released by investigators, and it herefore not clear whether the machines were rigged with malware or card skimmers.

Paget opined to reporters that the scam could be an inside job of some sort. “I believe it was either malware or an inside job – there were no visible skimmers,” he said in an interview. “The machine was operating perfectly – it answered all the steps, and you could even hear the gears whirring when it was supposed to dispense the cash.”

But given that Paget was unable to examine the machines closely, he says for now it’s all “speculation.”