GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 9 - June 2009

RussHamilton The former World Series of Poker Main Event champ allegedly profited big time from the “superuser”scandalatUltimateBet. That scandal, chronicled by the TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” allowedcertainuserstoseethehole cards of players at the table. And it gaveonlinepoker ablackeyewhen it leastneededone. SteveBeshear The governor of Kentuckydecided hecouldplaymoralistfortheworld when he tried to seize 141 online gambling domains because they were “illegal gambling devices.” Apparently, as longashisprecious Kentuckians were protected from the “evils” of online gambling, he didn’t care that the millions of people out there who wanted to enjoy a legal pastime without interference might be unable to access their accounts andgames. SpencerBachus The reflexively anti-online gambling Congressman from Alabama said in a hearing this year that “McGill University found that one-third of college students who gamble on the Internetultimatelyattemptedsuicide.” Err, one problem, Congressman. “This assertion, which is reportedly based upon our empirical research, is not predicated upon any factual evidence,” said McGill gambling and addiction researcher Jeffrey L. Derevensky. Christel Schaldemose This Danish European Parlia- ment member is chiefly re- sponsible for the European Parliament voting -- yes it was non-binding, but still -- 544-36 in favor of a report that would block the formation of a single market for online gambling in the EU. Almost as bad as vote was the rampant hypocrisy that ran through the bill. Betting on sportswas really bad, unless you did it through a government-run monopoly so the state could get the revenue, in case it was re- ally good. Sheesh. Make up your mind. Churchof England The Church England decided that they don’t like gambling and called on Google to stop running online gambling advertisements in theU.K. In theory, thisposition makes sense for the Church. But inpractice, theChurch isquiteOK with individual churches accept- ing money from bingo or lottery events. So let’s see, bingo and the lotteryareOK if it’s for theChurch, but foranythingelse, it’snot good. Yep, that sounds about right... Previous Inductees: Grand Prive UPDATE: It’sTimeto Fight Back In January, we tacked the Grand Prive CasinoGroup’shindupon theWall ofShame for shutting down its affiliate program and eliminating affiliate commissions while keeping its online casinos open to existing players. Efforts have been made to work with Grand Prive and get them to keep the promise it made to affiliates -- paying commissions over the lifetime of a player. But none of the effortshaveworkedand it is time togetmore aggressive. In May, the GPWA officially rouged Grand Prive, which includes Bella Vegas, Casino Grand Bay, Grand Bay Poker, Jupiter Club Casino,LakePalaceCasino,RoadHouseReels andVillaFortunaCasino. So affiliates, if you haven’t already, please take action against them as well. Players need to know that if the Grand Prive casinos are willing to break contracts with their marketing partners and stoppayments, the same thing couldhappen to them. If we hit Grand Prive in the wallet, maybethenthey’llstart listeningtothepeople whoworked sohard topromote them. And once you’ve rogued casinos associated with the Grand Prive, pleasevisit apcw.org/6 and submit links to the location(s) of where you’ve takenactionagainst them, andadescription of what you did. We’ll publish this information, including the links, on theAPCWWeb site (apcw.org), and offerWeb services for affiliates topublish the information as well. The Grand Prive Group needs to know that we’re not going to take this lying down, and that as community, we will fight thesekindsof unethical behaviors.