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New Zealand Bans Online Poker But Set To Offer Online Lotto SalesWed, Mar 19th, 2008 @ 12:00am New Zealanders cannot legally play poker on the Internet, but they will soon be able to buy lottery tickets online, exhibiting the NZ government's protectionist policy towards online gambling, following the path of other countries like the United States who is facing World Trade Organization legal action costing them billions of dollars in compensation to other WTO members for violating trade treaties, and Sweden, France and Germany who are facing legal action from the European Commission for violating EU free trade law within the 27-member states. New Zealand's Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker has yet to approve the necessary changes to Lotto's game rules, but suggests that may be a formality given "Parliament has previously determined that NZ Lotteries can offer its products over the Internet". He is referring to how, in 2003, the TAB and NZ Lotteries were excluded from an online gambling ban passed. The purpose of the exemption was to keep people from spending their money with offshore gaming companies, and instead to financially benefit New Zealand. Lotteries Commission corporate communications manager Karen Jones said that customers would soon be able to purchase Saturday Lotto, Big Wednesday and Daily Keno tickets online, according to the New Zealand Herald, but she was unable to confirm a firm launch date. COMING AS SOON AS APRIL However, franchisees believe lotteries may begin selling Lotto tickets online as early as next month, quotes the Dominion Post. Many franchisees fear that online lottery sales will reduce the number of clients coming to their establishments to buy tickets. Lotto outlets, which now number more than 1000, earned $51.5 million last year from a 7 per cent commission on ticket sales. The owner of one franchise in central Wellington is certain that fewer people will come into his shop when ticket sales go online. He says 60 per cent of his sales are for Lotto, grossing about $20,000 each week. "Am I expecting it to hurt? Yes. Look at my location, every Tom, Dick and Harry around me has got Internet access. Would you wait here in the queue or go on the Net and print one out?" He also notes that he would be reluctant to check tickets which had been sold online, because "I'm not going to get anything out of it." WOULD YOU RATHER HOLD A PHYSICAL TICKET? But a northern suburbs dairy owner who recently became a Lotto franchisee to increase "foot traffic" doubted that convenience stores would be badly affected. "Everything is going online", but many customers would feel more confident holding a winning ticket that had been printed in a Lotto shop, he says. He had been told to expect the launch of online Lotto ticket sales in April. Another retailer said he had been told ticket sales would probably go online within a few weeks. There is speculation that NZ Lotteries may time the launch for a week when there are no massive jackpots on offer. COMPARED TO BRITAIN In Britain, where lotto tickets have been sold online since 2003, online sales accounted for 7 per cent of sales in the second half of last year, raking in GBP 163.3 million (NZ$412.9 million). More than three million players in the National Lottery have registered to buy tickets on the Net, through interactive TV and via their mobiles, says national operator Camelot. RETAILERS STILL MOST IMPORTANT CHANNEL FOR LOTTO... FOR NOW Ms Jones says retailers will continue to be Lotto's most important sales channel for the foreseeable future and retailers would not be expected to redeem prize-winning tickets that were bought online. Unlike Britain's National Lottery, NZ Lotteries would not offer an equivalent of its Instant Kiwi "scratchies" online. Ms Jones says NZ Lotteries has told prospective franchisees of its plans to sell tickets over the Web since August 2007 and has been "very open" with all its retailers. Read Related Articles:
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World Series of Poker: Ante Up for Africa The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.
World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.
World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.
World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).
World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).
World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.
World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.
World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.
World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.
World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play. |
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