May 2007
Several interesting things are happening in the Poker World in May.
Dream Poker will be closing their doors to U.S. players on the 31st. Any players from the states should empty their accounts as soon as possible to avoid complications.
Poker Stars completed dealing their 10 Billionth hand of poker. There was a celebration as the room awarded $100,000 in prize moeny to the winner of that particular hand and their tablemates. And, as it turns out, that particular hand was dealt at the $.01/$.02 tables.
Paradise Poker has begun their move to Boss powered poker software, leaving their old software in the dust.
Full Tilt ran the Fourth version of their Full Tilt Series of Online Poker. It's a series of poker tournaments in a mix of games, each with a guaratneed prize pool. Prize pools were guaranteed to be at least $4,000,000 in total.
In other news, eCogra issued this press releaase concerning Gibraltor and the eCogra certification process . . .
GIBRALTER ACCEPTS eCOGRA CERTIFICATION FOR ONLINE GAMBLING INTEGRITY - eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) has become one of the first organisations to be approved by the Minister responsible for Gambling of the Government of Gibraltar for purposes of testing and certifying the integrity of online gambling equipment and software used by Gibraltar’s licensees in compliance with the Gambling Act 2005.
The independent standards and player protection body announced this week that the Total Gaming Transaction Review, used for continuous monitoring and data analyses to assess accurate payout percentages and certify Random Number Generation fairness, has been extensively evaluated by the Gibraltar authorities before being accepted.
Earlier this year, eCOGRA appointed a high powered and professionally qualified specialist team with a cumulative total of 18 years’ experience to operate the TGTR process, providing the most comprehensive data verification service available to online gambling operators to date.
The service includes:
§ Onsite audits to ensure that software used by the online casinos and poker rooms is being developed, implemented and maintained in a manner representative of best practice standards;
§ Independent verification of the completeness and accuracy of all date used in the calculation of the payout percentage and RNG reports;
§ Annual quality assurance reviews by leading audit firm KPMG on the methodology and processes used to produce the payout percentage and RNG reports; and
§ Reports in 14 different languages, including Chinese and Japanese.
eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge said: “We are delighted that a regulator of the calibre of the GRA has accepted this advanced process after intensive study. Our testing principles and methodologies have now been recognised by several other international jurisdictions concerned with protecting players through the professional and continuous testing of online casino and poker room operators. Over 130 tier one online casinos and poker rooms currently use our widely proved TGTR services. In addition we now have the added scrutiny of the leading audit firm KPMG through their annual quality assurance reviews, thus providing an unrivalled verification programme. “
