The donation is in lieu of the 50th Levy Scheme payment it would have been required to make had the company remained under a UK licence.

Betfair is said to be the first major operator not under a UK licence to commit a sum equal to the Levy requirements.

The donation will be handed to the Horserace Betting Levy Board within the next week.

Betfair has also committed to investing a further GBP 3 Million over the next three years into the grassroots of racing.

Martin Cruddace, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, Betfair said: “Betfair has a strong track record in supporting British racing and this substantial figure is further testament to the commitment we have in seeing the sport thrive. I would now encourage those other operators not licensed in the UK but who are taking bets on British racing to follow suit.”

Paul Lee, Chairman, Horserace Betting Levy Board, said; “At a time when Levy receipts are falling, the contribution is very important and I am particularly pleased that it will go to prize money in 2012 when we are currently facing a considerable shortage.”

Rt. Hon. John Penrose MP, Minister for Tourism & Heritage, UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, added; “We warmly welcome Betfair’s announcement and strongly encourage other betting operators to follow suit. This is a positive step for both racing and the betting industry at a time when all sides are committed to finding a long term solution to the levy.”

In related news, Betfair has launched a new smartphone racing app ready for the Royal Ascot.

The smartphone web-application “Betfair Racing on your mobile” is powered by Timeform and provides racing enthusiasts with an all-in-one product, containing detailed race cards, Timeform star ratings, Timeform tips and comments as well as a comprehensive results service.

The content works in tandem with the full betting functionality of the app, allowing users to both back and lay on Betfair’s Exchange, as well as bet In-Play, on win and place markets.

Betfair’s Director of Racing, Steven Johnson, said: “The development of ‘Betfair Racing on your mobile’ highlights two things; Betfair’s continuing innovation in the mobile gaming space, and our continuing commitment to providing racing fans with the most comprehensive, exciting and cutting-edge products.”

Betfair continues on its recruitment drive after the recent loss of various middle and senior managers with the announcement of the appointment of Ian Chuter in the newly created position of Group Operations Director.

Chuter joins Betfair’s Executive Committee on 4 July 2011 from a nine year career at William Hill where, until recently, he was Group Head of International and UK Operations. He will be overseeing Betfair’s global customer operations team, which includes telephone betting, market operations, fraud, payments and trading.

PokerTracker 4 has been designed around player suggestions and recommendations, according to material released by the company.

Company executive Steven McLoughlin said of the new version: “Our vision is no longer ours alone, it’s the vision of our users. We’re now interpreting the vision of the players to the best of our abilities by showing them video previews of the application in development. Our users can see what the program is going to look like based on their suggestions and then we’re going to comb through every single piece of feedback that we get and revise our software accordingly.”

PokerTracker 4 has two main differences following changes to the interface and the next generation HUD. The company boasts that the new Vector HUD Engine is the crispest, cleanest HUD that has ever been released…and it’s the most responsive and flexible HUD yet.

“With PokerTracker 3, you could already create your own custom stats if you wanted to. But in PokerTracker 4, not only do you have your own custom stats, but you can also have the counts of the number of big blinds in your stack if you want. You can look at your opponents’ information for just that session or the complete history of information against that player,” said McLoughlin this week.

New HUD components, specifically the Toolbox, make for a more integrated product – a sort of one-stop-shop for pop-ups that provide the most important decisions needed by the player pre-flop and post-flop.

PT4 offers a completely redesigned hand replayer, money flow charts, quick filters, social media connections, and additional plug-ins of practical use to its users, all integrated into the core package without users having to purchase add-ons… and there will be an ongoing stream of new additions going forward.

One new addition is a program called LeakTracker, a tool designed with the amateur player in mind, but one that can also be useful to professional players. This provides players with a statistical range analysis to help plug leaks in their game. The user can define whether his or her game fits more in the median of winning players or is outside the norm.

“There are third-party applications that do this, but this is the first time that this has been included within the parent tracking application and is part of the base price without an additional fee,” claims McLoughlin.

Other useful features of the product include an automated note system; a drag ‘n drop profile editor for the HUD; street by street hand equities displayed at showdown and big blind per player stack size counts.

PokerTracker imports the hand histories that poker sites write to the user’s computer, and then parses the hands and stores poker statistics about the hands into a local database so that the player can look at every possible angle of both his/her and the opponents’ poker game.

Momentum, it seemed, was on the New York native’s side.

But in the end none of that mattered. Because once the ultra-aggressive Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko began catching cards, the final table was his to win. And the Ukraine-born professional didn’t let go of the stranglehold he had on his fellow final tableists until he was crowned the 2009 WCOOP Main Event champ.

“It’s a dream come true,” Timoshenko told Casino City. “To win the largest poker tournament in the history of online poker is a huge feat and I feel very blessed to have done it.

“It’s the largest online poker tournament every year, with an amazing structure allowing for lots of deep stacked play, even later in the tournament. Winning this event comes with a lot of prestige and accolades.”

Timoshenko, who had five cashes overall in this year’s WCOOP, came into Day 2 seventh in chips, but early on in the day he fell back into the pack. He said that forced him to play a little more cautious than usual.

“I tightened up, stayed patient and managed to come back,” said Timoshenko, who moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 8 years old and now lives in Seattle, Washington. “One big hand that got me back was one where I raised with J-J from middle position, and ‘ilvdnfl’ went all in on the button for 18 big blinds. I thought he could be making a play here a lot with worse hands because I had been very aggressive and showing down less than premium hands, so I made the call. He had A-A, but I flopped quad jacks to eliminate him and get back near the top. After that, I changed tables, and it was a much smoother ride from there.”

Timoshenko entered the final table in second place on the chipleader board with 10,490,143 chips, trailing Kelly, who had 12,245,301. But a bad run midway through the final table sent Kelly packing earlier than he expected as he got bounced in a big hand by Timoshenko and ended up finishing fourth for a prize of $643,000.

When the final table got to heads-up, Timoshenko held a 33,174,870-9,745,133 advantage over “Udon Wannit” and it didn’t take long for him to put him away for the title. Timoshenko won $1.7 million for his efforts while “Udon Wannit” – one of seven Americans at the final table – took home more than $1.2 million. “It’s a dream come true to win the largest and toughest online poker tournament ever assembled,” said Timoshenko, who cut through the 2,144-strong field in the $5,200 No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

This isn’t the first time Timoshenko has won a multi-million dollar tournament. In April, he took home $2,149,960 when he captured the Season 7 World Poker Tour Championship. In addition to the WCOOP and WPT titles, Timoshenko also has an Asian Pacific Poker Tour title to his name.

The Main Event – which was completed over two days and took 23 hours of actual playing time – carried a whopping prize pool of $10.7 million. Overall, the eighth annual WCOOP series – which is sponsored by PokerStars – was a record-breaker thanks to a prize pool of $51,652,800, which was more than $11 million more than last year’s tournament series. Nearly 44,000 players from 140 different countries participated in the 45 events.

While the 20-year-old Kelly fell short in the Main Event, he was still crowned the 2009 WCOOP Player of the Year after an incredible three-week run that saw him cash 11 times, make three final tables and win the $215 Razz tournament and $10,300 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. event. As an added bonus for winning Player of the Year, Kelly also won a trip to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January where all 2009 WCOOP bracelet winners will be awarded their bracelets at a ceremony. To date there have been 166 WCOOP bracelet events since 2002 with a total combined prize pool of $156,855,050.

Another player to enjoy a big WCOOP was French Team PokerStars pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, who outlasted a field of 1,269 to win the $530 No Limit tournament, and then two days later won the $215 No Limit tournament against a field of 9,220 players.

“The WCOOP is a great series to play and the prize pool is enormous. No other online series compares to the WCOOP but I’ve playing it five years now and had never won a bracelet,” said ElkY, who cashed a total of six times during the series earning more than $500, 000.

“When I won [the first bracelet] it was amazing – 1,169 players. But to win again two days later, I just couldn’t believe it. More than 9,000 players, the craziest field, but I did it. My goal now is to win a WSOP bracelet for the first time, and become the first player to win two European Poker Tour events.”

This year’s November Nine are currently in the midst of their four-month delay. And since the final table was decided back in mid-July, the participants have probably been getting advice from everybody they have come into contact with. But truth be told, there are really only nine other people in the world who know exactly what these guys are up against and that’s the 2008 November Nine.

So we turned to two members of last year’s November Nine – Darus Suharto and Scott Montgomery – to get some insight on their experiences last year

Suharto ended up finishing sixth at last year’s Main Event, which was the amateur’s second cash in the event. Overall, he has three WSOP cashes to his name that have earned him more than $2.4 million. Since last year he has left his job as the associate director of the internal audit department at York University in Toronto to begin his own consulting business, which has allowed him to focus more on poker.
Montgomery finished just ahead of Suharto last year in fifth place, which earned him $3,088,012. The poker pro from Canada has six WSOP cashes in his career.

Both players were willing to speak to Casino City about last year’s November Nine and tell us how they dealt with the delay and the increased exposure and what they would change if given the chance again. Here’s what they had to say:

10. Get yourself a coach
Last week, 2009 final tableist Jeff Shulman announced that he was going to receive coaching during the final table delay from none other than 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. None of last year’s players made any kind of official announcement about a coach, but Montgomery said he wishes he got some professional advice during the break.

“I think it could have helped,” Montgomery told us from his hotel room in London last week as he was preparing to play in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. “I decided not to work with anyone because I thought it might just be confusing listening to someone else’s thoughts and strategies. But looking back it would have helped if I worked with bunch of different people and talked to them about they would handle certain hands and certain situations.”

9. Study your opponents
Suharto told us that he wishes he spent more time last year researching the other final tableists. He said he did a little prep work, but not nearly enough.

“Sometimes it’s hard to find out a lot about your other opponents, but between TV coverage and talking to other people, I think I could of done a better job of studying the other guys’ tendencies,” he said. “For this year’s guys there’s plenty of info about there about how Phil Ivey plays. They should take advantage of it.”

8. Don’t get fooled by ESPN
While watching the Main Event coverage on ESPN during the break can be helpful, Montgomery said that he didn’t pay too much attention to it because it shows so few hands.

“[ESPN] has to edit the coverage down so much you really only see a few hands of each guy,” he said. “And the ones they show are the ones they usually win. So you really can’t take too much from it. It’s just too small of a sample to use it as valuable information.”

7. Don’t take too much time off
Suharto’s biggest regret about last year’s final table delay is that he didn’t play much poker at all during his time off. He was busy at work and he thought it might be a good idea to get away from the table and clear his head. But in the end he feels this was a mistake.

“I lost my edge,” he admitted. “I concentrated too much on my job and not enough on poker. At the time I thought that would be good for me, but once we started playing I really felt like I was off my game early on. I would definitely recommend that these guys play as much poker as possible during the break.”

Montgomery said that he did just that last year and it was definitely beneficial.

“I think it might help to take a little time off for some people, but for me it was important to keep playing,” he said.
6. Don’t get distracted by the media
Last year leading up to the final table, Dennis Phillips was interviewed by nearly 200 different media outlets (including us here at Casino City ). Others – namely Chino Rheem and namely Ylon Schwartz — weren’t so forthcoming.

Montgomery said that this year’s players should only do what they feel comfortable with.

“Some guys like to be interviewed and some guys don’t,” he said. “It’s that simple. If you think doing that kind of stuff is going to be a distraction, just do what’s required of you and that’s it. Don’t do more than you feel comfortable with.”

5. Get to Vegas early
Suharto strongly recommends that this year’s participants get to Las Vegas a day or two before they have to be there in order to “get grounded.”

“Once you get there they have a bunch of interviews for you to do and there’s a lot of TV stuff that needs to be done,” he said. “I think it would help to get there the day before they want you there and just get acclimated.”

4. Surround yourself with family and friends
Montgomery said that one thing that helped him remain calm during the days leading up to the final table was the fact that he had a small group of family and friends in Vegas with him.

“To some people that might be a distraction, but I thought it was great to have those people there with me,” he said. “It’s a huge moment in your life. You want to be with the people that care about you the most.”

3. Calm down
One thing that is very apparent about Montgomery is that he’s one laid back dude. He doesn’t seem to get rattled very quickly and he’s basically a soft-spoken type of guy. But even he said that the enormity of the November Nine was daunting.

“You really have to calm your emotions because when you walk out to that table it’s an amazing scene,” he said. “I’ve never seen that kind of crowd in one room to watch poker. It can be something that can throw you off so you have to do whatever it takes to calm you down.’

2. Don’t play tight early
Looking back at how the final table played out last year, Suharto wishes he got involved with more hands early on.

“I guess it was only natural for everyone to play a little tight at the beginning,” Suharto said. “But I should have known that was going to be the case and I should have played more hands. I think I could have picked up a few more small pots and that would have been a big help later on.”

Montgomery, however, made the point that this year the players may not be as tight since the payout structure is much different. Last year the difference between 9th place and 6th place was around $1.5 million, a nice chunk of change. This year the difference between 9th and 6th is only a little more than $300,000.

“I think you may see some guys taking chances early on because the structure is so different,” said Montgomery. “I know that’s what I’d be doing.”

1. Be yourself
Montgomery may have had the best piece of advice when he said this year’s players should simply do what go them there, both at the table and away from it.

“With all the media and all the attention you’re getting, it’s easy to try and be someone you’re not and to change your approach to things,” he said. “But the way I look at it, you must have been doing something right to get all the way to the final table. Why change now?”

With most progressive jackpot games offering twenty or more reels, it can be a challenge to make the max bet on all reels in order to become eligible for winning the full progressive jackpot. And with Mayan Queen, nothing is different. Wagers can range from 1 penny to $5 per payline, which for the max bet on all reels, amounts to $125 (25 x $5). If you stick to the penny bet, you’re only looking at a quarter wager, while a quarter bet on all paylines amounts to a reasonable $6 wager.

Real Time Gaming already has a strong lineup of progressive jackpot online slots that pay a pretty penny – not to mention costing a pretty penny to play. But the fact of the matter is that this is what it takes to get the progressive jackpot up to the million dollar mark. It’s no different with Microgaming online casinos, Playtech nor Cryptologic (non of which are open to U.S. players). And since RTG has a large network of 100+ online casinos, which as mentioned, are very popular with U.S. players, there are several jackpots that consistently surpass the $1 million mark, not to mention payout.

Just this last weekend, RTG casinos helping build up the Aztec Millions progressive video slot, were home to the latest online gambling millionaire. The jackpot, which has a default value of $1 million to begin with, busted at $1.26 million for one lucky player now in the process of getting this life-changing check cleared. Since this is a wide area jackpot having just hit, it is still being determined which RTG casino the lucky player calls home. OCS is guessing it was at any of the online casinos listed on our RTG Casinos page, which represents the best of the best.

Two other RTG progressive jackpot games are still worth over $1 million. Jackpot Pinatas is reached the $1.4 million mark, while the popular Shopping Spree & Mid-Life Crises games are worth over $1 million.

As for Mayan Queen, notwithstanding the random progressive jackpot, it offers a max win of $150,000. A scatter symbol (the Emerald) triggers a free spins feature that awards 6 free spins when three or more Emeralds appear on the reels at once. In the free spin bonus mode, the Mayan Queen (wild symbol) is expanded across all paylines of Reel 3, thus facilitating further wins. As a multiplier, the scatter symbol can award up to 500 times the original wager.

In terms of the look and feel of Mayan Queen, a jungle-like theme invoking the Mayan culture and society sums up this slot. Symbols include Mayan jewelry, pottery, treasure and the sacred leopard. The color scheme is made up of yellow, shades of gold, and the iconic turquoise.

Official launch of Mayan Queen was on September 16, 2009, and can now be played at all Real Time Gaming online casino licensees via download or Flash.

On this occasion his opponent was Phil Ivey, and the big action came at the end of over 20 hours of hectic poker which saw names like Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham and Patrik Antonius mixing it up before leaving Dwan and Ivey in the epic confrontation, with blinds at $1 000/$2 000 with a $200 ante.

Following the success of its predecessors, the third incarnation of PKR Live will now see the three-day festival kick-off with a welcome party on Friday November 20. Lucky qualifiers will get to start their weekend at this exclusive event guaranteed to enhance what Loose Cannon Manager Roy Houghton calls ‘poker’s friendliest live event.’

The second day brings with it the $1,000 buy-in Main Event, where 150 players will take a shot at the predicted $40,000 top prize.

The customary PKR Bounty tournament will be held on day three, but this time a $200 buy-in will put $30,000 in the pot as well as the prizes and bragging rights for claiming a PKR Bounty scalp.

The popular festival is likely to sell-out fast with players and spectators expected to come from all over the world to participate. A wide range of satellites are already up and running offering the chance to win in every day for as little as $5.25. Direct buy-ins will be available closer to the event for anyone with an active PKR account.

Check out PKR.com for further information and click here to see the action from PKR Live I and PKR Live II!

The Gaming Control Board Technology Division, using internal resources and staff to develop the process, created the program, which went live this month.

Under Nevada law, casino employees, including dealers, count-room personnel, cashiers, and certain accounting and internal audit staff are required to register with the Gaming Control Board before working for a Nevada gaming licensee.

Local law enforcement agencies, such as the Metropolitan Police Department in Clark County, handled the work card process until January 2004. During the 2003 legislative session, lawmakers switched the job duties over to the state gaming regulators.

The Gaming Control Board Enforcement Division now processes an average of 30,000 new applications and 18,000 change requests per year statewide.

Before the new online program, all applications and change requests were manually processed.

“This allows us to be more efficient and more accurate in the process,” Gaming Control Board member Mark Lipparelli said.

Under the old system, casino employees working in one Nevada county would have to reapply for a work card if they transferred to casinos in a different Nevada county. The new system removes that hurdle.

The old registration system was totally manual and a paper-intensive process.

“Online registration should meaningfully improve filing accuracy, reduce processing costs and provide a more efficient process for gaming employers to verify employee registration,” Enforcement Division Chief Jerry Markling said.

Casinos are obligated to make sure employees have work cards as part of the hiring process.

Lipparelli said the control board staff met with casino operators during the system’s development to gather industry input on the process. Casino human resources officials can access the system to check on the work card status of an employee.

Training sessions on the system were conducted statewide.

Betsson joins a tier one group of gaming merchant clients that includes Unibet and Expekt, consolidating Ivobank’s position as a payment solution for online gamblers across Scandinavia.

Betsson’s customers will also enjoy the incremental benefits of opening an Ivobank account, which include:

* Secure, instant and discreet means of depositing into gaming accounts
* No loading fees on credit and debit card deposits until 30 August 2009
* Interest paid on gaming funds
* Fast and free withdrawals
* VIP Service for high rollers
* Government protected funds up to GBP 50 000

Ivobank was launched in 2008 as a specialist online bank designed with the gaming industry in mind. Since then the bank has created a successful niche for itself as the only FSA regulated bank to cater specifically for the needs of the online gaming industry.

Neil Cauldwell, Director of Business Development said: “Signing up Betsson as a merchant is a great win for Ivobank. It is one of the world’s leading gaming operators and its customer base is one of the largest in Europe. We’re looking forward to working with it in a mutually profitable partnership”.

Hans Martin Nakkim, Director of Sales and Marketing at Betsson says: “We are very happy our customers can now open an Ivobank account through Betsson. The ability is there for customers across Europe to manage their entertainment budget via a specialised bank account which charges no transfer fees, offers excellent value and unrivalled security”.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety had asked ISPs to block access, but instead will seek “to create clear and effective government policies concerning regulation of gambling.” The DPS notified 11 ISPs in April of its intent to block the content, including: AT&T Internet Services, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network, Embarq, Sprint/Nextel, Frontier Communications, Qwest, Verizon Wireless and Wildblue Communications.

The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association called the state’s decision to fold “a victory for Internet rights because what you had was a government administrative branch deeming a list of sites to be on a black list that should be censored.”