The GGPoker network is making the headlines once again. This time for the big announcement about Daniel Negreanu having signed as the ambassador for representing the site, on Wednesday. According to the reports, because of the regulatory measures, GGPoker has taken an exit from many countries and a majority of these are in Europe. They plan to return to these countries once they are sure that they are getting the required license and regulated in every market.
As per Jean-Christophe Antoine, the head of GGPoker, the network has decided to depart from some markets because of the regulation and they plan to either acquire the license or partner with licensed operators.
One of the skins of GGPoker, Natural8 received a notice on 4th November that access to it is going to be blocked from twelve countries. The players of these blocked countries will be given instructions to withdraw. A majority of the listed blocked countries are in Europe. These countries include Bulgaria, Belgium, Lithuania, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, and Switzerland. Apart from these European countries, Colombia of South America and Georgia of Europe Asia border is also included.
Reports suggest that the players of these countries can still play on this network but new signups from the location are not permitted.
GGPoker had its original focus on the Asian market but over the years, it had extended its reach. A majority of its skin is licensed off-shore in Curacao or the Philippines. Apart from this, the network also has a gaming license from UK Gambling Commission and has a partnership with the online Swedish gambling company, Enlabs for providing licensed online poker in Estonia and Latvia as Optibet.
Pennsylvania Regulators Rejects the Project of Mount Airy Mini-Casino
Back in 2017, the lawmakers of Pennsylvania had passed a bill for gambling expansion which include provisions for introducing online poker and gambling in the state. This is how PokerStars PA was launched by PokerStars in the state.
In the meantime, the new law has made way for a large number of other kinds of gambling expansions which includes the operation of mini-casinos or satellite casinos in the state. The present-day casino operators received their first shot at securing a license for the mini-casinos because of this. Till now, a few of these projects have got their approval from the regulators and are progressing with the construction plans. However, there are some that are still waiting to be approved.
A mini-casino project which is in line to be approved is the one which has been submitted by Mount Airy Casino which is the land-based partner of PokerStars. Mount Airy was denied the application for PGCB on Wednesday, stating that they have not been able to acquire adequate funds for the project.
Todd Greenberg, the general manager and the COO of Mount Airy Casino believes, “increased competition from new casinos and nearby destination resorts”, to be the reason behind the inability of the company the secure the required financing.
In the meantime, the projects that have been approved will come to Caernarvon Township through Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course operator, Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association and to Hempfield Township through Stadium Casino.
