"We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social
gaming space with Playdom," says WSOP VP Craig Abrahams. "We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a
Facebook-friendly endeavor."

"There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker," said Sean
Phinney, VP of Business Development for Playdom. "We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience."

The app is also available on MySpace, with other social networks following soon.

Playdom currently boasts over 46 million active monthly users across its network of games. Disney is paying $563.2 Million plus an earn-out of up to $200 Million.

In other online poker news, the New York Times reports that the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban. The publicatno also reports,  "Two of the biggest European operators of Internet betting sites, PartyGaming and Bwin Interactive Entertainment, said Thursday that they planned to merge, forming the world’s largest publicly traded online gambling company."

I would imagine that we’ll be seeing a lot more happening with this industry.

Six versions of Google top the list for search before Bing makes an appearance. Facebook takes the cake in social networks, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. In the social bookmark category, StumbleUpon leads, and in media, it’s YouTube.

Mashable’s Jolie O’Dell reports that a court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia has demanded a Russian ISP block access to YouTube because it hosted what it says is an extremist video. The Internet Archive and three online libraries were also reportedly blocked. As O’Dell points out, a number of other countries have also blocked access to YouTube at different times.

The New York Times reports that the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban.

Pocket-lint reports that Amazon claims ebook sales will overtake paperbacks next year. It’s a pretty astonishing notion, but not too hard to believe considering that Amazon recently announced that ebook sales have overtaken hardback sales.

Mobile Crunch has pointed out that RIM has purchased the domain BlackPad.com, speculating that a long-rumored BlackBerry tablet could be called the BlackPad.

News surfaced yesterday that a directory containing personal details of over 100 million Facebook users has surfaced on a file-sharing site. BBC News spoke to the man responsible who says he harvested the info for a security tool.

Back in early May, it was discovered that Google had invested in something called Recorded Future. Now Wired reports that the CIA is involved as well, in the company that monitors the web predicts the future.

Facebook launched the long-awaited Questions feature yesterday (in beta). Search Engine Land has a detailed walkthrough of the feature.

According to Ben Patterson at Yahoo News, citing information from Courant.com, U.S. libraries are loaning more DVDs on a daily basis than Netflix and Redbox are renting them. This make sense given that many libraries offer free DVD loans, and cheap prices on new releases.

The Internet Gambling Regulation and Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2267), legislation introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, passed by a 41-22 vote.

Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, told WebProNews "This historic vote clears the way for Chairman Frank’s online gambling regulatory bill to move forward."

"With Congress bitterly divided and only a handful of bi-partisan bills coming out of the Financial Services Committee, we’re pleased Committee members from both sides of the aisle were able to come together to advance this important legislation," said Waxman.

Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) offered, and the Committee approved, an amendment that would further strengthen the legislation’s already strict consumer protections, including a requirement for licensed operators to have each customer choose his or her loss limits before being able to play on-line.  Rep. Campbell’s amendment also requires licensees to protect customers by ensuring the customer privacy and security and protecting against fraud and money laundering.

The legislation reinforces the rights of each state to determine whether or not to allow Internet gambling activity for people accessing the Internet within the state and to apply other restrictions on the activity as determined necessary.

According to a Joint Committee on Taxation tax revenue analysis, regulated Internet gambling is expected to generate as much as $42 billion in federal government revenue over its first 10 years.  Additionally, a recent analysis by H2 Gambling Capital predicts that Internet gambling regulation would create as many as 32,000 jobs over its first five years.

"The momentum of today’s vote and growing bi-partisan support for online gambling regulation demonstrates to congressional leaders in the House and Senate that this issue is a priority and should be addressed," said Waxman. 

"Leaving in place a failed prohibition should no longer be the government’s misguided policy approach, leaving millions of Americans vulnerable as they continue to find a way to gamble online in a thriving underground marketplace."

The legislation has the support of 69 bi-partisan co-sponsors. Support for the legislation was also announced last week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.

"Today’s witnesses clearly articulated why Congress should give fair consideration to regulating online gambling activity as a way to protect Americans, stimulate the economy by creating tens of thousands of new jobs and profit from the collection of tens of billions of otherwise lost revenue," said
Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. 

"Upon hearing today’s testimony and acknowledgment that current attempts to prohibit online gambling have failed, it simply makes sense for Congress to address this issue and take control of the thriving underground marketplace."

The main focus of the hearing was Rep.McDermott’s Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010, which would generate as much as $72 billion in new revenue over ten years for federal and state governments.  The legislation would also allocate 25 percent of federal revenue, estimated by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation at nearly $42 billion over 10 years, to provide assistance for those in foster care.
 
"With our national unemployment rate at more than 10 percent and all but six states anticipating budget shortfalls for the 2011 fiscal year, this legislation is a win-win," said Waxman. 

"It’s not everyday that the opportunity to generate billions of dollars and creates tens of thousands of jobs comes along.  Congress should seize the opportunity that this legislation presents and move forward in regulating Internet gambling."  
 

WebProNews spoke to the Poker Players Alliance about Kentucky’s latest move. "We are in the process of full review of this new action, however, at first blush we seriously questions its merits," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance.

"The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government’s scarce resources."

Specifically the lawsuit names as defendants the Ireland-based Pocket Kings LTD., which operates the popular Full Tilt Poker website, and unknown entities that operate a number of other online gambling sites.

The 14-page filing by the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown invokes state statute 454.210 and calls for Pocket Kings to refund Kentucky "the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky." Under the law the suit seeks to recover three times the amounts lost by Kentuckians who gambled online.

"The Full Tilt Defendants have done, or have caused to be done, tortuous acts in the Commonwealth for which the Commonwealth has a substantial and compelling interest in exercising personal jurisdiction," the complaint continues.

This is the second suit filed by Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration against online gambling sites. The first involved Kentucky’s attempt to seize 141 international online gambling domains.  That case is still ongoing.
 

WebProNews spoke to the Poker Players Alliance about Kentucky’s latest move. "We are in the process of full review of this new action, however, at first blush we seriously questions its merits," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance.

"The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government’s scarce resources."

Specifically the lawsuit names as defendants the Ireland-based Pocket Kings LTD., which operates the popular Full Tilt Poker website, and unknown entities that operate a number of other online gambling sites.

The 14-page filing by the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown invokes state statute 454.210 and calls for Pocket Kings to refund Kentucky "the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky." Under the law the suit seeks to recover three times the amounts lost by Kentuckians who gambled online.

"The Full Tilt Defendants have done, or have caused to be done, tortuous acts in the Commonwealth for which the Commonwealth has a substantial and compelling interest in exercising personal jurisdiction," the complaint continues.

This is the second suit filed by Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration against online gambling sites. The first involved Kentucky’s attempt to seize 141 international online gambling domains.  That case is still ongoing.
 

WebProNews spoke to the Poker Players Alliance about Kentucky’s latest move. "We are in the process of full review of this new action, however, at first blush we seriously questions its merits," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance.

"The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government’s scarce resources."

Specifically the lawsuit names as defendants the Ireland-based Pocket Kings LTD., which operates the popular Full Tilt Poker website, and unknown entities that operate a number of other online gambling sites.

The 14-page filing by the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown invokes state statute 454.210 and calls for Pocket Kings to refund Kentucky "the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky." Under the law the suit seeks to recover three times the amounts lost by Kentuckians who gambled online.

"The Full Tilt Defendants have done, or have caused to be done, tortuous acts in the Commonwealth for which the Commonwealth has a substantial and compelling interest in exercising personal jurisdiction," the complaint continues.

This is the second suit filed by Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration against online gambling sites. The first involved Kentucky’s attempt to seize 141 international online gambling domains.  That case is still ongoing.
 

WebProNews spoke to the Poker Players Alliance about Kentucky’s latest move. "We are in the process of full review of this new action, however, at first blush we seriously questions its merits," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance.

"The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government’s scarce resources."

Specifically the lawsuit names as defendants the Ireland-based Pocket Kings LTD., which operates the popular Full Tilt Poker website, and unknown entities that operate a number of other online gambling sites.

The 14-page filing by the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown invokes state statute 454.210 and calls for Pocket Kings to refund Kentucky "the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky." Under the law the suit seeks to recover three times the amounts lost by Kentuckians who gambled online.

"The Full Tilt Defendants have done, or have caused to be done, tortuous acts in the Commonwealth for which the Commonwealth has a substantial and compelling interest in exercising personal jurisdiction," the complaint continues.

This is the second suit filed by Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration against online gambling sites. The first involved Kentucky’s attempt to seize 141 international online gambling domains.  That case is still ongoing.
 

The ruling by the Court is not final, but the decision is being viewed as a temporary setback by the affected parties.

Joe Brennan Jr.
IMEGA’s chairman

"In the written decision, the Court clearly indicates they agree with our arguments, and are inviting us to refile, so that the technicality of the standing issue can be resolved," said Joe Brennan, Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) chairman.

"It’s unfortunate, but I can’t imagine that Kentucky’s lawyers will celebrate a ruling that says ‘bring us an owner, so we can rule in your favor’".

iMEGA and the other affected parties, Interactive Gaming Concil and Sportsbook.com, have up to 20 days to file a motion for reconsideration. In the ruling, the Kentucky Supreme Court indicated that no additional briefs or oral arguments were necessary for them to consider the case, and that a petition could be made to the Appeals Court to move the case immediately back to the state Supreme Court.

"All along, it seemed the Court wanted to go our way, and this decision today indicates that is still the case," Brennan said.

"The Court is telling us that all that is necessary is for one domain owner to come forward, and we likely win."

Brennan indicated iMEGA would immediately work with other parties to resolve the Court’s issue, and would quickly file a motion to satisfy the Court.

"We obviously would have preferred a complete, clean victory today, but reading the decision, it seems this is a technicality that is only delaying the inevitable," Brennan sai
 

  "With so much media focus on the differences between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, this bipartisan initiative highlights the growing support on both ends of Capitol Hill for replacing the failed prohibition on Internet gambling with a system to regulate the industry, protect consumers and generate billions in new revenue," said Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. 

"We applaud Senators Wyden and Gregg for taking the initiative to address and drive this issue."

Provisions to regulate Internet gambling are similar to those included in the "Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act" introduced last year by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). Chairman Frank’s bill has the support of a group of 65 bipartisan co-sponsors.

 A Joint Committee on Taxation analysis found that regulating Internet gambling would generate nearly $42 billion over 10 years for the U.S. Treasury. The analysis is based on the provision of federal license for operators that would allow them to offer online gambling in the U.S., while still prohibiting sports betting.