Poker News Bytes, September 3, 2008
EU to Resume Talks with US over Internet Gambling Ban
According to published reports, the European Union plans to resume trade talks with the U.S. Trade Representative's office over the US Department of Justice's pursuit of online-gambling firms and officials, the UIGEA and other matters. The talks had been spurred by repeated complaints from the Euro-based Remote Gambling Association, which represents several prominent European internet gambling concerns, including PartyGaming. The talks were originally scheduled several weeks ago but were scrapped at the last moment by US request, without explanation. The EU, according to the reports, plans to continue pursuing the matter and will forward it for World Trade Organization examination should adequate US participation and explanation not be forthcoming.
November Nine's Phillips Retains Winston for Coaching Services
2008 World Series of Poker Main Event finalist Dennis Phillips has announced that he has reached an agreement with Roy "The Oracle" Winston and Joe McGowan for poker coaching leading up to the final table in November. Phillips will bring a narrow lead to the final table, and hopes to turn that into a payday in excess of $9 million. Winston created his Oracle Poker Consulting expressly to offer coaching services to Main Event finalists, and Phillips, the senior member of the November Nine, is the first to publicly announce his retaining of poker-coaching services. Phillips, who took a break from his job at St. Louis' Broadway Truck Center to play in the WSOP, won a $200 satellite to earn his way to Las Vegas this past summer.
UAW Demands Foxwoods Negotiate with Dealer Union
The United Auto Workers union, recently elected and certified to represent table-games dealers at Connecticut's Foxwoods Casinos, have planned a "solidarity statement" including the signatures of more than 1,500 dealers urging the casino to negotiate with union representatives. The signature drive is another effort to force the Mashantucket Pequot-owned Foxwoods to begin labor negotiations with its dealers, including poker, which the tribe refuses to do. The matter continues on a collision course to a federal legal showdown over tribal sovereignty issues.
Lehigh Poker Robber Hogan Released from Prison
Greg Hogan, Jr., the Lehigh University class president who attempted to rob a Pennsylvania bank in 2005, because of spiraling debts he blamed on an online-poker addiction, has been released from prison after 22 months. Hogan's odd and abortive attempt at bank robbery came after he believed himself unable to turn to his family for support, including his high-profile minister father, Rev. Gregory Hogan, Sr., who then transformed his son's plight into a minor cause celebre, testifying on the evils of online gambling before Congress's Financial Services Committee as it considered legislation to regulate the industry. The terms of the junior Hogan's probation will not allow him to enter a casino or make a bet until 2016.
