Home / Poker News March 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – LGA vs Everleaf: Irregularities and Sanctions
The Poker Grapevine – LGA vs Everleaf: Irregularities and Sanctions
Posted by: Jo Martin - Sat, 2012-03-10 09:48
About a month ago, the Everleaf network was one of the last online poker operators to keep accepting US players and things were looking up for the company. It then all went haywire, beginning with a threat they received from the US authorities, which resulted in the withdrawal of the company from the US market. As if things weren’t bad enough for the site, the Maltese Lotteries and Gaming Authority – the entity which has issued the site’s operating license – has leveraged sanctions on the Everleaf Network citing certain operational irregularities. News of the deed surfaced in the wake of a brief announcement on the LGA’s website, which didn’t really specify exactly what irregularities had been at the root of the sanctions.
The Everleaf network’s exit from the US market wasn’t exactly a dignified one either: according to an Everleaf statement, US authorities had seized all their US player funds. The site said though that all their US players would be reimbursed in full.
In other news: Spanish online gaming authorities have reviewed the applications submitted by operators interested in offering real money online poker in Spain and they have announced that over 80% of the companies that had had such applications submitted should expect to receive a license within the next few weeks.
All the major online poker operations like bwin.party, PokerStars,
Ladbrokes and
888 have apparently submitted Spanish license applications, together with would-be operators like GBT of France.
The first Spanish licenses will be awarded in June and licensed online poker operators will be able to offer real money poker to players in the country right away. The tax rate is 25% on the net revenue. The Spanish online poker market will be isolated in the beginning, but plans have been drawn up to let Spanish players battle it out against other EU-based opponents at the green felt, beginning with 2013.
