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Members of the Czech Association of Poker Clubs are pushing the Finance Ministry to recognize the game as an official sport, and have enlisted legal representatives from Ernst & Young to aid in their campaign.

As a result of these discussions, ministry officials say they are preparing to introduce a new “lottery act” that will streamline national regulations for gambling, which is currently prohibited outside of casinos. At present, it is unknown whether poker game restrictions will be altered as part of the new legislation, which officials expect to release for government approval late this year.

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Online poker is a pastime rapidly gaining ground among Italian gamblers, it seems from a survey conducted recently by the Consumers Defense and Orientation Association (ADOC) and reported this week by the Agipronews agency. The survey found that Italians punters annually spend an average of Euros 600 each on Internet gambling, making a total yearly spend of Euros 350 million.

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ANCHORAGE — A ballot measure that would create a Gaming Commission was lagging Tuesday.

With 70 percent of the vote counted, the initiative was losing with more than 62 percent of voters rejecting it.

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Gamblers can start betting on poker games today at the new Banker’s Casino card room in downtown Salinas. But the privilege may not last long.

After months of negotiations between the business owners and city officials, Salinas Police Chief Dan Ortega signed off Wednesday on an interim card room permit that allows Banker’s Casino on Monterey Street to open for business for about 60 days.

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But there’s also the political agenda of the organizers, the Poker Players Alliance. Several politicians were on hand, including U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado.

The alliance is working to legalize online poker. As part of those efforts, the group wants to repeal legislation Congress passed in 2006 that prohibits U.S. banks and credit-card companies from processing transactions for gambling websites.

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As the Republican Convention looms in the near future, the Republican Platform Committee has been busy trying to hammer out the details for the 2008 campaign platform.

Initially it looked like the party may have decided to drop their opposition to online gambling from the official line, but CQ Politics reported on Tuesday, the language has once again been added.

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They say Hollywood stars are dominating the show here. Ben Affleck certainly is.

Last night (or rather, early this morning), Affleck won a charity poker tournament sponsored by the poker industry’s lobbying group and made good on a promise he made before coming here.

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One of those interesting online gambler political initiatives took place over the last few days when the Poker Players Alliance suggested to US fans that the Republican Party Platform Committee might be a good place to make their views known (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa report). The Platform Committee is responsible for presenting the party’s platform or manifesto, and runs a website where suggestions and comments on what should or should not be on the platform can be posted.

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Putting his own G-rated spin on a classic George Carlin riff, longtime Las Vegas sports gambler Kelso Sturgeon likes to say he makes sure to avoid the polls each Election Day.

Instead, he goes to a local casino to play video poker.

That way, Sturgeon figures, at least his activity on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November stands a chance of generating some kind of a positive outcome.

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Republican Platform Committee stripped a prohibition of Internet gambling from its draft platform, as part of an effort to appeal to the broadest possible constituency.

The passage had been a part of the last two platforms, and was opposed by virtual poker players. Contentious provisions could still be added by amendment to the platform.

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