Dreams that the United Kingdom would become the standard bearer for the online-gambling industry were dashed yesterday when UK Finance Minister (James) Gordon Brown announced a new 'Remote Gaming Duty' (tax) of 15%, a move ensuring that online firms will not move from friendlier tax havens to the UK in the near future. In addition, Brown's new budget increases the levies assessed on land-based casino operations, throwing a major wrench into the Vegas-style casino expansion popping up across that nation. The 15% remote duty called for by the new budget is miles apart from the 2-3% range online companies cited as being low enough to make relocating to the UK worth the bother; virtually no online

casino could give up an extra 12% of taxable revenues and remain competitive against firms not subject to similar fees. The announced budget leaves in serious doubt the accords championed by UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who led the push to legalize and regulate online gaming and chaired last October's Ascot racetrack summit conference of nearly three dozen interested nations. While the 15% tax is, on its face, a fee equal to the domestic levy charged to bookmakers and bingo halls, it may be part of a larger strike against gambling in general by Brown's Labor Party faction. Brown also stripped away the bottom tier of tax levels for the smallest land-cased casino operations, and replaced it with a new 50% rate — far over the previous top tier, which was 40%. The jump, affecting casinos such as the new Manchester casino (which are expected to post annual gross house wins of over £10 million), could impact these casinos' ability to become first-class tourist destinations. Efforts to explain Brown's surprise tax hit have moved in several directions. Some reports have focused on Brown's strict Presbyterian upbringing, said to be staunchly anti-gambling at its core, while others see this as a planned boost to Labor Party efforts to force the scrapping of government plans to allow the building of 17 new "supercasinos," the first license of which was awarded to the Manchester facility. An all-or-nothing vote on that topic is scheduled for the UK's Parliament in the very near future. As with all perceived 'sin' topics, gambling remains a hot-button concern. No country offers uniformity or agreement on gambling's regulation and governing. Even as the European Union has moved forward on the topic of gambling as a whole, the UK has stepped back from its chance to assume a leadership role.

Any viewer of Sky TV will already know that there is no barrier to what can be achieved in screen graphics in this day of digital and high definition technology. No wonder then that the brand new online Sky Poker TV/internet interface is such a hit. Sky Poker is available on TV on channel 846 through the usual satellite/cable services available from Sky. Every evening, there is an incredible 3D graphical representation of live online poker being played on Sky Poker. This has somehow been transfigured from the flat computer screen into an outrageous three dimensional display apparently hovering in mid-air in front of the two live presenters who discuss the play as it unfolds. The picture on this

page does not do it justice as it is a still image but it gives you an idea nonetheless. To add more human interaction, there are guest players playing online in the studio who discuss their own plays during the tournaments. It is a clever concept. Sky Poker is available as a web-based internet poker room so no downloading of a program is necessary. Simply click Sky Poker for this new internet experience. Sky Poker TV is primarily an educational poker forum laced with entertainment, or is it entertainment laced with poker education? It's a question of interpretation and preference. Several media-hungry poker and sporting faces are involved in the presentations such as Carlo Citrone, Tony Kendall, Helen Chamberlain and Ed Giddens. Unsurprisingly, regular sporting stars also well-known for their poker prowess make regular appearances as players. The online poker room at Sky Poker is building up fast so anyone looking for new challenges in online poker can be assured of plenty of UK players and some from further afield, many of whom are likely to be novices lulled in by the glitzy TV production. The chance to have your play discussed as it happens is attractive. It has been done before of course but not like this! Sky Poker offers The Open at 9pm every night in the form of a multi-table tournament with a featured TV table discussed live by the presenters for the evening. Around 500 players are entering these tournaments and you can enter them for cash or Sky Poker Player Points. 500 Player Points will immediately be yours as soon as you open an account at Sky Poker through UK Poker News. Apart from TV poker, Sky Poker's new online interface offers plenty of cash and tournament tables for you to improve your Hold'em play. Video and other tutorials are also available online as well as the educational advice on the TV.

Pre-registration began on February 26th for the 38th World Series of Poker®, to be held at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino® in Las Vegas. The 2007 WSOP begins on June 1st and runs through July 17, with rules and registration information now available at the worldseriesofpoker.com site. One notable change for this year's WSOP is the introduction of a newly-created $10,000 'WSOP' casino chip, which will be accepted for registration and will likely see common use as the payout 'lammer' for satellite-qualifier winners. The new chip joins smaller Rio chip denominations, wire transfers, cashier's checks, credit-card cash advances and cash itself as acceptable payment methods for event

registration, accompanying payment forms that can now be found at the World Series of Poker online site. Pre-registration remains open until two weeks prior to the start of any given event. The updated rules also clarify third-party registrations as well, reading as follows: "Third-party registrations for players are not permitted unless submitted by Official WSOP Sponsors; Official WSOP promotions or product licensee, or civic, charitable, business, casino and other land-based entities officially licensed to conduct satellite tournaments for the 2007 WSOP. No third-party registrations will be accepted from online gaming sites conducting business with U.S. residents." Harrah's has also extensively revamped its apparel policy, complete with an explanation of exactly what types of '.com' advertising will remain off-limits. The comprehensive rules changes clearly represent a sweeping move to bring players' appearances more in line with corporate expectations. The start of the relevant section, Rule #34, offers this: "Tournament participants may wear apparel with multiple logos, patches or promotional language. However, no individual logo, patch or block of promotional language is to be larger than 12 square inches." The rule then provides a lengthy list of prohibited forms of logos, advertising, and general apparel. The two key prohibitions relating to online gambling sites are these: "(i) Advertise a dot.com gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents." [such advertising is prohibited] "(k) In addition, all logos, patches, and promotional language for any dot.net website must contain a clear and visible 'dot.net' suffix at least the same size as the site name." Additional clauses place a ban on any beer or liquor advertising excepting title sponsor Milwaukee's Best Light or other Miller Brewing products; place a general ban on apparel referencing drugs, tobacco, firearms, pornography, other forms of gambling; ban certain types of 'commentary' clothing that could be considered injurious to other parties, and, of course, give the final say-so to Harrah's in any matter of dispute. The "twelve square inches" rule, allowing for such things as a 3" x 4" rectangular patch bearing a logo, effectively eliminates the jersey-style advertising so prevalent on the floor of the Amazon Room last year. However, the new clarifications pave the way for poker apparel to enter the modern world of corporate and business endorsements. The World Series of Poker's commissioner, Jeffery Pollack, served up this comment on the topic: "In recognition of the endorsement agreements that provide income to many poker players, we've liberalized our policy to allow tournament entrants to wear apparel with multiple logos and patches. There are some reasonable restrictions on what is permissible, but this is definitely a far more liberal, accommodating and player-friendly policy."