Yahoo! Offers Real-Money Online Poker in Europe

Internet giant Yahoo! is offering online poker games for money to European customers. Yahoo! is in partnership with Gibraltar firm St. Miniver, Ltd., offering a branded user interface (or "skin," in online poker jargon) on the International Poker Network, owned by Swedish firm Boss Media AB. Customers can access Yahoo! poker through the firms yahoo.co.uk portal.

This is a huge change in the weather for online poker. Yahoo! is a titan among online brands. I imagine it is only a matter of time before other major Internet brands follow suit. The Gaming Intelligence Group, a firm that offers news and analysis of the online gambling industry, hints that eBay, Google, and Microsoft are likely prospects. (Historically, eBay is anti-gambling as well as anti-sex. The online payment service PayPal had been the main line of funding for Internet poker sites before it was acquired by eBay, but after the acquisition eBay swiftly pulled the plug.)

The news of Yahoo!'s entry into the online poker business broke concurrently with the news that Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass) had introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation & Enforcement Act 2007, legislation that would repeal last year's Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and provide for the regulation and taxation of online gambling in the USA. The UIGEA had a drastic impact on US players ability to play online poker, with most sites, including giant Party Poker, withdrawing from the US market.

(via Robopoker)