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First online poker site for Californians - October 9, 2012
Sean Stavropoulos & Jonathan Aiwazian are testing Californian law with their new online poker site, with the recently launched online poker site Cafrino.com, however it is now the subject of the state Attorney General’s scrutiny, although it does not require players to bet money or pay a subscription fee.
Cafrino.com represents a novel test of California’s online gambling laws, & opinions are mixed on whether it will pass the legal test the company wants.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala Harris said the state statute pertaining to online poker generally says “playing for something of value is illegal.”
However, Aiwazian thinks the site is operating legally. “The reason we are legal is we are not a gambling site,” he said, adding that money generated from advertising revenue is what’s paid to players, who don’t have to make any payments.
And Cafrino.com’s New York-based lawyer, Adam Solomon, describes the site as “a lawfully structured sweepstakes.”
Cafrino has attracted around $300,000 in financing from Kayweb Angels LLC in New York & went live on September 10, operating & marketing from Southern California. Media company LiveRail is partnering with Cafrino.com to provide advertising.
“It’s done a lot better than we anticipated,” Aiwazian said. “We’re on pace to reach over a half-million hands dealt in the first month of operation.”
Online gambling legal expert Prof. I. Nelson Rose, says State law allows poker games to be played for money in limited circumstances at state-licensed card clubs, tribal casinos, charities & private homes. The California statute, however, is sloppily worded, he claims.
The wording led then Attorney General Bill Lockyer to issue a flawed opinion, in Rose’s view, that “gambling” includes instances when a person spends nothing to play poker for a prize.
Read entire article here.
Sean Stavropoulos & Jonathan Aiwazian are testing Californian law with their new online poker site, with the recently launched online poker site Cafrino.com, however it is now the subject of the state Attorney General’s scrutiny, although it does not require players to bet money or pay a subscription fee.
Cafrino.com represents a novel test of California’s online gambling laws, & opinions are mixed on whether it will pass the legal test the company wants.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala Harris said the state statute pertaining to online poker generally says “playing for something of value is illegal.”
However, Aiwazian thinks the site is operating legally. “The reason we are legal is we are not a gambling site,” he said, adding that money generated from advertising revenue is what’s paid to players, who don’t have to make any payments.
And Cafrino.com’s New York-based lawyer, Adam Solomon, describes the site as “a lawfully structured sweepstakes.”
Cafrino has attracted around $300,000 in financing from Kayweb Angels LLC in New York & went live on September 10, operating & marketing from Southern California. Media company LiveRail is partnering with Cafrino.com to provide advertising.
“It’s done a lot better than we anticipated,” Aiwazian said. “We’re on pace to reach over a half-million hands dealt in the first month of operation.”
Online gambling legal expert Prof. I. Nelson Rose, says State law allows poker games to be played for money in limited circumstances at state-licensed card clubs, tribal casinos, charities & private homes. The California statute, however, is sloppily worded, he claims.
The wording led then Attorney General Bill Lockyer to issue a flawed opinion, in Rose’s view, that “gambling” includes instances when a person spends nothing to play poker for a prize.
Read entire article here.