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The world's largest Internet poker company, PokerStars, is settling with the government to the tune of $731 million more than a year after a crackdown on online gambling. And, in possibly the best part of the deal, the company is also buying former competitor Full Tilt Poker and paying back its customers, who were left locked out of their accounts after the site's U.S. operations were shut down last April. In the agreement with the Manhattan branch of the Department of Justice, PokerStars will forfeit $547 million to the government over three years. The payment will settle civil charges that the company engaged in fraud to sidestep U.S. regulations on online gambling.

"Although social gaming juggernaut Zynga was reportedly 'leading the race' in a bidding war for online poker provider Ongame Network just a few months ago, Amaya Gaming Group has ended up winning it. The Montreal, Canada-headquartered gaming company this morning announced that it has acquired Ongame from Internet gambling powerhouse Bwin.party for 25 million euros (just south of $32.2 million)."

Strip casino giant MGM Resorts International isn't planning to open more multibillion-dollar integrated casino-resort complexes anytime soon. Instead, MGM Resorts will in June launch myVegas, a free-to-play social gaming casino where only virtual money is bet to win only virtual prizes. Think of Farmville meets Bellagio.

Las Vegas casinos are building Facebook gambling games to attract new customers, taking advantage of online gaming's popularity to turn a potentially huge profit. Nevada's big-name casinos are partnering with online gaming companies to increase Strip tourism by hooking young players with virtual versions of blackjack and bingo.

CLUBS should be the sole operator of online casino games if they are legalised, with the community-benefit model of pokies revenue flowing to local clubs to be applied, the pokies lobby says. Online casino games, including poker, are at present illegal, but a recent interim review of interactive gambling laws recommends a liberalisation of online gambling, with online poker hosted by Australian companies to be trialled over five years. Other casino-style games would remain banned. Conservative estimates show at least 130,000 are playing online poker on overseas websites despite the current law.

PARLIAMENT yesterday unanimously voted through a controversial bill regulating gaming, which includes a ban on online casinos and exchange betting. Betting exchange is where players bet among themselves with the mediation of a company, which receives a commission from the transactions. The provision had been removed in committee but was resubmitted and pushed through by a respectable margin

Ralph Topping, chief executive of William Hill Plc., used his personal blog to call for online social gaming to be regulated. Topping said the London-based firm has adopted a "watching brief" stance when it comes to social gaming. "Social gaming is no longer the next big thing for gambling, it is already a very big thing," Topping wrote. "Over one billion dollars has already been spent by 'traditional' gambling companies alone in mergers and acquisitions and hundred of millions of dollars in revenue is already being generated."

Related Articles Will Facebook and Zynga Embarrass Analysts? New Stock Coverage: Facebook Makes Enemies, Fair Weather Acquaintances, and Best Friends Forever Amarin Corporation and Ericsson Among Most Active Stocks in Pre-Market Today on the Nasdaq More by Inspin.com Winning More NFL Bets in 2012 Delaware Moving Closer to Legalized Online Gambling? 9 Basketball Betting Tips That Can Increase Your Winning Percentage 2-3% What's the Buzz? 30 top traders on these stocks and more      ZNGA   5.02  (+1.41%)       WYNN   96.75  (-3.87%)  With the legalization of online gambling activities quickly sweeping through the nation, some of the top sportsbooks and the leading play-for-free poker companies could be in positions to make a move into the real money sweepstakes. Zynga (ZNGA), which runs a very popular brand of free poker over social networks, has seen its poker brand grow by leaps and bounds over the last year. It's no coincidence that over that same time, various scandals surrounding UltimateBet and Full Tilt Poker have reduced the number of options for players to play paid poker. Many of those people have turned to Zynga to get their fix. Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/sports-business/articles/ZNGA-zynga-onling-gambling-social-media/7/12/2012/id/42334#ixzz20SepThWh

"Big Fish Games Inc. is introducing a version of its gambling application Big Fish Casino with real-money betting in the U.K., where it is legal, the Seattle-based company said. It will arrive in Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s App Store in the coming weeks, and Betable Ltd., a London-based partner of Big Fish, will process bets in the program."

"The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Zynga is working hard to try and push online gambling in the United States. The company has spent as much as $75,000 to lobbying policy which would make online gambling legal in the US."

"Even as Apple's storefront plays host to an increasing number of casino apps, the company isn't taking a cut of sales from gambling in its apps, Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple, said. Games are permitted in the App Store as long as they comply with local laws, said Neumayr, who declined to comment specifically on Big Fish. "Apple wants to keep arms' length from this," said Paul Thelen, CEO of Big Fish. "They don't want to be the middleman in a gambling operation.""

Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, said in a conference call with analysts today that the company will launch its first real-money online gambling poker game in the first half of 2013. The game will likely be launched outside the U.S., since real-money online gambling is still illegal in the vast majority of states. There are regulatory roadblocks in many countries, but Europe is pretty open. Pincus said the launch will be subject to online gambling regulatory reviews. Zynga's non-real-money poker game, Zynga Poker, accounted for 18 percent of revenue. In that game, users purchase poker chips with real money, but they cannot cash out any winnings

While I do not necessarily expect official word from the company on its real-money online gambling plans on Wednesday's call - all CEO Mark Pincus has said is he was exploring it - a story hit a gambling industry magazine earlier this week (via the Gambling911 website) that flew under the radar.

"Boom… Prior to 2006, Internet-based gambling was effectively legal in the United States. Although the Federal Wire Act from 1961 prohibited transmission of sports betting information using telecommunications services, in 2002 a U.S. appeals court ruled that the sports-related provisions in the Wire Act did not preclude Internet gambling. Although some states and jurisdictions did have laws on the books specifically prohibiting online gambling, many did not - and so started a bit of an online gold rush as online gambling companies tried to capture chunks of the lucrative U.S. market."

Let's start with the obvious: When it comes to the green stuff, no game company is, well, playing games. But Zynga is about to enter a whole new playing field. CEO and co-founder Mark Pincus recently announced that his social gaming giant will enter the real-money gaming (or online gambling) business outside the U.S. in 2013. In fact, Zynga already has products in the pipeline. "What we've said, and what we have to announce today, is that we have our first products in development and that we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing," Pincus said during an unfortunate analyst conference call, TechCrunch reports.

More than 30 companies have now submitted applications to operate an online poker site in Nevada, with Wynn Resorts being the latest to join the growing list.

The answer to the question posed in the title of today's hearing - "Is There a Safe Bet?"- is a clear yes. That safe bet can be found in the licensing and regulation of online poker. The risky bet would be to leave unchanged current law that leaves consumers, minors and those with gambling problems vulnerable to unregulated offshore companies.