Poker ‘World Series’ Will Air in July as Planned After Sponsors Indicted

The “World Series of Poker” on ESPN and “World Poker Tour” on Fox Sports
Net will air as scheduled following the indictments of Cheap Rosetta Stone
gambling websites that
spent almost $27 million on TV ads last year.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ESPN will carry the “World Series of Poker” in
July, Chris LaPlaca, a spokesman, said today in an e- mail. The network pre-
empted last night’s “North American Poker Tour Presented by PokerStars.net.
” News Corp.’s Fox Sports Net has pulled PokerStars.net ads from “World
Poker Tour,” said Lou D’Ermilio, a New York-based spokesman.

“There is no direct sponsorship connection between the indicted websites and
‘World Poker Tour,’” D'Ermilio said in an e-mail. “But PokerStars had
purchased advertising time, which has been pulled as a result of the
indictments. At present we have no plans to change policy as it relates to
promotional clothing players choose to wear.”
ESPN, based in Bristol, Connecticut, won’t air the Cheap Rosetta Stone Portuguese
10 hours of “PokerStars,
” the network said. FullTiltPoker.net and PokerStars.net, two sites charged
with fraud and money- laundering by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, spent
$26.8 million in 2010 on TV advertising, researcher Kantar Media said.
PokerStars spent another $8.3 million on Web and magazine ads.

Many of poker’s best-known players have endorsement agreements with the
indicted companies. They don hats and shirts displaying the logos on the
programs to promote the websites.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBC airs the “National Heads Up Championship” and
“Poker After Dark,” while the Game Show Network, owned by DirecTV (DTV) and
Sony Corp. (6758), broadcasts “High Stakes Poker.”
‘High Stakes Poker’

Chris McCloskey, a spokesman for NBC Sports in New York, didn’t respond to
requests for comment. Sean Jennings, a spokesman for Santa Monica, California
-based Game Show Network, couldn’t comment. The seventh season of “High
Stakes Poker,” hosted by comedian Norm MacDonald, started Feb. 26, the
channel said on its website.

Disney, based in Burbank, California, gained 15 cents to $41.35 at 4:15 p.m.
in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have climbed 10
percent this year. News Corp. (NWSA), located in New York, fell 11 cents to
$16.88 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and the Class A stock has increased 16
percent this year.

Caesars Entertainment Corp., the closely held casino company, owns the World
Series of Poker.

The U.S. froze bank accounts in 14 countries and seized websites, sidelining
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker -- major sponsors of televised tournaments.
ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports and the Game Show Network have made poker a TV staple,
with 47 programs, including reruns, scheduled this week, Cardplayer.com said.

U.S. Indictments

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced on April 15 a revised
indictment against the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute
Poker. PokerStars, based on the Isle of Man, Ireland’s Full Tilt Poker and
Absolute Poker of Costa Rica are the leading online poker sites doing business
with U.S. customers, according to prosecutors. Five sites displayed notices
yesterday that the FBI had seized the domain names.

The indictment names two principals from each company and others who allegedly
worked with them to illegally process payments. Five domains were seized,
according to Carly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan.
They are: Pokerstars.com, Fulltiltpoker.com, Absolutepoker.com,
Ultimatebet.com and UB.com.

About 76 bank accounts have been frozen, preventing players from accessing
balances held by the online betting companies, said Kelly Langmesser, an FBI
spokeswoman in New York.
Out in the Cold

T.C. Sun, 27, who works for Princess Cruises in Valencia, California, was
among the players who couldn’t get his money from PokerStars.net last
weekend.

“When I first heard about black Friday, I wasn’t too worried about it, and
then on Saturday night I tried to withdraw my funds,” Sun said in an
interview. “It let me process the withdrawal. Right now it shows I have zero
money in my account, but I’m checking my bank account daily to see if it
comes through. As of last night, no it has not.”

Players who use the sites can’t be prosecuted under federal law and U.S.
states that have laws against making bets rarely use them against “mere
customers,” said I. Nelson Rose, an Encino, California-based consultant to
governments and industry on gambling laws.

“I’d say there’s probably a better chance that Cheap Rosetta Stone Spanish
they’ll win the World
Series of Poker than that they will be arrested,” Rose, who doesn’t work for
any of the companies named in the indictment, said today in a phone interview.

The case is U.S. v. Scheinberg, 10-cr00336, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of New York (Manhattan).