Author Jennifer Newell's poker week in review for June 17-23.

Our consolidation of the week's news is quick and to the point — seven stories, to be exact — for the week ending June 23. Let's go.

No. 1 — Kentucky Settles Online Gaming Case, But Not Really

For many years, the state of Kentucky has pursued online gambling domains through legal action against companies like PokerStars and Full Tilt. While the court has continually ruled that the governor cannot seize the domains, Kentucky went in a different direction. A previously-filed lawsuit filed by the Commonwealth involved cooperation with the U.S. government against online gambling companies in New York and Maryland, and the effort was successful in financial terms. When the government seized Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, they also took the domain names and paid Kentucky $6 million to release its claim against those sites.

However, the state of Kentucky is not satisfied with a settlement in that case alone. Justice Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown told a Kentucky publication that the state will continue to pursue the online gambling sites that "run roughshod over regulations designed to protect our customers." He added, "We will not rest until all these unauthorized companies are held accountable for their actions."

No. 2 — Las Vegas Sands CEO Hates Online Gambling

Sheldon Adelson is no friend to online poker. In fact, the head of Las Vegas Sands and owner of the Venetian in Las Vegas has been a longtime and outspoken opponent of online gambling in general. Last week, he penned an editorial for Forbes in which he reiterated his feelings for the game and enraged many in the online gaming community.

Adelson started by saying that online gambling advocates' slogan should be, "Click your mouse and lose your house." He goes on to say that the industry will signal the demise of the land-based gaming world, as about 400,000 jobs will be lost in America, and the "plague" will prompt people to wager in every bedroom, dorm room, and office space. He ends the piece by saying that online gambling is not a threat to his company but a "threat to our society - a toxin which all good people ought to resist."

No. 3 — DiCristina Appeals Case Could Have Positive Outcome

The United States Courts of Appeals heard arguments last week in the case of U.S. vs. DiCristina, one that stems from a lower court ruling in which Judge Jack Weinstein said that a man (Lawrence DiCristina) who hosted a poker game in Brooklyn could not be prosecuted under the Illegal Gambling Businesses Act (IGBA). The law criminalizes games of chance, and the judge found that poker was clearly a game of skill and not applicable in the charges.

Arguments in the appeal went well, according to many who were in the courtroom. Predictions abound that the ruling will be upheld and poker will remain categorized as a skill game with this case as precedent. While this may not have much effect on any current legislation on the state or federal level, a positive ruling from the court would reinforce the common sentiment in the poker community and allow this case to be used going forward.

No. 4 — Players Pursue Revolution and Everleaf

Pokerfuse PRO revealed the story of online poker player Valdis Tronenkovs, who has begun a campaign to retrieve approximately $30,000 of funds owed to him by Everleaf Gaming. He claims that the lack of answers and responses thus far pertaining to his outstanding funds prompted him to launch his own efforts to bring the situation to light. He is not only attacking Everleaf but regulator Malta Lotteries & Gaming Authority, as well, due to its failure to defend players.

The website 4Flush issued a warning about the Revolution Gaming Network this week, in light of last week's closing of ZetPoker due to lack of payments from the network and the ever-decreasing reliability of payments from sites like Cake Poker and Juicy Stakes. Their recent "F" grades for non-payment or unduly lengthy payout times prompts concerns, and the March closer of AdamEvePoker furthers the negativity. The article does cite Intertops, Poker World, and Red Star Poker as thus-far reliable sites on the network, however.

No. 5 — Swedish Operator Reimburses Bot-Ring Victims

Swedish online gaming operator Svenska Spel announced last week that its investigation into a suspected bot ring revealed that numerous players had been victimized. The thorough research into the situation discovered all of the accounts and analyzed millions of hands, according to Pokerfuse, all stemming from suspicious activity in no-limit hold'em games on the Internet site.

In the end, the site reimbursed players to the tune of SEK $3.8 million, which equals approximately $586K, a total that was more than double what was anticipated because an additional bot account was discovered in the midst of the investigation. There is no word on the prosecution of the bot-ring suspects, but the victimized players have received all monies stolen from them in the illegal activity.

No. 6 — Genting Honors Bonus After Initial Decision Angered Players

Players were rather unhappy with Genting Poker last week when a promotion seemed to go wrong. The deal with The Hendon Mob ended, and players who won tournament dollars in the joint promotion were told that they would not be able to redeem them for live or online poker tournaments as promised. After numerous complaints, the poker room manager at Genting announced that the initial decision was a "genuine error" and players would be able to use their tournament dollars from the promotion. An apology came with the revised decision.

Further, according to Pokerfuse, Genting later announced that it would award players 100% of their winnings from the tournaments they play with the promotional points instead of only 50%, and new events were created with lower buy-ins so that more players could redeem their points.

No. 7 — Full Tilt Poker Donks Excluded From DOJ Repayments

Bonus Code Poker revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice will repay customers who were victims of Full Tilt Poker, with the sole exception of "total donks," as well as "muppets, lagtards, fish, uber-nits, button open-limpers, calling stations and river rats. However, players who feel that they have been wrongly labeled can appeal their cases by passing a "donk detector" test.

The humor provided in this article (http://bonuscodepoker.com/total-donks-possibly-excluded-from-full-tilt-remission) is a much-needed reprieve from the more serious news of the week.