Author Jennifer Newell's poker week in review for June 10-16.

Our consolidation of the week's news is quick and to the point — seven stories, to be exact — for the week ending June 16. Let's go.

No. 1 — PokerStars CEO Resolves U.S. DOJ Case

The biggest news of the week stemmed from Black Friday, as PokerStars was involved in yet another deal with the United States Department of Justice. Company Chairman Mark Scheinberg settled his case, which was part of the April 15, 2011 claim against PokerStars. The settlement included a forfeiture of $50 million to be paid to the U.S. government, and upon its remittance, his case will be completely over, with no option for the DOJ to revisit any of the claims pertaining to property derived from PokerStars.

The settlement included an important notation that Scheinberg admitted to no wrongdoing or guilt and that he, in fact, contested the need for forfeiture. In a statement to Pokerfuse, Rational Group's Head of Corporate Communications noted, "The agreement is not in response to any action that had been brought against Mark and contains no admission of wrongdoing, culpability or guilt on his behalf."

No. 2 — PokerStars Investigates Forced Disconnections

In more PokerStars news, the company has been dealing with a number of forced disconnection issues that are also known as denial of service (DoS) attacks, specifically affecting players in heads-up sit-and-gos. Pokerfuse revealed that PokerStars has pinpointed an account that may be involved in the case and has launched an investigation. The actions have been taking place in the high-stakes games on PokerStars and occur at a point in the hand in which the players lose connection and, consequently, are forced into folding the hand.

Pokerfuse asserts that the player being investigated recently had a winning streak that seemed to coincide with the forced disconnections in $100 and $200 or higher buy-in games. This account and those of the victims have been suspended during the investigation.

No. 3 — Juicy Stakes Receives Lowest Processing Grade Possible

There have been a number of online poker sites that have been called out in recent months for their nonpayment of customers, both in the U.S. and internationally. Revolution Gaming Network has received the most attention for its months-long remittance process. This week, Juicy Stakes was the focus of the community, mostly for its F grade given by watchdog site Poker Affiliate Solutions. A consistent monitoring of all U.S.-facing online poker sites led to the ultimate conclusion that Juicy Stakes has gone far beyond anything acceptable in the industry with regard to paying customers.

The F grade was given for the month of June, lowered from its previous D- grade. Juicy Stakes, according to the report, is taking 7 or 8 months to pay U.S. players, with one player even noting that one of those checks bounced. Some players have declared complete nonpayment from 2012 cashouts.

No. 4 — PokerInVenice Owes Players Upwards of €740K

The PokerInVenice Network has also been the target of many unhappy players around the world for its lack of payments to players. Pokerfuse recently compiled the complaints of many players on a popular poker forum to deduce that there is at least €200K in outstanding funds that PIV has claimed it cannot pay. Previously, the network notified players that they had to transfer their balances to TempuraPoker, and they could play on that site to accumulate 75% of their balances in rake over five months in order to be paid back. However, this seems to be a problem, as well.

Later in the week, Pokerfuse revised its numbers to show that more than €740K is owed to players, who intend to form a group to approach PokerInVenice, as well as its regulator (Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority) in an attempt to apply pressure and retrieve their funds.

No. 5 — New Jersey Sets iGaming Deadline

While New Jersey lawmakers deal with a sports-betting case and debates over the potential revenue to be derived from online gaming, the state's Department of Gaming Enforcement has been moving forward with guidelines and licensing deadlines. The DGE set a June 29 deadline for any casino operators planning to secure a partnership with an online gambling provider or any other type of services. Since most casinos have little experience in launching an online gambling site, partners in the process are necessary.

Caesars has already joined with 888 Holdings in Nevada, so that deal may be easy to complete for New Jersey. Other casinos will be looking at companies that are not already taken, such as bwin.party with Borgata. In addition, the PokerStars appeal for the Atlantic Club purchase will need to be answered before this June 29 deadline in order to qualify for the next step of the New Jersey licensing process.

No. 6 — U.S. Online Gaming Bill Earns Criticism and Little Praise

When U.S. Congressional Representative Peter King introduced the latest online gambling regulation bill this month, it seemed to gain some initial momentum via the poker community, though some asserted that it was too similar to previously failed bills. The most vocal criticism of the new bill came from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who stated that he anticipated no progress on the King bill. According to the Las Vegas Sun, "I felt for several months now that I don't see any movement on this." He cited the bill's inclusion of more casino games than just poker in his analysis.

On the other hand, Representative Bobby Moak of Mississippi praised the introduction of the federal bill and noted that it would be a positive development for the industry. His own support and push for state-based online gambling legislation makes his opinion on the federal bill less surprising, though he did state that he feels federal legislation will make the entire process easier. He feels that states need "guidance and parameters," which is something the King bill would provide.

No. 7 — More PokerStars News

It was a big week for PokerStars, as its "Road to 100 Billion" promotion promised millions of dollars in milestone hands leading to its 100 billionth one. Big hands were dealt throughout the week, and Thursday brought the 100 billionth hand. The milestone hand was dealt on a $0.02-$0.05 six-handed no-limit hold’em cash game table, and the winner of the hand — Microulis69, from Greece — won $103,800 for being in the right place at the right time with J-5. All other players in the hand won more than $10K each.

Then, on Sunday, PokerStars broke its own world record. In December 2011, it hosted a tournament for the Guinness World Record Books, and the site then busted that number with a new one. The $1 buy-in tournament had a limit of 225,000 players and reached that goal, which set the new record. The prize pool had a $300K guarantee, and about 60,000 players cashed in the tournament, with the winner taking home $25K.