Testing the Californian Poker Laws

Two Californian entrepreneurs' Sean Stavropoulos and Jonathon Aiwazian are pushing the limits of the Californian online poker laws. The Attorney General is watching closely and taking interest in the pairs recent venture Cafrino.com. Although the site does not accept real money from players and there are absolutely no subscriptions fees. It gets interesting as although the players do not deposit, what they are playing for is in effect real money, as the cash on the tables is the money generated from companies advertising on the site. Cafrino.coms' lawyers state that what they have created is a totally legal form of structured sweepstakes. However the general attorney sees it differently stating that playing for anything of any value is not legal. Cafrino went into partnership with Kayweb Angels in New York who, as their advertising partner forked out $300,000 in promotional funds. Since its' launch last month the site has attracted many players and is on course for its' 500,000th hand to be played very soon. An online gambling expert, Prof Nelson has stated that Cafrino are doing nothing wrong and that the attorney general is way off the mark, saying that if anyone can enter a game for free then it's not gambling. No doubts that this arguement will continue for some time and it will be interesting to see whether Calfrino can pave the way for similar online poker ventures.