PokerStars rolled out their version of lottery sit and go’s which they called “spin and go”. PartyPoker has recently upped the ante and now will offer casual cash games up to $10/$20 NL.

Worldwide online poker traffic posted a 2% increase this week over last week, as the busier late summer and fall season starts to kick off.

Overall traffic showed a gain of 2% this week, thanks to a 3% increase in PokerStars’ traffic. Advancers led decliners by 6-4, showing that the increase was broad based as well.

PokerStars broke out a new promotion called the Summer Daily Challenge. Full Tilt has implemented Rush Poker week. Swiss officials expressed an interest in moving toward regulated online poker.

The worldwide online poker market saw a 2% increase in overall traffic this week. Perhaps we are starting to come back from the mid summer doldrums.

Amaya concludes acquisition of the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt. With the transition of company ownership in place, Amaya can now look to see if they can obtain a license in the US.

New Jersey is now looking at granting a license to the new ownership, to finally allow PokerStars to come to America officially. Full Tilt is also looking to expand and they have just applied for a license to operate on the Italian market.

Amaya Gaming bought the company that owns both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. One of the offshoots of the deal is the potential for the world’s largest poker site to expand into casino and sports betting.

Canadian online gaming company Amaya Gaming has just agreed to pay the massive sum of $4.9 billion to purchase Rational Group, the Isle of Man company that owns Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker.

Online poker traffic dropped a further 3% this week, adding to the 2% that was lost last week, as PokerStars gave up further ground to resettle back in to their levels before there recent big promotion.