NEWS

Yahoo! has strongly denied it has plans to launch a real money poker room, as reported last week by eGaming Review. Representatives for Yahoo! UK said it had not started development of a real money poker site and had no plans to launch anything of that nature during 2005.

Industry sources had informed eGaming Review Yahoo! had been in discussions with at software firms over sub licensing poker software.

And eGaming Review as informed the firm had opted to develop the software in-house, which was backed up by a well-placed source close to Yahoo! UK.

But Yahoo! denied any formal talks had taken place, and said it was also not looking to develop any software in-house.

It did confirm it had held informal talks with poker software firms, but said there was “no special significance” to those talks.

And the firm insisted that for now it has no plans to launch any poker product beyond its current play-for-fun offering.

Play-for-fun poker sits within Yahoo!’s casual games channel and not in its skill gaming section as Yahoo! regards it as a game of chance.

It is possible this position could change if the UK Gambling Bill succeeds in becoming law in the UK before May.

If the Bill becomes law, it will allow UK-based online casino and poker operators to be licensed in the UK for the first time.