News: PokerStars to launch casino games

In today's Daily Rewind we look forward to casino games at PokerStars and check out more ice bucket challenges.

Casino stars

According to Amaya's CEO, David Baazov, poker players are interested in sports betting and casino games.

During a recent conference call, the new head of PokerStars explained that both verticals could soon be integrated into the poker platform.

Aside from improving PokerStars' liquidity, Baazov believes sports betting and casino facilities are gaming options that players will appreciate.

Citing a drop in traffic during the World Cup (but a rise in action during halftime breaks) as justification, Baazov stated that sports betting is a target for at least one of Amaya's poker sites in 2015.

The other interesting announcement was that casino games will be added to PokerStars' Spanish and Italian platforms in the coming months.

Moreover, these casino provisions could be rolled out across more PokerStars' sites in 2015.

Ice ice baby

It started with Phil Hellmuth and now the ice bucket challenge has spread through the poker community like wildfire.

In the last 24 hours a slew of players and industry members have joined the action in an effort to raise money for sufferers of ALS or, as it's more commonly known, Lou Gehrig's disease.

We can't embed every video in the Daily Rewind as there's just too many popping up, but if you want to see Antonio Esfandiari get dumped on then click here.

Additionally, for watery acts of benevolence from Dan Bilzerian, Lynn Gilmartin and WPT President Adam Pliska, check out the videos below.

EPT Barcelona breaks records

This season's EPT Barcelona may only be a few days old, but the festival has already broken two records.

First to take the tour to new heights was the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event.

The event got the centenary fiesta off to a flying start when a record-breaking 2,560 players joined the action.

With a buzz created and literally thousands of players hungry for action, the EPT's €50,000 Super High Roller also set a new record.

Having grown in popularity over the years, the high stakes MTT welcomed 56 entrants (plus 16 re-entries) on Monday to create an overall field of 72 players.

Leading the 49 players who made it through to Day 2 was Ryan Fee whose 919,000 chip stack was enough to put him ahead of Sam Trickett (725,000) and Ole Schemion (665,000).

Question of the Day

"Are casino and sports betting provisions something you want to see on PokerStars?"

High Stakes Corner

'Educa-p0ker' enjoyed a rare stint at the top of the high stakes chart on Monday after raking in $162,530. After grinding through 1,163 hands the online pro managed to finish comfortably ahead of Sebastian Ruthenberg and Gus Hansen who made a rare appearance in the win column.

At the other end of the spectrum, 'Trueteller' dropped $311,697 across two sites to finish as the day's biggest loser. Joining the elusive grinder on the loss leaderboard in the last 24 hours was Viktor Blom and 'd2themfi'.