The Small Town Poker Tour (STPT) has announced a new charitable promotion which will see $25 donated by the tour to the chosen charity of any new player.

STPT is championing Texas Hold ‘Em poker at a grass roots level across America to get people involved in making contributions to charity.

Mark Fracalossi, STPT executive producer, said: “The STPT is all about giving back and what a better way to give back than to donate directly to the players charity.

“Poker has proven to be a great charity vessel and we are just taking it to the next level.”

The STPT tour will be filmed for a television documentary and directed by Billy Frank.

Mr Fracalossi added: “The tour will make promotional stops as it travels the country. Our goal is to make this a fund raising machine for the towns we visit.”

Sweden’s poker body has opted to join the World Poker Association (WPA), making it the first major international federation membership for the WPA.

The Swedish Poker Federation (SPF) will bring its 4,000 members into involvement with the WPA, making it the biggest non-US member as the association works to become a global body.

Found of the WPA, Jesse Jones, said: “The WPA is thrilled to have the Swedish Poker Federation on board and looks forward to their insight and contributions moving forward.

“Their involvement speaks volumes to the necessity and longing for an organized and unified voice for tournament poker.”

The WPA was established by Jones in 2005 in Las Vegas with the intention of establishing uniform rules and the creation of benefits for members.

It now plans to have two booths at the forthcoming World Series of Poker to get even more members to join it.

Ken Lennaard, chairman of the SPF said that he was anxious to contribute to the sport and hopes that Sweden will become a role model for other national organizations looking to join.

The Professional Poker Tour is attempting to establish criteria to determine which players should participate in events.

Eligibility is determined by performance in WPT events, as well as a range of other ratings, and the PPT has published a list of 174 players, including a number of top names, who are eligible to play in the PPT tournaments this year.

Most professional sports organisations set out criteria for participation at the top level and players must maintain a certain standard of play to ensure selection, Poker News reports.

The PPT aims to stage exciting poker competitions by selecting the top players in the game and season two promises even more action, with players approved for three, two and one year cards.

The $500,000 freeroll tournaments this year will feature new WPT champions and other high-profile players, such as Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi, Gavin Smith, Joe Bartholdi and Tuan Le.

The debut season of the PPT will start on the Travel Channel on July 5th this year, with the second tournament season due to begin in September 2006, with dates at Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Bellagio in Las Vegas already lined up.

The jackpot on offer on InterCasino’s Millionaires Club progressive slot has soared above the £3 million mark.

The popular Millionaires Club nine line bonus slot game is growing by more than $35,000 a day and had rocketed to $3,043,035 by the last day of May this year.

Created by software development company CryptoLogic, the Millionaires Club 9 line slot has now surpassed all previous online jackpot records and players from all over the world are vying to become instant millionaires each day.

InterCasino manager Ryan Hartley said: “The Millionaires Club 9 line jackpot is the most popular online casino jackpot we have ever seen on the internet.”

Last year Richard H. won $1,067,836,00 on the Millionaires Club slot and the winner of this year’s prize will be the biggest online gaming jackpot winner ever.

InterCasino celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and is one of the largest and most popular online casinos in the world.

A Las Vegas casino owner has paid over $10 million for a Ming dynasty vase at auction.

Steve Wynn, owner of the casino and resort-group that bears his name, forked out HK$78,500,000 at Christies in Hong Kong and immediately donated it to a Macau museum.

He has now set the highest ever price paid for a Chinese ceramic, near double the previous record.

Already thought by some to pay over the odds for artwork, Wynn has previously spent $25 million on Picasso and Cezanne pieces in just one day.

The same vase had previously been auctioned for $2.8 million just nine years ago.

It will now rest in Macau, which is where Wynn is building his latest resort.

Poker professional Scott Fischman has been appointed as the official endorsement partner for PokerPadz.

The PokerPadz mouse mat is designed to make online poker playing even closer to the feel of a live tournament and is targeted at both new and experienced players.

Created by LA-based K & K Novelties, the mat features standard casino table felt covering an 8” x 14” foam pad and a vinyl bumper in an oval shape, just like a real poker table. The mat is supplied with a set of ten poker chips.

The two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion will represent PokerPadz in a worldwide marketing campaign and claims that it will prove invaluable in getting players used to the chips and felt before making the transition to the live game.

“This unique product really got my attention,” Scott said. “It’s something that every poker player should have, and I’m excited to be endorsing the product!”

Kristin Cranford, of K & K Novelties, added: “With such a broad fan base and solid relationships in the poker world, Scott will accompany us as we reach an expanding customer scope.”

Fischman, who won two WSOP bracelets at the age of 23 and the World Poker Tour event, Young Guns of Poker, regularly plays online poker.

The famous CryptoLogic’s Millionaire’s Club has passed the $3million mark and is set to be the biggest online casino prize.

The progressive slot has passed the $3,043,035 mark and is already expected to move towards the $4 million mark as players continue to log-on to sites such as InterCasino which are powered using on Cryptologic’s software.

The video slot machine is a progressive nine-line, five-reel game and is proving so popular that the jackpot is increased by over $30,000 a day, with at least an extra $1 being added every three seconds.

Intercasino manager Ryan Hartley described the game as “the most popular online casino jackpot we have ever seen on the internet”.

Last year’s winner won a total of $1,067,836,00 but this year’s lucky player is set to enter the record books as the biggest online gambling winner.