from www.cardplayer.com – According to Australian information website goldcoast.com.au, 27-year-old Internet tycoon, Daniel Tzvetkoff, has pleaded not guilty in Manhattan’s New York Southern District Court to his alleged role in an online payment processing scheme on the basis that poker is not gambling.

The Australian’s Brisbane-based company Intabill processed $500 million worth of transactions on behalf of online gaming operators in America, and now Tzvetkoff himself is being charged with bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering, gambling conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

U.S. assistant attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown said, “The gambling industry is using the line that poker is not gambling, that it’s a game of skill and is therefore not gambling.” Tzvetkoff’s lawyer Martin Weinberg said this is an “accurate preview” of the defence’s case.

Mr Weinberg will call witnesses from Australia when Tzvetkoff goes on trial in June 2011. Until then, Tzvetkoff who once owned the most expensive house on the Gold Coast, will remain in a Brooklyn Jail leaving behind a pregnant wife. In the meantime the U.S. Attorney’s office continues building its case.