Max / Bryan, seriously, no innuendo, childish rants or coyness from me. I have stated they did not square up. I've also emailed Shaun.
But, how does This IS Vegas (TIV) go within one year from : "Powered by Rival software, This is Vegas is by far the Worst Casino of 2010. They decided not to pay a player $83,000 because they "thought" he might charge back his deposits. Stating that they suspected him of working in tandem with a blacklisted affiliate, they chose not to pay this player, even though he did nothing wrong."
to now being on probation ??
Being on probation means that they are STILL in the pit, but are seeking "parole", and an early release "on license". They are by no means freed at present. Whether they are released permanently from the pit depends on how they behave during this probationary period. Given that this is a new set of owners, they have been given a chance to prove that they intend to take the casino in a new direction. Rather than taking their word for it as more or less happened when the accredited operator 32Red plc took over the failing Golden Lounge and Nedplay casinos, the new owners do not have a sufficient track record to allow for an immediate removal of TIV from the pit. They have a period to demonstrate a track record that would indicate the casino is no longer behaving in a rogue manner. As well as generating no further genuine complaints, they will have to demonstrate a willingness to try to reach closure on outstanding issues inherited from the old owners. This may involve paying players, but may also just be a willingness to turn over whatever records they have inherited, and assist in trying to uncover the truth about these issues, or even putting pressure on the original owners to reach a settlement. Rival themselves may step in and resolve the issues, a promise their CEO made to players who lost money due to one of the white labels failing and leaving players out of pocket. Rival have only covered monies owed to players once a white label has failed, and have not been willing to intervene whilst the casino concerned is still operating.
Rival screwed up initially by allowing operators who didn't really know what they were doing to take on a casino portal. Many went bust as a result, and only when Rival took them over to run them, or pas them to new operators, were players' outstanding funds covered by Rival.
Although a pull out from the US is bad news for US players, it is good news for those in less opressive countries

. With a much lower risk of loss through seizures and dodgy processors, the operators will be more able to remain both solvent and competitive. The number of existing US players will steadily decline as those leaving will be replaced only by non-US players, thus the risks down to operating in the US will also steadily decline.
The main problem facing Rival is attracting non-US customers, given that they are now competing against the likes of Microgaming, Playtech, etc, rather than only having to compete against RTG and a few minor softwares not exactly well trusted by the player community (TopGame, for example).