Fox Business is reporting that Disney (the parent company of ESPN) has agreed to 7-year extension with the World Series of Poker which will see the popular telecast remain a staple of ESPN’s programming through 2018: The current agreement expires after the 2010 season.

Neither side was willing to comment on the deal, but Fox Business is reporting that the deal will be announced on Tuesday.

The long-term commitment comes in the wake of numerous mixed signals regarding the future of poker. Court cases have handed down rulings that poker is “skill” game, only to see these rulings overturned on appeal – which will be appealed again and again, and the matter could wind up in the highest court in the land someday. At the same time, two online poker bills are awaiting Congress’s vote when the next session begins after Labor Day.