Gambling
Resorts International Inks Deal With Sportech: Could Join Forces With PokerStars
ATLANTIC CITY — (Associated Press) - An Atlantic City casino that was thwarted in its efforts to join the Internet gambling market is preparing to get in the game.
Resorts Casino Hotel announced partnerships late Friday with European firms Sportech and NYX Gaming to offer Internet gambling.
They will join PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker to form an online betting option that could rival New Jersey’s market leaders, Borgata and Caesars Interactive.
NJ's Bankrupt Revel Casino Gets Cash Lifeline to Hunt for Buyer
CAMDEN, N.J., (Reuters) - Atlantic City's bankrupt Revel Casino Hotel has received court approval to borrow $23.9 million that it said would keep the 1,400-room resort operating for the coming month as it scrambles to find a buyer.
Revel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday afternoon and rushed to court early on Friday for a slew of court orders it said were vital to pay its 3,140 employees, soothe nervous vendors and honor programs that provide gamblers with key perks.
Senior Citizens Busted in New Jersey Gambling Ring: Made $3 Mil in a Year
29 individuals were arrested for their role in running an illegal gambling business out of Northern New Jersey. Nearly all the men charged are over the age of 50.
One of the individuals, Daniel Pronti, 70, was suspended without pay from his job as a Jersey City Department of Public Works employee on Thursday.
Esquire: How Sex, Drugs and Gambling Can Help Boost a Nation’s Economy
Esquire Magazine’s digital edition featured an article Wednesday on how sex, drugs and gambling can actually help a nation’s economy.
They offer up a few strong examples.
When we think of sex and drugs and tourism, Amsterdam is typically the first thing that flashes in our minds.
Pennsylvania Introduces Online Gambling Bill in Senate: PokerStars Exclusion
Pennsylvania lawmakers on Wednesday introduced Bill 1386 in the Senate. The bill, drafted by State Sen. Edwin Erickson, would legalize online gambling in the Keystone State.
A newer version of the legislation co-sponsored by Republican Bob Mensch allows for an expanded number of casino games whereas Erickson’s bill focused almost exclusively on poker. Mensch also wants to charge a $5 million licensing fee along with a 14% tax on gross gaming revenues.
Adelson Under Fire: Underage Gamblers, $1 Mil Contribution to PA Politicians
Gambling911.com’s own Thomas Somach is on the case and tells us that in Pennsylvania, casino magnate and GOP mega donor Sheldon Adelson is under fire for questionable political donations as well as another fine being levied against his property for allowing underage gamblers....total fines $305,000!!!!
Gambling Addiction: It’s All About Bad Genetics
A study conducted by the National University of Singapore has found that genetics play a role in determining whether a person is willing to take strategic risk. And while individuals with these genes are likely to exhibit a higher degree of belief learning and, as such, anticipate the actions of others, such genes can also result in increased reinforcement learning.
And these genes can also regulate the way dopamine – a chemical released in the brain that signals pleasure and motivates people to seek rewards.
Enter gambling addiction.
Mobster Matthew ‘Matty’ Guglielmetti Released From Prison After 10 Years
A New England mob associate, Matthew ‘Matty’ Guglielmetti, was released from prison last week after serving 10 years. He will now be under house confinement according to reports.
The 65-year-old Guglielmetti is a high ranking figure in the powerful Patriarca crime family of La Costa Nostra. He plead guilty to drug trafficking over a decade ago but was also said to be active in the family’s gambling and loan sharking business.
A Pete Rose Induction Into Baseball Hall of Fame Looking Brighter
Former Major League Baseball great Pete Rose expressed optimism that he could some day be inducted into the Hall of Fame following a lifetime ban for gambling on Baseball games.
"I've waited 25 years, but I've done so because I was the one who screwed up," Rose told ESPN.com. "And if I were given a second chance, I would be the happiest guy in the world."
Poll Finds New Jersey Would Stick With Atlantic City Casinos
(Associated Press) - A new poll finds most New Jersey gamblers would continue to play in Atlantic City even after four new casinos are built in New York.
But the Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll also has some bad news for the seaside gambling resort: at least 12 percent of customers who now gamble in Atlantic City would take their business to New York.
The poll released Monday finds 57 percent of New Jersey residents prefer to gamble in Atlantic City.
New York is in the process of adding four new casinos to the 14 it already has.
Bitcoin Community Fears 51 Percent GHash Control: Others Say It’s Armageddon
On Friday for a period of nearly 12 hours, mining pool GHash had surpassed the 51% controlling share mark in the anonymous digital currency bitcoin and that has many watchers worried….perhaps with good reason.
Back in January GHash had 42% control and even then there were concerns mounting.
Golden Nugget Does Not Have to Pay $1.5 Million Won in Mini-Baccarat Game
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Associated Press) - A casino does not have to pay $1.5 million won by a group of gamblers who realized the cards had not been shuffled, and can move to recover more than $500,000 it already paid them, a judge ruled Friday.
The Superior Court judge ruled that because the cards had been unshuffled, that made the game of mini-baccarat in April 2012 illegal under state casino rules.
New Jersey Sees Sharp Decline in Online Gambling During Month of May
(Associated Press) - Internet gambling has hit a wall in New Jersey just six months after launching.
Figures released today by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement show the casinos' online operations took in $10.4 million in May, a decline of $1 million from April. Internet gambling revenues have now declined for two straight months in New Jersey.
But there was some good news in the numbers: Including Internet gambling revenue, and excluding the Atlantic Club, which closed in January, the casinos' total revenue was up nearly 1.3 percent.
Florida Prosecutors Want Ex-FBI Agent Conviction in Murder of Gambling Exec
MIAMI - (Associated Press) — Florida prosecutors are asking an appeals court to reconsider its decision to toss the murder conviction and prison sentence for a former FBI agent in a mob-style killing linked to jailed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.
South Carolina Wants Legalized Gambling, Marijuana
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham won in a landslide Tuesday to retain his long held seat, much to the disappointment of online gambling fans, most of whom were probably hoping for a Cantor-like defeat. Virginia Republican Congressman and Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his seat Tuesday in what was being touted as the biggest political campaign shocker in more than a century.
US Support of Gambling at All Time High Says Pol
(Associated Press) - Americans' support of legalized gambling is at all-time high, according to a new poll prepared for the casino industry's main trade group.
The report for the American Gaming Association also supports an assertion the gambling industry has long held: that casinos should be treated like any other business and not subjected to vastly higher taxes.
The poll finds 57 percent favor casino gambling, and 87 percent say gambling in general is an acceptable activity.
Dubai Businessman Iraj Parvizi Sues Les Ambassadeurs Casino for Allowing Collusion
A Dubai-based businessman, Iraj Parvizi is suing London’s Les Ambassadeurs Casino for failing to prevent collusion and cheating in its establishment.
And the amount he is suing for?
£10,000,000.
The 48-year-old was a regular in weekly high stakes cash games held at the casino until he lost £185,000 in one session and refused to pay back for the chips he received on credit.
New Jersey Clarifies Online Gambling Affiliate Arrangements
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has expressed the importance of affiliate relations to the growth of its state-run online gambling industry. On Tuesday, it sought to clarify the types of relationships and activity said affiliates can and cannot engage in.
Men Who Escaped Quebec Prison Via Helicopter had Mob Ties
The three men who escaped a Quebec prison over the weekend via helicopter each had ties to the Mob and Hell’s Angels.
Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Serge Pomerleau, 49, broke out of the Quebec province jail Saturday evening.
"The helicopter landed in a courtyard at the detention center," police spokeswoman Ann Mathieu told the French news channel RDI on Sunday.
IGT Seeking Sale: Shares Hit Five-Year Record High
News that International Game Technology (IGT) is potentially seeking a buyer resulted in shares reaching a five-year high on Monday. Morgan Stanley has been brought on to assess a sale of the slot maker’s business.
The shares rose 14 percent to $14.31 at the close in New York Monday, the biggest one-day gain since April 3, 2009. The stock had fallen 31 percent this year through June 6.
BetFred.com Pulls Out of Germany, Canada, Most Other Markets Ahead of World Cup
Not the best timing as the FIFA World Cup is set to begin this week but BetFred.com customers from variously countries across the globe were advised this weekend they can no longer bet online with the company.
FBI Probe Into Illegal Gambling Business Details Prosecutor’s Extortion Plot
JOPLIN, Mo. — (Associated Press) - Hundreds of pages of reports from an FBI investigation into illegal gambling in Joplin and the surrounding areas show a wide-ranging vice operation that involved influential people in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas.
The Joplin Globe (http://bit.ly/SoJHN0 ) obtained more than 600 pages of documents in response to a Freedom of Information request the newspaper filed in 2012 because the investigation had led to the firing of a Joplin police officer and indictments against three bookmakers.
Gambling Could Be What Saves Detroit
(Reuters) - Detroit's reliance on casino cash to help fund a recovery from the city's historic bankruptcy is a high-risk bet on what is an increasingly shaky source of income.
A trial to approve Detroit's plan to exit its $18 billion bankruptcy, the largest municipal crash in U.S. history, begins in late July. Flawed revenue projections may undermine its feasibility, creating a key legal hurdle to win approval by the court. On a practical level, a revenue shortfall could knock the city down just as it is getting back on its feet.
Will Bartenders Be Replaced With Drones? The Las Vegas Experiment
How much would you pay to have a drone as your bartender? This is the question being posed by CNN Money after the Marquee Dayclub at the the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel began offering bottle service by drone to guests partying at its outdoor deck and cabanas.
Gambino Capo Gets Life Sentence for Double Homicide, Heroin Dealing, Gambling
Gambino Crime Family captain Bartolomeo “Bobby Glasses” Vernace, 65, has been sentenced to life in prison for a double homicide committed 33 years ago over a spilled drink. He will not be eligible for parole.
Influential Gambling Attorney Robert Faiss Passes Away
LAS VEGAS (Associated Press) — Highly respected Nevada gambling attorney Robert “Bob” Faiss (FESS'), who represented some of the premier organizations in the industry during a decades-long career, has died.
Faiss' wife, Linda, says her husband died at Boulder City Hospital Thursday of complications from cancer. He was 79.
Faiss was born in Illinois and moved to Nevada in his youth before attending the University of Nevada and studying journalism. He worked as a city editor for the Las Vegas Sun, an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson and an adviser to Gov. Grant
Pennsylvania Hears Testimony On Internet Gambling
A five-hour Senate hearing was held Wednesday to determine whether real money Internet gambling should be allowed in the state of Pennsylvania.
Macau Gambling Revenue Up 9.3 Percent
HONG KONG – (Reuters) - Macau, the world's casino capital, raked in 32.35 billion patacas (US$4.05bil) in gambling revenue in May, boosted by robust demand from Chinese visitors keen to bet in the country's only legal casino hub.
Growth in Macau, a special administrative region like neighbouring Hong Kong, was up 9.3% in May, lagging analyst estimates of 13-15%.
Sports Betting Billy Walters on FBI Probe: ‘I Am Innocent of Doing Anything Wrong’
Legendary sports betting professional Billy Walters spoke to CNBC on Tuesday insisting he did nothing wrong in regard to an insider trading probe. Walters, billionaire investor Carl Icahn and golfer Phil Nickelson have each been tied to the ongoing FBI and SEC investigation. Nickelson said over the weekend that he is fully cooperating with the Feds.
Forbes: Sheldon Adelson Winning His War Against Online Gambling
Forbes.com’s Nathan Vardi argued on Tuesday that casino billionaire and mega GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is now winning his war against Internet gambling.
It was a war mounted last fall that included slickly produced so-called public service messages coupled with lobbying efforts from some big name former politicians the likes of one time New York Governor George Pataki and former Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
