Monthly Archives: February 2015

Aviation Club De France Goes Into Judicial Liquidation

The Aviation Club de France (AFC), one of Europe’s most iconic poker venues, has dealt its last hand after the local authorities decided not to renew the 107 year old club’s gambling license. Despite displaced workers holding out hope that the club would reopen following its closure in September 2014, the Grand Instance Court confirmed […]

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Road, lottery bills get look in session

After a three-day break, the Arkansas General Assembly this week will decide the fate of legislation to scrap the Arkansas Lottery Commission, shift some general revenue to state highways, boost religious freedom and overhaul the state’s criminal justice system. If legislative leaders recess by April 10 and adjourn, as planned, by May 8, the session will reach the halfway point this week.

Connecticut Lottery headquarters.

A long-running battle to claim the winnings of a 19-year-old lottery ticket has been revived in the legislature. The Day of New London reports that Rep. Ernest Hewett of New London and Sen. Eric Coleman of Bloomfield, both Democrats, have introduced legislation to help Clarence Jackson claim a $5.8 million Connecticut lottery jackpot that’s eluded him for more than 18 years.

Bryan Micon’s Home Raided at Gunpoint

Bryan Micon, poker player and chairman of the suddenly defunct Seals With Clubs bitcoin poker site, was arrested at gunpoint the day the Seals With Clubs website first went offline. According to Micon, who is now in Antigua, on February 11 at 8am, the door of his Nevada home was broken down by a team […]

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More Lottery Machines Wanted

Citing the need to increase revenue in the face of escalating costs, members of the West Virginia Amusement & Limited Video Lottery Association want the right to operate seven slot machines at each outlet instead of just five. State Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, believes the operators have a point, so he introduced that is now slated for review by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

US jury: Palestinian authorities to blame for terror attacks

North Carolina lottery officials say a woman has come forward to present one of three winning tickets for a $564 million Powerball jackpot drawn earlier this month. North Carolina lottery officials said Monday that a woman has come forward to present one of three winning tickets for a $564 million Powerball jackpot drawn earlier this month.

And the Louie Award winners are…

The Louisville chapter of the American Advertising Federation hosted the Louie Awards Gala on Friday night, recognizing the top creative work this year by local agencies. The competition qualifies local companies for the American Advertising Awards , a three-tiered nationwide competition hosted by the American Advertising Federation, according to a news release.

New Hampshire prepares new push to legalize casino gambling in the state

The ongoing casino debate in New Hampshire is far from finished, even after a bill to legalize casino gambling in the state fell by the wayside last year because of one vote. But supporters of legalizing casinos remain undeterred and are now doubling down efforts to put two casinos in the state to help boost the local economy.

Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, a strong supporter of the move to open casinos is leading the charge and has proposed a new legislation – Senate Bill 113 – that would call for the opening of two casinos within the state, with no restrictions on the locations. That part of the legislation is a revision from past versions, which required that at least one of the casinos would be located in the North Country.

“I think it’s the right thing for New Hampshire,” D’Allesandro told the Eagle Tribune late last week, adding that casinos in New Hampshire would be a boon for the state’s economy  and would prevent residents from gambling in other states, most notably Massachusetts. The argument, it seems, is grounded on the belief that if residents are going to gamble in casinos anyway, might as well do it within the state.

In addition to the cap of two casinos, SB113 also calls for one of the casinos to come with an $80 million licensing fee with the other casino getting a license fee of just $40 million. To reflect the disparate amount of the fees, the casino with the bigger fee will receive permission to have anywhere from 80 to 160 gambling tables to go with 2,000 to 3,500 slot machines. Meanwhile, the casino with the smaller license fee will be permitted to have 25 to 60 gambling tables and 700 to 1,500 slot machines. Part of the new bill also touches on 3% cut that the host community will receive from casino revenues while abutting towns would share in 1% of the revenue and the host county getting another 1%.

The proposed bill appears to be far more ironed out than past versions, but actually getting lawmakers to agree on approving it is still easier said than done. After all, the state has rejected one casino bill after another since the 70s, and the recent trend  hasn’t been a good one for those pushing to legalize these establishments. Fortunately for D’Allesandro and the rest of his pro-casino posse, they have a strong supporter in Governor Maggie Hassan, who has already gone on record saying that a casino in the state, albeit a highly regulated one, has a lot of potential to become a strong source of revenue for the state’s economy. It’s still unclear whether Hassan will support a bill that’s proposing two casinos instead of one, but supporters of the bill can take comfort knowing that that she, in her own words, would be “responsive to constructive dialogue” with regards to the issue.

But not everyone is still on board with that idea. Significant pockets of the population remain steadfast on their belief that allowing casino gambling in the state wouldn’t solve its economic woes. Among these groups include the League of Women Voters, Casino Free NH, and the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling. Among other arguments, these groups believe that whatever economic benefits casinos would have on the state will likely be more detrimental to the it’s economy in the long run.

Poarch Creek asks Florida Gov. Scott: Marijuana or Gambling?

The Poarch Creek Indians told Governor Rick Scott that if Florida refused to allow the tribe to expand their casinos, they will have no choice but to start growing and distributing marijuana on the land designated for their gambling expansion.

The tribe stakes its claim to negotiate a far-reaching gambling deal on a one-acre tract of land it owns in Escambia County, few miles from a casino operated by the tribe near the state line in Atmore, Alabama. Tribal officials contend that the land has been in tribal ownership long enough to trigger rights guaranteed by federal law.

If the state rejects the deal, the tribe is within its rights to use the land to grow marijuana, as Department of Justice stated in December that tribes can grow and distribute marijuana on their sovereign land — even if the state in which that land is situated has not legalized marijuana.

“We are entitled to negotiate a compact with the state,” said Poarch Tribal Council Chairwoman Stephanie Bryan. “We have 642 tribal members living throughout the state of Florida. We are asking Gov. Scott to acknowledge we are a federally recognized tribe.”

The tribe started building a warehouse on the land but so far, the actions have garnered a shrug from the Scott administration. Although the governor’s office met twice with tribal officials last year, a spokesman for Scott said recently the governor will not negotiate with the tribe.

Scott’s legal office wrote to Bryan last fall, saying it was “premature” to begin negotiations and that the tribe needs additional recognition from federal officials.

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians operates the Wind Creek Casino in Atmore, just a few miles north of the Nokomis property, and Wind Creek casinos in Montgomery and Wetumpka, AL.

MGM CEO says volatility in Macau is not going away soon

MGM International Resorts Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Murren said in an interview that he doesn’t see stability in China in the near future.

“I don’t think that volatility is going away near-term,” Murren said in an interview on CNBC this week. “This year is uncertain.”

Last year, Macau gaming revenues declined 2.6% from MOP360.7 billion in 2013 to MOP352 billion. This result was the consequence of a seven-month declining streak during 2014. MGM saw its revenue dropped by 22% in Q4 2014—a decline generated from 39% dropped in VIP tables.

Murren, on the other hand, is still confident of Macau’s long-term potential despite VIP business suffering from China’s corruption crackdown.

Macau’s mass casino traffic up in CNY; VIP remains weak

According to data from the city’s Public Security Police, total tourists arrival to Macau during the first three days of Chinese New Year were up 3.4% year-on-year to 434,549.

In a data published from Macao Government Tourist Office’s website, 70.9% of the visitors, including foreign workers and students, came from Mainland China—an increase of 6.9% year-on-year.

Senate panel passes bills on electronic gaming issues

A bill banning the use of credit cards to pay for the Kentucky Lottery Corp.’s upcoming Internet games passed a state Senate committee on Thursday. The Senate Committee on Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations approved three bills that are designed to pare down online gaming and allow charities using bingo halls to compete in the digital age.

On Deck: The Power of “Money”

Throughout the whole process behind the latest negotiations of the Floyd Mayweather – Manny Pacquiao fight, the self-proclaimed “A-side” – that would be Floyd – always went back to one word to defend against complaints that the fight had lost its appeal: timing.

We can all argue when the fight should have been made until the cows come home, but in reality, the fact that we’re finally going to see it on May 2 after years of waiting boils down to when Floyd Mayweather decided that it was time to finally face Pacquiao. No one could’ve made this fight other than Mayweather. Not Bob Arum. Not HBO. Not Showtime. And obviously, not Pacquiao.

He held all the proverbial chips and for the longest time, he held on to his hand until the timing was right. This was never about Floyd being scared to fight Pacquiao. This was about Floyd understanding that he could keep the Pacquiao fight in his pockets because he could still rake seven-figure pay-per-view buys fighting anybody not named Pacquiao. He scored an incredible 2.2 million pay-per-view buys against Canelo Alvarez. He even got 1.5 million PPV buys against Miguel Cotto and 1.35 million against Shane Mosley. In hindsight, it now seems incredible that Mayweather was able to draw 1.25 million PPV buys against Victor Ortiz.

But that’s why he’s called Money Mayweather. He picks his opponents carefully knowing that it he can package the fight in a way to make them more interesting than they actually were. That and he knew that he still had the Pacquaio fight in his back pocket, ready to cash it in when public perception began to sour on his fights.

That turning point, at least in my head, happened during the two Marcos Maidana fights. At that point, Mayweather was already running out of viable opponents that he could sell to the public. Pure boxing fans may have been intrigued about the first fight, especially after Maidana scored a stunning win against Adrien Broner, or as he’s otherwise known, the faux Mayweather. But the rematch was anything but sellable, even after Floyd tried to sell it as a continuation of the surprising slugfest that was the first fight. Still, it only ended up selling 925,000 PPV buys, the first time a Mayweather fight didn’t reach 1 million buys since…I don’t really remember anymore.

Once it became clear to Floyd that his PPV numbers would only go south if he kept that Pacquiao card in his pocket and continued to insist on parading anybody that wasn’t the Filipino slugger to the boxing audience. Of all people, he knew this and he understand that the time was right to finally cash in on that card.

So after five years of on-again, off-again negotiations. After months of continued teasing, prodding, and more teasing, Mayweather-Pacquiao is finally on and just as Floyd expected, the timing was absolutely perfect.

Stroke support group shares in 2.9m lottery grant for Dorset

NEW figures reveal that over A 2.9 million of National Lottery funding was invested in Weymouth, Purbeck and west Dorset – including cash for a support group for stroke patients. Across the area 64 grants were awarded in 2014, benefitting local arts, sports and heritage projects alongside community groups helping those most in need.