Monthly Archives: December 2020

Number of flights to Las Vegas set to increase in 2021

Las Vegas is still a long way away from recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it could get some much-needed help starting next year. Four airlines have announced that they are going to add new routes into McCarran International Airport in Sin City, which should help it begin to attract more gamblers from around the country. The rollout will be staggered, with different airlines launching their new routes across several months. 

Frontier Airlines announced this week that it will start offering flights into McCarran next March. Frontier is going to put up six new nonstop flights beginning March 12, about the same time the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to have been made readily available across the country. The new routes will come by way of El Paso, Texas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the US, as well as Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

The airport’s chief marketing officer, Chris Jones, said in a statement about the new Frontier flights, These new routes not only support travelers’ enduring desire to experience Las Vegas, but also the belief that we will be a leading destination as air travel picks up.”

JetBlue wasn’t going to be left out in the cold, so it announced that it will start offering flights from Cancun, Mexico and Raleigh, North Carolina on March 4. That same day, according to a previous announcement by Allegiant Air, there will be a new route to Vegas from Flint, Michigan. Alaska Airlines is giving those trapped in the frigid weather of the state a chance to escape and will launch flights to McCarran starting May 20. 

Donaco picks up steam as 2020 draws to a close

Getting a new CEO may have done Donaco International some good. Lee Bug Huy was given the position this past September and the casino operator has now moved into better times in the fourth quarter of the year. According to a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASE) from today, Donaco has hit positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for October and November and expects the trend to continue through the end of the year.

Donaco’s casino efforts are primarily centered on the Asian market and it runs the Star Vegas Resort and Club in Cambodia and the Aristo International in Vietnam. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Star Vegas to close this past April, only finally reopening at the beginning of September and, since beginning to welcome back gamblers is “no longer making a loss.” The company added in its filing that the shift to a positive EBITDA was “driven by business initiatives implemented by the new board and executive team” that include “a shift in customer targeting, with a renewed focus on attracting clientele from the local region to Star Vegas, to in turn reduce the company’s international staff expenses and provide a solid platform for growth.”

The company had a lot of difficulty due to the coronavirus pandemic and, in September, indicated that it had a loss of $43.5 million for the 12-month period that ended on June 30. That led to the implementation of a “continued cost control strategy” that, combined with the reduction in pandemic restrictions, had “improved the position of the business” and allowed it to narrow its fiscal-year loss to $41.6 million. Some pandemic restrictions are still in place; however, Donaco is confident that it will be put things back to normal soon. 

The filing also addressed the ongoing disagreement with former business partners and outstanding debt owed to one of its creditors, Mega International Commercial Bank out of Taiwan. The bank is working with Donaco to facilitate payments negotiated between the casino operator and the former partners, and previous discussions between Mega International and Donaco have addressed how best to handle the situation amid the global pandemic. The lender has already made arrangements to give Donaco a little flexibility with its outstanding credit debt and Donaco added in its filing that it has “continued paying down of debt with Mega Bank.” It expects to be able to pay the outstanding balance – around $7.8 million – sometime during fiscal year 2021. 

NY gov may be ready to admit mobile sports gambling is acceptable

It turns out that, with the right motivation, even the most die-hard New Yorkers lose some of the stubbornness that makes them famous. Despite overwhelming evidence that a constitutional amendment isn’t needed to introduce mobile sports gambling in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been adamant that he would never sign off on any bill that tried to introduce the activity without it first having been presented to voters. However, in comments made this week, there was a flicker of hope that he may be softening his stance and, perhaps, might be willing to change his tune due to mounting losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cuomo appeared in a press conference on Wednesday to discuss the state of the state and its $15-billion budget deficit. He asserted that New York’s wealthiest residents can rest easy, as he’s not going to come after them to pay more taxes – yet. He put an asterisk on the statement, explaining that he expects President-elect Joe Biden to offer stimulus packages that should allow the Empire State to avoid levying new taxes. Biden will take office in January, after which Cuomo will see what happens, adding, “I think it’s smarter to do [the budget] in February when we have the federal money, so we don’t have to cut schools, hospitals, etc. We can’t lose essential workers in essential organizations, especially with what they’re doing now.”

However, stimulus package or not, New York needs funds now and Cuomo is apparently beginning to warm up to the idea of legalized mobile sportsbooks. While discussing the current financial hole New York is in and how the state can dig its way out in the short-term, he asked, to no one in particular, “How about marijuana? How about sports betting?”

There’s no doubt that legal mobile sportsbooks would give New York a windfall. They would immediately draw gamblers not willing to travel to the state’s four upstate casinos, the only locations currently allowed to offer sports gambling, or to neighboring states like New Jersey that have their own markets in place. Cuomo has previously stated that the change to voting laws approved by residents in 2013 only covered the physical casinos; however, lawyers and gambling supporters have pointed out that mobile would be legal as long as the online sportsbooks partnered with those casinos. The governor now appears to be more willing to consider that notion, even if he’s still not completely convinced of its legality. 

The Industry Eye – Season 8 Episode 4

Ed Pownall plumbs the sewers of the betting industry covering off advertising rules, some string figures, Rafi’s move and The Masked Singer slots.

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The Raiders get handed devastating OT loss in Thursday Night Football

The house always wins in Las Vegas unless that house belongs to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. On track for a playoff appearance this year, the team hosted the LA Chargers at its brand-new Allegiant Stadium for Thursday Night Football last night and to say that things didn’t go as planned would be an understatement. On both sides, errors and miscues mounted until the game was forced into overtime, and it was the LA squad that managed to squeak by to take the win. 

The Chargers set the pace of the game initially, moving out in front as they shocked the Raiders and football fans alike. However, with the Raiders turning to backup quarterback Marcus Mariota to replace an injured Derek Carr, Las Vegas bounced back late in the game to tie the score at 24. Carr had left earlier due to a groin injury and Mariota gave everything he had, completing 17 of 28 for 226 yards and even scoring a touchdown. His coup de grace was a 75-yard touchdown drive that forced the tie and took 11 minutes off the clock. 

With only about six minutes left in regulation, the Chargers electrified their bolts and mounted an offensive rebound to try for the go-ahead score. However, rookie quarterback Justin Herbert couldn’t quite get it done as the lightning dissipated and an attempted field goal by Marcus Badgley went wide left. That drive would later be completely overshadowed by Herbert’s OT performance.

As the Raiders looked to lock up the game in regulation, Mariota was back in action. However, an interception in the red zone forced the Raiders to draw up short, giving the Chargers one more shot at taking the victory in regulation. That shot missed its mark, though, as a clumsy offense and poor clock management stopped the team from reaching the end zone. Having to try once again to rely on Badgley’s foot for a field goal, the Chargers were, once again, left hanging.

Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Week of December 14

The Americas

Flutter entertainment has been left reeling after a Kentucky court reinstated an $870m judgement. The court ruled the company owed the state $1.2B in damages stemming for its PokerStars brand’s legacy operations.; New Jersey sports betting set a new record for November as operators continue to ride the turnaround. Figures released by state regulators show that sports betting handle raked in $931.6m for November; Hard Rock International has launched a new iGaming and sports betting joint venture and nabbed a trio of TSG execs to lead the new venture. TSG’s ex-CEO Ragi Ashkenazi has been tapped to head up the operation; Sports data company Genius Sports announced their intention to purchase Sportzcast. The deal will see them take over the widely-used Scorebot scoring system; Ahead of Maryland’s expected legalisation of sports betting, Penn National Gaming (PNG)have entered the market. PNG recently acquired the operation rights to the Hollywood Casino Perryville; Compare.bet has taken the leap into the Brazilian market as part of its global expansion strategy. Over the last 12 months, the company has made solid ground in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.; Youtube star Jake Paul is desperate to land a mega-fight against Conor McGregor. Paul has made a number of attempts to goad the UFC star into a $50m mega-fight; FanDuel Group has inked a deal with Cage sports for the Caribbean and LATAM region. The deal will see FanDuel gain access to the sports betting market in a joint venture operation in the Caribbean.

Europe

Electronic Arts has succumbed to pressure from regulators and is set to ban FIFA loot boxes in selected territories. The move comes as Dutch authorities labelled the loot boxes as a form of gambling in the popular franchise; Italian gaming company SISAL SPA is set to partner with Scientific Games in Morocco. The deal will allow SISAL to introduce a range of lottery games to local retailers; Tougher government regulations have forced Russian bookmakers to close their doors. Russian-licensed betting site VulkanBet.ru announced it would cease operations at the end of 2020; PSG superstar Neymar is returning to the poker world. The Brazilian was announced as the brand ambassador for Pokerstars;

Veikkaus laying off 800 staff, Finland urged to ditch gambling monopoly

Finland’s Veikkaus gambling monopoly will lay off up to 800 staff in January while the country is being shamed as the only remaining European Union country clinging to a state-run monopoly model.  

On Thursday, Veikkaus announced that the ‘cooperation negotiations’ it launched with its retail staff earlier this month had concluded with plans to begin laying off up to 800 betting employees starting early in the new year. The layoffs are slated to last no longer 90 days, provided Finland can regain some control over its COVID-19 infection rate. 

Veikkaus director of channels and sales Jari Heino said the layoffs would target staff “for whom we cannot reasonably arrange other suitable work or training.” Heino said Veikkaus would utilize paid leave to reduce the number of redundancies. 

The layoffs will mirror the pandemic’s spread across Finland’s 20 hospital districts. Once a district signals that infections are under control, Veikkaus will reopen its local branded arcades and its decentralized slots network – restaurants, service stations, other retail stores – and staff in those districts will return to work. 

Kenya detains, deports foreigners linked to SportPesa betting ops

Sports betting operator SportPesa’s fight with Kenya’s government keeps getting uglier, as a cabinet minister ordered the deportation of foreign nationals connected to the firm. 

On Wednesday, officials representing multiple government agencies raided SportPesa’s offices in Nairobi. Initial reports indicated the officials, who were accompanied by police, were seeking documents related to the company’s recently relaunched online betting operations.

However, Kenyan media reported Thursday that the raid resulted in the arrests of an unspecified number of foreign nationals, believed to be primarily from Eastern Europe. The arrested individuals were among the 14 foreigners that Interior Minister Fred Matiangi (pictured) ordered deported Thursday for allegedly operating in Kenya without proper work permits and for their involvement in illegal gambling. 

SportPesa was founded by a number of Bulgarian nationals, including Guerassim Nikolov, who remains a major shareholder in SportPesa. Nikolov is believed to have been among the 17 foreign directors of betting companies who were deported in the summer of 2019 for a variety of cited justifications, including expired work permits, lack of any work permits whatsoever and evading local taxes.  

Patrik Antonius Highlights List of Poker Hall of Fame Finalists

Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, and Chris Ferguson are among the biggest names released as finalists for the 2020 Poker Hall of Fame class.

Is Patrik Antonius a lock to make the Poker Hall of Fame? (Image: Reddit)

Antonius turned 40 years old just in the nick of time. Candidates must be 40 or above at the time of enshrinement to be eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame. The Finnish poker legend hit that age requirement just four days ago.

Fan voting for the Poker Hall of Fame class of 2020 began earlier this month. Nominations were made on the WSOP.com website, and a finalist list was made from those votes. It is now up to the 32 living members of the exclusive club to vote on a winner based on the finalist list.

Midweek Premier League Review – Gameweek #13

It will possibly be looked back upon as a pivotal week in the English Premier League, with first and second meeting each other at Anfield and Chelsea proving that perhaps more than one wheel on their bandwagon could do with tightening up.

Manchester United got another comeback win against Sheffield United, Arsenal stopped the rot but still had a man sent off in their 1-1 home draw with Southampton,

Let’s take a closer look at the drama that took place at Molineux and Anfield.

Wolves 2-1 Chelsea

Premier League Preview – Gameweek #14

A renewal of rivalries at Old Trafford, a title race flashback at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and a potentially toxic tussle at Goodison Park. Let’s look at three superb games in potential and pick some sportsbetting tips out from the full English Premier League schedule.

Everton vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 5.30pm GMT kick-off)

This could be Mikel Arteta’s last game in charge of Arsenal if The Gunners lose it. Everton, who come into the game on the back of two quality victories without conceding against Chelsea and Leicester City, could put the North London side to the sword at Goodison Park.

Arteta has a massive problem on his hands. Arsenal sit 15th in the Premier League on the back of a run of seven defeats in 11 games, with players such as Granit Xhaka and Gabriel sent off in recent games, are missing key personnel against a very threatening, physical side in The Toffees. Under Carlo Ancelotti, the blue half of Merseyside is enjoying some sort of 1980’s renaissance. While they sit 5th, they are going to be dreaming of the Champions League and Arsenal will have to be at their best t get anything out of the game.

Venetian Poker Room Voted Best of Las Vegas for 2020

The Venetian poker room earned the honor of being selected as the best poker room in Las Vegas according to a local publication. Silver and bronze medals went to The Orleans and Wynn, respectively.

Shout out to the Venetian poker room for being one of the best places in town to play. (Image: Twitter)

“Best of Las Vegas” has been handing out awards to local businesses each year since 2001. Among the categories voted on include casinos, restaurants, banks, entertainment, health and beauty, and also schools.

In the casino category, “best poker room” is the one that matters most to us here at CardsChat, for obvious reasons. That award went to Sheldon Adelson’s property. The Venetian poker room is one of the largest in town with over 30 card tables. Many poker pros refuse to play at this Las Vegas Strip casino due to its affiliation with Adelson, a proponent of banning online poker in the US.

Illinois sport betting surges in October, DraftKings dethrones BetRivers

Illinois bettors pushed their state’s sportsbooks to new heights in October, with both handle and revenue setting new records. 

Figures released Thursday by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) show the state’s eight licensed sportsbooks handled wagers worth $434.6m in October, 42.4% higher than September’s previous record. Revenue was up over six-fold from September to a record $42.2m, with the state’s share coming to $6.3m. 

Retail betting accounted for less than $25m of October’s handle, a share that will grow even smaller in November as casinos were forced into their second pandemic lockdown on November 19. All the more reason to celebrate Gov. J.B. Pritzker having once again extended the exemption for mobile bettors to register new accounts in person through January 9. 

Illinois betting has a new king, appropriately enough named DraftKings and its local Casino Queen partner, which together handled wagers worth $141.4m in October. That was more than enough to dethrone reigning monarch Rivers Casino Des Plaines/BetRivers ($115.5m), while the tandem of FanDuel and Boyd Gaming’s Par-A-Dice casino ranked third with $105.5m. 

Poker on Screen special: High stakes poker returns!

It’s the most welcome return to poker since Phil Ivey ended his self-imposed exile to rejoin the World Series circus a couple of years ago.  

High Stakes Poker is back for a brand-new series.  

With original hosts Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza, HSP is back, back, back in a big way and we watched the first episode of the returning series with a mile-wide grin on our faces here at Calvin Ayre.  

The cash game, with players sitting down with a minimum of $200,000 and a maximum of “a biscuit short of half a million dollars”, features some terrific action, great banter between a perfectly cast pick of players.  

Flutter reels as Kentucky reinstates $870m judgment v. PokerStars

UK gambling giant Flutter Entertainment is reeling after Kentucky’s highest court ruled the company owed the state over $1.2b in damages stemming from its PokerStars brand’s legacy operations.

On Thursday, the Kentucky Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reinstate an $870m judgment issued in 2015 against PokerStars’ then-owner Amaya Gaming by Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate. The sum represented a trebling of the $290m judgment Wingate originally imposed against Stars.

The judgment followed a civil suit brought by the state against a host of online gambling operators deemed to be serving Kentucky bettors without its permission. Some operators cut deals with the state but Stars, then controlled by Isai Scheinberg and his son Mark, decided not to knuckle under.   

PokerStars was later acquired by The Stars Group (TSG), which in 2018 celebrated a Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the lower court’s judgment. However, the state vowed to appeal, leading to Thursday’s bombshell announcement. 

Seven Christmas presents for the poker player in your life

What do you get the poker player in your life who has everything? The answer – more of everything!  

Every poker player relies on what they do at the felt to get by, but at Christmas, poker players can be notoriously difficult to buy for. You don’t want to be stuck buying that awful plastic poker set for $9.99 at your local thrift store which features four different coloured poker chips and a dealer button that you could start a game of tiddlywinks with.  

With a week to go until the biggest multi-table tournament in the world, Santa may be getting ready to deal out the cards and gifts, but you’ll want to nudge St. Nick along with one of these tips for a winning present. What will you end up with in your stocking? Simply leave this webpage open close to your nearest and dearest and they’ll do the rest.  

Tip: Why not favourite Calvin Ayre’s Poker Page for extra Father Christmas-related fortune over the festive period? You can find that page right here.