Category Archives: In The Law

Wynn v. Chanos slander suit dismissed with prejudice; Wynn gets Girls Gone Wild cash

Wynn Resorts casino magnate Steve Wynn’s defamation lawsuit against hedge fund manager Jim Chanos has been dismissed with prejudice.

Wynn filed suit in September following comments Chanos made at a panel discussion at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism last April. Chanos, who manages the Kynikos Associates fund, told attendees that he’d reduced his holdings in Macau-based casino firms – including Wynn Macau – over fears that Macau’s junket industry left such companies open to potential violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In December, US District Judge William Orrick dismissed Wynn’s suit, saying Chanos’ comments couldn’t be construed as suggesting Wynn had violated the FCPA. Wynn subsequently revised his lawsuit but Orrick wasn’t swayed, issuing a judgment on Tuesday saying anyone “need look no further than the transcript” of the event” to conclude that Chanos’ comments “do not amount to a statement of fact, but rather an opinion that is not actionable.” Adding insult to injury, Orrick ordered Wynn to pay Chanos’ court costs.

In a more positive development, Wynn will see a little more scratch from his pursuit of gambling debts owed by Joe Francis, the former ‘brains’ behind the Girls Gone Wild (GGW) soft-core porn company.

GGW filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2013 to protect its assets from court judgments giving Wynn permission to take the assets as partial repayment of Francis’ unpaid casino markers. Wynn was also awarded hefty judgments after winning defamation suits against Francis.

Last April, the GGW brand was sold for $1.8m to a Liquidity Capital-led investment group. On Monday, a bankruptcy court ruled that the proceeds of this sale will be divvied up between GGW creditors, including Steve.

Meanwhile, Francis and his girlfriend Abbey Wilson have an April 2 hearing in a federal court to determine if they should go to jail for failing to turn over two luxury cars belonging to the GGW estate. Francis has claimed that a Mexican strip club owner took the vehicles as compensation for several GGW promotions that never materialized.

Casino mogul Steve Wynn's slander lawsuit against Jim Chanos got slapped down hard

Steve Wynn, president and CEO of Wynn Resorts, speaks at the panel titled “Steve Wynn on Building and Sustaining Great Customer Service” at the 2008 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, April 29, 2008. A California judge has dismissed casino mogul Steve Wynn’s libel lawsuit against hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates.

Interview with John Pappas of Poker Players Alliance

Becky Liggero talks John Pappas of Poker Players Alliance as he shares what he learned at the G2E iGaming Congress and gave an update on federal online poker legislation.

Becky Liggero: I am here with John Pappas, executive director of Poker Players Alliance (PPA).This is the day of iGaming Congress. So, John, tell what have you observed today so far in the Congress. What have you learned?

John Pappas: Well it’s always great to be here as a kind of a representative of the player community. I think it is important that we have a presence here and have a voice here to interact with the companies in iGaming space and this is really the biggest gathering of iGaming companies. One of the biggest gathering of the iGaming companies in the United States. So it is important that we’re here. the panels have been excellent talking about everything from importance of knowing your customer and the trials and tribulations that players have to be able to deposit money to the site and all that goes into it is something i thought was very valuable to listen to and follow up to those people that run the panel. A lot of what happens here, happens outside of the panel, in the hallways here in the discussions that you have and how often is it that i gotta sit and talk with New Jersey regulators and California regulators alongside with heads of poker room for bwin and or for Partypoker or for PokerStars. So this is a great place for us to be. to be able to have the perspective of the players.

Becky Liggero: We know that regulations here in America for online gambling is obviously a big topic. What do you think is what were going to see in 2015 for new states jumping on board.

John Pappas: a few states that jumped out to everybody and that’s Pennsylvania and California are the two that are on the tip of my tongue, take New York will be on the shortlist as well as Illinois. You know it’s a struggle. It’s a long, slow process here in the US. And quite frankly, what I’ve always seen is it usually takes few legislative sessions for something like this. So in California, we’ve had multiple legislative sessions plus we have tribal issue that’s overhanging everything. In Pennsylvania, we had some bills introduce last year, some hearings and discussions. I think we’ve passed critical hurtle allowed one legislative to go by and now i think in 2015, we’re gonna see more bills to be introduced, more hearings and i believe there will be some votes in Pennsylvania on legislation. Which way they go right now is hard for me to say. I’m leaning to Pennsylvania state to legalize internet poker and internet gaming broadly.

Becky Liggero: I remember in the past we’re always pushing for Federal online poker. Can you give us an update on what’s happening on a federal perspective.

John Pappas: Federal bill is something i think everybody in the conference would support because of the harmonizing of multiple states. the idea of 50 different states, 50 different regulatory regimes is still very problematic for the industry, very problematic for the players but that’s what we have because we have congress that’s unlikely to pass a bill that’s licensing and regulating internet gaming nationwide. Given that, we still have a congress that could do something very bad.We’re standing here at Sands Expo and the owner of this casino is also one of the biggest opponent of online gambling. He’s been spending a lot of money in the upcoming election to ensure that he gets people in congress to support his issues. Maybe some all sort of things but internet gaming being one of them.That’s a real threat. I would put it probably below 20% right now that i’ts going to happen. That’s too high of a risk for us to just kind of sitting back and hope that it does not happen. We’re gonna be very engaged over next several months to make sure on a Federal level they do no harm. I don’t think they can do any good for us and at the minimum they can do any harm.

The Secret Blackjack Ball: A Night at the World’s Most Exclusive Gambling Club

This is a guest contribution by Michael Craig, an author, journalist, and lawyer. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Food, Drinks, Geniuses, Fake Names, Gossip, Introductions, Reunions, a Hall of Fame Induction, an Undisclosed Location, Competition, and – of Course – Gambling

One night a year, the best blackjack players in the world convene for the Secret Blackjack Ball. Gambler, author, and consultant Max Rubin has been organizing the invitation-only gathering since 1997. Like millions of lovers of blackjack, casinos, and secret meetings, I regretfully missed out on the 2014 Blackjack Ball. It took place at an undisclosed location in late January, leaving the rest of us to piece together what happened from tidbits leaking online, my brief correspondence with Mr. Rubin, and discrete comments from some past and current attendees.

Invitation to the Ball

Nineteen years ago, Max Rubin started the Blackjack Ball in his home. “It was a way,” he explained, “for players from different blackjack teams and solo players to get together and a place to hang out.” Part of the Ball’s unique charm from the beginning was that many of its members had never met.

By 2004, the Blackjack Ball became too big for Max’s home. Attendance at the Blackjack Ball is by invitation only, and the current secret location seats only 112 (including guests). There are literally hundreds of bona fide professional gamblers vying as plus-ones or campaigning Max to get on the list. “It’s fun being a very popular guy one night a year but I still haven’t figured out how to say ‘No’ to a lot of really nice folks without sounding like an arrogant a-hole.”

Max has a special place in the Blackjack world: legendarily generous host, organizer and secret-keeper, and supposedly the only attendee of the Ball who has “crossed over” to work for the casino industry. (I’ve been told that other attendees have consulted for casinos in some capacity.) Mr. Rubin consults with Barona Casino in San Diego, which, in addition to offering some excellent blackjack rules, has a wall commemorating members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Pinnacle Sports’ new owners unveil regulated market expansion strategy

Online sports betting operator Pinnacle Sports’ new owners have unveiled their plans for world domination.

One of the oldest and most celebrated of online bookmakers, Pinnacle announced last month that unidentified parties had taken a “controlling interest” in the Curacao-licensed outfit. On Tuesday, Pinnacle revealed that the deal had been consummated in August 2014, although the exact identities of the new ownership remain a mystery. For what it’s worth, the legal firms that advised the new owners on the sale were based in Ireland and the UK.

In a statement, Pinnacle CEO Paris Smith claimed to be “extremely excited” to be working with the new owner(s) on a “shared vision” that includes “significant product enhancement and expansion into regulated territories.” Smith promised “cutting-edge” new products were being readied for the “concerted drive into new global markets.”

Customers will hope the new owners have extra deep pockets, as governments in European regulated markets tend to view online gambling operators as piggy banks. So costs will go up and margins will go down. But Smith assured customers that “the fundamental principles that make the brand so unique will not be compromised.”

Pinnacle appeared to be taking a shift away from regulated markets last year, withdrawing from the UK market before the Sept. 15 deadline for new licensing imposed by the UK Gambling Commission. The year before that, Pinnacle returned the online gambling license it had been issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC).

Both of those moves followed Pinnacle being named in a late-2012 indictment by US authorities that linked the site to an illegal messenger betting ring connected with former Cantor Gaming VP Michael Colbert. Pinnacle withdrew from the US market in 2007 but introduced new IP-blocking of US accounts following the indictment. Members of Pinnacle’s previous ownership named in the indictment have since seen their charges either dropped or drastically reduced.

Pinnacle’s new strategy may see it eventually welcomed back into markets that had previously blacklisted the site, including Bulgaria, which tagged a scarlet letter on Pinnacle in July 2013. Russia, which blacklisted Pinnacle in March 2014, is reportedly planning to institute a legal online sports betting regime this June, although who gets to participate remains murky. In case it needs saying, American bettors aren’t advised to hold their breath for a return of Pinnacle to US shores.

China online gambling bust; Korean site orders DDOS attacks on competitor

Authorities in China have broken up an international online gambling operation based in Hunan province.

China’s official press agency Xinhua quoted Chinese police saying they’d detained 19 individuals following a two-month investigation. A further eight individuals have been targeted for arrest over their roles in the operation of the Shenbo Sun City website, whose servers were based outside the country.

Police said the operation earned a profit of RMB 1.4b (US $$223m) between May 2013 and Oct 2014. Police have frozen approximately 1,000 bank accounts across China containing around RMB 200m. This marks China’s second major bust of 2015, having taken down a similarly large operation in Shandong province in January.

Over in South Korea, authorities have arrested two ‘cyber security experts’ accused of targeting an online gambling site with distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. Intriguingly, the hackers were hired by another illegal online gambling operator intent on eliminating his competition.

The Korea Times quoted the National Police Agency saying a man named Yang, the owner of an online security company, was paid a hefty KRW 1b (US $911k) since May 2014 to target the online gambling operator’s competitor on multiple occasions. Neither site operator was publicly identified by police.

On Sept. 25, Yang reportedly hacked into 12k computers and commanded them to spam the targeted site with messages in order to crash its servers. Yang told police he’d agreed to don the black hat because his legal sources of income were “unstable.” Police are continuing to investigate to determine what other DDOS attacks Yang and his henchman might have launched.

Columbus schools to consider property-tax settlement on original casino site

The tale of the Arena District land that almost became home to Columbus’ casino adds another chapter tonight when the Board of Education is to vote on whether to accept a half-million-dollar property-tax settlement. The issue: What was the parcel worth for that brief period in 2009 and 2010 when, according to a voter-approved amendment to the Ohio Constitution, it was one of only four sites in the state where casino gambling would be legal? In November 2009, Ohio voters cleared the 18.3 acres just west of the Huntington Park baseball stadium as a site where gambling could be conducted, making it much more valuable than the contaminated former tool factory owned by Jaeger Machine Co.

Florida legislator seeks gambling overhaul in the state

Florida Representative and House Majority Leader Dana Young filed a 332-page legislative, calling for an overhaul of the state’s gambling laws.

Young, considered as the leader of the House Republican caucus, filed the package a day before the state Legislature begins its annual session, proposing two destination resort casinos in the state, slot machines at two pari-mutuels outside South Florida, the introduction of new kinds of games, and the creation of a statewide gambling commission.

Young explained her decision to file all these bills, saying that the time is right to have this kind of conversation because “at some point, our members are going to possibly be required to make a decision on renewal or expiration of the Seminole gaming compact.”

However, at no point in Young’s legislation did she mention of the tribe, which is nearing the end of its own five-year deal with the state that gives it exclusive rights to offer card games like blackjack at its nine casinos throughout the state. If the tribe and Governor Rick Scott can’t come to an agreement on the issue, the state will lose out on its revenue-sharing deal with the Indian tribe as required by the compact.

When asked why she didn’t include them in this bill, Young said that since the tribe hasn’t come to an agreement with the state on their issues, there was no point include them, although she did say that the state is “certainly open to continuing dialogue with the Tribe as to how they fit in the larger picture.”

According to Young, the absence of this revenue sharing with the Seminole tribe is a big reason why it’s time for the state to reignite talks of allowing destination casinos in Florida. As part of her proposal, the state would open bidding for two destination resorts in the state, which would require a $2 billion investment per resort, excluding the cost of buying land, as well as approval from any host county where these resorts will rise. In return, these proposed resorts would have to pay state coffers a guaranteed amount of $175 million for each resort while also making them liable to pay state and local taxes from all operations of the resort.

Another item in Young’s proposal involves cutting slots tax for pari-mutuels from 35% to 25% should the government green light the opening of destination resorts anywhere in the state.

Wynn Resorts removes Elaine Wynn from the board

Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced in a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that the company is reducing its Class I board members from three to two, removing Elaine Wynn as director.

The board decided not to re-nominate Elaine Wynn—the former wife of company Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, major shareholder, and director of Wynn Resorts for more than 12 years—after her term expires at the company’s next annual meeting on April 24.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee cited several reasons including a 2012 lawsuit she filed against her ex-husband to change a longstanding stockholders agreement, “actual or potential conflicts,” and her “lack of independence under Nasdaq listing standards and resulting inability to serve on key board committees.”

“This news is extraordinarily disappointing, not just because I, as the co-founder of Wynn Resorts, have devoted my life to making this company a success, but because the decision excludes the last woman director from the board,” Elaine Wynn said in statement emailed from Southern California attorney and political strategist Mark Fabiani on Monday. “I am reviewing all of my options.”

Elaine Wynn also told the company, in a letter dated Feb. 13, that if the board failed to nominate her to serve another three years as a director, she would nominate herself and deliver a proxy statement to stockholders.

Wynn Resorts Spokesman Michael Weaver said on Sunday that the company wouldn’t comment about the details of the proxy statement. “Steve Wynn supported the candidacy of Elaine Wynn; but the board, as a whole, accepted the recommendation of the nominating and corporate governance committee in electing to reduce the number of inside directors and not re-nominate her.”

Aside from reducing the number of its Class I Board members, Wynn also announced during its filing that Wynn Palace’s estimated figure has changed from $4b to $4.1b, a 2.5% increase and the opening of the casino would be delayed in the first half of 2016, instead of the initial plan to open before the 2016 Chinese New Year, which will fall on Feb 8.

Innovation in iGaming Profiles: NU Entertainment

In 2007 James Findlay and his partner Carolyn Hammond conceived the NU card and gaming system.  Several years later the pair formed Lucky Games Australia to focus on the development of NU and Findlay took up a position as the Co-Founding Director. Since then, according to Findlay, Lucky Games has built a collection of new game content and an IP portfolio, all with granted patents, registered trademarks, domains and branded merchandise.

Findlay has a passion for math and design and his professional background is in the building industry and property development.  He’s an inventor and an entrepreneur at heart and his experience in several different fields eventually led him to developing an entirely new system of games for the gambling industry.

I had the pleasure of meeting Findlay at ICE Totally Gaming 2015 and he gave me my own pack of NU cards so I could test out the system myself.  More recently I had the opportunity to follow up with Findlay on his proprietary games and learn why iGaming operators would be interested in licensing his product.

Becky Liggero: James, its lovely to have you for our innovator series.  Can you describe the complex process of developing NU Entertainment? I know you have a number of patents as well.

James Findlay: Patent applications are extensive and at times exhaustive, that said, by receiving granted patents is evidence that your invention is truly novel and innovative.  NU is a gaming apparatus with granted patents in the U.S, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Japan and pending in 42 other jurisdictions including UK/Europe, China and Macau.  The most innovative and disruptive card deck in 800 years; It’s akin to patenting the modern, metric expandable version of the 52.

We are now positioned to offer our proprietary exclusive NU Game content to leading social and cash game developers and operators. Licensing allows expert gaming companies, to exclusively exploit the NU IP while having a legal monopoly.

BL: That certainly is a lot of patents.  How is NU Poker different than traditional poker and why would a player choose NU over traditional?

Ault group bets on Manila; Pagcor Net Income Up; religious groups still no fun

Groups of religious sector in Baguio and Benguet have expressed its opposition, again, on gambling, encouraging people to restrain in any form of gambling.

“In our concern for the common good, we exhort our people in Baguio and Benguet to abstain from all forms of gambling, be they legal or illegal, like jueteng, e-bingo, online gambling or casino,” the statement said.

The group includes the Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group, the Diocese of Baguio, the United Methodist Group, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, the Commission on Ecumenism of the Roman Catholic Church, the St. Stephen Lutheran Church, the Philippine Military Evangelical Church and the Assembly of God.

Last year, Baguio City Bishop Carlito Cenzon asked the local government to prevent the entrance of a casino or any gambling or gaming enterprise into the city and the province, saying that gambling “usually leads to an unhealthy lifestyle, later on financial problems, and social problems such as criminalities.”

Meanwhile in Manila, the government promotes casinos to boost tourism and the economy. Solaire, the first integrated resorts built in Manila, intensifies efforts to attract more high rollers; while the newly-opened Melco’s City of Dreams has welcomed 600,000 visitors and high occupancy rates since its December 15, 2014 soft opening. There are two more integrated resorts coming: Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp’s $2 billion project expected to open in 2016 and Travellers International partners with Genting Hong Kong, which is expected to start operation in 2018.

On Monday, State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) announced a 5.05% year-on-year increase to PHP3.25 billion (US$73.7 million) in net income for 2014.

PAGCOR saw its revenue fell by 1.32% year-on-year to PHP39.99 billion, reporting a loss of PHP12.17 million on foreign exchange. The company’s gaming revenue, however, increased by 8.51% to PHP29.93 compared to 2013, still below 2014′s annual target of PHP31.02 billion.

Pennsylvania online gambling bill no longer poker-only; Illinois online lotto seeks permanence

Pennsylvania’s new online gambling legislation is no longer poker-only after a revised draft was posted to the state House of Representatives’ website.

HB 649 was originally touted by Rep. John Payne (pictured on the left) as authorizing online poker and casino games, yet when the actual text of the bill surfaced last week, its definition of ‘authorized games’ was limited to “any interactive poker game approved by the [Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board}.”

HB 649’s latest version defines authorized games as “any interactive game approved by the board under this chapter” while interactive games are defined as “any gambling game offered through the use of communications technology.”

Tune in tomorrow, when HB 649’s definition of interactive game is redefined as referring only to Pong, Tetris and e-Mumblety-peg, while the definition of ‘John Payne’ is changed to John ‘Flip-Flop’ Kerry.

A little further west in Illinois, state Rep. Ed Sullivan has filed legislation that would make the state’s online lottery a permanent program. This month marks three years since the Illinois Lottery became the first in the nation to offer online ticket sales, but the digital site was part of a pilot program scheduled to last no more than 48 months. Sullivan’s HB 3870 would amend the Illinois Lottery Law to enshrine the online sales as a permanent fixture.

Illinois’ online lottery is currently facing a more imminent threat than the expiration of that 48-month timeline. The federal Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) legislation currently making its way through Congress would prohibit all online gambling except for horseracing and fantasy sports, although suggestions have been made that state lotteries are quietly negotiating with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to obtain a carveout for their online operations. A House Judiciary subcommittee has scheduled a RAWA hearing for Thursday (5) at 9:30am ET.

Things to know as New Mexico weighs new tribal casino deal

New Mexico lawmakers are facing a hard deadline as agreements that allow a handful of American Indian tribes to operate casinos approach their expiration date. Gov. Susana Martinez’s office has spent the past three years working with tribes to craft a new gambling compact that supporters say would bring stability to New Mexico’s gaming industry, protect jobs and increase revenues to the state.

Primorye opening schedule; South Ossetia puts the clamps on gambling

The Primorye gambling zone in Russia is on the cusp of becoming a world-class gambling destination as its first hotel and casino prepares for its May 2015 opening.

Initial plans called for the Lawrence Ho-led First Gambling Company of the Far East‘s casino project to launch in March but Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky announced in December that the opening would be postponed two months.

The launch is widely seen as a catalyst for more investors to consider joining the new gambling zone, which has already secured investments from a number of world-class casino operators, including Cambodia’s NagaCorp.

Primorye has so far attracted significantly more investment than Russia’s other designated gambling zones. In January, Primorye officials said the region had received investment pledges amounting to $2.2 billion, including $1.4 billion from Ho’s Melco International Development and NagaCorp.

According to a member of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, the Altay region has generated close to 7 billion rubles in investments, roughly $114.2 million based on current exchange rates.

Meanwhile, just south of Russia is the “partially recognized” state of South Ossetia, whose parliament passed a law banning all types of gambling activities within its borders, largely due to a seeming lack of interest from residents. The revenue numbers for 2014 appear to back up this move as the state generated only 106,000 rubles from gambling for the entire year. That’s around $1,730 based on current rates.

South Ossetia’s ban includes all slot machines and sports betting shops. Failure to comply with the new law could result in an administrative penalty and fines starting at 500,000 rubles ($8,000).

Sports gambling hot topic at Sloan Conference

The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference has become an increasingly important event in the sports community, having in large part revolutionized the approach taken by professional sports teams regarding their day-to-day businesses both on and off the playing area. But one question posed at this year’s conference paints a picture on how analytics can have a sophisticated effect on sports betting.

Make no mistake; gambling, at its core, is inherently analytical, but there’s still a heavy appetite for increased coverage on this front. That’s a big reason why sports gambling was heavily discussed at the conference, specifically the way analytics can have an effect towards legalizing sports gambling in the US.

One of the key items was discussed by Florida State professor Ryan Rodenberg, who suggested that a heavy and sophisticated dose of analytics could quell fears of fraud and match fixing. Rodenberg pointed out that outside the US, a handful of private firms like Sportradar already specialize in this kind of analytics and it’s already being used by a wide variety of sports leagues and associations all over the world.

During the same conference, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred also took time to discuss his stance on legalizing sports gambling in the US. While he admits that the topic is complicated enough on its own right, he also acquiesced to the growing reality that there are inherent benefits in legalizing sports betting, especially with a sport like baseball that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

Having that legalized betting element could drive up interest in the sport without circumventing any rules that would, as all these commissioners are so used to saying, “ruin the integrity of the sport.”

“I think that enough has happened that it’s incumbent upon me and my staff to take to the owners the developments in this area, to have a conversation about some of the rules that go beyond the play of the game on the field that we’ve had traditionally in baseball and revisit those,” the MLB commish added.

Manfred also took time to acknowledge his NBA counterpart for “starting the debate” on the issue, and while he doesn’t whole-heartedly embrace everything Adam Silver said, he agreed with Silver’s proposition that a universal federal system to govern sports gambling is the way to go, if it does end up going there.

New Jersey sports betting advocates call DOJ, leagues hypocrites

New Jersey’s sports betting advocates have filed their last legal briefs ahead of oral arguments before the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals take place on March 17.

The state’s second attempt at passing sports betting legislation would allow wagering at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks. The state’s opponents – the US Department of Justice (DOJ), four pro sports leagues and the NCAA – have argued that New Jersey can’t selectively repeal the federal PASPA sports betting prohibition, but must adopt an all-or-nothing approach.

In Friday’s filing, New Jersey’s advocates point out that it was the federal courts who originally suggested that states had the authority to define the “exact contours” of their PASPA adherence. The DOJ had previously argued that PASPA was constitutional because it allowed states to repeal its prohibitions “in whole or in part” while the leagues had allowed at least the theoretical possibility that states could prohibit “some but not all forms of sports gambling” without contradicting PASPA’s edicts.

New Jersey also poked holes in their opponents’ arguments that the new legislation “confines sports gambling to state-licensed gambling venues” and thus amounts to the state taking an active oversight role, something PASPA forbids. New Jersey points out that the law would also allow betting to take place on the premises of two closed racetracks – Garden State Park and Atlantic City Race Course – neither of which are currently licensed by any agency of the state.

A separate brief filed by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NJTHA) attempts a divide-and-conquer strategy by asking whether any of the leagues could individually choose to allow bets to be taken on their games. The NJTHA argues that should (for example) NBA Commissioner Adam Silver strike a deal to allow basketball wagers at New Jersey tracks, the other leagues would “have no basis to seek or obtain an injunction covering other people’s games.”

The NJTHA also argue that the leagues have “unclean hands” via their embrace of daily fantasy sports. Having sworn in court that the integrity of their games would suffer irreparable harm from New Jersey betting, the leagues “invoked federal equitable jurisdiction to prevent others from engaging in conduct that they, themselves, were, and are, actively engaged and from which they make millions.” Such an “unconscionable double standard” reduces the “time-honored doctrine of unclean hands to a dead letter.”

Alibaba Group latest to suspend online lottery sales; 500.com braces for lawsuit

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has become the latest to pull its online lottery services offline as Beijing looks to clean up the lottery business.

On Saturday, Alibaba’s consumer site Taobao.com and mobile payment service Alipay abruptly suspended online lottery sales. The Taobao Lottery’s official Weibo account informed players that winning tickets already sold would be honored while players who’d signed up for pre-paid tickets would have their money refunded within “at most, 5 working days.” Taobao was responsible for 11.3% of online lottery sales, according to stats released during last year’s FIFA World Cup.

In January, several top-level ministries in Beijing ordered provincial lottery administration centers to shut down all unauthorized online sports and welfare lottery operators by March 1. Last week, shares in Shenzhen-based 500.com – one of only two companies Beijing has officially authorized to participate in an online sports lottery pilot program – plunged after the company announced it was “temporarily” suspending sales of four online lottery products responsible for around 10% of its revenue.

Meanwhile, 500.com is using the dramatic downgrade in its share price to launch a share buyback program. In a decision announced on Saturday, 500.com’s board of directors authorized the company to repurchase up to $30m of its outstanding shares from time to time depending on market conditions.

More trouble is mounting for 500.com in the United States, where the company’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ exchange. China Daily reported that a class action lawsuit may be brewing after the law firm of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman opened an investigation into possible disclosure irregularities and insider trading. A 500.com spokesman said the firm was aware of the investigation but had yet to receive an official complaint regarding the matter.