Monthly Archives: March 2015

March Madness and MLB Linked by CEO Pool

By Joe Favorito
@joefav
How can baseball benefit from March Madness? It’s In The Pool.
As we head toward the Final Four and Opening Day of Baseball there is an interesting mix we had previously talked about that ties both sports together in an unusual way. At the beginning of March Madness, Bloomberg announced a pool with 32 high level CEO’s each kicking in $10,000, with the winner getting the whole pot, $320,000 to go to a dedicated charity of their choice.
The list of CEO’s ranged from Michael Bloomberg to AOL’s Tim Armstrong, and from the Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to Under Armour’s Kevin Plank, all chipping in for the cause of their choice. From education to food banks, cancer charities to wrestling programs, the help would be for a wide range of programs.
As we turn the corner and head for home in Indianapolis the Final Four has little Cinderella and lots of favorites, all of which could lead to a compelling finish to a great event at Lucas Oil Stadium. Who in the Bloomberg pool could cash in? One unique mix has baseball potentially benefitting, while the other may have some good karma for basketball and LeBron James.
Gary Cohen, CEO of Goldman Sachs, leads the group with all four of his Final Four intact, but needs Bo Ryan’s Wisconsin Badgers to win it all. If Frank Kaminsky and company make it past Kentucky and through the finals, the windfall would go to HARLEM RBI, the not-for-profit that works with Major League Baseball to grow the game in inner cities.
Cohen’s 144 points places him ahead of Quicken Loans Founder and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers Dan Gilbert, who is second with 139 points and has 3/4’s of the Final Four left. The difference is Gilbert has overwhelming favorite Kentucky winning it all, which would move him to the top spot as he plays for the Children’s Tumor Foundation .
EBay President and CEO John Donahoe is third, with Milwaukee Bucks owner Mark Lasry fourth, although neither appear to have the mix to leapfrog the top two.
On the bottom, keep fretting Lakers fans, as it looks like CEO Jeanie Buss will be bringing up the rear with just 90 points, although she does have Kentucky winning it all. Plank sadly is just ahead of her and with no one left in his Final Four, he may hit bottom as well. All in fun and philanthropy though.
The new concept by Bloomberg could bode well for giving elsewhere as well. How about a Women’s World Cup pool coming up as well, with some global heads putting $10 K in the kitty.
View original Source: Bloomberg’s Brackets for a Cause

Belle Corp income; SM Group slows roll on Cebu casino talk

Philippine-listed Belle Corp, the company that owns the property where City of Dreams Manila stands, has reported a 30% year-on-year drop in consolidated net income in 2014.

Belle, which now focuses on real estate development, saw its 2014 overall net income drop to Php2.56 billion compared to Php3.6 billion in 2013. But according to the company, its net income in 2013 was inflated by net non-recurring gains by Php 1.5 billion. Despite the drop in net income, the company still saw its operating income improve by 21% on the strength of earnings it made from Melco Crown’s lease on the 6.2-hectare land in Entertainment City.

The integrated resort and casino only opened on February 2, 2015 after a soft opening on December 14, 2014, but Belle indicated in its results filing that accrued payments were still made in the pre-opening period of the resort.

The company also said that it had posted operating revenues of Php3.16 billion in 2014, up from the Php2.62 billion it posted in the same time period the year before. Likewise, increased income from listed subsidiaries, including Premium Leisure Corp and Pacific Online Systems Corp, contributed in the company’s increase in income. Part of the earnings from Premium Leisure Corp is tied into the gaming revenues of COD Manila.

Singapore casinos, lottery close operations to pay respects to Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, considered as the founding father of Singapore, was a loved and well-respected man in his country. Over the weekend, those emotions came pouring out when the country formally held the funeral service for its departed pioneer.

Respectful tributes were made throughout Singapore, even extending to the country’s two casinos – Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands – both of which closed operations from 2 pm to 6 pm on Sunday to pay their respects to Lee.

Resorts World Sentosa also asked its staff to wear somber colors on the day of the state funeral. The operator canceled its Crane Dance and Lake of Dreams night shows from March 23 to March 31 while also suspending most business operations in other attractions from 2 pm to 2:05 pm on Sunday.

“Together with the rest of the nation, we mourn the loss of a great leader. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,” Resorts World Sentosa said on its website last week.

On Deck: Wrestlemania 31 underdogs win as WWE pulls out betting surprises again

For the second straight year, the WWE proved that betting on Wrestlemania odds is harder than it looks. In the run-up to the event, numerous sportsbooks released odds on the matches scheduled for Wrestlemania 31. But as the saying goes in the world of professional wrestling, “results are subject to change at the last minute” and yes, the dramatic swing in odds from some of those matches late in the weekend proved as much.

The most significant swing happened in the match between Triple H and Sting. For the better part of last week, sportsbooks had Sting as the overwhelming favorite at 1/7 odds with Triple H the heavy underdog at 4/1 odds. But once the smart money arrived the days leading up to Wrestlemania 31, the odds on the two wrestlers flipped with the WWE COO the heavy favorite at 2/25 odds compared to Sting who was now on the receiving end of 4/1 odds. The lesson: if you had bet on Triple H to win when he was still the prohibitive underdog, you would’ve cashed out on some pretty sweet odds.

Another example of a 360-degree flip in odds was the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. From the onset, it appeared that WWE was ready to coronate Reigns as the next face of the company. The odds certainly reflected as much since the young Samoan was the 2/7 favorite compared to Lesnar who was a 9/4 underdog. Part of the rationale behind those odds was the belief that Lesnar wouldn’t renew his contract with WWE, which was supposed to expire the day after Wrestlemania 31, to make a return to the UFC. But Lesnar went on ESPN early last week and announced his contract extension with the WWE. That was more than enough for sportsbooks to drop his odds to even money compared to Reigns, who saw his own odds rise to 10/11.

Turns out, the unstable line movements in the match amounted to nothing as neither Lesnar nor Reigns came out of Wrestlemania 31 as the champion. Seth Rollins, who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, is the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Who saw that coming?

Betfair sign up PoliticalBetting.com Founder Mike Smithson; BetConstruct partners with Gaming1

Betfair has appointed PoliticalBetting.com Founder Mike Smithson as it ramp up its political betting offer for the UK General Election in May.

Under the agreement, former Liberal Democrat politician Smithson has been hired on a consultancy basis for creating new betting props for the coming election. He also started contributing articles for Betfair.com and BetfairPredicts.com—operator’s devoted site for UK General Election, which was released on the Apple App Store on Wednesday.

“Betting markets have an impressive track record of predicting outcomes and Betfair is offering its most comprehensive range of markets ever for those looking to get involved,” said James Midmer, Betfair political spokesperson. “This is the tightest election for years and people will want as much insight as they can get.”

Meanwhile, Gambling betting technology provider BetConstruct has announced its odds provisions partnership with Gaming 1, giving access to 20,000 potential markets via Gaming1 brand website Circus.be.

Clarion signs event partnership with Gamcrowd

Gambling event and expos organizer Clarion Events has signed a two-year content and event partnership, which has a renewal option, with GamCrowd.

Under the deal, gambling crowd-funding site GamCrowd will reprise Pitch ICE at ICE 2016 and will host Start-Up LaunchPad competition at GiGse and EiG 2015.

GiGse 2015, which takes place at Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, from April 20-22, will be the first edition covered by the new partnership.

In Start-Up LaunchPad competition, similar to Pitch ICE, will see companies pitch their business propositions in front of investors and a room full of top-level executives and will be judge by a panel led by Chairman Ian Hogg.

Why Fred Phelps' granddaughter left the Westboro Baptist Church

The first time Megan Phelps-Roper came to Las Vegas, it was May 2004 and she was here to picket a live recording of the Howard Stern show at the Hard Rock Hotel. Standing beside her two younger siblings, 18-year-old Phelps-Roper wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase for which her family is most famous: God hates fags.

Chicago woman wins $2 million in scratch-off lottery ticket

A Chicago woman will visit Paris for the first time after winning a $2 million lottery prize, the Illinois Lottery announced last week. Ebony Austin, 33, was on her way to visit friends in north suburban Antioch when she stopped at Express gas station, 511 Grand Ave. in Ingleside, according to a statement issued by the Illinois Lottery on March 27. She bought her first, $10 “50X The Cash” lottery ticket and scratched it when she arrived at her friend’s home.

Terry Trebilcock on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and King of the Cage

Rebecca Liggero talks to Terry Trebilcock, founder and owner of King of the Cage,  on how he started in MMA and how he got involved in gambling industry.

 

Terry Trebilcock got involved ans started managing athletic clubs, and training alongside fighters and body builders in 1997. He saw a future that one day would take MMA into the mainstream.

In 1998, Trebilcock launched King of the Cage. The first KOTC event was held on a tennis court. Terry built an organization that would prove to be a leader in the fastest growing sport in the world.

March Madness 2015: Final Four set

So it’s set.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is down to four teams.

In a lot of ways, this was the kind of Final Four that many would’ve predicted. Three of the four top seeds are in and the only outlier—if you can even call it that—is a 7 seed in Michigan State that isn’t lacking in big game experience.

There are no Cinderellas in this dance, folks.

Gambling officials declare…

Two officials at the state agency overseeing gambling disclosed they had conflicts of interest recently when it came time to decide on a matter affecting a former official who has gone to work for the gaming industry. Robert Lytle, the former chief of the state gambling enforcement unit, went on to build a successful business consulting for card rooms across the state after leaving his state job in 2007.

Get Out of the Venetian! The Poker World Direct Anger at the TDA

The Tournament Director’s Association anger the poker community after announcing plans to hold their biennial event at The Venetian in Las Vegas. A casino owned by online gambling destroyer Sheldon Adelson.

Face palm moment.

All three of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons could not create as much heat as the Tournament Director’s Association (TDA) are currently facing, after board member Matt Savage tweeted their intention to host the 2015 event at The Venetian, Las Vegas, June 16-17.

The Venetian.