Monthly Archives: March 2015

TIESTO: Hakkasan toasts DJ's Grammy

Saturday night was an award-winning evening as Hakkasan at MGM Grand hosted a celebration for resident DJ Tiesto in honor of him winning his first Grammy Award in February for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, for John Legend’s “All of Me.” The celebration began in the lobby of MGM Grand around 9:30 p.m. where a video collage of his achievements greeted the celebrated Dutch DJ as his hits blared through the speakers in the entrance decked out for Chinese New Year.

Ron Pierce – a four-bagger at Dover

DOVER, Del.— Ultra-consistent Cash Cab scored a 1:56.2 victory in the $15,000 Male Claiming pace feature over a ‘sloppy’ track at was in the sulky for the 1:56.2 triumph, a race in which Cash Cab was claimed by trainer -Tricky Tooshie 10-year-old registered his 41st lifetime win raising earnings to $559,994. Sir Globalop Z Tam closed strongly for Eddie Davis Jr. to secure second.

Wynn Resorts seeks to block Chairman's ex-wife from board

Wynn Resorts Ltd. is seeking to block Elaine Wynn-a major shareholder, longtime director and the ex-wife of company Chairman Steve Wynn-from its board, in the latest tussle at the casino operator with resorts in Las Vegas and Macau. The board decided not to renominate Wynn, who has served for more than a dozen years, once her term expires at the company’s next annual meeting April 24, according to a Friday filing by the company.

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.

The "Best Student Seflie" winner is …

The art of the selfie was not lost on the high schools of Cheyenne and this sports anchor at NewsChannel 5 was glad to have the students at East, Central, South and Laramie enjoy mugging it up for the camera and a quick picture for my Twitter account. In that spirit of picture-taking, we decided to put it to a vote, asking “Which school takes the best “student selfies”.

GTECH rebrands as IGT

Italian lottery and gaming technology firm GTECH has announced on Thursday that upon completion of its acquisition of International Game Technology (IGT), the combined entities will be rebranded as IGT.

The company also announced that Georgia Worldwide PLC., GTECH’s holding company, will change its name to International Game Technology PLC and the executive team that will lead the combined organization, leveraging the strengths of the two combined gaming industry leaders to become the largest gaming and lottery company.

“The combination of GTECH and IGT brings together two highly complementary legacy businesses to form the true blue chip company in global gaming. The new name and branding reflect this positioning. In addition, our two companies have similar core values; in fact, our respective names are derived from the same origin. The comprehensive footprint of our new group fully validates the global claim inscribed in the IGT name,” said GTECH Chief Executive Officer Marco Sala.

“Our new logo, marrying the IGT name and the iconic GTECH globe, draws upon the substantial brand equity of our two companies.  It symbolizes our unique capacity to transform the industry with cutting-edge technology and innovative content; to deliver exciting game experiences through every channel, including gaming, lottery, interactive, mobile, and social; and to be the partner of choice in the global gaming industry, ” Sala added.

The new company will be restructured into four customer-facing business unit in three regions—North America, International and Italy.

The North America region, consisting of two business units, will be separately responsible for driving the growth of the entire product portfolio for WLA customers (North America Lottery) and for Commercial customers (North America Gaming).

The Italy business unit will operate as it does today while the International business unit will be responsible for the strategic development and management of all business conducted outside of North America and Italy, across the company’s entire product portfolio.

Who's The New Millionaire Who Bought Winning Lottery Ticket In Concord?

A ticket sold in Concord matched five out of the six numbers in last night’s Powerball drawing — a ticket now worth $1,021,713, according to the California Lottery. The retailer — Monument — will also receive a bonus of $5,108.56 or one half of 1 percent of the winner’s prize, lottery officials said.

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.