Justin Smith on the Importance of Context, Creativity and a Can Do Attitude Video

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Sam Cohen: Draftkings, Downswings, and a Dad Who Zings Video

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A sleepy Lee Davy paints the news of the 34th day of the 46th Annual World Series of Poker, including a dramatic One Drop victory for Jonathan Duhamel that had to be halted during three-handed play after a man collapsed on the rail, and had to be rushed to hospital.

When you see a man failing to respond to defibrillators pounding his chest, poker takes a back seat.

That’s what happened during an all-in and call, when three-handed, with the Big One for One Drop champion, Daniel Colman, facing elimination against Bill Klein.

Jonathan Duhamel limped the button, Colman moved all-in from the small blind holding [Ks] [Js], Klein also moved all-in, holding [As] [Ad], and Duhamel folded. The cards were turned face up, the flop of [Jd] [5c] [2c] was shown, and a man collapsed on the rail, halting the action for 30-minutes as paramedics tried valiantly to revive him. It’s not known at this time if he survived. Colman didn’t. He was eliminated in third place. A great run for the controversial champion. But nobody seemed to notice. The life sucked out of the contest, like the poor man stretchered into the ambulance. Our prayers are with him.

Canada’s single-game sports betting bill is as dead as a doornail.

Canada’s Senate adjourned for the summer on Tuesday without holding a third reading or a vote on C-290, the bill that would have allowed Canadians to make single-game sports wagers with their provincial lottery corporations. With a federal election scheduled for this fall, all legislation not yet approved officially dies on the order paper.

Under Canada’s Criminal Code, the lottery monopolies are limited to offering parlay sports wagers. NDP Member of Parliament Joe Comartin, whose Windsor constituency includes a Caesars casino that would love to add a proper sportsbook, introduced a private members bill that would have abolished this restriction. Had it survived the Senate’s inattention, the provinces would have been able to offer a product that could compete with the many internationally licensed online sportsbooks that currently serve Canadian punters’ needs.

In March 2012, the House of Commons unanimously approved C-290 and the Senate was expected to follow suit that summer. The bill passed the first two of its required third readings before the unelected members of the Senate decided to dig in their heels, claiming that the bill hadn’t undergone suitably rigorous debate in the Commons. Hearings and fact-free debates followed, but the third reading never materialized.

Just one day after filing for bankruptcy protection, the developer behind the troubled Baha Mar Resort & Casino has filed a civil suit against the Chinese parent company of its main contractor.

On Monday, Baha Mar Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware bankruptcy court, citing debts related to its stalled $3.5b Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas. Baha Mar Ltd. said the voluntary bankruptcy was the result of “financial consequences of the repeated delays” by the general contractor, CCA (Bahamas) Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned firm China Construction America.

Baha Mar’s suit, which was filed in the English High Court, accuses CCA’s parent China State Construction Engineering Corp of failing to meet stated guarantees and performance obligations. Both developer and contractor have publicly blamed each other as responsible for the project’s repeated delays, which have raised concerns about the viability of the venture. Baha Mar Ltd.’s lawsuit seeks various financial remedies from CCA.

Baha Mar also says it has been unable to convince its primary lender, Export-Import Bank of China, to provide the additional funding needed to see the project through to completion. The bank rode to Baha Mar’s rescue in 2010, agreeing to provide capital totaling nearly $2.5b after the project stalled following the 2008 global economic slowdown. But Baha Mar says the bank is refusing to release the final $112m of this guarantee.

Macau casinos will be forced to go completely smoke-free, which analysts believe will further delay the gambling hub’s recovery from its current slump.

The special administrative region’s government posted a notice to its official website on Tuesday, affirming its commitment to ending all smoking in Macau casinos. The plan mirrors Beijing’s efforts to reduce smoking in public places on the mainland to reduce health costs associated with the country’s 300m smokers.

To ensure compliance with the new regime, Macau plans to raise smoking-related fines from their current range of MOP 400-100k (US $50-$12,500) to MOP 1,500-200k. Even the use of electronic cigarettes will be forbidden in casinos and their sale banned outright throughout Macau.

Macau’s government introduced a partial smoking ban last October that restricted smoking to VIP gaming rooms and specially constructed airport-style smoking lounges on the main gaming floor. Both of these exemptions will be eliminated under the new plan, despite protests by casino operators, who spent a lot of time, effort and money altering their properties to comply with the government’s demands.