Monthly Archives: December 2016

D&B Publishing to launch Qui Nguyen autobiography in time for 2017 November nine

D&B Publishing will publish an autobiography of the World Series of Poker Main Event Champion, Qui Nguyen, in time for the 2017 November Nine.

Daniel Negreanu called him ‘the closest thing we have had to Chris Moneymaker,’ and D&B Publishing has got the scoop.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, Qui Nguyen, has agreed to tell his story, and the D&B Publishing team will help him do that. Titled from Vietnam to Vegas! How I won the World Series of Poker Main Event, Nguyen will tell his life story as well as dissecting over 100 key hands from the final table. Steve Blay will co-author.

The WSOP Main Event needed Nguyen after the disaster of the year before. His high-octane style a stark contrast to the slow and laborious bore fest that put most of us to sleep as Joe McKeehen took a stroll in the park.

Vegas casino staff fear rising tide of bad-tipping Chinese tourists

The rising tide of Chinese visitors to Las Vegas isn’t sitting well with frontline casino staff who rely on tips to supplement their meagre salaries.

Earlier this month, China’s Hainan Airlines began the first direct flights between Vegas and Beijing, following the US Department of Transportation signing off on the plan in September. China accounted for 16% of Vegas visitors in 2015 but Vegas is keen to boost this figure, given that Chinese tourists are notoriously big spenders.

That is, unless you’re talking about spending on tips for hotel, restaurant and casino staff. According to a 2016 Mastercard survey, China ranks fourth among Asia-Pacific countries that don’t get the whole tipping thing. Travel research site Wanderbat.com said Chinese tourists typically only tip around 5%, and only in cases where the service is exceptional.

Several Vegas casino staffers offered horror stories to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, with one waiter noting that she’d been tipped a dollar per person on a $200 check, and since the servers are obligated to kick back to the other service staff, she ended up paying her co-workers out of her own pocket.

Vegas casino staff fear rising tide of bad-tipping Chinese tourists

The rising tide of Chinese visitors to Las Vegas isn’t sitting well with frontline casino staff who rely on tips to supplement their meagre salaries.

Earlier this month, China’s Hainan Airlines began the first direct flights between Vegas and Beijing, following the US Department of Transportation signing off on the plan in September. China accounted for 16% of Vegas visitors in 2015 but Vegas is keen to boost this figure, given that Chinese tourists are notoriously big spenders.

That is, unless you’re talking about spending on tips for hotel, restaurant and casino staff. According to a 2016 Mastercard survey, China ranks fourth among Asia-Pacific countries that don’t get the whole tipping thing. Travel research site Wanderbat.com said Chinese tourists typically only tip around 5%, and only in cases where the service is exceptional.

Several Vegas casino staffers offered horror stories to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, with one waiter noting that she’d been tipped a dollar per person on a $200 check, and since the servers are obligated to kick back to the other service staff, she ended up paying her co-workers out of her own pocket.

H20 Data to make a splash with traders

December 2016: Ahead of the ICE Totally Gaming exhibition SBC Events, in association with BetConstruct, will hold a seminar to discuss the critical issue of sports data and show how BetConstruct’s data services can help betting businesses.

Held on the Sunday before the ICE Totally Gaming exhibition, the H20 Data seminar is invite only and will address topics around the speed, range and depth of data. At the seminar BetConstruct will also present its Odds Feed, Live Scouting Data and other sports data services. Held at One Whitehall Place near Embankment Station, H20 Data will combine good debate, great food and fantastic entertainment in one event.

H20 Data is designed to appeal to Sports Betting Traders, C-Level Management, Head of Sportsbooks, Sportbook Directors and Sportsbook Managers.

BetConstruct founder Vigen Badalyan commented: “Data is as important to an operator’s well-being as water is to our personal well-being. As such we thought we’d use the opportunity to shine the spotlight on an area that perhaps doesn’t get looked at too closely and show how vital these services are for betting operators.

Nevada earning millions off unclaimed slots tickets

Nevada casinos and the state government are making a killing off unclaimed gambling winnings.

Ever since Nevada slots and video lottery terminals began issuing paper tickets instead of spitting out actual coins, gamblers have literally been leaving millions of dollars unclaimed. Some of these tickets are presumably lost or left behind in the machine by accident, while others are for minor amounts that the gamblers apparently feel isn’t worth the time or effort required to redeem the tickets at the casino cage.

According to figures compiled by the Las Vegas Sun, nearly $12m worth of winning tickets was left behind in fiscal 2016, with Las Vegas Strip casinos accounting for over $7m of that total.

Under a Nevada law passed in 2011, the tickets are only valid for a period of 180 days or a fixed date established by an individual casino, whichever is sooner. Three-quarters of the unclaimed vouchers are redirected into the state’s general fund, while the casinos keep the remaining 25%.

Singaporeans bombarded with online gambling SMS promos

Residents of Singapore are being bombarded with unsolicited gambling advertisements appearing on their smartphones, according to new statistics from the local privacy watchdog.

This week, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission announced that it had received 8,800 public complaints about unsolicited text message spam promoting ‘easy’ financial loans or unauthorized online gambling services in the period covering January to September 2016.

While the number of complaints is down 18% from the same period in 2015, the loan and gambling come-ons nonetheless represented 80% of all complaints submitted to the Commission. The watchdog group noted that the actual number of such promotions is likely much larger, but many Singaporeans simply don’t bother to file a complaint, in part because many of the gambling services are located outside Singapore and thus fall outside the authorities’ jurisdiction.

Singapore began actively blocking international online gambling sites in February 2015 following passage of the Remote Gambling Act in October 2014. It wasn’t until October of this year that the city-state formally authorized local sports lottery provider Singapore Pools to launch a legally permissible online wagering site. The Singapore Turf Club launched its iTote pari-mutuel wagering site shortly thereafter.