Leeds welcomed the world to the opening of its ‘large’ casino on Thursday, but it was a rival casino in London that was popping the champagne corks.

Thousands of looky-loos attended Thursday’s grand opening of Victoria Gate Casino, the £30m gaming venue operated by London-based Global Gaming Ventures (GGV). The casino is the third-largest in the country and the biggest in the north of England and Scotland.

Thursday’s proceedings got underway with an invitation-only affair featuring 1,200 VIPs that saw the ribbon-cutting ceremony and the first turn of the venue’s roulette wheels. At 9pm, the doors were opened to the throngs of great unwashed plebs who’d been queueing outside to take a peek inside the new gaming joint.

GGV CEO Andrew Herd called the opening “a pivotal moment” for the city, which can now boast of having a “stylish, buzzing entertainment hub in the heart of Leeds city center where everyone from first-time visitors and passers-by to top poker players are catered for.”

Online poker star PokerStars is testing new random seating software on its ring games to curb bumhunting by sharp players.

On Wednesday, PokerStars’ blog announced the introduction of Seat Me, which will automatically assign players a seat at a random table after they’ve selected game and stake options. The new software will make its debut on Spanish site PokerStars.es, after which Stars will review the results and consider rolling out the change in other markets.

Stars says Seat Me will make its ring game seating process “smoother, quicker and fairer” by mimicking “the live poker experience of random table and seat selection.” Stars believes Seat Me could represent “a major milestone” in ensuring that its ring games are “being played on an even footing.”

Seat Me eliminates players’ ability to pick and choose their seat and table choices, prevents the use of seating scripts and introduces “potential time penalties to reduce game disruption” by players who constantly switch tables, steal blinds or refuse to take on certain players.

Online poker star PokerStars is testing new random seating software on its ring games to curb bumhunting by sharp players.

On Wednesday, PokerStars’ blog announced the introduction of Seat Me, which will automatically assign players a seat at a random table after they’ve selected game and stake options. The new software will make its debut on Spanish site PokerStars.es, after which Stars will review the results and consider rolling out the change in other markets.

Stars says Seat Me will make its ring game seating process “smoother, quicker and fairer” by mimicking “the live poker experience of random table and seat selection.” Stars believes Seat Me could represent “a major milestone” in ensuring that its ring games are “being played on an even footing.”

Seat Me eliminates players’ ability to pick and choose their seat and table choices, prevents the use of seating scripts and introduces “potential time penalties to reduce game disruption” by players who constantly switch tables, steal blinds or refuse to take on certain players.