Tag Archives: i-gaming

Sportsbooks rejoice as Mayweather v. Pacquiao is on for May 2

Christmas is coming early for sports fans and the sports betting industry now that boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have finally agreed to square off in the ring on May 2.

Five years in the making, the fight will go down at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The pay per view (PPV) broadcast will be jointly handled by Showtime (which has a deal with Mayweather) and HBO (with whom Pacquiao is associated) and is expected to shatter previous records for both viewers and revenue. No price has been set for the PPV, but $100 seems a reasonably round figure.

The boxers have agreed to split the purse 60/40, with Mayweather taking the lion’s share. Estimates have the purse ranging as high as $200m depending on how many casual fans opt for the PPV. Mayweather’s World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council belts will be up for grabs, as will Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization title. There is no rematch clause in the contract.

Sportsbooks everywhere are expecting handle of epic proportions for the fight as both recreational bettors and whales look to get in on the action. Mayweather is the prohibitive favorite, with bettors having to put down close to $300 to earn $100 on a Mayweather victory, while a $100 bet on Pacquiao could earn you around $225. Sadly, prolific bettor Mayweather is unlikely to post any betting slips to his Twitter feed indicating his belief in his own abilities.

While the news is a relief for boxing fans, there’s no arguing that this fight would have been infinitely more interesting had it happened five years ago, when both fighters were at their respective peaks. Neither fighter is anything close to a has-been, but they have each lost some spring in their steps and a little snap to their punches. Mayweather will be 38 years old on Tuesday (24) and Pacquiao is 36.

The past five years have been dominated by the boxers trading verbal barbs when they could have been throwing actual jabs and uppercuts. A fight five years ago would also have left open the possibility of at least one rematch. Still, better late than never.

Pinnacle Sports owners sell controlling interest in the company

Curaçao-licensed online bookmaker Pinnacle Sports has been sold to unidentified owners.

Las Vegas-based boutique mergers and acquisition firm Alternative Trading Partners issued a notice on Thursday advising Pinnacle shareholders that an unidentified party or parties had purchased “a controlling interest in the business.” The only identifying data about the purchaser was that they were advised by Dublin’s FinRes and London law firm Mayer Brown.

Pinnacle has earned a reputation over the years for accepting wagers that other bookies won’t touch and is believed to be a particular favorite of famed/feared Nevada bettor Billy Walters.

Pinnacle withdrew from the UK market last year, apparently to avoid conflict with the UK’s new licensing regime. Pinnacle announced its withdrawal from the US market in 2007 but in November 2012, Pinnacle began IP-blocking US customers after being cited in a federal indictment involving Michael Colbert, the former VP of Nevada sportsbook Cantor Gaming (now CG Technology). Despite the media hoopla surrounding that case, Pinnacle’s alleged owners have either had their charges dropped or pleaded multiple felonies down to a single Class B misdemeanor.

In addition to being a preferred destination for betting whales and other sportsbooks looking to hedge their action, Pinnacle is notable for being the only online betting site ever mentioned on The Sopranos. Tony’s crew considered wire-room bookmaking a staple of their income stream – even if Christopher was one shit trader – hence Tony’s thinly disguised annoyance when a hip hop star explained he’d wagered $50k with Pinnacle on a boxing match. To his credit, Tony immediately offered to beat Pinnacle’s money line by 25 bucks.

SealsWithClubs shuts down after operational security compromised

Bitcoin-only online poker site SealsWithClubs has abruptly shut down for good following unexplained technical issues that compromised the site’s security.

The SealsWithClubs site had been offline for over a week following what the company described as “several events … related to operational security.” As a result of these events, SealsWithClubs’ operators believe the site “now operates in a perpetual state of jeopardy.” SealsWithClubs declined to offer specifics, but said these may be revealed at a later date “if any team member chooses to come forward of their own volition.”

SealsWithClubs says it doesn’t believe “any of our Bitcoin wallets used in operations to be compromised or lost.” Players have been urged to withdraw their funds “as soon as possible” and “cease all activity to their account deposit addresses now.” Withdrawals “will only be open for a limited period of time,” which the company suggests could be “at least a few months.” The company insists the operation “is, and has been, completely solvent up to this point in operations.”

In the notice announcing the shutdown, SealsWithClubs says chairman Bryan Micon intends to “carry forward the business with his own team” in Antigua. The company says it “makes the most sense to hand off assets” – including a new SwC 2.0 software package and the swcpoker.eu domain – to Micon, but there will be “no administrative oversight carried over” to Micon’s new site.

SealsWithClubs will not be providing Micon with account passwords, authentication info or balance details. However, SealsWithClubs will provide Micon with account names and their associated email addresses and Krill loyalty point totals. The company says this should allow Micon’s team “it they choose, to reserve usernames and e-mail password resets to users as well as honor their Krill amounts.”

SealsWithClubs’ demise, however temporary, is a blow for Bitcoin acceptance in the online gambling industry. The site was by far the largest Bitcoin-only poker room in operation. In December 2013, the site warned users to reset their passwords following unauthorized access of its customer database server.

South Africa online gambling bill tabled as casinos launch anti-online campaign

South Africa’s online gambling hopes got a minor boost this week with the tabling of the latest version of the Remote Gambling Bill (PMB 3 – 2015).

The private member’s bill was tabled by Democratic Alliance MP Geordin Hill-Lewis, the shadow minister for trade and industry. Largely identical to Lewis’ previous efforts, the 2015 version seeks to expand South Africa’s online menu from the current sports-only betting regime to one that includes casino and poker verticals.

Also similar to Hill-Lewis’ previous efforts, the 2015 version is expected to die from neglect. Last month, South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry emphatically declared that there is “no intention on the part of the government to propose the legislation of online gambling.” This stance was foreshadowed in November by PricewaterhouseCoopers, who said they “don’t see anything happening” for South Africa’s online gambling expansion “for quite a a period of time.”

While Hill-Lewis keeps up a stirring rendition of High Hopes, the Casino Association of South Africa (CASA) is blaming illegal online gambling for taking money out of the hands of South Africa’s legal casinos and the government’s tax coffers.

CASA CEO Themba Ngobese believes “aggressive” online gambling operators are partially responsible for South African casino revenue growth falling from 10% in the 2012-13 fiscal year to just 0.6% in 2013-14. Ngobese estimated that at least 5% of this revenue contraction was down to people choosing to gamble online rather than in CASA-approved gaming joints. Ngobese said this has cost the government R110m (US $9.5m) in tax revenue.

CASA recently launched a campaign to educate South Africans about “the consequences of illegal gambling.” The campaign will provide info on illegal online gambling across online, radio and print advertising as well as via social media. Chief among the consequences highlighted will be the possibility of R10m fines and 10-year prison sentences for South Africans caught operating or playing on illegal sites.

The campaign also seeks to alert property owners and landlords that their premises might be used for internet cafés that offer access to online gambling sites. CASA has even set up hotlines for concerned citizens to fink on suspected operators. Ngobese said the campaign has “already had some good reports to the provincial gambling boards” which are being “followed up by investigators in sting operations.”

Atlantic City aims to be tourism centered and less dependent on gambling

The Atlantic City council has approved non-gambling redevelopments on Wednesday, aiming to make the city a tourism centered and less dependent on gambling.

Three developments that got an approval were the expansion of Steel Pier to make way for the 205 ft. tall Ferris wheel with enclosed, climate-controlled cars and a zip line ride, as well as new eateries, entertainment and recreational facilities in Northeast Inlet, and an elevated walkway in Boardwalk to bring new business to the area.

“It’s a reinforcement of the importance of adding these other amenities,” said the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) Executive Director John Palmieri. “It’s a good step forward in the ongoing effort to reinforce those non-gambling sectors.”

CRDA will be contributing $8.1 million to the approximately $14 million-worth Ferris wheel project through a loan, which will be repaid from a portion of ride ticket revenue.

The plan has been in talks since 2007, the first year Atlantic City casinos posted declining revenues due to opening of casinos in Pennsylvania. This year, three of the eight Atlantic City casinos that survived 2014′s closings are in bankruptcy, which triggers the city to give people something fun to do in Atlantic City that does not involve gambling.

“We’ve been talking about doing this for 25 years,” said Anthony Catanoso, one of the owner of the family-owned business Steel Pier. “It’s one more example of an amenity we can provide that doesn’t depend on gambling. Observation wheels around the country are very successful, and they’ve become destinations in their own right. This will be the second- or third-tallest in the country, and no one has the view we have with the beachfront, the ocean and the skyline. It’s going to be phenomenal.”

Steel Pier is the home of the famous Diving Horse—an attraction that entertains people in Atlantic City even before the casino industry arrived.

bwin.party appoints two non-executives directors, Gala Coral hires new bingo head

Online gaming operator bwin.party has appointed Barry Gibson and Liz Catchpole as independent non-executive directors with effect from March 1.

Catchpole and Gibson will succeed Rod Perry Chairman of Remuneration and Helmut Kern Chairman of Audit & Risk Committee, who are both retiring from the board after the conclusion of the firm’s 2015 General Meeting.

Gibson, who currently serves as chairman of HomeServe and Harding Retail Group, worked as the senior independent director and chairman of the remuneration committee at William Hill and Playtech, as well as HomeServe and National Express Group and Catchpole is a chartered certified accountant with executive experience primarily across the insurance, business services and property sectors.

bwin.party confirmed that it is in the search for independent directors, following its May 2014 announcement that the firm would restructure its board of directors in order to gain expertise in information technology, market trends and technology delivery in consumer-facing digital businesses.

“I am very pleased to welcome Liz and Barry to bwin.party. Their backgrounds will complement the portfolio of skills and experience of the other directors, whilst also filling the gaps left by Rod and Helmut when they retire later this year,” said bwin.party Chairman Philip Yea.

Gibson will take the role of chairman of the remuneration committee and senior independent director, with Catchpole being appointed as chairman of the audit and risk committee.

Meanwhile, Gala Coral appointed its marketing specialist Victoria Reed as head of the Playtech-powered Gala Bingo brand, directly reporting to Gala brand director Alison Digges.

First ever fantasy sports combine to be held at Wynn Las Vegas

The fantasy sports industry is growing at such a rapid pace that there doesn’t appear to be any ceiling on how big it can get this year. We already know about the massive gains attributed to FanDuel and DraftKings, two of the biggest daily fantasy sports sites in the business today. The former has even announced that it would be hosting the 2015 World Fantasy Basketball Championship in Miami, Florida from April 9 to 11, 2015.

Now, another “first in the business” has been announced and it’s called the Fantasy Sports Combine. The name pretty much explains what you can expect from the three-day event scheduled from July 17 to 19, 2015 at the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore. The use of the word “combine” is of course attributed to the NFL Scouting Combine, a place where college football players showcase their skills and talents in front of scouts, coaches, and front office personnel of NFL teams.

The concept is pretty much the same with the Fantasy Sports Combine even if the purpose is different. Instead of trying to impress team officials, the Fantasy Sports Combine is being prepared to become the go- to place for fantasy sports enthusiasts who are looking for “game-changing insights and strategies on how to win daily, weekly and season long leagues.”

The driving force behind the Fantasy Sports Combine is Drew “Bo” Brownstein, a former hedge fund manager who served a four-month prison term for insider trading. Having already left that part of his life behind him, Bronwstein came up with the idea of the convention last year, just as the popularity of the daily fantasy sports market began gaining serious steam.

“Fantasy sports touches everyone from the head trader at Goldman Sachs to a guy working 60 hours a week at the post office,” Brownstein told Bloomberg. “And it touches both men and women. Its popularity is booming and only getting bigger.”

To his credit, Brownstein is doing his part to make the Fantasy Sports Combine a legitimate event that fantasy sports players from all over North America, maybe even the world, can go to.

He has already assembled a slew of sports personalities who will be part of the three-day event. From proclaimed “fantasy gurus” like Yahoo Sports’ Brad Evans and DirecTV’s John Hansen to legendary coaches like Mike Shanahan and Mike Ditka, the Fantasy Sports Combine is shaping up to be a true spectacle for the industry.

British Poker Awards Welcomes Special Guest Jorryt van Hoof

World Series of Poker third-place finisher to play in special pro-am tournament at London ceremony

19 February 2015, London, UK (Press Release) — Organisers of the British Poker Awards, taking place in London on 23 February 2015, are proud to announce a special guest at this year’s ceremony at London’s Hippodrome Casino: World Series of Poker third-place finisher Jorryt van Hoof.

Van Hoof, one of Europe’s most respected players with more than $4m in live poker earnings, will have a bounty on his head at a specially-arranged pro-am tournament after the ceremony, organised by poker magazine Bluff Europe and sponsored by leading poker site Unibet.

Unibet will be giving away a range of special prizes, both for the winner of the tournament and for anyone who knocks out any of the five bounties. Poker fans can guarantee themselves a seat in the tournament by buying a ticket from www.hippodrome.com.

All guests will be able to enjoy a glitzy drinks reception courtesy of RankingHero.com, the world’s fastest-growing social poker platform. Some of the stars of the UK poker scene, including Liv Boeree, Neil Channing and Victoria Coren Mitchell, have already confirmed their attendance.

“With the awards just a few days away, we’re hugely excited to welcome one of the standout poker players of 2014 for our fifth anniversary. Whoever knocks out Jorryt van Hoof from our pro-am tournament is set for a fantastic prize, so you won’t want to miss out!” said Michael Caselli, Bluff Europe Editor-in-Chief.

Tickets for the British Poker Awards are available to the public from www.hippodromecasino.com.

Iconic Vegas casino could be destroyed to make way for convention center

Liberace played the opening act in 1955. Frank Sinatra once famously lived in one of its suites when he was a regular headline act in the 1990s. For all of Las Vegas’ iconic casinos, none stood taller than the Riviera Hotel & Casino. At least that was the sentiment in the past.

Despite its iconic status in Las Vegas, the Riviera is not immune to the changing times and if the board of directors for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) decide to buy the casino, the Riviera could very well be on its last days.

According to multiple reports, the LVCVA is in the final stages on deciding whether to buy the casino for the specific purpose of destroying it to make way for its $2.3 billion expansion plan for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Should the board give the green light on the sale, it is expected to pay $182.5 million to purchase the property from current owner the Riviera Holdings Corporation. As soon as that transaction is completed, the LVCVA will also spend an additional $8.5 million to pay for costs to close it down, or to be more specific, to raze it to the ground to make way for its expansion plans for the new convention center.

The Riviera currently sits on a 26-acre property, so the LVCVA will have plenty of space to follow through on building a host of amenities on the property, including 750,000 square feet of exhibition space. Before any of the newer and more modern operators began building their casinos in Las Vegas, the Riviera stood as one of the best in the city. It was considered as the first high-rise casino on the Strip, boasting around 2,000 hotel rooms and as much as 100,000 square feet of gambling space. It was the place to be in Las Vegas back then, having earned the reputation as a playground for some of the biggest celebrities in the world.

Now, all it has are memories of the halcyon days of Vegas gambling, a time when it stood tallest among the tall and biggest among the big. It has since been overshadowed – literally and figuratively – by more opulent resorts on the Strip and with it came an erosion in popularity among tourists.

So if the LVCVA votes in favor of purchasing the Riviera, we could be seeing a true end of an era for a casino that was one of the first to uphold Las Vegas’ reputation as a tourist and gambler’s paradise.

MGM to renovate MGM Macau; receives waiver to demolish old Zanetti school in Springfield

Few hours after MGM China Holdings Ltd. posted its Q4 and fiscal year revenue results for 2014, the company announced its plan to invest $100m this year to renovate its MGM Macau Hotel and casino.

MGM Chief Executive Grant Bowie said that the investment for the refurbishment of its hotel-casino is a way to remain competitive.

“Our future capital projects for MGM Macau include a redesigned main floor layout to improve traffic flow and operating efficiencies; as well we will be introducing a range of non-gaming products in the form of over 15 new retail outlets and re-conceptualized food and beverage offerings to add capacity and diversity,” Bowie added.

The company expects minimum impact to operations from the main floor revamp and finish the renovation by 3Q of this year.

The MGM Macau renovation plans started last year, which the company spent $45 million. The overall changes will include a total of 27 separate projects, which will be carried out over the period of three years.

MGM’s second Macau property, MGM Cotai, is due to open in in the second half of 2016 and was estimated at US$2.9 billion.

“Construction of the hotel towers have now reached the 16th floor and progress is moving quickly,” Bowie said.

Rio Ferdinand as Brand Ambassador for CasinoFloor

Rebecca Liggero talks to Queens Park Rangers’ Rio Ferdinand and he shares his relationship with CasinoFloor and what it means to him.

Former Manchester United captain and England international Rio Ferdinand is exhausting his last years in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, but he’s not the type to have to worry about what to do once his football career is finished. In addition to having some kind of involvement in music, TV, and film industries, Ferdinand is also making waves in the online casino scene after striking a deal with online casino operator CasinoFloor.com to become the “face of the brand.”

The partnership, which is CasinoFloor.com’s way of trying to expand its presence in the UK market, involves Ferdinand being featured in a number of advertising and promotional projects to help promote the operator into new markets.

CasinoFloor.com Managing Director Jack Mizel didn’t hide his excitement of having Ferdinand, one of the more decorated English football players in recent years, representing his company. “We are delighted to have such a world renowned sporting icon join our team,” Mizel said in a statement.

“We want to be recognized, not only as a world-class online casino, but also as a recognizable brand that people want to connect with. Just because we don’t have a front door to greet our players personally, doesn’t mean that we don’t want to connect with them on a personal level.”

Prop Betting: 2015 Academy Awards

For those of us who bow down before the altar of prop betting, there’s no better thrill than putting money down on entertainment props. It’s not quite like Super Bowl props in terms of stature, but for sheer entertainment purposes, no pun intended, betting on events like the Oscars is like trying to bet on Wrestlemania.

There are clear-cut favorites, and while they almost always win, there are still some notable exceptions when huge underdogs pull off an incredible upset. I see you, Brock Lesnar.

The template for this year’s Academy Awards fits that bill. For Best Picture, you have a clear favorite (Birman at 2/5 odds), a short underdog (Boyhood at 5/4), and a bunch of long shots with odds ranging from 20/1 to 50/1. The fun here isn’t so much about betting on Birdman or Boyhood, but putting small amounts on all of them with the hopes that something inexplicable happens and one of those long shots improbably wins the award. It’s a losing proposition for the most part, but if you bet, say, a dollar, on any of the long shots, you only stand to lose $5 if none of them cash in. Minimal risk, huge pay-off.

Same thing with the award for Best Actor. Right now, Eddie Redmayne remains the overwhelming favorite at 1/3 odds with Michael Keaton a little further down at 5/2. Outside of these two, the odds drop precipitously with Bradley Cooper at 12/1, Benedict Cumberbatch at 20/1, and Steve Carrell at 28/1.

The award for Best Actress is the most extreme example of this line-of-thinking. Everybody already has Julian Moore penciled in to win it, so much so that some sportsbooks are offering odds as low as 3/100. That’s the equivalent of, say, Real Madrid playing Elche in the Spanish La Liga. You have to feel bad for the other nominees, right?

They’ll show up at the awards knowing full well that they’re not winning it. Just look at their odds: Reese Witherspoon (14/1), Rosamund Pike (25/1), Felicity Jones (50/1), and Marion Cotillard (65/1).

The Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Awards follow the same template, too. JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette are the overwhelming favorites with odds as low as 1/50 for the both of them.

PAGCOR wins Supreme Court fight with Philippine taxman

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has won a major court victory over the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

PAGCOR’s charter states that it must pay a 5% franchise tax on income derived from gaming operations – including the licensing of casinos – while corporate tax is payable on revenue derived from other PAGCOR services.

In 2011, the BIR issued a circular requiring PAGCOR to pay corporate tax on its gaming income after the Philippine government amended its National Internal Revenue Code. The amendment failed to specify that PAGCOR was among the state-owned agencies that were exempt from corporate tax and PAGCOR has been locked in a knife fight with the BIR ever since.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the attempt to impose the corporate tax on PAGCOR “constitutes an overreach” and “grave abuse of discretion” on the part of the BIR. The Court said there was no need for Congress to grant PAGCOR a tax exemption because the exemption was explicitly stated in PAGCOR’s charter. The Court said that if Congress had truly intended to remove PAGCOR”s exemption it would have “expressly” done so because the “repeal of laws by implication is not favored.”

The friction between PAGCOR and the BIR has only ramped up since work began on the mega-resorts in Manila’s Entertainment City project. Before they started building, PAGCOR”s international casino licensees had agreed to pay the 5% franchise tax on gross gaming revenue plus 15% on VIP winnings and 25% on mass market gaming.

BIR claimed it had never been consulted on this arrangement and promptly slapped the 30% corporate tax on all licensees’ gaming income. Operators were rightfully pissed at this apparent bait-and-switch and PAGCOR attempted to cushion this blow by lowering casino license fees by 10%. PAGCOR said it would revert to the previous formula if/when the BIR’s reign of terror was “restrained, corrected, or withdrawn.”

LEGISLATOR WANTS TO REDUCE PAGCOR’S AUTHORITY

Calling the Clock: The Dalliance of Desire and Divorce

Lee Davy brings you another shot of poker news, including: Caesars and Amaya falling in love; the World Series of Poker serenading the Italians; Dusk till Dawn jumping into bed with partypoker, and much more.

It’s been a strange old week for the poker community.

Hearts have fluttered. Hearts have broken. Fortunately, for you, we haven’t missed a beat.

Last week, we told you that Pala Interactive CEO, Jim Ryan, believed that the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) had a good shot of passing. That belief strengthened this week, after Nolan Dalla posed the question: “Could American Online Poker be Holding the Losing Hand?”

“{Sheldon} Adelson’s organization, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, is steadily winning over the hearts and minds of our elected officials in Washington.” Dalla wrote before continuing, “They are outspending, out maneuvering, outthinking and outworking the opposition.”

We are a disjointed bunch. A whole lot of people, looking at other people, hoping and praying that they will do something to bring back online poker to the USA.

That approach doesn’t cut the mustard.

The Davy 26: 26 Customer Questions That Will Improve Your Bankroll

Lee Davy takes a few pages out of the fabulous book, Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey B. Mackay, and in a blatant piece of plagiarism, creates the Davy 26: 26 Customer Facts That Will Improve Your Bankroll

Self improvement geek?

If not, go and spend the next 10-mins plucking grey nasal hair. If so, then I have a book recommendation.

Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey B. Mackay is effing marvelous. He promises to teach you to outmanage, outmotivate and outnegotiate your competition. The man delivers. And no. This isn’t a book about poker.

That’s the best piece of advice you have received all week. Busy? Then stop reading. You’ve already earned your corn. Bored? Keep on reading.

In business, you have to understand your customer. If you are a poker player, then you are a business. Your customers are your competitors. They are the people who pay your bills.

Arm yourself with the right information and forget outmanaging, outmotivating, and outnegotiating them. You will be out folding them, out three-betting them and out bluffing them in no time at all.

Trump creditors approve restructuring; Revel back on the market… again

Atlantic City casino operator Trump Entertainment Resorts may have spied a light at the end of its bankruptcy tunnel after creditors reached a deal on a restructuring plan.

Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy last September, shutting down the Trump Plaza casino that same month. The Trump Taj Mahal remains open only because principal creditor Carl Icahn floated the company a $20m emergency loan in December.

On Thursday, a panel representing Trump Entertainment’s unsecured creditors reached a deal that attorney Karen Giannelli said “allows us to support the [restructuring] plan.” Under the previous plan, Icahn would receive equity in the restructured company while unsecured creditors would have split $1m between them, representing a recovery rate of less than 1%. Bloomberg News reported that the new plan boosts the unsecured creditors’ payout to $3.5m.

While the creditors committee has signed off on the plan, the individual creditors are under no obligation to accept. The plan also doesn’t prevent casino workers union Unite Here Local 54 from continuing its appeal of the court order stripping Taj Mahal’s unionized employees of their existing benefits and health care plan.

JUDGE KILLS REVEL SALE, CASINO CAN KEEP STRAUB’S $10M DEPOSIT

Meanwhile, the long sorry saga of the Revel Hotel and Casino took yet another downturn on Thursday as a bankruptcy court gave the property permission to put itself back on the market. Revel now hopes to find another sucker willing to pick up AC’s white elephant on the cheap but there are no firm offers on the table and Revel will be forced to liquidate if no buyer materializes within the next five months.

Launched in April 2012, the $2.4b Revel declared bankruptcy for the second time last June. The property was sold at auction to Brookfield Asset Management for $110m, but the company walked away from the deal a month later after failing to reach a deal with the dedicated power company that supplies Revel with juice. Florida developer Glenn Straub then snapped up Revel for $95.4m but Straub couldn’t make nice with Revel’s tenants and the deal’s timeline expired.

Manchester United Launch Social Poker Site

Manchester United have launched ‘Manchester United Social Poker’ in collaboration with their official global social casino games partner, KamaGames.

Manchester United, the world’s most widely recognized football club, has entered the social casino industry by launching Manchester United Social Poker.

It’s a bold move for a club trying desperately to find the pulse that seems to have deadened since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

In the summer of 2013 I was invited to attend The Road to Old Trafford. A £250 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event that featured the likes of former Man Utd player Darren Fletcher, and our very own Sam Trickett.

Trickett would go on to win the £10,000 first prize and donate it to Rio Ferdinand’s charity; Darren Fletcher would go on to sign for WBA, and I would leave slightly bemused as to why bwin.party had not entered into an agreement to launch Manchester United Social Poker instead of KamaGames?

It’s all about money, honey.

Premier League football clubs seem to have an ‘Official’ everything. Official toilet paper provider, official tampon provider, and now an official global social casino games partner.

California gets two new online poker bills

California online poker advocates have two more pieces of legislation to consider, courtesy of state Sen. Isadore Hall III (pictured left) and Assemblyman Adam Gray (on the right). The pair of Democrats introduced identical legislation – SB 278 and AB 431 – in the Senate and Assembly on Thursday.

The bills are just three pages long and woefully short of specifics, apparently intended to serve as placeholders in order to beat the Feb. 27 cutoff for consideration in the current legislative session. Two other bills – AB 9 and AB 167 – have already been introduced by Assemblymen Mike Gatto and Reggie Jones-Sawyer, respectively.

Hall and Gray each chair the Governmental Organization Committee in their respective chambers, giving them a lot of influence over the path to passage of any gambling legislation. The pair issued a statement saying their bills “do not create winners and losers” or “take one entity’s side over another.” The pols urge stakeholders to “work together, stop bluffing and take control of this issue.”

CAESARS’ BAD ACTORS SHIFT REFLECTS BELIEF THAT TRIBES CALL THE SHOTS

Meanwhile, Caesars Entertainment VP Jan Jones Blackhurst has shed more light on her company’s decision to drop their longstanding antipathy towards ‘bad actors’ i.e. companies that continued to accept wagers from US residents following passage of the UIGEA in 2006. For poker companies seeking to do business in US regulated online gambling markets, bad actors more specifically refers to online poker’s 800-pound gorilla, PokerStars.

In an interview with PokerNews, Jones Blackhurst said Amaya Gaming’s 2014 purchase of PokerStars’ parent company had brought about “a total cleansing of the company.” Jones Blackhurst also believes concerns over Stars being able to use its famed customer database had lessened given that it’s been nearly four years since Stars was forced to leave the US market post-Black Friday.

Jones Blackhurst said Caesars’ newfound acceptance of Amaya-Stars was at least in part due to the shifting ‘bad actor’ position of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, with whom Caesars has partnered in California. Jones Blackhurst acknowledged that in California, “the tribes call the shots” and that Caesars had been made aware of the new position the Rincon, Pala and United Auburn Indian Community planned to adopt.

Judges appointed to hear New Jersey sports betting appeal

New Jersey sports betting advocates have learned the names of the three judges who will decide the fate of their state’s latest betting legislation.

A three-judge panel of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has scheduled a March 17 hearing for oral arguments in New Jersey’s latest appeal of the latest injunction barring the state from allowing sports betting at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks.

The three judges picked to hear the state’s appeal are: Maryanne Trump Barry (pictured left), the sister of Donald Trump, famed entrepreneur and Hair Club For Muskrats hall of fame inductee; Majorie Rendell (pictured right), the wife of former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell; and Julio Fuentes (center), who was among the three judges who rejected the state’s previous appeal in 2013.

The trio does not feature Judge Thomas Vanaskie, who authored the dissenting opinion in that 2013 decision. Vanaskie was the lone judicial voice to suggest New Jersey’s advocates were right in their view that the 1992 federal PASPA sports betting prohibition was unconstitutional because it “conscripts the states as foot soldiers to implement a congressional policy choice.”

Fuentes, meanwhile, was the judge who said the state was free to decide the “exact contours” of its sports betting prohibitions. It was this language that helped New Jersey craft its latest legislation, which doesn’t explicitly authorize or regulate sports betting, but merely allows its casino and racing licensees to add sports betting to their gambling menu.

The pro and college sports leagues opposing New Jersey’s plan have argued that Fuentes wasn’t giving a green light to a partial repeal of PASPA, but was only suggesting that states had the right to decide how punitive to make their own penalties for violating the total prohibition. US District Judge Michael Shipp sided with the leagues in his November 2014 ruling.

As for Trump Barry and Rendell, they each have ties to gambling via their sibling and significant other, respectively. Donald Trump used to run casinos in Atlantic City while Ed Rendell was publicly advocating for sports betting in his home state way back in 2012, although that was one year after he’d left the governor’s mansion. Before donning her judge’s robes, Marjorie Rendell did a stint with Duane Morris LLP, a law firm with a significant gaming practice.

RAWA to get hearing before House Judiciary subcommittee on March 5

The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) anti-online gambling legislation introduced this month by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) will get a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 5.

News of the hearing was broken by Michelle Minton, a member of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, which was one of a dozen prominent conservative organizations that voiced opposition to RAWA last November. Citing anonymous sources, Minton said the Sheldon Adelson-backed RAWA had a date with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.

Chaffetz is one of nine Republicans on the 17-member Subcommittee and the Republican party’s belief that online gambling is the nexus of all evil is well documented. Another member of the Subcommittee, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), once claimed there was “a correlation between drug dealers and gambling sites.”

At last month’s confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is reportedly close to introducing a Senate version of RAWA, spent most of his allotted time quizzing Lynch over whether she believed Islamic extremists were utilizing online gambling as a means of funding their terrorist activities.

Speaking of Graham, Adelson has signed on as co-chair of a March 3 luncheon benefitting Graham’s Security Through Strength presidential exploratory committee. A Graham aide told McClatchy News that the involvement of Adelson, a significant GOP campaign financier, need not be construed as an endorsement of Graham’s presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, presidential ambitions may have prompted another pol to step down as co-chair of Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG). Former New York governor George Pataki’s name no longer appears on the CSIG website, which may reflect Pataki’s desire to rid himself of divisive associations before throwing his hat into the 2016 presidential derby. Pataki’s CSIG tenure was marked by embarrassing media appearances, including a CNBC interview in which he insisted (without evidence) that “transnational” criminal gangs were getting fat off online gambling.