Tag Archives: the daily vice

Ludovic Lacay Leaves Team Winamax

Ludovic Lacay is the latest member of Team Winamax to move to pastures new, after it was announced on his blog that he would be leaving with immediate effect to focus on something ‘scary and exciting.’

When I think about Ludovic Lacay I think about those brown headphones. I could easily identify him in the throng because he was the only one who owned a pair.

[Ludovic Lacay’s Image Courtesy of WPT]

That was Lacay. He was always different. Making moves that others wouldn’t. Dressed like a rock star. Muttering words that nobody understood. Smiling one minute and throwing his cards the next.

He always stood up and shook my hand when I waltzed past his table. He once promised a member of the media 1% of his action, at a major tournament that has been lost in the recess of my mind, just for charging his phone. He ended up cashing for a six-figure score. He was a man of his word. He handed over the cash to the lad.

So it’s sad that I read, in broken English, that Lacay has decided to leave Team Winamax. He’s the latest spirit to leave the group in recent times after Nicolas Levi left to take up Ranking Hero charge, and Manuel Bevand left to also discover a new challenge. It must be something they put into the Winamax tea, because I loved those two old boys as well.

Lacay was picked up by Winamax shortly after finishing as runner-up in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Spanish Championships in Barcelona. Those were the days when the European WPT legs were €10k events and top players like Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel and Steve Billirakis were cashing.

Akamon launches VIVA! Bingo & Slots, a new suite of social casino games

The Suite includes Videobingo, Slots and Bingo games and will allow personalization based on geography and user preferences

VIVA! is now available in Facebook. A mobile release will follow at the beginning of 2015

Barcelona, 27 January, 2015.- Akamon Entertainment, the leading social gaming company specialising in traditional and casino games in Latin America and Southern Europe, has launched VIVA!, a new suite of social casino games that includes Bingo, VideoBingo and Slots games.

With VIVA!, Akamon introduces its first Video Bingo, a type of social casino game that is very popular in Latin America, and continues the strategy of launching new product offerings focused on Akamon’s core markets.

VIVA! Is the result of development from all three Akamon studios in Barcelona, Valencia and Tel Aviv, under the direction of Alex Cohen, Akamon’s Chief Product Officer.  With VIVA!, Akamon’s product team have dedicated a clear focus on the quality of graphics, math of the games, effects and flow of the design.

In words of Cohen, “VIVA! Makes the most of Akamon’s geographical diversity, as it will allow us adjusting the offer to our different geographies, and further on, to personalize it based on player preferences”. Also, “having multiple games within a single environment will allow players to have a longer player experience, and will also give Akamon more flexibility with acquisition strategies”, adds Cohen.

VIVA! is now available on Facebook, and a mobile release will follow within the first quarter of 2015. Cohen explains, “We intend to maintain our VideoBingo and slots as our primary product lines that will have ongoing releases improving quality and functionality, as well as innovation, as we progress with these titles”.

Incubating Gaming Companies for Increased Profitability and Sustainable Growth

We are proud to exhibit for the first time at the London International Casino Exhibition in London from February the 3rd – 5th, 2015.

The Gaming Incubator is an established advisory company with extensive experience in Land-based, Online and Social gaming to cover the broad spectrum of the gaming industry. We have a physical presence in UK and Hyderabad, India additionally with a number of Partners located in the U.S. and Asia. We have conducted business in over 65 countries. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs navigate from Start-up through Growth to Exit and beyond…

Our strategic approach is to:

1) Find Raw Diamonds – Companies/Entrepreneurs that have a winning combination of the talent and drive to succeed together with a gaming concept/product with the potential to develop into a scalable and profitable business;

2) Polish the Diamonds – The period in which we provide Advisory and Hub Support services to our clients to support and accelerate traction and profitability

3) Leverage on Scale – Where we provide access to our Network and Ecosystem together with our Hub Support services to support profitable growth.

Ben Dodds, founder and General Manager, explains, “Our focus is on unique gaming technology, business models and operating opportunities. We believe that in mature markets with limited product differentiation our ability to recognise, qualify and support the growth of innovation makes us an ideal strategic partner, advisor and investor.

Intertain trading suspended on news of potential $1b acquisition

Canadian online gambling operator Intertain Group says it is in “advanced discussions” with an unidentified third party regarding a potential “significant acquisition of certain assets” worth “in the range of C$1b” (US $806m).

In a brief release on Tuesday, Intertain informed the markets that its potential acquisition was in no way a done deal and was subject to “the finalization of definitive documentation” and the approval of both companies’ boards.

The acquisition target is rumored to be the Gamesys Group, or portions thereof. In December, eGaming Review reported that the two companies were holding talks about a potential deal, which included the possibility of a long-term partnership. Prior to that, Intertain’s name was bandied about as one of the companies reportedly kicking the tires of Bwin.party digital entertainment.

Intertain emerged on the online gambling scene in late 2013 via its $70m purchase of the B2C operations of Amaya Gaming’s WagerLogic, which included the InterCasino brand. Within a year, Intertain paid $70m for the UK’s Mandalay Media bingo operations and signed a letter of intent to pay €89m for the Nordic-facing Vera&John online gambling operations. But this new deal would be exponentially larger than anything the company had previously pulled off.

Trading of Intertain shares was temporarily suspended on the Toronto Stock Exchange as the company made its announcement but trading has since resumed. Intertain’s stock has been on a tear in 2015, rising nearly 30% since Jan. 6 to its present value of $16.54. A similar rise was witnessed prior to Amaya’s mid-2014 $4.9b acquisition of the Rational Group, the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt. Amaya is the single largest shareholder in Intertain, holding 1.9m shares, representing about 8.7% of the company.

City of Dreams all set for grand opening

The Philippines’s new integrated casino resort, City of Dreams Manila, is set to officially launch on Feb 2.

The event is just prior to Lunar New Year, on February 19, known as Chinese New Year in Greater China—a popular time for Chinese and other Asian people to visit casinos.

Created by Melco Crown, City of Dreams is located in the new Entertainment City area of Manila Bay The property features VIP and mass-market gaming facilities with capacity for 380 gaming tables, 1,700 slot machines and 1,700 electronic table games. Its offering also includes hotel, retail, food and beverage and entertainment facilities.

More than 600,000 visitors have had a first experience of the stunning new resort, during its “Sneak Preview” period, with some 20,000 people visiting on its first day after doors opened to the public on December 14 last year.

The Grand Launch will be led by the Co-Chairman & CEO, Mr. Lawrence Ho and Co-Chairman, Mr. James Packer, accompanied by the Chairman and President of Melco Crown Philippines, Mr. Clarence Chung.

“Our official Grand Launch finally delivers our stated commitment to bring Manila its first international integrated leisure destination offering. The new resort complex will deliver a diverse collection of contemporary leisure and lifestyle brands from all over the world, including Crown, Nobu, Hyatt and the Pangaea Group, who are behind the world’s most successful nightclubs and lounges,” said Chung. “Together with the soon-to-be-announced opening of DreamWorks’ DreamPlay, which is an educational interactive playspace for families, an exceptional entertainment experience now awaits all types of travelers and visitors from around the region and the world.”

City of Dreams Manila features in a new promotional trailer, specially commissioned by Melco Crown Entertainment, starring Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Hard Rock drops Mass. property after failed casino bid; eyes Atlantic City again

Hard Rock International has decided to dump its land acquisitions in Massachusetts after failing to secure a casino license in the state.

According to documents released by the Hampden County Registry of Deeds, the Florida-based gaming operator has sold one of its property when it was still in the thick of the casino race. An industrial site listed as 55 Circuit Ave., was sold for $385,000 to a corporation called Westside 55 Circuit LLC, owned by a local businessman identified by the Secretary of State’s office as T. Patrick Kennedy.

Hard Rock initially made the land purchase with the sole intention of using it to build its proposed resort and casino in the state. But the firm’s proposal never got off the ground after residents of West Springfield defeated the said proposal by a 55-45% vote back in September 2013. That put Hard Rock out of the running, leaving the competition for the single Western Massachusetts casino license to MGM Resorts International and, at that time, Mohegan Sun.

In addition to selling the property at 55 Circuit Ave., the company also transferred municipal lien certificates to the town for three others, including properties on Circuit and Bramble avenues.

Hard Rock losing out on the casino license in Massachusetts may have potentially opened the door – yet again – for the Seminole-owned casino operator to turn its attention to Atlantic City.

According to the Associated Press, the Seminole tribe that owns the Hard Rock brand is once again debating the possibility of entering the beleaguered Atlantic City casino market.

The tribe’s interest in Atlantic City is well-documented, having most recently applied for a statement of compliance in the state, considered as a preliminary measure to become a licensed casino in New Jersey.

Scientific Games chooses Las Vegas for global HQ, partners with Carnival Corp

Scientific Games announced that the company is relocating its global corporate headquarters and primary gaming manufacturing operation in Las Vegas.

The U.S.-based gaming and lottery supplier said in a press release on Monday that the move from New York—the firm’s previous corporate headquarters—to Las Vegas is effective immediately.

“Selecting Las Vegas as our global headquarters is a natural step in the corporate evolution of Scientific Games,” said Gavin Isaacs, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Las Vegas is a diverse, cosmopolitan city in business friendly Nevada where we have strong roots and an extensive and growing employee base. This move will allow us to stay closely connected to our worldwide base of gaming, lottery and interactive customers.

Company’s Bally and Shuffle Master gaming development and support operations will continue to be based in Las Vegas, while WMS game development, engineering and other gaming support operations, as well as the Interactive Division, will continue to be based at Chicago Tech Campus and the operational headquarters of Scientific Games’ Lottery Division will remain in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Scientific Games expects all production to be transferred to the Las Vegas facilities by the summer of 2015 and anticipates closing the Waukegan facility before the end of 2015.

The cost arising from the manufacturing consolidation and the associated costs of transferring production and corporate functions to Las Vegas are included in the Company’s previously disclosed estimate of $235 million of expected annual cost synergies from the Company’s acquisition of Bally Technologies, Inc. by the end of 2016 and associated one-time costs to achieve the synergies of $80 million.

Aside from relocation of HQ, Scientific Games Corp. also announced partnership with international cruise ship operator Carnival Corp. & Plc. to offer its adult guests the ability to wager on their mobile devices throughout Carnival cruise ships while in international waters.

2016 Republican Nominations Betting Odds

You know how everybody’s pre-occupied with all the Super Bowl odds – standard and props – coming out these days? You can’t really blame the betting frenzy because, you know, it’s the freakin’ Super Bowl! But lost in the shadows of the justified hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl is another interesting prop bet that’s slowly gaining some steam.

The US presidential elections, or to be more specific, the 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination. We already know who’s likely to come out of the Democratic Party – that would be Hillary Clinton – but the same can’t be said for the Republicans, which actually held a summit last weekend in Iowa to prepare for the Iowa caucus next year.

The list of names still in the running is long but there appears to be a clear favorite at this point. That would be former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the second son of former president George H.W. Bush and the younger brother of former president George W. Bush. Right now, Bush is leading the way with Sportsbook.ag posting him as the 3/1 favorite to win the Republican nomination.

Nipping at Bush’s heel is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 5/1 odds. This is the third time Romney’s voiced his interest in running for the highest seat in the land. Back in 2008, he narrowly lost the Republican nomination to eventual party candidate John McCain.

Romney finally got his desire to run for president in 2012 but he still lost out on the chance after Barack Obama secured a second term as US president. Is Romney’s third time in the seat the charm? He’s going to have to make a lot up to Bush, but he could put up a fight since the Republic nomination is so open.

If you’re looking at longer odds, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker are both sitting at 5/1 odds. Up next is a man we’re all familiar with: New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who shares 7/1 odds with Kentucky senator Rand Paul.

From there, the odds drop significantly to 18/1 odds for Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg all getting 20/1 odds.

Super Bowl XLIX Prop Bets Part 3: Tom Brady and Russell Wilson

We can talk as much as we want about the Rob Gronkowski, Marshawn Lynch, the Legion of Boom, or even DeflateGate. But Super Bowl XLIX will eventually go down to discussions between the two most important players on both teams.

That would be the two quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Russell Wilson.

It’s not surprising that both Brady and Wilson have the most prop bets attached to their names. That’s the cache that comes with playing the most important position in the game. You only need to look at Super Bowl XLIX MVP odds to recognize how important Brady and Wilson are.

If you don’t have the prices in front of you, here’s how it breaks down. Brady and Wilson are the clear favorites to win Super Bowl XLIX MVP honors with both getting 9/4 odds. The two closest on that list? Marconi Lynch at 5/1 odds and Rob Gronkowski at 12/1 odds.

Success in the NFL is still largely dependent on how the quarterback plays and player prop betting on the game suggests as much. In fact, Brady and Wilson have a whole lot of props to their names.

Care to bet on how many completions Brady will have? The number on that is 23.5 with both sides getting 10/11 odds. Wilson’s number is a lot lower at 17.5 completions at the same odds. How about we talk about pass attempts? Brady’s number is at 36.5 whereas Wilson’s number is eight passes lower at 28.5.

The over/under on pass attempts and completions are two unique props to both QBs. But they’re not the only ones, either. Both Brady and Wilson also have a prop for passing yards.

IGT to vote on GTECH merger

Shareholders of slot machine developer International Game Technology will vote Feb. 10, at The Signature at MGM Grand Las Vegas, on the company’s merger agreement with lottery provider GTECH Holdings.

GTECH will pay $4.7 billion in cash and stock while assuming $1.7 billion of IGT debt, owning 80% with IGT shareholders holding the remaining 20%.

Terms of the agreement will combine GTECH Holdings and IGT into one company and be headquarteres in the United Kingdom. Operating headquarters will be housed in Rome, Las Vegas and Rhode Island.

Initial acquisition talks between the two parties began in July 2014.Lottery and gambling technology supplier GTECH would amend its acquisition terms in September 2014, in order to secure the lending capital for the $4.7 billion needed to finalise its acquisition.

GTECH has announced that it has entered a a $2.6 billion five year senior facilities agreement with a syndicate of twenty banks in order to finalise its acquisition of International Game Technology (IGT)in November.The financing agreement will provide GTECH SpA with a $1.4 billion multi-currency credit facility. The corporation have also been granted a further €850 million in open credit, which it may choose to access.

IGT scheduled the special meeting with its shareholders to vote on the proposal along with some other issues that need to be supported and approved, including the approval of IGT common stock shares, closing conditions with the GTECH Holdings contract, and the reception of the required gaming approvals that is needed to move forward by Nevada Gaming regulators.

Scientific Games to Demonstrate the Power of being Stronger Together at ICE Totally Gaming 2015

LAS VEGAS and LONDON, Jan. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Casino operators at the ICE Totally Gaming 2015 conference and trade show (“ICE 2015″) will experience first-hand the strategic benefits of the combination of Scientific Games’ (NASDAQ: SGMS) Bally, WMS, Shuffle Master, SG Gaming, Williams and Barcrest brands.  At ICE 2015 on February 3-5 at ExCel London Exhibition and Convention Center, stand #N1-440, Scientific Games (the “Company”) will showcase more than 125 gaming products that address casino operators’ diverse needs across all of their land-based and interactive channels, thereby demonstrating the value of the Company’s recent merger with Bally Technologies.  For more details on Scientific Games’ products on display at ICE 2015, please visit now.wms.com/stronger-together-ice2015.

Experience the interactive multimedia release here: Click here

Gavin Isaacs, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scientific Games, said, “ICE 2015 is our first global opportunity, as a combined company, to demonstrate our ability to leverage high-earning product brands and leading technology solutions that benefit our customers and help them grow their businesses. There is no other company today that can offer the tremendous breadth of customer-favored gaming devices, systems, lottery products, online solutions and related services.

“We are Stronger Together through the combination of our time-tested brands and comprehensive and differentiated product portfolios that are created and supported by an extremely talented global team.  As a result, Scientific Games is uniquely positioned to offer new value to casino operators as we seek to become their partner of choice and a one-stop shop for their gaming product and services solutions.”

Highlights of new for-sale, gaming operations, systems and interactive products on display in Scientific Games’ ICE 2015 exhibit include:

WMS Product Highlights

More than 50 WMS-branded products will be showcased at ICE 2015, including:

Tribal-Washington state deal could allow more gambling machines at tribal casinos

A tentative deal between Washington state and Indian tribes, if approved, would allow more gambling machines at tribal casinos.

Over the years, the number of slot-style machines allowed has been set in prolonged and controversial negotiations but if the latest deal is approved, the number of slots, approximately 28,000, would increase by 10% and then automatically increase as market demands dictate.

The cap could double over a decade or so but Chairman of the Washington Indian Gaming Association W. Ron Allen said that “the market is not growing that fast.”

Under the terms, the commission’s latest compacts with tribes would increase the statewide cap by 2,700 machines immediately.

Another increase of 1,350 could happen any year a casino opens, such as the Cowlitz tribe’s facility, after the Gambling Commission has reviewed the market and verified that there are fewer than 500 unused machines for lease.

The four lawmakers with five state Gambling Commission will vote on Feb 13 on whether to send the deal to Gov. Jay Inslee for approval.

One of those lawmakers, Republican Sen. Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla opposes allowing the number of machines to increase in perpetuity unless the tribes agree to share revenue. “In my opinion, this is probably the last shot we’ll ever get” to secure revenue sharing,” Hewitt said.

GameART launch slots to appeal to culturally different player groups

New Slots will Appeal to Global Markets

GameART, the premium developer of casino-style games to the online and land-based gaming industry, has released a new series of 25 slot games in time for the ICE Totally Gaming event which opens in London next week.

This latest addition to their library of slot games incorporates GameART’s usual high-end graphics, enhanced audio effects, and unique new features including a completely redesigned user friendly interface. This is now standardised for all games and includes an interactive bonus feature and marketing banner that provides ‘player immersion’ to further capture player’s excitement.

GameART co-founder, Saverio Castellano, said “We have built the library to segment our theming of titles into cultural sub-segments so we can embrace the fullest player audience possible. Titles such as Wild Dolphin and Wolf Quest will appeal to traditional European and international markets, while games such as Power Dragon and Phoenix Princess cater more towards Asian players.”

The new series of games are supported by proven mathematical models which appeal to wide variety of game-play behavioural segments, and offer a broad range of pay-line/ways configurations.

All games are released in HTML5 and Flash supporting all desktop and mobile devices, including tablet, with Native Android and iOS versions available upon client request.

GameART will be demonstrating its latest games and platform capabilities at ICE Totally Gaming being held at ExCel, London, Feb 3rd – 5th 2015, at stand S2-262.

Content Marketing Tip of the Week: Competitor Content Audit

theMediaFlow Managing Director Nichola Stott gives an overview on auditing your competitor content  in this edition of CalvinAyre.com’s Content Marketing Tip of the Week.

Auditing your competitor content is a great way to get a feel for what content works to drive links and social shares. You may also get a sense of how and to what level they’re investing in their content marketing endeavours. By competitor you could also broaden the scope to look at operator sites and their content strategies; particularly sportsbook and news sites like this one!

The data and metrics that you want to focus on are:

Titles

Frequency

Variety and asset types e.g. video use, infographics and such

Editorial links per post

Aussie Millions Round Up – Titles for Soyza and Kemp

A couple of Aussie Millions events to catch up on including an Accumulator victory for Malaysia’s Michael Soyza, and a Bounty victory for the Australian Jai Kemp.

As the 2015 Aussie Millions reaches its midway point we have two more events to catch up on.

[Image Credit: Pokerasiapacific]

The first is Event #6: $1,150 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Accumulator, and the gold ring has headed to Malaysia, after Michael Soyza won the first title of his career, overcoming the German Rainer Kempe, in heads-up action.

605 entrants created a total prize pool over $620,000, and a sparkling array of talent made their way through to the final eight. The reigning World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP-APAC) Main Event winner, Scott Davies; WSOP bracelet winner, and Australian Poker Hall of Famer, Gary Benson; and the reigning European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona champion, Andre Lettau, all making Soyza work hard for his money.

Davies (7th) and Benson (6th) would bow out early, and a four-way chop was agreed after Huy Pham was eliminated in fifth place. Soyza locked up $120,000, Kempe $76,272, Lettau $69,319 and Liao $59,336. No sooner has hands been shook and we were heads-up. Soyza eliminating both Lettau and Liao after flopping two pair, versus top pair, versus gutterball and flush draw. Everyone missed, Soyza took a 3:1 chip lead into the heads-up clash against the young German, and it wasn’t much longer before he owned every chip on the table.

Aussie Millions Event #6 Final Table Results

David Ginola’s FIFA presidency candidacy could be derailed with Paddy Power’s involvement

David Ginola’s bid to unseat Sepp Blatter as FIFA president had a farcical air to it, only because Paddy Power, known for its outlandish marketing ploys was behind it. How ironic is it now that it appears that the Irish bookmaker’s involvement in Ginola’s campaign could be the deterrent that keeps the former Newcastle United man from getting a sniff of FIFA’s version of the Iron Throne.

Turns out, if Ginola was really serious about his attempt to become the next FIFA president, the organization’s ethics code – itself a paradox in its own way – explicitly says that no candidate can “take part in, either directly or indirectly, or otherwise be associated with betting, gambling.”

Paddy Power did say that it won’t continue financially to Ginola’s candidacy “beyond January 27”, the imposed deadline for candidates to gather the necessary support of at least five football federations around the world. That in itself is a problem for Ginola because no federation has come out and supported his bid.

But the real issue could go down to the fact that Ginola’s making this bid because Paddy Power paid him 250,000 pounds to vie for the FIFA presidency. The Irish bookmaker can talk all the semantics it wants, but the combination of the possible ethics code breach and Paddy Power’s publicity mongering reputation could torpedo Ginola’s chances.

Both he and Paddy have said that his campaign is serious, even if a lot of people greeted the news of Ginola’s plans last week with a mixture of amusement of incredulity. Not exactly the two things you want people to feel when you’re serious about your intentions.

Making things even bleaker for Ginola’s candidacy is the planned support base he and Paddy Power have set up to fund his campaign. As it turns out, the Irish bookmaker will be collecting donations from football fans using a campaign website that oddly enough says that donations are “non-refundable”, through a new company called Rebooting Football Limited, which is a subsidiary firm set up by Paddy Power specifically for the purpose of Ginola’s planned candidacy. Paddy Power has since come out with a statement, contradicting its own policy by saying that fans would be reimbursed their campaign donations if Ginola doesn’t make the cut.

As if all of these things are bad enough, Ginola also misses out on a number of critical items every candidate should have on their checklist. Has he had an active role in football for any two years in the past five years? Has he worked as a “a board member, committee member, referee, assistant referee, coach, trainer [or] any other person responsible for technical, medical or administrative matters in FIFA, a Confederation, Association, League or Club”?

Manny Pacquiao Bluffed by Poker Star

According to an Instagram post, Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao was on the receiving end of a $100,000 river bluff by the young cash game specialist Justin ‘Boosted J’ Smith.

There aren’t many people who manage to get one over on the Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao (5 in 64 fights to be precise), but that’s exactly what happened when poker met boxing in an undisclosed cash game venue.

According to the Instagram account of Justin ‘Boosted J’ Smith, the young cash game expert ran one ‘of the most aggressive bluffs’ ever in his career when squaring off against the Pac-Man for the very first time.

“I bet over $100k on the river, he thought for almost five minutes, and finally showed that he had folded top pair of aces.” Wrote Smith, who had posted a photo of the pair on his Instagram account, “He started to beg me to show him my hand. I had one of the most nothing possible hands I’ve ever ended up having, but I had a read on him and decided to go with it.”

So did Smith have the balls to show the eight-division world champion the bluff?

“Naturally, I don’t usually like to show my hands, and didn’t want to rub it in his face that I had outplayed or “fooled” him. So I asked him three times “are you sure you want to see my hand?” and he nodded his head energetically and saying yes. I showed him an absolute stone cold bluff and when his eyes compared my cards to the board to find the correlation that didn’t exist, his eyes darted back up to meet my eyes and his fists clenched up.”

Fortunately, for Boosted J, Pacquiao saw the funny side and gave the young starlet a big bear hug.

Rapinder Cheema Wins UKIPT5 in London

Rapinder Cheema reigned victorious at the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour Season 5 Main Event, in London,  after beating the UK-based Spaniard Fernando Marin, in heads-up action, to take the £78,825 first prize.

[Image Credit: Pokerstarsblog]

“I have never won a poker tournament before!”

Those were the words of Rapinder Cheema moments after securing a pulsating pay day of £78,825, as the champion of the £770 United Kingdom & Ireland (UKIPT) Season 5 Main Event.

It was a wonderful moment, and defined what the UKIPT is all about. In fact, the top five players only had a total of four live tournament cashes between them when they sat down at the final table.

742 entrants, and the £502,818 prize pool, was a little down on the 1,089 that turned up for the Season 4 event in Oct 2014. A young man named Brett Angell walked away with that title, and £115,083 in prize money, and he nearly stole the headlines again with a superb back-to-back run that saw him fall in a hand against Cheema in seventh place.

Cheema and his heads-up partner Marin were the two chip leaders when the final table began, and as often happens they were the only two left to contest this thing. Marin started with a 3:1 chip lead, but that didn’t stop the pair agreeing to share the money equally – with an additional £15,000 to play for – an amount that’s now gathering interest in Cheema’s bank account.

UK’s betting firms implement self-policing problem gambling

UK’s biggest gambling companies implement self-regulation, protecting customers in danger of developing gambling problems.

Betting companies will put mandatory time limit on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) into place, which is described by campaigners as the “crack cocaine” of gambling.

At the start of a session on a terminal, players will be prompted to set their own time or money limit. Even if they choose not to do so, the machine will show a short warning after 30 minutes of use or once a play racks up losses of £250. The companies will also will also cover 8,000 betting shop with messages about betting responsibly as part of an industry-wide “gamble aware week.”

Betting companies have launched a new £2m responsible gambling campaign intended to remind punters to curb their impulses when gambling. The new watchdog named the Senet Group, whose ranks include Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and William Hill, have debuted a pair of new TV adverts centered around the message that: “when the fun stops, stop.”

“75% of customers, when hitting a limit, stop immediately or don’t put any more money into the machine. But not enough customers are setting limits.” said Carl Leaver, chief executive of Gala Coral.

“Campaigners would say that problem gamblers were our best customers, actually the reverse is true – they are our worst customers,” he added. “We want people who continue to have fun for month after month, year after year. Our hope is that in introducing these measures, customers will manage their own spending better.”

According to the Responsible Gaming Trust after it took its first in-depth analysis at FOBT that average player loses £6 per session after playing for 11 minutes and the average stake doubled after 10pm and 3% of sessions involved the maximum £100 bet, a ceiling that was set in 2005.