Featured Articles Archive - Page 126

Amaya exec calls for more regulation of daily fantasy sports

The owner of online gaming giant PokerStars.com said daily fantasy sports needs to be regulated after questions surfaced in recent weeks over the activity's legality and incidents surrounding the industry's two largest operators.Montreal-based Amaya Inc., which operates the fantasy sports site StarsDraft, said the self-regulatory practices the industry has under-taken "have fallen short."In a statement, Amaya Vice President of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser said daily fantasy sports needs "stricter state regulation consistent with existing state consumer protections for other gaming activities."The comments came after FanDuel and DraftKings, which control 90% of the daily fantasy sports market, undertook steps to repair public damage when it was learned a DraftKings employee won $350,000 in a FanDuel contest reportedly by using inside information...read more

Appeals court agrees to reconsider case to legalize sports betting in New Jersey

A federal appeals court threw proponents of legalized sports betting a lifeline on Wednesday when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia voted to vacate an August ruling that went against New Jersey's efforts to allow wagering on college and professional sports in casinos and at racetracks.Today's development probably won't clear the path for heading to the counter and placing wagers on your favorite NFL teams this season, but noted sports and gaming attorney Daniel Wallach told Casino City today that it's a "distinct possibility" that day will come by the end of 2016."This isn't about legalizing sports betting in New Jersey or nationally in time for this year's Super Bowl; it's about the long term," said Wallach, an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Florida...read more

New Jersey approval of PokerStars could boost online wagering prospects

Amaya Inc.'s $4.9 billion wager is about to pay off.New Jersey gaming regulators, after an intensive licensing investigation that lasted more than year, gave PokerStars.com approval to offer Internet gambling in the state on Sept. 30.PokerStars is viewed as the elixir that could revive the stagnant U.S...read more

Station Casinos announces plans for initial public offering

Station Casinos, which has been privately held since 2008, announced plans Tuesday for an initial public offering that will return the company to the stock market.The casino operator filed an S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing plans to sell stock in the company...read more

ESPN WSOP Main Event Recap: Episodes IX and X

ESPN2 continued its World Series of Poker Main Event coverage on Sunday night, once again going up against the NFL.Since even the most ardent poker fan may have opted out of watching the two new episodes in their entirety and chosen to sweat out daily fantasy sports results by tuning in to Sunday Night Football or the Major League Baseball playoffs instead, Casino City sat through Episodes IX and X...read more

Top 10 takeaways from the DraftKings data leak

The burgeoning daily fantasy sports (DFS) industry was flipped on its head last week when the details of an "insider information" scandal gained traction in the mainstream media.A DraftKings employee named Ethan Haskell inadvertently released player ownership data for the site's Week 3 Millionaire Maker tournament after the contest had closed, but while players still had the ability to change their lineups for the late Sunday and Monday night games...read more

Smaller, midsize companies poised for seat at the table

As the gaming equipment manufacturing sector coalesced in the last two years through almost $17 billion in mergers, Joc Pececnik quietly watched with keen interest and personal insight.In 2006, Pececnik sold 50% of his Slovenia-based Interblock Gaming, a developer of multi-player electronic table games, to Australian slot machine manufacturer Aristocrat Technologies.Within four years, the deal unraveled."Our marriage was not a perfect one," Pececnik recalled during an interview at the Global Gaming Expo...read more

Skill-based slots won't take over the casino floor

Let's be clear from the outset: The Strip casino of the future isn't going to look like your child's Xbox or PlayStation.But gaming industry leaders seemed unified in an opinion expressed over the four-day Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas — changes have to be made in the slot machine floor over the next few years if casinos are going to attract a younger customer base.It's not going to be a wholesale change."We're just looking for a small space, not the whole floor," said Eric Meyerhofer, CEO of Gamblit Gaming, whose Glendale, Calif.-based company has been at the center of bringing a new type of slot machine to casinos.Customers who love the core slot machines, such as Blazing 7s, Buffalo and Wheel of Fortune, will still find those time-tested games.At the G2E trade show inside the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the old standards were displayed...read more

Deal Me In: Just a token of your appreciation

Dear Mark: In yesterday's Detroit Free Press (10/1/15), there was a question about tipping. My question is also about tipping but more specifically as it pertains to a casino if you are lucky enough to win something big. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were vacationing in Deadwood, S.D., and I was one of the lucky ones who won at slots...read more

Titus calls for hearings on legality of daily fantasy sports

Add Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) to the list of congressional representatives requesting hearings be held on the legalities of daily fantasy sports businesses that have come under fire over cheating allegations and concerns the industry is largely unregulated.In a letter Thursday to the chairman and the ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Titus said it was "critical" Congress "investigate this growing industry."Titus, whose district includes the Strip and downtown casinos, said she is concerned daily fantasy sports are skirting the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which prohibits financial transactions associated with online wagering."Many experts in gaming law believe that the (daily fantasy sports) business model violates the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act," Titus wrote.Nevada gaming regulators asked the state's attorney general's office, which advises the Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission, to analyze the legalities of the activity...read more