Featured Articles Archive - Page 139

DraftKings employee wins $350,000 on FanDuel, prompting DFS insider information concerns

A scandal in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) world has raised questions about whether or not the industry, currently unregulated, needs some form of government oversight.The story began when RotoGrinders forum user "colinwdrew" posted that DraftKings employee Ethan Haskell had inadvertently released player ownership data for the site's Week 3 Millionaire Maker tournament on Sunday, Sept...read more

Top 10 observations from G2E

Since its 2001 debut in Las Vegas, the Global Gaming Expo – better known as simply G2E – has become renowned in the industry as the world's largest gaming trade show and conference. And after spending four days last week roaming the floor at the Sands Expo and Convention Center for G2E 2015, I'm here to report that that description is spot on.In addition to more than 500 exhibitors spread across the two-million-square-foot convention center – which is attached to The Venetian Las Vegas and The Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas Strip – there were nearly 100 seminar sessions featuring industry experts sitting on panels covering everything from iGaming and tribal gaming to compliance, security and regulation to daily fantasy sports and traditional sports betting.This was truly one of those times I wished I could be in five places at once, because there was so much going on every day, extending deep into the night...read more

ESPN WSOP Main Event Recap: Episodes VII, VIII

ESPN once again broke its weekly schedule of airing episodes of the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event, this week showing episodes 7 and 8 on Sunday night on ESPN2.The move actually makes more sense than the network's original schedule, when it aired WSOP alongside Monday Night Football on its flagship network...read more

Downtown Grand says 'We want gamblers'

The Downtown Grand Las Vegas missed the gaming resurgence that has boosted Fremont Street in the past 12 months.Of course, the hotel-casino isn't located underneath the Fremont Street Experience canopy.The street address is not the issue challenging the 2-year-old property, which often appears empty compared to its competition along downtown's main pedestrian drag.Customers were making the less-than-two-minute walk from Fremont Street to the Downtown Grand property on Third Street and Ogden Avenue — but they weren't entering the casino."We probably weren't getting enough of the gambling business," said Downtown Grand CEO Jim Simms.Simms, who took over the day-to-day operations of the Downtown Grand in June, said his initial effort was to focus the casino toward what the name implies...read more

Chinese government may take steps to save Macau casino industry

The Chinese government may step in to help stem the bleeding within Macau's plummeting gaming market.According to local Macau media Friday, the liaison office between Mainland China and Macau expects the Beijing government to release measures that would support Macau's economy, notably the casino industry...read more

Deal Me In: Gamblers are shunning tightfisted slots

Dear Mark: In your column “I’ve Been Everywhere,” you wrote about all the casino destinations that you have visited over the years. Did you find in your travels that slot machines look and play the same from state to state? Ken K.Slot machines, Ken, are comparable from casino to casino, state to state...read more

ESPN WSOP Main Event Recap: Episodes V and VI

Let's be honest, the only time I've watched poker "live" (aka, when it was broadcast) since I became a father eight years ago has been during the November Nine. Thanks to the wonders of the DVR, I'm able to tape the shows I'm interested in and watch them at my leisure.Now, with three kids aged 8 and under in the house, an unhealthy addiction to prime-time soap operas and my wife's obsession with reality television, our DVR is cluttered with episodes of Curious George, Sophia the First, Nashville and Project Runway, leaving little to no room for ESPN's World Series of Poker broadcasts.However, thanks to poker superfans, new episodes are available online almost immediately, so I've been relying on YouTube to stay abreast of the latest ESPN coverage.Unfortunately, instead of airing episode 5 on ESPN2 as promised, the first hour of the show got moved to ESPNEWS on Wednesday night, and the only broadcast I've been able to find on YouTube misses the first 10 minutes of coverage.Even without the start, it's another entertaining night of Main Event coverage, as the tournament plays down from 237 players to approximately 120 (no official player count is given at the end of the show).As always, if you don't want to know what happens later in the tournament, don't read this column...read more

Macau casino revenues decline 33% in September

To no surprise, the Macau casino industry suffered through its 16th straight monthly revenue decline during September and the market's eighth straight month of drops of more than 30%.Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said Thursday the region's 36 large and small casinos collected $2.1 billion in gaming revenue in September, a decline of 33%.The market has been in a free fall for nearly a year-and-a-half over a sinking Chinese economy and a mainland China government crackdown on corruption that has ensnared several of the high-end junket operators tasked with bring big spending gamblers to Macau's casinos."September results were broadly in line with expectations as a better start to the month was quickly erased by the seasonal, and softer this year, pre-Golden Week malaise at month end," Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli told investors...read more

eSports pioneer doesn't believe casinos are doing enough for customers

Rahul Sood admitted at the outset of his Thursday morning keynote address at the Global Gaming Expo that it had been awhile since he visited Las Vegas.He also wondered if comments about the traditional casino industry might cause him to end up "in a six-foot hole in desert."Sood, 42, CEO and co-founder of Unikrn, a Seattle-based video gaming and entertainment company focused on eSports, doesn't believe the traditional slot machine manufacturers are addressing the interests of the casino customers."What was going through the mind of person who designed the Britney Spears slot machine?" Sood said after watching an older customer play the game inside a Strip casino...read more

Dan's DFS picks for NFL Week 4

I won. I actually won money playing daily fantasy sports.While I finished 96 points behind the guy who won the DraftKings Millionaire Maker last week, my Week 3 lineup still produced 205 points and was good enough for a $40 cash, double the buy-in...read more