Featured Articles Archive - Page 322

Realistically, how often can slot players expect to hit jackpots?

Chances of various final hands at video poker are no great secrets, assuming that players adhere to the optimal strategies. The theoretical frequency of trials that yield returns, at any particular level or on the whole, can be ascertained by anyone who cares to check into the matter...read more

From Russia, with love: No gaming taxes if you build here

A Russian territory that announced plans in May to place a multibillion-dollar gaming complex near one of its port cities, has sweetened the deal to entice casino companies to bid on the development: zero gaming taxes. Nash Dom Primorye, the wholly owned government developer in the port city of Vladivostok in Russia's Primorsky Territory, released the Request for Concepts documents this week that invite major gaming companies to submit ideas for the first phase of the development. Vladivostok is one of the four regions allocated by the Russian government to have gaming...read more

Poker player Maria Ho finds success at the tables after college

Moments after the University of California, San Diego handed Maria Ho a diploma in 2005, she knew her career goals were destined for a job that required skills beyond her degree in communications.Ho participated in the college's graduation ceremonies with her classmates...read more

Four women poised to make deep run at WSOP Main Event

LAS VEGAS -- As the World Series of Poker Main Event field narrowed from 282 players to 97, four women put themselves in position to make a run at the final table -- something that hasn't happened since the Moneymaker boom ushered in the modern poker era...read more

WSOP Main Event gets more excitement than it bargained for

LAS VEGAS -- The money bubble burst early Friday at the World Series of Poker Main Event. But that was just the beginning of the excitement in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Shortly after the bubble burst, a player accidently released pepper spray into the air while the tournament was being played...read more

Nevada gaming revenues fall 10 percent in May; Strip revenues down 18 percent

In a month that saw Strip and statewide gaming revenues plummet based on the calendar, a lower-than-usual hold percentage and a challenging comparison, analysts found a bright spot: The Las Vegas locals gaming market showed a healthy recovery during May. Nevada gaming revenues declined 10 percent in May, the second time in three months that state casinos showed a double-digit drop, according to figures released Thursday by the Gaming Control Board. On the Strip, casinos suffered an 18 percent decrease in gaming revenues. "We view these results as being modestly weaker than expectations, though not as bad as the headline implies," Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli told investors. Nevada casinos collected almost $885.1 million from gamblers in May, down from $984 million in the same month a year ago...read more

Day 3 success doesn't guarantee big money at the WSOP Main Event

LAS VEGAS -- Grabbing the chip lead, or sitting on one of the top chip stacks after Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Main Event, doesn't guarantee you'll reach the November Nine. It doesn't guarantee you'll finish in the top 50. But it does give you a really good chance of winning at least $65,000.An analysis of the top-10 chip end of Day 3 stacks from 2011, and the top-five end of Day 3 stacks from 2010 (the top 10 wasn't tracked in 2010) shows eight of the 15 players at the top of the leaderboard went on to win at least $65,000.All players cashed...read more

Online gaming operator Paddy Power passes regulators' first test

Online gaming operator Paddy Power plc, which is considered the top legal bookmaker in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, was granted a preliminary finding of suitability to operate in Nevada by state gaming regulators Wednesday. The company, which is based in Ireland, does yet not have any business interests in Nevada. However, Paddy Power Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kennedy told the Gaming Control Board during an hourlong hearing it was actively exploring gaming opportunities in Nevada and other American markets. "The U.S...read more

Shuffle Master recommended for interactive operations

Gaming equipment supplier Shuffle Master, Inc. was given preliminary approval Wednesday by the state Gaming Control Board to manufacture and provide interactive gaming systems. If approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission later this month, Shuffle Master would become the third company licensed for online gaming in the state, following June's regulatory approvals for slot machine makers Bally Technologies and International Game Technology. Shuffle Master Chief Strategy Officer Louis Castle told the control board the company was considering its options for providing companies that become licensed to operate an intrastate Internet casino in Nevada with a business-to-business online poker product. The company currently offers its nontraditional table game products, such as Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold'em and Caribbean Stud Poker, to legal Internet gaming markets, through social media, and on free-to-play mobile gaming applications. Castle said Shuffle Master's initial strategy is to place versions of the company's table games on free-to-play social gaming websites...read more

Why (real) dogs playing poker stole the show at World Series of Poker Main Event

LAS VEGAS -- At some point, no matter how humble, obscure or subversive its origins might be, every successful movement or organization becomes the establishment. It happened to rock and roll and hip hop. It happened to Google, Apple and Facebook...read more