Featured Articles Archive - Page 419

Online gambling regulations a hot topic at G2E

The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) opened last week with a series of conference sessions on Internet gambling. And with a standing-room only audience of brick-and-mortar gaming executives in attendance, the hot topic for discussion was when Congress would pass legislation that licensed and regulated online gambling."If nothing happens in the next 14 days, then nothing will happen in the next two years," said Filament Strategies President Lloyd Levine."You'll have better odds at the slot machine than with the new Congress," said Levine, who attempted to pass legislation regulating online poker in 2008 when he was a state legislator in California.The consensus among the online gambling experts assembled was that federal legislation to regulate online gambling would only pass if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attached the legislation to an unrelated must-pass bill -- the same way the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was attached the Port Security bill in 2006."It's up to Reid now," said Jerome Encinas, director of government affairs for the California Nations Indian Gaming Association...read more

Seidel has stock market crash to thank for HOF career

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The stock market crash of 1987 ended Erik Seidel's career on Wall Street as an options trader and sent the one-time backgammon expert into poker.It turned out to be a pretty good job move.Seidel, 51, has earned more than $10 million in tournament poker and collected eight World Series of Poker individual event championship bracelets over a 23-year career.During the final table of the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold 'em World Championship at the Rio earlier this month, Seidel was inducted into Poker's Hall of Fame along with 1995 world poker champion Dan Harrington...read more

Harrah's officially changes company name

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Harrah's Entertainment officially changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corp. Tuesday, a move the company first considered more than two years ago. The name Harrah's will remain as one of the company's primary casino brands, along with Caesars and Horseshoe...read more

How to design a slot machine

Many gambling buffs consider slot machines among the great mysteries of the universe, shrouded in myth and guided by the unseen hand of fate. True, the math underlying the chances and returns on slots call for statistical expertise. And programming the computer chips takes some software skill...read more

N.J. Senate approves online gambling bill

The New Jersey Senate voted 29-5 Monday to allow Atlantic City casino operators to offer online gambling to New Jersey residents. The bill was amended to allow residents of other countries to wager on the Atlantic City sites. People living in other U.S...read more

Slot makers try to boost sales during G2E

LAS VEGAS -- The major slot machine manufacturers at last week's Global Gaming Expo treated Indian casino operators Tony Goetz and Tim De Lugo like royalty. Goetz, who runs five small casinos in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and De Lugo, who oversees slot operations at a casino north of Fresno, Calif., said they were either buying or looking to lease the newest slot machines and gaming technology. After gambling equipment providers watched sales revenue evaporate following last year's G2E, most slot company executives expressed cautious optimism heading into this year's show. The big casino operators have continued to tighten their grips on capital expenditures...read more

Inside Gaming: Loveman laments perception of gaming

LAS VEGAS -- For about an hour last week, Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman turned a Las Vegas Convention Center conference room into a Harvard University lecture hall. Loveman's keynote address at the Global Gaming Expo implored the industry to fight misinformation and misconceptions about legalized gaming in America. A former associate professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration, Loveman adopted some of his classroom techniques in a PowerPoint presentation...read more

Top-10 things gamblers can be thankful for

It's the time of year when Americans start thinking about all the things that they are thankful for. Most of us, of course, are most thankful for great friends, family, and good health. But gamblers also have a lot to be thankful for at this time of year...read more

Gaming expo panelists agree gaming industry will recover

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Five longtime gaming industry personalities believe the worldwide business they played a hand in creating will recover from its current economic woes. During a roundtable discussion at the Global Gaming Expo on Wednesday, former International Game Technology Chairman Chuck Mathewson said the gaming industry is already rebounding from its two-year-long recession. "It's going to be a long recovery, and we're starting to see some traction," said Mathewson, who began investing in IGT in the early 1980s, became chairman and chief executive officer, and grew the company into the industry's largest slot machine manufacturer. "The industry won't be as robust as it was, but it will recover," Mathewson said...read more

A shocking confession: Maybe NLH is alright, after all

I've been a poker snob. While no-limit Texas Hold'em has been the undisputed king of poker for at least a decade, I've espoused the more "intellectual" challenges of the limit variety of the game. I've professed my love for limit Omaha Eight or Better, for Stud, and mixed games like H.O.R.S.E., while generally relegating my no-limit Hold'em play to tournaments only.The truth is, I was scared...read more