Featured Articles Archive - Page 436

UIGEA regulations keep my money off PokerStars, but nowhere else

The regulations for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) went into effect today. The law was designed to prevent U.S. citizens from playing poker and casino games or making sports bets on the Internet by requiring banks and financial institutions to block player deposits to Internet gambling businesses...read more

Slot machine market looking up

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- So what happened to all the expected slot machine sales? Following November's Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, casino operators seemed ready to loosen the half-decade-old grip they held over capital spending budgets. The recession slowed customer casino spending, causing nationwide gaming revenues to fall 5.5 percent in 2009 following a 4.7 percent drop in 2008. The economy, coupled with belt-tightening budget reductions, resulted in two years of declining slot machine sales...read more

Ameristar may seek Missouri license

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Ameristar Casinos has not formally said it was interested in acquiring a soon-to-be available Missouri gaming license. But the operator's actions place it smack into the middle of the debate.Las Vegas-based Ameristar, which already operates two Missouri casinos, suggested the license owned by the President Casino should be transferred from downtown St...read more

Norwegian consumers despair as transaction blocking kicks in

As of today, Norway will become the first European country to enact financial transaction blocking as a method of prohibiting their citizens from using unlicensed foreign gambling operators. The new law means that banks will be prohibited by law from facilitating transactions which occur between gambling operator and Norwegian consumers, not only in Norway, but throughout the rest of the world too. An unlicensed betting operator is one which does not hold a Norwegian gambling license, which if you are a foreign betting operator, is impossible to attain. We can't exactly put our finger on it, but something doesn't seem quite fair about a country not actually offering licenses to the foreign competition, and then blocking any unlicensed competitor. Of course Norway isn't yet part of the EU but they are a member of the EC and therefore have to subscribe to EU trade laws and principles...read more

Can you evaluate the luck factor in gambling?

Most casino buffs know that the house has an advantage, an edge, in its games. And that the edge is how the joints earn their dough. But few solid citizens (and not all that many bigwigs) realize that edge is a long-term affair. It's the net of casino wins minus losses over huge numbers of decisions, averaged across all the money bet...read more

Deal Me In: Can anything honestly be that elusive?

Dear Mark: Four times this past weekend I was dealt four cards to a royal flush, and I didn't hit one. Why not all five cards as opposed to just four? Also, can a video poker machine be programmed to deal four cards to a royal to encourage continued play on my part, and then be programmed to never allow me a royal flush? Ellen R.The ever-elusive royal flush, Ellen, is the best hand you can make in video poker...read more

WSOP offering more low buy-in events

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- If attendance at last year's special $1,000 buy-in no limit hold 'em event was any indication, the folks running the World Series of Poker may be on to something.Tournament officials added the event to boost attendance and give low-limit players a chance to compete for a championship bracelet.The result was a whopping 6,012 entries packing the Rio that earned 24-year-old Southern California poker professional Steven Sung a champions' bracelet and a paycheck of $771,106...read more

Joe Cada is back for more

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- You're Joe Cada and you won tournament poker's ultimate championship last year at an age when your contemporaries are finishing college and thinking about embarking on a career or graduate school.Instead, at 21, you won the World Series of Poker's Main Event.You collected more than the $8.5 million although you split the money with a pair of professional gamblers who paid your entry into the tournament.Your friends? They're working odd jobs and hoping to scrape up enough money for a fast-food meal in between classes.You appeared on late-night television with David Letterman and Jay Leno and traveled to parts of the world you only imagined.Meanwhile, the same poker fans you used to line up with to collect autographs from the game's best players are now asking you to sign your name and pose for a photo.It's all surreal."I think I'm the same guy," Cada said recently...read more

Governor, MGM Mirage meet over disputed payments

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- An MGM Mirage official vowed Wednesday to pay subcontractors who claim they are owed almost $400 million for their work on CityCenter, following a meeting between company executives and Gov. Jim Gibbons.CityCenter Chief Executive Officer Bobby Baldwin said paying some 600 subcontractors, vendors and small businesses caught in the middle of a legal skirmish between the casino operator and CityCenter general contractor Perini Building Co...read more

Illinois expands slot machine footprint

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois -- Illinois lawmakers changed the language of the state's Video Gaming Act Wednesday, allowing truck stops and VFW halls to operate slot machines. The measure passed both legislative houses and it's anticipated the governor will sign the bill into law. Originally, in the law passed a year ago, only liquor-licensed establishments, such as bars and taverns, could offer slot machines. Local counties still are debating whether or not to opt into the plan, which could give Illinois more than 30,000 slot machines outside of the state's riverboat casinos. Janney Montgomery Scott gaming analyst Brian McGill estimated the state had some 800 truck stops and VFW halls, which could add another 4,000 slot machines to the mix. "It still remains to be seen whether the city of Chicago will opt into the video gaming machines," McGill said...read more