Featured Articles Archive - Page 449

Kentucky, Delaware put off gaming expansion

FRANKFURT, Kentucy -- Two states have put off gaming expansion for the time being. In Kentucky, the state Legislature passed a two-year budget plan during a special session. Gaming expansion, including racetrack slot machines and stand-alone casinos, had been presented during the regular legislative session...read more

Deal Me In: Fellow asked me once if I recommended winning

Dear Mark: Would you recommend playing slots when the casino is crowded? It seems more jackpots are hit when I play in the evening than during the day when it is less crowded. Jan B.Yes, Jan, you are more likely to see and hear jackpots hit in the evening when the casino is packed full of players, but it's not because a wizard behind a curtain throws some secret switch to instantly loosen their machines because the joint is hopping.More jackpots are hit at peak times in crowded casinos simply because there are more people playing...read more

Six companies enter reopened Aqueduct casino process

NEW YORK, New York -- Six entities have entered the restarted bidding process to operate a slot machine-only casino at New York Aqueduct Racetrack, but absent from the group was the winner of the previous aborted go-round.The New York Lottery Division, which is overseeing the bidding process, released the names Wednesday.Among the half-dozen initial letters of interests, which includes a $1 million refundable entry fee, was a joint submission from Empire City Casino-Yonkers Raceway and Genting New York LLC, an off-shoot of Malaysian-based casino operator Genting, which recently opened Resorts World Sentosa, one of two casinos in Singapore.Penn National Gaming submitted a letter as did Delaware North, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based company that had partnered with Harrah's Entertainment last year...read more

ECJ rules in favor of Dutch online gambling restrictions

The European Court of Justice ruled that member states can prohibit Internet gambling firms from operating within their borders if their own national courts deem that such a ban combats fraud and crime on Thursday.In separate cases, Britain's Ladbrokes and Betfair had challenged the Netherlands' state-run gambling monopoly De Lotto, claiming their British license which comes with strict rules regarding fraud and gambling addiction, should be recognized by the Netherlands because European Union law states that companies can offer business services across borders in other EU countries.The Ladbrokes and Betfair rulings are consistent with the judgment the court made involving bwin and the Portuguese Football League in August, 2009...read more

Mizrachi claims WSOP Poker Players Championship, $1.5 million prize

Just three weeks after the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel wrote a story about Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi's tax troubles, the well-known professional poker player captured one of the most coveted titles in poker and claimed a prize of more than $1.5 million.Mizrachi defeated a final table that included his brother Robert as well as established pros John Juanda and Daniel Alaei to claim the World Series of Poker's Poker Players Championship, a $50,000 buy-in event that attracted 116 of the best players in the world.The tournament ran over five days, with most of the pro-laden field eliminated over the first four days when the tournament was played with eight games in the rotation...read more

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