Featured Articles Archive - Page 539

Phil Hellmuth lost, but UltimateBet still shipped him the pot

UltimateBet is facing new questions about the integrity of its software after its system paid out UB pitchman Phil Hellmuth with the losing hand instead of the player with the winning hand on Dec 20. The glitch, which was first reported on the TwoPlusTwo poker forums, has been fixed according to a statement released Tuesday by UltimateBet's parent company, Tokwiro Enterprises. TwoPlusTwo is the same online poker community that unraveled the "super user" scandal that plagued UltimateBet earlier this year. According to the hand history posted on TwoPlusTwo, "DOUBLEBALLER" should have won $5,599 with three kings against Hellmuth's mucked hand on a $200/$400 Hold'em table...read more

Casino City's Top-10 land-based gaming stories from 2008

10. Expansion of WSOPE Although it will probably never be as grand as the original WSOP that takes place in Las Vegas every year, the World Series of Poker Europe is beginning to make its mark in the poker world. The inaugural edition of the WSOPE in 2007 featured three events and the Main Event got major publicity when then-18-year-old Annette Obrestad came out of nowhere to capture the title...read more

INSIDE GAMING: MGM Mirage has same cause despite change

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- If the business community thinks it will have an easier ride in the upcoming legislative session following the retirement of Terry Lanni, they are sorely mistaken. New MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren is just as committed and passionate as his predecessor about getting Nevada's funding framework reworked. "The state's tax structure and the state's economy are broken and they need to be thoughtfully addressed," Murren said...read more

Wynn feels confident on eve of Encore opening

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Encore will open Monday in the middle of the worst economic crisis to ever impact the gaming industry. Through October, Las Vegas casino revenues are down 8.7 percent while visitation is off 3 percent. So, is Wynn Resorts Ltd...read more

THE STRIP: CityCenter to begin hiring process

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- CityCenter will on Jan. 5 begin filling more than 12,000 jobs for MGM Mirage's $9.1 billion CityCenter project. But Bill McBeath, president of Aria, CityCenter's 4,000-room hotel-casino centerpiece, isn't viewing the task with apprehension...read more

Deal Me In: Player's recall might be slightly off

Dear Mark: I like to play video blackjack on 25-cent machines. Do you know if these machines are dealt randomly from a deck of 52 or are they "fixed" to give me fewer blackjacks? It seems I never get my fair share of blackjacks compared to a table game, nor seem to win as much...read more

Pinnacle Sports stops offering North American horse races

Offshore bookmaker Pinnacle Sports decided to suspend betting on North American horse racing earlier this week. The company put a statement on the "Horse Betting" portion of its Web site that said it "finds itself in a position where we are unable to offer horse racing to our satisfaction." The sportsbook added that the "declining interest of clients in racing in general has prompted us to discontinue wagering on daily North American horse racing with immediate effect." Pinnacle Sports, which also offers poker and an online casino, assured customers that their range of sports betting markets and casino games will still be available...read more

Playing It Smart: Are hedges a sensible form of gambling insurance?

In some casino games, you can hedge bets by wagering on opposite sides of the same proposition. It's like a fee that lowers the net profit of wins, in return for cutting or eliminating costs of losses. Players who like hedges view them as insurance against big setbacks...read more

Heard it on the river: Casino smoking bans hurt constituents

Down in the Delta, Rep. JOHN MAYO, D-Clarksdale, works for a district that has 10 casinos in it and for nearly 9 years now he has been for a statewide smoking ban. While it is documented in other states with legal gambling that such a ban has helped cause declining revenues, Mayo says he "not completely oblivious to what (a smoking ban) would do." His quotes appeared in an article in the Commercial Appeal by Phil West...read more

Ruffin itching to get back on Strip

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Phil Ruffin said he was bored. The Wichita, Kan., businessman, who sold the now demolished New Frontier 19 months ago for $1.2 billion, had an itch to get back into the casino business. It took him just three weeks to negotiate a $775 million purchase of Treasure Island from MGM Mirage...read more