Online Casino Edition – Casino News News about online casinos and gambling

June 7, 2013

Gambling Not the Biggest Atlantic City Draw

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 6:09 am

In the past, Atlantic City, NJ was known for its gambling venues and that alone brought in a great deal of revenue. Now, however, as more casinos are going up in various states, people are not visiting Atlantic City primarily to gamble anymore.

A recent study suggests that many of those who come to Atlantic City now are doing so more for the beaches and other amenities that they are for gambling. This is a huge change from when the city was known as the second-largest gambling destination, only Las Vegas. It can be said that in earlier days, visitors to Atlantic City did not care much for the beaches or other venues. They were in the city to gamble, and gamble is what they did.

The change began when neighboring states such as Maine, Delaware, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts began to authorize their own casinos. This began only a few years ago, but has already made a big impact on AC casinos. In fact, Pennsylvania has now surpassed New Jersey as being the second-largest gambling state.

The study was conducted over the phone and included some 700 respondents. More than 38 percent of those responding reported that vacations were their main reason for going to Atlantic City. The study reported that only about 27 percent said that gaming and gambling were the reasons for going to Atlantic City. It was also reported in the study that the number of people who are visiting AC now who have children less than 18 has doubled. Two years ago, the number came in at about 9 percent. Now, the number is at about 18 percent. This increase is suggested to be because of the increase of family-friendly venues that are now in AC that were not there in years past.

The current Atlantic City gaming officials are not going down without a fight however. They, along with many New Jersey lawmakers, are working on a variety of new ways that will bring gamblers back. They still believe that AC is a premier casino location and have high hopes that they can pull this off.

A few months ago, NJ passed some laws that allow Atlantic City casinos the right to expand and to operate online casinos as well as offer sports books on their AC resorts. It has been reported that the online casinos may be operational and running by the end of this year. The sports betting initiative will need to go through some hurdles at the Federal level before it can become a part of this revitalization idea.

With any luck, AC will be able to bring back at least some of its most loyal visitors. The casinos and resorts that are now occupying space there depend on this revenue for their very existence. The full impact that other states opening their own casinos will have on AC will not be felt for a few more years. One thing is certain as more states see the value of having their own in-state facilities, the number of new casinos is certainly going to increase.

June 5, 2013

Phil Ivey Accused of Cheating in London Casino

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 6:09 am

Genting Group, a casino giant in Europe, as accused poker super-star Phil Ivey of cheating while playing baccarat. Genting Group alleges that Ivey won millions at baccarat but did so by cheating.

Genting Group is based in Malaysia and in court documents that were filed with Britain’s High Court they allege Ivey, along with an accomplice, employed a scam in order to amass nearly $11.9 million (of 7.8 million pounds). This is said to have happened last summer. It was also alleged that the game in which this took place occurred during the time period Aug. 20-21 at took place at Crockfords, which is one of oldest London casinos.

The news of this dispute went public in April when Phil Ivey filed his own claim in the High Court against Genting Group. Ivey’s attorneys state that the casino has refused to pay out the money Ivey won while playing a variant of baccarat at Crockfords. Crockfords is owned by Genting Group.

On May 14, the casino made its response to the court saying that Ivey had cheated and that any winnings were now invalid as they were “based on illegal acts.” Generally, Phil Ivey avoids the media, but May 15 he put out a statement denying any misconduct or cheating.

The casino group went on to say in their court papers that these illegal acts gave Ivey a significant advantage during the play of the games. It said that Ivey used improper means as a way of determining if the first card dealt would be a strong or weak card.

The game being played was Punto Banco Baccarat. In court papers, Punto Banco Baccarat is described as being played with six or eight decks of playing cards that are placed inside a dealing shoe. The aim of the game, played with two or three cards, is to get as close to nine as possible. In the game, the players are able to bet that they will win, of the bank will win, or the hand will result in a tie.

Court papers indicate Ivey and the accomplice were able to find a shoe that had decks of cards that had uneven designs. It is alleged that the two were then able to get the dealer to turn the open cards in one direction or another thus revealing some form of design flaw that Ivey used to win the hands.

The Genting Group owns Resorts World New York, which is located at the Aqueduct Race Track, as well as the Resorts World Sentosa which is in Singapore. Last March, Genting Group said that it plans to build a $2 to $7 billion facility called Resorts World Las Vegas that will be on the Vegas Strip where Echelon project now sits.

Ivey, who is 37, has stated that while he dislikes having to take a casino to court, it seems to be the only way to get the matter resolved. In his poker career, he has won an estimated $14 million or more. More details should be forthcoming soon.

June 3, 2013

Vegas Jury Goes With Businessman Against Sands

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 6:07 am

On May 14, a Vegas jury awarded $70 million to Richard Suen, a Hong Kong businessman, in a settlement against Las Vegas Sands Corporation which is run by Sheldon Adelson. Suen had claimed that he had been denied payments of as much as $328 million for his assistance in securing a gambling license in Macau for the Las Vegas-based casino company. Macau is the only location in China that allows legal casino gambling.

Attorneys for the Sands argued that Suen was not owed anything as he allegedly did not come through on his promises to help executives of the company. The jury of deliberated two days and then came back with the award going to Suen. It was an eight-person jury. It is thought that this judgment will end what has turned out to be a nine year fight.

For his part, Suen has said that he was hired by the Sands to help bring about favor with the Chinese government back in the first part of the 2000’s. He states that he was successful in these efforts and that he deserved to be paid for his work. His first suit was brought in 2004 and reported that his company was owed 2 percent of the casino’s profits (net) as well as $5 million for its assistance in getting the Macau gambling license.

Attorneys for Sands do not deny the company had offered Suen pay, but that that pay was based on a successful outcome which they claimed had not occurred.

After the judgment was read, the attorneys for the Sands asked that a retrial be allowed. They stated that they had learned that one of the jurors had a prejudice against Sheldon Adelson. The judge said that he was not convinced of any such prejudge and said that the attorneys for the Sands should have made their case for a retrial earlier. Adelson who had been at most of the proceedings was not present on Tuesday.

The Las Vegas Sands has already opened some four resorts along the Macau area known as the Cotai Strip. It is reported to be making nearly 60 percent of its profits from these facilities. Macau is an hour away from Hong Kong via ferry. The Sands operates on the Vegas strip as well with its Venetian and Palazzo casinos.

As for this current case, the Sands ended up partnering with Galaxy Entertainment (based in Hong Kong), and it was then awarded the gambling license. However, the mentioned companies were not able to reach a contractual agreement, and the partnership folded. It was at this time that Macau gave the Sands a sub-concession. This, according to Suen, was the successful outcome that he had promised.

This was not the first time this case has been before a Clark County court. Back in 2008, Suen was awarded $58.6 million. However, that verdict was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court. One reason for the overturn was that the judge at the time should not have allowed hearsay evidence to be presented.

June 1, 2013

WSOP Online & Carnivale of Poker News

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 5:58 am

It has been reported that there is a possibility that the WSOP will run online satellites for the Main Event of 2103 WSOP. This will be a first. The Main Event will happen later this summer. If this happens, the next world champion might just come from an online tournament.

There is much to be done before any of this occurs however. But if it does, WSOP.com will be only the second website within the state of Nevada that offers real-money poker. According to WSOP officials, they are hoping to get started with new software at the next WSOP series. This begins on May 29 and will be at the Rio.

If possible, they would like the launch to occur in before the Main Event which starts July 6. This would allow players to compete for entries into the world famous championship through the planned online satellite tournaments.

The news came out during a conference call. WSOP said that is now planning to have an online site that is to be active by summer and that, too, the popular Carnivale of Poker is going to return.

According to the VP of corporate communications for Caesars Entertainment, Seth Palansky, they are working right now on making the software that will be used as perfect as possible. As real money will be involved in the online site, this is an important issue.

It was also announced that WSOP.com has been running ads for a few months now. These ads are said to be teasing potential players that real money online poker will be coming to them soon. Ads or not, it is up to the Nevada Gaming Control Board to give its approval before anything concrete can be said or done. As of this writing, there is no information as how the Board is leaning in this matter or what it thinks about adding real money online poker to the state’s gambling venues.

It was also announced that Carnival of Poker will be coming back with 21 events. This is a completely separate set of events that offer much lower buy-ins but will run simultaneously along with the WSOP events that constitute the championship.

As of information we have now, Carnivale of Poker events will have buy-ins of $300, $500, $1000 and $1,675. The event winners will also get a gold medallion. It was also announced that there is to an Open-Face Chinese event. And, that WSOP is going to add $100,000 toward the top 10 earners of points which will be at the close of the Carnivale. It has been ten years since the last Carnivale of Poker took place.

While many younger players will not remember the Carnivale of Poker at all, those that do often state that the events were great fun and they are eager to see its return.

As more details come out on the WSOP plan to bring in online tournaments or more information comes out on the return of the Carnivale of Poker, readers will be advised.

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