June 26, 2014

Latest News On The Gambling Front

Filed under: Casino — Tags: gamblers, Gambling — OCE News @ 7:44 am

The World Cup has been a bonanza for gamblers. After one week of play the sports books have been paying bettors off in droves. It’s made soccer fans out of gamblers people who couldn’t tell FIFA from FEMA two weeks ago. There are a number of reasons for the largess betters have been able to nab. One factor has been favorites like Spain shockingly going down in flames. Plus there have been more goals scored in the first round of the World Cup than ever before. This means bettors who bet the over, in terms of scoring, have been raking in the bucks.

In 12 of the first 14 games people betting the over, in terms of goals scored, have cashed in. There’s almost no need for bettors to do much handicapping. While there have been some upsets, the favorites have won 9 of the 14 matches played so far and bettors have had a field day. But the sports books aren’t complaining because there’s been a significant uptick in the number of people placing wagers. The managers of many sports books are rooting for the USA to make it out of group play because of the large number of bettors the team and the tournament will attract going forward.

Handicappers and those who play parlays are having a field day as well. Patriotism is leading people from all over the globe to plunk down wads of cash in support of their home teams. While those two forces have led to many more payouts than some of the sports books would like, overall the World Cup has been a boon for them as well. Plus they hope that some of soccer fans who have gravitated to the betting parlors because of the World Cup will continue to bet on other sports when the tournament is over.

While USA victories are good for business, with many sports books offering 100-to-1 odds against them, the house doesn’t want the U.S. To win too many games. Plus with key favorites winning the last game of the day, the sports books have been taking a bath on parlays. Add the fact there have been very few draws (on which the sports books usually make loads of money) in the World Cup so far and it’s easy to see why the sports books are taking in the chin while better are smiling all the way to the bank.

To the chagrin of the sports books, the rare draw between Nigeria and Iran was one of the matches which drew the fewest bets. With the USA both winning and scoring more goals than the sports books anticipated, the pay day the sports books got from the Nigeria-Iran draw did little offset the payouts to those who bet the Americans to win and go over the scoring line. When John Brooks scored to give the Americans the win over Ghana, bettors rejoiced, but the sports books could only take their lumps and hope to cash in later.

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June 16, 2012

Bringing Casinos Into Manhattan

Filed under: Casino — Tags: Casinos, gamblers — OCE News @ 12:00 am

Soon we may have a casino operating in the New York metropolitan area – something that was intensely longed by the people here. It is no surprise that gambling companies would love to serve the high-income group among New Yorkers and the affluent tourists.

“The state surely would not like to lose potentially billions of dollars,” says an administration official who prefers to be anonymous.

But things wouldn’t be easygoing for the Governor Andrew Cuomo. He will need the support of the Assembly speaker who, for long, has been opposing gambling in the district.

In any case, the rationale for setting up casinos is to rake in revenue and we would expect the state to seek a high rate of taxation.

All this is a follow-up of the Governor’s abandonment of building America’s largest convention justify at the Aquaduct racetrack in Queens. Now the idea toyed by the governor is to develop a combination casino and convention justify around the Big Apple.

There are plenty of proposals doing the rounds. Locations like Yonkers and Belmont Park are rumored, so as locations in Coney Island and Randalls Island. We have to wait and see what gets finalized.

The governor is hoping to link a casino license to the combination justify to attract the gambling companies. Luckily, the legislature has endorsed a constitutional amendment to allow seven full-scale casinos in state – but referendum by voters is keenly awaited.

New look planned for Palms Casino in Las Vegas

Palms Casino wants gamblers to have the ultimate experience. Total 250 new slot machines will be added, and the justify’s property bar will be refashioned.

The resort, a popular destination with the younger set of tourists as well as celebrities and actors, has 653 rooms and a casino spread over 95,000 square feet area. This gambling space, having The Hugh Hefner Sky villa, is listed by CNN as having among the world’s 15 most expensive suites.

Palms President Joseph Magliarditi is hopeful that all the rooms and suites in the original Palms Tower will be complete after remodeling and available for occupancy by September.

The Hotel has been quite in the news by hosting MTV’s Video Music awards, “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” “Girls Next Door,” and similar shows.

Fudging Florida’s gambling laws

Florida is famous not just for sunshine. Besides sun and surf, Florida has booming business in casinos too. So, it is no wonder gambling investors are setting up sweepstakes in the City’s strip malls. But the serious side of the story is they are dodging the state’s casino laws. Or so says Les Barnal who heads a movement to stop gambling in America.

Les Barnal was vociferous when he said that predatory gambling has ruined American people by pushing them deeper into debt and created an addiction that was difficult to remove.

In any case, gamblers in Florida were deeply disappointed when a bill that would have marshaled in the largest expansion in Florida’s gambling history was annulled by its legislative sponsor in the first week of February this year.

Florida State has traditionally been known to have a family-friendly economy that shuns gambling. Presently, Florida does not allow expansion of casinos except those operated by the Seminole Indian tribe and selected “racinos.”