Internet poker online
A German national residing in Naples, Florida was arrested last month for running online gambling payment processing businesses out of his home. According to the criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, 29-year old Michael Olaf Schuett “did knowingly conduct, control, manage, supervise, direct and own an unlicensed money transmitting business.”
In fact, Schuett owns hundreds of business, nine of which are tied to payment processing. Those nine are MCM Capital Management Corp, MI Global Inc., South Naples Escrow Co., Southwest Florida Payroll Co., Woodhouse Systems, Mathew’s Trade Corp., and Internet Payment Services Group Inc. Schuett would receive wire transfers from two companies – the British Bluetool Ltd. and the German International Payment Systems – and would then send cashier’s checks, personal checks, or wires to customers located in the United States and Canada. While the exact composition of Schuett’s customer base is not exactly known, it is presumed that most, if not all, of his customers are online gamblers. UB.com and are both known to use MCM Capital Management as a payment processor and UB.com was mentioned (as Ultimatebet.com) in the criminal complaint.
It was the suspicion of shipping companies and bank employees that eventually led to Scheutt’s arrest. Examples of activities that raised red flags included:
- Schuett’s shipping of over 150 FedEx parcels from his home every week. FedEx employees opened some of the packages and discovered that each contained a check.
- Unusually high volume of wire transfers going in and out of Scheutt’s bank accounts, all with overseas companies.
- Some bank customers who attempted to cash checks written from an MCM Capital account told bank officials, when asked, that the checks were proceeds from playing online poker.
- Schuett told employees at one bank he used, Shamrock Bank, that his new account was to assist German nationals in purchasing real estate in Florida. The account’s activity was not consistent with what would normally be associated with real estate transactions.
All told, Schuett filtered millions upon millions of dollars from online gambling companies, through his companies and bank accounts, to customers in North America. An example of the sheer dollar volume involved can be seen with his Bank of America accounts. Since November 1st, 2007, Schuett opened approximately 40 accounts at the large national bank and transferred approximately $70 million in and out of them to about 23,000 customers.
Schuett is specifically charged with violating United States Code Title 18, Section 1960, which in part states, “whoever knowingly conducts, controls, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of an unlicensed money transmitting business, shall be fined in accordance with this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.”
He is currently being held without bond in Lee County jail. Judge Sheri Polster Chappell denied bond because she believed Schuett could be a flight risk, as his visa expires in April, he is a German citizen, he has no employment in the United States, and one of the few things that might keep someone in the country, a spouse, may not be significant in this case. Schuett has only been married to his wife, 28-year old Jennifer Sherman, for one month and has only known her for nine months.
Naturally, concerns have been raised within the online poker community about what this means for players looking to receive funds from poker rooms. In the long run, many speculate that there will be no negative effect. Other poker rooms have experienced troubles with their payment processors, and while it does create payout delays in the short term, they always find other processors, making things fine in the long term. Perhaps most interesting is the idea that many payment processors that poker players imagine to be “legitimate” companies could really just be individual people receiving money from poker rooms and just mailing checks to players from their own private residences.
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During Season 5 of the (), Mark Newhouse took down the Borgata Poker Open to the tune of $1.5 million. Entering Day 4 of the L.A. Poker Classic, Newhouse is the chip leader and poised to make a run at his second WPT title.
Sunday marked a major day of television viewing for players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which is being held at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The United States hit a last-second goal to send the gold medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics into overtime, where Canada ultimately prevailed. By nightfall, Canadian , who held the chip lead in the $10,000 buy-in tournament entering Day 3, watched himself take second to Barry Shulman in the 2009 () Europe Main Event on ESPN2.
Despite the diversions, Newhouse came out on top of the field after Day 3 with a stack of 498,000 chips. Newhouse sent Danny Wong to the rails on Sunday with pocket jacks against A-K, building his arsenal of chips up to 250,000. Newhouse started the day with a stack of 68,000 and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The biggest pot of the night, I got lucky. I beat two kings with A-K.” The hand occurred against Jason Smith and an ace hit on the flop to send Newhouse’s chip stack flying high.
2010 L.A. Poker Classic Heads-Up champion Chris Moore stole a sizable pot off GoDaddy Girl during Sunday’s action. The flop came 9-4-2 with two diamonds. Rousso bet, Moore put in a raise, and Rousso called to bring a third diamond on the turn. Rousso bet 45,000 and Moore came over the top all-in for 150,000. Rousso tanked before finally folding 5-6 of diamonds for a flush face up. Moore scooped the pot and promptly turned over pocket nines for a set. Thanks in part to Rousso’s donation, Moore owns a stack of 489,000 chips entering Day 4, the second largest tally in the room.
One of the final eliminations yesterday went to Poker front man , who was all-in with A-K against pocket queens for a classic race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving his opponent a set, and Lederer failed to catch up. Other pros who found the exit on Day 3 included , Gavin Griffin, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Jason Mercier, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Steve Zolotow, Todd Brunson, and .
Play ended on Sunday with the money bubble bursting at 72 players remaining. Thomas Fuller, who had been near the top of the chip counts throughout much of the event, was the unfortunate 73rd place finisher. Fuller was all-in pre-flop with A-K, but ran into pocket aces. The flop of Q-Q-10 gave Fuller an inside straight draw if a jack hit, but the board filled out Q-7 and everyone remaining had made the money. The top prize in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic is $1.8 million.
Here are the top 10 chip counts entering Day 4 of the Commerce Casino tournament:
1. Mark Newhouse - 498,000
2. Chris Moore - 489,000
3. Masa Kagawa - 432,000
4. John Cautela - 417,000
5. Shawn Pilot - 400,500
6. Millad Jorshari - 386,000
7. Gevork Kasabyan - 378,000
8. Tim Begley - 369,500
9. Tri Huynh - 353,000
10. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 335,000
A stacked field of 72 players remains in the hunt for the L.A. Poker Classic title. Other notable names still alive include:
15. - 321,000
17. Carlos Mortensen - 305,000
19. Steve Sung - 285,000
25. Eugene Katchalov - 235,000
29. Daniel Negreanu - 222,500
30. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply - 221,500
32. - 218,000
35. Prahlad Friedman - 208,000
36. Hoyt Corkins - 206,500
39. Erica Schoenberg - 189,000
47. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 157,500
51. Robert Mizrachi - 139,500
60. Surinder Sunar - 83,500
64. Vanessa Rousso - 46,000
69. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 31,500
72. David “Bakes” Baker - 17,000
Sunday also marked the beginning of the $25,000 High-Roller tournament, whose top prize is $425,000. Twenty-three players remain in the event, with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and Daniel Alaei out in front after one day of play.
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02 19th, 2010
On Tuesday, a hearing in Massachusetts will feature a discussion of whether poker should legally be considered a game of skill. Supporting the measure is the Harvard-based Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS).
The bill in question would, according to Andrew Woods of the GPSTS, remove poker legally from its stigma as a game of chance. Woods told Poker News Daily in the days leading up to the hearing, “What this recognition would do is move poker out of that legislative regime. Right now, poker is classified as a lottery in Massachusetts, which any poker player knows is something of a joke. This is explicit recognition that poker is a game of skill.”
Massachusetts State Representative Brian Wallace proposed the bill, which is numbered 4069. The measure is quite succinct in its language and signals out poker as a game of skill. It reads, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit, limit, criminalize, regulate, or require a license to operate, set up, promote, aid, play, or otherwise participate in games of skill played peer-to-peer, including but not limited to poker.” Wallace, a Democrat, has served in the Massachusetts legislature since 2003.
With its home chapter at Harvard, the GPSTS has become heavily involved in supporting Wallace’s piece of legislation. On the organization’s interests, Woods told Poker News Daily, “We’re interested in being involved because the bill follows our goals and interests. The bill very precisely states that poker is a game of skill. Across the country, you’re seeing a lot of states coming up against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act () and instead looking at intrastate poker. They can’t get around the federal law, but they can allow it within their own state.” The UIGEA was passed in 2006 at the urging of then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN).
The GPSTS is focused on relaying how skills derived from poker can be applied to the real world. Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson founded the organization, which, according to its website, uses “poker to teach strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management. We see poker as a metaphor for skills of life, business, politics, and international relations.” GPSTS chapters can be found coast-to-coast, including at Dartmouth, New York University, UCLA, the University of Michigan, and Stanford.
The fall session of the GPSTS featured the annual Harvard versus Yale poker tournament on the eve of the schools’ match-up on the gridiron. Harvard bested Yale in 2009 and other GPSTS rivalries include UCLA versus USC and Princeton versus Penn. Woods explained that the organization has continued to grow leaps and bounds after two-and-a-half years: “We’ve been evolving our course work and activities to be in line with our mission to be an institution that helps develops a skill set in poker that is applicable and fun to use. We’ve had success and are continuing to expand operations.”
A member of the GPSTS or poker community may testify at Tuesday’s hearing in the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee. On the federal level, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) leads the charge on behalf of the internet gambling industry, having introduced HR 2267. The bill provides a complete framework for licensing and regulating internet gambling in the United States. Woods gave his take on federal legislation already in the books: “People’s views on internet poker are founded on archaic concerns around gambling in general. There are legitimate concerns about people playing it too much and those should be dealt with, but to prohibit it because it’s dangerous is kind of ludicrous.”
Visit the for more information on this burgeoning organization.
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The 2009 () Europe has been airing on ESPN2, with three hours of coverage shown last Sunday. The ratings for the annual tournament series have dropped 25% year over year due to stiff competition.
ESPN officials haven’t been shy about putting WSOP Europe programming up against some of the world’s most watched television shows. The first installments hit airwaves on January 31st and featured a recap of the inaugural Caesars Cup, pitting top pros from North America against counterparts from Europe. The night marked the annual Grammy Awards on CBS, while the NFL Pro Bowl appeared on ESPN. On the heels of two staunch competitors, the WSOP Europe Caesars Cup on ESPN2 kicked off at 11:00pm ET and ran for two hours.
On February 7th, the most watched NFL Super Bowl in history featured the Indianapolis Colts taking on the New Orleans Saints. More than 106 million people tuned into the extravaganza, which saw a Tracy Porter interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter seal the Saints’ first Super Bowl title. Three hours of coverage on ESPN2 began at 10:00pm ET, about the same time as the Super Bowl ended, with exhausted poker fans asked to camp out for another 180 minutes to watch the WSOP Europe Main Event kick off.
Last weekend, Sunday marked both Valentine’s Day in the United States and the 2010 NBA All Star Game in Dallas, which drew the largest crowd ever for a basketball game at over 100,000 people. The NBA All Star Game aired on TNT and featured a who’s who of the sport, including Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and Canada’s Steve Nash. ESPN2 aired another three hours of WSOP Europe Main Event coverage beginning at 11:00pm ET that night. By the time the telecast wrapped up, the field was trimmed down to the final nine players, led by Team Pro member Jason Mercier, who held 30% of the chips in play.
Meanwhile, Valentine’s Day typically features couples spending quality time together, taking in pricey four-course dinners at restaurants and then curling up by the fire and watching Nick Cassavetes’ classic “The Notebook.” Accordingly, ESPN2 aired the male-dominated poker in a late night timeslot.
On February 12th, the 2010 Winter Olympics kicked off from Vancouver, pitting 82 nations against each other in sports like alpine skiing, curling, figure skating, and snowboarding. NBC has virtually abandoned all other programming in favor of the Olympics, including the poker franchise “Poker After Dark.” The Winter Olympics take place just once every four years.
A representative of ESPN told Poker News Daily that, despite the rigorous competition, the network was pleased with its showing for the 2009 WSOP Europe broadcasts: “It’s no surprise that the ratings are down this year when we’ve been up against the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the NBA All Star Game. We’re pleased with the production.” ESPN’s WSOP Europe coverage features Norman Chad providing commentary alongside Lon McEachern, with new “High Stakes Poker” floor reporter Kara Scott filming player interviews and other vignettes.
On February 28th at 9:00pm ET, ESPN2 will bring the final table of the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event to primetime, as the telecast will run for two hours. Its competition that night will include the closing ceremonies of the Olympics and a men’s college basketball game pitting #6 Duke at ACC rival Virginia starting at 7:45pm ET.
ESPN officials stated that in 2009, WSOP Europe coverage ran head-to-head with the Super Bowl and NBA All Star Game. However, no Olympics were held last year. The network declined to release specific ratings figures until after the final two episodes aired at the end of February.
ESPN2 will also broadcast the first season of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) beginning in April.
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02 18th, 2010
Poker News Daily can confirm that () Hostess Amanda Leatherman is parting ways with the brand. Unconfirmed reports have her joining the -backed North American Poker Tour (NAPT).
The WPT is in the midst of filming its eighth season and will hold the Celebrity Invitational over the weekend at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. On February 26th, the annual $10,000 buy-in L.A. Poker Classic will begin and crown a champion on March 4th. Two days after the Main Event begins, the Commerce Casino will host the series’ High Roller tournament, which features a sizable $25,000 price tag. The WPT’s seventh and eighth seasons have aired on Fox Sports Net, which also carries the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite.”
Leatherman has been a staple of online video updates with some of the greats of the game and has interviewed a large chunk of players who have taken to the WPT’s felts. A representative of the roving tournament series confirmed to Poker News Daily that Leatherman was on her way out: “Amanda is well-known in the industry for her work across a variety of live reporting and poker news outlets. She was a great addition to the WPT Live Updates team for two seasons and now she’s moving on to her next adventure. We wish her all the best and look forward to seeing her on the poker circuit.”
Her future destination has not been formally announced. On the TwoPlusTwo forums, speculation had the fiery female heading to the NAPT, which kicks off on Saturday from the Venetian in Las Vegas with its first U.S. event. TwoPlusTwo poster Allen “doublejoker” Kessler asserted, “Amanda Leatherman out as Hostess of WPT, and the new hostess for Pokerstars NAPT on ESPN2. I confirmed this with sources from Pokerstars as well as the WPT.” Leatherman could reprise her role as a Live Updates Hostess, as model Joanna Krupa will serve as the on-air face of the NAPT on ESPN.
Poker News Daily can also confirm that a new WPT Live Updates Hostess will likely be hired in time for the L.A. Poker Classic. We expect to have an exclusive interview with the newest member of the WPT broadcast team after the final paperwork has been submitted. In the meantime, TwoPlusTwo fans are clamoring for the WPT to bring back Kimberly Lansing, who worked with the brand prior to Leatherman. Christian “charder30” Harder remained supportive of the departing Leatherman: “congrats amanda, good stuff and good luck!”
ESPN will air 16 hours of original NAPT programming beginning in April, with Krupa serving as its on-air face. Among those looking forward to watching the action unfold both in person and on television is Team PokerStars Pro member , who commented in a press release distributed by the world’s largest online poker site on Thursday, “Having the North American Poker Tour on ESPN2 is going to take poker on this continent to a different level. With some of the most important gaming venues in the U.S. onboard and the reach of ESPN2, the NAPT is set to bring the excitement of world-class tournament poker to millions who love this game as much as I do.”
Party Gaming, the parent company of , recently purchased the rights to the WPT and may soon greatly expand the brand outside of the United States. During its eighth season, WPT stops were scheduled for Venice, Bratislava, Cyprus, Marrakech, Bucharest, Paris, and Barcelona. In addition to Fox Sports Net in the United States, its past seasons can be found on The Travel Channel and GSN. Poker sponsors the eighth season of the WPT and 13 final tables will air on the cable station over 26 episodes. The first occurred on January 24th with action from the 2009 Bellagio Cup.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on this breaking story.
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02 18th, 2010
Internet platform Sedo, a leading online domain marketplace and monetization provider, announced Thursday that it had overseen the sale of Poker.org for $1 million, easily the largest .org domain sale to date. The domain was sold by National A1 Advertising.
The buyer of the domain was PokerCompany.com, a self-titled “Super Affiliate” that works in conjunction with online casinos, poker rooms, and websites. The company also operates a number of sites, such as EveryPoker.com, BlackJack.org, Craps.net, and .org. Right now, there is no indication of what the site plans on doing with the Poker.org domain.
“Poker.org is an integral part of our growth strategy, and will provide great dividends now and into the future,” said a spokesperson from PokerCompany.com.
Prior to the sale of Poker.org, the highest .org sale was $198,000 for Engineering.org, followed by Sexe.org, which sold for $151,400. The sale price of Poker.org is smaller than those of some of the largest .com sales, which include $14 million paid for Sex.com, $10 million for Fund.com, $5.1 million for Toys.com, and $3 million for Candy.com.
The Poker.org sale corresponds with a trend in .org domain registrations, which saw an 11% increase in 2009. The .org top level domain is now the third largest generic domain, after .com and .net, Sedo said, with eight million registered names.
“We expect to see growing demand for .org domains, as organizations and individual investors are recognizing their full value and potential,” said Kathy Nielsen, director of sales at Sedo. “We reckon it has more to do with making sure that no other company recognizes the full value and potential of an applicable name, but that might just be us.”
A plethora of poker-related domain names are for sale across the internet, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. Some of the domains for sale on PokerDomainNames.com, for example, include LeisureOoker.com, pkrseries.com, poker-nations.com, and monsterpoker.org.
The importance of the unique identity of a domain name is often overlooked. You might recall , a company that had already branded its name in poker, losing control of its flagship domain name Bodog.com in September 2007. Bodog owner Calvin Ayre was forced to launch a new gambling and poker web site due to a legal order in a patent infringement dispute with 1st Technology LLC of Las Vegas. Ayre lost most of his Bodog.com domain names and poker players had to go to NewBodog.com to play.
Ayre changed the domain name to BodogLife.com before recovering the Bodog.com domain name in June 2009. The NewBodog.com and BodogLife.com domain names now redirect to Bodog.com.
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We’re just two days into the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and poker players have already made waves. Nineteen year old J.R. Celski, an avid poker fan who hails from the United States, took home a bronze medal in the Short Track speed skating event.
According to Audrey Magazine, in addition to being an avid outdoorsman and golf enthusiast, Celski is “a serious poker player.” He’ll attend college at the University of California at Berkeley and, according to the periodical, can often be found “camping, hiking, boating, surfing, and fishing.” He began training for the Short Track event in 2002 and was not old enough to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, missing the cutoff by a matter of days.
He departed Washington State for sunny California to train with Coach Wilma Boomstra. At age 14, he qualified for the Junior World Team, but the International Skating Union noted that Celski was not of age to compete. Then, he injured his back during a race in Romania, turning his skating career upside down. Text found on Celski’s official website explains, “It was shortly after his return from Italy when homesickness, back injury, balancing school workload, and ice training, combined with burnout, was taking over.”
Celski landed medals in the 2009 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, taking the gold in the 3,000-meter event ahead of South Korea’s Lee Ho-Suk and Canada’s Charles Hamelin. Celski also skated his way to another gold medal in the 5,000-meter event, as the U.S. team’s time of 6:51 edged out China and Japan to take the top of the podium. In the 1,500-meter event at the same games, Celski finished third behind two South Korean skaters; he finished second overall in the Championships to land a fourth medal.
After a highly publicized collision on the Short Track in Vancouver, Celski earned his first Olympic medal, a bronze. Lee Jung-Su finished with a time of 2:17.611 in the event, just inching out the United States’ Apolo Anton Ohno. Celski finished with a time of 2:18.053, about a half-second behind Jung-Su. By virtue of capturing a silver medal, Ohno moved into a tie with skater Bonnie Blair for most Winter Olympics medals in U.S. history at six. He also took down Season 4 of the ABC reality franchise “Dancing with the Stars.” In 2008, fellow Olympian Shawn Johnston, a gymnast, broke through on the series to claim the title.
Thanks to Ohno and our favorite poker fanatic, the United States has already four medals in Vancouver entering Sunday’s action in the Canadian city. Behind the United States is South Korea, who has a pair of medals to the nation’s credit. A total of nine countries are tied at one medal each: the Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, and Russia. According to NBC.com, Celski was injured last September “when he sliced his left leg with his skate blade,” but made a full recovery. He’s from the same hometown as Ohno, Federal Way, Washington, a suburb of Seattle.
Some in the poker community were checking out the Olympics over the weekend, while others focused on tournaments as part of the L.A. Poker Classic. Poker front man Tweeted on Saturday, “The reason I watch Winter Games? To see if some guy who won the last 3 world titles in a sport I don’t care about will choke Olympics.” Meanwhile, () reporter B.J. Nemeth was allegedly on location in British Columbia: “Rhapsody & I are gonna try to check out the venues @ Whistler now (in the mountains), & we might return to the USA tonight. Wish us luck!”
The 2010 Winter Olympics continue for two more weeks and coverage can be found on NBC in the United States. On Saturday night, the Canadian women’s hockey team defeated Slovakia by a record-breaking score of 18-0.
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02 14th, 2010
After rising year over year in November, gambling revenue in Nevada slid 3.24% in December 2009 compared to December 2008. In total, the state’s gaming establishments raked in $859 million two months ago.
In Clark County, the epicenter of gambling in Nevada, casino revenue, or “win,” was $753 million last December, down 2.41% from the $771 million recorded amid the worldwide recession in late 2008. On the Las Vegas Strip, however, casino revenues grew year over year to $502 million in 2009 from $474 million in 2008, a bump of 5.89%. The Strip’s Venetian will be hosting the inaugural United States stop on the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) beginning on February 20th.
The success on the Strip may have led to the poor performance in Downtown Las Vegas, where win pulled in by casinos plummeted 12.39% to $36.2 million. Downtown Las Vegas recently saw the closure of the hotel side of Binion’s, formerly the home of the annual ().
In North Las Vegas, the news was even grimmer. Despite a single-digit slide in revenues statewide, North Las Vegas casinos saw revenues sputter to $24.2 million, down 25.17% in December year over year. For the fiscal year to date, which began on July 1st, North Las Vegas has nevertheless managed to remain on track to repeat its previous year’s results. In Laughlin, revenues of $33.1 million represented an 11.68% dip year over year from the $37.4 million recorded in December 2008. Laughlin casinos include the Golden Nugget, Tropicana, Harrah’s, and Edgewater.
The Boulder Strip struggled mightily in December 2009. The area chalked up revenues of $61.2 million, down 19.81% from the $76.3 million recorded one year prior. For the fiscal year to date, casino win on the Boulder Strip is off 6.62% to $377 million. Over in Mesquite, the final segment reported within Clark County, casinos pulled in $9.2 million in December, a drop of 7.59% year over year. For the fiscal year to date, Mesquite remains one of the hardest hit areas, as its gambling revenues have cascaded 15.21% to $55.1 million.
In Washoe County, whose gambling hub is Reno, revenues of $53.4 million in December 2009 signified a tumble of 10.77% year over year. Reno made up the bulk of the county’s casino win, as the “Biggest Little City in the World” brought in $36.6 million two months ago, a drop of 12.19% year over year. For the fiscal year to date, Reno casinos including the Grand Sierra and Sands have raked in $288 million, off 14.45%.
In Sparks, whose cavalcade of gaming options includes the Silver Club, Terrible’s, and the Nugget, revenues of $9.8 million meant an 8.75% drop year over year. In North Lake Tahoe, casino win amounted to $2.3 million in December 2009, a fall of 11.65% year over year. All told, North Lake Tahoe casinos have seen fiscal year to date numbers drop by 15.27% to $16.3 million.
Also reported by the Nevada Gaming Control Board each month is the performance of casinos in Elko County, which includes the city of Wendover. There, casino revenues of $10.9 million in December 2009 represented a 5.56% drop year over year. Finally, in the Carson Valley Area, which authorities classify as Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden, and all other areas of Douglas County except South Lake Tahoe, revenues were up 8.52% year over year to $8.1 million, the largest percentage increase reported anywhere.
The State of Nevada collects fees based on the previous month’s revenues in its casinos. Accordingly, fees were off 6.66% in January on revenue accrued in December to $33.5 million. Fee collections have dropped in six of the last seven reported months, with December’s total representing the only growth year over year.
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The New Jersey State Senate Committee on Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation approved a bill calling for a referendum on sports wagering by a 4-0 margin on Monday. A measure authorizing intrastate internet gambling may be next on the docket.
The measure’s sponsor, Raymond Lesniak, “said legalized sports betting would raise $100 million in new state revenues and generate $500 million for the casinos and racetracks.” The figures are according to the , which is one of a tidal wave of media outlets trumpeting the bill’s passage out of committee. Speaking at a hearing on Monday was Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan, who told Poker News Daily that legalized intrastate online gaming may soon follow: “If they’re moving sports betting, there will be much less resistance for internet gambling. Internet poker is expected to be relatively easier.” Lesniak also introduced an internet gambling bill.
Debate rages on in New Jersey as to where sports betting should be allowed and whether wagering on horse racing would be included. Another hurdle is the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which iMEGA is seeking to overturn by proving that it is unconstitutional. Once PASPA is overturned, states around the country would be able to adopt sports betting, which is limited to only a handful of jurisdictions right now.
While Lesniak’s sports wagering bill requires a constitutional amendment in New Jersey, the internet gambling piece does not, according to Brennan: “Now, the plan is to move the internet bill. That one doesn’t require a constitutional amendment. With the sports one, even though it’s had a higher profile, it still has a long way to go.” The sports bill received the majority of the attention due to last weekend’s Super Bowl between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. Originally, officials were calling for a vote on the measure last week. However, new committee members asked for more time in order to digest the issue.
If successful, sports wagering would be put to a public referendum in November. Also possible is a review by the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee, although the likelihood of that happening is not yet clear. Brennan told Poker News Daily, “The Budget Committee may take a look at it since it would impact the budget. However, because that’s on the other side of the referendum and laws have to be crafted first, they might decline further action at this time.” Monday’s hearing that paved the way for a possible referendum lasted 90 minutes.
Casino giant Harrah’s opposes Lesniak’s sports betting and internet gambling bills, according to Brennan, and instead seeks a federal solution. The Press of Atlantic City notes that a version of the sports betting bill in the New Jersey Assembly was supposed to be discussed concurrently on Monday, “but was pulled from the agenda at the last minute.” Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) has been championing a federal solution on Capitol Hill, as a bill to legalize and regulate the internet gambling industry in the United States (HR 2267) boasts 65 co-sponsors and may be marked up this month in the House Financial Services Committee.
In 2009, iMEGA was unsuccessful in overturning the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals instead ruled that the legality of internet gambling depends on the jurisdictions of the customer and website. In addition, the Court noted that the UIGEA made no activity like online poker illegal. The bill’s passage in 2006 caused a multitude of publicly traded companies like Party Gaming, 888, and to vacate the U.S. market in deference to shareholder interests.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest poker legislation headlines from New Jersey and around the world.
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The inaugural North American Poker Tour (NAPT) event on U.S. soil will include a special $25,000 buy-in High Roller Bounty Shootout, according to the Blog. The world’s largest online poker site serves as the sponsor of the NAPT series.
The name of the game in the High Roller Bounty Shootout will be No Limit Texas Hold’em. However, a variety of unique aspects to the tournament may make it one for the ages. First, a bevy of poker pros, whether associated with PokerStars or not, are expected to head to the Venetian for the NAPT event in Las Vegas. In the backyard of many of poker’s elite names, the NAPT Venetian Main Event serves as the finale of the casino’s Deep Stack Extravaganza and will take place from February 20th to 24th.
The High Roller tournament kicks off on February 23rd and will conclude two days later. Players must win their tables in order to move on to the next round, as is typical in the shootout format, and each contestant has a $5,000 bounty on their head. Text found on the PokerStars Blog adds another exciting feature: “Oh, and just to make things a little more interesting… PokerStars is adding $100,000 to pay off whoever scores the most bounties.”
On the new addition to the NAPT Venetian schedule, PokerStars Head of Global Events Jeffrey Haas commented, “We want to try new things, different formats, and unique events that make our players happy. This is sure to be a hit with both our players and the people who watch on television.” As of the end of last week, the only player confirmed for the Bounty Shootout was , a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro and main face of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Cash Game,” which aired on Fox during the 2009 NFL season. In addition to Negreanu, PokerStars is expecting “dozens of big-name players” to throw their hats into the ring.
Each player who reaches the final table of the NAPT Venetian Bounty Shootout will double their money and pocket $50,000. After the final table is paid off, the remaining prize pool, less the bounties, will be awarded entirely to the winner. Just like the NAPT Venetian Main Event, the Bounty Shootout will air on a yet-to-be-named network in the United States. It can also be seen online on PokerStars.tv.
The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event marked the inaugural stop on the NAPT. Harrison Gimbel came out on top in the January poker tournament and earned $2.2 million. A total of 1,529 players turned out for the PCA Main Event, which was also a stop on the PokerStars-backed European Poker Tour (EPT) and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT).
Following the NAPT’s debut at the Venetian, the tournament series will travel east to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. NAPT Mohegan Sun takes place between April 7th and 11th and features a $5,000 buy-in, the same price tag as the Venetian Main Event. Other stops on the kickoff NAPT season will be announced in the future.
As of February 3rd, a total of 235 PokerStars players had qualified for the NAPT Venetian Main Event. The tournament area will likely be packed to the brim with poker players shuffling their chips, dishing out bad beats, and vying for a life-changing top prize. NAPT Hostess Joanna Krupa will be the face of the tour after making an appearance on the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” as a celebrity challenger.
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