New online gambling bill aims to help states
Representative Jim McDermott from Washington State introduced some revisions on the much-debated Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act on Monday. Many states are expected to benefit from the changes made.
In the new version of the proposal, states and tribal groups will have the right to claim up to six percent of the generated revenue from their own online gambling citizens. McDermott may win the vote of fellow congressmen who are still opposed to online gambling.
Long-time gambling proponent Barney Frank has signed as a co-sponsor for McDermott’s bill, although Frank has a proposal of his own. Both lawmakers have been trying to get support from other legislators to help overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The UIGEA was imposed in 2006, but the rules will strictly be implemented in June 2010. Frank, with the support of other lawmakers, has successfully delayed the implementation of the legislation last year.
Other co-sponsors of McDermott’s bill include the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. John B. Larson of Conn., and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. The new bill will be presented alongside Frank’s Internet Gambling, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which was drafted last year.
Several gaming groups such as Beneficial Holdings have expressed support for these pro-online gambling bills. The company plans to open an online casino site on April, but due to the ban on online gambling, it will not accept US customers as of yet.
Rising water of Mississippi River forces President Casino to temporarily close
The owner of the President Casino, Pinnacle Entertainment, initially decided to close it by July this year. However, the rising waters of the Mississippi River forced the casino to close earlier than expected. The casino will still reopen when the flooding stops.
According to Chris Strobbe, general manager of President, the river went up to 32 feet on Saturday when they were monitoring it. He added that the flood waters can put the safety of the casino’s guests and employees in danger.
Employees will have to work on removing scattered debris when the water recedes. Once everything is clear, the President Casino will be back in business, but there is still no telling when that will be.
The casino will still permanently close on or before July and when it indeed reopens, it will only have a few months left to operate. Pinnacle did all they could to save the President, but they only ended up getting a settlement with the gaming regulators of Missouri earlier this month.
In exchange of clearing itself with any penalty issued by the regulators, Pinnacle Entertainment agreed to close its casino by July 31. The company may still go after the licenses of the two other casinos they own in St. Louis.
The laws of the state of Missouri only issue a limited number of licenses for casinos, which makes the now vacated license of the President Casino more valuable. Developers are given until May 1 to issue their bid on the license.
Fantasy sports gambling operator arrested after pocketing half of the bets
Many Americans have been attracted to fantasy sports gambling on the Internet over the recent years. A website, however, was found to have been illegally operating by Washington authorities.
David B. Watkins was arrested Thursday after police raided his home in Spokane, Washington. Officials believe that Watkins operates FantasyThunder.com and that half of the site’s revenue from gamblers goes to him.
According to the police, Watkins would make the gamblers bet on a team of NASCAR drivers. He allegedly then pocketed half of the money the gamblers spent, while the other half goes to winners. Suspicions arose when some of the gamblers who won complained about not being paid.
According to Steve Schwartz, a gaming analyst, fantasy sports leagues should have all of the money collected put into the prize pool so that the operation can run legally. Therefore, Watkins pocketing half of the money earned from bets makes operation illegal.
Investigation is still ongoing and the police have reason to believe that the site has been operating since the last ten years. Fantasy sports gambling has seldom been investigated by law enforcement, let alone arrested.
If convicted, Watkins will face up to five years of imprisonment. The Washington police has already charged him with professional gambling. Gamblers were notified that the site had run out of cash and that was the reason why they were not paid.
Change in NFL overtime rule may affect betting lines
It can be remembered that the New Orleans Saints won the NFC Championship last season after winning the coin toss that decided who will make the goal for the overtime. Due to that, owners made the decision to change the rules for this extra period in the NFL playoffs.
Owners made a vote Tuesday that would alter the overtime rules of the games. In the old rule, the winner of the coin toss wins the structure. But in the new rule, both teams will be able to get the chance to get the ball at least once in the event of an overtime.
The change in rules may affect the betting pattern in the game next season. Betting lines may be adjusted upwards a little bit to give way for extra possessions during an overtime
The overtime rule imposed by the NFL over the years has been a subject of heavy criticisms. As the accuracy of the kicker gets better and better, it is always expected that the team who will get the possession first will almost surely win most of the overtime games.
The team which has the possession of the ball also has the advantage of having the kick-offs move back. Returners are given a good starting field position with this.
The vote on Tuesday was not unanimous but the number of team owners who voted for the new rule was enough to implement. Players on the field also have mixed reactions on the new rule, with some even hoping for more changes.
Louisiana’s gambling revenue up in February
After a full year of seeing revenue drop on a monthly basis, casinos around the country may finally start seeing some improvement within their industry. Evidence of this theory exists in the state of Louisiana where revenue was up ten percent in February.
In January, revenue from the state’s casinos was $189.7 million. For February, those same casinos had revenue of $208.7 million. That represented an increase of ten percent in month over month figures.
The numbers still do not match up favorably from the same period in 2009. Back in February of 2009, casinos won $220 million. Although revenue was higher last year, there was still reason for optimism that the economy may be working its way back to normal.
“What we are seeing is a gradual increase in revenue from casinos around the country,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz, “The gamblers are not going to all come back at once, but any increase shows that people are starting to once again have that expendable income to enjoy a night out at a casino.”
Competition within the casino industry has become fierce over the past couple of years. As the economy soured, lawmakers in nearly every state turned to gambling expansion to help bridge budget deficits.
The state that has made the most advancement is Pennsylvania. Lawmakers have recently legalized table games and several casinos have been built in the past several years. The table games give Pennsylvania casinos a real chance to overtake New Jersey’s casinos in revenue and become the new top gambling destination in the Northeastern US.
Lithuania makes poker an official sport
The Lithuanian government officially recognized poker as a sport. The recognition was made by the country’s Department of Physical Education and Sports which issued a bill that formally listed the Lithuanian Sports Poker Federation as an official sports federation. The move is expected to make poker a more popular sport in Lithuania.
With this recognition, LSPF will now be able to hose poker tournaments that are non-commercial in venues outside casinos in the Baltic nation. Poker enthusiasts are now hoping that this is a sign that the game is entering more doors.
Andrius Tapinas, president of the LSPF, said that the approval of the Lithuanian government is the culmination of their hard work to have poker recognized. Their international counterparts have also been congratulating them, Tapinas added.
The poker federation will organize its first official tournament next month and will be presented to a thriving Lithuanian sports media. Considering the freshness of the game and the celebrity status of Tapinas in the country, the tournament will surely get a lot of attention.
The Lithuanian Sports Poker Federation has just recently joined the International Federation of Poker. It has also received endorsements from Pokerstars.net and PokerNews.
The first LSPF tournament will be held between April 24 and April 26 in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Tapinas has already projected that this would be the biggest poker tournament in the Baltic region.
Bet2Go now offers online betting
Online sportsbetting fans can now enjoy the Bet2Go Sports mobile sportsbetting and odds comparison service from Cellectivity Limited online via a new site at Bet2Go.com.
Cellectivity is a leading mobile gaming and betting content provider and its Bet2Go service works by letting punters construct their own multiple or accumulator bets from events and markets provided. After a customer has constructed their bet, the service shows the best price based on which bookmakers are able to offer this wager. Once a punter has compared and chosen the best value or return, a simple click places that bet directly with the bookmaker.
Cellectivity stated that the move is part of its efforts at improving punters’ betting experiences with customers now able to place wagers on a combination of outcomes online with just a few clicks on the platform of their choice.
Available bookmakers include Ladbrokes, Blue Square, Paddy Power, SkyBet, BoyleSports, Victor Chandler and SportingBet with William Hill due to be added before this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.
“This is fantastic news for punters looking for that extra value when they need it,” said Marcel Puyk, Chief Executive Officer for Cellectivity.
“They had it on mobile and now they have it on web as well. The new Bet2Go Sports was the first service to allow a punter to compare the odds on complex multiple bets in real-time and place the bet with just one click and without having to go through another sign-in procedure on a bookmaker’s website.
“To extend this to another platform just gives the punter even more choice. We believe that this simplicity and great value, combined with the fact that it is available anytime and anywhere, will make it a popular choice for serious and fun bettors alike.”
Beckham’s injury causes shift in World Cup betting
The US has shown in the past couple of years that they were going to be a threat to any nation they faced in the first round of the upcoming World Cup. With recent injuries to England players, the US now has more fans believing they can win that first round game.
England was a good draw for the US when the teams and pairings were announced several months ago. In the months since, however, England has lost two premiere players to injury. The latest injury was to former England star David Beckham.
While on the surface it does not look as though the Beckham injury will vastly alter England’s chances, it is little things Beckham brings that may be missed.
Beckham is considered to be one of the best in the world at free kicks and corners. England would have had the luxury of having Beckham in position to take those kicks late in games, but now they will need to find a replacement.
Beckham tore his left Achilles tendon this past weekend. England’s coach, Fabio Capello has downplayed the significance of the injury, but clearly there will be an affect.
Another player that may have been lost over the weekend was defender Wes Brown. Brown injured his foot in a match Saturday while playing for Manchester United. He will know late Monday the severity of that injury, and whether it will ruin his chances of playing for England this summer.
Hard Rock Hotel exec dies of suicide
The death of Randy Kwasniewski, the executive of the Hard Rock Hotel who was found dead in his home Tuesday, was ruled to be caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, according to the Clark County coroner’s office on Wednesday.
The Metropolitan was called to Kwasniewski’s home in Summerlin, Nev. on Tuesday after receiving a call.
David Chesnoff, attorney and family friend of Kwasniewski, said that he was married and had two children. Chesnoff did not disclose any detail about the death and the surviving family has requested for privacy.
At the time of his death, the 56-year-old Kwasniewski was the president and chief operating officer of the Hard Rock Hotel since the takeover of Morgans Hotel Group in February 2007.
The Hard Rock Hotel has been recently expanding with the addition of two hotel towers, casino space and a wider concert hall. Kwasniewski was in charge of overseeing all these.
Fred Kleisner, chief executive officer of Morgans, will be the one in-charge of the hotel operations for the meantime, the company said.
Annie Duke wins National Heads-up Poker Championship
Annie Duke showed the world that she is one of the greatest poker players in the world by winning the National Heads-Up Championship this weekend outlasting 63 other contestants.
The National Heads-Up Championship is to poker as NCAA college tournament is to basketball. Sixty-four players took part vied for the prestige of the being the champion.
It was Huck Seed versus Vanessa Rousso in the final match last year and Seed emerged as the winner. This year, Duke went heads-up with Eric Seidel, another good player she calls friend whom she defeated.
Duke said in an interview by ESPN that Seidel is a long-time friend and if she lost to him, she would have been equally happy.
This is Seidel’s sixth year in the tournament. He was eliminated during the first round in the last five years he was in the game. But Seidel is now considered one of top ten players by his peers.
The broadcast of the National Heads-Up Championship will be shown on NBC starting on April 18.
