Other poker news goes here.
UK-based gambling rivals Ladbrokes and Gala Coral announced their anticipated merger Friday, a combination that will create Britain’s largest bookmaker. The new company, called Ladbrokes Coral, will have a net revenue of £2.1 billion, EBIDTA of £392 million, and a market cap of £2.3 billion, according to a press release issued by Ladbrokes. “This is… Read more »
As we reported late last week, the poker world was shocked Friday morning when 888 Holdings and bwin.party agreed to a $1.4 billion deal that would have 888 acquire its fellow online gambling firm. The surprise wasn’t because bwin.party was sold – that has been a possibility for years – but rather that 888 was… Read more »
According to SBC News, online gaming firm 888 Holdings plc may make one more run at bwin.party in an attempt to intercept it from the waiting arms of GVC Holdings and Amaya Gaming. Last week, bwin.party Digital Entertainment and GVC Holdings both publicly confirmed that the two are in talks and that GVC had made… Read more »
Christian Lusardi, the man who brazenly counterfeited chips and profited from them at the Borgata in January 2014, is finally being brought up on charges for his scheme. After being sentenced for completely separate wrongdoing, he is now being charged in federal court for his crime that derailed the 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open. In… Read more »
As residents of New Jersey were getting ready to celebrate Independence Day late last week, those who tried to partake in a little online gambling on Thursday afternoon were met with some unwanted resistance. According to NJ.com and later reported by numerous media outlets, four of New Jersey’s internet gaming sites were hit by a… Read more »
Jackpot Digital announced last week that it has reached an agreement with Multimedia Games, Inc. to purchase the company’s PokerTek business unit. The deal is worth $5.4 million, but may increase to as much as $7.5 million if the terms of an earn-out formula are met. An earn-out, in a nutshell, is a deal in… Read more »
In a ruling that should surprise absolutely zero people on the planet Earth, the California Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the “sweepstakes” games offered by many storefront shops are illegal. For some reason, there had been a question about these sweepstakes gambling parlors, as if there was some technicality that made them legal. It… Read more »
PokerStars has announced that it is bringing back the All-in Kitchen this year in conjunction with the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) stop in Bristol, England. The fun dining gimmick will be open July 27th through July 29th at Pata Negra, a highly-regarded Spanish tapas restaurant. At the All-in Kitchen, customers will be able… Read more »
For people who operate online gambling sites, one of their worst nightmares is the thought of somebody being able to crack the site’s random number generator (RNG) and end up having knowledge of exactly what cards, spins, or dice are about to appear. It is bad enough if the hacker ends up cheating the house… Read more »
As a fan of technological doo-dads, gizmos, and gadgets, I subscribe to WIRED magazine, so imagine my surprise when I received the latest edition in the mail (yes, I read it in paper format) and found a short piece on 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson. It is not an article… Read more »
UK-based gaming giants Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group are discussing a possible merger, according to a report on RacingPost.com. The combined company would become the largest in the UK’s gambling industry. Ladbrokes CEO Jim Mullen confirmed the talks with the Racing Post, saying: Since becoming CEO my focus has been on a more aggressive plan… Read more »
If you want a say in who is elected to the Poker Hall of Fame (HOF), it is time to get on it, as the nomination period for the 2015 Poker Hall of Fame class is now open to the public. Largely the same as the past several years, those interested in shaping the Poker… Read more »
The World Series of Poker is about to begin and later this year, a few people are going to be millions of dollars richer. In 2008, Ivan Demidov was to be one of those skilled and fortunate players, as he finished second to Peter Eastgate in the WSOP Main Event, the first time the world… Read more »
Online gaming firm bwin.party may have had a rough few years financially, but that certainly is not stopping its rivals from lining up to ask for its hand. This week, bwin.party has acknowledged not one, but two takeover bids that would consolidate the top of the online poker market. On Monday, the company announced that… Read more »
This guy HAD to know he was going to get nabbed someday, right? On Thursday, retired New York Police Department sergeant Ralph Mastrantonio was convicted of operating an illegal gambling house on Staten Island. The venue, dubbed “5th Street,” was located in a gym on Arthur Kill Road. According to the New York Daily News… Read more »
The man who had the audacity to not only produce counterfeit poker chips but also use them to get ahead in a tournament has reached a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 43-year old Christian Lusardi reached a plea deal in U.S. District Court that will have him serve five years in prison for… Read more »
Amaya Gaming’s push to become the dominant force in online gaming keeps rolling, as the owner of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker announced yesterday that it now intends to enter the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) space this year. In this week’s earnings call, Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov briefly explained that the company is looking… Read more »
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is about to reach its end, and while I was extremely disappointed that my highly-ranked Virginia Cavaliers bowed out early, it has still been fun rooting against all the teams I hate (and I have come to realize I loathe a good number of teams – yay sports!). With March… Read more »
You know those movie scenes where a card counter gets escorted into a back room in a casino and physically “convinced” to never step foot on the premises again? Well, that stuff doesn’t happen anymore, but casinos certainly do not like card counters and have been known to show them the door. That is what… Read more »
Tales of casino closures during the past year or so have emanated mostly from Atlantic City, as the east coast gambling hub’s economy has been struggling. But the next landmark casino to become memory will be in Las Vegas: the Riviera. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that the famed gaming venue has not only… Read more »
It’s about damn time. After years of fighting against PokerStars’ inclusion in the regulated United States online poker market, Caesars Entertainment finally relented last week and said it will no longer support “bad actor” clauses in internet gaming legislation. This week, the company took things a step further, announcing that it will be teaming up… Read more »
Shares of online gaming firm 888 Holdings PLC soared Tuesday after the company confirmed that it has been approached by fellow gambling company, William Hill PLC, with a possible purchase offer. 888’s stock price closed at 171.50p after opening at 143p, a jump of 20 percent. 888 issued the following press release in response to… Read more »
It is a little slow on the poker news front this week, so let’s expand outward into other forms of gambling, namely sports betting. I’m not a bettor myself – I really only participate in play money contests and I’m usually terrible even at those – but I do find sports betting interesting. Yesterday, ESPN.com… Read more »
Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino is still open…for now. Scheduled to close this past Saturday, December 20th, it remains alive for the time being thanks to a $20 million injection from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Trump Entertainment’s lawyers said this week that the money might allow the Boardwalk fixture to stay viable for all… Read more »
It’s official: Atlantic City will be losing its fifth casino of 2014. First reported by the USA Today, Trump Entertainment Resorts has filed a revised reorganization plan in bankruptcy court, indicating that its Board of Directors has approved the closure of the Trump Taj Mahal casino on December 12th. It has been known for a… Read more »
