With everything that is going on at the 2016 World Series of Poker, there is some news from the poker world that some people might miss. In this week’s edition of “ICYMI” (In Case You Missed It), a former major tournament champion is headed to court, a popular tournament pro gets a less than profitable decision from the taxman, and New Jersey’s online casino gaming industry helps out its live brethren.
Glenn Chorny Heads to Court in Indianapolis
Former European Poker Tour Grand Final champion Glenn Chorny has filed a fraud case against a former associate who convinced him to invest $3.7 million in a proposed poker venture. The case is now wending its way through the system in, of all places, Indianapolis.
According to documents filed in the case Chorny, who has earned slightly over $3.5 million in his tournament poker career (with over $3.1 million coming from his 2008 Grand Final victory), was the target of Phillippe Rouas, a former Indianapolis chef who owned and operated several restaurants out of the Circle City. Rouas, who himself has over $400,000 in tournament poker earnings in his career, allegedly was looking for Chorny to invest in a venture in 2008 that Rouas was looking to create called Poker World Society, a poker-themed social networking site that was incorporated in Indiana and apparently is still registered in the state in Rouas’ name.
The Indianapolis Star’s Tim Evans states that Rouas’ Poker World Society was supposed to push a “lifestyle, retail and gaming brand called Poker Battle” that would earn upwards of $2 million per day. For his part, Chorny would receive a 10% stake in the company. According to Chorny, the windfall never came but the problems did.
Chorny claims that Rouas continually pushed him off regarding the birth of the company before finally stating to Chorny that Poker World Society’s assets had been sold for $2.5 million in 2015 and Chorny would receive his 10% of that sale. Instead, Chorny allegedly never received anything, instead finding out that Poker World Society “ceased operations in late 2009 or early 2010,” according to court documents.
The Star reports that Rouas has a lengthy history of issues with people who have done business with him. He would lose a judgment against Bob Evans Farms in 1997 for almost three-quarters of a million and filed bankruptcy in 2000 after another business collapsed. But Rouas believed that Poker World Society and Poker Battle would be a success, to the point of purchasing office space in Las Vegas.
The lawsuit in Marion County Superior Court will be heard by Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ayers. As of now, both parties have a couple of months to get particular motions together for Judge Ayers to hear, which will be when the case reconvenes on September 1 in Indianapolis.
Rafi Amit Nailed by The Taxman
Nobody likes to pay their taxes, especially if they believe that they have already taken care of that burden. For poker professional Rafi Amit, his home country of Israel has come calling for some of his poker earnings.
According to Haaretz.com, the Israeli government determined that Amit had not paid his taxes for the 2007 tax year, claiming that Amit was a resident of the country that year and that he owed upwards of $650,000 on his $1.1 million in earnings. Amit countered by stating that he wasn’t living in the country at the time and that he did not have earnings that reached that amount during the year (The Hendon Mob database has Amit’s earnings for 2007 from tournament poker at $244,283). As often is the case when a person fights the law, the law wins: the Israeli Tax Authority decided that Amit actually owed about $80,000, accepting Amit’s accounting for 2007, but Amit had to cover minimal court costs in the case.
Amit hasn’t been around a poker table for quite some time, at least on the tournament circuit. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner has not cashed in a tournament since 2010, when he rung up a fifth place finish in a $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the Aussie Millions. Amit has ample skills in cash games, however, so it is extremely possible that he was able to earn the $5 million that the Israeli Tax Authority says he has sent home to his parents in the past few years.
Live Action Ebbing? Here’s Online Casino Gaming Saving the Day!
According to the monthly report from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, live casino gaming in the Garden State was down for the month of May, but those losses were offset by the growth in their online casino gaming industry.
The Atlantic City casinos pulled in a “win” rate of $220 million in May, down just a bit from the $221.1 million that they pulled in during the same time frame in 2015. Online gaming – including slots, table games and poker – showed a huge uptick that offset that loss, however. In the year-to-year comparison, the online casino industry pulled in $16.5 million in 2016, $4 million more than the “win” rate of 2015.
This isn’t to say that online gaming is going to overtake live casino gaming anytime soon, it is just that the online game was able to offset deficiencies in the live game for at least the month of May. For the overall year, both segments of the New Jersey gaming industry are significantly higher. The live industry is on course to make $2.4 billion by the end of 2016, while the online industry is on course to “win” around $160 million for the calendar year.
