Ocean Resort Casino and GAN plan to launch an online gambling site in NJ, and we can predict a few things that the former Revel's new site will include.
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January 1, 2018 is the 20th anniversary of online poker, ever since Planet Poker became the very first virtual card room to host real-money games. Planet Poker ran online poker games at approximately nine months before the film Rounders launched in movie theaters. If you have played at Planet Poker in the past, you will surely feel those nostalgic, and for sure you have been one of those who patiently played online poker via dial-up modems!
Planet Poker was the very first virtual card room to a[...]Award-winning slots specialist Play’n GO deals with Logrand Entertainment Group to supply its full suite of games to Mexican operator. Right now the operator runs 14 casinos across Mexico and earlier this month it announced it would be launching its new interactive division, Strendus. As Play’n GO deals with Logrand, Play’n GO will continue its global expansion, with its first ...
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Major casino companies have registered interest in participating in a project for the construction of a A$1-billion integrated resort in the city of Cairns, the Queensland government said earlier today.
The Global Tourism Hub scheme was introduced last fall. It involves the construction of a multi-purpose complex with a casino as well as a number of accommodation, food and beverage, retail, and entertainment facilities. Under the original proposal, the resort could be built on a four-hectare state-owned site at the city’s port. However, MPs said last year that it can technically be located anywhere within a 70-kilometer radius from Cairns.
The Queensland government opened a Registration of Interest process on October 30, 2017, and interested parties had up until January 23 to submit their responses.
It became known earlier today that over 12 registrations were submitted, and some of them came from several globally renowned casino operators. The government said that it would not reveal the applicants for commercial-in-confidence reasons. However, it pointed out that registrations included a mix of state, national, and foreign casino brands.
Local media reported that officials were encouraged by the overwhelming interest in the A$1-billion project, particularly given the fact that some of the world’s biggest casino companies have submitted their registration of interest responses. MPs told media that their exceeded expectations were a good indication that their choice of Queensland’s Tropical North as the preferred home to the future development was the right one.
The proposal for the development of the Global Tourism Hub came as part of the Queensland government’s efforts to further boost the state’s tourism industry, which is believed to be worth A$25 billion and to be employing 200,000 people.
Who Might Have Registered Interest?
While the Queensland government has decided against naming the operators that were interested in building a casino as part of the Global Tourism Hub, we believe that Las Vegas giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. may be one of these. Last spring, the company revealed plans for geographical expansion. It said that it would explore opportunities to enter new markets once its main operating unit emerged from bankruptcy.
What is more, reports emerged last June that Caesars was interested in entering the Queensland casino market through a partnership with Chinese-backed group of investors ASF Consortium, which was picked by the government to develop the A$3-billion Gold Coast Integrated Resort. Several months later, the government rejected the plan, citing environmental concerns and general discontent among Gold Coast residents.
Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp may be another operator to have registered interest in the Global Tourism Hub scheme. Casino News Daily reported last August that the company, which currently operates the NagaWorld Hotel & Entertainment Complex in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, had set eyes on Cairns as a potential destination for its international expansion.
With the conclusion of the Registration of Interest process, the Queensland government is set to launch an Expression of Interest process for interested parties. It is also important to note that the government also undertook a community consultation last year. Members of the public are able to voice their opinion on the Cairns project until February 11, 2018.
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From January 18 to 28, 888poker has presented their XL Blizzard Series, regarded to be one of their best online series to date.
What makes the XL Blizzard Series a very nice one to go to is because it is nicely split between three various buy-in levels in order to give everyone a chance to play in a splendidly structured tournament and to compete for a massive first place reward.
On the very last day of the 888poker XL Blizzard Series, there were four tournaments scheduled as the final ones to[...]Find SiGMA at ICE Totally Gaming! ICE Totally Gaming is on the books for 6-8 February 2018, and SiGMA is attending in force. The 2017 edition registered upwards of 30,000 in attendance, and cemented the show’s reputation further. ICE is known for its product launches, and as a showcase for innovation in general. ICE VOX, which will replace ICE Conferences, ...
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While PokerStars Team Pro seems to be thinning with each week passing, the case is exactly the opposite with its rival poker operator partypoker and its team of sponsored players. It was announced earlier today that German poker Philipp Gruissem has become the latter poker room’s newest brand ambassador.
The player is joining a growing team of sponsored players, which includes fellow countryman Fedor Holz, among a number of others.
With live tournament earnings of over $11 million, Gruissem is one of his homeland’s most successful poker professionals. And here it is important to note once again that over the past several years, Germany has turned into a superpower in the world of poker thanks to its players who have been dominating high roller fields for the past several years.
Gruissem, in particular, has been quite active on the high roller scene and has taken down an impressive amount of such tournaments, hence his bankroll. The player won his largest cash namely from a high roller event. Back in 2013, he topped the field of the WPT Alpha 8 London £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em, good for £862,400.
A year later, the German took down the EPT Season 10 Grand Final €25,500 High Roller 8-Max for another massive payout of €993,963. The player won the same event in 2017, this time for €485,135. Overall, he has cashed in 54 live tournaments over the course of his poker career, and as it can be seen some of his payouts have been quite impressive.
Gruissem has also been playing online for quite some time. In fact, the player has revealed that he won his first ever online tournament on partypoker under the ‘philbort’ screen name. He has also pointed out that it was this victory (which brought him $200) that encouraged him to learn more about the game and delve deeper into its particularities.
partypoker’s Expanding Team of Ambassadors
As mentioned earlier, the online poker room has expanded its Team partypoker significantly over the past two years, signing poker heavyweights such as Fedor Holz, Jason Koon, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and Kristen Bicknell, and now Gruissem.
On the other hand, PokerStars Team Pro, the team of sponsored players of partypoker’s rival online poker brand, has lost some of its big names. In fact, four players have parted ways with PokerStars since the beginning of the year, with those being Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Felipe Ramos, and most recently Bertrand Grospellier.
While the players have cited different reasons for their departure, it can be said that many of them have probably decided to end their contracts with the poker room, due to the wave of changes in its rewards program it has been rolling out for the past two years or so. Generally speaking, these changes are aimed at attracting recreational players while poker professionals consider them less friendly.
Isaac Haxton has been one of the most vocal critics of PokerStars’ new policies. The player was part of the poker brand’s Team Pro, but severed ties with it in early 2016, claiming that it had behaved “unethically”. It was announced last week that Haxton has too joined Team partypoker as ambassador for the poker operator.
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Philipp Gruissem, German professional poker player, began playing live poker 9 years ago and has been competing at the highest level ever since. Gruissem has won many high roller and super high roller titles including his biggest live tournament cash, the 2014 Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller event, where he took home $1,378,059. Phil also went on to win the same event in 2017 for almost $530,000. His live earnings now stand at over $11 million.
Gruissem read his first poker book and sta[...]
International online gambling operator GAN announced plans to open an online casino for Ocean Resort Casino, the former Revel, in the first half of 2018.
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GOP Senators have urged Republican colleagues to return any donations they had received from casino boss Steve Wynn, after multiple sexual harassment allegations surfaced against him late last week. Mr. Wynn is a long-time GOP donor and up until this weekend he took the post of a Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee.
The Wall Street Journal published an extensive report on Friday, providing details about the casino magnate’s decades-long alleged pattern of sexual misconduct towards staff members at his company Wynn Resorts. Mr. Wynn is a founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Las Vegas-headquartered casino operator.
The major gambling company currently operates properties on the Las Vegas Strip and Macau, and is building a $2.4-billion integrated resort near Boston. The project is touted to be the largest private single-phase construction project in Massachusetts’ history.
Following the publication of Wall Street Journal’s report, Mr. Wynn stepped down from his post at the Republican National Committee, although he called the allegations against him “preposterous”.
Multiple Republican politicians have distanced themselves from the business mogul over the weekend. Sen. Lindsey Graham told the ABC on Sunday that if the allegations have merit, politicians should return the money they had been donated. Sen. Graham himself does not appear to have received money from the casino boss, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a number of Republican politicians have confirmed that they would donate the money they had been contributed to by Mr. Wynn to various charities.
During the presidential campaigns in 2016, the Las Vegas businessman provided financial backing to both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and now US President Donald Trump. Mr. Wynn and Mr. Trump once were business rivals. They have a history of an on and off friendship. Back in 2016, Mr. Trump called Mr. Wynn a “great friend” who had provided him with important advice.
Long Pattern of Sexual Harassment
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that both former and current employees at Wynn Resorts had revealed multiple sexual harassment incidents involving their boss, Mr. Wynn. One of these incidents involved a former Wynn Las Vegas manicurist who had claimed that the businessman had forced her into performing a sex act in his office. Mr. Wynn then paid her a $7.5-million settlement to keep the occurrence away from the media radar.
The Board of Wynn Resorts opened an investigation into the matter, although it said in a statement from this weekend that no complaint has ever been made against Mr. Wynn.
It also became clear that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will review the appropriateness of Wynn Resorts operating a casino resort in the state, following the allegations. Wynn Boston Harbor, the $2.4-billion integrated resort currently under construction on the Everett waterfront near Boston, is slated to open doors next spring. However, it seems that Wynn Resorts’ license might be at risk, particularly if the allegations against its founder and major shareholder prove true.
As mentioned above, Mr. Wynn dismissed the sexual misconduct reports, further suggesting that these could have been spread by his former spouse Elaine Wynn, whom he is engaged in a years-long legal war with. Mrs. Wynn was ousted from the Wynn Resorts Board following her divorce from Mr. Wynn in 2010. She has been seeking to regain control over her stake for several years now without much success.
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Yggdrasil Gaming launches its spellbinding new game, Ozwin’s Jackpots slot. The new five-reel, 20-payline Ozwin’s Jackpots slot sees Ozwin’s trusty apprentice weave spells in an attempt to turn the mighty magician into his human shape, all in exchange for big wins. During the gameplay, players collect crystals to restore the orbs of power and take a shot at five different ...
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Ben Lamb, a two-time WSOP Main Event finalist, triumphed in the Aussie Millions A$25,000 Challenge in the first hours of Sunday to scoop a payout of A$647,114 and an ANTON Jewellery ring after dominating action on the event’s second day.
Lamb locked the victory after he agreed on a deal with Jan-Eric Schwippert before the beginning of heads-up. The two players shook hands on splitting what had remained of the prize pool based on their chip counts and flipping blind for the ring and the title. Schwippert, one of the members of Germany’s group of high roller elites, collected A$597,765 for his runner-up finish.
The event attracted a field of 114 entries, who created a prize pool of A$2,736,000. The second and final day of the A$25,000 buy-in tournament began with 19 players returning at the tables of Crown Casino in Melbourne. They were led by Taiwanese poker star Kitty Kuo. The female poker pro has performed quite well in Asian-Pacific tournaments over the past several years and was looking for a first major title from the Aussie Millions. The player actually came really close to winning one last night, but eventually finished fourth for one of her career’s best cashes of A$246,240.
As the day progressed, the Day 2 field of 19 players was reduced to the final seven who gathered around an unofficial final table. Schwippert was the chip leader at that point, followed by Lamb. It can be said that action during the final day of the event was marked by these two’s attempts to outrun each other.
Lamb’s Final Move to Victory
As mentioned above, Lamb and his German opponent were the last men standing in the field. Instead of engaging in what could have been a rather long heads-up duel, the two players agreed to split the remaining money and to flip blind for the title.
On the final hand in play, Lamb’s [Qc][Jc] faced Schwipper’s [10s][4h]. The board ran out [2c][9s][3c][3d][7h] to secure Lamb with the title and the champion’s ring.
In his post-victory interview, Lamb said that the six-handed format was his favorite, and he really enjoyed playing the A$25,000 Challenge. At this time of the year, the player usually participates actively in the PCA and skips the Aussie Millions. However, it was a bit different this year. Lamb decided to play in the PCA for just a week, and then he traveled to sunny Australia for Crown Melbourne’s big annual festival.
Including his latest live poker accomplishment, Lamb now has more than $8.8 million in tournament earnings. As mentioned earlier, the player played at the final table of the WSOP Main Event two times. In 2011, he finished third in the massive event, good for $4,021,138. Last summer, Lamb collected $1 million after took ninth place in the $10,000 Championship.
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French poker pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has reportedly left PokerStars Team Pro, poker news outlet PokerFuse reported citing unnamed industry sources. The Frenchman thus became the fourth sponsored professional to leave the poker operator’s cluster of stars, who are promoting its brand globally, since the beginning of the year, with Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, and Felipe Ramos being the other three.
While PokerStars is yet to confirm Grospellier’s departure, PokerFuse has pointed out that his picture and bio had been removed from the online card room’s official website. It is also still unknown why ElkY has decided to leave PokerStars’ team of sponsored players, but many would suggest that this might have to do with the multiple tweaks the poker operator has introduced in its rewards program over the past several years.
Many players, who have been playing poker for years, have complained about PokerStars depriving them of privileges they have earned through countless hours of playing. Indeed, the poker room’s focus has recently shifted towards attracting more recreational players to its online poker premises.
Who Is ElkY?
Prior to rising to fame in the poker world, Grospellier had made a name for himself as one of the world’s top eSports players. He then focused his attention to building a poker career. With live tournament earnings of more than $13.5 million, ElkY is his home’s country’s most profitable player of all time.
What is more, the Frenchman is one of the very few players to have accomplished the Triple Crown in poker. To be more specific, he has a WPT, a WSOP, and an EPT title in his massive portfolio of poker accomplishments. In 2008, Grospellier won the $8,000 PCA Main Event for $2 million in prize money. It was also in 2008 when the player won his WPT title. He bested the $15,000 buy-in Festa al Lago for $1,411,015. He has a gold bracelet from a WSOP Seven Card Stud Championship event he won back in 2011.
It is also important to note that ElkY is one of the world’s most accomplished online poker players, playing both in cash games and tournament events. In fact, he was the first online player to reach PokerStars’ Supernova and Supernova Elite statuses.
As mentioned earlier, three other Team PokerStars Pros parted ways with the online poker room since the beginning of the year. In a comprehensive post on Facebook, Vanessa Selbst, the world’s most profitable female poker pro, announced that she was retiring from professional poker to pursue other career opportunities. She thus ended her contract with the card room.
Jason Mercier followed suit, announcing that he had not renewed his contract with PokerStars. The player explained that he plans to spend more time with his wife, Natasha Mercier, who is also a professional poker player, and their newborn son. Judging by his statement, Mercier had parted ways with the poker room quite amicably, pointing out that he had spend wonderful eight and a half years as a sponsored player.
However, Felipe Ramos did not seem to have ended his contract with PokerStars in friendly terms. In a series of tweets, the Brazilian player joined the wave of discontent towards the poker brand’s new priorities.
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The complete history of $2.4 billion Revel Casino in New Jersey, which was supposed to revolutionize gambling in Atlantic City, but went belly up.
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Responsible Gambling & Anti-money laundering with Dan Iliovici (Romanian National Office of Gambling) and Alex Henderson (The Ritz Hotel Casino London). The leading boutique style gaming conference in Prague has announced more speaker profiles and it looks like the event will cover all hot topics of the industry. Responsible Gambling is among the most searched topics of the online and ...
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Good news partypoker fans! partypoker is bringing back their highly popular televised high-stakes cash game, The Big Game, and this time with a new feature, the €50/€100 PLO edition, streamed live on February 10 to 12 at Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
partypoker's The Big Game is considered as one of the most famous televised cash games in the world, and now it returns next month featuring its first ever Pot Limit Omaha edition. The eight-handed €50/€100 PLO game is schedul[...]
The government of Brazil needs to authorize the construction of a certain number of casino resorts across the country in order to boost its tourism, Federal Deputy Paulo Azi said on Wednesday. Mr. Azi presides the Tourism Committee at Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies.
The lawmaker spoke with local media during a Wednesday event celebrating the official launch of electronic visas for Americans. As from today, January 25, American residents will be able to apply for visas to Brazil electronically. In addition, the visa price has dropped to $40 from $160. The government of the South American country has undertaken the move in a bid to attract greater tourist flow from the United States.
The number of US tourists heading to Brazil decreased to 570,000 in 2016, when Brazil hosted the summer Olympics from 657,000 in 2014. The country’s government hopes that the lower visa price and the simplified application process would attract more visitors from the States.
Overall, Brazil welcomed a little over 6.5 million tourists in 2017, or nearly half the number of people who visited Singapore last year. Here it is important to note that the city-state legalized casino gambling in the mid-2000s. It had two operational integrated resorts with casino floors by the turn of the current decade.
Brazil’s Minister of Tourism Marx Beltrão said during yesterday’s event that if they find the right formula for developing Brazil into an attractive tourism destination, this could result in R$170 million being poured into the local economy every year.
Legal Status of Gambling in Brazil
With very few exceptions, gambling is generally illegal in South America’s largest country. For several years now, lawmakers have been considering a sweeping reform that would change Brazil’s gambling regulatory regime drastically and would expand the list of legal gaming and betting activities significantly. However, no gambling expansion proposal has been signed into law so far, despite the efforts.
Two separate gambling bills were introduced in Brazil’s National Congress several years ago, on in the Chamber of Deputies and the other in the Senate. The Senate piece – PLS 186/2014 – has gained more media attention, as it is the one to be calling for massive gambling expansion across Brazil and across all gambling sectors. Generally speaking, the bill provides for the legalization of casino gambling and of online gaming and betting, among other things.
Late last year, the bill stalled in the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Commission and it is yet to be announced when exactly commissioners will be able to finally cast their votes.
The potential legalization of casino gambling in Brazil has drawn the attention of some of the world’s casino powerhouses, including Las Vegas giants Las Vegas Sands and Caesars Entertainment. Reports emerged last spring that Las Vegas Sands CEO and Chairman Sheldon Adelson, in a meeting with Brazilian President Michel Temer, has revealed plans to build an $8-billion casino resort in Rio de Janeiro. Emerging from bankruptcy, fellow casino giant Caesars Entertainment has also said that Brazil has been one of the destinations it would gladly expand its presence to.
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The iGathering have become a staple on Malta’s iGaming calendar, a sign of SiGMA’s year-round commitment to the industry. Over the previous editions guests have really been treated to some of the finest dining extant, and the experience is only getting better with successive editions of the event. The purpose of the iGathering is to expose the movers and the ...
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The PokerStars Festival London continues, with the Main Event looming close and the High Roller playing down to a winner, who will also get to be crowned as the newest Platinum Pass winner.
The game will end late in the evening, just right on time when poker fans check on the updates of the Blog to Channel 4, where the most recent episode of the PokerStars Championship Cash Challenge will be on air come 12:05am (technically, Thursday morning).
What's this PokerStars Championship Cash Challen[...]
The official six-handed final table of this year’s WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship was set last night, and it will be Russian player Aleksandr Shevelev who will lead the pack of six into today’s final day of action.
The player emerged the chip leader for a second consecutive day, although he had his ups and downs throughout Tuesday action at the host casino, Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.
Ness Reilly took the lead at some point on Day 4 of the $3,500 buy-in tournament and gained quite some pace to increase her advantage. Reilly came fresh from an eight-place finish in the WPTDeppStacks Hollywood Main Event, which took place last week at the same host venue and as part of the larger Lucky Hearts Poker Open festival.
Winning a massive pot, Shevelev managed to narrow the gap that his female fellow player had created, and eventually took the lead to never let go of it throughout the rest of the day. The Russian player bagged and tagged 6.96 million in chips last night, good for 116 big blinds.
Shevelev currently has a little over $22,500 in live tournament earnings. The player has cashed in four live tournaments so far, all of which have taken place at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. In other words, a victory in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship could become the young Russian’s debut among poker’s heavyweights.
The player made two in-the-money finishes in this year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open festival. Being among the final six, the player has locked a six-figure payout from the Championship tournament. Each of the six finalists is guaranteed a minimum cash of $104,784.
The Final Pack of Six
Aside from Shevelev, the official final table also includes former WPT Main Tour Main Event champion Andy Frankenberger, who will enter the final day of play as the short stack with 2.17 million, Alan Krockey (2.81 million), Brett Bader (3.16 million), Darryll Fish (5.92 million), and Ness Reilly (6.295 million).
The six players will return to the host casino at noon Florida time to play down to a champion. And the winner will collect a nice payout of $511,604, which includes an entry fee into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The WPT announced on Tuesday that the event will take place over May 24-26 at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, with the final table being slated to be played at the newly opened eSports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Hotel and Casino.
As mentioned above, Andy Frankenberger is the sole surviving WPT Champions Club member in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship. The player won his title back in 2010, when he topped the field of the Legends of Poker $5,000 Championship Event. Apart from his performance in the WPT, the player has also won two WSOP gold bracelets over the course of his career.
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