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The drama in New Jersey between PokerStars and the Atlantic Club Casino drags on. Meanwhile in Nevada, Ultimate Poker hits its first snag.
The Boardwalk can’t catch a break.
For the past two decades, Atlantic City’s casino industry has been under siege from gaming competition in neighboring states.
The Southern New Jersey seaside resort, where saltwater taffy was created in the late 1800s, which thumbed its nose at Prohibition in the 1920s and was the inspiration for the board game Monopoly, once owned the monopoly for casinos in the East.
But starting in the mid-1990s, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and New York legalized gaming. The competition, combined with the recession, took away business and caused Atlantic City’s annual casino revenues to fall more than 41 percent between 2006 and 2012.
A comprehensive reform package pushed by Gov. Chris Christie in 2011 that created the Atlantic City Tourism District and focused new attention on boosting the city’s 12 hotel-casinos — nine on the famous Boardwalk and three in the Marina district — was just beginning to take hold in October.
Then Superstorm Sandy washed ashore.
The first three months of 2013 have sparked cautious optimism for the economic recovery of Nevada’s casino industry.
A new report for March appears to build on that trend.
Statewide gaming revenues grew 7.04 percent in March to $914.8 million, the state’s second-straight monthly increase. On the Strip, gaming revenues grew 13.13 percent to $507.6 million, the second straight double-digit increase .
For the first three months of the year, statewide gaming revenues are up 2.6 percent. Strip gaming revenues are up 6.7 percent.
Following release of the figures Friday by the Gaming Control Board, analysts told investors they wanted to see more than just three months of Strip gaming revenue totals before deeming the patient fully cured.
Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday he has held preliminary talks with other state governors on partnering with Nevada on Internet poker.
Sandoval didn’t name the states but gaming sources said Texas could be a target.
Sandoval, a Republican, supported Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s brief run for the GOP’s presidential nomination last year. Also, the Texas Legislature is considering the Poker Gaming Act of 2013, which would make it legal in the state to play poker online.
“I’ve talked with a few governors and I’m introducing the concept of compacting,” Sandoval said following a tour of the new corporate headquarters in Las Vegas for BMM International, one of two laboratories that tests gaming equipment for Nevada regulators.
“It’s very much in the early stages and we have a great opportunity because we have the infrastructure and other states have the players,” Sandoval said. “I’m hopeful we’ll continue to talk.”
From OnlinePokerReport.com for the week of May 20th
STORIES TO WATCH THIS WEEK
#1. PokerStars came out on the losing end of last week’s legal battle with the Atlantic Club Casino. But given the latest statement from PokerStars, and the fact that they’ve sunk $10mm+ into the deal to date, I expect PokerStars to file new litigation in the days ahead.
#2. iPoker has given skins until May 20th to verify the identity of all players referred by certain affiliates. Sources report the action is linked to suspected VPN play from banned countries – including the United States.
Watch iPoker’s traffic – and the traffic of major US-facing sites – this week for clues to the scope of the issue. Based on back-channel chatter, it’s potentially huge.
#3. Iovation will continue to be a story to follow. Nevada regulators are reportedly planning to take a closer look at the company, which has been linked directly to the cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet, most recently in secret recordings released by Travis Makar.
+ THE WEEK THAT WAS
OPR OUTPUT
The latest edition of poker news podcast Rabbit Hunt (sponsored by CardRunners) is now available on iTunes.
PICKS
#GoodRead - Interesting commentary on the relative wisdom of buy in spreads from Kim Lund at QuadJacks. And PokerFuse has a fascinating take on The Rising Concern of Forced Disconnection Attacks.
More from Chris Grove: @OPReport / Google +
State gaming regulators are looking into the relationship between 2-week-old Internet poker website Ultimate Poker and an unlicensed service provider used to identify new players.
In an email, Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett said gaming agents are working with officials from Ultimate, which is majority owned by Station Casinos.
Over the weekend, Ultimate Gaming, parent of Ultimate Poker, said in a statement through a spokesman that on Thurday , it “discontinued” using services from Iovation. The company according to poker news resources, was linked to a 2008 online cheating scandal that brought down Ultimate Bet, which is not related to Ultimate Poker.
Burnett said Iovation was not a registered service provider with Nevada but the company’s services were utilized by CAMS, an Nevada-approved service provider.
As the Duke of Fremont gets ready for trial, Andrew and Dan are among a field of 200 playing $135 No-Limit Hold’em in the Golden Nugget’s $25,000 guaranteed weekender event. Dave meanwhile hooks it to Planet Hollywood in chase of the Caesars Megabeat (which pays better on a Wednesday afternoon) and damn, that’s a pretty good promo when coupled with their new 20 for 20 freeroll.
At Mandalay Bay this weekend it’s the $10,000 Tiger Jam, and is Wikipedia racist for thinking Phil Ivey = Tiger Woods? The WSOP lays out their summer plan with their annual media conference call. And we check in with David Clark, aka DC n La, from New Orleans, where the WSOP-NOLA circuit event is happening and the WSOP Circuit national championship takes place next week. And when a showdown reveals Dan’s 5c8c < 4s6s … he’s left asking Andrew if it was just an unfortunate river in the midst of sneaky button play or really, against a fellow Texan, just a late-position cliche …
Vegas Grinders 1.14: Going Continental
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Resource Links
Bingo Has a Long History in the UK
Bingo has always been UK’s favorite game. Historically, it was played in bingo halls throughout the country by young and old alike. Traditional Bingo halls became a cultural phenomenon in the UK from the 1960s to the 1980s. When Bingo finally came online it created a huge craze, and today more than three million UK residents play in an online bingo sites community. Online Bingo has become such a popular past time because it allows players to participate in their beloved game from the ease of their own home.
Online Bingo is Easy to Play
Playing Online Bingo is as easy as creating an account and joining in on a game anytime you wish. This is so much more convenient than the strict schedules of the traditional bingo halls. UK players benefit from the ability to immediately access their Bingo games online at anytime and anywhere where they can connect to the Internet. Online Bingo is also extremely easy to join. It takes only a couple of minutes, as most sites use a very basic registration form. Deposits can also be accepted through many different methods of online payment.
Big thanks to Travis Makar for coming on the show to digest the recent UB info dump. I personally cannot believe Greg Pierson & Russ Hamilton are allowed to roam free. Pokerati Dan joins us to help process the info, and Saramar rounds out a great show. *MUST LISTEN*
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The attorney for Chad Elie filed an amended complaint against Jeff Ifrah, Ifrah PLLC, and others yesterday in the District Court of Clark County, Nevada. Recall that the original complaint had some very serious allegations made as against Ifrah (none of which have been proved in court). The amended complaint has the same basic claims for relief, but expands upon some of the earlier allegations and offers some further particulars.
For example, paragraph 3 of the complaint now pleads that Ifrah is licensed as an attorney in the District of Columbia but not in Nevada, California, Florida, or Illinois, even though “he performed services for and provided legal advice to” Elie while Elie was in those jurisdictions. (Interestingly, however, it’s not specifically pleaded that Ifrah gave Elie Nevada, California, Florida, or Illinois legal advice.) Paragraph 7 is now explicit in introducing the client conflict that is a big part of Elie’s purported case: that Ifrah was conflicted in representing both PokerStars and Full Tilt (for whom he is alleged to have been rustling up processing solutions) and Elie (who was exposed to criminal sanction for providing those solutions). This doesn’t change much; the original complaint was clear on this point, but the amended version ties this characterization in earlier in the narrative and gives some additional factual basis for it.
Another new tidbit is the claim that Ifrah requested that Elie’s payments to him be characterized as payments for “consulting” services rather than legal services (see new paragraph 59). Ifrah is alleged to have done this so that he would not be conflicted out of representing criminal defendants when and if indictments for payment processing were handed down, as Ifrah expected, for example, like those coming out of the SDNY on Black Friday. (See new paragraphs 60 and 74.) Elie’s amended complaint states that Ifrah subsequently denied that he even acted for Elie in putting together Elie’s processing deals.
Assuming that the original complaint was served on or about April 11th, Ifrah and his firm appear to have 10 days to respond to the amended complaint after service.
Yesterday, it emerged that Dwolla, a US payment network, has stopped accepting transfers to and from Mt. Gox, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, because of a seizure warrant issued by the US Department of Homeland Security. Here’s Chris Coyne‘s tweet with a copy of the message he received from Dwolla. Today, I received a copy of the seizure warrant dated yesterday and signed by US magistrate Susan K. Gauvey in Maryland. A copy of the warrant is here.
The warrant specifically targets the contents of Mutum Sigillum LLC’s (incorporated in Delaware and apparently a Mt. Gox subsidiary or sibling entity) Dwolla account held in the custody of Veridian Credit Union. Mutum Sigillum is alleged by the US to be an unlicensed money transmitting business within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1960(b). For more on this definition, take a look at the warrant itself and at FinCEN’s guidance in respect of money services businesses and money transmitting businesses issued in March (here). The unlicensed nature of the MSB is the basis for the seizure order.
A confidential informant established new accounts with both Mt. Gox and Dwolla, funded his Mt. Gox account with US funds, exchanged currency in his Dwolla account for bitcoins, and then exchanged bitcoins back to dollars, directing Mt. Gox to transfer those dollars to his Dwolla account.
Based on the warrant, it appears that Mutum Sigillum was targeted solely because it is an unlicensed business, not because of any broader claims that (for example) bitcoin itself undermines the greenback. This is consistent with FinCEN’s March guidance. (Patrick Murck, General Counsel to the Bitcoin Foundation, wrote a great piece setting out his view that the guidance is an overreach. Worth reading if you haven’t yet.)
Apparently you can still remit to other exchanges through Dwolla to purchase bitcoins, and you can still remit to Mt. Gox to buy bitcoins (just not through Dwolla).
Webmasters in online gambling are once again facing affiliate programs wanting to change terms and conditions. Is there hope for the future? Plus industry ne…
Las Vegas Sands Corp., the gaming company controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday that easily surpassed analysts’ estimates as growth at its Macau properties accelerated.
The casino company last year increased its share of the Macau market with the opening of Sands Cotai Central, its fourth casino in the Chinese gambling enclave. Las Vegas Sands is building The Parisian, its second Cotai Strip resort at a cost of $3 billion.
The Parisian is scheduled to open in late 2015. Adelson told analysts in a conference Wednesday the company is seeking government approval to build its Tropical Garden retail mall in Cotai, a development with 900,000 square feet of “value oriented retail.”
Las Vegas Sands net income for the quarter was $572 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with $498.9 million, or 61 cents per shares, in the first quarter of 2012. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance expected earnings of 67 cents.
As chief regulator for New Jersey’s struggling casino industry, Matthew Levinson has an interesting balancing act.
The Casino Control Commission must ensure the market is free of corruption. At the same time, turning away potential investment could be viewed as counterproductive.
Levinson, 33, was appointed to a five-year term as the commission’s seventh chairman in August by Gov. Chris Christie.
In less than eight months on the job, he has experienced the gaming market’s financial ebbs and flows, the weeklong closure of casinos in October because of Superstorm Sandy, the emergence of online gaming giant PokerStars as buyer of a struggling Boardwalk casino, and the application of MGM Resorts International to regain its gaming license that it surrendered in 2010 after a stipulated agreement with the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Also, New Jersey lawmakers approved legislation allowing Atlantic City casinos to offer Internet gaming, and Christie has pushed the casinos to allow sports wagering, a move being fought in federal court.
