Sheldon Adelson turns 81 today, which makes him still just a kid according to my grandmother. We of course all know Adelson is a wealthy man, but I didn’t realize he was the richest person in Nevada (like by far). I mean sure, he woulda made my shortlist if you asked, but I didn’t really place his economic stature in context until seeing this bit of data porn showing who has the largest net worth by state.

So what do you get a man who has everything? OK, maybe Adelson doesn’t have everything, but he does have more personal wealth than the GDP of nearly 100 independent nations. He has so much money ($35.7 billion) that he could singlehandedly pay off ALL of Caesars’ debt and still have more than $12 billion left over — enough to still be the richest person in Nevada, as well as 34 other American states. Sooo … maybe just close your eyes and make a wish?

Caesars Entertainment Corp. [recently] showed off its $550 million vision of urban renewal.

The casino operator is still seven months from finishing The Linq, which was designed as an eclectic urban streetscape suggested by New York City’s trendy Meatpacking District.

The project transforms an eastside Strip area between The Quad and Flamingo that until last year housed a dilapidated parking garage, an underused alleyway and a tiny casino favored by the beer pong crowd.

When it fully opens in February, The Linq’s open-air promenade will encompass 300,000 square feet of stylish retail offerings, trendy restaurants and hip entertainment venues, all anchored on its east end by a 550-foot-tall observation wheel.

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Having navigated MGM Resorts International through almost four years of turbulent economic waters, Jim Murren has grown used to hearing negative comments from haters and detractors.

What surprised Murren, however, were some recent vitriolic remarks directed at his company from a competing corporate office down the street.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson used his quarterly earnings conference call to blame Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts for driving down hotel room rates along the Strip, thus, diminishing Adelson’s earnings in Las Vegas.

Adelson claimed the industry-leading long-term debt carried by Caesars ($23.7 billion) and MGM Resorts ($13.1 billion) affects the way they do business, such as lowered room rates to drive up occupancy.

“I don’t necessarily blame them,” Adelson said. “I suppose if I were in that position, I might do the same thing.”

In an interview following MGM Resorts’ quarterly earnings conference call last week, Murren, MGM’s chairman and CEO, said his company and Caesars have a better understanding of how Las Vegas works these days than Adelson does. Las Vegas Sands drew 86 percent of its quarterly revenue from Asia.

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The Empire put a hit on the Mafia and buried the farm.

Two years after Caesars Entertainment Corp. perplexed Wall Street by acquiring social gaming operation Playtika, the casino giant has moved past rival Zynga Inc. to the top of the business model.

Social casino games are free to play on the Internet, through Facebook and other platforms. Customers have the option of paying a nominal fee — often less than $1 — to acquire thousands of gaming tokens to increase their virtual bankroll.

Apparently, those pennies add up.

One Wall Street analyst estimated social gaming is now worth $1.2 billion worldwide in annual revenues.

Caesars Interactive Entertainment, a subsidiary of the casino company that controls Playtika and the World Series of Poker, now owns a large chunk of that market.

Playtika’s Slotomania brand — slot machine and bingo-like games — is fueling the effort, which sent Zynga, owners of Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words with Friends, and a platform of casino games, including Zynga Poker, into second place.

“Social casino gaming has essentially gone from being a nonexistent sector a few years ago to one of the most popular gaming genres on desktop and mobile (devices),” Adam Krejcik, managing director of Eilers Research, recently wrote.

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No one can say for certain how much New Jersey’s online gaming market will actually be worth.

State regulators, lawmakers, casino industry insiders and Wall Street analysts have estimated Internet wagers could generate as much as $1.2 billion in gaming revenues in the first year — roughly 40 percent of what Atlantic City’s 12 casinos collected in 2012.

That’s one reason Internet gaming providers have hopes for a seat at the table.

The state has outlined an aggressive schedule. Regulations have been drafted and the Casino Control Commission wants to see cards in the air — or on computer screens — by Thanksgiving.

New Jersey has restricted operation of online gaming to Atlantic City’s casinos, which have until June 30 to line up their website technology partners. The state set a July 29 deadline for completed applications to the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Anyone missing the deadlines could be sidelined until next year.

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The chief executive of online gaming giant PokerStars agreed to forfeit $50 million to federal prosecutors to rid his himself of a two-year-old complaint filed by the U.S. government.

In a settlement agreement this week with the Department of Justice, the money being paid by PokerStars CEO Mark Scheinberg is based on allegations contained in the April 15, 2011, complaint filed by federal prosecutors against PokerStars as part of the government’s “Black Friday” crackdown on illegal Internet gaming operations.

“The agreement is not in response to any action that had been brought against Mark and contains no admission of wrongdoing, culpability or guilt on his behalf,” PokerStars spokesman Eric Hollreiser said in an emailed statement.

Last July, PokerStars accepted a $731 million forfeiture to the federal government to end the company’s legal battle with prosecutors.

Three senior officers of PokerStars were charged in April 2011 with bank fraud, money laundering and running an illegal Internet gambling enterprise.

The Justice Department absolved the company of any wrongdoing in accepting Internet wagers from American customers. PokerStars also wasn’t prohibited from entering legal U.S. gaming markets.

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A downtown Toronto resort complex that attracted the interest of Nevada’s largest casino operators appeared dead Friday after the city’s mayor canceled a vote scheduled for next week on the multi-billion dollar development.

In a City Hall news conference Thursday, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, the key backer of a single hotel-casino complex, said he was halting the planned vote, which many analysts had predicted would go against the gaming development.

Gaming giants MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts, Limited, had all expressed interest in building and operating the downtown Toronto integrated resort complex.

The companies all committed development money to the effort and representatives all traveled to Toronto to pitch their ideas and meet with city and province officials.

Caesars Entertainment had proposed a casino and resort development along Front Street. Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Jan Jones said the company’s project would have created more than 10,000 jobs and would have been a catalyst for redeveloping the city’s convention center.

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When the $550 million SugarHouse Casino opened 28 months ago on a Delaware River waterfront site in South Philadelphia, opponents of the project worried that local businesses would suffer.

Kathy Smith said she hasn’t noticed one bit of difference.

Smith, a tough-talking, streetwise native of South Philly, has spent 25 years working at the city’s cheesesteak landmark Pat’s King of Steaks, which opened in 1930 at the X-shaped intersection of Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue.

The SugarHouse is roughly four miles from Pat’s. It doesn’t have a hotel and has few dining options. What the casino does offer are 57 table games and 1,600 slot machines, which produced the highest revenue per machine, per day of all Pennsylvania’s 11 casinos, state gaming regulators said.

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Caesars Entertainment Corp. said last week that it will spin off its interactive gaming business, Planet Hollywood and a planned casino in Baltimore into a separate company owned in part by the casino operator, the company’s stockholders and private equity firms Apollo and TPG.

Apollo Management and TPG Capital are expected to invest a combined $500 million in cash into Caesars Entertainment as part of the deal, which would create a “growth-oriented entity” controlled by Caesars Acquisition Co., a company created to facilitate the transaction.

Caesars Interactive CEO Mitch Garber will serve as CEO of the acquisition company and continue in his role with the interactive division, which owns the World Series of Poker.

In a statement, Caesars Entertainment, which has long-term debt of more than $20 billion, said the transaction would allow the company to fund growth opportunities in “a less levered and more flexible vehicle.”

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MGM Resorts International will spend $100 million to transform land along the Strip and surrounding the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts into an outdoor plaza and pedestrian mall with trendy shops, restaurants and a public park.

The plaza will serve as a gateway into a 20,000-seat sports arena, which the company will build behind the two resorts with national arena developer AEG.

The facades of New York-New York and Monte Carlo will be renovated as part of the retail, dining and entertainment district. The development will include several eateries, nightlife venues and entertainment attractions new to Las Vegas.

MGM Resorts announced the development today . Some initial construction has begun, and the company expects the retail and restaurant complex to open by early 2014.

“Our vision is to dramatically change the sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip, creating an area that will greatly enhance the area and create an energy that you find in the world’s great cities,” MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren said in an interview.

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From OnlinePokerReport.com for the week of April 22nd

STORIES TO WATCH THIS WEEK

#1. Pennsylvania  representative Tina Davis (finally) introduced a bill to regulate online gambling late last week. Expect more specifics to emerge this week; early word is that the license fee is $5m and the tax rate is 28%.

#2. Illinois members of the PPA just received a survey concerning PokerStars, leading one industry observer to speculate that Stars is considering buying their way into Illinois’ online gambling market. PokerStars wouldn’t need to take over a full casino to get in; electronic gaming license holders and advance deposit wagering license holders are also eligible to apply under proposed online gambling regulation in Illinois.

#3. Caesars is reportedly considering a sale of NJ property Showboat  – and the eligibility to apply for a New Jersey online gambling license that goes with it. It will be interesting to follow the story (and reaction from the markets) in the coming days. Will Caesars get a premium for the online component? And, if so, will that spark the sale of more New Jersey land-based properties?

+ THE WEEK THAT WAS

• Marco Valerio returned to QuadJacks.
• Ray Bitar completed his plea and avoided additional jail time.
• PokerStars completed their New Jersey license application.
• bwin.party announced plans to shut off new signups from 18 countries.
• An amendment to MA’s budget bill that seeks to regulate online poker was filed.

OPR OUTPUT

I took a look at the state of online gambling regulation across the United States. And Mark & I got our first episode of The Rabbit Hunt in the books. Finally, I joined Rich Muny for a panel discussion on PokerAdvocacy.

PICKS

#GoodRead – Dave Behr is setting the bar with his coverage of the federal indictment that’s reached into the world of high-stakes poker.

@Follow – @CAGamingLawyer had some great Twitter coverage of the Tribal Internet Gambling legal conference in Scottsdale, Arizona last week that’s worth reviewing.

More from Chris Grove: @OPReport / Google +

Wynn Resorts Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled plans for Wynn Everett, a roughly $1.5 billion resort it hopes to build next to the Mystic River in Massachusetts, as the Las Vegas-based gaming company looks to capture the sole Boston-area casino license.

Wynn Resorts said Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn did not attend the event.

President and Chief Operating Officer Gamal Aziz unveiled a single artists rendering of the resort that shows a 19-story, 550-room hotel that includes several low-lying buildings with glazed skylights. The plan includes gardens and a walking path leading to the river.

The company said construction would be completed in 24 to 36 months.

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Memo to Las Vegas Review-Journal readers: Please stop calling, emailing and leaving me nasty messages about the planned Gansevoort Las Vegas.

I didn’t select the name.

Nor did I choose the names Quad, SLS, LVH, D, M and any other variation of the alphabet popping up around Las Vegas.

I know you dislike them.

Many of us long for the days when hotel-casino names on the Strip were Stardust, Sahara, Frontier, International, Barbary Coast, Aladdin, Dunes and Imperial Palace. OK, maybe not so much Imperial Palace.

It has been 2½ years since a new hotel-casino opened in Las Vegas. Resort development restarted this month after a hiatus because of the recession.

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Representatives of Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings wanted to assure the Nevada Gaming Commission that the company, which operates legal Internet gaming websites in Europe, would comply with the state’s regulatory structure.

After the company spent almost two hours earlier this month making its case to the Gaming Control Board, the commission needed less than an hour Thursday to unanimously approve 888 for an interactive gaming license.

“Much has been put on the record in regards to 888,” Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard said. “All my concerns have been addressed.”

The company, which was found suitable in 2011 as a business partner with Caesars Entertainment Corp. to operate World Series of Poker-branded websites in Europe, will partner with Caesars on interactive gaming in Nevada.

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Today’s Boxscore

Joseph Mckeehen $174,147 – WSOP-C Caesars AC Main Event
Teresa Hemingway $226,463 – HPT Golden Gates Casino

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It was a good weekend for the mid-stakes, local friendly Heartland Poker Tour. Their Golden Gates Casino event in Black Hawk CO ran at the same time as a World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event, then proceeded to outdraw them despite bad weather and the fact it was located in Black Hawk CO.

The HPT event was hampered by severe winter weather and drew less entrants than the same event a year earlier but still managed to create a 7-digit prizepool. The WSOP-C Main Event was probably hampered by it’s location in Atlantic City and the number of entrees was down to 540 from 635 in 2012.

Teresa Hemingway became just the 3rd woman to win a title on the Heartland Poker Tour but she picked up one of their biggest prizes after getting in the event on a $360 satellite seat. Next stop for the HPT is somewhere in the middle of Iowa while the WSOP-C takes their turn in Black Hawk, CO at the Lodge Casino. Let’s see if they can match the HPT success in the area.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Negreanu still having fun with the whole joining a cult by accident thing.

8 oz of Kool-Aid, lamb blood and cayenne pepper- breakfast of champions! Off to play the 10k 8-Game should be fun!

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) March 13, 2013

DOJ Appoints Administrator to Assess Individual Full Tilt Poker Claims – One step closer to US-based Full Tilt players getting their money back. Check out Full Tilt Poker Claims Administration for details.

Online gambling deals boost Zynga, Glu – Online gambling is getting a little more attention from the mainstream medai, this time from CNN in their Money section.

Losing-hand progressive poker jackpot hits, paying out $600,000 – After two months of running their multi-casino, bad beat jackpot, Caeasars finally had to pay out. Nearly $700,000 was chopped up between the winner, loser, and other players around their poker rooms.

Winamax Poker Tour : les résultats complets – My knowledge of the French language is limited to what I remember from that high school French class and what dirty words Benjo taught me. The important take away from this link is the World’s Greatest Poker Trophy in the Entire History of Poker. Also, god bless hyperbole.