They’re gettin’ deep in the NCAA tourney, and not one of us has filled out a proper bracket? With basketball tourists in town, Boyz II Men are playing 1/3 and 2/5 at the Mirage … and Kenna James is sitting behind some big stacks in a 25/50 game at Red Rock? Good time to discuss the practicalities and pitfalls of selling your action in cash games. And if you’re looking for backers on Craigslist and end up in a poker-coaching pyramid scheme … well, we’re not ones to judge, but just be sure to watch your wallet and wear a condom. All that and Awesome Andrew’s Awesome Vegas Living on the View, a new sky-high lounge at the Palms that replaces the Playboy Club of old with checkers and Connect Four … at a time when casinos are kinda-sorta cracking down on drugs and hookers at their nightclubs and pools.
With its plans to legalize sports gambling held up in federal court, New Jersey is allowing casinos to offer daily fantasy games as an alternative.
The states Division of Gaming Enforcement has published regulations establishing standards for casinos to offer fantasy sports tournaments starting April 22. The casinos can charge patrons an entry fee and pay out winnings through the casino cage, but the activity is not considered gambling.
Fantasy sports tournaments are contests in which participants create and manage teams, made up of individual players from real teams, which compete against other fantasy teams based on statistics that players generate during real games.
It’s too early to tell how these fantasy games will affect sports book operators in Las Vegas.
“I’ve read the regulations and need to digest them to see what the opportunities look like,” said Joe Asher, CEO of Las Vegas-based William Hill U.S., which operates 160 sports books and kiosks statewide and is the risk manager for the Delaware lotterys parlay bets on National Football League games. “But obviously its a step in the right direction.”
Boosters of a proposed domed stadium project on the UNLV campus have mentioned an NFL Pro Bowl and NFL pre-season games as potential events that would help generate millions of dollars for the local economy.
But there’s only one problem. The NFL doesn’t appear likely it would stage a Pro Bowl event or sanction a game at the proposed “Mega-Event Center,” as officials for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and their private development partner are calling the proposed 60,000-seat venue.
An NFL spokesman said this week it’s unlikely the league would have any interest in staging an all-star game event such as the Pro Bowl at the proposed UNLV stadium. The stadium project is $800 million to $900 million and boosters plan to seek state legislative approval of a tax district contained to the UNLV campus to help pay for construction.
In an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote sports gambling in Las Vegas is the reason the NFL would not likely get involved in holding a Pro Bowl or approving preseason games here.
Kristy, Amanda, and Gloria better watch out … a new generation of on-camera floor reporters is rising through the ranks … check out Katie, arguably the best poker interviewer in middle school. This adorable underage YouTube reporter tracked down legendary Louisville hoops coach and NCAA Hall of Famer Denny Crum during a March Madness charity tourney to talk a little poker:
Though technically the hand he recalls may not be a bad beat considering the unfortunate player got it all-in after the flop, it really is a pretty rough way to go out, first hand of the WSOP main event … and Katie’s ability to assess the situation and multiply by 10,000 makes her a nominee for Top Poker Reporter in the Under-12 division.
The World Series of Poker has released the rules for their 2009 event. There’s a couple of interesting changes from last year that will be interesting to see how they are enforced.
36. Harrah’s prohibits the use of obscene or foul language in any public area of the casino at any time. Any player who uses such language or makes a foul, profane, obscene or vulgar statement, or speaks abusively or in an intimidating manner to another player, a dealer or a Tournament staff member, will be penalized. These penalties will be levied based on Rules 31, 52 and 53.
Nick Calathes lost lots of money playing online poker because he just couldn’t lay down his beloved pocket 3s.
Online poker found itself in another brouhaha in the non-poker press last week — in Florida, where UF’s star point guard Nick Calathes (and prospective NBA first-round draft pick) was under investigation for NCAA violations over a $600 gambling debt. The investigation found he did indeed lose money playing online poker, but the NCAA only penalizes athletes who gamble on sports … or commit criminal acts. So Calathes is in the clear, and online poker, by the transitive property, is declared an acceptable recreational activity fully within the law. Yay-win! Go team.
It probably didn’t help, however, that one of the dudes hosting basketballer home games was a former walk-on who previously had been busted for allegedly hooking up the team and others with weed. (Though a friend with weed is a friend indeed…) probably not the kinda guy you want handling money transfers online.
An online-casino-biz response to situation and the suggestion on how his industry needs to work openly with the NCAA.
Alligator Army laments the nonsense online poker hubbub distracting them from the b-ball at hand.
Microsoft, we know, likes to fight … and the company fired their first shot against cheaters in their online Xbox Live community by conducting a little neighborhood sweep. They aren’t banning players, but instead dropping their player points down to zero and marking their profiles with the digital equivalent of a scarlet C. Not sure how that would work in poker … but it shows the relevance of poker issues in a non-poker world, and perhaps suggests some potential allies who have an interest our fights. Online gam(bl)ing and online gaming, after all, aren’t that far apart.
Online video game competitions for money are already in play — the Fifa Interactive World Cup, for example, awards $20k to the winner. And the shoot-em-up game Kwari has started offering real-money competition, where you win cash for kills and the house takes its cut by charging you for ammo. Bullets, chips … tomato, D’amato … Seriously, how familiar does this sound:
With its plans to legalize sports gambling held up in federal court, New Jersey is allowing casinos to offer daily fantasy games as an alternative.
Boosters of a proposed domed stadium project on the UNLV campus have mentioned an NFL Pro Bowl and NFL pre-season games as potential events that would help generate millions of dollars for the local economy.
