Want a sense of the new world we’re seeing here in Nevada, thanks to licensed and regulated online poker? Game-wise, the combo of WSOP.com and Ultimate Poker is still hardly a shell of the glory days of PokerStars and Full Tilt. But what is different is the way online poker is showing up around town … on billboards, TV, radio … in snail mail, on top of slot machines … I’m kinda waiting to see it show up at the 50-yard-line at Sam Boyd Stadium — because really, shouldn’t there be a WSOP.com Silver Bowl?
(Note: technically a Texas-based maker of industrial lubricants has that game locked down for three years.)
![Outside the Box? WSOP.com apparently thinks real money online poker might appeal to people inclined to sit around waiting for satisfaction and opportunity to just show up at their door in 30 minutes or less. [pic: @RobertGoldfarb]](https://pokerati.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_4419-375x500.jpg)
Outside the Box? WSOP.com apparently thinks real money online poker might appeal to people inclined to sit around waiting for good stuff to just show up at their door. [pic: @RobertGoldfarb]
Until then, however, the WSOP is left to consider other means to present their brand (and an entire industry!) with newfound legitimacy. According to the presumably reliable delivery driver from Noble Pie Parlor in Reno, WSOP.com provided some 500 of these boxes for their handmade “New York Street”-style ‘zas.
Gaming attorney Jeff Ifrah and his law firm have removed the Nevada state civil case against them filed by Chad Elie to the US District Court for the District of Nevada. “Removal” refers to the transfer of a case from a state court to a federal court that includes the place where the state action was pending, so the venue in Nevada makes sense. Only defendants may remove cases to federal court. To remove, the case must be eligible to have been filed in federal court in the first place. In this case, the federal court’s diversity jurisdiction appears to be met because Elie and Ifrah are citizens of different states and the matter in controversy exceeds $75,000.
Presumably Ifrah wants to get this in front of the federal bench because he’s more confident of his hearing there than in state court. And perhaps there will be a further move to transfer this case east of Nevada, to another federal court. Time will tell.
The case is number 2:13-cv-00888-JCM-VCF.
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.
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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.”
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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 +
A calendar shift that moved the lucrative Chinese New Year holiday into February sent Nevada gaming revenues soaring, contributing to the largest single-month total ever for the Strip.
Nevada casinos collected $1.073 billion in gaming revenues during February, a 15.1 percent increase compared with the same month a year ago according to figures released Wednesday by the Gaming Control Board.
The statewide gaming revenue total was the highest monthly amount produced by Nevada casinos since December 2007.
On the Strip, gaming revenues hit a record $696.1 million, a 31.2 percent increase.
“While February saw the timing benefit of a strong Chinese New Year, we think results still came in ahead of expectations,” Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chard Beynon told investors.
The record figures were the result of high-end baccarat play associated with the 10-day Chinese New Year holiday. In 2012, the Chinese New Year was in January. In 2013, the holiday fell into February. As a result, gaming revenues in January declined 12.4 percent statewide and 18.7 percent on the Strip.
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In Europe, it’s known as novelty betting. Bookmakers from Paddy Power to William Hill post odds and take bets on a variety of activities, from who looks good to win the Nobel Prizes this year to whether Prince Harry’s next girlfriend will be a blonde or a brunette and who might host the Oscars in 2014.
Paddy Power’s favorite to host the Oscar’s next year is Justin Timberlake at 2-to-1 . The odds are 8-to-11 that Harry’s next girlfriend will be a blonde.
But what produces increased publicity if only modest handle for British bookmakers is betting on U.S. politics. And oddsmakers and gaming industry analysts in Las Vegas said that if successful, a Nevada state senator’s efforts to legalize betting on politics will produce more notoriety than revenue.
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Online gaming giant PokerStars folded its hand last summer after a 15-month legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since that time the company has been on a heater.
It was the right call for PokerStars to accept a $731 million forfeiture to the federal government and shed a nine-count indictment. The settlement also absolved PokerStars of any wrongdoing in accepting Internet wagers from American customers.
PokerStars, through its Isle of Man-based parent The Rational Group, said in January it was buying a casino in Atlantic City. On Feb. 21, it announced plans to open a live-play poker room at the City of Dreams in Macau, while its online business grew to more than 50 million registered customers through legal Internet gaming markets.
The only place PokerStars can’t earn a seat at the table is Nevada.
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I’m tired of losing my shirt. What I could really use is a New Jersey.
This could turn out to be a momentous week in poker history … with both Nevada and New Jersey supposedly doing their part to bring online gambling properly to the American people. Of course even amid signatory celebrations, the day-to-day lives of Vegas Grinders have yet to change …
In this episode: Dave and Dan consider the implications (and a timeline) for the new Nevada law, while Andrew stays on his normal-hours kick long enough to find himself ballin’ with plumber cash. We inquire about the difference between daytime tables and nighttime tables in Las Vegas; there’s a pretty big and regular 30/60 O8 game taking shape at the Venetian; and with the Wynn Classic underway, what’s all the to-do about the latest specially named big-field tournament series anyhow? Is it like logging hours at South Point to wield a monster stack in their $125k freeroll? And is Mirage home to the softest 2/5 game in town?
Vegas Grinders 1.3
[audio: /VegasGrinders/VegasGrinders20130228.mp3]
All that and more … because while we may not be in iTunes yet, we do have listeners already, and they write in to ask about, er, actual poker hands? That’s right, Vegas Grinders break it down for you … this week exploring the nuance of playing pocket 10s as a local vs. any potential value-shove from a probable tourist. At least I think that’s what we’re talking about. Boo-yah. Have a listen and a nice day!
While acknowledging Southern Nevada’s economy was slowly improving, economist John Restrepo said there was more work to do before the region’s economy was truly healthy.
“This isn’t you father’s recession,” Restrepo said during a presentation Thursday at City National Bank’s Economic Forecast and Market Update for 2013. “It’s a whole different world out there.”
He said reset, rebuild and recover “are the words that best describe where we are in Southern Nevada.” Restrepo, principal with RCG Economics in Las Vegas, said the job market has begun to recover from the recession.
The region’s prerecession employment market was creating 33,000 jobs annually, with a high of 63,000 from December 2004 to December 2005. During the recession, the annual average was a loss of 22,000 jobs.
Restrepo said some 15,700 jobs have been created in the last 12 months.
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Nevada’s casino industry posted its third straight annual gaming revenue increase in 2012 as the industry continues its modest recovery amid a sluggish economy.
Analysts noted the results were helped by high-end baccarat play, the game that has bolstered the industry’s bottom line since Las Vegas companies began doing business in Macau in 2004.
Statewide, casinos collected $10.86 billion in gaming revenue in 2012, a 1.5 percent increase over $10.7 billion in 2011.
“We are slowly increasing revenues,” said Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board. “We are still 15.5 percent below the peak in 2007, but we are gradually moving in the right direction.”
Nevada gaming revenues were $12.8 billion in 2007, Lawton said. On the Strip, gaming revenues increased 2.3 percent over 2011 with casinos collecting $6.2 billion, marking a second straight year revenues topped $6 billion.
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When does a net loss of more than $1.21 billion not seem so bad?
When it’s compared with a net loss of almost $4 billion in the previous year.
Nevada’s casino industry suffered through its fourth straight fiscal year net loss despite 4.4 percent growth in total revenues over the 12-month period, according to the annual Gaming Abstract, which the Nevada Gaming Control Board released Wednesday.
The report compares revenues and income produced by casinos generating more than $1 million in gaming revenues during the fiscal year, which ended June 30.
In 2012, the abstract included results from 265 casinos statewide. Together, the casinos had a net loss of $1.21 billion on total revenues of more than $22.9 billion. In fiscal 2011, 256 casinos generated a net loss of almost $4 billion on revenues of $22 billion.
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Not a story about poker, but an interesting op-ed nonetheless about a bipartisan effort in the US Senate to clarify financing options for college loans, grants, scholarships, etc … In the piece, Times columnist Gail Collins uses the newly not-released Reid online poker bill as a comparative benchmark for a bill that everyone might want in principal yet still stalls at the peak of election season.
She explains:
Franken is hoping the Senate might take up his proposal next year. I presume you weren’t expecting anything sooner. Congress can’t even get it together to keep the Postal Service from defaulting. And the Senate leaders admitted the other day that they’re not going to be able to pass a bipartisan bill to legalize Internet gambling on poker, which seems to be a really high priority for some important people. If they can’t do poker, they are not going to get to student loan transparency.
So OMG did they just call the PPA Harry Reid Big Casinos the 2+2 community poker players “important people”? Whoop-whoop! Wait your turn whiney college bitchez! And yet with the online poker bill(s) … well, the implication is that any stalemates in Washington DC are now all but official. (Or at least that’s what our Senate Majority Leader would like us to believe!) So bummer, but not a shocker going into the Presidential debates … hope may still be alive, but no matter what your special interest, it’s gonna have to wait until at least 2013.
Of course for poker being #1 at the gate probably means we can expect an artificial bubble of opportunity in states looking to move forward with their own online gambling legislation a la Nevada and/or Delaware …
ALT HED: Four More Years?
Nevada recorded its second $1 billion gaming revenue month of 2012 during July – the first time in four years the state has seen multiple billion-dollar months – due in large part to a near-record performance in baccarat play.
Nevada casinos collected $1.005 billion from customers during July, according to figures released Monday by the Gaming Control Board.
Revenues increased almost 17 percent from the $860.1 million collected in July 2011.
On the Strip, gaming revenues jumped 27.5 percent to almost $597.5 million, compared to $468.5 million in July 2011.
Baccarat was the driving force behind the revenue increase. Casinos collected $189.9 million gamblers, a jump of 111.8 percent from a year ago. Gamblers wagered $1.2 billion on baccarat during the month, a 28.9 percent increase from a year ago.
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Gov. Brian Sandoval announced Wednesday that he’ll go to China and South Korea next week on a trade mission in an effort to strengthen business ties between Nevada and two of Asia’s largest economies.
Sandoval said the trade mission is the first time in Nevada history a governor has led a trade mission to both countries. Former Democratic Gov. Richard Bryan led a delegation to China in the 1980s, according to the governor’s office.
Sandoval told members of the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce meeting at Greenland Supermarket that his 10-day trip is also about getting the state “in the game” when it comes to building business ties in Asia.
“We are building the foundation for the next 20 years,” the Republican governor said. “Many other states that have done this and have been rewarded. We can do a lot more.”
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