Archive for April, 2010
Because Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. owns the World Series of Poker, the hotel and casino giant has in recent years hosted the event in Las Vegas at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino.
But with Harrah’s suffering some financial losses, there are some rumors that the company is seeking to sell Rio, which would leave the WSOP without a home or host.
According to Business Week, two companies are apparently considering bids for the Rio with those bids valuing the hotel and casino at about $500 million.
There aren’t too many other Harrah’s properties in Las Vegas they can hold an event as large as the WSOP, but experts say that the Planet Hollywood Casino, which is on the strip and closer to much of the activity there, would be an ideal location for the WSOP. The only other Harrah’s location that experts say could hold an event like the World Series of Poker is Caesar’s. Harrah’s also owns the Flamingo, the Imperial Palace, Bill’s and Paris.
Originally, the World Series of Poker was hosted by the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, where it stayed for 34 years. Harrah’s moved the tournament to the Rio in 2005, which was considered a smart move because it allowed the tournament to grow, accommodated more cars and people, and seemed like a better host for an event that year after year has become more and more popular.
It’s been said that Harrah’s paid nearly $900 million for the Rio but that if sold it will likely sell for somewhere in the $500 million range.
Revenues remain down at Las Vegas casinos, causing executives to think about a new way to do business. Gary Loveman, the chief executive officer at Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., says he doesn’t see a quick turnaround in Las Vegas, but is considering new business models in order to help his business succeed.
Loveman says that he believes the potential legalization of online poker could bring in billions to his casinos and others.
Harrah’s reported this week that its first-quarter loss in 2010 was more than $195 million. A year ago that loss was $132 million. Revenue fell by almost 3% overall.
Many Las Vegas casinos are suffering right now, Loveman said, which has caused these businesses to rethink the opening of new casinos, or expanding current casinos. It’s been rumored that Harrah’s is considering the sale of its Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, which is behind Caesars just off the strip.
But Loveman is considering new ventures. He says the possible legalization of online poker & online casinos for usa players could bring billions of dollars to Las Vegas casinos by providing a mechanism for regulating the online end of things, and giving casinos an entirely new way to market their business and products. There are bills currently in Congress that would legalize online poker; online poker rooms are currently operated entirely by offshore businesses.
Loveman is also interested in expanding into Asian markets. China’s Macau is the world’s largest source of gambling revenue, and Loveman said Harrah’s is looking into expanding into these kinds of markets, but said there are no plans for any immediate moves into the region.
The bill that could legalize online poker playing and online casinos in the United States was heard recently members of the House of Representatives.
Although it could be some time before any final decision is made about the legalization of online casinos and virtual poker rooms, what is known is that Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) bill would overturn some of the stipulations in the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which is set to take effect in June.
Currently, it is illegal for online casinos and virtual poker rooms to operate in the United States. Though online poker playing and casino playing have both become popular in recent years, none of the major online casinos and poker rooms are located in the United States. They operate offshore, and have found ways to receive payments from American players. The UGIEA would crack down on some of the loopholes, and would make it very difficult for Americans to gamble online.
One of the good things that could come out of any new regulation would be additional jobs. According to figures released by the House Finance Committee this week, the legalization of online gambling could result in the creation of nearly 32,000 jobs. In addition, it could result in a revenue benefit of more than $57 billion to this country’s economy. These benefits might be seen over a 5-year period.
Barney’s bill includes the legalization and regulation of online casinos based in the United States. While the bill still many hurdles to jump through, many watchers are confident that the legalization of online gambling for American citizens is just around the corner.
Party Poker has signed on a new pro and while his name might not be dinner table conversation, the site believes it might soon be.
When Tyron Krost took the Aussie Millions Main Event in January, many people were first introduced to the pro player from Australia who pocketed more than $1.7 million from the win. Thursday, Party Poker (www.partypoker.com) announced that he’s been added to Team PartyPoker, the pro team that represents Party Poker throughout the world.
Team PartyPoker team member Tony G commented Thursday about Krost’s addition to the team, “Tyron crushed the field at the Aussie Millions and it is a pleasure to get him on the team. When I first saw him, I thought he might need a trike, but now I expect him to be a Tour de Force in the poker world. There is so much more to come from him.”
Krost will make his debut as a member of Team PartyPoker on May 8 when he plays in the World Poker Tour’s Grand Prix de Paris. That event will be held at the Aviation Club in Paris.
Krost joins a formidable group of players at Team PartyPoker. Besides Tony G, that group includes Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Dragan Galic, Ian Frazer, and Bodo Sbrzesny. Party Poker & Casino are known for being one of best online casinos & poker room for UK players.
PokerStars (www.pokerstars.com) recently acquired three websites which will help PokerStars to become a central resource not only for playing poker, but also for information.
The site acquired Pokerpages.com, Playwinningpoker.com, and Poker-Babes.com. These sites are considered to be well-established and highly respected informational poker sites. Along with Pokerstarsblog.com — a site already well established as part of the PokerStars empire– these sites will help to create a solid information portal for online poker players.
PokerPages.com launched in the year 2000 and features a large array of interviews, book reviews, and strategy articles. It also features a detailed and useful worldwide poker room directory which poker players can use as they move through the world on their travels, and a comprehensive database of tournament results. It also highlights coverage of major North American and European poker tournaments. That coverage goes back five years.
Playwinningpoker.com also launched in 2000 and features the “Winner’s Guide to Online Poker”, written by poker player Steve badger. It was the first online poker strategy guide published, and is now featured on the site along with information about various tournaments, poker psychology, and other aspects of live and online poker play.
Poker-Babes.com was launched in 2003, and it features profiles and photos of various poker players, as well as strategy articles. It is written by Shirley Rosario a professional poker player who has a very popular blog on the site and posts regularly.
It is no surprise that Poker-Babes & PlayWinningPoker were sold to Poker Stars at the same time. Steve Badger had a stake in Poker-Babes and likely they decided that it was better to sell the sites then hold on to them as portals to Poker Stars as well as various other poker sites.
Thinking of signing up with one of the best online casinos for USA players? One worth considering for its game play as much as for its solid promotions is Rushmore Casino.
Rushmore is offering new players a generous sign-up bonus right now which could provide a good enticement for new players to sign up at the site.
Currently, new players at Rushmore can benefits from two sign-up bonuses. The first is available on your first deposit. Deposit up to $400 and Rushmore will match it at 100% up to another $400. Simply use code 400FREE when depositing the money to get the match. Then, make a second deposit at Rushmore up to $488 and the site will match that. Use code 488FREE for that match.
In the end, if you were to deposit the full $888 over two deposits, you could find a match of $888 waiting for you. Lucky 8s, indeed.
Rushmore Online features a variety of casino games, including slot games, but so much more. Some of the games featured include Keno, Sic Bo, Craps and both American and European Roulette. Players might also belly up to the virtual table to play Blackjack, Baccarat, and Pai Gow Poker. The site also offers video poker.
In February, Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com) introduced an exciting new way to play poker called Rush Poker. But last month, players were introduced to an extension of Rush Poker that is quickly gaining in popularity and upping the buzz factor.
In late March, Full Tilt introduced the concept of Rush Poker tournament play, and players are now discovering how exciting and fun this kind of poker can be.
Here’s how Rush poker works: If you’re playing a cash game, you can fold your hand once you are out and you will be whisked virtually to a new poker table where a new hand is just being dealt. This saves time, because you no longer have to wait at the table while the entire poker hand is played.
Rush Poker tournaments are exclusive to Full Tilt Poker and give players the option to use the “quick fold” technique to simply move to a new table. Once the final table is reached in the tournament, however, the tournament plays out normally with no additional movement of players or hands.
Right now, Full Tilt is running two sit-and-gos that use the Rush Poker format. The No-Limit hold ‘em turbo tournaments run throughout the day at www.fulltilt.net.
Players seem to be excited about this new style of play. An April 20 tournament at 11 a.m. had a field of more than 1,000 players.
A 27-year-old Australian was arrested Friday in Las Vegas on charges of money laundering, bank fraud and processing illegal Internet gambling transactions.
Daniel Tzvetkoff is being charged with helping to process more than $500 million in transactions between February 2008 and March 2009. It was in March 2009 that his company finally collapsed, and it’s believed that he had debts of more than $80 million including $30 million that he owed to four of the largest online poker sites.
Tzvetkoff was the founder and owner of Intabill and was arrested in Las Vegas where he was attending a 10-day conference related to online billing. It’s believed that although Tzvetkoff declared bankruptcy, he was still operating his new business successfully. He was arrested after several American online poker professionals saw him in Vegas and called authorities.
Someone who previously knew him told one media outlet, “Daniel went to the U.S. and got into the country, no problems, but I think him wandering around that conference sort of thumbing his nose at some of the people he owed large amounts of cash to caused them to get in touch with the FBI.”
It’s believed that the charges against Tzvetkoff will be related to the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act because Tzvetkoff allegedly disguised the transactions to the banks so it would not appear as if those transactions were related to gambling.
According to the Department of Justice, “Tzvetkoff and his co-conspirators created dozens of shell companies with names unrelated to gambling — complete with phony websites that made the companies seem legitimate — and represented to the banks that the … transactions were on behalf of these companies.”
If convicted, Tzvetkoff could face up to 75 years in prison.
Poker players who play at Everest Poker are in for some fun surprises in the coming months. As the World Series of Poker begins, Everest Poker is unleashing a big new promo.
Called the $1 Million Match promotion, Everest Poker players might get to share in as much as $1 million. The poker site has announced that it will match the combined winnings of all of its players who are qualified to play at the World Series of Poker.
The site will match up to $1 million, and then the money will be distributed equally among all players who earn seats to the Las Vegas competition. Money will be distributed on a sliding scale, so the bigger the player’s buy-in, the bigger the payout from the million dollar prize pool.
According to Everest Poker (www.everestpoker.com), last year most players received about $20,000 as their share of the $1 Million Match prize pool.
The $1 Million Dollar match is one promotion being offered by the poker site. New players can also receive a $200 bonus when opening a new account at Everest poker and can also participate in a $1,000 freeroll when they make their first deposit.
Everest Poker is licensed out of Malta, and was Europe’s first multilingual online poker room. The poker software is translated into 15 different languages. They also offer an online casino but both the poker room and casino are not available to USA Casino Players.
It’s been a long wait for congress to hear a bill that might end up legalizing online gambling, but the wait will get a little longer. Congress was expected to hear arguments on the bill Friday, but the hearing has been postponed.
According to Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) office, Frank has a conflict that will prevent him from appearing at the Friday hearing, so the hearing will be moved to another day and time.
The bill, proposed by and supported by Frank and others, has been pushed aside over the past year or so, as Congress has dealt with more pressing issues such as healthcare and the economy. It’s likely, however, that the bill will get a hearing fairly soon as the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act is set to begin June 1.
Frank’s bill is designed to override some elements of the UIGEA, and could ultimately lead to the legalization of online gaming by setting up taxation, oversight committees for online casinos and Internet poker rooms, and licensing regulations.
Currently, playing there are no laws either way explicitly stating whether it is legal or illegal to play at an online casinos as a United States resident. This bill would clarify this as well as regulating and taxing the industry.
