The last time Metallica performed in town, in February 2022, it headlined what became the largest metal concert in Las Vegas history when it sold out Allegiant Stadium

The other acts on the lineup won’t be announced for a few more weeks, along with ticket info.

Not-So-New Kids

New Kids on the Block?will perform their first Las Vegas residency at Park MGM’s Dolby Live over 16 dates next year. Dubbed “The Right Stuff,” it will feature the entire original lineup: Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.

The last time NKOTB played in Las Vegas was July 10-13, 2014, in Planet Hollywood on their “Block After Dark” tour.

This time, the dates will be June 20, 21, 25, 27, and 28; July 2, 3, and 5; and November 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15.

Tickets go on sale to the general public here at 10 a.m. PT Friday.

Anti-F1 Festival Sets Headliners

Let’s be honest. The Neon City Festival taking place November 22-24, is downtown Las Vegas’s eff-you to F1.

It was conceived of by Derek Stevens — co-owner of Circa, the Golden Gate, and the D – only because last year’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix not only ignored downtown, but cut it — and its usual gaming and entertainment revenue — off entirely off from the rest of Las Vegas.

So if the headliners the festival announced on Thursday night don’t impress you because they’re not household names, just realize that this festival — presented in partnership with all of the downtown casinos — embodies the rebel, underdog spirit of rock n’ roll probably better than any concert staged in Las Vegas since the ‘60s.

OK, time to be unimpressed by the lineup. Its biggest names are Utah pop-rockers Neon?Trees, Seattle rapper?Macklemore, Australian DJ Alison?Wonderland, country-pop crooner Russell Dickerson, and adventurous DJ/producer?Seven Lions.

These and dozens of other acts will perform on four stages — three on the Fremont Street Experience and one at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.

Neon City will be free and open to all ages. Visit neoncityfestival.com for more information.

Pitbull, Fogerty Return

Pitbull is staging “Vegas After Dark The Residency” at BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau for eight nights: Nov. 8-9, Jan. 24-25, March 7-8 and March 14-15. Pitbull’s last Las Vegas residency ran from 2015-19 at Planet Hollywood.

John Fogerty, ex of Creedence Clearwater Revival, returns to the Encore Theatre?Jan. 22 and 24-5. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

The post VEGAS MUSIC ROUNDUP: Metallica to Sicken New World, New Kids on the Strip, the Eff You F1 Festival appeared first on Casino.org.

“The Hand of Faith is the biggest gold nugget in existence, the second-biggest ever discovered, and the biggest ever found with a metal detector,” reads the copy on the Golden Nugget Las Vegas’ website.

That’s all true, as far as we can tell. What’s probably a lie, though, is that it’s on display at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

What is on display below the sign reading “World’s Largest Golden Nugget” — the object that hundreds of tourists take selfies with every day — is, according to casino employees, a replica, a knockoff, a Hand of Fake.

Bad Faith

The Hand of Faith, nearly 62 pounds of pure gold, was discovered in September 1980 by Australian Kevin Hillier, who almost didn’t bother digging it up because he thought his brand-new metal detector was malfunctioning.

In 1981, Hillier sold the Hand of Faith for $1 million to Golden Nugget Inc., which placed it on display in downtown Las Vegas, inside what was then the company’s only casino.

Back in 2014, Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben got the scoop that the Golden Nugget had transferred the Hand of Faith to its then-new location in Biloxi, Miss. on May 1 of that year.

In the interim, the Las Vegas casino still managed to display a Hand of Faith. A casino rep confessed to Roeben that it was a stunt double, but promised that the real deal would return to Vegas by the end of that summer.

“Apparently, this whole loaning-out process is a pretty common occurrence,” Roeben wrote at the time, “as the same thing happened when a Golden Nugget opened in Atlantic City in 2012.” That location no longer maintains a Hand of Faith display.

So Where’s the Real One Now?

On March 22, 2024, Casino.org contacted a front-desk agent at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget. She also claimed that the Hand of Faith on display there was fool’s gold.

Asked how she knew for sure, she replied, “because my manager just told me.”

That leaves two other current Golden Nuggets with Hand of Faith displays: Biloxi and Laughlin, Nev. Like the display in Las Vegas, neither has a sign indicating that theirs is a replica. (A fourth Hand of Faith was displayed at the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles, La. until sometime last year.)?

Casino.org contacted front desk agents in both Biloxi and Laughlin, and that’s where this story took an unexpected turn…

Both agents admitted that, as far as they knew, their Hand of Faiths were also replicas.

What’s Happening Here?

According to Roeben, the real Hand of Faith is still on display in Biloxi because, says his source, no return trip ever occurred. This was due to the larger-than-expected cost of shipping and insuring the nugget’s first trip, which cost more than $1 million.

Therefore, the agent in Biloxi was either mistaken or lying to us.

However, it’s also possible that the actual nugget is back in Vegas or that it gets regularly shuffled among the three displays as part of a giant shell game.

As for what customer-facing employees know, perhaps they’re kept in the dark to prevent an inside job. The nugget’s current estimated value is $3.5 million. Though the heat would be too intense to resell the stolen gold in such a familiar form, it could certainly be melted down for an estimated $1.5 million return.

Or maybe, all three exhibits are fake and the world’s largest golden nugget is no longer on display anywhere. Maybe insuring it got to be the world’s largest expense.

Casino.org asked the Golden Nugget’s public relations department to come clean and identify which two, or perhaps three, of its three Hand of Faith displays are liars.

It came as no shock that our e-mail wasn’t returned in time for this story.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com?to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email [email protected].

The post VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: The ‘World’s Largest Golden Nugget’ is Real appeared first on Casino.org.

Endeavor is moving on from OpenBet after announcing in September 20221 that it would pay $1.2 billion to the company then known as Scientific Games for the business. That price was reduced to $800 million in June 2022. In a new report, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) said it’s possible OpenBet could sell for $300 million if a prospective buyer discovers during the due diligence process that Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT) is considering moving the business it directs to OpenBet in-house.

Flutter hasn’t publicly said that such a move is under consideration, but that company and other UK-based sportsbook operators are major clients of OpenBet.

OpenBet is still at the heart of sports betting infrastructure. It powers Flutter’s UK (and Australian) sportsbooks and is also at the heart of Entain’s and Evoke’s UK offering (though all three firms are keen to downplay its significance),” observed EKG.

The research firm added that part of the reason for the potentially large discount on OpenBet’s sale price is because the technology provider has lost a fair amount of its US business as operators in this country have brought tech stacks in-house.

List of OpenBet Suitors Isn’t Long

EKG also pointed out that the list of prospective suitors for OpenBet isn’t long. After it completes its $6.3 billion acquisition of Everi (NYSE: EVRI) and International Game Technology’s (NYSE: IGT) global gaming and PlayDigital units, Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) could make a run at OpenBet, said EKG, but that’s not a guarantee.

“Most likely, though, in our view, is that private equity or some kind of fund swoops in, thanks to the discount and strong recurring revenues,” added EKG.

The research firm said such a transaction could materialize over the next month or two and would result in OpenBet being left largely as it is today.

What About IMG Arena?

As noted above, Endeavor also has its IMG Arena sports betting data unit on the block. What price that business could fetch in a sale isn’t widely known and there’s talk some logical would-be buyers probably aren’t interested.

“It’s hard to see past fellow data giants Genius Sports (NYSE: GENI) and Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) as acquirers,” according to EKG.

Earlier this month, Genius was linked to takeover chatter pertaining to Sweden’s Kambi Group Plc (OTC: KMBIF), but both sides denied that rumor.

The post OpenBet Could Sell at Steep Discount, Says Research Firm appeared first on Casino.org.

Sources who spoke to The Telegraph said that Colossus has approached the country’s 59 tracks, more commonly called race courses in the UK, with an offer that is being taken seriously.

The current arrangement with the Tote doesn’t really work for a lot of us,” a source told?The Telegraph. “There’s potential for Colossus to change that, but we’re miles away from doing a deal.

Ubiquitous Presence

The Tote has been a ubiquitous presence at race courses throughout the UK since 1928. That year, a bill introduced by Winston Churchill established the state-owned pool betting services to combat illegal gambling and provide revenues for the sport.

The British government privatized the Tote in 2011, selling it to Betfred, which later sold it on to a consortium of investors who rebranded to The Tote Group. The group pays around ￡13 million (US$16 million) a year to the race courses for the right to offer on-track betting.

Colossus’ offer may face resistance from the industry because many owners and breeders are believed to have invested in the Tote Group.

Colossus Bets was formed in 2013 by Bernard Marantelli and Zeljko Ranogajec with a mission to modernize parimutuel betting to make it more competitive with the fixed-odds betting markets. This included the creation of new features, such as Cash Out options and Syndicates, a product that allows gamblers to share the cost of their bets and winnings with fellow players.

The Telegraph source said Colossus would still have to “prove their credibility,” adding that the situation was politically charged.

‘The Loch Ness Monster’

Colossus co-founder Ranogajec has been described as one of the most successful professional gamblers in the world and is said to be worth billions of dollars. The Australian first made a fortune as a blackjack card counter before turning his attention to horses.

According to documents filed to an Australian court in 2012, Ranogajec at the time was placing more than AU$750 million (US$510 million) a year in bets.

The reclusive gambler has been given the nickname “the Loch Ness Monster” in his native Australia because he is so rarely seen.

The post Colossus Bets in Gambit to Usurp the Tote at UK Racetracks appeared first on Casino.org.

Chhim Sithar was arrested in November 2022 as she returned from a labor conference in Australia. She was later sentenced to two years in prison for incitement to commit a felony.

As president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), Sithar led a year-long protest over workers’ rights at the casino, which is Cambodia’s largest.

It was the longest strike in the country’s history, and it was eventually disrupted violently by Cambodian authorities. More than 200 protestors were arrested in February 2022 alone.

“About our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That’s the position we have determined since the first strike,” Sithar told the Associated Press this week.

“Unfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there’s no justice, our struggle continues,” she added.

‘Illegal’ Layoffs

Workers began the strike at NagaWorld in solidarity with 373 of their colleagues who were laid off in April 2021. The casino’s owner, NagaCorp, said the job cuts were designed to reduce costs amid the financial pressures of the pandemic.

But workers claimed the layoffs were illegal, and many refused to accept inadequate severance packages. Strikers were arrested on the pretext that they were breaching COVID-19 protocols.

The Cambodian government’s suppression of the strike was also condemned by the United Nations, which called on authorities to “respect the right to peaceful assembly and engage in dialogue to address the strikers’ legitimate requests.”

Repression of Critics

Cambodia’s autocratic government has intensified its repression of civilian activists and critics in recent years, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

[During the pandemic] the government adopted a state-of-emergency law that grants the prime minister and others unfettered authority to surveil private telecommunications, and to ban the dissemination of information, while generally restricting the rights to peaceful assembly and association,” Human Rights Watch wrote.

“No one wants to be in prison, and I can say that we were afraid,” Sithar said this week. “But I want to make a comparison. Which one is the scarier? For me, the fear of losing the rights to a union, the fear of losing the right to unionize, is scarier than putting me in jail.”

The post NagaWorld Employees Will Continue Labor Fight, Vows Freed Union Leader appeared first on Casino.org.

NSX operates the Betnacional brand. Including Betnacional, NSX is the fourth-largest iGaming and online sportsbook company in Brazil. Importantly to Flutter, the target is already profitable. Flutter said NSX is expected to generate 2024 revenue of $256 million on adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $34 million.

The $350 million transaction, which was announced last Friday, is scheduled to close by the second quarter of 2025.

NSX Buy Could Be Smart Move by Flutter

Flutter taking a stake in NSX could prove to be a prescient move because Brazil is slated to fully regulate its iGaming and online sports betting markets at some point next year.

That’s expected to open the floodgates for international operators to bid for licenses in the country. Flutter has an advantage because it’s already established in Brazil, but partnering with a local company like NSX could be viewed favorably by regulators and it’s a move some rivals have signaled they’ll employ as well.

“Strong demand for sports betting and iGaming products with compound annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) growth in the unregulated market of 38% since 2018, to almost $3 billion in 2023,” according to a statement issued by Flutter.

Brazil’s Booming Gaming Market

In the eyes of many US investors, Flutter is viewed as the parent of FanDuel — the largest online sportsbook operator in this country – and while that’s accurate, the company has a massive international footprint that includes exposure to Australia, Europe, and Latin America.

“Flutter Brazil will be exceptionally well positioned to take full advantage of the significant growth opportunity in the newly regulating Brazilian market,” concluded Flutter in the statement. “In line with our successful strategy in other newly regulated markets such as the US, we expect to drive market share growth and embed future profitability through disciplined customer investment. This is expected to result in a Flutter Brazil adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately $90 million to $100 million in 2025.”

The post Flutter Pays $350M for Majority Stake in Brazil’s NSX Group appeared first on Casino.org.

Dr Yew Choy Wong ran up an AU$43.2 million (US$29 million) debt during a week-long baccarat binge at the casino between June and August 2018 after gaining access to an AU$40 million check-cashing facility.

Wong is a former director of Celton Manx, the Isle of Man-based online betting operator that owns SBOBET, the first Asian-facing sportsbook to sponsor an English Premier League team.

Dealer ‘Mistakes’

Wong denied authorizing the casino to use the check to collect the debt and claimed the check-cashing agreement was blank when he signed it. He also claimed he shouldn’t have to pay his losses because the dealers kept making mistakes, which he complained about on four occasions.

The casino conceded that three mistakes warranted complaint, and the casino’s chief operating officer, Paul Arbuckle, issued a letter of apology to Wong on July 30, 2018. However, the letter made no mention of wiping Wong’s gambling debt.

The Star initially sued Wong in Singapore, unsuccessfully, because that nation’s Civil Law Act prohibits the government from assisting foreign companies to recoup debts related to overseas gambling.

Wong argued the Singapore ruling should stand and that Star’s efforts to pursue him in Australia constituted “unjustified oppression.”

In April 2021, the Queensland Supreme Court?permitted the case to proceed, describing it as a “relatively straightforward” claim that should be determined on its merits.

In her ruling Monday, Justice Melanie Hindman said the Star had clearly stated its claim for debt recovery, while Wong had “not made out any pleaded defense to that claim.”

Star’s Financial Woes

The suit against Wong is one of Australia’s largest-ever debt recovery cases, which may be of some comfort for casino operator Star Entertainment. Barely two weeks after the company opened its AU$3.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) project at Queens Wharf in Brisbane, it finds itself in financial disarray and has turned to the government of Queensland for short-term tax relief.

Star reportedly needs a cash injection of AU$300M (US$201M) to keep Queen’s Wharf operational.

The company said Monday it would sell its leasehold interest in the Brisbane Treasury Building, the site of its former Brisbane casino, for AU$67.5 million (US$44.9 million).

The post Star Gold Coast Can Recoup $38.7M Debt from Billionaire Ex-Betting Exec appeared first on Casino.org.

The Star Entertainment Group says it’s selling the leasehold interest in the former government administration building to Griffith University. The South Queensland school will refit the historic complex into a hub for its business, information technology, and law disciplines.

Star is selling the lease for AU$67.5 million (US$44.9 million) and will net roughly $60.7 million after settlement adjustments. The transaction is expected to close before the month’s end.

It has been a privilege for our company and team members to be the caretaker of the much-loved heritage building for almost thirty years. We are delighted to hand the baton to Griffith University, knowing the Treasury Building is in the safe hands of another proud Queenslander which respects its history as much as we have,” said Star Brisbane CEO Daniel Finch.

“As a neighbor just up the street at The Star Brisbane at Queen’s Wharf, it will be exciting to watch the story of the Treasury Building evolve, continuing to provide unique experiences and memories for future generations,” Finch added.

In Australia, a Crown leasehold provides a tenant “ownership” in a property over many years, generally in 99-year terms. The property, however, remains under the control of the Queensland Government.

Cash Needed

The Star is in need of quick cash as the group’s finances remain in disarray after investing AU$3.6 billion to relocate its Brisbane casino a block east to a new integrated resort. Star additionally remains the subject of suitability probes, with a second inquiry in New South Wales (NSW) recently concluding that the company remains unfit to possess a gaming license.

Star is reportedly in need of AU$300 million in short-term funding to keep its Queens Wharf operation along the Brisbane River afloat. Star is seeking tax breaks and other government relief, something it’s likely to receive because the government is unwilling to jeopardize thousands of jobs and the associated reduced economic activity that would result in The Star Brisbane closing.

The worst case scenario would be that they have to close their doors not long after opening them,” Queensland Premier Steven Miles said last week. “This is a fantastic asset for our city. It is a big job generator. It is a major attraction.”

Star owes its lenders AU$450 million. Its creditors are demanding that any new loans must come with government concessions.?

Gold Coast Appointment

Star announced Monday that it poached Mark Mackay away from rival Crown Resorts to lead its Gold Coast casino. The Star Gold Coast is located in Queensland’s Broadbeach.

Before joining Crown in 2017, Mackay was COO of The Star Gold Coast, which at the time was known as Jupiters Hotel and Casino.

The post Star Entertainment Sells Brisbane Treasury Building Lease After Shuttering Casino appeared first on Casino.org.

So far, “V-U2” — co-directed by U2 guitarist Edge and his wife, Morleigh Steinberg — looks like the very first Sphere entertainment offering to fall on its face.

Though Thursday’s premiere sold out its tickets to diehard fans, at least 75 percent of its seats were still available when Saturday’s screening began and, as of 11 a.m. Sunday, more than 90 percent could still be purchased for the same day’s 2 p.m. showing.

Of course, all this probably proves is how few people want to see a U2 concert film at $100-$200 a ticket. The Sphere can still fill those seats, but will need to lower their prices to do so.

Though it’s been shown hundreds of times since last October, Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcard from Earth” is still doing better business than “V-U2,” as demonstrated by the Ticketmaster screengrabs at right. And that movie still commands $100-$280 a seat.

“Fans came from all over the world to see the concert and spent a bucketload doing so,” Australian fan Austin Docherty offered his explanation for the film’s reception on a Facebook U2 fan group. “We can’t afford the same for a video of a concert.”

‘Last Showgirl’ Showing

In other Las Vegas cinema news, “The Last Showgirl” premiered on Friday at the Toronto Film Festival. That’s the dark indie movie we told you about in May filmed by Gia Coppola (Francis Ford’s granddaughter and Sofia’s niece) in Las Vegas last year.

Pamela Anderson stars as Shelley, a 50something showgirl who faces the loss of her career, and self worth, as the Strip’s final showgirl production closes around her. Supporting Anderson is Jamie Lee Curtis, who plays a former showgirl now making ends meet as a cocktail waitress.

While box office figures are obviously not yet available, early reviews are mixed.

“This is Anderson’s moment to shine,” raved “Deadline,” “and, boy does she ever?shine —?right up to an ending that leaves us hopeful.”

“The Hollywood Reporter” agreed that the Anderson “mines pathos” and “moving empathy.” However, it noted that the film “feels slender overall.”

Finally, “The Daily Beast’s” reviewer eviscerated it, opining that “its every gesture is a pose, as affected and unrewarding as the pathetic moves that Shelley displays during a disastrous audition, and its compassion for her is, ultimately, unearned.”

The post SPHERE OF FAILURE: U2 Concert Film is Vegas Orb’s First Flop appeared first on Casino.org.

The initial winner played a Dragon Link machine at about 6 p.m. on August 24. That person collected $1,191,881 at the Wynn. Some 18 hours later, another person sat down at another Dragon Link slot at the Wynn on August 25. That player collected $1,005,405.

Both players chose not to release their names. The casino did say that both are regular visitors at the Wynn.

Neither winner revealed how they will spend their newly found fortunes.

This is the second time Wynn Las Vegas has paid out two jackpots totaling more than one million dollars within a 24-hour period, the first time occurring in 2023,” according to a Wynn statement quoted by the Sacramento Bee.

Dragon Link slots are made by Aristocrat Gaming.

Michigan Casino Player Hits $630K

A visitor from Michigan won more than $630K on a slot machine at Michigan’s Island Resort & Casino on Thursday.

Deanna Juday of Wautoma, Wis. collected $630,084.36 on an International Game Technology’s Whitney Houston Slots game after making a $3 bet.

Juday claimed she had a hunch she was going to win a jackpot this week, according to a company statement. Some of the money will go to helping others, she added.

With this win, Island Resort & Casino is the first US casino to pay out a top-level, wide-area progressive jackpot on IGT’s Whitney Houston Slots.

Whitney Houston Slots are located in 38 US properties, which share the wide-area progressive.

Rampart Casino Player Wins $454K

A local player visited the Rampart Casino in Las Vegas on August 28 and left with a $454K jackpot won on a Monopoly Cash Wheel wide-area progressive machine.

The unnamed visitor was playing the machine for about 10 minutes when she won.

There’s no word on how the money will be spent.

Grand Lodge Casino Player Wins $1.1M

A mystery guest from San Francisco recently won $1,137,093.42 at Nevada’s Grand Lodge Casino at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe.

The lucky player went to the casino on August 22 and bet $10 on the Five Times Pay version of the Wheel of Fortune Gold Spin Deluxe.

The gaming property is located in Incline Village, near Lake Tahoe.

Casino Winner Collects $255K

A California woman named Ginger T. hit a $255,422 jackpot at a Mesquite, Nev. gaming property last month.

She was playing a Wheel of Fortune slot machine on August 19 at the Casablanca Resort, Casino, Golf & Spa and hit a gold spin jackpot.

Justin Moore, CEO of Mesquite Gaming, recalled in a statement that “everyone in the casino could feel her excitement when she realized how much she’d won.”

The post Jackpot: Two Players Win $1M on Dragon Link Slot at Wynn — On Same Weekend appeared first on Casino.org.

Speculation recently surfaced that Genius, a data provider to sportsbooks, was mulling a takeover of Sweden-based Kambi, but Anders Str?m, chairman of the Kambi board of directors, said no such conversations have taken place.

While Kambi tends not to comment on rumour and speculation, I can confirm that Kambi is not engaged in any such discussions,” he said in a statement.

With its shares up 15.35% year to date, Genius has the currency with which to hunt for deals. It has a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, which is well above Kambi’s market value of $370.1 million.

Kambi Takeover Rumors Getting Old

Rumors about Kambi being a target aren’t new. In fact, they date back to at least the second quarter of 2023, and the purveyors of the chatter have some factors to hang their hats on.

Furthering the speculation is the fact that Kambi recently pulled its longer-ranging financial targets, in part citing regulatory issues in Brazil. That prompted the resignation of then-CEO Kristian Nylén. High-level executive departures often stoke takeover talk.

Additionally, more gaming companies are looking to bring sports wagering technology in-house, which could further the allure of Kambi as a takeover candidate. The company’s North American clients include Bally’s, Churchill Downs, Penn Entertainment, and Rush Street Interactive, among others. Kambi also works with gaming companies throughout Australia, Europe, and Latin America. The corporation recently extended its partnership with Rush Street.

Genius Sports Denies Rumor, Too

Genius Sports also denied the scuttlebutt.

As policy, we do not comment on unfounded and ill-informed rumors. To prevent any further speculation, we can confirm that we are not involved in any discussions of this nature with Kambi,” said CEO Mark Locke in a statement.

While Genius might not be interested in Kambi, there could be an ample number of other potential suitors should the firm put itself up for sale. After the company adopted the poison pill provision in 2022, Alinea Capital Management, a Norwegian hedge fund, said there could be as many as six US-based companies interested in buying Kambi.

The post Kambi Refutes Rumor of Potential Takeover by Genius Sports appeared first on Casino.org.

The company spent the weekend in talks with stakeholder groups, lenders, and regulators in an effort to raise funding – to no avail, reports the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

Star has asked the government of Queensland for tax relief, and those negotiations are ongoing. The New South Wales (NSW) government has already refused to offer any such bailout because it would be used to support the company’s Queen’s Wharf project in Queensland.

Suspended from ASX

The news comes a day after Star was suspended from the ASX for missing the deadline to file its full-year financial results.

The report by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) concluded the operator had failed to sufficiently address the “governance and cultural concerns” raised by a 2022 inquiry that found it unfit for licensing.

Criminal Gangs

Star’s Sydney license has been suspended since 2022 when the inquiry concluded it had allowed itself to be used by criminal gangs to launder money in private high-roller junket rooms.

Despite the license suspension, gaming at the Star Sydney has remained operational. In a statement last week, the NICC said it was “contemplating [the new report’s] findings, including four compliance breaches,” adding that it would respond in due course.

Too Big to Fail

Queensland Premier Steven Miles said Wednesday his administration would do everything it could to keep Queens Wharf open.

This is a fantastic asset for our city. It is a big job generator. It is a major attraction to our city and state,” he said. “It is an important platform for Brisbane 2032 and everything that we’re going to do in our city over the next decade or so.”

Miles added that any bailout would still require Star to pay all of its taxes and license fees, but they would be deferred.

The post Star Entertainment in Disarray, Begs for Bailout appeared first on Casino.org.

In a note out on Tuesday, analyst Dan Wasiolek initiated coverage of the FanDuel parent with a four-star rating (five is the highest) and a fair value estimate of $250. That implies potential upside of 18.4% from Tuesday’s closing price.

Flutter’s construction of a daily fantasy sports product in July 2009 provided a first-mover lead to take advantage of a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that allowed for legalized sports and iGaming wagering in the US. As a result, Flutter holds a commanding 40% digital revenue share in the US,” wrote Wasiolek.

Flutter owns 95% of FanDuel, which is half of the US online sports betting (OSB) duopoly, with DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) representing the other half. While the two companies are often joined at the hip, their share price performance hasn’t been in lockstep. Year to date, shares of the FanDuel owner are up nearly 18% while DraftKings is lower by 4.54%.

Flutter’s Non-US Operations Help Stock’s Case

The FanDuel brand is one of the most valuable in the gaming industry and highly recognizable to US daily fantasy sports (DFS) participants and sports bettors. Even so, many American bettors and some investors don’t know that Flutter has significant operations outside of this country.

Outside the US, Flutter’s decades of expertise in product development and risk management have also led to top revenue share. “The company holds 29% and 46% online gaming revenue share in its most mature markets of UK and Ireland (26% of 2023 sales) and Australia (12%), respectively,” added Wasiolek.

The analyst pointed out that Flutter has smartly integrated its parlay offerings and tech stack into Sisal since acquiring that firm in 2022, allowing it to increase revenue share in Italy. Italy is an important market for Flutter because it’s the Eurozone’s third-largest economy and Europe’s largest regulated gaming market after the UK.

Flutter Thriving in Multiple Countries

At a time when smaller operators are frequently waving the white flag in the US OSB space, and some midsized players are failing to grab share from FanDuel and DraftKings, Flutter is asserting earnings prowess in this country and others.

It’s doing so in such a way that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins are expanding at an impressive pace.

“The company’s UK and Australian segments still see over 20% EBITDA margins, despite stringent regulation and industry maturation in these regions,” concluded Wasiolek. “ESPN Bet’s aggressive entry into the US market in the past several months has not prevented share gains or expanding EBITDA margins at Flutter’s FanDuel brand.”

The post Flutter Entertainment Praised in New Coverage by Morningstar appeared first on Casino.org.

The company told shareholders on Friday that it would halt trading and publish its full-year results later in the day. That’s while it “considered the implications” of a damning report by New South Wales (NSW) regulators that found it was still unsuitable to hold a gaming license for its flagship Star Sydney property.

The report by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) concluded the operator had not sufficiently addressed the “governance and cultural concerns” highlighted in a 2022 inquiry that initially found it unfit for licensing.

It has only very recently turned its attention to dealing with challenges that should have been prioritized earlier,” NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford said.

“It was unclear whether The Star could feasibly operate under less supervision, when it was exhibiting past behaviors with its license still suspended,” he added.

Secret VIP Room

The 2022 inquiry determined that The Star Sydney had failed to protect itself from being used by criminal gangs to launder money in private high-roller junket rooms.

Star allowed Macau-based junket operator Suncity to secretly operate an unbranded VIP room, referred to as “Salon 95.” This was despite Australian authorities having identified Suncity as having links to organized crime.

Salon 95 continued to operate even after then-Star CEO Matt Bekier told regulators his company had severed business links to Suncity.

The casino also allowed Chinese high rollers to withdraw a total of $900 million for gambling using China UnionPay (CUP) credit cards while disguising these transactions as “hotel expenses” to avoid breaching CUP’s no-gambling transaction rules. Star subsequently lied to CUP and the National Australia Bank in an effort to conceal the deceit.

Crown Passes Test

Star’s competitor, Crown Resorts, faced similar accusations of cultural shortcomings and was also found unsuitable for licensing in NSW following a 2021 inquiry. But last April, the NICC determined that the company had successfully addressed its failings.

The report, published last Thursday, came just two days after Star opened its AU$3.8 billion (US$2.5 billion) Queens Wharf in Brisbane, Queensland. It also runs The Star Gold Coast in Queensland.

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The 2024 Independent Inquiry Into The Star, the second government probe in the state to determine if The Star is worthy of possessing a casino license in NSW, concluded this week that the firm remains unsuitable to run gaming operations at The Star Sydney. The integrated resort opened in 1995 and is the second-largest casino in Australia behind rival Crown Resorts’ Crown Melbourne.

The 2024 inquiry was again led by Adam Bell SC. Bell reported to the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) that The Star failed to implement recommendations from the 2022 inquiry that found the casino to be noncompliant with anti-money laundering regulations and evidence of widespread fraud.

The Bell Report reveals a company that has not moved quickly enough to address the governance and cultural concerns raised in the first Bell Report. It has only very recently turned its attention to dealing with challenges that should have been prioritized earlier,” said NICC Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford.

The Star Sydney holds NSW’s lone slot machine license, commonly called poker machines or pokies Down Under. As a result, Crown Sydney can only operate dealer games and electronic table games.

The Bell report comes just two days after The Star opened its AU$3.8 billion (US$2.5 billion) Queens Wharf in Queensland’s Brisbane. The Star also runs The Star Gold Coast in Queensland.

Next Steps

Crawford said the NICC is considering its next steps for the future of the suspended casino operator. Star Sydney’s nearly 2,000 slots and 140 table games remain in operation for the interim.

Crown, which faced similar accusations in a separate NSW inquiry, immediately took remedial steps to become compliant and appease the probe’s findings. But Bell said The Star leadership and board room became combative and threatened a lawsuit against the 2022 inquiry outcome.

Along with appointing a government monitor following the 2022 probe, the NICC imposed an AU$100 million (US$68M) pecuniary penalty against The Star. The 2022 report made 30 recommendations to address the issues identified in the inquiry.

Bell found in the subsequent probe that it was only recently — specifically, after the departures of CEO Robbie Cookie and Chair David Foster — that meaningful changes came to The Star.?

Governance Improvements, Stock Halted?

Crawford noted regulatory compliance improvements since Steve McCann became the group’s CEO in late June, Jeannie Mok became group CFO in late May, and Janelle Campbell became CEO of The Star Sydney in January.

The level of transparency and cooperation has certainly improved since their appointments,” Crawford said.

The Star successfully petitioned the Australian Securities Exchange to halt the trading of its shares in the wake of the Bell findings. The Star was to issue its annual financial results on Friday, but requested more time to formulate guidance. Shares will resume trading next week.

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The casino is suing Dr. Yew Choy Wong for an AU$43 million (US$30 million) gambling debt, which it says he ran up during a weeklong gambling spree six years ago.

Wong arrived at the Gold Coast venue in July 2018 on one of the casino’s private jets to play a baccarat tournament, according to the complaint. When he left on August 2, he was $43 million in the hole.

Blank Check

The Star claims Wong was given access to a $40 million check-cashing facility on the day he arrived. He authorized the casino to use a blank check he had given to sister casino, Star Sydney, a year earlier to pay the debt on his departure, per the lawsuit. The check bounced.

Wong claims the credit agreement was blank when he signed it and denies authorizing the casino to use the check to collect the debt.

The defendant says he decided to stop gambling on July 28 after becoming infuriated by dealer mistakes, but VIP hosts persuaded him to continue.

The high roller claims he made it clear that he would not pay further losses if the mistakes continued, which they did, he says.

Wong testified Wednesday that he instructed his private banker to ensure the check would bounce because it was too old.

‘Unjustified Oppression’

The Star initially sued Wong in Singapore but was unsuccessful because the country’s Civil Law Act prohibits the government from assisting foreign companies seeking to recoup debts related to overseas gambling.

Wong argued the Singapore ruling should stand, adding that Star’s efforts to pursue him through the Australian courts system constituted “unjustified oppression.”

Wong is a former director of Isle of Man-based Celton Manx, which owns SBOBET, the first Asian-facing sportsbook to sponsor an English Premier League team.

A spokesperson for Celton Manx told?Casino.org?that Wong resigned from the position in March 2019 soon after the company became aware of the dispute.

The post Singapore High Roller Denies Lying About $30M Debt appeared first on Casino.org.

The gaming company made the decision as part of its strategic review of its US operations, and it arrived about two months after BlueBet announced plans to leave Indiana. At that time, the operator indicated it intended to continue doing business in Colorado, Iowa, and Louisiana, but it also told investors the strategic review was ongoing. By leaving the US, BlueBet can better focus on its Australian business, which is thriving.

The company’s stated objective is to exceed 10% market share in the short- to mid-term through a combination of organic and inorganic growth,” according to a statement. “It is confident its expertise in building and scaling Australian wagering operators and ongoing investment in technology will deliver outstanding experiences for customers and create value for shareholders.”

BlueBet acquired Aussie rival Betr in April, combining the buyer’s technology stack with the target’s strong customer base. By leaving the US, BlueBet can focus on tapping synergies in that deal.

BlueBet Will Save Cash By Leaving US

Although the US is the newest large regulated sports wagering market in the world, it’s fast become one of the most competitive and expensive to operate in. Those costs especially weigh on smaller operators such as BlueBet.

“The decision to exit the US comes as slower than expected regulation has hampered total market growth and hindered interest in the company’s B2B SaaS platform, which BlueBet viewed as a significant opportunity,” the company added in the statement.

Though it didn’t mention any rivals by name, BlueBet acknowledged the difficulties smaller operators face in the US when going up against larger rivals. Currently, the US sports wagering is essentially a duopoly controlled by FanDuel and DraftKings.

With BlueBet, US Sports Betting Casualties Piling Up

With BlueBet confirming it’s abandoning the consumer-facing side of the US sports betting market, “deaths” in the space are piling up at a rapid pace. BlueBet’s decision arrived less than two weeks after Betfred said its considering a similar move.

BlueBet added that it will continue to seek monetization of its technology assets in the US and abroad. It expects to take one-time charges related to the closures of its various state-level operations.

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Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. When rumors of the deal surfaced in May, it was speculated that DraftKings could pay $120 million to $170 million for privately held Simplebet. The pair have an existing relationship. In 2021, they inked a deal in which Simplebet provided microbetting services to DraftKings Sportsbook.

The Proposed Transaction would allow for the integration of Simplebet’s proprietary machine-learning models into DraftKings’ best-in-class pricing and technology platform to create highly accurate betting opportunities during every moment of a game,” according to a statement issued by the buyer. “The Proposed Transaction would improve the quality, breadth and speed of data throughout the DraftKings trading lifecycle, and would unlock a faster and more frictionless experience for the Company’s customers.”

Boston-based DraftKings is Simplebet’s largest client. The target was valued at $210 million following a Series C funding round of $28.6 million three years ago.

Simplebet Could Be Smart Deal for DraftKings

For DraftKings, the purchase of Simplebet could prove shrewd because microbetting is a fast-growing derivative of in-game or live betting — areas operators are pushing into in efforts to increase handle and revenue.

In-game wagering has long been popular in mature sports wagering markets such as Australia and Europe, and it’s rapidly gaining momentum in the US. Underscoring why DraftKings may have found Simplebet to be an alluring target is the need for technology to make live and microbetting work.

“Simplebet has developed a scalable, maintainable, and highly performant foundation for a live betting platform that is algorithm oriented. With machine learning and automation to supplement the betting experience, Simplebet’s proprietary models offer more in-play moments for bettors,” according to the DraftKings statement.

Inside Simplebet’s Story

New York-based Simplebet was founded in 2018 and is a business-to-business provider of microbetting markets on college basketball and football, Major League Baseball (MLB), the NBA, NFL, and the NHL.

In addition to DraftKings, Simplebet sportsbook clients include Caesars Sportsbook, ESPN Bet, FanDuel, and Hard Rock Sportsbook, among others.

It’s not yet clear if those operators will remain with Simplebet when it becomes part of DraftKings or if they’ll pursue microbetting relationships with Simplebet competitors.

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Crown announced Monday that Carruthers will step down as the group’s chief executive effective September 1. Crown President and Chief Operating Officer David Tsai will become interim CEO on that date.

Crown Resorts Chair John Borghetti, who joined the Crown board in June after heading Virgin Australia, thanked Carruthers for his leadership that came at a critical time in the casino company’s history and resulted in the firm retaining its coveted gaming licenses and the organization undergoing a corporate restructuring.

Under Ciaran’s leadership, Crown has achieved critical milestones including a business transformation and remediation program,” said Borghetti. “Ciaran’s leadership and contribution has been highly valued, and we wish him every success in the future.”

Carruthers will remain with Crown in an advisory role until his full departure sometime before the year’s end.

Successful Tenure

US-based private equity giant Blackstone acquired Crown Resorts and its three casinos — Crown Melbourne, Crown Perth, and Crown Sydney — in early 2022 for more than $6 billion. Crown additionally owns Crown London, a private high-end members club in the ritzy Mayfair neighborhood, Betfair Australasia, and a 50% stake in the Aspers Group, which runs four regional casinos in the United Kingdom.

Blackstone rescued the company founded by billionaire James Packer by agreeing to pay $450 million in inquiry fines. Blackstone, which owns the real estate of several iconic Las Vegas Strip casinos, including the Bellagio, The Cosmopolitan, and Aria, then invested more than $130 million to update Crown’s operations to appease inquiry findings in New South Wales and Victoria.

Blackstone brass tapped Carruthers to lead the firm’s rehabilitation in September 2022. He replaced Steve McCann, who now heads Crown rival Star Entertainment.

Carruthers was credited for improving the organization’s regulatory compliance and enhancing its business performance despite a slowdown in consumer spending.

I am very pleased to hand over a stronger, compliant, and transformed business to its next leader. There is more work to do, but I am very proud of what we have achieved as a team,” said Carruthers.

Carruthers arrived in Australia by way of China’s Macau where he was COO of Wynn Macau and previously senior vice president and director of operations at Sands China’s Venetian and Palazzo resorts. ?

Exit Light on Details

During his time as CEO, Carruthers cut over 1,000 jobs to strengthen Crown’s bottom line. Carruthers said inflationary pressures and interest rate increases stressed consumers’ discretionary spending.

By most accounts, Carruthers’ time was a success. But Crown didn’t specify whether the company is seeking a new leader or if Carruthers’ exit was on his own accord.

The post Crown Resorts CEO Ciaran Carruthers to Depart Australian Casino Company appeared first on Casino.org.

So-called “sweepstakes casinos” offer traditional slot machines and table games via online websites and apps. The platforms circumvent state and federal gaming laws by utilizing a dual-currency system.

New players are afforded a free allotment of virtual coins that can be used to play the casino games. Once the free play runs out, players can purchase a separate virtual currency to further their gameplay.

Online sweepstakes casinos have come under regulatory examination, with state officials in Michigan, Georgia, and Delaware recently sending cease-and-desist letters to several operators.

AGA Stresses Regulatory Vigilance?

In a memo regarding sweepstakes issued this month, the AGA said online sweepstakes casinos undermine gaming regulations and threaten consumers. The gaming lobby is urging state regulators to send warning notices to sweeps operators informing them they’ll face legal action if they don’t immediately terminate their US-focused operations.

“There are an increasing number of entities that have intentionally designed business models to circumvent or exploit ambiguity in state gambling laws and the regulatory frameworks within which the legal gaming industry operates,” the AGA memo read.

Gaming regulators and state attorneys general should investigate companies or platforms that offer casino games or a form of sports betting under the ‘sweepstakes’ model to determine whether or not these operators are in compliance with their respective laws and regulations and take appropriate action if not. Where state laws and regulations are not clear, legislatures should consider enacting legislation to prevent unlicensed operators from exploiting loopholes in sweepstakes regulations to offer online real money gambling,” the memo continued.

The AGA says online sweepstakes casinos differ from social gaming apps in that the latter doesn’t provide an opportunity for players to win cash.

“Unlike sweepstakes casinos, which utilize a dual currency system to offer players the chance to exchange the in-game currency for real money and prizes, social casino games are more casual games that resemble gambling style games but have a closed loop economy where rewards cannot be redeemed for real-world currency, used to win prizes, or traded to other players,” the AGA said.

Michigan Sweeps Out Sweepstakes

Toward the end of 2023, the Michigan Gaming Control Board sent cease-and-desist letters to two leading sweepstakes casino operators, Cyprus-based Stake.us and San Francisco-based Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), which runs Luckyland Casino, Chumba Casino, and Global Poker.

As a result of the communications, both Stake and VGW stopped offering their products in Michigan. It was reported this week that Delaware has taken similar action against VGW and the company is being sued in Georgia for operating illegally.

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The furor began when one of the residents, Alan Way, sued his neighbors, Mark Peter Bowling, 76, and Mota Posa, 89, asserting he had been part of a lottery syndicate with the two defendants. He was cut out of the money when the syndicate hit big, he claimed.

The defendants argued Way had left the syndicate almost a year before the win and after the trio had a major falling out.

Cooking the Books

On Friday, Justice James Hmelnitsky agreed with the defendants that Way wasn’t a member of the syndicate at the time of the win, nor had he contributed financially to the purchase of the ticket.

Hmelnitsky also indicated that the plaintiff had falsified diary entries that purported to record regular expenditures of $20 per month into the syndicate at the time of the win on Aug. 22, 2020.

“I am persuaded to a relatively high level of certainty that those entries were not made contemporaneously,” Hmelnitsky told the court, as reported by Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “That being so, I am unable to accept Mr Way’s evidence that he contributed to the purchase of the winning ticket.”

Neither Way nor Barry wore facemasks at a time when strict social distancing measures were in force to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to court documents.

Despite the falling out, Bowling still transferred $200K to Way as a “gift.” At that time, the latter wasn’t aware of the full extent of the winnings and only learned of it later from another resident. This led to a heated exchange that caused Bowling and Posa to move out of the residence. Way sued them shortly afterward.

Criminal Syndicates

Lottery syndicates are a great way for players to increase their chances of winning while sharing risk and reward, allowing them to participate in more draws with more tickets for the same money they would typically spend on a single ticket. But when players fall out over a big win, things can quickly turn ugly.

His colleagues discovered the deception when the lottery company sent him a congratulatory bottle of champagne to toast his winnings. But they used the very courier company Baron used to work for, and the bottle was delivered to him by a member of the syndicate.

Baron was eventually forced to settle with his former colleagues.

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Media reports indicated FanDuel could pay as much as $2.56 billion for Snaitech, which represents a healthy premium to Playtech’s market capitalization of about $2.12 billion. Founded in 1990 and branded as Snai, Snaitech offers horse and sports wagering services in Italy and operates more than 49,000 gaming and lottery devices in that country.

The website, snai.it, offers a vast range of gaming and entertaining services including all online products: sport and horse racing betting, poker cash and poker tournament, skill games, casino and cash games, betting on virtual events, forecasts, bingo, lotteries and number games, virtual sports. Betting and casino apps are available also from website using a technology that adapts to all devices,” according to the company.

Snaitech also has bit exposure to Austria and Germany through its 2022 purchase of Happybet. At one point today, Playtech shares were up 22% on the news, marking the stock’s biggest intraday pop in nearly three years.

Playtech Deal Could Finally Come to Fruition

Currently, there’s no indication as to how advanced the talks are between Flutter and Playtech, but the would be seller said it is in exclusive negotiations with the prospective buyer.

In October 2021, Playtech agreed to a $2.8 billion deal with Aristocrat Technologies and two other suitors emerged for the gaming software company, but those two suitors ultimately pulled their bids and the deal with Aristocrat fell apart. In July 2022, Playtech scrapped plans to list Caliente Interactive’s Caliplay unit on a US exchange via a reverse merger with a blank-check entity.

For Playtech, the allure in selling Snaitech is that such a transaction would allow the seller to become a full business-to-business (B2B) player in the European gaming scene while reducing its exposure to volatile consumer spending trends.

Deal Would Boost Flutter’s Italy Footprint

For FanDuel parent Flutter, the potential acquisition of Snaitech makes sense because it would increase the buyer’s presence in Italy, which is the Eurozone’s third-largest economy behind Germany and France.

In 2022, Flutter paid $2.2 billion for Italian lottery giant Sisal. Prior to that acquisition, Flutter’s PokerStars and Betfair were operational in Italy with significant market share.

Italy is Europe’s second-largest regulated gaming market after only the UK. Adding to the allure of Snaitech for Flutter is the point that while penetration of online wagering in Italy has surged in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, it remains far below the rates seen in comparable markets such as Australia and the UK. That implies there’s ample room for growth and Flutter’s potential purchase of Snaitech could be validated over the long-term.

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With problem gambling rates continuing to hover at rates deemed unacceptable by mental health experts and many in the public, government officials on both sides of the bench have suggested limiting or banning advertisements promoting the country’s vast gaming industry. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party government is expected to push for a cap on gambling-related television advertising, while crossbench parties are campaigning for a complete ban.

Gambling firms would continue to be allowed to sponsor jerseys, however, and on-field and in-stadium signage would remain. The Albanese government favors gambling advert restrictions over a complete ban, which is endorsed by the Greens.

Recognizing that this is a complex issue, we’re taking a comprehensive approach,” said Albanese.

Labor controls 78 of the 151 House seats and 25 of the 76 Senate seats.?

Lawmakers Divided

Australia is notorious for having some of the highest per capita annual gambling losses in the world. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says nearly four in 10 Aussies gamble at least weekly, with nearly 50% of men reporting playing each week.

The Green Party has the support of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, which wrote Parliament ahead of its spring convening urging the government to outlaw all gambling ads. The alliance is an independent, not-for-profit committee that seeks to reduce gambling harms Down Under.

There is strong evidence that gambling companies are now grooming our kids by targeting children as young as 14 through social media,” the Alliance for Gambling Reform’s letter to Parliament read. “Our children are also being targeted by the tsunami of gambling ads that assault our screens, especially around coverage of our major sporting codes. It is ensnaring a whole new generation of gamblers.”

The letter calls on the government and opposition “to publicly commit to the swift adoption and implementation” of all recommendations made in the 2023 Murphy Report. The report, led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, who died in December 2023 from breast cancer, recommended a blanket ban on gambling adverts.

The alliance letter is signed by 74 current or former lawmakers along with health experts. Among the signees are former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull.?

Public United

In 2023, the Australian Institute of Family Studies commissioned a poll to gauge how the public feels about gambling ads continuing to clog television commercial breaks.

The probe concluded that Australians “predominantly support” greater restrictions on gambling ads.

The post Australia Government Weighs Gambling Ad Ban as Parliament Returns appeared first on Casino.org.

In December, the state’s gaming regulatory agency notified Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation (Suffolk OTB), the public entity that owns and operates the video lottery casino and hotel, that 34 of its employees weren’t properly licensed.

The commission said nine staffers were working without a license while 25 others were employed with expired or incorrect licenses. Newsday broke the news of the alleged regulatory violations through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The gaming commission issued Suffolk OTB a $26K fine on April 1 after determining that 26 employees remained noncompliant in licensing. Newsday reports that Jake’s 58 is appealing the penalty on claims that the violations stem from when the casino was owned by Delaware North.

Compliance Complaints

Suffolk OTB acquired Jake’s 58 in 2021 for $120 million from Delaware North, the Buffalo-based gaming and hospitality conglomerate that helped Suffolk open the video lottery casino inside a former Marriott hotel in early 2017. Jake’s offers more than 1,000 video lottery terminals (VLT), slot-like machines operated by a centralized lottery network.

Jake’s is one of 11 VLT casinos in the state. Each VLT casino keeps about 46% of the gross gaming revenue won by the terminals and electronic table games. About 44% goes to state education, and the remaining 10% is reserved for vendors and the administration of the central lottery system.

While the expansion is ongoing, state gaming regulators say Suffolk must do more to keep its workforce in regulatory compliance. Suffolk OTB CEO Phil Boyle told Newsday that the company is amid a hiring process for a newly created full-time position that will oversee employee licensing.

Boyle says the employee licensing violations raised by the state primarily dealt with operations when Delaware North managed the casino.

Though we were only recently notified of any issues … questions date back to when Delaware North ran Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel. It is our intention to address them, resolve them, and become a statewide model for other casinos to follow regarding license compliance,” Boyle told the Long Island news outlet.

In a statement provided to Casino.org, Delaware North says it was not notified of worker non-compliance during its management of Jake’s 58.

Delaware North operated gaming at Jake’s 58 under a management contract with Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting from the venue’s opening in February 2017 to May 2021. Delaware North did not receive any notices of employee licensing violations during its period of managing Jake’s 58 on behalf of [Suffolk OTB]. Delaware North is strongly committed to gaming compliance, including employee licensing, at our casinos and other gaming venues in New York, seven other states and Australia,” the Delaware North statement read.

Possible Competition?

Jake’s could see new gaming competition should Las Vegas Sands secure one of the three downstate casino licenses the state is expected to grant next year.

Sands is seeking a permit to construct a $6B integrated resort casino at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum site. Jake’s is about 30 miles east of where Sands wants to construct its casino.

Jake’s isn’t bidding for one of the full-scale gaming licenses that include privileges for Las Vegas-style slot machines, live dealer table games, and sports betting.

The post Jake’s 58 Casino Appeals $26K Regulatory Fine Issued By New York Gaming Commission appeared first on Casino.org.

Shane Christopher Lees, 44, was arrested last November after attempting to steal a book and a cell phone from the quizmaster in the city of Townsville, northeast Queensland, while armed with three kitchen knives.

The unnamed victim refused to hand over the items and Lees retreated from the scene, The Townsville Bulletin reports.

Lees was charged with attempted armed robbery and resisting arrest after he “thrashed around with his legs” while police later attempted to restrain him. He was found to be in possession of 6.3 grams of cannabis, which added a “possession of a dangerous drug” charge to the rap sheet.

Kidnapped at Gunpoint

Police were initially skeptical when Lees told them about his kidnap ordeal, but they eventually came to realize he was telling the truth. They have now arrested several individuals who are accused of holding the man hostage at gunpoint for several days in an attempt to extort money from him.

Meanwhile, a psychologist’s report confirmed that Lees was probably experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which caused him to be “distressed and paranoid” when he tried to rob the quizmaster.

Lees, a self-employed DJ, had arrived in Townsville from his hometown of Dimbulah in Queensland’s rural far north to purchase a vehicle. Afterward, he hit the Ville Casino Resort in Townsville where he won a significant sum of money, according to court documents.

While there, he befriended two women with whom he confided that he was looking to buy a motorcycle. These women took him to meet a purported seller.

“You told (the psychologist) you recall plastic (sheets) being spread around the unit and you thought they were going to kill you,” said Judge Gregory Lynham at Lees’ sentencing hearing on Monday, August 5.

Daring Escape

Lees managed to free himself from the zip ties and escape through a window when his captors were asleep. The attempted robbery of the quizmaster occurred shortly afterward.

He fought back tears when he realized he was walking from the court a free man, according to The Bulletin.

Those who kept him hostage are yet to face trial.

The post Bizarre Aussie Quizmaster Robbery Leads to Cops to Sinister Casino Kidnap Plot appeared first on Casino.org.

Last week, SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited announced the closing days in conjunction with an agreement with New Zealand’s Secretary for Internal Affairs.

The temporary shuttering of the casino floor will cost the company about NZ $5M (US $3M) in lost revenue, according to the New Zealand Herald. It’s the first time a casino in New Zealand has voluntarily closed, the report added.

The casino company could have been forced to close the Aukland casino, and those in Hamilton, and Queenstown, for 10 days, according to earlier news reports. Regulatory fines could have totaled as much as NZ $8M.

The five-day shuttering doesn’t apply to SkyCity Auckland hotels, the Sky Tower, the theater, or restaurants and bars outside of the gambling area.

Failure by Casino

“The closure is the result of failings on the part of SkyCity, which we have accepted responsibility for. We failed to meet the standards expected of us in this case,” SkyCity CEO Jason Walbridge said in a recent statement.

“Over recent years, we have made significant progress to strengthen how we manage risk across the SkyCity Group, but there is still work to do. We are well underway and remain committed to prioritizing the care of our customers. We understand that the privilege of holding a casino license comes with significant responsibilities and obligations,” he added.

Continuous Gambling

The wrongdoing relates to play by an unnamed casino guest between 2017 and 2021. In 23 instances, the guest continuously gambled at the casino.

SkyCity technology should have picked up that he was continuously playing and staff should have appropriately responded, the Herald reported.

The guest later complained about the debt he accumulated as a result of his gambling activity. The guest also argued the company violated responsible gambling rules.

The casino investigated the incident and blamed its lack of oversight on a glitch related to technology design errors, the Herald reported. The issue has since been corrected and the casino has released an apology.

SkyCity will pay its staff during the five-day Auckland shuttering.

SkyCity owns five casinos located in New Zealand and Australia

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Dale Tristan Young was in the rare position to know the winner of the prestigious national award in advance, and he relayed this privileged information to an old school friend, gambler James Matthew Dawkins, according to prosecutors.

They allege the pair profited to the tune of A$13,302 (US$8,650) from betting on the winner between 2017 and 2019.

Advance Knowledge

The Australian of the Year Award is as it sounds – a decoration for the Australian national who judges determine has done the country proudest in the preceding 12 months.

Previous recipients have included eminent pioneers in the fields of science, medicine and the arts, as well as outstanding athletes. Also among those honored were the late Alan Bond, a businessman known for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings, and Paul Hogan, star of the Crocodile Dundee movies.

US regulators generally prohibit wagering on events where the outcome could be known in advance – although New Jersey makes a special exception for the Oscars – but they’re fair game in jurisdictions such as Australia and the UK.

Sportsbooks are incredibly vigilant around these markets for obvious reasons. While the markets remain small in comparison to sports, operators like them because they generate publicity. However, their limited handle also makes suspicious betting patterns easier to spot.

Suspicious Winning Streak

Between 2017, Dawkins placed 48 successful bets spread across several sportsbooks, a winning streak that did not go unnoticed by operators who notified federal crime agencies.

In 2017, Dawkins backed Alan Mackay-Sim, a biomedical scientist specializing in adult stem cell research. In 2018, his money was quantum physicist Michelle Simmons. In 2019, he picked Craig Challen and Richard Harris, who were recognized for their role in rescuing a youth soccer team from the flooded Tham Lang caves in Thailand, a story that made headlines around the world.

On Thursday, Young and Dawkins pleaded guilty to abuse of public office offences at the Dandenong Magistrates Court near Melbourne. They face a maximum 12 months in prison or a fine of about A$16,000 and are both now huge longshots for next year’s Australian of the Year accolade.

The post ‘Australian of the Year’ Results Leaked for Insider Betting Three Years in a Row appeared first on Casino.org.

Every time Las Vegas explodes, it seems, it implodes first. Virtually nothing from the Strip’s early history — the Desert Inn, Sands, Dunes, Stardust, and now even the Tropicana — still stands.

Though the Neon Museum is a great place to experience the glory of classic Vegas, there are also hidden remnants — ones you weren’t meant to know about that have been forgotten by time and the wrecking ball.

“Star Trek: The Experience”

“Star Trek: The Experience” opened in January 1998 at the Las Vegas Hilton, now the Westgate.

The attraction transported guests onto the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, where the main characters from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” gave them a mission on view screens. They were then ushered into a domed theater for a simulated shuttle ride, during which they dodged Klingon fire.

“The Experience” closed in September 2008 and was scheduled to reopen at the Neonopolis Mall in May 2009, in time for the premiere of J.J. Abrams’ first franchise reboot film. But the opening was then pushed back to 2010, and in 2011, to never.

But many of the lights, hatches, and other décor remain.

Make a left near the entrance of the Wesgate, into the Preview Center, along the walk to the monorail. There you will need to dodge the most evil entities in the known universe…

Timeshare salespeople. It’s their office now.

Holiday Casino

Looking eerily like the wreckage of a sunken ship, a small part of the upper deck of the riverboat fa?ade from the original Holiday Casino is still visible from inside Harrah’s.

The Holiday was opened in July 1973 by investors including Shelby Williams, who served as the casino’s president and chair. Upon his 1977 death, it was run by his wife Claudine. In 1979, Holiday Inn, which operated the hotel next door, purchased 40% of the casino, then bought the other 60% in 1983.

In 1989, the Holiday added a 35-story 734-room tower, which made it the largest Holiday Inn in the world.

You’ll need to know someone who works at Harrah’s to see this relic, though. It is best viewed through a window located on a staircase backstage in one of the theaters.

Signs of the Original Mint

In 1988, the legendary Mint downtown was absorbed into the neighboring Binion’s Gambling Hall, then called Binion’s Horseshoe. Binion closed all 365 of the Mint’s hotel rooms in 2009, including Room 1850 in the tower, where most of the action in Hunter S. Thompson’s novel, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,”?supposedly took place.

One beyond-intrepid Australian writer?recently trespassed?on the shuttered tower by taking an elevator to the roof of the adjoining Hotel Apache and climbing down a fire escape.

All we are willing to advise you here is that the lower portion of the original pink Mint sign and an old wood wall from the classic resort can be seen in the stairway leading down to Whiskey Licker Up Saloon at Binion’s.

The Marina Hotel

In 1989, MGM bought and demolished the Marina Hotel to build its new MGM Grand. The old MGM Grand, tainted by?the second-deadliest hotel fire in American history,?had by then become Bally’s and, since 2022, has gone by Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Except, MGM never demolished the Marina. It simply gave it a green skin and built the new MGM Grand around it. Few realize that MGM’s west wing once stood alone as this 714-room hotel opened in 1975.

If you’ve ever wondered why the rooms there are smaller and less expensive, now you know.

The Train That Created Las Vegas

The question occurring to just about everyone driving to Las Vegas for the first time — why this crazy city exists in the middle of nowhere — is answered by the freight trains that diesel alongside Interstate 15, duck underneath it in Sloan, Nev., and chug a couple of blocks west of the Strip, largely unnoticed, before branching northeast to Utah.

Those trains use the original line that once shuttled passengers from LA to Salt Lake City before commercial flights or even mass-produced cars were things.

Las Vegas wouldn’t exist without that rail line.

When the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was completed in 1905, its owners decided to create a stop halfway through the long haul and build a town to make that stop worthwhile. Las Vegas, named in 1829 by a Spanish trader after the meadows created by underground springs, would do. It was home only to a few ranches and an abandoned Mormon fort at the time.

The railroad bought the ranches closest to its railroad stop, then sold parcels at an auction on Fremont and Main Streets on May 15, 1905. The first was at 1 Fremont St., which the builder of the Hotel Nevada purchased for $1,750. Today, that hotel still stands as the Golden Gate, and still has the town’s very first phone on display. (It’s phone number was “1.”)

The original railroad station was demolished in the late 1930s and replaced with an Art Deco update in 1940. That station was demolished in 1971 and replaced by today’s Plaza Hotel, originally called Union Plaza, in deference to the railroad.

Though its branding and furnishings are gone, the Plaza’s Amtrak station still exists by the tracks. It’s now an employee break room and storage area. But an Amtrak mural can still be found between a Subway and a gym at the end of a hallway.

“Lost Vegas” is an occasional?Casino.org?series spotlighting Las Vegas’ forgotten history.?Click here?to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email [email protected].?

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More than 1,000 flights have been delayed by the issue, which is believed to be linked to an error on a software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. Public transport systems across the world have also been affected.

Casinos, Sportsbooks Impact

Early reports suggest land-based casinos and online sportsbooks have also been impacted by the outage. On Thursday night, visitors to the Green Valley Ranch casino in Hendeson, Nev. reported that every single slot machine was down, and staff members were having to cash out players manually, leading to long delays.

Las Vegas Locally reported on X that “casino computer systems are crashing all over town.” One X user posted images from the South Point Casino showing the venue’s TV monitors had been affected by the “blue screen of death.”

“We’re facing a total blackout,” a?TAB?insider told The Syndey Morning Herald. “This has impacted both our online and retail operations, putting us in the same predicament as many other companies.”

No Easy Fix

The outage is not believed to be linked to foul play. The issue is reportedly related to Texas-based CrowdStrike’s ‘Falcon sensor,’ which monitors the security of large networks of PCs.

Security experts say it’s not an easy fix because it requires manual intervention on every affected computer, which will likely cause disruption for days to come.

Crowdstrike shares plunged by 21% in early pre-market trade. Shares in Microsoft were also down, as were travel and leisure stocks, as investors anticipated ongoing disruption to flights at the height of the summer vacation season.

This is a developing story.

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The temporary shuttering of the casino floor will cost the company about NZ $5M (US $3M) in lost revenue, according to the New Zealand Herald. It’s the first time a casino in New Zealand has voluntarily closed, the report added.

DIA filed charges against SkyCity in February.

The casino could have been forced to close the Aukland casino, and those in Hamilton, and Queenstown, for 10 days, according to prior news reports. Regulatory fines could have totaled as much as NZ $8M.

It’s not clear when the Auckland casino closure will take place, but it appears it will be sometime before the end of 2024. The closures will likely be on weekdays not on weekends.

Continuous Gambling

The wrongdoing relates to play by an unnamed casino guest between 2017 and 2021. In 23 instances, the guest continuously gambled at the casino.

SkyCity technology should have picked up he was continuously playing and staff should have appropriately responded, the Herald reported.

The guest later complained about the debt he accumulated as a result of his gambling activity. The guest also argued the company violated responsible gambling rules.

Tech Failure Blamed

The casino investigated the incident and blamed its lack of oversight on a glitch related to technology design errors, the Herald reported. The issue has since been corrected and the casino has released an apology.

The resolution agreement is an unprecedented result. This is the first voluntary closure of a casino and is the longest suspension of operations in a casino under the Gambling Act,” Vicki Scott, DIA’s director of gambling, said in a statement.

“Gambling has a real potential to cause harm to customers, their whānau [which means an extended family group] and their communities.”

SkyCity owns five casinos located in New Zealand and Australia.

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The suit, filed in the Federal Court of Australia, claims Pixel is breaking the law by promoting its social casino apps.

Pixel offers social casinos on platforms such as Facebook, Apple, and Android via its subsidiaries Big Fish, Product Madness, and Plarium. All three of these companies were acquired by Aristocrat in the 2010s as the company strategically sought to cash in on the exploding social games market.

Social casinos allow users to play simulations of casino games with virtual play-money chips. Typically, players are given a free stack of virtual chips when they sign up but must pay real money for more once the first stack is expended if they want to continue to play.

Dopamine Hit

The lawsuit claims that Aristocrat’s social casinos should be subject to the same regulatory standards as land-based, real-money slots in Australia.

That’s because “the pairing of audiovisual stimuli with the experience of winning virtual currency” has the effect of rendering users “psychologically conditioned to perceive a successful outcome … [and] … has the result of releasing dopamine” — just like gambling, according to the complaint.

Unlike land-based slots, or “pokies” as they are known colloquially, Aristocrat’s social slots do not disclose the odds of winning, nor do they have financial time limits for players, the lawsuit complains.

“These games do not meet the definition of gambling service under the [law]. Aristocrat companies take proactive steps to provide more information, choice, and support to players of their social casino apps, over and above any legal requirements,” a spokesperson told The Australian Financial Review.

Big Fish Fried

In March 2021, Aristocrat, along with Big Fish’s former owner, Churchill Downs, settled a class-action lawsuit brought by former Big Fish players in Washington State for US$155 million. That followed the 2018 shock ruling by a federal court in Seattle that the virtual play chips used in the games constituted “something of value,” despite their lack of direct monetary worth.

This meant Big Fish games could be classed as “gambling,” which Washington state defines as “risking something of value on the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence to receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.”???

The problem is, Australia does not have a clear, all-encompassing definition of gambling on a federal level. The closest occurs in Section 4 of its Interactive Gambling Act (2001), which was enacted in response to the rise of online gambling.

In the act, a “gambling service” is defined as including, among other things, “a?game played for money or anything else of value.”

Aristocrat told the AFR that it intended to “vigorously defend” itself, emphasizing that its social casino games are played solely for entertainment.

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Star Entertainment owns and operates The Star Gold Coast, The Star Sydney, and Treasury Brisbane. The latter will close in the coming months when the all-new Star Brisbane opens on the banks of the Brisbane River.

To maintain our commitment to safer gambling procedures and providing the highest standards to our members and guests, Electronic Gaming Machines are currently offline,” a company notice on the casinos’ websites read. “We apologize for any inconvenience and will advise once normal operations recommence.”

Star said live dealer table games remain operational, and restaurants and bars are operating normally. Live entertainment also remains as scheduled. Player activity statements are currently unavailable.

The Star Sydney generates the most annual gaming revenue of the three properties. The casino has 1,490 slot machine and electronic table game positions and 140 live dealer table games.

Cyberattack Dismissed

Star told local media that concerns that a cyberattack was the reason for the operational disruption were without merit.

The Star’s systems have been disrupted due to system performance issues identified in post-upgrade testing, which resulted in the decision to switch off all Electronic Gaming Machines and Electronic Table Games in each of The Star’s three properties,” the company explained.

Star slots, or pokies as they’re commonly called Down Under, were turned off around 10:00 pm local time on Saturday, July 13. Star officials said the decision to disable electronic gaming was to “ensure compliance with relevant regulations and to maintain the company’s commitment to safer gambling procedures.”

Star believes it should be found suitable after severing ties with its former CEO and Chair David Foster who was accused of “going to war” with the NSW Independent Casino Commission and Nicholas Weeks, who was appointed to oversee The Star Sydney’s operations on the commission’s behalf amid the inquiry. ?

Stock Decline

Amid its state inquiries, as Queensland in 2022 found Star unsuitable to hold its two casino licenses but allowed the company to retain the gaming permits with disciplinary action and assurances of regulatory compliance upgrades, shares of The Star Entertainment Group have plummeted. Traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, Star shares have lost over 85% of their value during the past five years.

The Australian Government’s Institute of Family Studies says nearly four in 10 adults gamble weekly, and nearly half of that demographic face some risk of gambling harm. ?

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As is often par for the course with Blackstone, an impressive profit was wrung from the divestment. Crown reportedly grossed $180 million by selling its Nobu interest after buying into the hospitality entity in 2015 for $100 million. Crown’s sale implies Nobu, which counts actor Robert DeNiro among its investors, at $900 million.

At the end of last year, there were 56 Nobu restaurants in 23 countries around the world, the first of which opened in Los Angeles in 1987 under the name Matsuhisa — the surname of founder Nobu Matsuhisa. Crown acquired the Nobu stake under founder James Packer. The gaming company controls Crown Melbourne, Crown Perth, and Crown Sydney in its home country.

Nobu Still Has Gaming Ties

Even with Crown shedding its Nobu investment, the hotel-restaurant company maintains an array of ties to the casino industry.

The first Nobu hotel opened in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip in 2013. Two years later, another such venue debuted at Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila. A new Nobu hotel is also a centerpiece of enhancements at Caesars Palace on the Atlantic City Boardwalk as well as that operator’s New Orleans plans.

Nobu Hotel and Restaurant New Orleans are set to open within the newly created Caesars New Orleans, following a multimillion-dollar transformation of Harrah’s New Orleans,” according to the Nobu Hotels website.

The site indicates the New Orleans property should be open in late 2024. In Las Vegas, Nobu also has restaurant locations at Caesars-operated Paris and the Virgin Hotel in addition to Caesars Palace.

Blackstone Wants Crown Focusing on Gaming

Crown’s divestment of its Nobu stake was reportedly the result of Blackstone wanting the gaming to focus on its core competencies of casino hotel operations. The private equity giant shelled out $6.6 billion for the Aussie gaming firm in 2022, pledging an array of improvements to bolster Crown’s position in its home country and its appeal to bettors throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

In December 2022, it sold its 49.9% interest in Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand to VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI) for $4.27 billion. It sold Cosmopolitan’s property to VICI for more than $4 billion and is still the majority owner of Bellagio’s real estate. Blackstone also owns the property assets of Aria and Vdara, both of which are also operated by MGM.

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The Australian company is a software provider whose products allow sportsbook operators to efficiently update odds and pricing while maintaining existing data relationships. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The ZeroFlucs acquisition follows a successful integration of ZeroFlucs’ technology into the Caesars Sportsbook platform through a commercial arrangement that enabled the recent launch of new products, such as in-play same-game parlays (SGPs) and a vastly improved menu of ‘SGP-eligible’ markets for Major League Baseball,” according to a statement.

Caesars did not say when the transaction will close, but the buyer noted Steve Gray and Carly Christensen will remain at the helm of ZeroFlucs with Christensen joining Caesars Digital as senior vice president of price technology.

Sports Betting Tech Race Heating Up

The Caesars deal for ZeroFlucs is the latest sign of an intensifying race for sports wagering technology.

The transaction was announced less than two weeks after MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) said its LeoVegas unit would purchase the US iGaming and sportsbook operations of Tipico Group for an undisclosed sum — a move market observers believe is largely rooted in technology.

Regarding ZeroFlucs, “the acquisition cements a relationship between the companies that has already improved the customer experience and will continue to unlock exciting new product features and benefits for Caesars Sportsbook bettor,” added Caesars in the press release.

How ZeroFlucs Can Help Caesars

As technology further penetrates the world of sports wagering, speed is essential in boosting the menu of live wagers a sportsbook operator can offer bettors.

In nearly all major team sports, in-game odds can shift on a play-by-play basis — a touchdown, a home run, etc. Sluggish technology can force operators to only refresh odds during breaks in the action, but wise bettors know they might not be getting the best odds.

Specific to ZeroFlucs and Caesars, the acquired company’s competencies in baseball SGPs could be enticing because due to the slow-moving nature of that sport, it’s conducive to SGPs and live wagering. That fact isn’t lost on gaming companies and with better technology, it’s possible operators will lure more bets on baseball — a sport that trails football and basketball by handle by wide margins.

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The ruling marks the end of the road for Chau, who has launched multiple appeals since his January 2023 sentencing, all now exhausted.

As founder, chairman, and CEO of Macau’s biggest and now-defunct junket operator Suncity, Chau was once one of the gambling hub’s wealthiest and most powerful people.

In 2014, Macau’s best year, Suncity was responsible for generating an estimated 25% of VIP market revenue, which would have equated to US$11 billion. For perspective, that’s more than the gaming revenue generated by the entire state of Nevada (US$10.6 billion) in the same year.

Playboy Lifestyle

Suncity became a multibillion-dollar conglomerate with interests in casinos, property, and entertainment through its core business of jetting mainland high rollers into Macau and lending them money to gamble. This allowed their clients to bypass restrictions on the movement of hard currency out of the mainland.

Chau lived a playboy lifestyle, but there were always rumors of a triad past. And there were signs China’s central government was running out of patience with Suncity and Macau’s junket industry in general. Beijing blamed the junkets for money laundering and capital flight from the mainland.

Prosecutors in Wenzhou, eastern China,?issued a warrant?for Chau’s arrest in November 2021. He was detained by authorities in Macau several days later and charged with running a criminal syndicate, illicit gambling activities, fraud, and money laundering.

$8.3B Fraud

As well as operating online gambling platforms, Chau and other Suncity officials were charged with swindling the Macau government out of HK$8.2 billion (US$1.1 billion) in tax revenue.

Between 2013 and 2021, Suncity offered many of its VIP clients illicit “under-the-table” bets. These involved multiplying stakes on official wagers placed by clients at Macau casinos, which would be settled later, tax-free.

In October 2023, Macau’s Court of Second Instance affirmed Chau’s 18-year sentence, but quashed his fraud conviction while letting the other convictions stand. Unfortunately for Chau, it also tripled damages he and Suncity were liable to pay to Macau’s government to US$3.2 billion.

Macau’s Court of Final Appeal upheld that ruling this week.

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On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed a criminal information sheet indicating Porter will face unspecified felony charges. That’s for his alleged role in a conspiracy that saw him compromise his own play to benefit a New York-based gambling ring.

A spokesperson for the DA’s Office told The Athletic Wednesday that Porter is expected to plead guilty to the charges on July 10. He is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Canada.

Winnings Frozen

Prosecutors believe Porter also provided information about his fitness to the gang, which would have won US$1,272,875 from betting the under on the athlete via DraftKings and FanDuel. However, the lion’s share of those winnings was frozen by the sportsbooks when they detected suspicious betting patterns.

The syndicate placed bets on Porter to underperform in the Raptors January 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and a March 20 game against the?Sacramento Kings, both losses for the Raptors.

Four members of the betting syndicate?have been arrested?by federal authorities, one while apparently?attempting to flee the US.?They face wire fraud charges that come with a maximum 20-year sentence.

Porter Owed Gambling Debts

Prosecutors will allege Porter agreed to the scheme because he had amassed large gambling debts to the group. The athlete was in contact with co-conspirators via a Telegram messaging group where details of the scheme were discussed. That’s according to the indictments of the four others, which refer to Porter only as “Player 1.”

On April 4, the day Porter was banned by the NBA, he told his coconspirators that they “might just get hit w a rico” – a reference to federal anti-racketeering charges. He also instructed them to delete their cell phone records, according to the indictments.

Porter’s lawyer, Jeff Jensen, has said his client “got in over his head” because of problems with gambling addiction.

Porter is the first player to be dealt a lifetime ban for gambling since Jack Molinas in 1954. Molinas was a key figure in one of basketball’s most notorious points-shaving scandals.

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Newly disclosed campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) confirm reports in late May that suggested Adelson would again support the 45th president in November. Adelson at the time revealed she’ll bankroll Preserve America, the conservative super political action committee (PAC) that her late husband financed during the 2020 election.

Finance records recently made available for May reveal Adelson is first opening her checkbook for an array of Republican PACs.

Adelson GOP Spending

Adelson gave $413K through four donations dated May 3 to the Republican National Committee.

On May 3, the billionaire, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be around $28.8 billion, also made three contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). The committee is committed to taking back the upper chamber of Congress.

Adelson gave the NRSC $289,100, with all of the funds earmarked for the Pete Ricketts Victory Fund. Ricketts is the Republican US junior senator from Nebraska.

Ricketts is facing a special election to retain his seat against Democratic candidate Preston Love, Jr. Ricketts was appointed to the Senate seat by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen on Jan. 12, 2023, following the resignation of Ben Sasse who stepped down to become the president of the University of Florida.

Ricketts is a vocal supporter of the US-Israel alliance, a matter that is most important to Adelson.

On the NRSC donations, Adelson reported being self-employed as a physician. For the NRCC contributions, she listed the Adelson Clinic as her employer and her occupation as a physician.

Trump Money

Trump’s other friends who remain in the casino industry are also pouring in cash for his November run, a campaign that picked up much momentum following President Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance.

Golden Nugget billionaire Tilman Fertitta wrote the RNC a check for $206,500 in April.

Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, whose private equity firm owns Crown Resorts in Australia and several casinos in Las Vegas, including the Bellagio, Aria, and The Cosmopolitan, said in May that he too will support Trump this year. Schwarzman hasn’t yet made any major 2024 donations to the Trump campaign, but is expected to soon.

UK bookmakers where political betting is allowed have Trump the heavy favorite at -175 to win the November presidential election. A winning $100 bet on that line would pay out $157.14.

Biden is the underdog at +350. A $100 upset would pay out $450. California Gov. Gavin Newsom — Biden’s potential replacement — is next at +1400.

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BlueBet gained access to the Indiana sports betting market via an agreement with Horseshoe Hammond, a casino operated by Caesars Entertainment. The Aussie company terminated that pact effective June 30, but noted that termination was mutual.

In Colorado, Iowa, and Louisiana, BlueBet has exposure to some of the fastest-growing sports betting states in the US without the expenses required to operate in major markets, such as New York or Pennsylvania.

BlueBet Still Sees Opportunity in US

As more states authorize mobile sports betting, market share has increasingly consolidated around just two operators, FanDuel and DraftKings.

That’s made it difficult for smaller players such as BlueBet to gain adequate market share, and that could be one reason why the operator commenced the strategic review. In the statement announcing the Indiana departure, the gaming company didn’t provide details on the strategic review except to say it is ongoing.

BlueBet remains committed to maximising value for shareholders. The Company believes focusing its efforts and capital on its outperforming Australian business, while continuing to scale in the US with its ‘Capital Lite’ market entry strategy, will deliver the best returns on capital,” according to the statement.

Signaling it remains committed to the US market, BlueBet said it inked a B2B deal in Ohio in March. The operator believes such agreements can reduce its sportsbook operating expenses in this country.

BlueBet Not the First Aussie Operator to Find US Difficult

BlueBet isn’t the first Australian bookmaker that’s found it difficult to replicate the success found in its home country in the US. For example, PointsBet sold PointsBet US to Fanatics last year for $225 million after that unit struggled to gain noticeable market share in this country and had become a drag on the parent company’s financials.

Here in the US, BlueBet’s strategic review could be a sign the parent is willing to sell, but rumors regarding potential buyers haven’t surfaced.

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The American athlete was banned for life by the league in April for “spot fixing” and leaking insider information to a New York-based gambling syndicate

This was done with the knowledge that Porter would exit early from each game claiming injury, according to prosecutors.

?What is Spot Fixing?

Spot fixing refers not to the manipulation of the outcome of a game, which would involve a conspiracy of multiple players, but to one small aspect of the game, which requires the participation of just one player. This could involve the number of yellow cards or throw-ins that might a occur in a soccer game, for example. Or, in this case, a single player’s performance in two basketball games.

Four members of the New York betting syndicate have been arrested by federal authorities, one while apparently attempting to flee the US. They face wire fraud charges that come with a maximum 20-year sentence if convicted.

Porter Owed Debts to Gang

It was unclear whether Porter would also face charges. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) told ESPN that a criminal investigation is warranted.

US Federal prosecutors believe Porter agreed to the scheme because he had amassed large gambling debts to the group, and this was his way out.

Court documents show Porter was in contact with co-conspirators via a Telegram messaging group where details of the scheme were discussed.

On April 4, the day Porter received the NBA ban, he told the group that they “might just get hit w a rico” – a reference to federal anti-racketeering charges. He also told them to delete their cell phone records.

Porter’s lawyer, Jeff Jensen, has described his client as a good kid who “got in over his head” because of problems with gambling addiction.

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The Clark County Zoning Commission voted Tuesday to extend previously approved development plans for Wynn to build an 1,100-room resort with a 28,000 square-foot casino space on the 34.6-acre site where the New Frontier Hotel and Casino once stood.

Those projects include the Wynn Al Marjan Island integrated resort in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to documents uncovered by the?Las Vegas Review-Journal,?Clark County staffers initially recommended denying the extension because no new building permits or studies were submitted for review, and because some construction regulations have changed since construction was initially approved.

Crowning Nonachievement

The initial construction green light for the plot was given in 2015 to Australia-based gaming and entertainment group Crown Resorts, which paid $240M for the lot in 2014 before announcing plans to build a $6B resort called Alon Las Vegas. Crown scrapped those ambitious plans in 2016.

Wynn Resorts bought the land and three adjacent acres for $336M in 2017. It then announced plans to build an 1,100-room casino resort called Wynn West, since it would sit on the west side of the Strip, across from the company’s other two towers. Wynn West would connect to them via an air-conditioned bridge spanning Las Vegas Boulevard.

Westward Hold

During his Q4 2017 conference call, then-company chair Steve Wynn told analysts “I don’t think the design and development period is going to be very long” for Wynn West.

That’s when the?Wall Street Journal?published allegations made by several women that the company’s namesake had sexually harassed or assaulted them at his hotels — ?charges that Steve Wynn has always denied, but that forced him to resign from all his corporate positions, sending his company into a tailspin.

More Vegas Vacations

Alon Las Vegas wasn’t the first vacated proposal for the vacant lot. The reason New Frontier owner Phil Ruffin imploded his vintage Vegas casino resort in the first place was because he had sold the land underneath it in 2007 for $1.2B, a Las Vegas record.

The buyer was El-Ad Properties, owner of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, which planned to build a Plaza-branded casino resort for $5B.

The Great Recession put the kibosh on that project only a few months after the New Frontier’s implosion on Nov. 13, 2007.

Since acquiring the vacant lot, Wynn Resorts has leased it out for special events.

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