Keno is just the first step in the largest expansion in Pennsylvania Lottery history. The game is now available in over 500 restaurants and bars in the Keystone State.
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The SLS Las Vegas could begin another transformation soon after the sale of the beleaguered Nevada casino finally closed last month.
A change in general manager and shift in demographic focus lead initial adjustments under new owner Alex Meruelo. He purchased SLS from Stockbridge Capital Group for an undisclosed price, though Meruelo said he posted $100 million in cash and wiped out the casino’s estimated debt of $585 million.
Paul Hobson is the new general manager at SLS, and he detailed to the LA Times what the first $100 million in renovations and upgrades will do. First up are lightening the dark casino interior and lower ceiling put in by former owner Sam Nazarian to give a hip, club-like feel.
“I think we’d like to present something a little more recognizable,” Hobson told the Times. “If we put a more formal ceiling in, we’ll be able to create zones where people feel more comfortable and lighter.”
Meruelo sees potential in marketing SLS to the enormous Latino population in the greater Los Angeles area.
“In my opinion, the Hispanic market has been underserved in Vegas and Reno. That doesn’t mean I’m only going to focus on the Hispanic market. I am Hispanic and I’m very proud of that, but that’s just one more underserved market we plan to go after.”
Meruelo also owns the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.
A southern California native, Meruelo made his fortune in through a wide variety of ventures and still owns businesses in construction, banking, and food. Notably, he also owns two Spanish-language TV stations and two of the top three radio stations in Los Angeles.
Meruelo plans to use those media outlets to market SLS directly to the Latino population. That group accounted for more than a quarter of southern California’s visitors to Las Vegas in 2016.
Meruelo need only look across the corner of Sahara Avenue to the failed Lucky Dragon property for a cautionary tale. The Chinese-themed property opened in 2016 focused heavily on the Asian market.
Less than 18 months later, the resort ceased operations and entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Lucky Dragon faced foreclosure after defaulting on a $90 million loan.
Lucky Dragon and SLS are just two examples of the brutal business environment of the North Strip. The failed Fontainebleau and long-shuttered Resorts World projects sat empty for years before recent revival efforts put them on track for 2020 openings. (Fontainebleau will open as The Drew.)
The proposed All Net Arena project in the area received county approval to go ahead last year. However, few signs of progress exist on the former Wet ‘N’ Wild water park lot.
Photo by Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com
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It’s been one week since WSOP.com/888 merged its Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey online poker pools. Here’s what we’ve learned so far from interstate online poker.
The post One Week Later, How Has Interstate Online Poker Affected WSOP/888 In NJ? appeared first on Play NJ.
Larry Greenberg has won his first major live tournament poker title. The businessman from Weston, Massachusetts overcame a field of 126 players to win the inaugural World Poker Tour Bellagio …
While the US Supreme Court has yet to hand down a ruling on the NJ sports betting case, lawmakers in New Jersey are moving ahead with sports betting regulations, including an “integrity fee.”
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Phil Galfond has spent the last two years working on an online poker site that he hopes will be a game-changer. Here’s what we know about Run It Once Poker.
The post Phil Galfond’s Run It Once Poker Isn’t Going To Be A Cookie Cutter Site appeared first on Online Poker Report.
At 888 Poker NJ, a massive $150K payout occurred in a BLAST Sit & Go tournament in April. The NJ online poker site continues to create buzz with BLAST Sit & Go tournaments that have tension, excitement, and big wins.
The post Four Players Scoop Up Massive $150K Payout In 888 Poker’s BLAST Tournament appeared first on .
To say it’s been a good past 12 months for Mount Airy Casino Resort is an understatement.
They carved out their own legally protected buffer from satellite casinos via PA’s 2017 gambling expansion bill. They’ve partnered with iGaming giant 888 and, this month, they’re kicking off the summer with the launch of a new entertainment complex.
According to the Pocono Record, Mount Airy’s new entertainment venue is 26,000 square feet and will open Memorial Day weekend.
Mount Airy Vice President of Marketing and Gaming Operations Vincent Jordan told the Record the casino and resort had to decline offers for various events because their facilities were inadequate.
“We’ve been approached numerous times and we’ll hold events like MMA, boxing events and things of that nature,” Jordan said.
The new venue will provide seating for 2,200 people, which, according to Jordan, is a much-needed seating increase because “all” of Mount Airy’s shows sell out.
Currently, Mount Airy has 188 rooms and, according to Jordan, the hotel runs at a 98 percent occupancy rate, which means on an average night about four rooms go unoccupied.
The property is spending $40 million to add another 100 rooms, nearly doubling the occupancy size of the hotel.
Here’s a quick description of the space, via the Pocono Record:
“The expansion is expected to be completed by spring 2019 and will also feature a 16,000-square-foot addition to their events center. The new space will be more than 20,000 square feet and be able to accommodate dinners for up to 750 people and 1,200 attendees for other events; the space currently holds groups of up to 200 people.”
For the past seven months, momentum has been the buzzword in the Pennsylvania gambling world.
The landmark gambling expansion legislation passed in Oct. 2017 guaranteed millions of extra dollars in tax revenue for the state and, of course, the chance to casinos to rake in tens of millions in slots and table game revenue from satellite casinos as well as online casinos and slots.
Mount Airy came away from the legislation with an extra perk — a one-county buffer on all sides of their county lines to protect them from the construction of satellite casinos by competing casinos.
Exactly why the new law protected Mount Airy alone and no other property is a source of speculation.
For Mount Airy, though, it was a boon, if for no other reason than they don’t have to worry about competing mini-casinos stealing any inbound traffic to their brick-and-mortar casino.
The new construction and the satellite buffer, along with Mount Airy’s winning bid for a satellite this past February, put the casino in prime position to head into 2019 with just about as much momentum as they could possibly muster in a few short years.
In addition to these developments, the casino’s partnership with international online gambling titan 888 will certainly add to their revenue considering the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board may allow 888 to operate multiple sites under Mount Airy’s single online gambling license.
The post With So Much On Its Plate, It’s Time For Mount Airy To Expand appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
One of the cruelest of life’s ironies (for gamblers, anyway) has long been that one could not legally play Texas Hold’em in the state of Texas. However, a small group of card clubs around the state seek to remedy that fact.
I recently sat down with the owners of the newest of these clubs, The Poker Club of West Houston. The club, which will open for business on May 7, seeks to become the example for legal poker in Texas.
Texas law on gambling is rather austere. Except for lottery, bingo, and live racing carveouts, Texans must go to one of two Native American operations or travel out of state to gamble.
Otherwise, they are breaking the law. Or are they? There is a section of the code that proves relevant to the issue:
It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
It is within these exceptions that The Poker Club of West Houston seeks to exist.
“The only way we knew how to do this was absolutely legal,” said Carl Pittman, President and CEO. Mr. Pittman and his business partner, Scott Ketcham. They spoke at length about their efforts to abide by the narrow spaces in the law that would allow them to offer poker to clients.
The easiest part to satisfy is the clause about risks of winning or losing – they simply need to run a fair game. However, they must conduct business in a specific way to satisfy the other two parts of the defense.
To qualify as a private place, the club will require potential members to complete an application, submit an initiation fee, and play through a 30-day probation period before they are granted full membership.
“We don’t want everybody to be a member of this club,” said Pittman. “That (makes the club) no different than your country clubs.”
The portion of the law about receiving economic benefit forbids raking the pots in any way. The Poker Club of West Houston plans to charge an hourly seat fee, which will avoid the problem somewhat.
Also, the amount of the fee will not change regardless of the level of game, meaning that the club has no preference for one type of game or another. In fact, the payment for the hourly fees will remain separate from any activity on the table – all to remove any appearance of the club deriving economic benefit from the outcome of games.
So, to say they have no interest in breaking the law is to put it very mildly. Pittman and Ketcham also pledge to report cash transactions above the $10,000 threshold to the IRS, in accordance with Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
They even have self-exclusion forms for problem gamblers to bar themselves. Both men are committed to maintaining the highest standards of conduct with any club business.
As Ketcham said, “Our goal is to be a benchmark standard.” Those standards also extend to safety and security concerns.
Gambling in Texas is a dodgy prospect with regard to safety. Stories of robberies abound, from Johnny Hughes and the road gamblers to an Austin poker player shot on April 30.
Both Pittman and Ketcham are former law enforcement officers with nearly 45 years of experience between them. Though both are extremely friendly, they assured me that their experience would guide them in keeping players and personnel safe.
To that end, I noticed cameras all over the walls at the The Poker Club of West Houston. The cashier cage is an actual cage with key-coded doors.
Pittman and Ketcham also mentioned that armed security will be onsite during games. The club will also offer valet parking and shuttle parking to cut down on parking lot incidents.
The two owners also said the club would allow players to carry concealed weapons, as per Texas law. The idea behind these efforts is to reduce the club’s status as a soft target for thieves.
Ultimately, the success of The Poker Club of West Houston will depend on the community response. The two owners say that they have had tremendous interest so far – hundreds of inquiries and/or site tours since the marquee sign went up just over two months ago.
They also said that the nearby neighborhood response has been positive. In fact, neither Pittman nor Ketcham could recall any negativity from interactions with the community whatsoever.
Still, there are detractors within this mostly conservative state. This past week, Houston city councilman Greg Travis declared this kind of poker room to be illegal under state law.
That said, this new club will be the sixth of its kind in the Houston area. Their growing popularity is evidenced by the fact that a WPTDeepstacks event will come to Houston in September – the very first major poker event in Houston’s history.
For their part, Pittman and Ketcham hope their caution and good faith efforts to remain compliant with the law will lead to success and permanence. With any luck and their help, poker is here to stay deep in the heart of Texas.
I plan to attend the grand opening on Monday. Be sure to look for my trip report in Part 2 of this story.
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New Jersey’s racetracks have unsuccessfully lobbied for casinos outside of Atlantic City, but there is a way for them to offer casino games: online gambling.
The post Are NJ Online Casinos A Missed Opportunity For State’s Racetracks? appeared first on Online Poker Report.