As sports betting legislation continues to gain traction in state legislatures, some lawmakers and stakeholders are worried these states are missing the real opportunity: online casinos.
The post A Lawmaker Finally Asks The Online Gambling Question We’ve Been Waiting To Hear appeared first on Online Poker Report.
Hard Rock Atlantic City is giving residents a chance to see what the resort casino will look like when it’s finished.
The post Hard Rock Atlantic City Is Giving Us A Preview Of The Finished Product appeared first on Play NJ.
The Garden City Group announced that the federal government has approved a third round of payments to former customers of the defunct Absolute Poker and its sister site Ultimate Bet. …
PokerStars SCOOP will make history in May as the largest online tournament series ever held.
PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker is celebrating its tenth year with a $65 million guaranteed prize pool spread over 183 tournaments, making it the largest ever tournament series hosted online. There will be at least one tournament offering $1 million in guaranteed prize money every day.
SCOOP now overtakes its compatriot WCOOP as the largest online tournament series PokerStars has held. Back in September 2017, WCOOP made waves when it announced its $60 million schedule; now SCOOP’s May outing will take back the crown.
Online poker’s hopes in New York this year aren’t dead. The problem is the issue is far from a priority. In fact, with several far more pressing issues, the NY casino industry already has plenty on its plate.
What does not help online poker’s hopes is that there is no money earmarked in the state budget from online poker tax revenue. In other words, no one expects online poker to pass as a law this year, or else the cash-strapped state would have made a note of the money it would generate.
The best hope for online poker this year is to piggyback its way into regulation on sports bettings’ coattails. The budget, which passed at the end of last month, indicates online poker on its own is basically a lost cause this year.
The Senate tried to include online poker and sports betting money in the budget, but the Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo would not budge on the matter.
Now, as you may know, there is an existing sports betting law on the books. However, unsure how the Supreme Court will rule in New Jersey’s sports betting case this summer, the state did not count any chickens including it in the budget.
However, should sports betting laws change at the federal level, the New York law will need clarification before it can go into effect. Moreover, there will likely be talks about mobile wagering, which is the likely point to tie online poker into the puzzle as well.
Until then though, all online poker advocates can really do is wait and hope that SCOTUS decides to overturn the federal ban on sports wagering.
The absence of online poker revenue wasn’t the only omission in the budget relevant to casinos. Despite pleas from both del Lago and Rivers Schenectady, the government stood pat on its stance not to help out the ailing commercial casinos.
It turns out del Lago was not the only casino seeking help. Rivers hoped to reduce its payments to the state in order to use the money towards marketing efforts. No lawmakers were sympathetic to the properties’ plights. Cuomo was particularly harsh with his words for the casinos:
“The upstate gaming casinos are private concerns. They bid, they made an investment and some of them will say they’re not doing as well as they hoped or would have expected but they’re private concerns, and I don’t want to get into the business of bailing out private concerns.
“We did casino gaming to create facilities, generate economic development to create jobs and it has done that. These facilities have done billions of dollars of construction and they employ thousands of people. So to the extent you have a casino saying ‘You know what … I’m not meeting my expectations, I should get help from the state,’ I’m not sympathetic to that.”
Given his words, and the lack of sympathy from within the local gaming industry, it was fairly unsurprising the casinos’ desperate pleas did not result in any financial help. It looks like, on multiple fronts, NY gambling proponents are on the outside of the budget looking in this year.
The post None Of The NY Budget Is Coming From Online Poker Or Going To Ailing Casinos appeared first on Play NY.
Major online casino software company GAN readily admitted both their profits and their plans are tied to the launch of online gambling in Pennsylvania
The post GAN Shouts Out Pennsylvania In Earnings Report appeared first on PA Online Casino News.
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) voted to approve the Category 3 Slot Machine Licensee change from Valley Forge Casino Resort to Boyd Gaming.
As part of the decision, Boyd Gaming, based in Las Vegas, Nevada agreed to pay a change of control fee to the Commonwealth of $1.35 million. That fee is in addition to the total cash consideration of $280.5 million for the property.
Boyd Gaming’s executive management team presented its case for acquiring Montgomery County‘s Valley Forge Casino Resort before the PGCB. The presentation happened ahead of the board’s vote to approve the sale.
During their appearance, Boyd Gaming discussed:
Of those items, online gaming certainly stands out as noteworthy knowing that online gaming was a motivating factor in the purchase of Valley Forge.
“Online gaming is important to us,” Boyd Gaming President and CEO Keith Smith told the PGCB. “The Valley Forge acquisition directly aligns with the Company’s long-term growth strategy of acquiring assets in strong and growing markets that generate substantial free cash flow.”
Boyd Gaming isn’t new to online gambling. It ran the Borgata online casino in New Jersey before selling its 50-percent stake in the operation. As New Jersey online casinos continue to set revenue records, it is easy to understand Boyd’s desire to get back into the online gaming market.
The presentation and subsequent approval finalized a process that began last fall. That is when Boyd Gaming first announced its intention to buy the King Of Prussia property.
Towards the second half of 2017, Boyd Gaming went on a buying spree of sorts. It purchased four Pinnacle Entertainment properties just days before it announced its objective of adding Valley Forge Casino Resort to its portfolio.
Boyd Gaming views Valley Forge as a way of re-entering the Northeast market in a position of strength. Boyd finds the potential for sharing online player pools between states with regulated online gaming and opportunities to cross-market with other Boyd casinos extremely attractive.
“The acquisition of Valley Forge Casino Resort is another excellent opportunity to further grow and diversify our nationwide portfolio. With this acquisition, we will expand into the second-largest gaming state in the country, establishing a presence in a densely populated, high-traffic area just west of Philadelphia,” Smith said in a Dec. 2018 press release.
Boyd is most likely celebrating its choice after Valley Forge posted the highest year-over-year revenue gain of all Pennsylvania casinos in February. They have been out front posting impressive growth numbers for the past few months.
Once the approval processes finish all pending sales, Boyd expects its portfolio to contain:
It has already been established that online gaming is important to Boyd. But they aren’t the only operator to set their sights towards the launch of online gambling in the state. It is likely most of the land-based casinos in Pennsylvania will seek to launch an online casino sometime later this year. Especially now that properties know there will be unlimited skins to help lure potential partners to the state.
The post After PGCB Approval, Boyd Looking Ahead To Online Gambling appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
Anthony Cicali wears many hats during the day, but his most important role is that of single father to two young boys. Besides holding down a full-time job, he considers himself a semi-professional poker player and is a producer for independent films. One of his movies, Deadly Gamble, even received a full distribution contract.
Recently, he added another hat to the mix – PlayUSA Twitch streamer extraordinaire (that just may be his official title).
What makes him extraordinary? He thinks it is his people skills.
“I think one of my best qualities is I’ve always been able to talk to anyone. I’m able to connect with people and talk to them in chat. I’m really good at getting a conversation going.”
If you look at his Twitter bio, it reads:
“CEO of BuyBackKing.com, a single dad, XXX, poker, actor, gym rat, crypto, slots.”
When asked which of those, besides being a single dad, describes him the most, he responded, “XXX. But it’s not what you think.”
Get your minds out of the gutter, people, because it isn’t what you think.
XXX is a philosophy Anthony lives by. He explains, “XXX relates to a theme of straight-edge philosophy. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. I live a very disciplined lifestyle. I’m very focused on my things and goals in life.”
This philosophy helps him remain dedicated to the things he is passionate about. It allows him to wear the many hats he enjoys wearing and stay present and attentive to his kids.
XXX on the surface seems at odds with his roles of semi-professional poker player and PlayUSA Twitch star. Anthony disagrees.
“Some people think that online gambling is just throwing your money away. If you’re very disciplined with your actions, and you play within your limits, you can have a lot of fun and even make some money.”
To help people understand, Anthony uses golf as an example. “How many times do people get paid back for playing golf? Zero, right? They just enjoy doing it. It’s all about bankroll management – whether online gambling or playing golf. You play when you can afford it.”
With the rise in popularity of livestreaming content, it seems as if everybody believes they can stream their way to fame.
It takes more than showing up and playing a few slots to turn fame into a fortune – or at least enough to keep your lights on. It takes some skill, a little bit of luck and an off-the-charts personality.
Just like any job, there are challenges and a learning curve. And while Anthony has the personality part down, the technical skills part of the job he’s still trying to figure out.
“I’m not super technical, and I’m still learning – a lot. When I first started streaming, I paid someone to do my full setup. I knew I wanted to stream, but I didn’t really know what that meant. It’s coming together pretty good, though.”
PlayUSA pays Anthony to play various online slots and live dealer casino games on its Twitch channel. As part of his job, not only does he manage the technical stuff, but he is encouraged to create unique ways to engage the audience.
The key to success, Anthony says, is “multitasking.” Apparently, a great set up doesn’t hurt either.
“I have three large screens that I run off,” Anthony elaborates. “I call it my command center. My monitor has two additional monitors connected to it. It helps me separate everything so I can monitor the chat, run the games, and award the prizes to the audience. Oh, and play the games, too.”
The job is pretty much what Anthony expected. However, there is one thing that still surprises him.
“I’ve actually had a lot more fun with the slots than I thought. And I’m doing better on them, too. I’m still trying to figure out what three stars equals,” Anthony said laughing. “There’s a lot more to figure out when your jackpot actually hit. I’m not sure I realized how much fun playing the slots would be.”
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Visit Golden NuggetAnthony has been streaming online slots and live dealer games for over month. During that time, he has developed a liking to live-dealer Roulette because he feels it is his strongest game outside of poker.
“I know Roulette frontwards and backward,” Anthony explains. “Long-term, the game is random. But with the human element of a real dealer, there is an actual edge if the dealer is someone that’s done it over and over again.”
“A Roulette dealer can spin the ball so many times a day, and he’s doing it at the same speed. You can watch and see where they’re putting the ball down and make some educated guesses based on past patterns where the ball will land.”
Anthony may not be new to online gambling because he has been playing online poker for a while now. He is new, however to online casino games.
Anthony remembers what it is like to be new and feeling hesitant to start because you don’t want to mess up. He shared some advice with us.
“Online casinos have demos of everything. Start by practicing with play money. And of course, come hang out with me, or any of the guys on Twitch and watch us play. Ask us questions, that’s what we’re there for.”
“Then when you feel comfortable, play at the lower stakes. Going back to bankroll management, set a limit and play because you want to have fun.”
There is another side to Anthony that we haven’t mentioned yet. We were saving the best for last. Anthony puts a lot of importance on giving back.
It started after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast back in 2005. He went down and worked with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes. Since then, he tries to plan a volunteer trip every year. Last year, he went and helped out in Houston after the floods and this year is looking forward to working with Habit for Humanity.
Whether he’s a dad, livestreamer, or philanthropist, Anthony has a lot of balls in the air. Keeping them from falling has to be a big challenge. So, what’s his secret?
“A lot of caffeine. Again, going back to my lifestyle, I try to eat pretty well. I work out almost every day. I keep my energy levels pretty high. And I’m very good at power napping, squeezing in 15-, 20-minute naps when I can. But seriously, it’s the caffeine.”
Bottom line, Anthony boils his success down to proper time management and keeping everything scheduled. Making time is easy when you do the things you love and are passionate about.
Besides his great personality, you can expect a lot of trivia games on Anthony’s livestreams.
“I love trivia. I’m like a Jeopardy! nerd. I’m sort of known as the trivia guy. Playing trivia seems to have connected with people and keeps them active in the chat. A great chat makes the stream more fun and interactive. It’s almost like they’re playing a game, too.”
Want to play some trivia with Anthony? Here is his upcoming PlayUSA Twitch schedule:
April 5 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)
April 11 at 9:30 p.m. (ET)
April 15 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)
April 26 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)
April 29 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)
The post Meat And Greet: EatAHoagie, AKA Twitch Streamer Anthony Cicali appeared first on Play USA.