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Not Rain Nor Sleet Nor Snow Will Stop Penn National From Acquiring Pinnacle

The winter weather of Keystone State strikes again.

Once again, the mini-casino auction scheduled this week did not go off. The March 21 meeting was rescheduled after inclimate weather prevented people from making it to Harrisburg. As a result, the next auction date is April 4.

It will be the first one of the subsequent auction round. In this round, Category 3 properties and companies who already bought a mini-casino license are open to bid on another location.

While the auction did not occur, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) did hold a meeting. During that time, representatives from Pinnacle Entertainment and Penn National appeared to offer an update on Penn’s acquisition of Pinnacle.

More on the Pinnacle and Penn National business

Both Pinnacle and Penn National presented extensive testimony about the acquisition. While there were some questions regarding Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approval of the deal and a possible regional monopoly, the companies assured the deal is not in jeopardy.

At the conclusion of the meeting, PGCB approved the transfer of The Meadows Casino from Pinnacle to Penn National. Penn National is now in control of both The Meadows and Hollywood Casino as well as a forthcoming Category 4 mini-casino.

PGCB issued the following statement about its approval:

“The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this week approved the Change of Control of the Category 1 Slot Machine Licensee Washington Trotting Association, LLC, operator of The Meadows Casino in Washington County, to Penn National Gaming, Inc.

Under the agreement approved by the Board at its March 21, 2018 meeting, the license held since September 2016 by Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. will be transferred to Penn National Gaming, Inc., a publicly traded company based in Wyomissing, PA, and also the owner/operator of the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County.

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc., also based in Wyomissing, will continue to own the real estate of The Meadows Casino and lease the property to Penn National Gaming, Inc.”

As part of the deal, Penn National will pay $3.75 million to the state as a fee for transferring the license.

Other PGCB business includes DFS regs, but no skins

Even with the weather, PGCB did manage to check some other business off the to-do list. For example, the group signed off on daily fantasy sports regulations.

The group also okayed some preliminary regulations regarding online gambling of the casino and poker variety. These included:

  • Advertising
  • Game testing
  • Live dealer games like what currently runs in New Jersey

While those matters were on the agenda, one notable omission was a ruling on how many skins each online casino license can offer. Parx Casino is still lobbying hard for a limit of a single skin to each license. However, numerous groups, including those from the successful New Jersey online gambling industry, where multiple skins are allowed, are pushing for multiple skins.

Those with skin in the skin game won’t know anything until April 4 at the earliest. That is, unless more bad weather pushes back PGCB business another two weeks. Which could create quite the time crunch, since applications are available for online casino licenses starting on April 16.

The post Not Rain Nor Sleet Nor Snow Will Stop Penn National From Acquiring Pinnacle appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.

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UNLV Student Has A Solution To Remove Edge-Sorting From Casinos

Casinos may soon get access to new technology to fight back against the technique known as “edge sorting.”

Brittney Martino, a student at UNLV spent her time in a Gambling Innovation class developing a new type of card shoe that could make edge sorting impossible. She has now been granted a patent for her invention. The UNLV class has also produced a prototype model.

 

Phil Ivey brought edge sorting to the public eye

Edge sorting hit the headlines after poker legend Phil Ivey was accused of cheating when he used the technique at Crockford’s Casino in London and at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City.

With the help of an assistant called Cheung Yin Sun, also known as the “Queen of Sorts”, Ivey won nearly $20 million from the two casinos while playing  Baccarat.

Sun has an incredible visual acuity which allows her to identify tiny imperfections in the edge of cards. This information gave Ivey an advantage in knowing when high cards were next to be dealt from the shoe.

Ultimately the advantage came to nothing after the UK Supreme Court ruled in December 2017 that edge sorting was not a legitimate playing tactic and that “intervening with the process of the game” nullified their winnings. Ivey also lost his case against Borgata.

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The new shoe uses flashing lights to obscure the cards

The idea that Martino came up with is certainly ingenious. She proposed fitting the dealer shoe with a set of lights at the front plate of the shoe. The patent, USPTO 9,895,599, explains:

“The purpose of the light(s) is to overlay colors or tones and white background on the back of the playing card. The wavelength, pattern (e.g., discontinuous distribution of light) and intensity of the shone light being sufficient to reduce optical contrast of different colors and/or shades on the back of the first playing card. The pattern can disrupt visible perception of the actual pattern printed on the back of the playing card. The emitted/projected pattern may be significantly different from the printed pattern, or only slightly vary from the printed pattern to confuse optical/visible reading of the printed image.

The patent description goes on to state that the light color can be matched with the colors of the playing cards in use at the particular casino:

“Where the back of the card, for example, has red-and-white colors, the emitted light should be sufficiently red to color and blend the white into the red; when the back of the card is greenish, the emitted light should sufficiently match the green, and similarly with single colors or multiple colors on the backs of the cards and the emitters.”

Technology is playing an even larger role in countering fraud

In the UK case, the judge explicitly said that she didn’t believe that Ivey thought he was cheating. Ivey maintained that he was simply using his skill to get an advantage.

That wasn’t enough to win him the case because the judge ruled that even though there may have been no cheating, the action was an interference in the normal process of the game.

To be safe against any judgments that might go the other way, US casinos are actively deploying technology to ensure that what they deem to be cheating cannot take place.

Playing cards and chips can now be equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and camera technology advances mean that players can be monitored from a wide range of perspectives.

The old-school eye in the sky may still exist, but its days are numbered.

Martino said that she was surprised by the reaction she got from fellow students when she came up with her idea, but most of all she surprised herself:

“Let me add, not only did I not have much knowledge of the gaming industry, I’m also not an engineer.”

“Turns out there is value in being the jack of all trades. Recombine information in a “novel, useful, and non-obvious” (in the USPTO’s words) and you might just have something!”

The post UNLV Student Has A Solution To Remove Edge-Sorting From Casinos appeared first on Play USA.

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Poker Industry PRO: Business Monitor: 888 Holdings plc Q4 and FY 2017

 

Annual online poker revenue for 888 dipped 7.7% in 2017; however, the operator indicated during the presentation of its Q4 and final 2017 financials that it attributes the decline in large part to regulated market withdrawals in the second half of the year.

Online poker revenue in H2 accounted for only 45% of the total annual figure. As a point of comparison, in 2016, revenue was split evenly between H1 and H2.

Read the full article on pokerfuse →

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Someone In PA Won $456 Million Powerball Prize, It’s Unclear Who Though

One lucky Pennsylvania Lottery player bought a $456.7-million jackpot-winning Powerball ticket at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Lancaster County.

The ticket matched all five white balls, which were 22-57-59-60-66, and the red Powerball 07, to win the massive multi-state lottery jackpot.

The $456.7-million jackpot is the Pennsylvania Lottery’s biggest ever. Plus, it is the eighth-largest in Powerball history. The jackpot had been growing since January 10. In fact, there were 19 draws held prior to this past Saturday’s win.

The winner has yet to come forward and claim the prize. Of course, Lottery officials cannot confirm the winner’s identity until the prize is claimed and the ticket is validated.

Annuity or lump sum?

Whoever holds the winning ticket will be able to choose between accepting a $456.7 million annuity in 30 payments over the next 29 years, or a $273.9 million lump sum in cash.

The winner has one year from the date of the draw to claim the prize. Plus, the winner or winners will need to sign the back of the ticket, call a Pennsylvania Lottery office, and file a claim at Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County.

Pennsylvania Lottery officials announced Monday the ticket was sold at the Speedway on 675 Lancaster Road in Manheim. Additionally, the Speedway station will collect a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko congratulated everyone involved in a press release:

“I’m happy to congratulate Speedway for earning a $100,000 bonus for selling this huge winning ticket. I also want to congratulate the more than 113,000 other Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball players who won prizes of varying amounts in Saturday’s drawing, and thank everyone who played.

“This is largest jackpot the Pennsylvania Lottery has ever awarded as well as our state’s 18th Powerball jackpot. It seems that St. Patrick’s Day brought some great luck to this fortunate Powerball player and we are anxious to meet our big winner or winners.”

18th Powerball winner in PA Lottery history

The winner will be the Pennsylvania Lottery’s 20th multi-state jackpot winner. A total of 18 of those wins have come in Powerball since the Pennsylvania Lottery started selling tickets for the multi-state lottery in 2002.

Additionally, the two other jackpot wins came in Mega Millions. The Pennsylvania Lottery started selling Mega Millions tickets in 2010.

Powerball is one of the most popular lottery games in the country. Tickets are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Jackpots start at $40 million and have a reputation for growing quite large. In fact, the Pennsylvania Lottery’s recorded was $1.6 billion in January 2016. Three winners from California, Florida, and Tennessee split that record-setting jackpot.

The Pennsylvania Lottery got the go-ahead to start selling online lottery tickets as a part of gambling expansion laws passed by state legislators this past October. Pennsylvania Lottery officials announced March 14 online lottery sales will begin in May. However, at least at launch, there will be no online Powerball sales.

All Pennsylvania Lottery proceeds go to programs benefiting older residents. Ticket sales began in 1972. The Pennsylvania Lottery has contributed $28 billion to fund various programs for older residents since that time. These include:

  • Property tax and rent rebates
  • Transportation
  • Care services
  • Prescription assistance
  • Senior centers
  • Meals

Photo by  Boofoto / Shutterstock.com

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