Jul 02, 2008
North Carolina had high expectations when it came to a state gambling lottery. They expected people to spend large amounts of money and had lofty goals of how much money would be generated.
Today it was revealed that for the first time ever, the state has reached their goal for a fiscal year from the lottery. The fiscal year ended on Monday, and the North Carolina Education Lottery gave the state $350,012,385.
Jul 02, 2008
The NBA Finals are over and the Boston Celtics are champions of the world. Now all the rest of the teams are beginning their journey to try and dethrone the champs next year.
The free agent period in basketball has begun and some teams will be gambling on big name players to try and fill in their holes. Although not the big class that could be out there in a few years, this year's crop of free agents could still make an impact.
Jul 02, 2008
Las Vegas casinos apparently liked the results they received by bringing legal action against former basketball star Charles Barkley. Once Barkley paid his debt, they moved on to Adam Jones.
Now, the Wynn Las Vegas casino is going after another celebrity. Joe Francis made millions by gambling on half naked girls with his 'Girls Gone Wild' empire. Apparently, he lost a couple of those millions gambling at the Wynn and has not paid them.
Jul 02, 2008
The World Series of Poker is a grueling group of events that last for over a month. The Series takes place at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and is frequented by all of the top professional card players in the world.
The Main Event at the Series is the main draw, and on the eve of the commencement of the Main Event, players are preparing their final strategies in hopes of becoming the next poker legend.
Jul 02, 2008
The Las Vegas Sands Corp. is the largest casino company in the world. Even the biggest sometimes need some help. The company could be borrowing $7 billion to expand in the new gambling capital of the world, Macau.
The company has not confirmed the loan as of yet, but sources say that the deal will happen. The Sands Corp. will be looking to refinance debt and expand in Macau with the money from the loan.
Las Vegas Sands is in the middle of massive expansion.
Jun 18, 2008
Louisiana casino have been dealing with a lot of adversity over the past few years. Many of the state's casinos were devastated in Hurricane Katrina, and have taken a long time to recover.
The casino received some good news finally this month. Casino revenue has jumped ten percent in May over the previous month. At a time when many casinos in the country are seeing declining numbers, the news was good for Louisiana casinos.
Jun 18, 2008
The New York Mets went out and did what they felt was necessary in the off season to win a National League title. They added the best pitcher in the game in Johan Santana, and made a trade for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.
Now, less than a month away from the all star game, the Mets are a team in danger of falling out of the race for their own division, much less a National League Championship.
Jun 13, 2008
Children on the gambling floor is not an acceptable practice no matter what casino you are at in the United States. When a casino gets busted allowing children on the gambling floor, it usually means heavy fines are coming for the owner of the casino.
That is now the case for the owner of Philadelphia Park Casino and Racetrack. The owner, Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment Inc., has been hit with an $18,000 fine from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Jun 13, 2008
The Boston Celtics had one of the most dominating regular seasons in NBA history this year. They battled through the playoffs and arrived to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals.
Even after their great season, many people were gambling that the Lakers would win. Right now, the Celtics are in the process of making all those gamblers look foolish.
Boston came back from twenty four points down in game four to take a three to one series lead.
May 13, 2008
The Tropicana Casino and resort had some tough times after William J. Yung took over as the owner. Within a year, he had severely slashed his employees, and the casino was in rough shape in both appearance and revenue.
In December, Yung lost the rights to the casino after the owner was stripped of his gaming license by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Since then, the casino has been being run by former state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein.
May 13, 2008
Two journalists that helped to uncover illegal gambling that was taken place on soccer games within the Vietnamese government, have been arrested. They have not yet been charged, but authorities arrested them for writing false information.
Ministry employees were at the center of the scandal. Several government officials were convicted in the scandal. Nine people in total were convicted.
European soccer matches were the games being gambled on.
May 13, 2008
American Idol has once again traveled the country to try and find the most talented vocalists for their show. This week, there are only three of those finalists left, and they are singing tonight for two spots in the finale.
Next week, the two remaining finalists will go head to head to try and become the next American Idol. There will be a grand stage, and millions of people will be watching on television.
Apr 21, 2008
Indoor smoking laws are becoming the norm in states around the country. Legalizing casino gambling is also on the rise. With the economy slowing, casino operators are left to wonder whether it is the economy or the smoking bans that are affecting business.
The economy in the United States is putting many companies in financial difficulty. The ones that are surviving, are hanging on and cutting jobs by the day. Casinos around the country have been hurt by the economy.
Apr 21, 2008
Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world, that is no surprise to people any more. What might come as a surprise is just how far ahead of Las Vegas that Macau is.
The first quarter revenue numbers show that Macau is in a league of their own. They generated $3.8 billion for the first quarter. That is an increase of sixty two percent.
Las Vegas, on the other hand, is experiencing difficulty generating revenue.
Apr 21, 2008
The NBA playoffs are under way and the glamour teams of the league are favored to meet in the finals. The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, old rivals are favored to win their respective conferences.
The first games of their series' went as planned for the two teams. The Lakers took care of Denver by double digits in L.A., while the Celtics beat the Hawks in their first game.
Apr 21, 2008
The Russian government has in place a plan that would move existing casino operations to more remote parts of the country. The move was set to go into place before June of 2009.
That plan may now be delayed. Since announcing the plan, the government has received non stop requests from the industry, asking for an extension on the June deadline to move.
Up until now, the government has held strong on their stance, but that could be changing.
Apr 21, 2008
The Georgia Supreme Court today threw out the case of a couple who was suing the game show 'Deal or No Deal'. The case was brought on by the game show's 'Lucky Case Game'.
The lawsuit, which was brought on by Michael and Michele Hardin, claimed that the game violated the state's anti-gambling laws. The Supreme Court did not agree with the couple, and the case was thrown out.
Apr 13, 2008
Heavy rains have been ravaging the U.S. Southern Plains the past few weeks. The rains have caused flooding, which have now caused the Isle of Capri to close their riverboat casino in Mississippi.
The Isle of Capri has already been dealing with revenue loss across their fourteen casinos in the United States. For the first quarter, they have seen a loss of $13.9 million.
The closing of the casino in Natchez, Mississippi, will not help their financial cause.
Apr 13, 2008
South Carolina has laws in place that make their stance on gambling very clear. It is not allowed when dealing with card games. Dealing, is what has gotten seven people into trouble.
Seven dealers are facing much stiffer penalties than the over fifty people who were accused of playing in an illegal gambling poker game.
Mar 21, 2008
Usually, the first day of the NCAA tournament provides a few major upsets. Teams that have won smaller leagues upsetting teams from power conferences. Those upsets never came to fruition.
That leaves gamblers wondering if day two will be where one or more of these huge upsets will take place. Duke came the closest in day one to losing to an underdog. A game Belmont team took the Blue Devils all the way to the wire before losing.
Mar 21, 2008
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has been all over the national news while he was trying to bring new casino resorts to the state. After spending months putting together his proposal, it was shot down with a convincing vote from the state House.
While they did not close the door to expanding the state's gambling operation in the future. They did put it off for what looks like at least another year.
Mar 21, 2008
Casino gambling is big business with American Indian tribes. They have prospered by putting casinos in areas and watching as people flock to spend their money.
The Navajo Nation is apparently done with watching from the sidelines. The Window Rock tribe has plans to build the first casino for the tribe in New Mexico.
Feb 29, 2008
The European Commission has been busy as of late with gambling issues. They have now sent a final warning to two countries, the Netherlands, and Greece, over their gambling restrictions.
The two countries are being warned on different issues by the European Union. The Netherlands restraint on sports betting in regards to foreign competitors has drawn the attention of the EU.
Greece has a slightly different problem.
Feb 29, 2008
The lottery systems in most states were set up for additional money to be poured into the school systems in the state. When lottery numbers drop, however, it causes big problems for individual school districts.
The state of South Carolina has always funneled money from their lottery sales into the school system in the state. The lottery sales, however, have not been strong as of late, causing concern among local school districts.
Feb 29, 2008
The New York Giants have been crowned champions of the NFL season. They upset the Patriots and made a historic run to their title. They, however, are not favored to repeat as champions.
Several sports books have already posted betting lines for gamblers to pick which team will win next year's Super Bowl. New England is once again the favorite to get back, and win, the title next year. They are three to one favorites.
Feb 29, 2008
Roger Clemens is known as one of the best pitchers in baseball history. With his recent task to convince Congress that he never took steroids or human growth hormone, he also attempted to suggest that his accuser and former trainer, Brian McNamee, was lying. Unfortunately for Clemens, members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether Clemens committed perjury under oath when he denied any use of illegal drugs.
Feb 19, 2008
Andy Pettitte is an admitted cheater. While he tried to be as humble looking and sounding as possible, he could not sidestep an important question a reporter asked him Monday. Does he think he is a cheater?
The answer he gave, portrayed a person who was not trying to gain an edge, just a man trying to heal from injury. Unfortunately, no matter how humbled he appeared, the answer is still yes to him being a cheater.
Feb 19, 2008
The OTB was a solution to a problem, Back in the late sixties, illegal bookies were corrupting New York City. A referendum was passed that called for the creation of a legalized betting system. It was called the OTB(Off Track Betting).
Today, after thirty seven years of operation, OTB has decided that it is time to shut its doors for good. The decision is based primarily on the fact that there is not enough money to keep the betting operation running.
Feb 19, 2008
Louisiana casinos have had much pressure on them since Hurricane Katrina. They have been called upon to help get the state back on its feet economically. So far this year, they have responded.
The revenue numbers have come out for January, and state casinos won $199.8 million last month. That figure is higher than at the same period last year. January 2007 had the casinos winning $197 million.
The numbers were down from December, but that is typical of any year.
Jan 29, 2008
The public education systems around the country have received billions of dollars thanks to casino gambling, now presidents of universities in Illinois are hoping to bring the revenue generator to Danville.
Community college presidents around the state of Illinois have seen what revenue dollars from casinos have done in other areas, and they want some of that money for their schools.