Gaming News 

Reno. Pinnacle Entertainment is selling the Boomtown Casino in Reno to M1 Gaming for $22.2 million. Despite Pinnacle being headquartered in Las Vegas, Boomtown was the company’s only Nevada property.

New York. By all accounts, the opening of the Resorts World casino in New York City was a rousing success. Lines estimated at a mile long formed to enter on opening day.

Massachusetts. With gambling legislation now passed in Massachusetts, casino hopefuls are lining up for a crack at the market. Caesars Entertainment Corp., Hard Rock, Ameristar, Penn National, and the Mohegan Sun tribe are among the groups jockeying for position.

Florida. Continuing to lobby to build the world’s largest casino in Miami, Genting Group released the results of a study predicting that three such casinos in South Florida could generate between $4.5 billion and $6 billion in gambling win, making it potentially bigger than the Las Vegas Strip, which generated $5.7 billion in 2010.

Louisiana. Voters in Bossier City have approved a $195 million Margaritaville-themed casino with 400 hotel rooms, 1,275 slots, and 38 table games. Completion is scheduled for May 2013.

Casino Secrets by Larry Mak

Gambling terms and origins

Beat the House. During the American colonial period, a “house” referred to a merchant’s place of business. And a customer who could talk a merchant into “giving him a better price could literally boast that he had “beaten the house.” In today’s usage, “house” refers to a place of business (on the house), a place of entertainment (bring down the house), and a gambling establishment (house odds).

Big Bertha. The name given to those giant dollar slot machines usually found near casino entrances. In World War I, Big Bertha referred to the huge long-range cannon used by the Germans to shell Paris. It was produced by the Krupp Works in Essen, Germany. The name was bestowed on the gun by the Krupp family in honor of Frau Bertha von Bohlen, head of the Krupp family. Today Big Bertha is used to describe any tool or machine that is large or cumbersome. Hence, the Big Bertha slot machine.

Bingo. In the U.S., Bingo was originally called Beano and was commonly played at county fairs and carnivals. A caller would draw numbered discs from a cigar box, and players would use beans to cover the numbers that were called out. In December of 1929, New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe happened to watch a game of Beano being played at a carnival near Jacksonville, GA. During the game a winner accidentally yelled Bingo!—instead of Beano! Seeing the game’s potential as a crowd pleaser and money maker, Lowe changed the name of the game from Beano to Bingo. And with the help of a math professor from Columbia University, Lowe made Bingo the game we know today.

Las Vegas. In the 1830s, Las Vegas served as a watering stop and comfort station for Spanish pack trains along the Old Spanish Trail (Santa Fe, NM, to Los Angeles). It was prized for its lush meadows, watered by a creek that rose from a series of bubbling springs. Las Vegas in Spanish means “the meadows.” From the full Spanish name, Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de Las Vegas (Our Lady of Sorrows of the Meadows).

One-armed Bandit. In the Old West, two professional bandits were playing a rigged slot machine. After losing heavily, one crook said to the other, “Boy, with a machine like this, you don’t need a gun to hold up anyone.” Yeah,” replied the other crook. “And it only has one arm too!” Here’s a less colorful but more plausible origin. In the 1930s, a slot machine operator was arrested and tried for operating a gambling device. The judge, when sentencing the man, referred to the slot as a one-armed bandit. And the name stuck.

Video. In Latin, “video” is a verb form meaning “I see.” Its use in a video game refers to the computer-generated images of cards, cartoon characters, and ghostly hands that a player sees displayed on a viewing screen. The sound and musical effects produced by a slot are referred to as “audio.” From the Latin “audio,” meaning “I hear.”

Earned by an Atlantic City Casino Resort

Iron Chef Builds an Empire

Jose Garces, who has been parlaying his status as an Iron Chef on the Food Network to build a dining empire, will open three restaurants at Revel Atlantic City, the $2.4 billion megacasino scheduled to open in the spring. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the project catapults Garces, already the city’s most prominent celebrity chef, to yet another level. Few restaurateurs have grown as quickly as Garces, 39, who opened Amada, on Chestnut Street, in 2005, and won his national television deal nearly two years ago. Construction is under way on supersized versions of his Old City Spanish tapas restaurant, Amada, and his Rittenhouse Square pub, Village Whiskey, as well as a taco stand, based on his Guapos Tacos truck, next to Revel’s gaming floor. Revel, being erected on the beach at New Jersey Avenue and due to open fully by May 15, will have eight other restaurants.

Caesars is Awarded

Caesars Atlantic City has been awarded the esteemed AAA Four Diamond Lodging designation. This is the first AAA Four Diamond designation for the center Boardwalk casino resort and only the second hotel in Atlantic City to earn the prestigious accolade. Lodgings at this level feature upscale accommodations. They typically offer an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail. Caesars Atlantic City is part of a select group within the hospitality industry. For 2011, 1,349 lodgings and 756 restaurants received the Four Diamond Rating. These 2,105 establishments account for just 3.6 percent of the total 59,000 AAA Approved and Diamond Rated lodgings and restaurants across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. “We are honored to receive the valued AAA Four Diamond Rating,” said Don Marrandino, Eastern Division President for Caesars Entertainment. “At Caesars in Atlantic City, we are committed to providing excellent hospitality and a memorable accommodations experience that exceeds guest expectations. The Four Diamond Rating acknowledges the hard work and dedication of our staff.”

Football Challenged Launched

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa launched its own version of the $1 million “Pick the Pros Football Challenge,” which The Press of Atlantic City says is the longest running football challenge in Las Vegas history. Borgata gave away $1 million in cash and Bonus Slot Dollars during the 17-week NFL season, including $55,000 per week—$30,000 which was cash—to those who had the highest number of winning picks. Another $25,000 in Bonus Slot Dollars was awarded in random drawings to 500 winners per week. Caesars Entertainment launched its Total Touchdown Pick ’Em promotion that was similar to Borgata’s, with people testing their football knowledge for a chance to win up to $1 million through the course of the NFL season. Prizes were awarded weekly as well as cumulatively at the end of the season and ranged from cash to food and beverages.

Casinos Outside AC?

Asbury Park Press reports that despite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s opposition to allowing casinos outside Atlantic City, bills introduced in the state Legislature have the potential to bring slot machines to state racetracks. The sponsor, Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, R-Ocean, concedes the proposals would be stronger with Christie’s support, but Dancer has an end-around plan, as there have been no signals from the governor that he’ll drop his opposition. One of Dancer’s bills is a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to establish slots gambling at racetracks. Christie could fight the measure only to a certain point, but would be out of the game if the issue went to a referendum. Then it would only need approval by voters.

Not all Video Poker is the same

By Henry Tamburin

Look at the following two pay schedules for two different video poker games. Which game would you play and why?

(Note: The payouts are per coin played.)

I would bet dollars to doughnuts the majority of video poker players would play the game with the pay schedule listed in the first column. Why? Because most players are attracted to the video poker games that have bigger payoffs for four-of-a-kind hands (which is the case for the game in column one vs. column two).

Let’s take a closer look at the two pay schedules. Besides the game in column one paying more for four-of-a-kind hands it also pays more for a paying straight (5 coins vs. 4 coins). Thus far, it looks like column one has the better pay schedule, but hold off just a second. Glance down to the payoffs for two pair and what do you see? A one-coin payoff for column one and two coin payoff for column two. No big deal you say, well, guess what? It is a big deal.

Deciding which video poker game to play based on how much four-of-a-kind hands pay is not the right way to go about selecting a video poker game. What ultimately determines which game you should play is the game’s expected return (or ER). The ER is a percentage that tells you what the expected theoretical return is for a game (if you play every hand correctly over millions of hands). You won’t find the ER listed on video poker machines. However, it is readily available in books, strategy cards, and video poker sites on the internet. If you don’t know what the ER is of the game you are playing in a casino, you shouldn’t be playing it. Generally, the greater the ER, the better the game is for the player.

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer…the game in column one is Double Bonus Poker and the game in column two is Jacks-or-Better (or sometimes called Draw Poker). Both are popular games that you’ll find on video poker machines. The ER for the Double Bonus game in column one is 97.8% whereas for the Jacks-or-Better game in column two, it’s 99.5% (assuming the royal flush pays 1,000 coins for max coins played). You might think that difference in percent is not a big deal but it really is if you’re serious about winning. Your goal should be to play only video poker games that have the highest ER in a casino (and the casino manager isn’t going to tell where these games are located…it’s up to you to find them and play them).

Using strategy cards and video poker training software are two tools that can help any player (even a beginner) play video poker like a pro. You shouldn’t even think about playing video poker unless you use these tools to optimize your game.

(Note: You can read more about video poker strategy cards and training software in my web store on www.smartgaming.com.)

Henry Tamburin is the editor of Blackjack Insider Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com), Lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack Course (www.goldentouchblackjack.com), and host of www.smartgaming.com. For a FREE three-month subscription to his blackjack newsletter, go to www.bjinsider.com/freetrial.com. To receive his FREE Casino Gambling Catalog, call 1-888-353-3234 or visit www.smartgaming.com.

Lucky Lotto News  A Community Collects Some Lottery Winnings

Scammers Busted

Yahoo has been awarded $610 million in a court judgment against scammers who tricked people into believing they had won prizes in a lottery Yahoo was running, the company announced. According to Mashable.com, Yahoo filed the lawsuit in 2008, after a Nigerian and Thai group invented the fake lottery scam to steal users’ passwords and other personal data, including credit cards and Social Security numbers. In the lawsuit, Yahoo alleged that nearly 11.7 million emails were sent from December 2006 to May 2009, promising a lottery prize to the receivers. The $610 million would definitely be good for Yahoo, but it’s unlikely the company will ever collect the money from the ID thieves, as they will probably be hard to find. “Yahoo takes the protection of its users and its brand very seriously. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that users continue to trust Yahoo as the leading U.S. email provider,” said Christian Dowell, the company’s legal director of globe brand protection.

A Presidential Win

A Virginia Beach woman says she dreamed about chatting with President Barack Obama, so the next day she played his birthday—Aug. 4, 1961—in the Cash 5 daily lottery game. Simone Christian felt so strongly about it that she bought two tickets with those numbers, so when they hit she received $200,000 instead of the game’s top prize of $100,000. The winning numbers were 1, 4, 6, 8 and 19. As if that wasn’t sweet enough, Virginia Lottery officials told the Virginian-Pilot that Christian and her husband, Stanley, also won the game’s top prize in 2006. Christian says she has no plans for the winnings.

Pet Excrement Lotto

Officials in New Taipei City say that more than 4,000 people have collected 14,500 bags of pet excrement. For each bag they turned in, they were given a lottery ticket. The BBC reports that the lottery has been credited with halving the amount of dog mess in the city, which is near the capital. Some lottery winners have already been announced. A woman in her 50s won the top prize—a gold ingot worth US$2,200. She is among a team of neighborhood volunteers who already helped to clean up the streets, including picking up dog mess. Smaller gold ingots, worth several hundred dollars, were given to four other prizewinners. A total of 85 people won prizes, including household appliances.

Another Instant Win

An Atlanta man has won a $1 million prize for the second time in three years playing an instant lottery game, according to Georgia Lottery officials. Delma Kinney, 51, won a $1 million prize playing the Georgia Lottery’s instant game Super Millions. In 2008, Kinney won $1 million playing another instant game. The single father of three set aside a portion of his winnings for his children’s college educations. Kinney said he plans to donate a portion of his most recent win to charity. “I was just out and stopped for cold medicine,” Kinney explained. “I sat in the car with the ticket, and when I saw the matching numbers, I knew.” Super Millions is a Georgia Lottery instant game with cash prizes of up to $5 million.

Super Slots by Gayle Mitchell

The 2012 slots have arrived and this series offers a peek at the slots playground of the future. Part 2 focuses on the now brand name merger of Atronic/Spielo.

Atronic and Spielo commercial casino line-up includes exciting linked, progressive, and community games, as well as player-tested cabinets, proven core game titles, hot new family brands, and flexible systems solutions.

Featured products and updates are:

Deal Or No Deal Join’N Play is an entertaining, fully-themed linked community game that offers a unique time-based Community Bonus that is guaranteed for qualified players. Rich with features, challenges and surprises that every player will find irresistible, Deal Or No Deal Join’N Play also includes an innovative multiplier sixth reel, the max-bet-activated Howie Jackpot, and three base game Mystery Bonuses.

Towering above the rest of Slots 2012 Atronic games is the new King Kong Passion Slots 3-Reel that will attract players with the iconic presence of King Kong, a unique Buy-a-Feature option, multi-level progressives, and the exciting fourth reel King Kong Bonus, where players climb up the building and enter various Pick-a-Prize bonuses.

In Wild Wild Wranglers, the Extreme Stacks stacked reels combined with 243 Ways to Win scatter prize can lead to big wins and bigger excitement.

Goldify is a new customizable game where players choose their experience and volatility. Players touch any one onscreen symbol, regardless of its value, and it turns to gold, awarding 5X the line wins.

For volcanic action with standalone progressives that are guaranteed to hit, Cash Eruption will attract progressive players who can increase their chances of winning with bigger bets. A Pick-a-Prize Tiki bonus reveals frequent progressive multipliers from 2X, 3X, or 5X, while new classic base game bonuses add to the fun.

Mermaid’s Spell is a compelling rapid hit 8-level linked progressive multi-game that will mesmerize players. Featuring three distinct titles– Great Reef, Magic Lagoon, and Bay of Fortune, Mermaid’s Spell enables players to select enchanted symbols for re-spins and increased chances at the progressives.

Atronic has introduced diversity with titles of Amazing Amber, Pure Purple, and Gambling Green. Combined with Royal Red and Brilliant Blue, this diversity option offers a variety of 10 games grouped into categories that can be selected by players via touch screen. Diversity allows players to select their preferred game types with different volatility levels.

Based on the wildly popular Cash Fever progressive link, Hot and Wild is the industry’s first multi-level, multi-game, multi-hit progressive linked gaming concept, where each of the four jackpots is subsequently won when player reaches a specific temperature during the bonus games.

Thrilling new core games include Cash Royale featuring the high-paying Royal Card Bonus; 3 Monkeys, with a random bonus trigger and large bonus multipliers, as well as the Monkey Re-Spin Bonus; Magic Pharaoh, where top symbols act as horizontal expanding wilds.

Next time, we will move into Aristocrat territory where the spectacular creativity continues.

Gayle Mitchell’s website is www.gamerisms.com, the games glossary-quiz site for passionate players.

What Happens in Vegas Is reported to the I.R.S.

Agents of the Internal Revenue Service are meeting informally with casino employees, asking them to voluntarily report suspicious activity.

Liz Benston broke the story in the August 5, 2010 Las Vegas Sun. But, so far, the idea that the IRS would ask casinos to turn in some of their best customers has received little national attention. Perhaps this is because gaming operators are already required to spy and report on their high-rollers.

Tax authorities dislike legal gambling. They know that many players will not voluntarily report their winnings.

So, they enacted laws and regulations to require casinos, race tracks, Bingo halls, card clubs and state lotteries to become agents of the federal government. The U.S. Congress passed laws requiring gaming operators to withhold and forward to the IRS part of certain big winnings, to make sure taxes get paid.

But the IRS went even further, requiring operators to report certain big winners, even when no taxes were withheld.

Tax revenue is still the number one priority of the IRS. But federal prosecutors and investigators also know that businesses that routinely deal with large cash transactions can also be useful for spotting criminal activity.

Over the last 25 years, the federal government has greatly expanded the duty of casinos to report large or suspicious transactions. The result has been a turning on its head of American law.

Unlike many European countries, the United States does not have a history of “good Samaritan” laws. Just as Americans are normally under no duty to rescue a person in trouble, they are not required to report crimes being committed, even when they can do so with no danger to themselves.

American law normally does not require sellers to know where their buyers got their money. Without a special statute or regulation, a casino is under no duty to verify that a player is gambling with honestly obtained funds. In fact, a casino executive would normally not be required to report a customer even if he knew the player was using ill-gotten gains.

Of course, intentionally helping a criminal is another matter.

It has always been against the law for a casino employee to help a high-roller launder money. The crime is called conspiracy, usually a felony, and consists of agreeing with another person to commit some other crime. There must be an actual agreement, although it need not be words on paper, or even words at all. Certainly, a nod of the head would be enough.

The law also imposes criminal liability on anyone who intentionally helps another commit a crime. This is commonly known as aiding and abetting, accomplice liability or complicity. But where conspiracy is a separate crime, aiding and abetting is merely a way of making the accomplice liable for crimes someone else has committed. So, helping a crook launder money makes the accomplice guilty of the crime of money laundering.

The feds sometimes have trouble separating true money laundering from gambling. The examples used to impose currency reporting requirements on casinos included Antonio Cruz Vasquez, a major heroin distributor, who “lost almost $3 million at the gambling tables during a two-year period that ended in December, 1977.” As I wrote in my 1986 book, Gambling and the Law, “Losing $3 million shows that he was gambling: a money launderer only makes token bets to cover his exchange of dirty money for clean.”

Ironically, it was the Administration of conservative Republican Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on getting government off the backs of citizens, which imposed those currency reporting requirements on casinos, in, appropriately, 1984.

So, casinos have been required to file CTRCs, Currency Transaction Reports Casinos, on cash transactions over $10,000 for 25 years. For a while, Nevada had an exemption, Regulation 6A, which still required reports be filed with state officials. Nevada’s representatives were able to convince the Reagan Administration that if a patron won, say, a $20,000 jackpot, then we know it is not drug money.

After 9/11, the feds took over completely. It took years for Treasury to get rid of CTRCs on large slot machine jackpots, even though these were already being reported to the IRS for tax withholding.

And government investigators realized data from legal gaming could be mined for even more information. The federal Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FINCen) imposed a requirement that casinos act as police officers, and report mere suspicions that a crime had taken place.

The form is SARCs, Suspicious Activities Report by Casinos, and it differs significantly from CTRCs. CTRCs require casinos to ask the patron for two forms of identification. It is actually against the law for a casino to tell a patron that a SARC has been filed on him.

CTRCs are triggered by an actual cash transaction of more than $10,000. There is normally a minimum of $5,000 for SARCs. But the casino is required to file a SARC if it knows, or suspects, or even has reason to suspect, that a transaction involves funds derived from illegal activities.

A casino will be fined if no SARC is filed when an executive has an actual suspicion, or with 20/20 hindsight when the casino employee should have had a suspicion.

The IRS is now pushing for more. A SARC does not have to be filed for 30 days. The IRS wants casino employees to call, now, when they think a patron is playing with stolen money.

Obviously, there is a conflict of interest, especially with casino hosts, whose livelihood depends on keeping high-rollers happy. Reporting your best customers to the IRS is not a way to make friends. But failure to do so could lead to being fired by casino bosses who don’t want fines, or even heat, from Treasury.

About the only good news for casino executives is that a federal law gives whistle-blowers complete protection from civil suits, even when they are wrong. So, at least making that call on the whale with bundles of cash won’t result in a nasty lawsuit by the actually innocent high-roller. It just means he will take his business to Macau or Singapore.

© I. Nelson Rose, Encino, California. All rights reserved worldwide. Gambling and the Law® is a registered trademark of Professor I. Nelson Rose. His latest books, Internet Gaming Law (1st and 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials, are available through his website, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com.

Same Seats

An hour passed before someone got up. By then, I could come up with ten reasons not to move. Good ones, starting with not wanting to be that guy who is always on the prowl for the ideal seat at the room’s best table. That guy, to me, always marks himself as someone who is primarily there in hopes of beating the game. I try not to come across as that guy. I try to appear like I’m there to have fun, which isn’t hard because, basically, I am. Of course, one move away from the dealer would hardly show up on anyone’s radar. My other reasons are a little better. I’d be moving behind an aggressive player or I’d be getting stuck in the middle of a couple frequent raisers. I can always rationalize how where I already am has an advantage over where I’d be going, and when that gets hard, I fall back on my hypothesis that a poker player who toughs it out through dire circumstances might lose money in the short run, but gains poker wisdom that will pay off in the long run.

The first time I ever played Pai-Gow Poker, I hit a royal flush. I used the bonus card, so I didn’t think it was that unusual, even though the seasoned Pai-Gow player next to me told me, and kept telling me, it was. I was having a good old time winning or pushing almost every hand. I was running hot, I guess, but when the food I’d ordered came, I left the table to eat. The pit manager offered to keep dealing me in and said she’d play my hands for me while I ate. I laughed. I thought she was pointing out what a good run I’d had with a joke, but she was completely serious. I couldn’t imagine why I would want to pay for her to play cards. I might as well drop a couple hundred bucks off at a casino, go to a movie, and come back and pick up what’s left of my money. But she didn’t think of that suggestion, right then. That probably began as a player request they got frequently enough that they decided to start accommodating it.

I think about that in terms of poker because I believe those tendencies that are strong among some players exist in all players, even the ones who don’t believe in lucky runs and always play the percentages. I was able to recognize that my win streak was due solely to chance. It was no more likely to end if I took a break and enjoyed my lunch and no more likely to continue if I had the dealer play for me. I know that, but the thought entered my mind that I might hit another one of those big hands during lunch. Thoughts like that enter my mind constantly while I’m playing poker. I might flop a straight with this rag hand if I called that guy raising with aces. My ability to resist those urges makes me a better player, but I’m not immune to them.

When I visit a casino, I plan for a relaxing weekend. I envision some strolls through the casino. I look forward to taking a shot at catching a quick run at a blackjack table and a few attempts to hit my favorite number at roulette. I get there and make a sound decision to only play poker. There’s no chance to gain an edge in those other games. If I play poker and play well, I have the opportunity of a winning outcome. I don’t want to cut into that by indulging in games of chance. So I stay at the poker tables, and I’m enjoying my weekend, just as I’d planned, but am I playing my best if I’m still sitting in the same seat, next to the dealer, after twenty hours? And it’s not just me, because plenty of times, I’ve looked up and seen people across from me who were in those same seats when I sat down.

Greg Hershel, c/o the Bingo Bugle, P.O. Box 527, Vashon, WA 98070 or send an email to HershelAA@aol.com.