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April 24, 2014

Paul Ivey The Poker Stud Faces Casino Lawsuits

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , , — OCE News @ 8:45 am

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic city is suing big time poker player Paul Ivey after claiming that he cheated to win a total of $9.6 million in baccarat. The Casino filed their charges against Ivey in federal court this past Tuesday and made headlines as Ivey is easily one of the most well known poker players in the world right now. According to the lawsuit, Ivey and a friend used a defect in the cards to their advantage so that they could arrange and sort the cards that were on the table while playing baccarat. This gave him the opportunity to cheat on four separate occasions that occurred between April and October of 2012 according to the casino.

The cards came from a Kansas City manufacturer, Gemaco Inc, and the cheating tactic supposedly employed by Ivey is called edge sorting which is a clearly illegal according to casino gambling regulations in New Jersey. Joe Lupo, the senior vice president for the Borgata Casino refused to comment on the ongoing legal matter and a lawyer for Ivey also would not comment on the lawsuit. Apparently the pattern on the back of the cards is not uniform therefore the defective cards can be sorted.

The cards each have small white circles in rows across the back that are supposed to be the top of diamonds cut off, but according to the Borgata Casino some of the cards only have a quarter of a diamond showing on them and others only have half a diamond on them. Therefore, players can sort out the possibilities of which cards might be which by simply paying attention to the diamonds. As a result the casino is also suing Gemaco Inc for manufacturing the defective cards. This is not the only lawsuit that Gemaco is facing right now as the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City is also suing the company.

According to the lawsuit issued against Ivey, Ivey and his friend would tell the dealer to flip the cards over in different manners depending on whether they thought the card was going to be a good card or a bad card. By keeping the good and bad cards separate Ivey was able to see after a few hands which of the cards had which designs on the back of them. He then was able to spot which cards were coming out of the dealer chute at will. Ivey also was smart enough to insist the cards be shuffled via an automatic shuffling machine because this does not change the alignment of the card so that he would still be able to see the defective edges of the cards.

This is not the first lawsuit against Ivey for cheating at baccarat. He also is facing a lawsuit in the High Court of Britain from Genting Group which claims he cheated them out of $12 million in a similar manner. Ivey has denied cheating in both cases. The star studded poker player has nine World Series of Poker bracelets and often calls himself the Tiger Woods of poker.

February 23, 2013

MGM Seeking To Re-Establish 50% Ownership In Borgata Once Again

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:17 am

The MGM Grand is looking to re-establish the 50% ownership that they previously had in the Borgata. However, three years ago the company agreed to surrender half of its ownership in the top casino in Atlantic City, rather than to cut ties with the family that has suspected links to Chinese gangsters. The Las Vegas company is now asking regulators in the New Jersey area to consider allowing it to keep its 50% stake in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The request was made in the petition to the Casino Control Commission, which was filed on Friday. MGM was asking for permission to reconsider its status, and see if it was fit to hold a license to a casino in the New Jersey area again. The company released a statement about the incidents shortly after.

“MGM Resorts International is, and always has been, committed to the highest standards of operation and regulatory compliance,” the company said. “If our petition is successful, we would welcome the opportunity to once again be an active, contributing member of the New Jersey gaming marketplace through our 50 percent ownership of Borgata.”

The MGM originally reached an agreement with the gambling enforcement division in March of 2010. It was instructed to sell half of its current interest at the time in the Borgata, because the company was not faith deemed to continue to hold at stake in the casino. The Atlantic Casino market plunged in 2008, just like it did in Las Vegas. Currently, the other half of the stake in the company is owned by Boyd Gaming, and they are not keen to selling the rest of the property back to the MGM. In the petition to the New Jersey regulatory bodies, the MGM spelled out several changes that it has made to its structure in order to justify them keeping their half state ownership in the casino. The MGM Macau is a casino that has fallen under a lot of scrutiny as of late, and its connections to Chinese gangsters as well known. MGM argues that they are no longer connected to those individuals in that they now control the Board of Directors, and have the ability to break any ties with the individuals that once cause them to be kicked out of their stake in the Borgata.

“Stanley Ho is 91 years old and his health has declined precipitously in the last three years,” the company wrote in its petition. “Since July 2009 Stanley Ho has divested most of his business interests,” including a company in which his daughter is now the controlling shareholder.”

It will be interesting to see how the regulatory body response to the petition that the company put forward. Although it is thought that they will turn it down, there were some interesting points that were put forward in the petition, and the regulatory body is going to be considering it in the coming weeks. If approved, the MGM will be able to reestablish their 50% stake in the company, despite the hardships that they have felt as of late.

February 21, 2013

New Jersey Casinos To Offer Bet Placing From Hotel Rooms For First Time

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 3:16 am

If you have ever had a casino and wish that you could place bets straight from the comfort of your own bed, you might be in luck. A casino recently announced that they are going to be giving that exact feature to patrons of their casino and hotel. It was announced that at The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, patrons of the hotel are going to be able to place bets from the comfort of their bed, utilizing their remote control and television set, starting on 18 February. This casino will allow guests with players cards to set up electronic accounts, and that up to $2500 per day, from the comfort of their hotel room. There will be slots available to them, as well is four different types of video poker, as the first games offered, and the company is expected to expand their offerings at some point in the near future. The casino also said that in the future they would like to expand their offerings to include handheld devices which would allow the patrons of the hotel to continue to gamble while they are walking around the location. It is not that this will give the patrons of the casino more opportunity to gamble, and the casino itself the ability to attract new business to the area on a more regular basis.

“This puts us in a position to leverage the technology into true mobile gaming and Internet betting later on,” said Tom Balance, the Borgata’s president and chief operating officer. “We’re moving forward with the future of gaming, and this is that first step.”

John Forelli, who is the casino’s vice president of information technology, stated that the technology had been design not only as an added amenity, but one that they thought could become a core marketing point for the company. They are preparing for the day when Internet wagering, and online gambling becomes acceptable, after either the states begin to pass their own legislation, or the federal authorities begin to pass their own as well. He went on to say that he did not expect the in room gambling to completely do away with the in person gambling at the physical locations.

Recently, the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie vetoed an Internet gambling bill, but went on to say that he would be willing to sign another one that came across his desk of some moderate changes to the bill was made. It will be interesting to see if online gambling becomes the norm over the course of the next decade, with many different companies scrambling to offer their own online solutions. With The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City developing their own hotel room gambling solutions and handheld devices, you can expect to see the space continue to grow over the course of the next two years and offer a high-quality service to many different people.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City is establishing their presence, as they prepare for online gambling to come to New Jersey, likely when the next bill reaches Gov. Chris Christie’s desk.

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