Le Monde du Poker.

AppId is over the quota
October 07 2011, Brett Collson

Phil Hellmuth was name dropping again on Friday. This time, you probably won't recognize the name, but he's kind of a big deal. Former Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya is an avid poker player and apparently a friend of the Poker Brat. In other news, ESPN release its monthly edition of the Inside Deal, the World Series of Poker is hosting a charity event in France, and more.

In Case You Missed It

There were big headlines all week long and we're afraid you may have missed something. Catch up on the latest at Full Tilt Poker and find out the finalists for the 2011 Poker Hall of Fame in the PokerNews Weekly.

Brian "aba20" Townsend was back at the high-stakes tables at PokerStars this week and turned a nice profit. The Online Railbird Report fills you in on this week's biggest winners and losers.

Benny Spindler is the latest European Poker Tour champion. The German pro earned £750,000 by defeating Steve O'Dwyer heads-up at the Main Event in London this week, and PokerNews was on hand to witness all the action.

Phillip Gruissem went back-to-back at the EPT London High Roller on Thursday. Find out how it happened in our recap.

Last week, the Poker Player's Alliance met with the Department of Justice to stress the importance of Full Tilt Poker players getting their money back. PPA executive director John Pappas discussed how that meeting went.

The World Series of Poker Europe kicked off in Cannes, France, on Friday, and a lot has changed since last year. We take a look back at the 2010 WSOPE.

Sunday is almost here and that means football. Find out which NFL are for real through the quarter-way point of the season in the latest Pigskin Diaries.

Chamath Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist by day, but he's truly a poker player at heart. The former VP of Growth, Mobile and International at Facebook was recently featured in ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker during an impressive run through the Main Event. This week, his story was highlighted by the New York Times in an article that included a photo of Palihapitiya cozied up to a poker table — the same table that Phil Hellmuth has admittedly lost money playing at.

Palihapitiya, who left Facebook in June to start his own VC firm, told The Times that he shudders at the memory of wearing a buttoned-down shirt and pressed pants at work, favoring jeans and flip-flops. Yup, he's definitely a poker player.

Even though the article doesn't delve into his life as a competitive poker player, it's still a great read; especially since we expect Palihapitiya to be around the poker scene for a while.

Read the full story at the New York Times.

This month's edition of ESPN's Inside Deal was released on Thursday. Hosts Jon Anik, Bernard Lee, and Andrew Feldman discussed topics such as the Full Tilt Poker situation, the Poker Hall of Fame nominations, and more.

A final table was reached at the ANZPT Darwin $2,200 Main Event on Friday as nine players were left vying for a top prize of $36,480. Jack Drake extended his cheap lead one more day as he enters the final table with a slight advantage over Jonathan Dangio, the only non-Aussie to make the final nine. The native of New Caledonia owns 232,300 in chips, 41,000 short of the leader, but the top two stacks tower over the rest of the seven players at the final table.

The major story leading up to the final table was the ANZPT Player of the Year race between Leo Boxell and Danny Chevalier. The top two players in the standings were still alive with 18 remaining at Darwin, but Boxell's run ended when he lost a three-way all in with to the pocket fives of Jamie Hill. That opened the door for Chevalier to claim the POY honor with a top 10 finish, which he ultimately secured by coasting to the final table as a short stack.

Visit the PokerStars Blog for the full final table lineup.

Poker players are competing for millions of Euros at the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes, France, this month. But on Oct. 19, they'll have a chance to give back to those in need. The WSOP is running a charity poker tournament supporting the Model Citizen Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides a platform where people can donate backpacks with 150 items inside to underprivileged people around the world.

The event gets under way at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19 with a €240 buy-in and unlimited €100 rebuys for the first four levels, and players will have the option of a €100 add-on. In addition to the prize pool, the winner will receive a floating diamond watch.

PokerNews' Sarah Grant loves her WAG Diaries. While in London for the European Poker Tour, Sarah caught up with poker pro Angel Guillen to test his knowledge of girlfriend and PokerNews hostess, Lynn Gilmartin.

Are you following PokerNews on Twitter? Like us on Facebook while you're at it, and sign up for the newsletter. You know you want to.

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AppId is over the quota
October 05 2011, Elissa Harwood

Sure, you can spend your days speculating about the Full Tilt sale. But there's a whole gaming industry out there to worry about. If you're not at the Gaming Expo in Vegas, amuse yourself by reading about the Macau gaming operators' stock market slaughter, the anti-gaming legislation just passed in Kyrgyzstan, and the Riviera Holding Company's biblical sacrifice of one of its children to save the other.

Macau Gaming Stocks Plummet on Fears of Chinese Growth Slowdown

Macau year-over-year gaming revenue grew 39 percent in September. Awful. Time to sell your stocks and run for the hills. If Vegas posted those numbers, it would be cause for celebration. But for Macau, it was a sign the golden goose might be cooked. The growth compared with September 2010 was small next to August's 57 percent increase, July's 48 percent increase, and June's 52 percent increase.

Macau casino operators saw their stocks tank last week and the beginning of this week amid fears that growth of the Chinese economy is slowing and broader market declines will force Asian high rollers to cut their gambling budgets. Chinese stocks have fallen 21 percent in the last six months. There is also some concern that junket operators, who often extend credit to their clients, may be facing a liquidity crisis.

Sands China Ltd. fell 14 percent, its steepest decline since it was listed two years ago, and then continued to fall for the next two days. Wynn Macau Ltd. dropped 11 percent. MGM China Holdings Ltd. crashed 20 percent to its lowest price since it was listed in June, but gained back four percent by Tuesday. The Macau mini-panic caused Las Vegas Sands stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, to drop 5 percent, while Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell 7 percent on the Nasdaq exchange.

The stocks without American parent companies fell even more. SJM Holdings Ltd., gaming magnate Stanley Ho's company, plunged 26 percent, the most it has ever fallen. On Tuesday, SJM was up 2 percent from its lowest point. Melco International Development Ltd., half of the the team behind the Melco Crown and the owners of the Crown chain in Australia, fell 16 percent. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. fell 19 percent on Friday and dropped another 6 percent on Monday.

Hong Kong's Hang Sen Index closed at its lowest point since 2009 on Monday after recording its steepest quarterly fall since Sept. 11, 2001. In other words, there's not a lot of good happening in the Hong Kong market.

National Day is celebrated in China next week with a week-long holiday. Referred to as "Golden Week", the holiday has a major impact on revenue in Macau. Investors will be watching closely to see how the special administrative region's 34 casinos perform in the days to come.

For more bloody details, read Bloomberg's articles on Wynn Macau, Hang Seng, and Galaxy Macau.

Kyrgyzstan Outlaws Gambling, Forces Casinos to Close

If you were planning a gambling trip to Kyrgyzstan, you'll need to find a new destination. The country's parliament voted last week to ban gambling and forcibly shut the local casinos. Politicians warned that gambling had become a serious social problem, and unlike in most countries, there were no pro-gaming lobbies to defend the industry. The thousands of picketing casino employees had little impact. The law allows for a single gambling zone in the country but does not designate a location.

The only political opposition came from a few members of the Socialist party. "You should provide people with the work before prohibiting casinos," said Socialist party member Shirin Aitmatova. Hmm, an argument with which online poker players are familiar.

But despite the Socialist opposition to the bill, the voices proclaiming the dangers of Kyrgyz gambling were much louder. "We are talking about the fate of many families who are losing everything because of casinos," said Fatherland Party member Baktybek Dzhetigenov.

Once the law is signed by President Roza Otunbayeva, it will go into effect on Jan. 1. However, Otunbayeva may not sign it. She has been advocated for gaming restrictions but said an outright ban would be worse because it would drive the dangerous aspects of the industry underground. Presidential elections are scheduled for next month, so Otunbayeva may leave the bill for someone else to deal with. Allegations of unclear legitimacy have recently surfaced that Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, the leading presidential candidate, is involved in using casinos to launder money from drug trafficking. Atambayev has not responded to the rumors.

Visit BBC News for more.

Riviera Holdings Sells Black Hawk Riviera for $76 Million

Riviera Holdings Corp. is selling its Black Hawk, Colorado, property in order to focus its finances on the suffering Riviera Las Vegas. Monarch Casino & Resort Inc. bought the Black Hawk casino for $76 million. Riviera Holdings emerged from bankruptcy last spring thanks to financing from hotelier Barry Sternlicht.

"This transaction is a true win-win for everyone involved. Divesting the Black Hawk property allows us to focus on turning around the historic Riviera Las Vegas," said the CEO of Riviera Holdings, Andy Choy. "Additionally, the employees of the Riviera Black Hawk will have access to the resources they need to take that property to the next level."

Monarch also owns the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada. Monarch CEO John Farahi said the company was looking to diversify geographically and thinks it will be able to make a positive impact on Riviera Black Hawk's bottom line. The property brought in net revenue of $39.6 million during the last fiscal year, about half of Riviera Las Vegas' earnings. Only the Black Hawk location generated an EBITDA profit last year.

In response to the Black Hawk sale, Moody's Investors Service lowered its debt rating for Riviera Holdings Corp., but Standard & Poor's wasn't concerned by the transaction and didn't downgrade its rating of Riviera Holdings. Before the sale of the Colorado casino, the company had about $113 million in debt. It is not known how much of the sales proceeds Riviera Holdings will use to pay off debt.

VegasInc.com has more about the sale and what Moody's and S&P are thinking.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

*Photo courtesy of Destination360.com.

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AppId is over the quota
September 21 2011, Elissa Harwood

Not everyone is out to take your online deposits to pay their executive board. If you're tired of reading about the latest Full Tilt indictment drama, find out how other gaming companies are making bank the legal way. This week, European online gaming sites are excited about the opening of the German market, or at least 1/16th of it. Gary Loveman, Ceasars' CEO, is hoping he has the ear of the future POTUS, and now that the Sahara's owners also own their own debt, they can be creative about how to resurrect the old-Vegas landmark.

German State Votes to License and Tax Online Sports Betting and Poker

Schleswig-Holstein became the first of Germany's 16 states to relax its anti-online gaming stance when the state parliament voted 46-to-45 last week to allow sports betting and poker sites to operate in the state as long as they are established in the European Union. Germany has been debating what to do about online gaming since the European Union's high court ruled the country's national monopoly on gambling violated the Union's free trade laws.

Site owners must apply for an unlimited number of licenses and pay 20 percent of their earnings in taxes to the state. The Schleswig-Holstein law is far more favorable to gaming sites than those proposed by the other states. Some of the draft laws limit licenses to seven per location, and most call for a 17 percent tax on every bet placed rather than on gross profit.

Dirk Hundertmark, spokesman for the Christian Democrats in the Schleswig-Holstein Parliament, said he expected Schleswig-Holstein to collect between 40 and 60 million euros a year in taxes, mostly from sports book websites. Germany's sports betting market, most of which is illegal, is worth upwards of 5 billion euros ($7.2 billion.)

British online gambling operator Bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc saw its shares jump nine percent following news of the vote. Betfair Group Plc's stock moved up two percent. Both companies previously announced plans to apply for licenses in Schleswig-Holstein if the law passed. "We are now hopeful that the other 15 German states will make the regulated amendments to their proposed State Treaty, in order to bring it into line with EU law," Betfair said.

Read more from Bloomberg and Reuters.

Caesars' Loveman Named Huntsman Campaign Advisor

Caesar Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman was named to Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's business advisory council. Loveman, along with three other prominent executives, will help Huntsman craft policies on economic issues.

Loveman's appointment comes a week after he appeared on the "Nightly Business Report" on PBS to critique the speech President Barack Obama gave to discuss the administration's job creation efforts. On the show, Loveman said that Obama should have addressed the housing crisis as part of the speech. "If we don't stimulate the housing market properly, there's very little likelihood we'll see meaningful job growth," Loveman said. Although Loveman lives on the east coast, he spends plenty of time worrying about Las Vegas, one of the hardest hit housing markets in the country.

Huntsman, a former governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China, was the first Republican presidential candidate to present an economic plan, which earned the glowing Wall Street Journal endorsement, "better than anything so far from the GOP Presidential field." In addition to Loveman, Huntsman's business advisory council will include Nike Chairman Phil Knight and Tom Bell, former chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Huntsman chose John Mack, an executive chairman at Morgan Stanley, to head the council.

Loveman is not the only casino-industry exec to voice his GOP leanings. Steve Wynn has spoken out about his passionate dislike of the current administration, and Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., is a major Republican donor and fundraiser.

Get more campaign details in The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Sahara Owners Purchase Mortgage, Move Toward Redevelopment

The owners of the closed Sahara Hotel and Casino purchased the mortgage to the property last week in a move that gives the company more freedom to reinvent and eventually reopen the casino. Owners SBE Entertainment, known for its nightclub projects, and Stockbridge Real Estate Funds bought the debt from the primary lender, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc., for an undisclosed amount, likely at a steep discount. The mortgage was originally for $288 million when SBE and Stockbridge took it out to finance their acquisition of the Sahara for a total of $350 million.

"We've invested substantial new equity to acquire the note, allowing us complete flexibility to re-envision this property," said Sam Nazarian, CEO of SBE. His statement also said that SBE hired Gensler Architects, one of the firms that designed CityCenter, and PENTA Building Group "to evaluate a range of options for the property." Range of options is about as specific as the statement got. There were no hints about a timetable for reopening the Sahara or if SBE plana to remodel or implode the existing structure. Nazarian did make sure that the media was alerted to the forward step, however, a good sign that a plan is in the works.

The Sahara, the last remaining landmark from Rat Pack-era Las Vegas, closed in May after suffering through several years of recession and the decline of the north end of the strip.

VegasInc.com has more.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

*Photo courtesy of TimesLeader.com

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AppId is over the quota
September 14 2011, Elissa Harwood

This week, Inside Gaming scanned the globe to bring you the most interesting gambling-related business stories from around the world. And these stories have everything — government intrigue, eccentric financiers, dollar amounts with nine zeros after them, and even Black Friday, Latin American style.

Casinos in Ecuador Given Six Months to Shut Down

Brick-and-mortar casinos in Ecuador got a little more warning about their closure than American online poker players got on Black Friday, but last Friday's announcement giving Ecuadorian casinos six months to close their doors was still a shock. A referendum passed in May banning gambling in Ecuador, but casinos were told they'd be given one to two years to close, and many had been lobbying for a sunset provision to buy them up to five more years.

President Rafael Correa signed a decree last week setting a six-month deadline for the closing of all licensed casinos and bingo halls in Ecuador. The decree stated that no requests for delay will be granted and no compensation will be given to owners or operators. It will also be illegal to import new slot machines or gaming products into the country. One local chain of gambling parlors solved the problem by signing a deal last month to convert their properties into upscale fitness centers, but most are struggling to figure out their next step. Some are looking to move their businesses to Costa Rica, Puerto Rico or Colombia.

The shutdown will cost the country 3,200 jobs. President Correa has said that job losses are not an argument to continue to allow gambling. Last year he told reporters, "If we followed that argument we would also keep allowing arms production because people would lose their jobs. We would allow loan-sharking for the same reason." Ecuador's Ministry of Labor Relations is required to offer training courses to all casino workers who are losing their jobs.

In early May, voters voted, by a small margin, that they agreed the country should prohibit gambling "in order to avoid…causing social problems, especially among more vulnerable people." Many of the casinos in Ecuador are located in hotels in tourist areas and owned and operated by foreign companies. Ecuador follows Cuba and Brazil in banning most forms of gaming. Venezuela may not be far behind in enacting similar restrictions.

The Straits Times and Gambling Compliance have more.

Former Hungarian PM Loses Immunity in Casino Land-Swap Scandal

Hungarian Parliament voted on Monday to revoke former Prime Minister Ferenec Gyurcsány's immunity from prosecution for his alleged abuse of office related to a $1 billion casino development project in Budapest. Gyurcsány, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2009, says there is no evidence to link him to the shady deal and the charges are all the work of long-time political nemesis, current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Bloomberg reported that the Parliament voted 306-52 to lift Gyurcsány's immunity, easily reaching the necessary two-thirds majority. Only his fellow Socialist Party members voted against the measure. Gyurcsány was implicated in a 2008 scandal involving a land transfer for the King's City casino project. Investors acquired a valuable piece of state-owned lakeside real estate in exchange for a plot of far less valuable farmland. The land swap and the whole casino project were canceled after the transaction was investigated by Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, who succeeded Gyurcsány in 2009.

Read more about the dispute in The Budapest Times.

Packer and Ho Consider $1 Billion Manila Casino Investment

Lawrence Ho, son of elderly Macau gaming mogul Stanley Ho, and Australian financier James Packer are looking into investing in a casino project in Manila. A Philippine gambling regulator said the pair's company, Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., could invest $1 billion or more. "I think they're serious," said chairman of the state-owned Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp., Cristino Naguiat.

The Philippines awarded four gaming licenses in 2008 and 2009, though only one license holder has begun construction on a project. The government is looking to accelerate the industry's growth to compete for a share of the revenues soaring in Singapore and Macau.

Bloomberg has more on the billionaires' visit and on all of the casino projects under development in the Philippines.

Wynn to Pay Macau Govt. $193 Million Premium to Secure New Land and Resort Concession

Wynn Macau Ltd. made a deal with the Macau government to pay a premium of 1.55 billion patacas, equivalent to $193 million, over market value for 51 acres on the island's Cotai Strip. The agreement includes a concession allowing the land to be used for a gambling resort and retail stores. The earliest Wynn Macau could open a new property would be 2015.

Macau has been the golden goose for Wynn, MGM International, and Sands China, but its astronomical growth could be on the decline, according to some industry insiders. Wynn Macau stock fell 4.1 percent Monday as Hong Kong's Hang Sen Index dropped by nearly the same amount.

See what analysts have to say about Wynn Macau's future at Bloomberg.com.

Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

*Photo courtesy of TheWondrous.com

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