Hurricane Irene may never have become the devastating natural disaster that the media was hyping and hoping for, but it did manage to uproot a lot of people. Forced evacuations in New Jersey left Atlantic City closed for business, with the casinos shut down for the weekend. Yesterday, all eleven casinos reopened. With Irene (downgraded to a tropical storm when it hit) heading toward New Jersey, the state ordered a mandatory evacuation of the coastline, including Atlantic City. That meant each of the eleven casinos had to be closed for only the third time in history. By losing a weekend [ Read More ]
Archive for September, 2011
Casinos Coming to Massachusetts? House and Senate leaders in the state of Massachusetts plan to try once again to pass legislation to bring Vegas-style casinos to three different parts of the state as well as adding slots at one horse track. A previous attempt to get three casinos and two slots-only locations at horse tracks failed to get the approval of governor Deval Patrick. Patrick’s concern was over too many horse tracks automatically getting licenses to add slot machines, so the current plan of allowing just one license for slot machines is seen as a compromise that could be key [ Read More ]
Playtech Looking for Acquisitions? Online casino software provider Playtech has recently announced that it is delaying its scheduled dividend payment to shareholders, but the “bad” news might be anything but as signs point to it being part of a possible acquisition of joint venture that could expand Playtech’s business. The press release from Playtech that discussed the delayed dividend included the following: “Due to exceptional strategic M&A and partnership opportunities which are currently under discussion, in order to retain maximum flexibility, it will defer a decision over the interim dividend.” Chief Financial Officer David Mathewson has also stated that Playtech [ Read More ]
Progress in the US for Online Gambling Encouraging signs are cropping up that point to the possible legalization of online poker and casino sites within the next year or two, including several key politicians and businessmen getting on board with legalization efforts. With some states considering their own online casino and poker laws, the federal government is coming under increased pressure to move first by passing new legislation that would legalize and tax various forms of online gambling. Recent developments have led some analysts to predict that legal online poker may be a reality before the end of 2011, with [ Read More ]
If you live in Greece and gamble online, I hope you report that income and pay the appropriate taxes. If not, you had better start. The Greek government has made it known that they are targeting tax evaders, including those who don’t pay taxes from online casino gaming. There is an estimated €15 billion in so-called missing taxes each year for the Greek government. That means tax money that they should receive but do not because of tax evasion. As part of the rules given to them by the IMF, EU and Germany during the bailout, Greece must reduce that [ Read More ]
Chicago Governor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn continue to spar in person and in the media over casino legislation. For Emanuel, a Chicago casino can’t come fast enough. For Quinn, the legislation needs to be studied carefully to make sure they don’t do more harm than good. The fellow Democrats agree that allowing a casino in Chicago is a good idea. It would bring revenue to the city that is currently crossing the border to Indiana. However, the legislation that would allow such a casino also calls for several other casinos, slot machines at racetracks and even slots [ Read More ]
Allen Samuels is “Livin De Life” It’s not uncommon to spot rap and hip-hop stars at the blackjack and craps tables at Atlantic City, but Atlantic City casino host Allen Samuels (or A. Samuels, to use his stage name) has turned the tables with this video for his song “Livin De Life”. The video has quickly gone viral and features various cameos from athletes, celebrities, and music stars that the 55 year old Samuels appears to have met through his work in the gambling industry. His inspiration for the song and video is explained at the beginning, in which he claims [ Read More ]
