
The Colossus has been a success so far.
The World number of Poker’s inaugural ‘Colossus’ tournament has, as expected, smashed all the records to become the live poker tournament that is biggest ever staged.
Twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventy-four players proved during the period of four Day 1 routes to play in the event, beating the WSOP that is previous record the 2006 Main Event, by (calculator out) 13,601 players.
The function represents a departure that is strategic the WSOP and Caesars as the festival now has the additional aim of boosting the numbers at WSOP.com.
Therefore, this present year’s Series is fully targeted at attract the ‘right’ kind of player, and a lot of them: the type of player who might be drawn to multi-table a cash that is few or tournaments with low to mid-level buy-ins while they’re in town.
The Colossus is a just to illustrate.
With its affordable buy-in of $565, and tantalizing $5 million assured prize pool, it was designed to paper your house with players.
The WSOP is peppered with large-field, low buy-in events this season, and also includes an online bracelet tournament.
Mobiles at the Table
For the first time, players will be permitted to bring their mobile devices towards the tables to play online during WSOP events.
Caesars convinced the Nevada Gaming Control Board to waive its one-player-per-IP-address rule, meaning that the Rio and all sorts of other Caesars properties will be whitelisted and exempted from the rule through the duration of the Series.
A year ago, WSOP.com cash game traffic rose 24 percent in the week that is first of Series alone, which means it’s probably be also greater this year. Industry number-cruncher, PokerScout.com has conservatively suggested that the spike shall be at the least 50 percent.
Only a few the players were happy utilizing the payout structure of this Colossus, nonetheless, and lots of eyebrows were raised by the announcement of the first-place prize of $638,880, which represents just under six percent for the prize pool, considerably smaller compared to average tournament.
‘Democratic’ Payout Framework
But this was element of the plan; a flat payout framework that could reward as many players as feasible, with 2,241, or around ten percent of the field, making the money.
Top heavy payout structures would be the norm, and generally speaking that is designed to reward the skillful player with an edge on the field. This had been poker with a lot more ‘democratic’ distribution of wealth in your mind, designed to keep the mid-level player pleased.
‘When you view a crowd that could fill many recreations venues, there’s little else you can say,’ WSOP director that is executive Stewart said in a declaration. ‘ We would like to thank every person whom traveled from near and far to be part of this historic event, particularly the very first timers.
Just like the sign claims, ‘ We Hope You keep coming back Soon.’ We love to bring poker enthusiasts together and help build positive momentum for the game.’
This Hard Rock International and the Meadowlands Racetrack are expected to unveil plans for a casino in East Rutherford, home to the New York Giants and New York Jets week.
Meanwhile, there have been proposals for the casino on the waterfront in Jersey City, directly across from Lower Manhattan.
‘There is no good reason why we can’t think of a statewide gaming plan that brings jobs and economic growth to Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties while also supporting Atlantic City’s recovery and revitalization efforts,’ declared Huttle.
‘The reality of video gaming is that New Jersey must do more to remain a leader today. We have to begin competing or we will continue to fall behind in our region and in the country.’
Sheldon’s Warning
Interestingly, Sheldon Adelson has a few terms to state in the issue when the notion of one casino in northern New Jersey was raised at the G2E annual gaming expo in Las Vegas year that is last.
The LVS president stated he’d jump at the opportunity to open a casino over the border from Manhattan, but would ‘think twice’ should casinos that are several proposed for the area.
He also warned against the short-termism of seeing casino expansion being a magic pill for economic problems.
‘Look, it’s a sword that is two-edged’ he said. ‘then you may wake up one day and Governor Cuomo or whoever is governor or mayor of New York City will say, ‘Look, they’re taking all the New Yorkers’ money and they’re sucking it up in that casino in the Meadowlands if you go in there and spend a lot of money. So we’ve surely got to start one up, and keep the cash in New York.’ ‘
AGA Formally Denounces Slot Winnings Taxation Proposals
AGA President Geoff Freeman is aghast at the IRS’ proposal to track players’ electronically winnings through their customer loyalty cards for taxation purposes. (Image: casinoconnectionac.com)
The American Gaming Association (AGA) has hit away against IRS proposals to lower the income tax reporting threshold for slot winnings from $1,200 to $600.
The industry body complained that the new proposals would be harmful to customer experience, increase paper work and disrupt the casino flooring, in addition to needing expensive upgrades to casino back-end systems.
The AGA, which represents operators and gaming manufacturers that collectively support 1.7 million US jobs across 40 states, made its feelings clear in the form of a 15-page comment that is formal to your IRS this week.
This arrived on the rear of a letter sent by 17 bi-partisan people of Congress to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen stating that increased labor costs and lost business revenue resulting through the proposal will be ‘detrimental to local, state and national economies that depend on those revenue to help critical services.’
Serious Harm to Company
AGA President Geoff Freeman was particularly critical of the IRS recommendation that the rule might be enforced through the electronic tracking of players’ gambling habits through their customer commitment cards.
‘ The gaming industry is aware of no other industry in the national country for which the IRS has issued laws needing the industry to deploy its customer loyalty program for federal tax collection purposes,’ Freeman reported.
Freeman said that the labor lost and cost business revenue that originates from the reporting of slot machine game winnings is already burdensome, since the machines ‘lock up’ and are temporarily taken away from service after a jackpot of $1,200 is struck therefore that it can be reported towards the IRS.
‘AGA is aware of no other industry that is US must take its assets out associated with the production of revenue to fulfill its tax reporting duties,’ he said. ‘The proposed slot guidance that is reporting substantially magnify that burden in the casino to the level of serious problems for its business by mandating the employment of an advertising tool for tax information reporting purposes.’
Interruption to Backend
Furthermore, the reprogramming of the casino’s back end systems, which may be necessary to allow them to conform to the proposed regulations, is troublesome and costly, Freeman said, especially for those casinos that run in multiple markets.
‘AGA casino members have expressed concern that to be able for their back-end systems to be able to compile, shop, and index for retrieval a sizable quantity of day-to-day win/loss statements, costly investment will be necessary in programming and in a substantial enhance into the current storage and processing power of these systems. This investment that is costly the necessary back-end systems changes would be magnified for all casinos that operate in multiple markets.’
The AGA recently established a petition that is online garnered over 10,000 signatures opposing the proposals. These signatures were from casino employees and customers alike, from across all 50 states, said Freeman.
FIFA Scandal Continues As Interpol Tracks Six Suspects
Sepp Blatter received a standing ovation from FIFA staff after announcing his resignation. (Image: Reuters)
Interpol, the police that is international, has put six of the suspects in the FIFA corruption scandal on the ‘red notice’ list, a designation that will make it virtually impossible for people individuals to travel.
Although the designation is not the exact carbon copy of an arrest warrant for the suspects, it suggests them which they are subject to your possibility of arrest anywhere they might travel.
Of the six suspects, two are former FIFA officials, while four had been sports media executives.
Jack Warner, who formerly held the positions of FIFA vice president and CONCACAF president, had already been arrested in his home nation of Trinidad and Tobago, but had since been released before the red notice was given.
Similarly, previous FIFA professional committee member Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay had been already under house arrest at the time of his red notice being announced.
The four executives receiving red notices included Argentinians Alejandro Burzaco, Hugo Jinkis, and Mariano Jinkis, as well as Brazilian broadcast executive Jose Margulies.
The Argentinians are faced with paying over $100 million in bribes to be able to secure media rights to soccer that is various.
Blatter Applauded at FIFA Headquarters
The FIFA scandal reached the highest office into the organization (and perhaps the most effective person in sports) on Tuesday, when president Sepp Blatter made the announcement that he would resign from their post sometime in the following year, just as an alternative could be elected.
Blatter’s announcement came just days after he had been re-elected towards the office for the time that is fifth.
Upon returning to FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on Wednesday, Blatter ended up being given a ten-minute standing ovation by workers.
According to reports, he gave the 400 staff members in attendance a similar message to the main one he told the soccer world on Tuesday: that FIFA needed to undergo reforms, particularly in the committee that is executive.
In accordance with Reuters, a source near to FIFA said it was fundamentally Blatter’s own advisors that convinced him to step down through the presidency after the ongoing criminal probe into FIFA by US and Swiss law enforcement agencies.
While Blatter himself had yet to be implicated in some of these probes, it absolutely was still embarrassing for the association’s frontrunner, who saw even his lieutenant that is chief facing of corruption and bribery.
Numerous Candidates Could Vie for FIFA Presidency
In the day since Blatter’s announcement, much of the speculation by media users and football fans happens to be about whom his successor will be. You will find several viable candidates, though a few stand out as getting the best probability of using his place.
UEFA president Michel Platini seems to be the favourite, both among pundits while the bookmakers at William Hill, who list him at 6-5 odds. UEFA was a hotbed of critique for Blatter, and Platini had formerly asked Blatter to not run for reelection.
Another popular choice is going to be Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who had been the only person to run against Blatter in the most recent election.
He is listed at 7-4 odds, and also the Jordanian Football Association states it is looking into FIFA’s own guidelines to see if Prince Ali should be granted the position based on his second-place finish in Friday’s election.
But there could be many candidates throw about in the days and weeks to come, particularly without the specter of an unbeatable sepp blatter to scare prominent members of the soccer community from running.
For instance, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro suggested that Argentine legend Diego Maradona ought to be the next FIFA president, noting that Maradona had long been trying to root down corruption in FIFA even if few others seemed to care.