
Ben Affleck is one of the stars that are many into the superstars and gambling category, nevertheless the Hollywood actor may have lost more than their chips in 2015.
Celebrities and gambling once again enjoyed a relationship that is lively 2015, countless stars from the wide world of activity walking the red carpeting into casino floors frequently.
From Hollywood to professional sports, numerous for the world’s most identifiable personalities spent their time that is free enjoying rush and excitement of what gambling is offering.
With all the festive season in full swing, let’s journey straight back over the final 12 months to revisit the most celebrity that is headline-worthy happenings in 2015.
Prevailing Poker
No game draws more A-listers than poker, the felt notorious for bringing the bad boys and their deep pockets to the tables in Las Vegas.
Ben Affleck is obviously no stranger to the casino, but in June it had been revealed poker might have been partially to be culpable for his split with Jennifer Garner.
The sometimes-reliable TMZ reported that Garner simply had enough of Ben’s constant gaming and that she ‘couldn’t go anymore.’
Dan Bilzerian might argue Affleck shouldn’t have ever married in the beginning. The ‘King of Instagram’ and poker that is former produced a good amount of headlines in 2015.
Bilzerian announced their candidacy for president of the united states of america, was forced to release a PSA for weapons security in part of a plea deal to avoid felony charges for possessing homemade explosives, and even played poker with Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).
Not totally all poker-related celebrity happenings were scandalous in nature.
Different celebrities utilized the game once and for all by hosting charity tournaments including padraig harrington and even previous President Bill Clinton.
Daily Fantasy All-In
2015 had been the season of daily dream sports (DFS), DraftKings and FanDuel spending millions of bucks to keep its platforms reaching sports audiences incessantly. The 2 leading fantasy that is daily additionally spent heavily on sponsorships.
Three-time Academy Award nominee Ed Norton had been contracted to voice over DraftKings commercials. And though the platforms might be under intense appropriate scrutiny, that didn’t stop famous athletes like New England Patriots celebrity Rob Gronkowski and even the leagues themselves from getting involved.
On HBO’s ‘Last Week Tonight,’ John Oliver put his twist that is own on he believes is the absurdity regarding the ‘skill-based’ argument surrounding DFS. Getting his point across, he enticed Seth Rogen to participate in on just what became a viral video for the late evening TV host.
Mayweather Money
The supposed ‘Fight of the Century’ between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in very early May created over $400 million in revenue, but audiences desired to offer the bout the boot after a less than stellar matchup.
It had been later revealed that Mayweather’s convincing win might have been at the hand of an Pacquiao rotator cuff that is undisclosed injury. Hundreds of thousands placed bets on the battle including Mark Wahlberg, Diddy, and Justin Bieber, to name a few.
Following the battle, betters and people were outraged, with some even demanding their money back. Class-action lawsuits against Pacquiao and organizers are ongoing.
PokerStars Celeb Folds
PokerStars is not any stranger to celebrity, the entire world’s most online that is robust network long paying stars to hang in its Team PokerStars stable.
Soccer legend Neymar joined the roster in May along with Cristiano Ronaldo. Four months later, Neymar was hit having a lawsuit in his home country of Brazil on allegations that the 23-year-old phenom owes $15.7 million in back taxes.
In 2016, PokerStars will back make its way to america by way of nj.
The Garden State recently recommended enabling Internet operators to bankroll or sponsor superstars, meaning the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, or maybe even Neymar or Ronaldo could be coming to a table that is online you soon.
Poker Dealer Illegally Pockets Chips Then Gets Fired
Casino security personnel at the Cromwell Mint in London had the ability to identify a poker dealer stealing chips from the tables he was administering. (Image: jupiter.com)
A poker dealer in South Kensington, West London, happens to be fired from the Cromwell Mint after casino security personnel discovered the croupier was secretly pocketing thousands worth of chips during his shifts.
According up to a report by the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, the alleged thief snatched chips from the felt and dropped them into a false pocket that ran from his pants down seriously to his socks.
The dealer would then hand over the chips to an accomplice exterior during routine smoking breaks.
During the police’s strip search regarding the suspect, one source stated, ‘Chips literally fell away from him.’
Busted, Perhaps Not Charged
The dealer at the Cromwell Mint is not identified, nor is he facing charges.
After his termination and suspected scheme that pocketed him a lot of money after another co-conspirator posed as a gamer and cashed within the potato chips, the Malaysian-based Cromwell owners, the Genting Group, are apparently pleased in just chalking up the story as a marginal loss.
Reports claim the dealer had £12,000 ($17,600) in cash when his apartment was searched. That’s roughly 40 per cent for the employee’s yearly base salary of $44,000.
The exact same source added that the employee was ‘extremely lucky to break free without having to be charged.’
Dirty Deals
Controlling thousands of poker potato chips is much too tempting for numerous dealers over the years, a significant payday within hands reach seducing many, but few actually get away with the crime.
Gamblers might think that video surveillance is honed in on their actions, but in reality in the same way much, if not more, scrutiny is placed in the casino’s workers.
In addition to closed-circuit monitors, floor managers oversee each employee’s performance and are competed in detecting fraudulence not just among gamblers but also the dealers.
The Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, Maryland, has more than 1,200 cameras monitoring 4,000 slot machines and over 125 card tables. The venue’s president and general manager claims the casino spends ‘in the millions, and growing,’ on safety.
Las Vegas boasts more cameras per square base than any airport or sports stadium in the us, yet dealers along with gamblers carry on to try worse odds to their luck than what is being offered on the felt.
Other Notable Scandals
2014: A Hollywood Casino dealer in Pennsylvania is busted for stealing $2,000 in gaming chips july.
September 2015: Two dealers in Singapore strike a deal having a gambler to receive 20 per cent associated with 65-year-old man’s winnings. The conspiracy took place at another Genting-owner home, but the 2 dealers were caught and sentenced to four months in prison.
November 2015: The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland accuses its own for hiding a card from the deck. All allegations were denied by the dealer and stated it absolutely was a ‘fluke.’
Cheating and fraud has long plagued gambling and been used as fodder by critics of the casino industry for reasoning against any market expansion.
Ny AG Eric Schneiderman Threatens DFS business with $3 Billion in Fines
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman puts the screws in the ‘persistently fraudulent’ DFS industry in the Empire State. (Image: politico.com)
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has the DFS industry in their crosshairs and it is irritation to pull the trigger.
Schneiderman’s pre-Christmas injunction to bar DraftKings and FanDuel from operating in New York State had been lifted by an appeals court judge just hours after it turned out granted, and so the frustrated AG resolved to ramp the pressure up regarding the sites.
Late final week, he amended his lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel to seek the return of all the buy-ins paid by customers who played in New York throughout 2015, and also a $5,000 fine per head.
The AG’s office is seeking a sum that would run into hundreds of millions of dollars in buy-ins, plus around $3 billion in fines in short, with 600,000 DFS customers in the state.
So much for the growing season of goodwill.
In the amendment, the lawyer general accused the websites of committing ‘repeated and persistent fraudulent acts,’ singling out first deposit bonuses (variations of that are commonly used through the online gambling industry) as evidence of expected malpractice.
He also claims that the sites constantly misrepresent the chances and levels that are skill to win ‘life-changing’ amounts of profit their marketing and advertising.
‘Fundamental Misunderstanding’
‘The attorney general’s revised grievance reveals that the lawyer general’s office still does not comprehend fantasy sports,’ complained David Boies, an attorney representing DraftKings, in an statement that is official. ‘It is founded on the misunderstanding that is fundamental of sports tournaments.’
Schneiderman demonstrably seems he understands the DFS industry simply fine, thank you.
Included in an investigation launched by the lawyer general’s office in October, he demanded transparency that is complete the business models of both FanDuel and DraftKings, which, club player casino bonus codes 2017 as leaders of the self-regulated industry, remain opaque.
His assertion that the internet sites’ operations are ‘fraudulent’ suggests he desires to shut them down, however the threat of a multi-billion dollar fine could be designed to force them into some kind of settlement negotiation should New York choose to regulate and license DFS through its legislature.
New York State represents the biggest DFS market in America, and thus has huge bargaining energy in the event of future regulation.
Meanwhile, In Kentucky…
New York is maybe not the state that is only seeking to claw back player funds from online gambling.
Just before the holiday season, Kentucky tripled its claim against Amaya Inc. to $870 million.
Their state is wanting to draw out from the poker parent on the quantity deposited, gambled, and lost by state residents on PokerStars between 2006 and 2011, during which period online gambling transactions involving US citizens were prohibited.
The state believes its claim is supported by a state that is two-centuries-old designed to protect the families of impoverished gamblers, letting them recover all losses incurred by their reprobate kin.
Amaya has said that PokerStars raked in just $18 million from Kentucky residents during the period in question and is expected to charm from the lawsuit, which it offers dismissed as ‘frivolous.’
