UK Casino News

A man who used to own the Colma Casino California has been banned from visiting his old casino after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges. Rene Medina created the Colma Casino in 1998 but was forced to sell on his business, to sons Ruell and Rommel.

Medina had committed several finical frauds including, providing false taxation details as well as avoided paying personal income tax. With the left over money, he brought luxuries such as new furniture and sports cars.

Medina will only be allowed to visit the casinos restaurant and gift shop and will not be allowed to visit the gaming area or card rooms. Staff are prohibited to allow him to do so even though he has several friends and family working in the venue.

Blonien, who represent Medina in Court, said, “For years, coming to the club was a form of recreation for him because he saw a lot of people that he knew and he’s known for years. Because he’s a convicted felon, why should he have his ability to exercise his other constitutional rights taken away from him?”

Their are several ways of cheating in casinos and since gambling began many have studied ways of trying to outwit casinos. One way of doing so is producing counterfeit chips. The most famous case’s of chip counterfeiting involved a man called Charles O’ Reilly (aka Chipper Charlie). In the 1970s and 60s Charlie produced thousands of dollars worth of casino chips for some of America’s largest and best known casinos.

Producing identical fake casino chips is only half the problem however as for them to work, Charlie would have to know and understand how and where the chips were stored. Charlie therefore charmed female casino dealers and workers who had access to the casinos back draws in an attempt to exchange fake chips with real ones. Charlie the figured that many of the black chips worth $100 never left the back draw and were therefore rarely examined. This was due to many casinos changing up existing black $100 chips with $50 or $1000. Therefore Charlie could exchange the real for the fake chips and cash them in!

Unfortunately for Charlie his plan didn’t work as the Caesar Casino was flooded and the back draw was withdrawn from the cash cage. One woman who was not romanced by Charlie noticed the fake chips and a sting operation began. The counterfeit gang were eventually found out and Chipper Charlie was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Great story but no Hollywood ending im afraid!

A regular UK Casinos player won his court battle after refusing to pay a £2 million in debt. The player ,known as “Fat Man”, had canceled a cheque because he did not like the croupier at Aspinall’s and considered the game unfair. Even thought the Fat Man won this legal battle he was not so fortunate in the next, being forced to pay the remaining £10.5 million debt he owed the casino.

The Fat was a regualr player at the Aspinall’s casino in London and brought an estimated chip amount worth £91 million and losing around £23 million. We over 600 visits the player was a well known figure at the casino and had started playing there since 1994. The Judge explained, “Not surprisingly he was regarded by the club as an important client who demanded and was shown respect”

Zayalt (aka Fatman) explained why he was fighting the debt: “Casinos give a service, and if the service is not good, considering the price which you are paying, then you do not pay. If you go to a restaurant and you do not like the food, you do not pay. If you go to the whorehouse and do not get the pleasure you were seeking, you do not pay.”

UK online casinos have seen massive growth in recent years. Maybe the Fat Man will move tho these instead? Who knows!

This years world series of poker Europe will take place in the heart of London at the Empire casino in Leicester  Square. The event will attract players from all over the world including some of the biggest names in the game. The WSOPE has quickly become the most premium event in Europe and the Empire Casino is the perfect for such event. Players will be battling it out for a huge winning pot. Here is a schedule of the biggest games at the event:

September 19th , 2008 – Event #1 – £1,500 – No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (3-day event/2 opening days)

September 22nd , 2008 – Event #2 – £2,500 – H.O.R.S.E. (3-day event)

September 24th , 2008 – Event #3 – £5,000 – Pot Limit Omaha (3-day event)

September 27th , 2008 – Event #4 – £10,000 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em (5-day event)

“We are eagerly anticipating World Series of Poker Europe this year,” said Ty Stewart, World Series of Poker Director of Marketing. “We have enhanced the schedule to provide more variety and game play, greatly broadened the worldwide television exposure and have brought the event under one roof to better the player experience for this prestigious and premiere event.”

Many of the WSOP main event final players have already brought in to compete in the final of the WSOPE which will take place a month before the WSOP main event final in Las Vegas. Make sure you check this blog regularly for up to date news in the casino industry!

Harrah’s Entertainment has decided to get rid of some of their slot machines, leading many to believe there was a conflict between the casino operator and International Game Technology, which makes the slots being taken out.

Other experts in the industry are pointing to the fact that Harrah’s has done a lot of statistical research and does what is in the best interest of their casino and ultimately their company, which has nothing to do with an agreement with the slot machine maker.

“We try to offer our customers the games they like to play, which we determine through volume of play and regular surveys of our guests,” said Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Harrah’s Entertainment.

If a game at Harrah’s, or any casino for that matter, under performs that casino will fix the problem by doing away with the game or replacing it.

“The experiment has given Harrah’s a significant amount of data to work with to make decisions on participation games in other markets,” said Brian McGill, gaming analyst for Wachovia.  “With this is mind, we were not surprised to see Harrah’s pull out a significant number of Wheel of Fortune games.”

The numbers don’t lie in the casino business and the numbers are what casinos stand by, which is why the most likely reason for the latest actions by Harrah’s was purely a budgetary one.