Atlantic City’s Borgata casino has received the go-ahead to host the first non-poker skill-based wagering contest approved by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). The Borgata plans to host a basketball free-throw shooting tournament on March 21, charging would-be Kobe Bryants $20 for a shot at winning a slice of a $10k pool.
There will be three 90-second rounds of shooting and the contestant who makes the most dynamite go ‘boom’ will win $5k. While the Borgata has no intention of preventing professional ballers from picking up a little easy scratch, Snr. VP Joe Lupo told Bloomberg the tournament was intended to “talk to a little bit younger demographic who, over time, might become a slot player.”
While the Borgata is AC’s undisputed casino revenue leader, Lupo said the decline affecting the whole market required casinos to be “innovative and creative” in luring new punters through their gates. With the DGE on board, the Borgata is planning more of these types of skill-based promotions, including some that would be performed on slot machines.
GOLDEN NUGGET WINS UNSHUFFLED CASE
The latest ruling in the long-running ‘unshuffled’ card case at AC’s Golden Nugget has sided with the casino. On Friday, State Superior Court Judge Donna Taylor ordered the 14 gamblers who profited from a card manufacturer’s cockup to return the $1.5m the casino has been trying to claw back.
If you’re just joining us, way back in 2012, a bunch of mini-baccarat players noticed that the cards coming out of a Golden Nugget dealer’s shoe hadn’t been shuffled. Knowing what cards were coming, the gamblers dramatically upped their wagers until the casino finally noticed something was amiss. Some of the gamblers were able to cash out and leave while others were detained by casino security and had their winnings confiscated.
Judge Taylor said the fact that the cards “were not pre-shuffled in accordance with any regulation” meant that the game violated the state’s Casino Control Act and consequently was not authorized.” Taylor ordered the gamblers to return their ill-gotten winnings minus their original betting stakes.
Nugget GM Tom Pohlman said Taylor had made the “right decision” but an attorney for Landry’s, the casino’s parent company, told the Associated Press he expects the gamblers to appeal the ruling. In other words, we do but turn another page in this saga.
TAJ MAHAL POKER ROOM CLOSING TEMPORARILY
The financially struggling Trump Taj Mahal has announced it will close its 48-table poker room at 11:59pm on Sunday (15). Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO Robert Griffin told the AP that poker was “a money loser for us at this point” and changes were needed in order to put the poker room back in the black.
Griffin said the plan was to renovate the poker room and hopefully re-open the spiffed up venue in time for the July 4th holiday weekend, assuming the casino itself is still around. The Taj is currently operating on a $20m emergency loan from its chief creditor, Carl Icahn, while negotiations continue on proposed cuts to unionized casino worker benefits.
