This Week in Gambling

There was a time when Full Tilt Poker was one of the most popular sites in the world. Players loved to play there.  Then Black Friday hit, and the “house of cards” came tumbling down. Eventually, the software was purchased by PokerStars and all the players received refunds (thanks, fellas). Now here we are in early 2021, and the decision has been made to pull the plug on the Full Tilt brand permanently. February 25th will be the official last day for the brand, with players being moved to the PokerStars platform. A representative from PokerStars said that the company…

Last week the Governor of Nevada relaxed the COVID-19 rules, allowing some Las Vegas shows to open up again with the increased capacity limits. One of the benefits of the eased restrictions was the ability of live shows to go from 50 people in the audience to 100. Fantasy and Carrot Top, both at the Luxor, were among the first big name shows to reopen. Murray Sawchuck is a magician who opens for the Fantasy show. He said that he has “…many friends that are waiting to get back on stage, some are on stage again and some are waiting”….

Records are made to be broken, and New Jersey online gambling has done just that. Recently, they surpassed Nevada to take the sports betting lead in America. And now they are the first state to surpass $100 million in online gambling revenue in a month. Sports betting in the state set a new record high of $82 million, a 54% jump from January of last year. Gamblers bet over $945 million on sporting events for the month, down from the previous record $996 million in December of 2020. Online casino revenue reached a record high for the month with a…

We’re looking at the Pac-Man Cash Chase casino skill game from our friends at Gamblit Gaming! This is a follow up to their Pac-Man Battle Casino, which is a multi-player game. While both of these casino skill games are based on the arcade classic, Pac-Man Cash Chase is a single-player game. Gamblit unveiled innovative and exciting new game titles recently, which were playable at their booth at the Global Gaming Expo, or G2E Las Vegas. Together with their partners, Bandai Namco (the original developer of Pac-Man), they have turned the iconic arcade game into a casino skill game. Pac-Man Cash…

MGM Resorts will resume 24/7 hotel operations at Mandalay Bay, Park MGM and The Mirage resorts effective March 3. The change comes as the Company sees increased interest in travel to Las Vegas.  Previously, each property had implemented selective mid-week closures related to decreased business volumes due to COVID-19. “As we begin to see positive signs around the public’s sentiment about traveling, coupled with important progress on the vaccination front and decreasing COVID-19 case numbers, bringing Mandalay Bay, Park MGM and The Mirage back to full-week operations is an important step for us,” said Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resorts’ CEO &…

Coronavirus has messed up a lot of things, including the scheduled opening of the Virgin Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Originally set to welcome guests in mid-January, the property has now set a date (perhaps a bit optimistically) of March 25th. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. JC Hospitality owns Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and their President and CEO Richard Bosworth recently said “…to finally reach this milestone and confidently announce our opening date would not be possible without our incredible partners and construction team”. The newest Las Vegas hotel is set to open where the Hard…