After delays because of over full calendars and movements around the globe, Tom ‘durrr’ Dwan and Patrik Antonius finally got together this week for another session in their 50,000 hand million dollar poker challenge.
The two poker aces played 10 percent of the total agreed which are over nine hundred hands and three hours with Antonius closing the overall gap. But Dwan is still ahead by more than 50,000 USD in earnings.
The game required two to play over 4 tables in the challenge and good thing this was accomplished with ease. Dwan remarkably showed his ability to multi-tasking when he played in an outside game on an additional 5 PLO tables at one stage.
MarketPulse, an independent online poker statistical site showed that Dwan challenged 5092 hands, this leaving 44,908 more to win. A play between Antonius and Dwan has been recorded a total of 16 hours. 6 sessions has been played to date and $28.6million was wagered and placed at risk.

A satisfying story of lotto fraudsters caught redhanded

The satisfying prospect of a gang of lotto fraudsters meeting their comeuppance features in a story in The Register this week, which reported that Somerset police have busted a bogus lottery winner scam following a raid on a cheque processing and clearing house.

Readers will be familiar with the letter-based scam at the centre of the raid, where the fraudsters attempted to dupe members of the public into thinking they had won a prize. Recipients were asked to send in GBP 20 as an “administrative fee” in order to collect their “winnings,” and of course if they were unwary enough to do so, that was the last they saw of the lottery, their fictitious winnings…and their GBP 20.

In reality, the cheques sent in as the “administrative fee” were cashed and money laundered before being sent to fraudsters based overseas, The Register reveals.

Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) led an investigation into the scam, culminating in a raid on an address in Somerset, where cheques and payments adding up to nearly GBP 500 000 were recovered. These cheques will be returned to an incredible (and gullible) 22 000 senders, with a note explaining the scam and urging them to be more careful in future.

Police investigators opined that the scam might have netted as much as GBP 35 million had it been allowed to continue.

Scam emails often claim that recipients have won prizes in lotteries run by overseas lottery organisations, or even Microsoft, in the case of one common variant. In reality, these fraudulent messages are the opening gambit in an advanced fee fraud.

WPT poker tourney carried a winner’s prize of $731 000

New York poker pro Vadim Trincher added a first place prize of $731 000 to his impressive list of 18 big game cashes this week when he took down the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic, bringing his total career earnings to $1 126 243.

Surviving a determined field of 259 players and an unusual five handed final table caused by his simultaneous elimination of two players in one hand, Trincher continued to dominate the game until he faced and defeated Amnon Filippi in the heads up, ending the poker game on the 195th hand of final table action.

All five final table players received six-figure paydays, with the lowest amount going to fifth placed Alex Perelberg who took home $106 007; second placed Amnon Filippi collected a check for $409 405.

With the launch of a new dog racing game which uses mobile technology that is compatible with all major cell phone devices, UK based mobile gambling operator mFortune introduced dog racing to the mobile gambling community. This game has joined other existing games inventory of mFortune such as Poker, Roulette, Bingo, Blackjack and Fruit Machine.
mFortune Dogs is another game of chance where you will be thrilled and hopefully enjoying the profits too from dog racing. There are 6 dogs in each race and players bet on the winner or on the winning combinations (be it first, two or first three dogs). You should study the odds for each dog to forecast the winner. Or you can simply bet on your favorite dog or number.
Mobile gaming is said to be one of the fastest growing verticals in the gaming industry and mobile players can now benefit from this unique variety of games offered by mFortune. The company’s gaming software supports all major mobile device which includes 49 models of Nokia, 40 Sony Ericsson models, 23 different Samsung mobile phones, and ten Motorola handheld devices.

Record decrease for second month running

According to a Turkish Press report the bidding for the Turkish lottery privatisation contract is now less competitive following the withdrawal of local group Dogan Holding and its Italian partner Lottomatica. Both companies had already met the government’s preliminary requirements for bidders.

Dogan advised the stock exchange that it’s withdrawal was due to adverse market conditions, but little more is known beyond that.

In a separate statement, Lottomatica, one of the world’s largest commercial lottery operators and a market leader in the Italian gaming industry, announced that it has exited the Turkish process and that it had terminated the memorandum of understanding signed earlier with Dogan Holding to participate in the tender.

The much delayed privatisation process for Turkey’s state-owned national lottery is expected to begin in August after enactment of a bill on financial control.

Along with several foreign companies, Koc Group, Cukurova Group and Is Yatirim are among the Turkish companies competing in the tender process for management of the lottery, which generates an annual turnover of US$ 683 million and US$ 189 million in net profits. Atlantic City casinos revenues dropped by a record margin for the second straight month in March, officials told the Reuters news agency Thursday, as the recession and competition from other states cut gamblers’ spending.

Combined revenue from the 11 casinos in New Jersey’s gaming capital dropped 19.4 percent to $318.4 million in March 2009, compared with a year earlier, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

The latest decline, the sharpest in the city’s 30-year gambling history, exceeds the previous record 19.2 percent drop in February 2009. Slot-machine takings slumped by 21.3 percent to $218.1 million, while table revenues decreased by 14.7 percent to $100.3 million.

The slump in revenues has helped drive three Atlantic City casinos - those owned by Trump Entertainment - into bankruptcy, while plans for several major new casinos have been scrapped amid the downturn, reports Reuters by way of background. All but one of the casinos reported annual revenue declines in March.

The steepest fall was seen by the Atlantic City Hilton, down 34.8 percent; the only gain was seen at the Trump Taj Mahal where takings were up 6.3 percent.

For the first three months of 2009, overall revenue declined 16.2 percent to $950.2 million. Six casinos reported revenue declines of more than 20 percent for the year so far. The highest revenue for March was seen in 2007 when the city recorded a total $438.3 million, the commission said.

Full Tilt’s attempt to have the case dismissed rejected

Poker pro Clonie Gowen received the good news this week that the attempt by Full Tilt Poker to have her legal suit for $40 million dismissed out of hand as frivolous has failed, and she is set to continue her action. The ball is back in Full Tilt Poker’s court, which has until April 27th to respond to Gowen’s initial legal challenge.

Contrary to some media reports, which suggested that Gowen’s case had been dismissed, the poker pro’s breach of contract and other issues with Full Tilt remain very much active.

Mediafire reports that the latest court ruling went against Full Tilt (the defendant in the action) with the court commenting: “Accordingly, Defendant’s Motion [to dismiss the Gowen action] should be denied in its entirety and Defendants should be ordered to immediately file an answer.” What is actually going on, is we are awaiting the legal response from the defendant.

Gowen, a former Full Tilt poker pro, launched her litigation late last year in a Nevada court, citing Tiltware LLC, the company linked with Full Tilt, and claiming breach of contract. Seeking damages of $40 million, she claims she had accepted an offer of a 1 percent ownership in the company for being a celebrity representative in 2004. However, in 2007, she was excluded from distrubution cheques sent to Team FTP members, prompting her to seek damages.