Just a thought

professorpool said:
The issue of poker coming to an end for the USA is not new news. It mihgt only be appearingin the public domain now but insiders have been aware of it for well over a year. Europe based visitors will no doublt be able to confirm the ridiculous amounts of money that 888.com, titanpoker and others have thrown around.

I receive about $4,000 a month from poker advertising alone, let alone any other kinds of advertising - doubled in the last year. Not from increased hits but from increased revenue as the online companies battle for market share in Europe.

Agree with you as well Prof.....Jeez this morning's bad mood must be well and truly gone:)
 
Da Poet said:
I agree with all of this. However I think at least a part of the plan was to openly promote online betting on the IPT as a tool to consolidate, develope, and increase audience interest, especially in the US, but I guess that plan is out the window.

If I were an IPT investor, this law change, or additional enforcement provisions, whatever you want to call it, would be a setback.

Of course it would be a MAJOR setback, you would have just lost the entire US on-line gambling market. This would be a setback for any on-line gambling business regardless of whether the IPT is in the mix or not, but ESPECIALLY if it is.
 
Keith Buck said:
He is already on the internet. See www.hocasino.com, one of the sponsors of the World Open.

Unless this is a website KT set up to fool everybody into thinking that Ho is really interested, lol.

That link doesn't work, but I did a little surfing and I see some blood-letting in the running of these casinos. And our own dear SJM involved? (Just kidding! ;) :p )

Read the whole story here: http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2006/09/18/news/news01.txt


MURDER, KIDNAPPING AND INTIMIDATION

Ho decried Sands' competitve strategies as "cutthroat" -- an unfortunate choice of words, as events turned out. On August 18, police came across the dead bodies of VIP-room operator Chao Yeuk-hong and her husband, on the Zhuai golf course, near the Macau border. Yeuk-hong's throat had been slit and her spouse was stabbed to death -- the first slaying of a casino boss in a decade. Yeuk-hong, aka "Sister Cat," was executive director of the Golden Palace salons at Ho's Casino Lisboa.

The double murder aroused fears of resurgent triad activity in Macau, where gangs are reputed to exert heavy influence in the city's private gambling rooms. They are also notorious for their loan-sharking activities and, 10 days after the "Sister Cat" slaying, Macau police nabbed a trio of loan sharks. The trio was holding a Chinese gambler hostage, in a dispute involving gambling debts.

"It has long been believed by those on the ground (in Macau) that Ho's casinos were infiltrated with triad gangs with ties to the VIP-room subcontractors and junket operators," elaborated James Rutherford, overseas editor for International Gaming & Wagering Business. "Beijing maintains a garrison on the peninsula, and from what I've read the triads now keep a low profile."

The hand of the triads was also perceived behind the beating and death threats aimed at pro-democracy advocate Albert Ho. The anti-triad crusader was beaten in front of 150 witnesses at a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong. He suffered a detached retina and broken nose but to date, no one has been apprehended.

Stanley Ho and his sister Winnie are at loggerheads over the latter's attempt to block SJM's $1.9 billion IPO, and Albert Ho (no relation) is Winnie Ho's attorney in the lawsuit.

The casino magnate said it was "absolutely impossible" that any of his underlings could be implicated, adding, "I have never met (Albert Ho). You don't say I know a person by just having seen him on TV." The attorney subsequently received a death threat, as did two other legislators known to hold pro-democracy views. Civil liberties have been a contentious issue in Hong Kong since the advent of Communist Chinese rule in 1997.
 
professorpool said:
The issue of poker coming to an end for the USA is not new news.

True, but something like 7 billion US dollars in stock value evaporates overnight?

Seems like an awful lot of folks still got caught off guard.

Might be a good time to buy the stock back. Now that's gambling!:D
 
jimmyg said:
Of course it would be a MAJOR setback, you would have just lost the entire US on-line gambling market. This would be a setback for any on-line gambling business regardless of whether the IPT is in the mix or not, but ESPECIALLY if it is.

I was only saying the new enforcement provisions are a setback for the IPT. I didn't think the effect these provisions were having on the online gambling industry was in question.



Edit - Spelling
 
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The IPT still holds promise for Ho, Ho will advertise his resorts on the IPT websites, and at events held at his casinos and other casinos or venues in the US or Europe. He would still have a large part of the world with online gambling plus betting on the IPT events at his casino's, that alone could generate a good bit of cash flow. He has greyhound racing, lotteries and horse betting, why not add pool to mix? In fact I think a lot of gamblers in Asia would bet on the IPT through Ho's casino's or at least be interested in it for draw, I don't particularly like the betting idea though. We also know there will be ways around the new laws, there always is.

If all this KT talk about IPT being sold holds any weight I'm betting Ho is still interested, he would have already known about the laws being passed to make online gaming in the US difficult. So I'm not so sure any deal was based solely on the online gaming aspect. Pool is very popular in all of Asia and like I said many times, pool is underachieving with huge potential.

So I'm not sure this will be a major problem, I think the details of any IPT deal are very complicated to allow KT a chance to stay on board in some form, also KT would certainly want to recoup what he invested with an opportunity to make a profit. If Ho is interested in buying the IPT, he certainly is working out just what can be made out of the IPT. I still think Comcast would be the IPT's best bet as a buyer in the long run, but it's far too early for that.


.
 
rackmsuckr said:
That link doesn't work, but I did a little surfing and I see some blood-letting in the running of these casinos. And our own dear SJM involved? (Just kidding! ;) :p )

For the second time in this thread, the link works every time I try it. The problem must be on your end.
 
Keith Buck said:
For the second time in this thread, the link works every time I try it. The problem must be on your end.

Actually that link doesn't work because it was hocasino.com, whereas hocasino.net works. :)
 
Keith Buck said:
For the second time in this thread, the link works every time I try it. The problem must be on your end.

Okay, I'm gonna bite..... I saw this asked somewhere else, but never saw it answered.........

WHY THE PANCAKE ON THE CRITTERS HEAD??

You're killin me....
Tammie
 
Da Poet said:
True, but something like 7 billion US dollars in stock value evaporates overnight?

Seems like an awful lot of folks still got caught off guard.

Might be a good time to buy the stock back. Now that's gambling!:D


My point was more that there is no way on this earth that Hointeractive cannot have known about it for some time. further evidence to me that it is all a load of balls.

I am a very small player on the web in the overall picture of things and I have known for some time. If I knew, how can he not know?

CPM's in the UK are at $250+ whereas they were $75 12 months ago.
 
rackmsuckr said:
That link doesn't work, but I did a little surfing and I see some blood-letting in the running of these casinos. And our own dear SJM involved? (Just kidding! ;) :p )

Read the whole story here: http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2006/09/18/news/news01.txt


MURDER, KIDNAPPING AND INTIMIDATION

Ho decried Sands' competitve strategies as "cutthroat" -- an unfortunate choice of words, as events turned out. On August 18, police came across the dead bodies of VIP-room operator Chao Yeuk-hong and her husband, on the Zhuai golf course, near the Macau border. Yeuk-hong's throat had been slit and her spouse was stabbed to death -- the first slaying of a casino boss in a decade. Yeuk-hong, aka "Sister Cat," was executive director of the Golden Palace salons at Ho's Casino Lisboa.

The double murder aroused fears of resurgent triad activity in Macau, where gangs are reputed to exert heavy influence in the city's private gambling rooms. They are also notorious for their loan-sharking activities and, 10 days after the "Sister Cat" slaying, Macau police nabbed a trio of loan sharks. The trio was holding a Chinese gambler hostage, in a dispute involving gambling debts.

"It has long been believed by those on the ground (in Macau) that Ho's casinos were infiltrated with triad gangs with ties to the VIP-room subcontractors and junket operators," elaborated James Rutherford, overseas editor for International Gaming & Wagering Business. "Beijing maintains a garrison on the peninsula, and from what I've read the triads now keep a low profile."

The hand of the triads was also perceived behind the beating and death threats aimed at pro-democracy advocate Albert Ho. The anti-triad crusader was beaten in front of 150 witnesses at a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong. He suffered a detached retina and broken nose but to date, no one has been apprehended.

Stanley Ho and his sister Winnie are at loggerheads over the latter's attempt to block SJM's $1.9 billion IPO, and Albert Ho (no relation) is Winnie Ho's attorney in the lawsuit.

The casino magnate said it was "absolutely impossible" that any of his underlings could be implicated, adding, "I have never met (Albert Ho). You don't say I know a person by just having seen him on TV." The attorney subsequently received a death threat, as did two other legislators known to hold pro-democracy views. Civil liberties have been a contentious issue in Hong Kong since the advent of Communist Chinese rule in 1997.

Now, I'm just itching to go there.
 
professorpool said:
My point was more that there is no way on this earth that Hointeractive cannot have known about it for some time. further evidence to me that it is all a load of balls.

I am a very small player on the web in the overall picture of things and I have known for some time. If I knew, how can he not know?

CPM's in the UK are at $250+ whereas they were $75 12 months ago.


I agree. I'm sure everyone knew it was coming at some point, but obviously the timing caught them off guard.

Load of "balls"?

Yur ain't frum round' here are ya. :D
 
av84fun said:
In fact, most of the land-based casino operators HATE on-line gaming because it bleeds off their revenue.

Jim, I don't know where you get your facts from and what land-based casino operators you have been talking to but your words are far from correct. Land-based casinos would love for online gambling to become LEGAL. Why? Because, by becoming legal it would do away with many of the gaming commissions that are in place today. Making online gambling legal would in effect, make it legal to have gambling anywhere. Casino owners wouldn't be restricted to Nevada, Atlantic City, river boats, etc. They could put a casino in Manhattan. They would be all for it and be able to expand their markets to where ever there was interest. Also, take for example poker itself. Poker has exploded because of online sites. In this years World Series of Poker there was nearly 10,000 entries....80% of the entrees came from qualifiers online. The month of tournaments now the World Series has, it's year long tour, and it's contract with ESPN is HUGE business. So huge that Harrah's had the PartyPoker.Com symbol embroidered on THEIR tables during the event. No longer do you see the WSOP logo. You think the land-based casino operators hate online gambling?? They love them and embrace them.
 
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