Poker World Record

A Vermont man has set a new world record for the most amount of time spent playing poker in one sitting.

Larry Olmsted spent three days at a casino poker table in Foxwoods in Connecticut to capture the 72-hour record. It needs to be certified by Guinness to become official.

He started with $100 in poker chips and worked it up to nearly $1,000. He gave most of it away in tips to casino staff. He says at one point he was too tired to read the numbers on the cards, but he managed to play on. Olmsted says he was in it for the glory.

Olmsted was allowed 15-minute breaks every eight hours, which he used to change clothes and brush his teeth.

Four months ago, Olmsted set an obscure world record for traveling the farthest distance to play golf. He played a round in Australia, then flew nearly 75-hundred miles to play a round in California.

UK Gambling Market in Shock

The UK government has announced that fruit slot machines are to be banned from about 6,000 take-away shops, mini-cab bitcoin dice offices and other unlicensed premises where children might gather, prompting a drop in the share values of publicly traded UK gambling companies.

In addition to the ban on fruit machines, small casinos will not be allowed to run bingo games and there will be a £1,250 cap on slot machine prizes in “regional” gambling centres. All casinos will be required to set aside “chill-out” non-gambling rooms.

 

Tessa Jowell, the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, said: “We propose giving adults additional choice where we can also protect children and vulnerable players.”

 

As part of plans to “modernise” gambling laws, ministers intend to allow Las Vegas-style resort casinos, the biggest of which will have slot machines offering unlimited cash prizes.

 

Legislation expected next year will mark the biggest overhaul of the law since casino restrictions were introduced in 1968.

 

Gambling company shares dropped in value after the government announced tougher controls aimed at protecting youngsters and vulnerable gamblers.

 

John Kelly, chairman of the privately owned Gala casinos group, which owns 30 small casinos, said he was dismayed by the proposals, which would give overseas companies added advantages. He went on to say that the government was misguided.

 

Investors were also disappointed by the details, which were contained in the Government’s response to the cross-party Joint Scrutiny Committee report on the draft Gambling Bill. Stanley Leisure fell 30.5 to 446p, William Hill dropped 17 to 520p and rival Rank, which runs 34 Grosvenor casinos and the Mecca Bingo halls, tumbled 18.75 to 285.5p.

 

Mandalay-MGM Mirage Deal Closes

 

According to a report by the BBC, MGM Mirage’s $7.9bn (£4.4bn) bid for rival casino firm Mandalay Resort has been accepted, paving the way for the creation of a new dominant operator

 

The new company would own 28 casinos in Nevada, Mississippi, Michigan and Illinois, and half the Borgata hotel-casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

 

It would also control 50% of the Las Vegas Strip hotel market, and a third of the gambling capital’s casinos.

 

The new group is expected to clock up revenues of $6bn a year.

 

But first the deal between will need to be approved by the US Federal Trade Commission as well as by gambling regulators in all the states in which the two companies operate.

 

Analysts expect they will get it without having to make many concessions.

 

The deal is set to be the biggest yet between two gambling companies.

 

The last record was set in 2000 when Kirk Kerkorian paid $4.4bn for Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts.

 

MGM’s bid includes the $4.8bn cash offer which delivers a 30% premium on Mandalay’s market value before bidding started

 

MGM will also take on $2.5bn of debts and $600m in bonds that are convertible to shares.