The 2015 November Nine kicked off with a whimper, maybe not a bang. The focus was on players tanking and acting as if they had little interest in actually playing poker on the first day of play Sunday night.

Patrick Chan came to the WSOP Main Event final dining table Sunday with a small stack that lasted precisely two fingers.

Chan woke up with K♠Q♣ in the small blind, facing an all-in bet by overwhelming chip leader Joe McKeehen. After careful consideration, Chan made the decision with just 16 big blinds. In a near coin-flip situation, it was McKeehen holding on to bust the short stack.

The excitement at the table that is final and ended with that hand. More than five hours later on, if the session concluded, viewers were left wondering whether the majority of the players were just searching to move up the pay slots, or were actually interested in winning the competition.

Stern and Neuville Put Viewers on Tilt

36-year-old Israeli Ofer Zvi Stern and 72-year old Belgian Pierre Neuville received critique from viewers for tanking, specially Stern. Neuville took approximately 10 moments to act almost every time after looking at his cards, even though he hardly ever played a hand.

In fact, Neuville was on […]

The Gala Coral Group announced Monday that its Internet gaming arm is the ‘fastest growing in the UK online gambling market,’ net profits for the division a full 36 % higher than the past year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for online gambling rose 14 per cent to £56.2 million ($85 million). 972,000 first-time depositors were also acquired during the financial 12 months, Gala Coral stating that led to ‘more net revenue than any other detailed peer in both cash and percentage terms.’

Overall, Gala Coral had been one percent higher in 2015 than 2014, but taking into consideration the World Cup, the company says it had been web 30 percent ahead.

‘The Group’s monetary performance into the complete year had been strong … despite significant regulatory headwinds, and final 12 months’s World Cup,’ CEO Carl Leaver commented.

Ladbrokes Owner Goes For Broke

On November 24, Ladbrokes investors voted in favor of a $3.5 billion merger with Gala Coral.

At the time, much opposition was voiced from investors in Britain’s largest retail bookmaker who felt the slightly smaller Gala Coral stood to achieve more through the alliance.

Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond has well over three per cent of Ladbrokes, and was none too ple […]

Caesars Acquisition Company (CAC), the investment arm in Caesars Growth Partners (CGP), released its third quarter profits for 2015 and the results are mixed.

The parent company to Caesars Interactive Entertainment, the World group of Poker and several casinos including Planet Hollywood, Harrah’s New Orleans, therefore the Horseshoe Baltimore, CAC reported total new profits jumped to $601.2 million into the three months finished September 30, a rise of almost 24 per cent.

Not all of the news had been positive, CAC also revealing that its net income from continuing operations had been just $20.5 million, a 71 percent drop year-on-year.

Caesars Acquisition’s CEO Mitch Garber had no qualms rotating the negatives into positives, saying their company remains ‘encouraged by the performance that is strong of assets.’

Interactive Stays Active

The highlight of Q3 filing by CAC was once again its Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) arm, the division reporting $194.5 million in net revenues, a 20.4 percent yield compared to Q3 2014.

CIE is responsible for the WSOP brand name along with Caesars Palace Las Vegas and many gaming that is social including Bingo Blitz, Slotomania, and Caesars Bingo.

‘Our Interactive Entertainment business continues to come up with outstanding re […]