Poker News Media Update
Profiles
Poker News Media
Casino News Media
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Make yourself a cool million, by Alex Lavelle - The Age - 10th October 2008
At last, a chance to get some decent sports such as darts and poker into the paper. The final table of the world series takes place in Las Vegas on November 11 with the lucky last nine battling for a share of a cool $US32 million ($A46 million). The winner, poor soul, will pocket $US9.1 million and the others become instant millionaires.
The players on the final table are all virtual unknowns, but the most successful and experienced of them in tournament poker is 28-year-old American David "Chino" Rheem. He is seventh in chips and has less than half the stack of leader Dennis Phillips, but the pressure at the final table will be intense and his 10 years as a professional will hold him in good stead.
In a poll on the world series of poker website, 31% say the Chino man has the best chance to win, so the $10 on offer from TAB Sportsbet looks a steal.
If you put $100,000 on Rheem and he happens to win, you too would become a millionaire.
And in darts, another sport in which the competitors have faintly ridiculous nicknames and sweat profusely despite there being no physical activity whatsoever, Phil "The Power" Taylor is still the undisputed king of the oche. He is a $1.80 chance to win his 14th world championship in January, and since he is as likely to win again as Santa Claus is of coming to town sometime in December, you might as well invest the cash grandma gives you at Christmas on Taylor.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
At last, a chance to get some decent sports such as darts and poker into the paper. The final table of the world series takes place in Las Vegas on November 11 with the lucky last nine battling for a share of a cool $US32 million ($A46 million). The winner, poor soul, will pocket $US9.1 million and the others become instant millionaires.
The players on the final table are all virtual unknowns, but the most successful and experienced of them in tournament poker is 28-year-old American David "Chino" Rheem. He is seventh in chips and has less than half the stack of leader Dennis Phillips, but the pressure at the final table will be intense and his 10 years as a professional will hold him in good stead.
In a poll on the world series of poker website, 31% say the Chino man has the best chance to win, so the $10 on offer from TAB Sportsbet looks a steal.
If you put $100,000 on Rheem and he happens to win, you too would become a millionaire.
And in darts, another sport in which the competitors have faintly ridiculous nicknames and sweat profusely despite there being no physical activity whatsoever, Phil "The Power" Taylor is still the undisputed king of the oche. He is a $1.80 chance to win his 14th world championship in January, and since he is as likely to win again as Santa Claus is of coming to town sometime in December, you might as well invest the cash grandma gives you at Christmas on Taylor.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
Poker News Media
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
Websites
Media Man Australia
Casino News Media
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
Websites
Media Man Australia
Casino News Media
Friday, October 10, 2008
British Advertising Authority Bans Partouche Gaming Commercial 9th October 2008
Demonstrating the strength of regulating the online gaming industry, England’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an internet ad from one of Europe’s leading gaming operations.
According to the Gaming Intelligence Group, French gaming operator Partouche Casino, which not only operates a poker room but is also the sponsor of the French-based Partouche Poker Tour (PPT), was running internet advertising that featured the catch phrases “Bet to forget” and “Click or regret”. In the view of the UK’s ASA, these statements were “irresponsible” in that they seemingly preyed upon people. The ASA said that the statements could possibly be construed as meaning that people should use gambling as a way to get away from personal issues.
Partouche responded that the ads were a way of getting to their British customers. The company simply stated they wanted to ease the pain that many in the UK felt from the national team not making it into the 2008 European soccer championships and that the line “Bet to forget” was only referring to that. In regard to the “Click or regret” statement, Partouche said it was trying to get people to its website after the ASA determined their first idea, “Bet or regret,” could be made out to imply gambling was indispensable in a person’s life.
The ASA determined that both statements that were used weren’t clear in their intents and that they would not be allowed for internet advertising. They based their findings on the regulatory sub-agency, the Committee of Advertising Practices, and sections 57.2, 57.4b and 57.4c of their regulatory codes.
The ASA has been quite vigilant in adhering to these gaming codes. In addition to the ads from Partouche, the organization has also taken on Poker Stars, PKR, William Hill, InterCasino, Paddy Power Poker and Ladbrokes over differing violations of their codes over the past year. Even with these high profile violators, the ASA does report that there is a nearly 99% rate of compliance with the advertisements that they have reviewed.
The CAP codes were put into effect in September 2007 to hold online gaming and poker rooms to higher standards than others in the advertising industry. The most important of these edicts was the ability to ensure that advertising was socially responsible and protected vulnerable and young people. With the ASA and other agencies diligently policing the internet gaming and poker world, it does demonstrate the ability to have a safely regulated industry.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News Media
Casino News Media
Demonstrating the strength of regulating the online gaming industry, England’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an internet ad from one of Europe’s leading gaming operations.
According to the Gaming Intelligence Group, French gaming operator Partouche Casino, which not only operates a poker room but is also the sponsor of the French-based Partouche Poker Tour (PPT), was running internet advertising that featured the catch phrases “Bet to forget” and “Click or regret”. In the view of the UK’s ASA, these statements were “irresponsible” in that they seemingly preyed upon people. The ASA said that the statements could possibly be construed as meaning that people should use gambling as a way to get away from personal issues.
Partouche responded that the ads were a way of getting to their British customers. The company simply stated they wanted to ease the pain that many in the UK felt from the national team not making it into the 2008 European soccer championships and that the line “Bet to forget” was only referring to that. In regard to the “Click or regret” statement, Partouche said it was trying to get people to its website after the ASA determined their first idea, “Bet or regret,” could be made out to imply gambling was indispensable in a person’s life.
The ASA determined that both statements that were used weren’t clear in their intents and that they would not be allowed for internet advertising. They based their findings on the regulatory sub-agency, the Committee of Advertising Practices, and sections 57.2, 57.4b and 57.4c of their regulatory codes.
The ASA has been quite vigilant in adhering to these gaming codes. In addition to the ads from Partouche, the organization has also taken on Poker Stars, PKR, William Hill, InterCasino, Paddy Power Poker and Ladbrokes over differing violations of their codes over the past year. Even with these high profile violators, the ASA does report that there is a nearly 99% rate of compliance with the advertisements that they have reviewed.
The CAP codes were put into effect in September 2007 to hold online gaming and poker rooms to higher standards than others in the advertising industry. The most important of these edicts was the ability to ensure that advertising was socially responsible and protected vulnerable and young people. With the ASA and other agencies diligently policing the internet gaming and poker world, it does demonstrate the ability to have a safely regulated industry.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker News Media
Casino News Media
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Who's the girl in the $1m dress? - Stuff.co.uk - 8th October 2008
Security was on high alert at SkyCity Casino as all eyes stared at the girl in the $1 million dress.
The dress, modelled by Amber Peebles, was made out of 200 casino chips worth $5000 each, and required the MTV presenter to have her own security team following her around.
It was tailor-made to promote the inaugural SkyCity Festival of Poker, and had its first and only unveiling at the Lee Nelson and Brooke Howard-Smith Celebrity & Media Invitational poker tournament last night.
Peebles said she felt a little like celebrity socialite Paris Hilton when she put the dress on.
"When SkyCity first pitched me on the idea of the million dollar chip dress I thought it was very Paris Hilton," she said.
"But how many times does a girl get to wear a million bucks?
"When I saw the dress and how much trouble they’d gone to, I thought it looked really amazing."
The dress weighed more than two kilograms and last night was the only time it will be worn.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
Security was on high alert at SkyCity Casino as all eyes stared at the girl in the $1 million dress.
The dress, modelled by Amber Peebles, was made out of 200 casino chips worth $5000 each, and required the MTV presenter to have her own security team following her around.
It was tailor-made to promote the inaugural SkyCity Festival of Poker, and had its first and only unveiling at the Lee Nelson and Brooke Howard-Smith Celebrity & Media Invitational poker tournament last night.
Peebles said she felt a little like celebrity socialite Paris Hilton when she put the dress on.
"When SkyCity first pitched me on the idea of the million dollar chip dress I thought it was very Paris Hilton," she said.
"But how many times does a girl get to wear a million bucks?
"When I saw the dress and how much trouble they’d gone to, I thought it looked really amazing."
The dress weighed more than two kilograms and last night was the only time it will be worn.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker and Casino News
2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship
21-Year-Old Russian Young Gun Alexander Kostritsyn Crowned 2008 Aussie Millions Champion Melbourne, Australia Sunday 20 January 2008
The new king of poker was crowned this evening when, Alexander 'The Great' Kostritsyn won the No-Limit Texas Holdem ‘Main Event’ at the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. He had to beat one of the toughest NL Hold'em tournament players in the world in Erik Seidel for the victory. Seidel walked away in second place with a cool AUD$1 Million.
Kostritsyn took home AUD$1.65 Million, the largest prize ever awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere. 21-year-old Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow, Russia was the youngest player and only European at the final table at 21, this Muscovite turned his attention to playing poker full-time as soon as he turned 18. His best tournament cash was third in the 2007 Russian Summer Poker Tournament (worth $8,900). He bought in directly to the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’. He outlasted a record field of 780 players who anted up the AUD$10,000 buy-in for the ‘Main Event’, creating an unprecedented prize pool of AUD$7.80 Million.
The Main Event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino was the culmination of the 16 individual events, which this year generated more than AUD$10 Million in total prize money.
‘We congratulate Alexander Kostritsyn on his tremendous accomplishment,’ said Peter Mim, Executive General Manager of Table Games at Crown. ‘He played superb poker over a prolonged period against a record field that included virtually every top professional and hundreds of talented amateurs from Australia and around the world.’
Finishing third and collecting AUD$700,000 was Michael 'Mick the Greek' Chrisanthopoulos. Hailing from ‘Hachem territory’ in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the 26-year-old brought a massive chip stack to the Final Table. Michael has been playing poker for three years, and recently won a qualified via a Crown $120 Satellite to enter into the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’.
The remaining players at the final table were:
4th place: Peter Ling- $500,000
5th place: Nino Marotta- $400,000
6th place: Antonio Casale- $300,000
7th place: Peter Mobbs- $225,000
Following on from the enormous ratings success of the US screening of the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event, Crown and Fox Sports Net (FSN) will be partnering up for another year that will again see the Aussie Millions filmed for broadcast internationally from March 2007 as a 10 episode series with a reach of over 81 Million homes. A coup for Australian Poker, Crown’s collaboration with FSN further consolidates the prestige, recognition and credibility of the Aussie Millions, particularly in America, the home of Texas Holdem and a country that widely considers poker its national game.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Aussie Millions
Crown Poker
Crown Casino
Poker and Casino News
21-Year-Old Russian Young Gun Alexander Kostritsyn Crowned 2008 Aussie Millions Champion Melbourne, Australia Sunday 20 January 2008
The new king of poker was crowned this evening when, Alexander 'The Great' Kostritsyn won the No-Limit Texas Holdem ‘Main Event’ at the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. He had to beat one of the toughest NL Hold'em tournament players in the world in Erik Seidel for the victory. Seidel walked away in second place with a cool AUD$1 Million.
Kostritsyn took home AUD$1.65 Million, the largest prize ever awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere. 21-year-old Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow, Russia was the youngest player and only European at the final table at 21, this Muscovite turned his attention to playing poker full-time as soon as he turned 18. His best tournament cash was third in the 2007 Russian Summer Poker Tournament (worth $8,900). He bought in directly to the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’. He outlasted a record field of 780 players who anted up the AUD$10,000 buy-in for the ‘Main Event’, creating an unprecedented prize pool of AUD$7.80 Million.
The Main Event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino was the culmination of the 16 individual events, which this year generated more than AUD$10 Million in total prize money.
‘We congratulate Alexander Kostritsyn on his tremendous accomplishment,’ said Peter Mim, Executive General Manager of Table Games at Crown. ‘He played superb poker over a prolonged period against a record field that included virtually every top professional and hundreds of talented amateurs from Australia and around the world.’
Finishing third and collecting AUD$700,000 was Michael 'Mick the Greek' Chrisanthopoulos. Hailing from ‘Hachem territory’ in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the 26-year-old brought a massive chip stack to the Final Table. Michael has been playing poker for three years, and recently won a qualified via a Crown $120 Satellite to enter into the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’.
The remaining players at the final table were:
4th place: Peter Ling- $500,000
5th place: Nino Marotta- $400,000
6th place: Antonio Casale- $300,000
7th place: Peter Mobbs- $225,000
Following on from the enormous ratings success of the US screening of the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event, Crown and Fox Sports Net (FSN) will be partnering up for another year that will again see the Aussie Millions filmed for broadcast internationally from March 2007 as a 10 episode series with a reach of over 81 Million homes. A coup for Australian Poker, Crown’s collaboration with FSN further consolidates the prestige, recognition and credibility of the Aussie Millions, particularly in America, the home of Texas Holdem and a country that widely considers poker its national game.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Aussie Millions
Crown Poker
Crown Casino
Poker and Casino News
Celebrities chip up to the poker table, by Rachel Glucina - The New Zealand Herald - 8th October 2008
I almost didn't make it to SkyCity last night for the poker festival. I was running late from Newmarket in heavy traffic and pouring rain where I'd been hobnobbing at Kemp Rare Wines sipping the most expensive and exclusive wines from around the country. Yeah, ok, I'm bragging.
We finally got to SkyCity; parked in the maze they call a car park; ambled through the complex into the room where the celebrity festival was being played, when I got stopped by a security guard and harassed for ID. Apparently I looked too young to be in a casino. I'm thirty-five! I fished out my driver's licence, while Norrie, my pint-sized photographer was chortling with laughter. Finally, the guard ushered us through and into the room for the celebrity tournament.
(Here's some photos from last night's Festival of Poker at SkyCity.)
There were ten tables crammed full of well-known faces: Otis Frizzell and Dave Fane in fedoras were at the far table cavorting with horse racing couple Bridgette and Lance O'Sullivan; Aja Rock who was sporting some dramatic cleavage and a fascinator (maybe she thought she was at the races) was playing with Simon Doull; Neil "The Waka" Waka (what is it with Kiwi blokes and not-so-original nicknames?) was there looking like a poker ace donning a baseball cap and sunglasses - the only time you're legitimately allowed to wear shades inside, apparently - only he's not an ace. Nice bluff, Neil.
But Mike King is. He was on the same table as Nick D, Che Fu and Ali Williams, only unlike the awkward sports star, King looked like he knew what he was doing. He's a pro. He's won poker tournaments here and in Australia and has been playing the game for over 20 years. He looked the part last night, wearing dark sunnies and earphones so the chit chat around him wouldn't prove distracting. Not that he's opposed to the odd distracting tactic himself. "I pity anyone who sits at my table," King once said about the NZ Poker Championship at Christchurch Casino. "Whether I'm winning or losing, I'm constantly ribbing the other players - riding them like a horse." I didn't see much evidence of that last night. King was concentrating intently, and the only thing riding seemed to be his reputation. This was one celebrity competition Mikey couldn't afford to lose.
Ex-All Blacks AJ Whetton and Steve Devine were at another table; Auckland Blues flanker Daniel Braid (who's relocating to Queensland to play for the Reds) was at a table alongside - the same one Craig Parker, Phil Bostwick and Elemeno P's Dave Gibson were at.
Dean Lonergan admitted he didn't know how to play, though I suspect he wasn't alone. I'd heard from a poker tell-tale that Vicky-Lee, who was at the same table, had been up to 4am the previous morning learning the tricks of the trade, though if I was being honest, she didn't look like much of an apprentice. Perhaps, like King, she was opting instead for distracting tactics, if that's what you can call her not-so-subtle cleavage on display.
By contrast, Brooke McAlister (Luke's ex-wife) opted for the smart girl's guide to winning poker: sidling up to a professional by the name of Lee Nelson - the 2006 Aussie Millions Champion. It's no wonder, then, she's dumped the WAG role and moved into the entrepreneur arena and on to the arms of Eric Watson and Peter Huljich, respectively. Why expose your boobs, when a buddy in the business can be more helpful and less degrading?
Here's some photos from last night's Festival of Poker at SkyCity, but for all the piccies and a complete gossip rundown - including who won - check out Spy in the Herald on Sunday.
Rachel Glucina
Media Man Australia Profiles
Celebrity Poker
Poker Celebrities
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Poker and Casino News
I almost didn't make it to SkyCity last night for the poker festival. I was running late from Newmarket in heavy traffic and pouring rain where I'd been hobnobbing at Kemp Rare Wines sipping the most expensive and exclusive wines from around the country. Yeah, ok, I'm bragging.
We finally got to SkyCity; parked in the maze they call a car park; ambled through the complex into the room where the celebrity festival was being played, when I got stopped by a security guard and harassed for ID. Apparently I looked too young to be in a casino. I'm thirty-five! I fished out my driver's licence, while Norrie, my pint-sized photographer was chortling with laughter. Finally, the guard ushered us through and into the room for the celebrity tournament.
(Here's some photos from last night's Festival of Poker at SkyCity.)
There were ten tables crammed full of well-known faces: Otis Frizzell and Dave Fane in fedoras were at the far table cavorting with horse racing couple Bridgette and Lance O'Sullivan; Aja Rock who was sporting some dramatic cleavage and a fascinator (maybe she thought she was at the races) was playing with Simon Doull; Neil "The Waka" Waka (what is it with Kiwi blokes and not-so-original nicknames?) was there looking like a poker ace donning a baseball cap and sunglasses - the only time you're legitimately allowed to wear shades inside, apparently - only he's not an ace. Nice bluff, Neil.
But Mike King is. He was on the same table as Nick D, Che Fu and Ali Williams, only unlike the awkward sports star, King looked like he knew what he was doing. He's a pro. He's won poker tournaments here and in Australia and has been playing the game for over 20 years. He looked the part last night, wearing dark sunnies and earphones so the chit chat around him wouldn't prove distracting. Not that he's opposed to the odd distracting tactic himself. "I pity anyone who sits at my table," King once said about the NZ Poker Championship at Christchurch Casino. "Whether I'm winning or losing, I'm constantly ribbing the other players - riding them like a horse." I didn't see much evidence of that last night. King was concentrating intently, and the only thing riding seemed to be his reputation. This was one celebrity competition Mikey couldn't afford to lose.
Ex-All Blacks AJ Whetton and Steve Devine were at another table; Auckland Blues flanker Daniel Braid (who's relocating to Queensland to play for the Reds) was at a table alongside - the same one Craig Parker, Phil Bostwick and Elemeno P's Dave Gibson were at.
Dean Lonergan admitted he didn't know how to play, though I suspect he wasn't alone. I'd heard from a poker tell-tale that Vicky-Lee, who was at the same table, had been up to 4am the previous morning learning the tricks of the trade, though if I was being honest, she didn't look like much of an apprentice. Perhaps, like King, she was opting instead for distracting tactics, if that's what you can call her not-so-subtle cleavage on display.
By contrast, Brooke McAlister (Luke's ex-wife) opted for the smart girl's guide to winning poker: sidling up to a professional by the name of Lee Nelson - the 2006 Aussie Millions Champion. It's no wonder, then, she's dumped the WAG role and moved into the entrepreneur arena and on to the arms of Eric Watson and Peter Huljich, respectively. Why expose your boobs, when a buddy in the business can be more helpful and less degrading?
Here's some photos from last night's Festival of Poker at SkyCity, but for all the piccies and a complete gossip rundown - including who won - check out Spy in the Herald on Sunday.
Rachel Glucina
Media Man Australia Profiles
Celebrity Poker
Poker Celebrities
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Poker and Casino News
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Poker player plays cards right to go pro, by Neil White - The Times - 5th October 2008
An amateur who started playing two years ago joins the world’s elite after winning £81,000
Until recently, Chris Elliot delivered pizzas by night and played internet poker by day. But last week his life changed for ever when he won £81,000 after making the final table in Europe’s biggest tournament at the Empire casino in Leicester Square, London.
Elliot, 33, from Alloa, is living out the dream of the millions of hopefuls who play the game online. He started in a council flat bedroom and ended up a high roller playing against some of then biggest and most glamorous names in the game. Now he plans to go professional, travelling around the world’s top casinos with those elite players.
Elliot took up the card game two years ago to supplement his income. He was soon making more money playing poker than he had been delivering fast food to people in Clackmannanshire.
Then he put up £250 to enter an internet tournament that offered the chance to win a £10,000 ticket to the Betfair World Series of Poker Europe. From 1,200 entrants, he was one of 21 to end up, at 4am the next day, with a golden ticket.
In London he was one of 364 starters, including star players with the nicknames Kid Poker, The Devilfish and The Mouth. The casino was packed with players, spectators and the crew of the US sports broadcaster ESPN, which will televise edited coverage of the tournament later this year.
Elliot began playing last Sunday and had such low expectations of success in the five-day tournament that he failed to book accommodation in the capital beyond the following evening. So he found himself homeless on the streets of London at 4am on Tuesday, after his second 14-hour shift at the card tables and with his competitors falling by the wayside.
With his lone supporter, his cousin Scott Elliot, he jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel for sleep before the game picked up at lunchtime the next day. “The driver was from another country and with that and my accent we didn’t really understand each other,” he recalls. “We ended up in the home of a Korean family who rented out their basement.”
After two hours’ sleep, he was back at the tables and with interest in the unknown Scot’s progress growing, Elliot battled through another day’s competition and found more comfortable lodgings.
By the end of Tuesday, the remaining players were guaranteed a cash prize of at least £34,000. By then he had played with some of the biggest names in poker and impressed them all. “This is my boy!” said Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, the three-times World Series of Poker champion, shaking Elliot by the shoulders. “I can’t win a hand against you,” said Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, the leading money-winner on the world tour. Negreanu is famed for his ability to “read” his opponent’s behaviour at the table and decipher their cards from it. He was baffled by the Scotsman’s huge, tinted sunglasses.
“I bought them on the way to the casino on the first day,” said Elliot. “I thought if I looked at these guys during a hand I’d fall to pieces. With the glasses on they can’t see my eyes and they don’t know where I’m looking.”
By Wednesday the prize at stake was a place at the nine-man final table in front of a packed house and 14 cameras. Elliot was in danger of dropping out at the last. He bet all his chips in one hand and needed the dealer to show an ace or a king on the last card, or his tournament was over. The ace came, Elliot slammed his hand on the green felt table and yelled “That’s right! That’s right!” The casino erupted in support of a player they had adopted as the home favourite.
Elliot’s fortune was reversed at the final on Friday when he was knocked out in ninth position when his opponent got the card he needed at the last opportunity. “I had an 85% chance of winning the hand,” says Elliot. “That would have put me in a strong position to go even further and maybe even win it [the top prize with the tournament was more than £800,000]. They gave me a cheque for £81,000 though, a life-changing amount.”
In the world he is about to enter, leading players can earn millions. It’s as much a game of skill as luck. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, once a minor figure in the Hull underworld, has won more than £5m and is a former bracelet winner at the World Series in Las Vegas, the holy grail for professional players.
In the main event at the World Series, the winner gets £4.1m. Elliot plans to ring-fence some of his winnings so that he can go there next year. The event is a magnet for celebrities. He could well find himself playing with Hollywood stars such as Ben Affleck, Jennifer Tily or Toby Maguire in one of Las Vegas’s famously raffish hotels.
For the world’s leading professionals it is a glamorous existence, but for the average plodder, poker can mean long hours at a computer screen or at best a trip to the local casino. Elliot has moved into a different league. He returned to his council flat on Friday with more money than he has ever known. He has also earned a seat at the same tournament in London for the next three years.
Elliot plans to play in a tournament in Blackpool next month. Then there is only one place to go — Las Vegas.
(Credit: The Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
WSOP
Poker
Poker and Casino News
An amateur who started playing two years ago joins the world’s elite after winning £81,000
Until recently, Chris Elliot delivered pizzas by night and played internet poker by day. But last week his life changed for ever when he won £81,000 after making the final table in Europe’s biggest tournament at the Empire casino in Leicester Square, London.
Elliot, 33, from Alloa, is living out the dream of the millions of hopefuls who play the game online. He started in a council flat bedroom and ended up a high roller playing against some of then biggest and most glamorous names in the game. Now he plans to go professional, travelling around the world’s top casinos with those elite players.
Elliot took up the card game two years ago to supplement his income. He was soon making more money playing poker than he had been delivering fast food to people in Clackmannanshire.
Then he put up £250 to enter an internet tournament that offered the chance to win a £10,000 ticket to the Betfair World Series of Poker Europe. From 1,200 entrants, he was one of 21 to end up, at 4am the next day, with a golden ticket.
In London he was one of 364 starters, including star players with the nicknames Kid Poker, The Devilfish and The Mouth. The casino was packed with players, spectators and the crew of the US sports broadcaster ESPN, which will televise edited coverage of the tournament later this year.
Elliot began playing last Sunday and had such low expectations of success in the five-day tournament that he failed to book accommodation in the capital beyond the following evening. So he found himself homeless on the streets of London at 4am on Tuesday, after his second 14-hour shift at the card tables and with his competitors falling by the wayside.
With his lone supporter, his cousin Scott Elliot, he jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel for sleep before the game picked up at lunchtime the next day. “The driver was from another country and with that and my accent we didn’t really understand each other,” he recalls. “We ended up in the home of a Korean family who rented out their basement.”
After two hours’ sleep, he was back at the tables and with interest in the unknown Scot’s progress growing, Elliot battled through another day’s competition and found more comfortable lodgings.
By the end of Tuesday, the remaining players were guaranteed a cash prize of at least £34,000. By then he had played with some of the biggest names in poker and impressed them all. “This is my boy!” said Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, the three-times World Series of Poker champion, shaking Elliot by the shoulders. “I can’t win a hand against you,” said Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, the leading money-winner on the world tour. Negreanu is famed for his ability to “read” his opponent’s behaviour at the table and decipher their cards from it. He was baffled by the Scotsman’s huge, tinted sunglasses.
“I bought them on the way to the casino on the first day,” said Elliot. “I thought if I looked at these guys during a hand I’d fall to pieces. With the glasses on they can’t see my eyes and they don’t know where I’m looking.”
By Wednesday the prize at stake was a place at the nine-man final table in front of a packed house and 14 cameras. Elliot was in danger of dropping out at the last. He bet all his chips in one hand and needed the dealer to show an ace or a king on the last card, or his tournament was over. The ace came, Elliot slammed his hand on the green felt table and yelled “That’s right! That’s right!” The casino erupted in support of a player they had adopted as the home favourite.
Elliot’s fortune was reversed at the final on Friday when he was knocked out in ninth position when his opponent got the card he needed at the last opportunity. “I had an 85% chance of winning the hand,” says Elliot. “That would have put me in a strong position to go even further and maybe even win it [the top prize with the tournament was more than £800,000]. They gave me a cheque for £81,000 though, a life-changing amount.”
In the world he is about to enter, leading players can earn millions. It’s as much a game of skill as luck. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, once a minor figure in the Hull underworld, has won more than £5m and is a former bracelet winner at the World Series in Las Vegas, the holy grail for professional players.
In the main event at the World Series, the winner gets £4.1m. Elliot plans to ring-fence some of his winnings so that he can go there next year. The event is a magnet for celebrities. He could well find himself playing with Hollywood stars such as Ben Affleck, Jennifer Tily or Toby Maguire in one of Las Vegas’s famously raffish hotels.
For the world’s leading professionals it is a glamorous existence, but for the average plodder, poker can mean long hours at a computer screen or at best a trip to the local casino. Elliot has moved into a different league. He returned to his council flat on Friday with more money than he has ever known. He has also earned a seat at the same tournament in London for the next three years.
Elliot plans to play in a tournament in Blackpool next month. Then there is only one place to go — Las Vegas.
(Credit: The Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
WSOP
Poker
Poker and Casino News
Poker Babes, Casino Babes and Poker Celebrities
Profiles
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Poker Celebrities
Poker and Casino News
Profiles
Poker Babes
Casino Babes
Poker Celebrities
Poker and Casino News
Poker's a big deal, by Nicola Shepheard - The New Zealand Herald - 5th October 2008
Everyone has a poker face. Property marketer Kevin Clark's is introspective, verging on brooding. Publisher Martin Cardno's is stony, half-hidden by mirror-glasses.
TV presenter Brooke Howard-Smith talks a lot and calls his opponents "sweetheart" and "hotpants".
IT specialist Robert Wang grins and crows happily when he wins.
Their game on Thursday night at SkyCity is a friendly. But Cardno, 36, and Wang, 42, regularly play in tournaments overseas. They have an arrangement whereby one gets a percentage of the other's wins. This year, Cardno has played in 15 tournaments during eight trips and made $100,000 in winnings.
Kiwi professional players usually have to travel for the big money, but in the next four months New Zealand will host the two richest tournaments to be held here.
The first is a leg of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour at Auckland's SkyCity until next Sunday. It has an expected prize pool of $1m while the 2009 New Zealand championship, dubbed The Battle for Middle Earth, is at Christchurch Casino in January.
Buy-ins - the amount players have to put in the pot to join - are $3000 and $5000 respectively. Satellite tournaments played in casinos and pubs throughout the country give amateurs the chance to win a place at the big tournaments for free, or for under a $100 buy-in.
The coming-of-age for professional poker is the top end of a poker revival making exclamations like "I raised on the flop but there were too many overcards" normal conversation in many lounges and pubs throughout the country.
By some accounts, the international poker fever is three to five years more advanced in Australia, Europe and America, but we're catching on.
More than 750,000 Australians have played poker at least once in the previous 12 months, and about 450,000 who play poker (home game, casino, pub or club, online) at least once a week.
And 50m people in the United States play poker regularly.
There are no complete figures available here, but several thousand people play in the New Zealand Pub Poker League each week.
Lee Nelson, our resident celebrity poker professional, believes per capita our boom is well underway.
Nelson is co-commentator with Howard-Smith for the TV3 and C4 show, Celebrity Joker Poker. An affable American-born doctor now living in Nelson, his place in the poker firmament was assured in 2006 when he won the salubrious Aussie Millions, taking home $1.2 million.
He's written three poker books, including bestseller Kill Phil (apparently a surprising number of poker players are called Phil), and won about $2m in his poker career.
Nelson traces the revival to three elements: the advent of the "hold camera", which shows players' private hands on TV shows, enabling watchers to get inside the game; the online gaming explosion, allowing players to hone their skills at home at their own pace; and growing social acceptability.
Suddenly lawyers, accountants and teachers were organising social tournaments - at least one has been covertly staged on an Auckland university campus with the drinks supplied by a player who worked at a major brewery. Students were putting themselves through university with online poker winnings.
Esoteric strategies were laid out for the masses in a new how-to literature, and discussed in terrifying detail in internet forums. Extreme Poker tournaments were played on platforms 30 storeys above the ocean and in scuba gear under the ocean. Last year, 18-year-old Norwegian Annette Obrestad won a European championship, giving the game a poster-girl-next-door. Poker was no longer the sole domain of flinty cowboy-types amid smoke in back rooms.
Says Nelson, "Poker went from the back room to the front room."
The big guns playing in the New Zealand tournaments include the improbably named accountant-turned-poker pro, Chris Moneymaker (reports claim it's the name he was christened).
Moneymaker's David and Goliath ascent is legendary. Like Obrestad, he started by playing internet poker in his spare time.
In 2003, he entered an online competition for $59, and won his way up the tournament ladder to a major live event in Las Vegas, finally winning $3.8m
The adrenalin-shot this delivered to online poker has been dubbed the Moneymaker Effect.
Its products include Kiwi accountant Justin Eggleton, 25, whose poker winning helped fund his studies.
"Online poker was a great way to take my mind off law school, while also helping to get out of overdraft and give me a bit of much-needed beer money. I was also able to get on a few hot streaks during my holidays that helped pay for a couple of overseas trips."
He usually plays four to six virtual tables simultaneously (some players have upwards of 20 tables on the go at once) and has won thousands of dollars over the years.
The majority of tables have cheap buy-ins of less than $50, but some online players claim to make six-figure incomes.
According to one American forecaster, the worldwide online game market could grow from $5.1 billion in 2005 to more than $19.6b in 2011.
Of course, most players - an estimated 98 per cent - will lose money. The online juggernaut, which has brought card games to a younger generation, has raised concerns about problem gambling.
Studies suggest about one in five Australian high school students gamble on card games.
British researcher Professor Mark Griffiths has drawn attention to online gambling's fish hooks.
For most gamblers electronic, or e-cash, will be easier to part with than real cash; the internet offers unlimited access and anonymity; and free games have been shown to offer higher odds of winning than paid ones.
David Boom, of the Problem Gambling Foundation, says the online boom is part of a slew of new gambling options that is normalising gambling.
"That's feeding into hardcore problem gambling."
He says there's no compulsion for host responsibility measures on websites, let alone in people's private lounges.
But players at the Horse & Trap in Mt Eden, Auckland, on Thursday night defend the game.
One, a landscape gardener who declined to give her name, says she has friends who use poker as a substitute for other forms of gambling that got them into trouble.
Richard Maui, 33, says players can easily get a poker fix for free online, or by joining a pub league.
The call centre worker won a place in the SkyCity tournament through free pub league satellites.
This week, he could be pitted against an international champion poker player. "I'm as nervous as anything," he grins.
"But since it wasn't any money of mine, I'm quite happy.
"It's basically a roller coaster."
The poker fascination goes well beyond money. Adherents speak with something approaching reverence of the stamina and mental rigour required for poker.
"You need a renaissance personality," says Alistair Bone, a radio journalist and serious poker hobbyist.
You need maths to mentally calculate changing odds.
Players also need patience and aggression, and the instinct to know when to use each.
"Ninety per cent of top players will have a blank look, ready to change into any personality," says Bone. "They're just kind of empty."
"There's a fine line between a maniac at the poker table and a champion," says Lee Nelson.
"The difference is the champion knows when to take his foot off the accelerator, he's got a sixth sense. Whereas the maniac doesn't know when to stop."
Any given game is about 25 per cent luck, he says, but on a long-term basis luck contributes far less.
Poker's status as a sport has been questioned because of its luck element, but Nelson contends just as much luck is at play in other sports.
He also argues the stamina required for 15-hour days during the three-day main events qualifies poker as an endurance sport.
Poker has its lexicon of jargon. There are tells - giveaway mannerisms that alert other players to the strength of individual hands. Nelson outlines common beginner tells as looking at chips when dealt a strong hand and staring at the fold cards when holding a weak hand.
There are tight aggressive and loose aggressive players. Tight aggressives don't play many hands but when they do, they play them boldly and seldom bluff. Loose aggressives play many hands and are unpredictable.
Deb Merito, of Christchurch, is second on the New Zealand pub leaderboard and considers himself a slow player.
"When I've got a full house I let everybody else do the raising until it gets to the river [final card dealt] and I let them bet and then re-raise. I sucker them in."
The mother and business development manager plays four times a week.
"It's a time where you can lie, cheat, bullshit, bluff, be honest, do whatever you want and it's okay."
She likes the social aspect of pub poker. Her husband, Victor, also ranks high on the leaderboard.
"Vic's just as competitive as I am. We made a golden rule if we get on to each other's table, he's no different to the next person. We're going to take each other out."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker
New Zealand
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
Everyone has a poker face. Property marketer Kevin Clark's is introspective, verging on brooding. Publisher Martin Cardno's is stony, half-hidden by mirror-glasses.
TV presenter Brooke Howard-Smith talks a lot and calls his opponents "sweetheart" and "hotpants".
IT specialist Robert Wang grins and crows happily when he wins.
Their game on Thursday night at SkyCity is a friendly. But Cardno, 36, and Wang, 42, regularly play in tournaments overseas. They have an arrangement whereby one gets a percentage of the other's wins. This year, Cardno has played in 15 tournaments during eight trips and made $100,000 in winnings.
Kiwi professional players usually have to travel for the big money, but in the next four months New Zealand will host the two richest tournaments to be held here.
The first is a leg of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour at Auckland's SkyCity until next Sunday. It has an expected prize pool of $1m while the 2009 New Zealand championship, dubbed The Battle for Middle Earth, is at Christchurch Casino in January.
Buy-ins - the amount players have to put in the pot to join - are $3000 and $5000 respectively. Satellite tournaments played in casinos and pubs throughout the country give amateurs the chance to win a place at the big tournaments for free, or for under a $100 buy-in.
The coming-of-age for professional poker is the top end of a poker revival making exclamations like "I raised on the flop but there were too many overcards" normal conversation in many lounges and pubs throughout the country.
By some accounts, the international poker fever is three to five years more advanced in Australia, Europe and America, but we're catching on.
More than 750,000 Australians have played poker at least once in the previous 12 months, and about 450,000 who play poker (home game, casino, pub or club, online) at least once a week.
And 50m people in the United States play poker regularly.
There are no complete figures available here, but several thousand people play in the New Zealand Pub Poker League each week.
Lee Nelson, our resident celebrity poker professional, believes per capita our boom is well underway.
Nelson is co-commentator with Howard-Smith for the TV3 and C4 show, Celebrity Joker Poker. An affable American-born doctor now living in Nelson, his place in the poker firmament was assured in 2006 when he won the salubrious Aussie Millions, taking home $1.2 million.
He's written three poker books, including bestseller Kill Phil (apparently a surprising number of poker players are called Phil), and won about $2m in his poker career.
Nelson traces the revival to three elements: the advent of the "hold camera", which shows players' private hands on TV shows, enabling watchers to get inside the game; the online gaming explosion, allowing players to hone their skills at home at their own pace; and growing social acceptability.
Suddenly lawyers, accountants and teachers were organising social tournaments - at least one has been covertly staged on an Auckland university campus with the drinks supplied by a player who worked at a major brewery. Students were putting themselves through university with online poker winnings.
Esoteric strategies were laid out for the masses in a new how-to literature, and discussed in terrifying detail in internet forums. Extreme Poker tournaments were played on platforms 30 storeys above the ocean and in scuba gear under the ocean. Last year, 18-year-old Norwegian Annette Obrestad won a European championship, giving the game a poster-girl-next-door. Poker was no longer the sole domain of flinty cowboy-types amid smoke in back rooms.
Says Nelson, "Poker went from the back room to the front room."
The big guns playing in the New Zealand tournaments include the improbably named accountant-turned-poker pro, Chris Moneymaker (reports claim it's the name he was christened).
Moneymaker's David and Goliath ascent is legendary. Like Obrestad, he started by playing internet poker in his spare time.
In 2003, he entered an online competition for $59, and won his way up the tournament ladder to a major live event in Las Vegas, finally winning $3.8m
The adrenalin-shot this delivered to online poker has been dubbed the Moneymaker Effect.
Its products include Kiwi accountant Justin Eggleton, 25, whose poker winning helped fund his studies.
"Online poker was a great way to take my mind off law school, while also helping to get out of overdraft and give me a bit of much-needed beer money. I was also able to get on a few hot streaks during my holidays that helped pay for a couple of overseas trips."
He usually plays four to six virtual tables simultaneously (some players have upwards of 20 tables on the go at once) and has won thousands of dollars over the years.
The majority of tables have cheap buy-ins of less than $50, but some online players claim to make six-figure incomes.
According to one American forecaster, the worldwide online game market could grow from $5.1 billion in 2005 to more than $19.6b in 2011.
Of course, most players - an estimated 98 per cent - will lose money. The online juggernaut, which has brought card games to a younger generation, has raised concerns about problem gambling.
Studies suggest about one in five Australian high school students gamble on card games.
British researcher Professor Mark Griffiths has drawn attention to online gambling's fish hooks.
For most gamblers electronic, or e-cash, will be easier to part with than real cash; the internet offers unlimited access and anonymity; and free games have been shown to offer higher odds of winning than paid ones.
David Boom, of the Problem Gambling Foundation, says the online boom is part of a slew of new gambling options that is normalising gambling.
"That's feeding into hardcore problem gambling."
He says there's no compulsion for host responsibility measures on websites, let alone in people's private lounges.
But players at the Horse & Trap in Mt Eden, Auckland, on Thursday night defend the game.
One, a landscape gardener who declined to give her name, says she has friends who use poker as a substitute for other forms of gambling that got them into trouble.
Richard Maui, 33, says players can easily get a poker fix for free online, or by joining a pub league.
The call centre worker won a place in the SkyCity tournament through free pub league satellites.
This week, he could be pitted against an international champion poker player. "I'm as nervous as anything," he grins.
"But since it wasn't any money of mine, I'm quite happy.
"It's basically a roller coaster."
The poker fascination goes well beyond money. Adherents speak with something approaching reverence of the stamina and mental rigour required for poker.
"You need a renaissance personality," says Alistair Bone, a radio journalist and serious poker hobbyist.
You need maths to mentally calculate changing odds.
Players also need patience and aggression, and the instinct to know when to use each.
"Ninety per cent of top players will have a blank look, ready to change into any personality," says Bone. "They're just kind of empty."
"There's a fine line between a maniac at the poker table and a champion," says Lee Nelson.
"The difference is the champion knows when to take his foot off the accelerator, he's got a sixth sense. Whereas the maniac doesn't know when to stop."
Any given game is about 25 per cent luck, he says, but on a long-term basis luck contributes far less.
Poker's status as a sport has been questioned because of its luck element, but Nelson contends just as much luck is at play in other sports.
He also argues the stamina required for 15-hour days during the three-day main events qualifies poker as an endurance sport.
Poker has its lexicon of jargon. There are tells - giveaway mannerisms that alert other players to the strength of individual hands. Nelson outlines common beginner tells as looking at chips when dealt a strong hand and staring at the fold cards when holding a weak hand.
There are tight aggressive and loose aggressive players. Tight aggressives don't play many hands but when they do, they play them boldly and seldom bluff. Loose aggressives play many hands and are unpredictable.
Deb Merito, of Christchurch, is second on the New Zealand pub leaderboard and considers himself a slow player.
"When I've got a full house I let everybody else do the raising until it gets to the river [final card dealt] and I let them bet and then re-raise. I sucker them in."
The mother and business development manager plays four times a week.
"It's a time where you can lie, cheat, bullshit, bluff, be honest, do whatever you want and it's okay."
She likes the social aspect of pub poker. Her husband, Victor, also ranks high on the leaderboard.
"Vic's just as competitive as I am. We made a golden rule if we get on to each other's table, he's no different to the next person. We're going to take each other out."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Poker
New Zealand
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Hawks claim $2m pokies revenue as community benefit, by Melissa Fyfe - The Age - 5th October 2008
Cashed-up premiership team Hawthorn has paid itself almost $2 million in revenue from its poker machine club - and then claimed it as a community benefit.
The triumphant Hawks - along with other AFL clubs that own poker machine venues - have been exploiting a legislative loophole that allows them to claim a smorgasbord of venue expenses and running costs as community benefits.
In total, Hawthorn claimed that last financial year it pumped $3.3 million of revenue from its poker machine venue, Vegas at Waverley Gardens, back into the community. However, analysis of the payments shows only $3058 - or 0.1% - was for genuine community gifts or sponsorships unrelated to running the business.
The extent to which Hawthorn has manipulated its ethical obligations to the community as an owner of a poker machine venue was revealed last week when it lodged its community benefit statement with Victoria's gambling regulator.
The $1.9 million payment, to "subsidise football operations", was listed as a community benefit. It is all the more curious as records show that Hawthorn made no such claim last year.
A spokesman for the Hawthorn Football Club said the club was busy conducting its Best and Fairest yesterday and declined to comment.
The club - which also claimed the community had benefited from the purchase of nine televisions and monitors and a calculator - has come under fire from anti-gambling groups after winning approval in July to operate 80 poker machines in the economically repressed Caroline Springs, in Melbourne's west.
A Monash University analysis of community benefit statements lodged by the AFL clubs that own gambling venues found they contributed $15.6 million to the community last financial year. But only 4.1% of claims were for genuine charitable or benevolent purposes, the rest was for ongoing costs of venues such as wages, electricity, cleaning, rent and repairs.
Dr Charles Livingstone, a senior lecturer at Monash University's department of health science, said his analysis showed the clubs that run pokies venues - including Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, the Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda - had "significantly overstated" the actual benefits to the community from poker machine earnings.
A lack of transparency made it difficult to tell how much money was going to clubs as a so-called community benefit. "Once you look beyond the facade, the whole thing is a sham," he said.
Dr Livingstone said Hawthorn's large subsidy disclosure was perhaps the result of the premiership team being more honest than other clubs, but, he added, it "could explain why Hawthorn have come so good so fast".
"They've got a stream of money coming straight into the club," he said. "The successful clubs are the ones that get their on-field as well as their business side together. They are the ones that can afford to pay their players well and employ good coaching staff.
"The club that has got more money for these things will end up going better."
Under the law, poker machine venues run in pubs and hotels are charged a community benefit tax of 8.3% of gambling revenue, but as club venues - including those run by AFL clubs and RSLs - are seen as operating for community benefit anyway, they must simply declare each year how 8.3% of their revenue is spent on benefiting the community.
The AFL-run pokies venues are not alone in using legal loopholes to claim ongoing business expenses, but anti-gambling groups believe payments to large football clubs do not constitute real community benefit.
In the clubs' community benefit statements lodged last week with the Victorian Commissioner for Gambling Regulation, the Western Bulldogs - which is pushing to open a large pokies venue in Maribyrnong - claimed $10,636 for player appearances at Club Leeds, then another $13,051 for player appearances at the Vic Inn, Williamstown.
Geelong claimed $8219 for a new interchange bench, $9029 for the football department and $121,964 for "maintaining football team". Melbourne claimed $12,408 for promotional liquor as a community benefit. North Melbourne claimed a "poker subsidy" of $5930 and St Kilda claimed $9193 for players' equipment.
The community benefit statements also showed the AFL clubs - and clubs generally - were continuing to pour large amounts of money into outdoor smoking areas. Carlton claimed $31,729 for a smoking room, while Collingwood claimed $32,861 for renovation of an outside smoking area.
Neither Collingwood nor the Western Bulldogs would comment on the scheme when contacted by The Sunday Age.
Michael Sinclair, a spokesman for Gaming Minister Tony Robinson, said the State Government was warning clubs that they would have to pay a higher taxation rate and could ultimately lose their gaming machines if they failed to satisfy community benefit obligations.
But the Opposition accused the Government of sitting on its hands while 12 months of "sometimes questionable" community benefits found their way through the loophole Labor had provided.
"Every questionable claim reduces funding to genuinely benefit the community," shadow gaming spokesman Michael O'Brien said.
InterChurch Gambling Taskforce chairman Mark Zirnsak said he acknowledged there was some community benefit funding sport, but big AFL clubs had moved away from their communities and had come to rely on gambling revenue as an income source.
"They have a concerning disregard for the harm done in these communities - people are losing their jobs, marriages are breaking up and people are turning to crime to fund their gambling addiction. The clubs don't seem to see this," he said.
Victorians lost a record $2.6 billion on poker machines last financial year. The new regulations, which tighten the community benefit categories but still allow venues to claim some ongoing costs and wages, apply this financial year.
Where the money went
Carlton: $299,046 for rent of bistro, dining and function room.
Collingwood: $32,861 for renovation of smoking area; $216,550 for rent.
Essendon: Gift to "sport" of $143,723; discounted meals $118,461; drinks $39,572; heating and lighting $45,749.
Western Bulldogs: Football - direct costs $52,768; "culture" $42,727; player appearances $13,051.
Geelong: New grandstand $18,673; new interchange bench $8279; football department $9029; maintaining football team $121,964.
Hawthorn: Subsidising football operations $1,905,183; electricity $28,253; property rental $212,637; flat screen TVs $584, $348, $839.
Melbourne: Promo liquor $12,408; repairs and maintenance $17,289; cleaning $33,557; property rental $252,958.
North Melbourne: Poker subsidy $5930; rental $2600.
Richmond: Contribution to RFC $318,590; electricity $17,998; cleaning $20,562; property rental $203,145.
St Kilda: Sport sponsorship $163,411; player's equipment
Community Benefit Statements can be downloaded from www.vcgr.vic.gov.au
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Clubs
Poker and Casino News
Cashed-up premiership team Hawthorn has paid itself almost $2 million in revenue from its poker machine club - and then claimed it as a community benefit.
The triumphant Hawks - along with other AFL clubs that own poker machine venues - have been exploiting a legislative loophole that allows them to claim a smorgasbord of venue expenses and running costs as community benefits.
In total, Hawthorn claimed that last financial year it pumped $3.3 million of revenue from its poker machine venue, Vegas at Waverley Gardens, back into the community. However, analysis of the payments shows only $3058 - or 0.1% - was for genuine community gifts or sponsorships unrelated to running the business.
The extent to which Hawthorn has manipulated its ethical obligations to the community as an owner of a poker machine venue was revealed last week when it lodged its community benefit statement with Victoria's gambling regulator.
The $1.9 million payment, to "subsidise football operations", was listed as a community benefit. It is all the more curious as records show that Hawthorn made no such claim last year.
A spokesman for the Hawthorn Football Club said the club was busy conducting its Best and Fairest yesterday and declined to comment.
The club - which also claimed the community had benefited from the purchase of nine televisions and monitors and a calculator - has come under fire from anti-gambling groups after winning approval in July to operate 80 poker machines in the economically repressed Caroline Springs, in Melbourne's west.
A Monash University analysis of community benefit statements lodged by the AFL clubs that own gambling venues found they contributed $15.6 million to the community last financial year. But only 4.1% of claims were for genuine charitable or benevolent purposes, the rest was for ongoing costs of venues such as wages, electricity, cleaning, rent and repairs.
Dr Charles Livingstone, a senior lecturer at Monash University's department of health science, said his analysis showed the clubs that run pokies venues - including Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, the Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda - had "significantly overstated" the actual benefits to the community from poker machine earnings.
A lack of transparency made it difficult to tell how much money was going to clubs as a so-called community benefit. "Once you look beyond the facade, the whole thing is a sham," he said.
Dr Livingstone said Hawthorn's large subsidy disclosure was perhaps the result of the premiership team being more honest than other clubs, but, he added, it "could explain why Hawthorn have come so good so fast".
"They've got a stream of money coming straight into the club," he said. "The successful clubs are the ones that get their on-field as well as their business side together. They are the ones that can afford to pay their players well and employ good coaching staff.
"The club that has got more money for these things will end up going better."
Under the law, poker machine venues run in pubs and hotels are charged a community benefit tax of 8.3% of gambling revenue, but as club venues - including those run by AFL clubs and RSLs - are seen as operating for community benefit anyway, they must simply declare each year how 8.3% of their revenue is spent on benefiting the community.
The AFL-run pokies venues are not alone in using legal loopholes to claim ongoing business expenses, but anti-gambling groups believe payments to large football clubs do not constitute real community benefit.
In the clubs' community benefit statements lodged last week with the Victorian Commissioner for Gambling Regulation, the Western Bulldogs - which is pushing to open a large pokies venue in Maribyrnong - claimed $10,636 for player appearances at Club Leeds, then another $13,051 for player appearances at the Vic Inn, Williamstown.
Geelong claimed $8219 for a new interchange bench, $9029 for the football department and $121,964 for "maintaining football team". Melbourne claimed $12,408 for promotional liquor as a community benefit. North Melbourne claimed a "poker subsidy" of $5930 and St Kilda claimed $9193 for players' equipment.
The community benefit statements also showed the AFL clubs - and clubs generally - were continuing to pour large amounts of money into outdoor smoking areas. Carlton claimed $31,729 for a smoking room, while Collingwood claimed $32,861 for renovation of an outside smoking area.
Neither Collingwood nor the Western Bulldogs would comment on the scheme when contacted by The Sunday Age.
Michael Sinclair, a spokesman for Gaming Minister Tony Robinson, said the State Government was warning clubs that they would have to pay a higher taxation rate and could ultimately lose their gaming machines if they failed to satisfy community benefit obligations.
But the Opposition accused the Government of sitting on its hands while 12 months of "sometimes questionable" community benefits found their way through the loophole Labor had provided.
"Every questionable claim reduces funding to genuinely benefit the community," shadow gaming spokesman Michael O'Brien said.
InterChurch Gambling Taskforce chairman Mark Zirnsak said he acknowledged there was some community benefit funding sport, but big AFL clubs had moved away from their communities and had come to rely on gambling revenue as an income source.
"They have a concerning disregard for the harm done in these communities - people are losing their jobs, marriages are breaking up and people are turning to crime to fund their gambling addiction. The clubs don't seem to see this," he said.
Victorians lost a record $2.6 billion on poker machines last financial year. The new regulations, which tighten the community benefit categories but still allow venues to claim some ongoing costs and wages, apply this financial year.
Where the money went
Carlton: $299,046 for rent of bistro, dining and function room.
Collingwood: $32,861 for renovation of smoking area; $216,550 for rent.
Essendon: Gift to "sport" of $143,723; discounted meals $118,461; drinks $39,572; heating and lighting $45,749.
Western Bulldogs: Football - direct costs $52,768; "culture" $42,727; player appearances $13,051.
Geelong: New grandstand $18,673; new interchange bench $8279; football department $9029; maintaining football team $121,964.
Hawthorn: Subsidising football operations $1,905,183; electricity $28,253; property rental $212,637; flat screen TVs $584, $348, $839.
Melbourne: Promo liquor $12,408; repairs and maintenance $17,289; cleaning $33,557; property rental $252,958.
North Melbourne: Poker subsidy $5930; rental $2600.
Richmond: Contribution to RFC $318,590; electricity $17,998; cleaning $20,562; property rental $203,145.
St Kilda: Sport sponsorship $163,411; player's equipment
Community Benefit Statements can be downloaded from www.vcgr.vic.gov.au
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Clubs
Poker and Casino News
Poker News Media Profiles Updated
Poker
Poker Celebrities
Poker Babes
Poker Promotions
Poker and Casino News
Poker
Poker Celebrities
Poker Babes
Poker Promotions
Poker and Casino News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)