Iowa moves toward Internet gambling OK. Iowa???

Nevada has its ducks in a row as it moves closer to Internet gambling, but you might be able to make a few bucks if you bet on Iowa to place.

Iowa?

Iowa.

The state that gave religious zealot/family values politician Rick Santorum his only victory in the Republican primary race is working on plans to bring online casino games to flyover country. And with other areas just spinning their wheels (New Jersey) or taking a step back (Washington D.C.), Iowa is plodding along and may have a plan in place this spring.

Chances are it will start with Internet poker, where the president pro-tem of the Senate, Jeff Danielson, is a strong advocate.Danielson points out that the state is bleeding money because thousands of residents are playing outside the state.

Danielson says that gambling revenue would not be used to balance the state budget, which he says is already in pretty good shape. In fact, he even has offered to place the state's take in an account that couldn't be accessed for two or three years.

Prof. Nelson Rose, the leading authority on gambling issues relating to the law, says that Iowa relishes the idea of being first, pointing out the number of casinos in a socially conservative state.

Danielson no doubt will have his hands full, but there is optimism that his state will be among the first to the finish line, helping break a logjam and allowing us to log on without worrying about government intervention.

Remember Anna Nicole Smith? She's back!!!!

Don't know about you, but there has been a huge void in my life since February 2007, when Anna Nicole Smith mixed the wrong drug cocktail and breathed her last breath at age 39 in a hotel room at a casino in Florida.

Her death was cruel irony, coming just before the big wave of reality shows made a lot of money for the likes of no-talent women like Coco (Ice-T's wife), Snookie and two generations of Kardashians. Smith was equally untalented and was more than willing to sell herself for a buck, but that was all before Jersey Shore et al, and she was forced to suffer the indignity of marrying a rich old man and waiting for him to check out before she could get her hands on serious cash.

Yes, Smith is gone, but her memory will live on -- thanks to the online Golden Palace Casino, which has announced that a new, no-doubt racy Anna Nicole Smith slot machine will soon be available to its customers. Golden Palace regrets that Smith's sexy likeness will not be seen on slots for people playing on Christmas morning, but everything should be good to go by early next year.

GP and Smith were actually somewhat joined at the hip back when Smith was on the right side of the grass. In fact, Smith allowed herself to be painted completely in gold (for her, no biggie, actually) for a Golden Palace promo that was scrapped when she took her 36 Double D's to the great beyond. The mourning period now over, GP figures it's time to roll her out again. It's not certain if Smith's ... [More]

Positive signs for NJ sports betting vote

In a little over two weeks, New Jersey voters will head to the polls, and if history is any guide most of the incumbents on the ballot will be re-elected. Some will have a tougher time than others, and a few state pols will be looking for work come the morning of Nov. 9, but for the most part, the electorate – mad as it is – will send their reps back to Trenton for another couple of years.

 

The gambling community will be keeping more than a close eye on the only referendum on the ballot – a question that would put the state on record as favoring a legal challenge to the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which denies New Jersey (and most other states) the right to allow legal and regulated sports wagering.

 

New Jersey, which nearly two decades ago opted out of sports wagering when it had the chance to opt in, will be the point on the spear if voters indicate they are up for a court battle with the federal government over PASPSA. The court battle would likely take years, but the longest journey starts will a single step, in this case with voters headed to the... [More]

How about gambling near the House of the Mouse?

Are we ready for blackjack dealers dressed up like Mickey Mouse? Instead of Blazing 7s slot machines, you win if you line up Huey, Dewey and Louie after pulling the lever?

Central Florida, home to Disney World, wants a casino. At least some of the forward-thinking planners do. They’re looking hard at their neighbors to the south, who are laying the groundwork for a gigantic gambling/entertainment/shopping complex on the Miami waterfront, and thinking why not another one, in the Orlando area? Las Vegas is often called Disneyland for adults, so why not merge the two playgrounds? The cross-promotion possibilities are endless. How about a stripper pole in Cinderella’s castle?

It’s all about the money, of course, and folks in Central Florida are concerned that big-time gambling in Miami-Dade and Broward counties will lure away some of the Orlando area's 30.5 million yearly visitors. If the Miami complex is built, families can bypass Orlando and spen... [More]

Online play will help -- not hurt -- land-based casinos

Late to embrace the online gambling phenomena, big-time Vegas casinos have come to the conclusion that betting online will be a good thing – especially for the big-time Vegas casinos. Even if some players will stay at home rather than trek to the casino, the alternative – not having a line in the water when the fish are biting – is uncomfortable for the Wynns, LV Sands and Caesars.

But even as the land-based casino giants finally and somewhat reluctantly embrace at least the concept of allowing people to gamble online, there is still talk that every person wagering while logged on takes away a potential customer who might book a flight to Vegas and settle in at a craps table.

Some gambling experts at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas this week say the concern is overblown, and that online gambling and the full casino experience create tremendous cross-promotion opportunities. In addition, the legalization of online play would probably create an even larger customer base, easing the concern among casino suits that online players would peel away bricks-and-mortar customers because it’s more convenient to play at home.

"It's a matter of retention," said Vahe Baloulian of eGaming Partners Inc. in Los Angeles. "It's also a matter of bringing new clients in by using online gaming."

In many states lottery officials have warned that allowing construction of casinos would either kill or seriously cripple the scratch-ticket cash cow that helps fund local p... [More]

Happy birthday, UIGEA -- I've got two words for you

Next month marks the 5-year anniversary of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which has been about as welcome in the online betting community as a rattlesnake in your sleeping bag.

It's impossible to understate the chaos that UIGEA has created, from the establishment of hundreds of offshore sites -- many of them unscrupulous -- to Tuesday's indictment of TV poker personalities Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson at Full Tilt . . . the 2006 law has played a prominent role in all of it.

But UIGEA's most obvious victim has been trust. Most bettors, forced to wager offshore, simply don't know what sites are good and what sites aren't. What sites will pay quickly and what sites sit on money. Had UIGEA never been signed into law by George Bush, the online betting landscape would be much different today. Not to say there would not be problems, but it would not be the 100-car pileup that it has become.

Politicians have mostly tiptoed around efforts to repeal UIGEA, fearful of a conservative movement that now appears on the rise in the United States. There is some momentum toward legalization and regulation, but it's impossible to gauge how strong the tide is toward repeal.

In the meantime, we can just sit, wait and wonder what other sites the U.S. Dept. of Justice is planning to close down. All thanks to a law that passed 5 years ago even though many congressmen didn't even know what they were voting for. 

Happ... [More]

Online poker effort gets boost in Massachusetts

Out of nowhere, Massachusetts has joined the race to become the first state in the country to offer safe, legal, regulated and taxed online poker. And  if when when it happens, it might be open to anyone -- including out-of-state players.

There is much work to be done, but the effort at least has a champion -- a Republican, no less, who is a former judge.

"We will have actual legislation to vote on," says state Rep. Daniel Winslow, who represents the district in which Sen. Scott Brown lives. "Probably by summer of 2012."

Winslow, an unlikely booster of the right of residents to gamble online, used the debate about casino expansion in Massachusetts to attach an amendment that would have legalized online poker. "We were already talking about gambling," he said in an interview with Covers.com. "Why not talk about online gambling too?"

With the effort to pass enabling legislation for the construction of three major resort-style casinos finally in the red zone, leaders in the Mass. House apparently decided that online discussion might make things harder. So Winslow was persuaded to tap the brakes, and his revised amendment -- calling for a commission that is required to develop online poker legislation by next July -- easily passed.

So Massachusetts is now in the running with Iowa, Florida, New Jersey, California and the federal government to see who will be the first, perhaps of many, to finally allow online poker.

<... [More]

USA not alone is squabbling about online legalization

Those of us who are bewitched, bothered and bewildered about how United States politicians can't seem to make up their mind about whether legalization of online gambloing is best handled on the state or federal level can take some solace -- Europe seems to be just as fragmented.

On the surface, the European Union seems like a perfect platform for a unified policy with regard to online gambling. The area is not that large, conferences can be arranged with only moderate travel, and for the most part there is not that much divergence in the general belief that people ought to be able to do what they want, when they want and how they want.

Uh, not quite.

EU member nations have talked about a coordinated, leveled-playing-field approach to online betting, but when push comes to shove member nations seem intent on fluffing up their own pillows. At a recent gettogether to coordinate policies regarding licensing and safety issues, reps of member nations nodded their heads when talking about a coordinated approach and then insisted on their right to set their own course regarding taxation, regulation etc.

Not a lot different than what's going on in America, where state and federal legislation can be compared to railroad tracks that never seem to meet.

Did 4-time lottery winner pull to an inside straight?

The emails used to come regularly, and they were brief. Often they would say only something like:

$240 million

It was understood that the Power Ball jackpot was getting high, and it was time to pool resources, buy 25 or 30 tickets, and hopefully cash in.

So I ponied up a buck or two. The idea was that we would hit it, rent a limo for the ride to the lottery office to get photographed in front of that huge check, stop back at work to give our two-week notices, then head to the local upscale steakhouse and party the night away.

We never hit big, of course, and over my protests even small winnings were used to buy even more losing tickets. It was a story played out in thousands of offices across North America.

Eventually I grew tired and decided smaller wins at casinos were better than chasing an unattainable jackpot, so I dropped out of the office pool. Since then I have not paid much attention to lotteries. I look at them kind of like an NBA no-call – if a lot of people want to try to buck ridiculous odds for the high likelihood of allowing a truck driver from Nebraska to get rich beyond his wildest dreams and blowing it in a few years, knock yourself out. I’ll try to grind out a hundred here or there at the blackjack table, and probably have a lot more fun doing it.

But a recent story about a Texas native who had hit it big four times – for total winnings of $25 million – got my attention. Joan Ginther is her name, and she now lives i... [More]

Steroid Commissioner has problem with poker players

So A-Rod’s in trouble again with baseball commissioner Bud Selig. MLB’s Barney Fife wants Rodriguez to sit down and explain just what’s going on with those high-stakes poker games we told you to avoid just a few years ago. Better have the right answers, too, or else.

Seems baseball got wind of the fact that A-Rod may have ignored Sdelig’s admonition a few years back to put the cards away, and recently was involved in games that included other rich people, expensive cigars, cocaine, lots of gorgeous women and gamblers who asked A-Rod to let a few ground balls go through his legs at opportune.

Actually, that’s not true. Baseball (Selig) is just assuming that there were sexy women and gamblers there. Makes the story better, and turns a harmless habit into an activity that is rocking baseball to its core. [As for the cocaine, shouldn’t be hard to test him.]

Selig and MLB have a curious relationship with gambling. If teams and the league can make money from it, then it’s no problem. Players? Not so much. So Lenny Dykstra can lose money in poker games several decades ago, be forced to eat number two during an apology and promise to never do it again. Yet the Yankees and other teams can enter into working relationships with casinos and bulk up their bottom lines. The wife of Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch owns parts of several casinos nationwide, yet Selig seems OK with that. The Yankees themselves rake in a good penny on Mohegan Sun advertising. The list is e... [More]

Kid-friendly Atlantic City? What could possibly go wrong?

Atlantic City has decided that in addition to enticing 20- and 30-somethings to come to its casinos by pushing the limits with a generous amount of g-strings and pasties, it also wants to tell vacationers that in many ways it’s also a wonderful family destination if you don’t have the scratch to make it to Disney World.

In addition to the beach, AC likes to point out that it now offers a family-styled luau (Harrah’s), a circus (Resorts) and a dinosaur exhibit (Showboat), among other activities for the G-rated crowd.

Trying to be all things to all people is a semi-desperate attempt to cast a wider net for entertainment dollars that are increasing being dropped in Pennsylvania rather than Atlantic City. If you don’t want to be titillated, says the AC suits, come anyway. We have people walking around in animal costumes.

Nice try, AC. But it won’t work, any more than Vegas’s effort to make the Strip family-friendly (Excalibur, Treasure Island) did. LV found out that families were coming and bringing their kids, but it was a loss leader because the parents didn’t have time to gamble. That was that.

Besides, kids don’t belong near casinos. They belong at Disney World.

... [More]

Haynesworth deal a turnaround for Pats defense

Albert Haynesworth.

ALBERT HAYNESWORTH???!!!$$$???

ESPN (Adam Shefter) is reporting that he has been dealt to the Patriots.

Now we know what Bill Belichick was doing buried in the bowels of Gillette Stadium during the lockout. He was changing his defense.

The Patriots' stunning theft (5th-round draft choice in 2013) of Haynesworth from the Redskins must mean that New England is switching its defense from a linebacker-oriented 3-4 to a 4-3, with Vince Wilfork and Haynesworth in the middle. Haynesworth made life miserable for Mike Shanahan when he refused to adapt to Washington's 3-4, and there is no other explanation for the trade to New England unless the Pats are now going to the 4-3 as their basic package.

Something had to be done. The linebacking corps, already mediocre, was weakened earlier this week when the only pass-rusher of note, Tully Banta-Cain, was released. With Haynesworth in a suddenly-powerful D-line, linebackers play a lesser role, and Jerrod Mayo, Brandon Spikes, Rob Ninkovich and Jermaine Cunningham now look more than serviceable.

Depending, of course, on whether Haynesworth behaves like a human being and produces anywhere near the way Randy Moss did when he fell in line in his first year in Foxboro. If he does the 11.5 win total on the Pats could be covered by Game 13 or 14.

Things just got a lot more interesting in the AFC East.

Your move, Jets.

... [More]

Tax problems for England-based sites on horizon?

Do taxes bug you?

I mean, do you have a problem with the concept of taxes?

Not me.

In fact, I think we get a pretty good deal in the States. Property taxes got a cop at my house within minutes of a break-in several years ago, and the fire dept. and EMTs are ready in case something bad happens. The town plows my road in the winter, then in the spring repairs damage that the plows cause. When my kids were young, each of them got 12 years of good education.

State taxes allow me to take the dog on walks in state parks at no charge. Federal taxes will someday pay for my heath care, and provides for the common defense, even if we invade a few too many countries.

Bottom line: I'm OK with paying taxes, even if it pisses off a lot of my fellow citizens in the lower 48.

But I have problem with some taxes that will probably soon be imposed. In England.

Seems the Brits are a little short on funds, and rather than cut off the royals and make them go out and get jobs like the rest of us, they are hell bent on taking the easy way out and taxing online books.

Online gambling companies such as Ladbrokes and William Hill based in Great Britain have been able to avoid the heavy British tax burden that other companies face by locating their software elsewhere, such as Gibraltar, where taxes are as low as one percent of profits. Nice deal all around, and the lawmakers in England have been OK with it.

Bu... [More]

Boom may be lowered on British online companies

Do taxes bug you?

I mean, do you have a problem with the concept of taxes?

Not me.

In fact, I think we get a pretty good deal in the States. Property taxes got a cop at my house within minutes of a break-in several years ago, and the fire dept. and EMTs are ready in case something bad happens. The town plows my road in the winter, then in the spring repairs damage that the plows cause. When my kids were young, each of them got 12 years of good education.

State taxes allow me to take the dog on walks in state parks at no charge. Federal taxes will someday pay for my heath care, and provides for the common defense, even if we invade a few too many countries.

Bottom line: I'm OK with paying taxes, even if it pisses off a lot of my fellow citizens in the lower 48.

But I have problem with some taxes that will probably soon be imposed. In England.

Seems the Brits are a little short on funds, and rather than cut off the royals and make them go out and get jobs like the rest of us, they are hell bent on taking the easy way out and taxing online books.

Online gambling companies such as Ladbrokes and William Hill based in Great Britain have been able to avoid the heavy British tax burden that other companies face by locating their software elsewhere, such as Gibraltar, where taxes are as low as one percent of profits. Nice deal all around, and the lawmakers in England have been OK with it.

Bu... [More]

Anti-casino group plays the organized crime card

The original members of the Chicago Crime Commission, an organization born to combat crime in the Roaring '20s when the police couldn't and/or wouldn't, are all dead now. But at least they went to their graves knowing they helped take down Al Capone and the mob which basically ran the city for a decade or more.

After that big splash, it figured that there would be a letdown, and while the CCC exists to this day, the members have had to be satisfied with ratting out an occasional street gang and running their annual golf tournament (June 20, if you're interested).

But now the crime busters have a new signature issue, devoting their PR machine toward warning the citizens of northern Illinois that organized crime will re-emerge from under the concrete and poison the lives of the city's millions of residents if the government allows them to play nickel slots at a proposed new casino.

The crime fighters don't seem to have much of a problem with the state's nine riverboat casinos, which have yet to shown any signs of a mob takeover. But if a bricks-and-mortar casino gets the approval of the governor and is built in downtown Chicago, then apparently it's just a matter of time before someone Tony Spilatro does to Chicago what Spilatro himself did to Vegas in the 1970s and '80s.

"Pure and simple, [if a casino is built] law enforcement can expect the entrance of the Crime Syndicate," says J.R. Davis, the CCC chairman. "Federal... [More]

Labor issues dampen Resorts' rebranding

Workers rights, sexism, age discrimination and a whole bunch of other isms are conflicting with the rights of an employer to run a business as he or she feels it should be run as the rebranding of the Resorts Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City takes an expected turn.

Nine drink servers were fired recently when the new bosses at Resorts said that they weren't sexy enough to fit the properity's new hip business model. The fired servers, some of whom have worked at Resorts for decades, say that they were humiliated when they were forced to wear ill-fitting outfits when they re-applied for their jobs under the new ownership, and that their only crime was their inability to create a time machine that would make them 25 years younger.

Resorts obviously sees things differently. Owner Dennis Gomes is trying to return the proprerty to profitiability in a tough economy, and says that the servers who were let go were unfortunate collateral damage. Nothing personal, Gomes says, but if we don't change things around quickly, there will be no jobs here for anyone.

The firing no doubt strikes a chord with many older workers who have lost jobs or been denied promotions, and the drink servers at the Rio in Vegas who lost their jobs several years ago when schleppers were also required to dance periodically can certainly identify.

Was Resorts' action morally right? Probably not.

Was it legally allowable? That's an entirely different question, and t... [More]

Can Medicare issue help online gambling?

We’re all depressed about the poker indictments and the aftershock shutdown of a few other sites earlier this week, but are you ready for a little good news?

Maybe very little good news, but these days you take your victories when you can if the U.S. government has a hair across its backside and is coming after you.

If you’re at all plugged in to the political scene, you know that there was a special election in western New York a few days ago to fill the seat abandoned by Republican Chris Lee after Lee decided to send shirtless photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist in hopes of . . . well, we all know why.

Anyway, the special election to replace Lee was supposed to be a lock for Republicans, who outnumber Democrats by 30,000 registered voters. Only it wasn’t, because Republicans have scared the pants off senior citizens by voting for a House budget that would basically end Medicare as we know it. Anyone with elderly parents knows that life after 70 is about staying as healthy as possible through the Golden Years, and all the backpedaling in the world couldn’t save the GOP candidate, who lost to the underdog Democrat by 4 percentage points.

Gambling? Oh yeah.

Well, the result got giddy Democrats to thinking that they actually have a chance to rid... [More]

Caught between a rock and a soft spot

With the federal government on his back, Chad Elie is up to his waist in alligators these days. The feds arrested Elie and two others in the April 15 Black Friday online poker indictments, alleging that Elie didn’t exactly play by the rules as he was processing payments for Internet players.

Elie is nothing if not resourceful, though, and for a while it appeared that he might have figured out a way to keep Uncle Sam from seizing his assets – not the least of which was his $1.5-million Las Vegas house. He did that by marrying perhaps an even greater asset, namely former (2005) Playboy Playmate Destiny Davis.

The happy couple tied the knot at the Little Church of the West chapel in Vegas. Problem was, the marriage certificate was dated April 16, one day after all hell had broken loose, and the couple didn’t even have enough time to register at the new Crate and Barrel in Summerlin. [You would think that for an extra couple of large bills the chapel could have pre-dated the paperwork, but I guess not.]

It’s uncertain whether the house is now in his name, her name or both, but at any rate the Dept. of Justice doesn’t seem to care. The DoJ has announced its intention to seize the 7,200-square-foot home, along with five other properties that prosecutors have deemed “forfeitable.”

There is also speculation that another shoe will fall on Elie. Seems that disingenuous attempts to protect assets after the fact may also be a crime, and prosecutors do... [More]

Posada's inaction speaks louder than words

Let's see if I have this right.

Major League baseball players all claim that it's a business, and that if wearing someone's else's laundry gets them a fatter paycheck, so be it. We didn't create the system, and we didn't ask fans to get emotionally attached. You got a problem with that, email Marvin Miller.

But when a team treats it likes a business and a player's nads get squeezed a bit, it's a lack of respect -- business be damned.

Jorge Posada was so ticked off at the Yankees on Saturday night that he made believe he had a back injury and pulled himself out of the lineup. The team's egregious crime was dropping him to No. 9 in the batting order, which Posada apparently felt was humiliating, his .165 batting average notwithstanding.

The Yankees, who have enough problems with an offense that can't hit and a pitching staff that could burn out by late June, figure that Posada should pretty much do what they tell him, especially considering that they are not getting much of a return for a player who's cuffing the team for more than $13 million a season. Seems reasonable enough.

Girardi's defenders -- Boston's David Ortiz among them -- say that the team isn't treating Posada fairly. But the team is in the business of winning games, and as Posada and the players like to say, it's just business.

... [More]

Credit to James, but it still doesn't feel right

Us Celtics fans kind of felt it coming. It just wasn't the same. Too many injuries, too many birthdays. Wade's takedown of Rondo in Game 3 finished us off, even if we still held out hope.

So the Heat advance. Or rather LeBron James and Dwyane Wade advance, because with the Spurs and Celtics starting to get mail from the AARP, James and Wade now own the league. Not the Heat. James and Wade.

What team they're on doesn't matter. They cash checks in Florida because of climate and parties on South Beach, but what uniform they wear is irrelevant. The team concept is dead in the NBA. It's all about the individual, and the way the NBA rolls today, it will be damn near impossible to beat any team that has two of the best three players on the planet.

The NBA and commissioner David Stern learned long ago that stars drive ratings and TV ad revenue. So that's the way they marketed the game. And now those stars have figured out a way to manipulate the system to their advantage, joining forces like 15-year-olds stacking AAU teams.

Michael Jordan scoffed at James just after LeBron and Wade combined in Miami. If he had trouble beating a team, Jordan said, he would just work harder. That philosophy eventually led to six titles.

Not for James, though. He'll take his titles ("Not 4, not 5, not 6 . . .") the easy way. So has he really succeeded? Yes. No. Maybe. Who knows?

... [More]

Lakers' Jackson will be missed -- sort of

So it ends for Phil Jackson in the worst possible way. On his final day as an NBA coach he wakes up to the news that he has been fined $35,000 by the league for whining about the officiating, and he goes to bed no doubt still thinking about the 36-point beatdown the Mavs put on them.

He walked off the court, though, with his arrogance in tact, still feeling that he was the smartest person in the 20,000-seat arena in Dallas. The I'm the greatest coach alive look.

Jackson has always done it his way, and his way has never been to build a team from the ground up. He always coached teams that had the league's elite -- Jordan, Shaq, Kobe. Jackson never had to use coupons at the supermarket, just fill in around his go-to guy(s) of the hour, keep his stars motivated and collect rings.

Red Auerbach hated Jackson. Hated that Jackson just showed up at the dealership and drove off into the NBA schedule in a luxury car. Hated what he thought was Jackson's smarminess.

It's over now for Jackson, and Jackson's legacy of a string of NBA titles probably won't be tarnished all that much by how his players mailed it in and couldn't even lose his final game with even an ounce of class.

Down deep, though, in his quietest moments, even Jackson will concede to himself that he was not quite the coach that all those rings miight indicate. 

... [More]

And the NBA champ is... nobody

Kobe Bryant is too old and worn down.

The Celtics have no center.

If the Spurs can't beat the Grizzlies, how are they going to beat anyone good?

The choking Heat?

Chicago? Right.

There will be no NBA champion this year, because no team is capable of winning it all. Dominant players are either too old (Bryant, Duncan, Pierce, Nowitzki) or too immature (James) to carry their teams the way the stars of yesterday did.

If Dwight Howard has trouble with the Hawks, what would happen if he had to face James? And if James has alligator arms at the end of every game, what happens in a 7-game series when 3 or 4 games come down to the final possession?

Like a vacant boxing title, maybe the NBA will not have a champion. Old teams melt down in June, and young teams like the Thunder wilt under the pressure. No champion.

Maybe the Celtics are a little bit better than we thought, but with New York at 40 percent efficiency we still don't know if Boston's sweep showed it has enough fuel to make a long playoff run.

In LA, Bryant is yelling at Pau Gasol again, and that's never a bad thing. But the Mamba has issues of his own, and you wonder if those guys can keep it going for another two months.

Maybe the Heat will figure out how to actually beat a good team instead of strutting around after beating up on kindergartners. If they win it all, half the country will go on the LeaBron James diet as everyo... [More]

Randolph, Grizzlies enjoying the good life

As Bill Parcells used to say, "You are what you are."

In Zach Randolph's case anyway, let's hope the Tuna was wrong.

Randolph, who was a beast on Sunday as the Memphis Grizzlies stunned everyone (including themselves) with a win over the Spurs in San Antonio. That SA probably would have won had Manu Ginobili played is beside the point. Memphis now has a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and can wreak havoc with another victory in Game 2.

And all Randolph did was go for 25 and 14, outplaying Tim Duncan and enabling to the Grizz to win their first playoff game ever. After the game Randolph was rewarded with a fat contract extension.

Good for him. He's bounced around the league for the last decade, and any success he's enjoyed on the court has been balanced off by off-the-court alcohol and drug problems. He's also punched a few people in the mouth along the way.

But so far this season Randolph has stayed out of trouble, and it's paid off. If he can continue to dominate in this series, Memphis might have a chance to turn the Western Conference playoffs on their head.

Bet the NBA Playoffs at BetJamaica.com.

AC pit bosses can no longer count on their jobs

Like many other new blackjack players, I figured counting cards wouldn’t be all that hard. Plus one for every 2-6, minus one for every ace, 10 or face card. Ignore 7-8-9. What could be easier? I practiced for maybe a month, could even count down a deck pretty quickly, and figured I’d be an advantage player eventually.

However, I didn’t expect it to be as boring as it was, and I completely ignored the fact that my ability to keep an accurate count diminished after I had more than two beers. So after a while I abandoned card counting, figuring that trips to Vegas and Foxwoods were a lot more enjoyable when there are fun people at the table, the dealer has a decent personality and you can wolf down as many free Heinekens as you want.

Maybe because of my modest wagers ($10-15 start) or maybe because I just wasn’t good at it, or maybe because I wouldn’t play unless I could sit at third base, but my counting sessions in Vegas drew scrutiny only a few times – once at Barbary Coast (now it’s Bill’s Gambling Hall) and the once at the Gold Coast. Both times unsmiling pit bosses honed in on me, even though I wasn't even at the green chip level.

I was thinking of those suits the other day when I read that new regulations going into effect at casinos in Atlantic City might result in the elimination of pit bosses. The Division of Gaming Enforcem... [More]

Manny, All's Quiet on the Eastern Front

Here in the Boston area, the stunning retirement of Manny Ramirez is getting surprisingly little media play.

Maybe everyone is worried about the Red Sox' slow start, but I'm thinking that maybe low-keying Manny's drug-induced retirement helps everyone continue to avoid an uncomfortable reckoning -- namely, that Boston's only World Series titles since 1918 are tainted.

Ramirez was balls to the wall in the 2004 Series, going 7-for-17 with a home run. He won the Series MVP as the Sox offed the Cardinals in four straight games, ending an 86-year drought and finally shutting up Yankee fans 250 miles to the south and west.

Manny wasn't as effective three years later when Boston crushed Colorado in four straight, possibly because he was exhausted after hitting .409 (with 9 walks) and driving in 10 runs against the Indians in the ALCS.

David Ortiz, as close to a BFF as Manny had in the Sox locker room, wouldn't say much when he got the news that Ramirez was quitting rather than face a 100-game suspension, saying only, "It's sad, man."

Understandable, since Ortiz has unresolved drug issues of his own after being named as one of the players on the infamous 2003 list. Before he was outed, Ortiz said that players caught juicing should be suspended for an entire season. After his name surfaced, he said, "I'm not talking about that anymore," then a few days later pulled out the vitamins-and-supplments excuse. With a... [More]