She was a 26-year old cocktail waitress who ran private poker games for Leonardo DiCaprio and his A-list crowd. Then the mafia and the FBI came calling
The banks need tougher regulation, not weaker, if the economy is to thrive
Vince Cable, as business secretary in 2013, complained that the Bank of England was acting like a “capital Taliban”. This did not go down well with Bank officials.
Bridge
These days it is considered fairly normal to open one no-trump when you are in the right range even if you have a five-card major. This may be “normal” for most people but my bridge partner, Nicola Smith, has a bit of a bee in her bonnet about it. Accordingly we have developed our bidding system to avoid this. At first I thought she was a bit eccentric, but as time progresses I have begun to appreciate the advantages of such a style.
Jackpot or crackpot?
Bernie Goldstein always had an eye for a gap in the market. In the 1990s he set up the first riverboat casinos in America after laws were passed to allow gambling on the water in the deep south and midwest. [Read more…]
The Bank of England has questions to answer over its role in the fall of HBOS
Companies don’t go bust because they fail to make a profit, runs the old City saw, but because they run out of cash. This was never more apt than in the fall of HBOS.
Victoria Coren Mitchell’s poker face breaks into a smile after £400,000 win
The writer, broadcaster and poker player Victoria Coren Mitchell has become the first person to win Europe’s biggest poker game twice, taking her lifetime’s winnings to £1.5 million. [Read more…]
Peter Phillips gambles that China will agree to legalise horse racing
The Queen’s eldest grandchild is taking a gamble on whether Beijing will one day legalise betting on horse racing by becoming involved in an effort to push the sport into China.
Casino banks might have checked these mad swings
IF CENTRAL bankers and politicians were puzzled by the speed and depth of the stock market gyrations last week, they could look in the mirror to find one of the causes.
Bookies end up in winners’ circle
Bookies’ tips are best avoided, not least ones from an Irish prankster at 2.09 in the morning. So no surprise punters ignored July 24’s tweet from Paddy Power, declaring that “hot on the heels” of the Ladbrokes/Coral nuptials, “we can exclusively reveal that we have merged with Betfair. Our new name is Betty Power”.
Food for thought
Bingo can count its blessings
The gambling industry, in particular bingo, has not been slow to complain about the woes it has suffered at the hands of the smoking ban, the Government and the recession – but, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), it may have been dealt a stronger hand in the downturn than almost any other part of the leisure sector. PwC reckons that revenues will fall by only 5 per cent this year as small-stakes betting on bingo, lotteries and fruit machines proves comparatively resilient, compared with areas such as restaurants and hotels and higher-stakes gaming in casinos. The firm does admit that, in the case of bingo, this is partly a function of the mauling it suffered from the smoking ban and the Gaming Act. In other words, with sales already 20 per cent down, bingo has less far to fall. [Read more…]
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