The Smoking Gun: Wombat Poker; Making a hash of it
Find out what Frank Fahrenkopf knows about social media in TSG's Global Gaming Expo report.
Journos take regulator for a ride after 72-hour radio marathon
The Smoking Gun heard a number of stories on its recent visits to the good old U S of A for G2E. Many of them are not fit to repeat in a family publication such as this, but one in particular caught our attention (some names have been redacted for the avoidance of embarrassment).
About a year and a half ago, following the indictment of several high-profile poker executives on Black Friday, our friends at a certain poker radio station took it upon themselves to go on air for a commendable (and on reflection probably ill advised) 72 hours straight.
“By the third day, we were feeling the effects of the lack of sleep, so wanted to at least have a bit of fun,” one of those involved explained to us. Of course, some people’s definition of fun is different to that of others, but these fine folk decided the best course of action was to invent an online poker operator and try to secure it a licence in a leading jurisdiction, despite having no staff, no accounts and to all intents and purposes no website.
Enlisting the help of a journalist on the basis of claiming to be “good at talking my way past secretaries”, they incredibly got as far as a phone call with the regulator’s “top” (ahem) brass, securing a licence on the basis of being able to wire over the relevant fee once this individual had returned from a meeting.
Ultimately, this was all that stood in the way of “Wombat Poker” seeing the light of day “ perhaps it was for the best that the practical joke went no further.
Making a hash of it
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, esteemed lawyer and co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates made a number of Tim Henman-esque unforced errors.
The first came during the opening session when he introduced bwin.party’s director of development Alen Lang as being from the firm behind the US online gaming deal with MGM and Ballys (wrong “ Boyd Gaming).
Then, he attempted to read out a section of his speech that referred to the AGA Twitter address only to admit to not knowing what it is.
Poor Frank. And with his old pals Romney missing out on the Presidency it’s a #fail all round.
Shop till you drop
Another man rooting for the demise of President Obama is Michael Leven, president and COO of Las Vegas Sands.
Speaking on the main panel alongside MGM’s Jim Murren and IGT’s Patti Hart, Leven was asked what the next five years would bring. In typical deadpan style he said a number of entrepreneurs would launch sites and products only to sell them to the highest bidder, “inevitably large casinos or software suppliers that will struggle to make a return on their investment”.
Five minutes earlier, Hart had declared her passion for shopping. Rather like shopping you often buy what you don’t need don’t you Patti? Er, Entraction, Double Down…
Just the trick
After the post-panel debates died down, most delegates got together to network and let their hair down over a glass or 10 of frozen Margaritas. Ahem, TSG did say the majority.
We won’t go too much into what happened, but two industry types supposedly found themselves on the wrong end of being “trick rolled” by members of the opposite sex and had a number of their belongings stolen.
Perhaps this was of a case of “what you take to Vegas stays in Vegas”.
This article originally appeared in November’s issue of eGaming Review – read the full issue online here.