Blackjack Dealer Scams Casino and Gives Money to Losing Players

October 21st, 2010 by OBO-admin

The Blackjack cheaters are at it again, except this time it was not a cheating blackjack player but a dealer at the table who decided to giveaway money to losers. This incident occurred at the Mystic Lake Casino and the blackjack dealer was arrested for giving away over $18,500 of the casino’s money to players he felt were worthy of it. When the casino noted what the blackjack player had done it called the police for assistance.

Jacob Edwin Christensen, a 24 year old blackjack dealer from of Nisswa, appears to have been trying to impress the ladies and maybe pay off his house rent by giving away blackjack money. He gave the money to his high school friend and some to a woman he thought was “good-looking” and wanted to impress. He also gave away money to his landlord’s daughter despite all of them never having won any hands at the blackjack table. It was noted that the dealer also did not take the players money from him when he had lost.

Jacob Edwin Christensen was arrested and then charged at the Scott County Attorney’s Office. Christensen now faces charges of two felonies, and is also wanted for gambling fraud and theft by swindling.

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Virgin Games Celebrates World Space Week By Offering £5,432.10 Cash for Blackjack Players

October 8th, 2010 by OBO-admin

Virgin Games, the reputed online gaming enterprise will be celebrating World Space Week from the 4th of October to the 10th October 2010. As part of their campaign, the company plans to introduce a special offer for online blackjack players who use Virgin Games and online casinos linked to the network.

Virgin Games is putting up prize money worth £5,432.10 for its blackjack players who will be able to win a portion it if they get lucky. In order to be a part of the promotion, players will have to choose a space team that they would have liked to have seen land on the moon first. The space team choices include the USA, Russia, UK and China. Players are also required to wager as much as £100 or more at the Virgin Games blackjack offerings. At the end of the World Space Week on the 10th October 2010, the Virgin Games enterprise will pick the team that has acquired the largest wagers and all the players in that team will get a share of the prize.

Ideally, it is expected that team USA will win, but it is not possible to predict these outcomes as players may just vote for the underdog in the hopes that it will generate better winnings for them if they do not have to share it with too many players.

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Indiana Supreme Court Announces Ban on Blackjack Card Counters

October 8th, 2010 by OBO-admin

The Indiana Supreme Court recently announced a decision to allow state casinos to ban blackjack card counters and any players found to be following such card counting strategies at their tables.

The court also ruled against Thomas Donovan, a blackjack card counter who had filed charges against the Grand Victoria Casino for banning him from playing in 2006. The court denied him recovery of blackjack money worth $125,000.

When the case was taken to the high court, lawyers representing the Grand Victoria casino claimed that the casino had the right to ban anyone it wanted from its premises. Countering this argument, Donovan’s attorney claimed that the state had no specific laws prohibiting card counting. Unfortunately for Thomas Donovan’s party, the court ruled in favor of the Grand Victoria Casino and went a step further as to issue permits to Indiana casinos to ban card counters.

The Supreme Court made a 3-1 ruling and could not find anything to disallow casinos from excluding patrons of their choice. Justice Frank Sullivan Junior who presided over the case stated, “It seems to us just as likely — if not more so — that discouraging card counting enhances a casino’s financial success and directly furthers the legislature’s express objective of promoting tourism and assisting economic development.”

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Blackjack Strategist Jeff Ma’s Numbers Predict NBA Player’s Success in 2007

September 23rd, 2010 by OBO-admin

Jeff Ma, one of the most noted blackjack card counters in the world and the author of The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business, was able to predict the success of NBA player Kevin Durant, way back in 2007. Durant’s success has only become apparent now in the recent FIBA World Championship, possibly making the Portland Trail Blazers wish that they has taken Ma’s advice earlier.

In his book, Jeff Ma teaches how any business and enterprise can take the blackjack strategies of using statistics and mathematics to make them successful. Ma was hired as a consultant to analyze the NBA’s Trail Blazers and applied his blackjack ideology to the players, and created a 2007 report detailing that Durant was a key player and one to watch out for. Jeff Ma also clearly stated a preference for Kevin Durant over Greg Oden. However, despite his predictions, Kevin Pritchard the general manager for the Trail Blazers, disregarded Ma’s advice and opted for Oden.

Jeff Ma is an MIT graduate and has strong educational qualifications that include a mechanical engineering degree. Ma first gained attention when the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich was published which highlighted him as the leader of the notorious MIT Blackjack Team.

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ShuffleMaster Leads the Pack in US Blackjack Industry

September 15th, 2010 by OBO-admin

ShuffleMaster, a gaming company that creates electronic blackjack table games and live blackjack games, has taken the lead when it comes to blackjack in US casinos. The company is responsible for the installation of hundreds of blackjack tables across the US and Asia.

This year, ShuffleMaster has signed on a good number of blackjack gaming casinos such as the Singapore based Marina Bay Sands casino and a few noted racetrack casinos in New York.

The company has also profited as a result of the alteration of gaming laws in states like Delaware and Pennsylvania in particular, since most of the casinos in these states were equipped with ShuffleMaster blackjack tables. Although the new laws required that the electronic tables be removed in favour of live blackjack tables, ShuffleMaster was able to make the switch and benefited from it.

David Lopez, the said chief operating officer for the company commented on the issue. “The transition from electronic to a live market has been a very positive one for ShuffleMaster. The addition of live tables in these two markets has been notable accretive to our earnings, even as some e-Table seats have come out of the market,” he said.

ShuffleMaster has plans of expanding gaming operations into Mexico and Latin America, where the company will market its electronic tables.

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Microgaming Launches New Blackjack Tournaments for Online Casinos

September 11th, 2010 by OBO-admin

Microgaming, a provider of gaming software, recently announced that it would be offering a new schedule for its online blackjack tournaments and slots games. Microgaming has made a quite a few changes to its software and these tourneys will be offered by casinos that use this gaming platform.

Microgaming has introduced these changes to its software in an effort to provide online casinos with better blackjack tourneys and blackjack products that will create more liquidity in the network.

One of the blackjack tourneys recently introduced by Microgaming includes the One-Shot – A One Shot Tournament, which gives players only one opportunity to win. To win this game, players will have to use their turn to get the highest score possible; the p-layers with the best score will take the prize. This tourney has been designed to be very fast paced and offers no add-ons or rebuys.

The Reloader Tournaments also do not offer add-ons or rebuys; however, players can reload to try to win many times. This allows all players to reload and attempt to win with a better score.

Microgaming also launched Extender Tournaments, where players get to play games to build their scores. Unlike the other new tourneys, these games offer add-ons and rebuys.

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Triple Attack Blackjack Wins Best New Table Game of 2010 Award

September 10th, 2010 by OBO-admin

Galaxy Gaming, reputed to be the second largest producer of casino table games, recently announced that Triple Attack Blackjack was awarded the first place title as the Best New Table Game of 2010 in Casino Journal’s Competition. Triple Attack Blackjack is one of the latest blackjack games to be released by the company and has quickly grown in popularity since its launch. Now, Triple Attack Blackjack will be featured at the Barona Valley Ranch Casino located in California. The game will also be showcased in Casino Journal’s October issue.

The announcement was made at Raving’s Cutting Edge Table Games Conference last month and judges estimated that the Triple Attack Blackjack game had a lot of player appeal. It was also noted that out of all the new games, Triple Attack Blackjack was easy to understand and had also good records of commercial success in over 30 entries. The competition was held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Vegas.

Triple Attack Blackjack has been the lucky game in Galaxy Gaming’s offering, and is the only game to win a first place award; the other games having placed the company in second or third place. Dennis Conrad, President of Raving Consulting Company, had this to say about the award: “Galaxy Gaming is the only company that has been ‘in the money’ all three years of the competition. Galaxy has been important conference participants, as well as perennial new game contest winners, having improved every year, first receiving the Bronze Award in 2008, then Silver in 2009 and now winning the Gold in 2010.”.

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$1 Blackjack Tables at Atlantic City Casino Brings in Heavy Traffic

August 25th, 2010 by OBO-admin

Atlantic City casinos are looking for blackjack traffic and appear to be trying everything they can think of to get their blackjack tables full. After introducing $5 blackjack tables which failed to draw in more players, AC casinos appear to be dropping their buy-ins even further to $1 and $2.

Recently, Trump Marina Hotel Casino launched a promo for blackjack enthusiasts, which is definitely achieving its purpose.

The Trump Marina Casino has only two one-dollar blackjack tables, which it had introduced on an experimental basis. Later, it realized that it needed a third table and applied for the same at the Casino Control Commission of New Jersey.

Back in the early 90s, two-dollar blackjack tables enjoyed great popularity in Atlantic City; however, they were later discarded for the benefit of high rollers. Early this year, two-dollar tables were brought back by Resorts Atlantic City owing to the introduction of a blackjack variant, which required players to bet 25 cents and $2 – $5 per hand. Based on their success, Trump Marina later installed special one-dollar blackjack tables for low-stakes players.

Today, the authorities of Trump Marino Casino say that the one-dollar blackjack tables rake in a profit of $1,100 per day on week days and $1,500 at weekends. Some blackjack enthusiasts say that the casinos of New Jersey will soon introduce more low-stakes blackjack tables. The appearance of 50-cent blackjack tables, therefore, might not be surprising.

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Blackjack Winner Spree at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

July 24th, 2010 by OBO-admin

The Mohegan Sun gaming center at Pocono Downs was recently launched but has already seen several blackjack winners who beat the dealer with lucky hands. The new gaming center and its blackjack tables have created a lot of excitement among residents of the community and they are already flocking to the tables there.

Susan McFadden and Robert Stefanidis, two blackjack players from that neighborhood, were among the first two players to get lucky at the Mohegan Sun. Currently the gaming center has about 62 table games including blackjack, roulette, craps and poker and expects to add another 20 games next month.

Susan McFadden, who is 64 years old, won a new Mercedes when she scored a 19 on her blackjack cards and beat the dealer. This lucky resident won the car even before the Mohegan Sun could open when she played at a small kiosk in the area.

Robert Stefanidis did not win a car but got a grand monetary reward of $25,000 instead. He opted for the money since he had already purchased a car recently. His online blackjack hand was ranked at 20.

A few more winners who scored at the gaming tables at the Mohegan Sun took home $5,000 each.

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