Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleWynn becomes first to take non-sport event bets
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 | 5:12 p.m.
The Wynn Las Vegas on Wednesday became the first Sin City casino to take event wagers on a non-sporting event, with bets on the World Series of Poker main event.
The wagers are the first to be approved by state regulators since new rules in January made them allowable, Nevada Gaming Control Board Enforcement Chief Jerry Markling told The Associated Press.
"There have been inquiries made, but none that got to this point," Markling said.
The bets add a new wrinkle around poker's most prestigious tournament, being held roughly 2 miles from the Wynn at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, with the possibility of entrants betting on themselves.
The $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event begins Thursday. It's expected to attract thousands of players and be worth millions to the winner. Canadian professional Jonathan Duhamel won the tournament last year, beating 7,318 opponents to win $8.94 million.
Wynn Race and Sports Director Johnny Avello told the AP that regulators approved the wagers on Tuesday after more than one month of work, to satisfy that the event is legitimate enough to prevent players from having a significant edge on bets.
"This just opens the door to do a lot of things," Avello said.
For the series' main event, the Wynn has begun accepting bets like whether a woman will finish higher than 40th in the male dominated tournament, and whether poker legends Johnny Chan, Allen Cunningham or Erik Seidel will win money in the event.
Avello said the bets were popular on Wednesday, and that he'd accept up to $10,000 wagers - enough to make money but not enough to make it reasonable for a player to throw the tournament given its pricey entry fee.
The new bets follow new Nevada gambling regulations passed this year that open casinos up to the possibility of bets on things like the Academy Awards, beauty pageants and reality television shows - if wagers can win approval under strict rules.
Markling said he expects more applications, but had none pending. He said a casino inquired earlier this year about possible bets on Fox's hit singing competition, "American Idol," but regulators didn't have enough time to research the competition to approve wagering.
Casinos outside the United States are well known for allowing gamblers to bet on just about anything they can think of, including elections, weather patterns and the color of clothing worn by famous people during big news events. But Nevada laws are stricter in that they don't allow bets on things that can easily be controlled by one or a few people, or on outcomes that can be known in advance.
Avello said the wagers open up casinos to more bets, but don't open the floodgates for gamblers to bet on anything. He said the Oscars might have a shot next year if the casino closes bets once voting ends by academy members.
"This just adds more to the menu," he said.
He said if the poker bets go well, he imagines strong betting on the main event's final table, which will be played in November by nine finalists.
Discussion: 6 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
- Upset by new regulations, L.A. porn industry flirts with Nevada
- A secret of how Elizabeth Halseth won her state Senate seat — Democrats
- Sworn in as new DA, Wolfson promises to hit the ground running
- Grubb & Ellis files for bankruptcy, will be sold
- Judge: Settlements reached in 41 hepatitis C lawsuits
- UNLV’s Chace Stanback won’t use knee issue as an excuse for his recent struggles
- Families of 2010 slaying victims sue businesses
- Strip Scribbles: DJ Pauly D vs. Nikki Sixx (one takes the high road)
- Analysts weigh in on Wynn fight with board member
- PlayStation Vita’s rear pad a touchy subject for gamers
Blogs
High School Sports Scene
High School Basketball State Championship Picks
The Kats Report
Oscar Goodman goes Shecky as Mob Museum opening prompts a mob scene (2 Comments)
Elsewhere
MGM Resorts, Ameristar form marketing alliance to draw visitors
High School Sports Scene
High School Hoops Picks: Updated with Friday's regional finals (3 Comments)
The Kats Report
What a Whitney Houston residency in Las Vegas might have looked like (5 Comments)
Elsewhere
Caesars' unit extends term loan maturity
The Kats Report
Color from scene at Thomas & Mack: We have a wire job! Rebels win, and Louie Armstrong sings!
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
The story says the Wynn is the first to "take event wagers on a non-sporting event". That is not true because you can bet on Golf.......
How bout real time horse race wagering from home? Like I could have if I lived in an igloo on Antarctica.
It is absolutely shameful the way Nevada Casinos hold horse players hostage to their smoky, inefficient, and inconvenient race books. Most do not even provide automated machines or even bet cards. Try betting 14 different trifecta combos to some clerk who does not even know what a paddock is.
"Markling said he expects more applications, but had none pending. He said a casino inquired earlier this year about possible bets on Fox's hit singing competition, 'American Idol,' but regulators didn't have enough time to research the competition to approve wagering."
This just opens up Steve Wynn to failure.
Since betting seems to be moving to other areas, and the very mention of Fox Network by people who work at the Wynn, THIS is where it can be used against them.
There is no mistake that Mr. Steve Wynn is an avid ultra-right wing neo-conservative. I guarantee he devours everything Fox PORNO (Political Organization-Republican News Only) News reports. Even without verifying the news by unbiased fact checking. The message of no tax increases for the filthy rich puts him in bed with the Republican Party. Although he hasn't appeared on Fox News (that I know of), he has shown his ultra right wing political leanings by showing up on other television news shows (predominantly CNN).
Perhaps he will open up betting in the areas of politics.
Hope so.
Because this neo-conservative outlook of his will bust him out the next elections. If he pursues that line of betting, it will bust him badly. Tourists will rake in big bucks using Mr. Steve Wynn's own warped political convictions against him.
I hope he puts his money where his mouth is. And I make a predication that if he does, bettors will take him to the cleaners.
IF he delves into bets dealing with politics, it'll be a sure bet and easy money for everyone.
Colin,
Mr. Wynn has been putting his money were his mouth is for over 30 years in this town.
Ask anyone that has bet against him, they have always lost and he has always won.
You may not agree with his views but he has that right as you do and it works for him. I hope you can say the same.
actually its sort of a genius move really --- how many of the egomaniac poker players will bet heavy? probably most of them.
Wynn on Fox..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrxfFFeM...
I won't spend money in his joints because of it.
nice story --- proving again why the Sun is the leading print outlet in Vegas!
Yep, there's always some disgruntled poster that hates Wynn and somehow thinks they're smarter than him. Very funny..
How pathetic is a business if it has to rely upon Tax breaks to grow? Why have any taxes? What is the proper level? Here in NV we have what I am told are low taxes...so where is all the business hiding? The Cut-Tax argument worked for 4 years in the mid 1980's. Since then Raising Taxes has produced way more business.
The problem is, our money is DEBT, i.e a hidden tax on all who use it. That is the tax problem, not costs to run Society known as taxes.
I haven't heard this story on National TV. Promoting it might be good for Nevada, but where is the promotion? It used to be they would have a picture of a babe in a bikini to publicise Nevada that would be released nationaly, etc. Bets on elections would really make news. Why not start with the CD2 race?
OMG! We can now bet on:
Who wins:
America's Got Talent
America's Top Model
Biggest Loser
A Minute To Win It
Survivor
The Great Race
The Bachelorette
Idol
Dancing With The Stars (which always garnered a lot of attention anyway)
The X Factor (coming soon)
And the list goes on with THESE types of things.
And...to be able to bet on:
The next place the U.S. will go to war with
The next method for a terrorist attack(heard this one this morning -- GROSS)
The next President
Another endless list.
Yeah, good for opening up non-sports gambling but please.....will there be a limit on who, what and where bets can be placed? (For sure -Idol, Dancing and other of those talent related shows will be included)
Taxes matter? doubt it...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_gaming_law
Here's what Gaming Operators in Macau pay..The taxation of casino sub/concessionaires is made of a fixed part and a variable part. The variable part falls on the gross gaming revenue. The tax rate is currently of 35%, plus two contributions of up to 2% and 3% for social and economic purposes. The maximum tax is therefore 40%. In addition, a fixed premium is also payable, plus a premium per VIP table, other table, and slot machine. Gaming promoters pay taxes on commissions received.
In Nevada, in Clark County the rate is what? like 7% and they whine.
Tired of the Tax Meme, totally nonsense.
The moron Colin raises his head again...
He thinks a "bookmaker" is going to risk a position on one side or the other?
Memo to Colin: You're an idiot!
Steve Wynn's would set the line on an election to try and get the same amount of money on the loser (Obama) as he has on the Winner (Whoever else is on the ticket). Colin seems to think that Wynn would sit there and take the other side from people who want to bet on Obama...
what a rube....and this guy lives in Vegas?
tells you all you need to know about Colin's intelligence!
Wow Colin, you are that jealous of Mr. Wynn? I have never met him or even got close to knowing him but from what I see he has invested millions in Las Vegas, what have you done for Las Vegas? What is the approximate size of your Las Vegas investment portfolio? How many employees do you hire?
I thought so. 0 and 0 sure I would love Wynn's money but he took the risk while I did nothing so why am I to ask for it? Is that your take?
Wynn is a public company selling shares all over the World on multiple exchanges. Much of the recent money is Chinese. Their debt is rated BB++. Wynn has $3.2 Billion in Debt.
Wynn recently restructured a decent amount of its debt by making a tender offer for some of its notes due in 2014, and issuing $1.3 billion in new 7 3/4% paper due in 2020.
Based on their recent 10k they paid 4.8% in taxes in 2010, how did you do?