Gambling World

Iowa Lottery officials have more questions than answers as they try to unravel the stunning mystery behind a year-old winning ticket turned in less than two hours before deadline for a jackpot worth up to $14.3 million.

Among the questions: Who actually bought the Hot Lotto ticket? Who are members of the trust that stepped forward to claim the prize less than two hours before it expired? Where was the ticket for 364 days, and why did the trustee risk sending it by FedEx to Des Moines one day before the deadline?

Here’s what they know: Two attorneys with Des Moines-based Davis Brown Law Firm showed up at Iowa Lottery headquarters at 2:10 p.m. Thursday with the winning ticket before the 4 p.m.

Read full article…

When James Dempsey answered his friend Chris Moormans plea to travel to Las Vegas to pick up some money for him the Brighton-based pro had no concrete plans to play the $10,000 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic but that is exactly what he did and he was rewarded by outlasting 412 runners to scoop the $821,612 first place prize and a WPT title.

Dempsey is a popular figure in UK poker circles and that was shown to the world when his legion of fans were extremely vocal during his first major win back in 2010 when he won the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem tournament at the World Series of Poker.

Read full article…

My latest Las Vegas Business Press column is out. Its about how the gaming law program at UNLVs Boyd School of law is bucking a national trend and delivering a solid education in the practice of gaming law to its students:

A recent New York Times article decried the current state of legal education, describing an aversion to the practical that privileged professors theoretical scholarship over teaching the basics of practicing law in the real world. Though there may be merit to that argument, the Gaming Studies Law Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law proves that practical education is alive and well in Las Vegas.

The original NY Times article was thought-provoking.

Read full article…

The Google Webmaster blog says its getting great feedback from searchers and from websites regarding its newest algorithm update. Based on our testing, states Amit Singhal, Google Fellow, we’ve found the algorithm is very accurate at detecting site quality. He even goes so far to say that if you think your site is high-quality and youve been negatively impacted by the recent update, you should look harder at your site, and not at Google.

Google is putting more emphasis on what so many white-hat SEO gurus have been preaching for years: make a quality site, fill it with original, meaningful content, keep your end-user in focus, and use your code appropriately and  the search engines will find you. Th

Read full article…

What are most 22-year-old Russian men doing with their lives? Well I’m not sure but I seriously doubt that many of them made $2 million in the last five months, which is exactly what Andrey Pateychuk has done with his most recent cash with a first place finish at the WPT Prague for €468,200.

Pateychuck’s hot streak really got rolling when he finished 15^th at the World Series of Poker Main Event cashing for $478,174. Then, just over a month ago, he went on to win the EPT San Remo Main Event, walking away with $937.530.

The deck has been extremely kind to Pateychuk in the final crucial stages of his last two big wins. In San

Read full article…