This week’s casino news starts off with some good news from the poker world. A quartet of candidates were selected enter the Hall of Fame and we’ve got the latest for you.
Four Women Selected For Poker Hall of Fame
A couple of months ago, it was announced that there were seven people that were finalists to get inducted into the Women’s In Poker Hall of Fame. This past week, four were selected to officially be inaugurated. Those women were Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Selbst, Angelica Hael and Terry King.
Tilly is an Academy Award-nominated actress and a WSOP bracelet winner. Needless to say, she’s had quite the diverse background. Selbst is on top of the all-time women’s money list, so it’s no surprise that she eventually got the nod. Hael is the Vice President of the WPT Global Tour Management and she’s done a lot of great work in the community. Finally, King is a longtime industry insider and bracelet winner.
The Hall was created back in 2008 and was previously made up of 21 women. 19 of them are still living and have the ability to place their votes alongside eight poker media members. Each of these members gets 10 votes to spread around to whichever candidate they want. The public collective vote counted as an additional member as well.
Maryland Governor Hopeful For Sports Betting Launch
Maryland is preparing for the launch online sports betting and by all accounts, it should be smooth. Regulators in the state have been trying to approve apps to allow a number of brands to get going. This is a positive sign as their mobile sports betting launch is rapidly approaching as well, although a definitive time is not yet known.
The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, made a statement not long ago discussing how he remains optimistic about the launch of online sports betting even though they’ve underwent a few delays. In his words, the delays and pushbacks have been, “completely unacceptable”.
Maryland currently has six commercial casinos in the state at the moment. They brought in just under $2 billion in betting revenue throughout the year 2021. The legislation to allow for licensed sports wagering facilities and mobile sports betting was enacted in May 2021. Reportedly it will allow for up to 60 mobile sports betting licenses, so this is expected to be one of the most competitive states on the market.
Former MLB Player Yasiel Puig Pleads Guilty
Former Major League Baseball All-Star Yasiel Puig was recently hit with a federal charge and has since pleaded guilty. The charge was regarding Puig lying to law enforcement over gambling on sporting events through an illegal operation. Puig currently plays baseball in South Korea and was formerly on the Los Angeles Dodgers and two other MLB teams.
He pled guilty to the charge of making false statements to law enforcement, which could come with a maximum five-year sentence in federal prison. He’s set to make an appearance in court and has since agreed to pay a substantial $55,000 fine for his actions.
This illegal gambling business was run by Wayne Joseph Nix of Newport Coast. Puig made that clear during his plea deal that he was running his wagers through Nix’s business. Not only was he just gambling with him but he found himself in a significant amount of debt to Nix. He owed him $282,900 in gambling losses. Nix didn’t allow Puig to place any further bets until he paid the balance that was required. Once he paid back his debts, Puig reportedly placed another 899 additional bets.
It’s not expected that Puig serve any jail time. However, there are further investigations ongoing to see just how far back he was placing bets and if he wagered on his own team.
