UK Bookmakers Reports $1.8 Million Wagered Over Royal Baby’s Gender
The long wait for the arrival of the royal baby is over, but the excitement among UK bookmakers is more on the amount of profits they will realize because the royal betting fever continues to rise. After hauling in as much as $1.8 million (£1.2 million) from the royal baby gender betting, UK bookmakers are still taking in wagers.
Punters from all over the world continue to carry on with the royal gambling frenzy, as they are now wagering on the baby’s name and other matters related to his future.
A spokesperson from Ladbrokes disclosed that those who went against the popular choice of a royal baby girl collected as much as $100K in winnings.
Ladbrokes also reports taking in bets on the royal newborn’s name, at an average rate of 900 per hour. Money coming in is not just for the baby’s name though, but also for a host of other things, such as the christening date, the baby’s first word, and even for when the second royal baby will arrive. UK’s top booking agencies are having a ball; William Hill and Betfair have already collected as much as £350,000 each from online bets, while Paddy Power has taken in around £450,000.
Analysts are saying that the growing interests in the arrival of William and Kate’s newborn will likely boost UK’s economy, as locals and tourists will be spending money on royalty-related events and products. Apparently, UK’s bookmakers are the firsts to experience the reality of this prediction, since online bets coming from more than 100 countries continue to pour in.
South Point Casino Poised to Launch Web-Based Poker Brand in Nevada
Nevada’s online poker players will soon have another web-based poker brand for their gaming pleasure, as South Point Hotel Casino is getting ready to launch Real Gaming.com (formerly SouthPointPoker.com.) In line with South Point’s plan to go live in September or even earlier, a pre-registration drive for its Internet gaming site, started earlier this month.
The Las Vegas-based gambling establishment was the first to receive a license to offer poker online in August 2012. However, since South Point Casino is into developing its own brand of poker offerings, its gaming system has yet to receive the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s (NGCB) approval to go live with its proprietary gaming platform.
Preparations are ongoing, since the casino’s gaming system for its online poker brand Real Gaming, successfully passed the test procedures performed by an independent testing laboratory. Currently, it is on the verge of completing the NGCB’s second wave of testing.
Actually, the casino’s pre-launch preparations started last year, when it came out with a free play site in October via the website SouthPointPoker.com. To date, the free play site has shut down, as South Point’s online poker brand will be different from the free-play offering and that the site will be renamed as RealGaming.com.
In an interview with EGR, South Point CEO Michael Gaughan, expressed his hopes that by the end of this year, Real Gaming.com will become a “full-blown site”. CEO Gaughan further disclosed that they plan to bring their online poker operations to other U.S. states where Internet gaming is legal.
Nevada’s Ultimate Poker Announces Promo for 10 Millionth Hand
Ultimate Poker (UP) is only on its third month of operation as the first legal online poker site in the U.S. and is available only to those physically located within Nevada’s territorial jurisdiction. Yet this early, the site already has plans to commemorate the 10 millionth-hand, which it aims to deal in the near future.
The promotion will give away cash prizes for 21 milestone events, starting with the nine millionth hand until the site deals its 10 millionth-hand. Initially, the milestones are set at an interval of 100,000 hands until it reaches the 9,900,000 mark. Thereafter, the succeeding milestone events are set apart at every 10,000 hands, up to 9,990,000. The 20th event is for the 9,999,999th hand, while the 21st milestone will be the ultimate goal of 10,000,000th hand.
When UP deals the hands for the landmarks, only players seated at the virtual tables, whether for ring games or tournaments, will receive the cash prizes to be given away. The winners of the hand dealt in every minor landmark event will receive $500, while the rest of the players at the table will receive $50 each.
The winner of the game for the 10 millionth hand deal will receive $5,000, while the other players will receive $500 each.
However, players seated at ring games with stakes equivalent or greater to $1/$2, and those seated at tournaments with buy-ins of $20 or greater, will receive twice as much. For these particular games, the cash prize for the minor milestone events is $1,000 for the winner of the hand dealt and $100 for the rest of the players, while the winner of the 10 millionth-hand dealt will receive $10,000, and the other players will get $1,000 each.