Commercial gaming

A casino in Iowa has petitioned the state gaming agency responsible for reviewing new project bids to dismiss a recent application on allegations that it’s seeking to operate slot machines, table games, and sports betting in a county where gambling isn’t authorized.

Attorneys representing the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort have petitioned the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) to suspend its review of a casino proposal for Cedar Rapids. Riverside lawyers claim the Linn County gaming referendum conducted in 2021 didn’t authorize the commencement of gambling, but instead, simply extended gaming provisions from a 2013 referendum.

Since no slots, tables, or sportsbooks presently operate in Linn, the 2021 vote was allegedly much ado about nothing, Riverside challenges. The 2021 Linn County referendum, which supposedly permanently qualified the county for a casino should such a gaming venue be ratified by the IRGC, asked voters if they wish to approve the “operation of gambling games” … to “continue.”

As the IRGC is aware, there have never been licensed gambling games in Linn County. Accordingly, there were no games that the voters could authorize to ‘continue,’” the Riverside Casino petition for declaratory relief argued.

“A proposition requiring the approval or defeat of the continuation of gambling games is not a proposition that authorizes the origination of gambling games in the county,” the petition continued. 

Riverside Seeks to Protect Customer Stream 

Riverside Casino is located about 30 air miles south of Cedar Rapids where a group of local businesspeople want to build a $275 million resort casino called Cedar Crossing Casino. The Cedar Rapids Development Group has presented the plan in partnership with its charitable arm, the Linn County Gaming Association, and Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), a Los Angeles-based casino company with vast gaming experience.

An impact study commissioned by P2E determined that the Cedar Crossing gaming operation would increase Iowa’s overall annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) by $80 million. An estimated 26% of the casino’s projected GGR would come from revenue that would have otherwise been won at present gaming establishments.

Riverside would see the largest GGR drop, with a forecasted 11.6% decline in annual casino income.

Casino Plan

The Cedar Crossing Casino blueprint includes a casino floor with 700 slot machines, 22 table games, and a sportsbook. A 1,500-seat concert hall, several restaurants and bars, and a family-friendly STEM lab would complement the casino.

Along with its petition for declaratory relief, Riverside’s ownership group, Elite Casino Resorts, which also operates Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport, is behind a political action committee called Iowans for Common Sense. The organization is opposed to casino expansion in Iowa and recently deployed a marketing campaign encouraging Iowans to oppose more casinos.  

Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell says Iowa’s casinos have enjoyed record profits in recent years and are trying to “unfairly influence” the IRGC.

I think it’s extremely distasteful that you have hundreds of thousands of dollars being thrown in a campaign meant to circumvent the will of Linn County voters,” O’Donnell told The Gazette. “And I believe Linn County residents see it for what it is, and I believe that the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will see it for what it is as well.”

Many state lawmakers support implementing another moratorium on the IRGC issuing new gaming concessions.

Legislation to reimpose a casino licensing ban is expected to be introduced when the Iowa Legislature convenes in January. The IRGC is scheduled to vote on the Cedar Crossing Casino on February 6, meaning lawmakers will need to hurry to get a casino moratorium to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ (R) desk before the IRGC might sign off on Cedar Rapids being allocated a gaming permit.

If the IRGC grants Cedar Rapids Development Group a license before the bill’s enactment, the project would be grandfathered into the law.

The post Iowa Casino Petitions State to Disqualify Resort Bid for Cedar Rapids appeared first on Casino.org.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) today announced an expansive technology agreement under which the casino operator gains access to much of Cisco’s software portfolio, including tools aimed at enhancing customer experiences.

The companies said the contract spans 5.5 years. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The whole portfolio agreement (WPA) adds to the long-standing relationship between Cisco and MGM and could bolster the gaming operator’s efforts to enhance automation at its integrated resorts.

The agreement will enable the automation of MGM Resort’s network. This will pave the way for future location services and next-generation machine learning applications in the gaming and hospitality industry, unlocking new channels of guest engagement,” according to a statement.

The accord will also help MGM’s sustainability goals, including reduction of carbon emissions — something that’s long been a priority for the largest operator on the Las Vegas Strip.

Some Mention of Cybersecurity

In September 2023, a group of nefarious hackers temporarily crippled MGM’s domestic operations, resulting in a $100 million haircut to its 2023 third-quarter earnings and another $10 million in one-off expenses.

“This includes cybersecurity, software defined networking, software defined-WAN, digital experience assurance, full-stack observability, data center and services,” according to the statement.

California-based Cisco is a major provider of cybersecurity products and services, including some that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Owing to the sheer expanse of the agreement, it’s possible that MGM will gain access to Cisco’s latest cybersecurity offerings, enabling the gaming company to bolster its defense and ward off future threats.

More Automation at MGM Could Be on the Way

One of the core themes mentioned in the Cisco/MGM statement is the idea of the expanded agreement providing the gaming company with access to technology that can improve its automation efforts, but the firms didn’t get into specifics.

On the consumer-facing side of the business, some casino operators currently use automation for tasks such as hotel check-in and dining and entertainment reservations. Across a variety of industries, including leisure and hospitality, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) has been tapped to bring efficiencies and reduced overhead to important though mundane back-office tasks.

Expanded use of AI specific to the gaming side of the business is likely to be embraced by casino operators going forward due to multiple factors. Sophisticated language learning models (LLMs) are already in use at some gaming properties, helping identify cheats and fraudulent play. Additionally, AI can provide operators perspective on slot players’ betting habits and what content they’re most responsive to.

The post Cisco, MGM Reach Wide-Ranging Technology Agreement appeared first on Casino.org.

Toronto police have charged a teenager with second-degree homicide in connection with the death of high-stakes online poker player Matthew Bergart.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because he’s a minor, was one of 23 people arrested during a “Wild West” shootout with police at a recording studio in the city on Monday night.

Home Invasion

Bergart, 30, was shot dead in the early hours of April 25, 2024, while visiting a friend in Toronto’s Etobicoke district in what police described as a targeted home invasion.

Three suspects wearing dark clothing and balaclavas broke into the house and demanded valuables before shooting Bergart multiple times.

The owner of the property, not the victim, was the intended target of the heist, and police said Bergart was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“This is a situation where there was a bad decision to do a break and enter, and that was compounded and turned into a murder,” Det. Sgt. Brandon Price told reporters. “We were fortuitous that [the suspect] was caught up in this [shootout] so that he could be taken off of the streets.”

Dramatic Shootout

On Monday, plainclothes police officers were in the vicinity of the recording studio looking for a man wanted in connection with a robbery. That’s when a stolen car pulled into the parking lot of an adjacent FreshCo supermarket. Three men got out and began firing at the studio where a birthday party was in full swing, police said.

Revelers inside the studio came out guns blazing. More than 100 bullets were fired during the exchange, some striking an unmarked police vehicle. Police said it was a miracle no one was killed or injured.

Staff Sgt. Joe Matthews told reporters it was “deeply concerning” that many of those involved were teenagers.

“It should alarm all of us that the young people we took into custody are already heavily involved in serious activity and armed with high-powered firearms,” he said.

‘Dared to Dream’

The poker community remembered Bergart as a “fearless” player who took on some of the best in the world at the highest stakes. But he rarely played the live tournament scene, and little is known about him personally.

A GoFundMe page set up to support his family described him primarily as a musician who “dared to dream and create with a unique genius in both his music and his work.”

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