Casino operator Delaware North is ending its agreement with its sports betting partner after its two land-based casinos in West Virginia as well as its mobile betting app suddenly went offline on March 6 and have not had the ability to take brand-new wagers ever since.

In a Friday declaration, the company said that it has notified the West Virginia Lottery Commission that it “is taking steps to terminate its partnership with Miomni Gaming.” Its decision was prompted by a contract dispute between Miomni and third-party technology supplier Entergaming, the statement further read. As mentioned above, the dispute resulted in the operator’s two casinos – Wheeling Island Casino and Mardi Gras Casino – not being able to accept new bets, including ones on the NCAA basketball tournament.

Due to the dispute, the BetLucky mobile app, the only one operational in West Virginia, also went offline on March 6.

Delaware North and Miomni teamed up for the launch of in-person and mobile betting in October 2018. Sports betting went live at the company’s two West Virginia casinos in December. The mobile app was rolled out simultaneously with the launch of in-person betting.

Wagering came to the two properties after months of delays. Delaware North was first expected to launch sports betting at the casinos by the end of September 2018. However, it issued a statement back then saying that it would debut its sportsbooks and mobile app later in the fall without providing information on what had prompted the delayed start of sports gambling.

Working to Bring Sports Betting Back

Delaware North said in its Friday statement that they “are evaluating all options to once again provide sports wagering services.” The company also warned that “identifying and implementing” a new solution could “take several months or longer.”

With Miomni out of the game, Delaware North will need to find a new partner to power its brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and a mobile app. The process could be lengthy and complex.

The gaming and hospitality company operated two of West Virginia’s five retail sportsbooks and the only available mobile betting app. Aside from its now former wagering partner, William Hill and DraftKings Sportsbook are the other two providers of betting solutions licensed to operate in the state, which automatically makes them among the likely candidates for powering the Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras sportsbooks.

Delaware North said in its statement that while searching for a new betting partner, it will continue to honor and redeem all resulted bets and provide customers with information about how to access their accounts and withdraw their available funds.

Former Amaya CEO David Baazov has opened a $2 million lawsuit against Quebec’s securities regulator in response to the insider trading lawsuit those authorities pursued unsuccessfully against him beginning in 2016.

Baazov says that L’Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) acted maliciously when it accused him of leaking privileged information to aid insider trading and manipulate the price of Amaya stock.

Prosecutorial Mistakes End Case Against Baazov

Baazov was facing five charges, and had pleaded not guilty to all of the accusations. But the case came to an end last June, when Judge Salvatore Mascia dismissed the case against Baazov and his co-defendants, saying that the “accumulation of mistakes” from the prosecution justified and required a stay in the proceedings.

AMF lawyers indeed made several mistakes, with the most notable one coming last May. That’s when the prosecution accidently shared 320,000 documents with the defense. While prosecutors claimed the documents were “privileged” and asked for them back, it provided an opening for Baazov’s lawyers to claim the AMF had improperly withheld evidence from them, an argument that proved persuasive with Judge Mascia.

That was enough for Baazov to walk away a free many. But the former CEO is now claiming that the accusations against him were entirely without merit and rise to the level of being “abusive.”

If Baazov is successful in his lawsuit, he has pledged to donate the $2 million he could win from the AMF to five local charities in Montreal. However, the AMF is saying that it will “vigorously” defend itself against the charges.

AMF Investigated After Shady Stock Movements

The initial charges against Baazov, as co-defendants Benjamin Ahdoot and Yoel Altman, stemmed from investigations related to one of the most impactful business moves for the online poker world in recent memory.

Baazov was the CEO of the Amaya Gaming Group when the company announced its $4.9 billion acquisition of PokerStars in August 2014. In December of that same year, the AMF raided Amaya’s offices in Montreal after questions arose about suspicious movements in Amaya’s stock price prior to that massive takeover.

In 2016, Baazov resigned as the CEO and chairman of Amaya, a company he co-founded in 2004. He then attempted to lead a bid to purchase the company, but gave up on the plan after a series of setbacks, including the loss of a major investor and the realization that major shareholders wanted a significant premium over the company’s stock price.

In May 2017, Amaya changed its name to The Stars Group, a rebranding that emphasized the role of its flagship product, PokerStars. At that time, the company also moved its headquarters to Toronto under the leadership of CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.

Since that time, The Stars Group has continued to grow through acquisitions, including the purchase of Sky Betting & Gaming for $4.7 billion. Baazov sold off his remaining interest in the company in March 2017.

Ben Palmer has won the inaugural World Poker Tour Venetian DeepStack Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a field of 734 entries to secure his first WPT title and the top prize of $431,655. This was his 340th career live tournament cash and by far his largest. The win brought his lifetime earnings to $2,732,635.

This was the first WPT main event ever held at The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas. The huge turnout saw the $1,000,000 guarantee easily surpassed, with the final prize pool growing to $2,333,800.

It took three full days of action to narrow the sea of entrants down to a final table of nine players. Palmer held the lead going into day 4, with 2013 World Series of Poker main event runner-up Jay Farber as his closest competitor.

Palmer furthered his advantage by knocking out recent WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino main event winner Sean Yu. Yu had just lost with pocket jacks against the A-Q of Mark Ioli to fall to the bottom of the leaderboard. He got all-in with ADiamond SuitJClub Suit and ran into the 10Spade Suit10Diamond Suit of Palmer. Yu failed to improve and was eliminated in ninth place ($41,665).

Despite coming into the day in second chip position, Jay Farber was the next to hit the rail. In his final hand he got all-in with AHeart Suit9Heart Suit and was called by the ADiamond SuitKSpade Suit of Mark Ioli. Neither player improved and Faber had to settle for eighth place ($52,790).

Palmer scored his second bustout of the final table when his AHeart SuitKClub Suit outran the 9Spade Suit9Heart Suit of Skip Wilson. Palmer paired his ace on the turn to win the pot and send Wilson home with $67,675 as the seventh-place finisher.

It took nearly 70 more hands until the next elimination went down. WSOP bracelet winner William Givens got his last chips in with the KHeart Suit10Club Suit. Mark Ioli held the AClub Suit8Club Suit and made trip aces by the turn to knock Givens out in sixth place ($87,760).

In the next major confrontation, Mark Ioli flopped top two pair out of the big blind and called a continuation bet from Palmer, who promptly hit his gutshot straight draw on the turn. Palmer bet again on the turn and then moved all-in on the river. Ioli called and was eliminated in fifth place ($115,105).

With that Palmer surged to over 13 million in chips. Tony Gargano closed the gap a bit by knocking out Orlando Barrera in fourth place ($152,690), having flopped quads with his pocket kings. Barrera shoved after the flop with pocket sixes and found himself drawing dead with two cards to come.

Gargano went on to knock out Danny Qutami in third place ($204,810), calling his three-bet shove with AHeart SuitQHeart Suit and holding up against the AClub Suit8Heart Suit. With that Gargano overtook the lead, entering heads-up play with 16.8 million to Palmer’s 12.5 million.

The final two players battled it out for 64 hands, with a few lead changes along the way. In the final hand, Gargano moved all-in from the button for 9.5 million. Palmer thought it over for a while before making the call with QDiamond Suit10Diamond Suit. Gargano held the AHeart Suit4Club Suit. The board ran out JClub Suit10Heart Suit9Club Suit6Club SuitQHeart Suit to give Palmer two pair, the pot and the title. Gargano took home $277,760 as the runner-up finisher.

Palmer was awarded 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, enough to see him climb into 41st place on the overall POY rankings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

A bill calling for the legalization of sports betting has gained momentum in New Hampshire and if it survives through all legislative hurdles, it will bring both retail and mobile wagering to state residents.

The New Hampshire House supported overwhelmingly last week the piece of legislation, HB 480, casting a 269-82 vote in favor of authorizing the practice on the territory of the state. The bill now needs to get approved in the Senate and be signed off by Gov. Chris Sununu. A signature by New Hampshire’s top official is not expected to prove a hurdle as he said during his budget address last month that legal sports betting was something he supported.

The bill would authorize both retail and digital betting on the territory of the state. The retail portion of the piece would provide towns with the option to develop brick-and-mortar sportsbooks at existing commercial businesses, including bars and resorts. Under the bill, up to 10 facilities could be developed across New Hampshire.

The mobile component is expected to be a real booster of growth in the state’s regulated market. According to early projections, wagering operations could generate between $1.5 million and $7.5 million in fiscal year 2021. The money would go into New Hampshire’s education trust. The bill’s authors believe that contributions to the education trust could hike to $13.5 million by fiscal year 2023.

Gambling Addiction Concerns

Sports betting sceptics have voiced concerns that bringing the practice would balloon problem gambling rates in the state. However, the bill’s sponsors have maintained that the piece would provide an improved level of consumer protection as opposed to the thriving illegal wagering market.

Under HB 480, a 10% portion of sports betting revenue will be allocated for services supporting treatment and prevention of gambling addiction.

Commenting on the topic, Daniel Wallach, an attorney at a law firm that focuses on sports gambling legalization and regulation, said last week that there were few other states that “mandate a percentage of tax revenue to go to help problem gamblers.” He added that there were no “compulsive gambling safeguards” with offshore betting websites or in the black market.

If New Hampshire legalizes sports betting soon, it could become the second state in the New England region to go live with the practice. Rhode Island was the first state in that part of the nation to regulate the activity. Legal sports betting services went live at Rhode Island’s two casinos late last year. Under HB 480, local bettors would be able to place wagers on both professional and college games as long as those do not involve local teams.

Police say poker player Shannon Soroka robbed the New Jersey home of WPT champion Darren Elias on Thursday. No one was physically harmed during the incident and the alleged perpetrator was arrested.

Elias wasn’t home during the incident. Investigators claim Soroka illegally entered the front door where he found a 19-year-old female woman babysitting Elias’ 2-year-old child.

Scary Situation

Soroka, who was armed, demanded the babysitter show him where the money is located, according to police. The babysitter was able to escape through a window and ran to a neighbor’s house for help. She also kept the young child safe.

Sarah Cram, Elias’ mother-in-law, praised the babysitter’s bravery.

“She’s our hero, we owe her everything and we are so thankful for her,” she told CBS 3 Philadelphia.

She also said her family is “just so happy no one got hurt, that everything is going to be OK and that’s what matters most.”

Soroka faces charges of robbery, burglary, and aggravated assault. He is currently being held in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Elias, who was out with his wife during the robbery, told reporters this incident was the second time his house was targeted in the past week.

“It’s incredibly scarry for me and my family,” Elias told NBC10. “It was an awful feeling.”

Soroka was captured on surveillance video leaving the residence, police say. Investigators haven’t said if he left the home with any cash or valuables. Police believe the alleged robber specifically targeted Elias’ home. A tip from a concerned citizen helped lead to the arrest of the poker player.

Poker Player Allegedly Robs Poker Player

Soroka, a poker player with minimal tournament success, likely knew of Elias’ success on the felt. Darren holds World Poker Tour records for wins (4) and also cashes (34). His recent third place finish in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic ($473,280) put him over the $7 million lifetime mark.

The alleged robber, on the other hand, has just $37,000 in career cashes. His most recent cash – $5,748 in a $300 buy-in tournament in Atlantic City – came in October 2018.

Every poker player wants the success of a Darren Elias but few achieve it. So, allegedly, some feel the solution is to rob the player they can’t be.

Vitalijs Zavorotnijs has been crowned the Season XVII WPT Barcelona €3,300 Main Event champion after the Latvian came through a 1,227 player-field at the Casino Barcelona.

Zavorotnijs defeated Boris Kolev heads-up for the win in a heads-up match that lasted just three hands, to become the latest inductee into the WPT Champions Club.

The WPT Main Event headed to Barcelona with a €3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, but after 1,227 entrants took part, it became the second-largest Main Event of Season XVII, alongside a prize pool worth €3,570,570.

Zavorotnijs came into the final table of six as the joint chip-leader and won a 15m pot with four players left to push ahead further, and he never looked back from there.

Today’s final day of action capped ten days of poker at Casino Barcelona, with a full WPT Barcelona festival that included the WPT500, WPTDeepStacks, High Roller and Ladies events.

Final Table Results:

Speaking after his victory, Zavorotnijs said:

“How I feel right now is hard to describe. A mix of emotion and exhaustion. I’m really tired and really happy! When you work hard for something, and it happens, to be in this spot right now, it feels like a dream come true.”

Zavorotnijs’ win came less than four weeks after his first tournament victory of 2019 when he won a then-career-best €85,300.

“I haven’t changed how I have played this year, but I do feel more mentally prepared. I know I can play well, but I also know you cannot win without luck, and I’ve had luck.”

“I’ve come into poker from a sports background, and I’ve matured and got less titled” added the former professional volleyball player.

“I am now going to spend some more time with my wife, who won a satellite into the Main Event this week, and my four-year-old daughter. Then I will go to Vegas for the WPT Tournament of Champions.”

Action of the day

When the play began shortly after Noon local time, the final six was almost immediately reduced to five, when Alain Zeidan was eliminated in just the eighth hand of the day.

Boris Kolev raised from under the gun with pocket queens and saw Niko Koop call with king-jack in the cutoff. Zeidan pushed his last 11 big blinds into the middle with pocket nines from the small blind, only to see Zavorotnijs call from the big blind with ace-king. Kolev also called before Koop folded and the flop fell deuce-five-queen. They checked to the three turn card, and Kolev’s 800,000 bet was enough to get Zavorotnijs to fold.

Zeidan then found out the bad news he was drawing dead and even hit a set of his own on the river to add insult to injury. The Lebanese player departed from the table and took away €120,000 for his efforts.

Kolev and Koop then pushed themselves ahead of the pack as start-of-day chip leaders Eric Sfez, and Zavorotnijs dropped.

Jerry Odeen was unable to find himself an opportunity to increase his stack having started the Final Table with 22bbs and ultimately departed in 5th place. Zavorotnijs raised to 400,000 from the button with ace-five, and Kolev called in the small blind with pocket tens. Odeen moved all in for 975,000 after he looked down at queen-jack and both his opponents called.

Zavorotnijs and Kolev checked to showdown after the board fell king-four-nine-six-eight. Odeen sees Kolev’s winning hand and departed the final table to collect his €160,000 prize money.

In the very next hand, the whole table dynamics changed when Zavorotnijs doubled through Koop.

The flop was down ten-eight-three, and Zavorotnijs held the straight flush draw with jack-nine of clubs. Kopp held ten-eight for two pair and had checked raised a bet of 325,000 to 1.1m, which Zavorotnijs called.

Zavorotnijs then called a 1.5m bet from Kopp on a brick turn, and the river was the seven of hearts, which gave Zavorotnijs the straight. Kopp’s check led to Zavorotnijs moving all in for 4m and Kopp ultimately called.

Zavorotnijs took the big chip lead, and Kopp couldn’t find a way back and exited in 4th place for €215,000 just two hands later when his ace-queen lost to Zavorotnijs’ pocket tens all-in preflop.

When the final three returned from a short break, Zavorotnijs had 50% of the chips in play. Kolev then survived when his four-bet jam with ace-five from the button was snap-called by Sfez in the small blind with pocket kings. However, the Bulgarian found an ace on the flop to double.

Short stack Sfez then found a double of his own through Zavorotnijs, and the action went back and forth between the players but Sfez and Kolev were unable to put a dent in Zavorotnijs’ stack.

Kolev then raised to 400,000 from the button with ace-three and saw Sfez move all in for 3.6m from the small blind with ace-nine. Zavorotnijs called after he looked down at ace-king in the big blind and Kolev folded.

Zavorotnijs held to score another knockout and Sfez’s elimination in 3rd place for €281,570 paved the way for the heads-up battle.

Once the action recommenced, it was all over in a flash. In the third hand of heads-up, Zavorotnijs raised to 425,000 with king-nine suited and Kolev, who was playing a 9,500,000 stack, three-bet to 1.7m with ace-queen offsuit. Zavorotnijs called, and the queen-jack-four flop gave him a gutshot straight draw, as Kolev hit top pair.

The turn seven of spades also gave Zavorotnijs a flush draw, and he saw Kolev move all in for 5.7m.

Zavorotnijs asked for a count and used two of his remaining time banks before he flicked in a calling chip.

The Bulgarian rail stood up from their chairs only to see Zavorotnijs hit a flush on the river to seal the Latvian’s victory, much to the delight of his wife who also played the Main Event and Ladies event here in Barcelona this week.

Kolev was consoled by his rail and banked a €375,000 score.

Zavorotnijs wins the €600,000 top-prize, which includes a $15,000 seat to the Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions to be held in Las Vegas later this year, and becomes the first-ever Latvian WPT Main Event champion.

PokerStars’ promo team has hit back at its rivals over at Partypoker with a new series of Spin & Go satellites for EPT Monte Carlo.

In what’s becoming one of the online poker world’s most entertaining sagas, PokerStars has countered its competitor’s latest push for dominance with two added new offers.

Continuing the sit & go theme that started in February, the industry leader is now offering three-handed EPT qualifiers.

Spin & Go to Monte Carlo

Going live on March 17, the EPT Monte Carlo Spin & Go tournaments are a way for dot.com and dot.fr players to win an €8,000/$9,000 prize package. Costing €30/$34 to enter, the lottery-style games will offer a combination of cash prizes and tournament tickets.

Anyone who clinches a star prize will win entry to the $6,000 EPT Monte Carlo main event, a seven-night stay at Monte-Carlo Bay Casino and travel expenses. To sweeten the pot, qualifiers will also be invited to a VIP party on April 29.

As per the March 18 press release, PokerStars will add money to the prizepool each time players complete tasks online. The more players that take part in the cross-platform challenges, the more money PokerStars will add to the prizepool.

What’s interesting about the recent innovations is their timing. With Partypoker launching its own sit & go promotion on March 18, there’s a clear pattern of one-upmanship going on between the two operators.

PokerStars/Partypoker Battle Adding Value

The upshot of these ongoing rivalry is more added value for players. However, what’s potentially more interesting is the battlefield in which the two poker companies have chosen to fight.

Throughout the latter half of 2018, Partypoker began angling its products towards seasoned players.

Through innovations such as enhanced loyalty rewards and a new advisory panel, the operator has sought to become more attractive to established grinders. In contrast, PokerStars has moved more towards the casual market.

The latest example of this came at the beginning of March when it banned seating scripts in an effort to protect novices.

Despite shifting towards different ends of the poker spectrum, both Partypoker and PokerStars are using lottery-style sit & go tournaments to establish dominance.

Traditionally seen as high variance games that pros would avoid, they’re now becoming hot commodities. Indeed, as the promo war continues and more money is added to the mix, these three-handed tournaments look set to become more attractive for players of all skill levels.

The six-handed final table of the WPT Barcelona Season XVII €3,300 Main Event is set and all remaining six hopefuls, from six different countries, have already locked up €120,000 for their efforts. In fact, the top 11 finishers out of a field of 1,227 entries hail from 11 different countries to showcase a very diverse end of the tournament.

Leading the final six at the end of Day 4 is Latvia’s Vitalijs Zavorotnijs (pictured), who bagged up 10,635,000 and edged past France’s Eric Sfez (10,265,000) with the elimination of Martins Adeniya in 7th place. There are two medium stacks in Niko Koop (6,305,000) and Boris Kolev (5,025,000), while Jerry Odeen (2,605,000) and Alain Zeidan have 22 and 16 big blinds respectively at their disposal.

After a stalemate prior to the dinner break, Koop was responsible for back-to-back eliminations to reduce the field to the final seven and the German, who was born in Russia and currently lives in Vienna, increased his chances significantly to become the next WPT Champions Club member.

Among the final 24 that returned to their seats for Day 4, only Marcin Wydrowski already had a WPT title to his name. Wydrowski joined the WPT Champions Club in Prague back in 2012, and his elimination in 17th place ensured that a new WPT Champion will be crowned at Casino Barcelona on Sunday, March 17th, 2019.

Final Table Seat Assignments

Only 24 players returned for the penultimate tournament day and among the early casualties were Paul-Francois Tedeschi, Robert Bickley and, partypoker MILLIONS UK champion Ioannis Angelou-Konstas. The Greek, who also two WPTDeepStack titles in Europe to his name, came up short of another victory on the World Poker Tour when his jack-nine ended second-best to the ace-king suited of Alain Zeidan.

The bid of Marcin Wydrowski to claim a second WPT Main Event title to his name ended just shy of the two-table redraw. Wydrowski had doubled his short stack once, but couldn’t do so again with ace-five suited against the pocket sixes of Antal Mezei.

Luca Marchetti could not get there with a flush draw to crack pocket aces, while Jakob Madsen saw his pocket queens cracked by ace-trey suited. The next player to make a move was Kamil Lewandowski, but Alain Zeidan looked through his bluff and made the call with ten-nine suited for a pair of tens.

The elimination of Juan Arango reduced the field to the last 12 and several players doubled to remain in contention. Eventually, Arnaud Enselme saw his hopes crushed by a two-outer and the unofficial final table was set only a few minutes later after the departures of Antal Mezei and David Hu. Mezei three-bet jammed with king-queen into queens and Hu used all his remaining three time banks on the other table to wait for the outcome of that showdown and secure the pay jump.

Down to the last nine, Jason Tompkins doubled twice and Martins Adeniya tripled up once. Eric Sfez and Vitalijs Zavorotnijs cemented their positions at the top of the leaderboard and nine players remained at the dinner break. The fireworks started right when everyone was back, as Niko Koop sent Jon Gurrutxaga and Tompkins to the rail in consecutive all-in showdowns. First he turned a straight with jack-nine suited versus ace-five and then spiked a set of fives to crack the pocket jacks of Tompkins.

Not even 20 minutes later, Adeniya got his short stack in with king-ten suited and Vitalijs Zavorotnijs looked him up with ace-king. On a king-high board, the kicker played and the Brit had to miss out on the feature table spotlight.

The final day will get underway at approximately 12 p.m. local time with 1:03:05 left in level 32 with blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a big blind ante of 120,000. As part of the six-handed format, the blind level duration will revert back to 60 minutes each and that will be cut in half during the heads-up stage. All players receive eight 30-second shot clocks for the final showdown and the Action Clock by Protection Poker is in play.

Remaining Payouts

1st place: €600,000*
2nd place: €375,000
3rd place: €281,570
4th place: €215,000
5th place: €160,000
6th place: €120,000

The live stream will run on a security delay of 30 minutes with hole cards displayed and the WPT.com team will provide hand-for-hand coverage of the action until a champion is crowned.