Category: News

Seminole Blackjack a Success in its First Year

When I say first year, I do not mean its first year since Florida legislatures began squabbling with the Seminoles over the exclusivity and where the revenue from the blackjack expansion would go. I am talking about the first full year since the Seminoles installed their blackjack tables and threw open the doors, so to speak, to the new blackjack tables.

Since then the Seminoles have pulled in $2 billion, which they owe to the new blackjack tables and the traffic and subsequent profit from patrons playing other games when taking a break from blackjack.

Furthermore, since the gambling expansion that brought them blackjack, the Seminoles made the list in the 2011 Indian Gaming Industry Report as the fourth richest state when it came to tribal gaming. The State of Florida, home to the Seminole Tribe, came in at $2 billion. The richest state in tribal gambling was California at $7.7 billion. After California came Oklahoma at $3.1 billion and Connecticut at $2.2 billion.

It is my opinion that Florida could easily surpass Connecticut in the next year now that the squabbling between the Seminoles and Florida legislatures over the compact struck between the Seminoles and former governor Charlie Crist in 2007.

But seeing that $2 billion profit had to make state lawmakers happy that they did come to an agreement with the Seminoles and allowed them to keep blackjack in five of their seven brick and mortar casinos. After all the state profits from tribal gaming. Over the next five years the Seminoles are to pay $1 billion to Florida: $150 million in years one and two, $233 million in years three and four, and $234 in year five. However if 10% of the tribe

BlackjackPro May Be the Saving Grace of PokerTek

Last year I brought to light a United States based gaming table company who specializes in poker. Well, poker tables that is. Automated ones. In November I discussed how PokerTek was expanding their product line with the introduction of automated blackjack tables called BlackjackPro. This would also change their specialization from poker to automated casino game tables in general.

This month with the installation of the first round of several BlackjackPro installations. Two things were revealed by CEO Mark Roberson with the first round of installation of BlackjackPro. 1. PokerTek was looking to expand its offering of automated table games, calling the forth coming tables ProCore, and BlackjackPro would be the first of the ProCore series; and 2. The expanded offerings were to generate more revenue.

At first the expansion openly detailed to increase expansion might raise eyebrows

PokerTek Makes First BlackjackPro Installation

Back in November I announced that a hitherto manufacturer of automated poker tables, PokerTek, was expanding their product range by creating a new gaming platform that they are calling ProCore. The first casino game in the ProCore lineup is BlackjackPro. And the first of several installations took place earlier this week. In other words, it has begun.

Prior to ProCore, PokerTek was an industry poker specialist. Apparently they were not content to stick with poker and decided to expand their reach within in the casino industry:

Blackjack Dealer Convicted in Shuffle Scam

Unfortunately is it not uncommon in casino games, especially games such as blackjack in which cards can be tracked to some extent, for scams to happen. Typically it is a player who is trying to cheat the casino without help from the inside. But back 2008 a scam ring slipped a blackjack dealer into twenty seven different casinos to do his part in the scam by the Tran Organization.

The blackjack dealer, Mike Waseleski, was convicted this past Wednesday for his part in the blackjack casino scam, in which he helped to steal more than $1 million from twenty seven casinos from around the country. Waseleski has yet to be sentenced but he could face up to a maximum of five years in prison, $250,000 in fines and restitution payments to the victim.

But Waseleski was not operating alone. Forty other members of the Tran Organization scam have pleaded guilty, including the ringleader of the Tran Organization, Phuong Quoc Truong. Truong was been sentenced to seventy months in prison, and ordered to pay $2.8 million in fines and $5.7 million in restitution for his conspiracy to conduct a racketeering enterprise operation.

The scam would begin with a member of the Tran Organization playing blackjack at the table that Waseleski would be serving as the dealer at. The scam member would then signal to Waseleski to perform what is called a false shuffle. A false shuffle would create slugs, which are groups of unshuffled cards, in the deck. Members of the scam would then use high tech devices to track the order of the cards. With the slugs and the tracking devices, the scam member posing as a player would know the order of the cards, and then place higher wagers intended to win more money from the casino.

I like hearing that the Tran Organization is being sentenced on the harsh side. Cases such as these enforce an image that casinos and casino games like blackjack and poker are all things of ill repute. It never pays to cheat, and to see this blackjack scam ring convicted and put away and off the casino floors is good news indeed to blackjack players.

Truth About Online Blackjack, Legality and UIGEA

Whether the United States should legalize and regulate online gambling or not is a part of the lame duck session happening on Capitol Hill. Both Representative Barney Frank and Senator Harry Reid are putting forth bills that would repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. This could potentially see online blackjack open up and be completely legal to play.

But online blackjack was never illegal for US citizens in the first place. UIGEA was to be enforced on the level of financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, who were not to allow transactions between US players and online casinos.

UIGEA, over all, was put in place for two main reasons: 1. To save us from ourselves, and 2. To protect US citizens from foreign companies.

While I cannot get on board with the first reason, I can understand the second. And it is a good reason.

When we play online blackjack in online casinos we are not protected by our own government

Florida Blackjack Boat

North Charleston, South Carolina is not the only city to put blackjack port. Jacksonville, Florida has launched its own casino boat to offer some player favorable blackjack.

Jacks or Better is the name of the boat and it sails out of the Mayport area of Jacksonville five days per week: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The boat sails twice on each of those days with ticket prices ranging from $13 to $18 for each trip; ticket price includes port tax, parking, boarding and nonalcoholic drinks. While the boat is dark on Mondays and Tuesdays it is possible for it to be chartered.

As for the blackjack, Jacks or Better has put together an admirable offering.

Standard blackjack is offered with a 3-2 payout ratio on natural blackjacks. Other player favorable rules include the dealer standing on soft 17s and double downs on any two cards; players can also split aces once and are allowed to double down on any splits except for Aces.

In addition to standard blackjack with some decent rules, Blackjack Switch is also offered on the Jacks or Better boat. I have to say that Blackjack Switch is probably one of the best blackjack variations I have seen yet.

Once passengers are on board, Jacks or Better will say out into international waters where it is not held back by United States restrictions on gambling. And since this is the water-based equivalent to a brick and mortar casino, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) cannot touch it. So if you are looking for a break from online gambling restrictions, check for blackjack boats in your area if you happen to not be in Florida.