Party Poker Blog

My apologies for repeating my Twitter, but honestly, people here in Ohio are going bonkers with delusion since the passing of legalized casinos on Tuesday.

Massive job creation! Looming wealth for everyone!

Good God, you know who else has casinos?

Fucking Detroit.

Just read that Lyle Berman has his fingers in future developments here. From today's Cincinnati Enquirer:

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Poker champ stakes claim in casinos

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The casino developer and poker champion who had a failed bid for an Ohio slots parlor in 2008 has staked a claim to all four Ohio casinos voters approved Tuesday.

Lakes Entertainment Inc. chairman Lyle Berman cut the deal just days before the election Oct. 29, according to a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the terms of the deal, Lakes agreed to fund 10 percent of the cost of the ballot initiative — which neared $35 million — borne by both Penn Ventures and Rock Ohio Ventures, the development businesses of Penn National Gaming Inc. and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. In exchange, Lakes has the option, but not the obligation, to a 10 percent share in each casino.

The filing said Lakes has already made an initial payment of $1.9 million to Penn Ventures, which is developing the Columbus and Toledo sites, and $2.4 million to Rock Ohio, which is developing the Cleveland and Cincinnati casinos.

Allegations of Berman's involvement were made by the anti-casino TruthPAC early in October. They were denied at the time by the pro-casino Ohio Jobs & Growth Committee.

Bob Tenenbaum, a spokesman for the pro-casino ballot campaign, said the deal was struck after that time.

"At the time this was raised as a campaign issue, which was Oct. 6, Berman had no role in any of this," Tenenbaum said. "He never became involved in the campaign, but he did reach out to both Penn National and Rock Ohio Ventures in the last week of the campaign and asked if he could become involved."

A message was left with Berman seeking comment.

"Speaking of uberposts, god damn it. September 13th? Bonus Code Iggy!"
AlCantHang

Wow, this is easily the longest I've ever gone without writing on this here humble poker blog. By far. Thank you, Al, for the nudge.

I also missed the 6 year anniversary of starting this damn monstrosity. Happy belated blog birthday to me. 6 freaking years.

I'll prolly be back on here in poker mode in a few more days, if only to get some old links out and to comment on the looming WSOP final table. Sadly for me, the ESPN coverage this year has been Meh.

I mentioned how I went part-time at the ad agency a few months ago in an effort to focus more on MMAjunkie.com and its insane popularity. It's funny, but somehow my brain tricked me into thinking I'd have a lot more free time for things (like poker). But alas, it's quite the opposite. I've never been busier.

And speaking of MMAjunkie.com, every Sunday we run a readers write in contest about the sport. And imagine my surprise when this Sunday, poker celeb and original TiltBoy, Perry Friedman, won.

Not only did Perry win but he also came on our radio show from the Mandalay Bay Sports Book yesterday to discuss his suggestions for improving the MMA scoring system. I'm pretty sure we need a regular segment from him every week.

Worlds colliding!

So hell, I need to revive my ancient idea of running poker tournaments over on that site. Any help anyone?