A North Carolina man, Christian Lusardi, has been sentenced to five years in prison and to pay $463,540 in restitution for bringing millions in fake Online Casino Malaysia chips to a tournament held at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The tournament that began Jan. 14, 2014, was supposed to last three weeks, but ended after three days, when guests at the nearby Harrah’s hotel reported a leak in the sewer line in two adjoining rooms. Hotel staff found the leak had allegedly been caused by someone flushing counterfeit Borgata poker chips with a face value of nearly $2.7 million down the toilet.
The poker chip hustler apparently purchased the chips from “an underground Chinese manufacturer.” The fake chips were said to be labelled with “stickers bearing the ‘Borgata’ tourney design.”
Lusardi must now go all-in and pay $463,540 to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa for the revenue it lost when it canceled the 2014 tournament in Atlantic City, and $9,455 to Harrah’s Casino Hotel for damaging its plumbing.
British gaming company 888 Holdings Offers Proposal to Acquire Bwin.Party
Online gambling operator 888 Holdings has confirmed that it has made an offer for rival bwin.party. A news release from the company confirmed that it “has submitted a proposal regarding the acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of bwin.party for consideration comprising cash and 888 shares.”
The bid from 888 involves an unknown amount of cash in combination with a share swap between the two companies, and though it carries a significantly lower face value than the rival offer from GVC/Amaya, the actual per-share values of each bid have yet to be publicly compared.
Due to the size of the proposed transaction, the deal would require the approval of 888 shareholders.
The Togel operator has noted that 59% of its shareholders have already voted, subject to customary conditions, to support the offer.
Despite having confirmed the offer, 888 warned there is “no certainty” a deal will be completed and that it will provide a further update in due course, but shares in bwin.party soared over six per cent in early trading after rival 888 Holdings confirmed it had submitted a bid for all of bwin.party’s share capital.
Bwin was put up for sale last November and confirmed on Friday that it had received a number of approaches, including one from GVC Holdings. Amaya Gaming, owner of Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker, has also been linked with a bid, as well as software developer Playtech.
