What Happened in the Casino Industry During the Holidays?

This week’s casino news starts off with a sportsbook getting busted taking bets on an unsanctioned sporting event. We’ll start there as we recap this week’s key casino headlines.

Pennsylvania Fines BetMGM Due To Gambling On Trump-Hosted Boxing Match

The state of Pennsylvania is sending a very clear message to online sportsbooks posting odds on non-sanctioned events. They dished out punishment to an online sportsbook after taking bets illegally on an exhibition boxing match.

BetMGM is the sportsbook in question and they were hit with a $7,500 fine for their actions. As most might recognize, this is not a very big fine for a billion-dollar organization. Nonetheless, it shows that the regulators are watching.

The fine stemmed from BetMGM taking bets on the fight between Victor Belfort and Evander Holyfield. The major fight on September 11^th happened to be hosted and commentated by former President Donald Trump.

Victor Belfort, of Brazil, celebrates his win against Yoshihiro Akiyama, of Japan, during their UFC middleweight fight at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, August 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan)

Victor Belfort and Evander Holyfield. The major fight on September 11^th happened to be hosted and commentated by former President Donald Trump.

It was made very clear by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that no bets on this match would be accepted. Every single operator was given a warning on the matter but that didn’t stop BetMGM from accepting a total of 76 best on the event anyways.

The exhibition match between the two heavyweight fighters also had another exciting fight between Anderson Silva and Tito Ortiz on the boxing slate for the night. The bottom line is that boxing can be gambled on in the state but these types of celebrity exhibition bout need specific approval in order for these operators to accept wagers on. They never got approval, so the books were told not to take bets. MGM still went ahead, which is why they were slapped on the wrist.

Poker Player Goes On Stabbing Spree At A Washington State Cardroom

It was a horrifying day for four victims as a man named Scott Robert Harmier went on a stabbing spree in mid-December. Initially, he was just sitting at a poker table in a Washington State cardroom before launching an assault on four people. Shortly after doing so, he fled the scene and got into a high-speed chase with the police. He’s now set to appear in court on four counts of first-degree assault and one count of attempting to avoid police.

He’s currently on a massive $1.5 million bond right now as the community believes that he’s a threat to the area still. Luckily, though, all four victims that were attacked are expected to survive. It’s unclear what started this as by most early accounts, this was completely unprovoked.

Witness said that Harmier was seen used a hunting knife in the attack and that people were trying to confront him before he escaped to a car and attempt to flee. He got away from the poker room but was eventually nabbed by police.

Massachusetts Father And Son Found Guilty Over Lottery Scam

A father and son duo were convicted of a scheme that they used to cash in lottery tickets on the behalf of their owner. If it seems unclear why they would do that, it’s because they were doing so in order to avoid taxes and pick up tax refunds on top of that.

Ali Jaafar and Yousef Jaafar were both taken in on a count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and another count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. On top of that, they also got hit with a count of filing a false tax return.

This scheme reportedly went on from 2011 all the way until 2020. They claimed over 14,000 lottery tickets which were more than $20,000,000 in lottery winnings. They utilized this in order to claim more than $1,200,000 in tax refunds.

They could face numerous years in prison if convicted and a potentially large fine for each count on top of that.