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Miss’d America Pageant

Posted on August 30, 2017 by -

The Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance and the Schultz-Hill Foundation in association with Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa continues its annual pageantry this year in The Event Center at Borgata on Saturday, October 7th at 8PM.

A not-to-be-missed entertainment event, the Miss’d America Pageant started in 1994 at a local Atlantic City club and was created as a spoof of the world-famous Miss America Pageant to raise funds for a local charity. It took place annually on the night after that famous beauty pageant, the joke being that the drag performers ‘missed’ getting into the real pageant at Boardwalk Hall.  It ended in 2005 and was absent from Atlantic City for nearly five years, before making its triumphant return on January 31, 2010 and has grown larger and more spectacular every year since.  

Carson Kressley returns again as the host of this year’s pageant along with the incredible Miss’d America Dancers, Special Musical Guest Frankie Z, Miss’d America 2017 Mimi Imfurst and the Melanie Rice Orchestra.  The show will be once again written and directed by the talented Mark Dahl.

Proceeds from the 2017 Miss’d America Pageant will be equally divided between the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance and the Schultz-Hill Foundation and then split among various charities. Since its inception, the pageant has donated over $300,000.00. For more information on either organization, visit www.acglbt.org or www.schultz-hill.org.    

Ann Wilson of Heart Rocks the Trop

Posted on August 17, 2017 by -

Heart vocalist Ann Wilson will bring her solo show, The Ann Wilson Thing, to Tropicana Atlantic City Casino on August 19 at 8 P.M.

All of the songs that make up the essence of Ann Wilson will be on display; Heart songs, songs from Ann’s solo projects, and songs that have influenced and inspired her throughout her life. The show, like the woman herself, will know no bounds, joined —not backed—by a band of true artists Ann’s true voice will be heard.

Saturday August 19, 2017
Showtime 8:00 PM
Ticket Prices: $60 – $85
Phone: 1-800-843-8767
Visit: https://tropicana.net/events/ann-wilson-heart

Santana Comes to Borgata

Posted on August 17, 2017 by -

The party will continue all summer long when rock legend Carlos Santana launches a his new Transmogrify Tour at Bogata Hotel Casino and Spa on Sunday August 20 at 8:00 PM.

Santana, who will celebrate his 70th birthday July 20, performed last year with the original 1969 lineup that created memorable hits like “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.” They had reunited to record their fourth album together—the guitar whiz’s 23rd overall—”Santana IV,” released last spring. A commemorative live album, “Santana IV: Live at the House of Blues, Las Vegas,” came out in October.

The Transmogrify Tour follows Santana’s 2016 reunion with his classic lineup, though the upcoming trek will not feature keyboardist and singer Gregg Rolie, guitarist Neal Schon, percussionist Michael Carabello and drummer Michael Shrieve.

Tickets Starting @ $120.50
Visit: https://www.theborgata.com/shows/events/concerts

DraftKings CEO Discusses Future After Merger Collapse

Posted on July 31, 2017 by -

With its announced merger with FanDuel on the scrap heap, DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins said his company is preparing to move forward with an emphasis on attracting new, casual daily fantasy players.

DraftKings and FanDuel announced earlier this month that they would not fight a move by the Federal Trade Commission to block a planned merger between the two on anti-trust grounds.

Jason Robins, speaking during a Facebook Live session, said the company is ready to move forward on its own and will offer a simplified DFS game for the upcoming NFL season along with it regular games.

The game will be fashioned like Arcade Mode, which DraftKings introduced for the Major League Baseball season. Arcade contests have smaller rosters of players, higher scoring and is aimed at attracting recreational players.

“I’ve heard a lot of really great feedback about Arcade Mode, and looking at the numbers lots of people are playing it, which is great,” Robins said as reported by Legalsportsreport.com. “Definitely a more casual game, that I think if you don’t have as much time, or you just want something that’s a bit higher-scoring, it’s great for those types of players.”

Robins said he expects an arcade version for each sport including the hockey and basketball.

Robins also implied that DraftKings will offer a contest with a $1 million prize this NFL season in a number of “Millionaire Maker” contests for its traditional games.

The company also won’t be offering contests for college sports—which has been banned by several states passing DFS legislation—but does plan to include more sports in its games such as boxing, tennis and EuroLeague basketball. The company also hopes to expand internationally, he said.

Shareholders OK Caesars Merger

Posted on July 31, 2017 by -

Caesars Entertainment and its wholly owned Caesars Acquisition Co. subsidiary have received approval to merge from the shareholders of both companies, bringing the Chapter 11 reorganization of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. another critical step closer to completion.

The merger of the two Nasdaq-listed companies is key to satisfying the claims of a legion of CEOC creditors, giving them a sizable stake in a newly enlarged Caesars whose principal holdings are comprised of 17 U.S. gaming resorts, including the profitable Atlantic City properties and the financially healthiest of the Las Vegas ones.

They also get majority control of CEOC’s 18 U.S. casinos and a newly formed real estate investment trust that will own them and lease them back to an operating company they also will control.

A third leg of the plan calls for creation of a new company to take possession of Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

The reorganization, which is still making its way through state regulatory approvals, was approved in January in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Illinois, two years after CEOC filed for Chapter 11 protection buried under some $23 billion of debt, the hangover of a $30 billion leveraged buyout of Caesars Entertainment by private-equity giants Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital.

The ill-timed deal, completed in 2008 on the eve of the Great Recession, eventually forced Caesars to disperse its massive holdings―47 resorts currently, including 12 outside the U.S.―among several subsidiaries. The effect of that process was to strip majority-owned CEOC, which was carrying the lion’s share of the debt from the buyout, of the most successful Caesars casinos and made for a prolonged and torturous restructuring complicated by a raft of creditor lawsuits.

The restructuring shave around $10 billion of the debt CEOC brought to the bankruptcy filing back in 2015.

Caesars President and CEO Mark Frissora hailed the approval of the Caesars-Caesars Acquisition merger as “an important milestone”.

“The successful conclusion of the restructuring,” he said, “will create new opportunities for incremental investments in growth.”

MGM, Caesars Talk Partnership in Atlantic City

Posted on June 28, 2017 by -

When MGM Chairman and CEO Jim Murren and Caesars CEO Mark Frissora came to New Jersey to speak with Governor Chris Christie something unusual happened. The two large gaming companies, competitors on the Las Vegas Strip, said they’d work together to improve Atlantic City.

Nothing specific was outlined, but observers saw the synergy. But one of the conditions requested by the casino owners was more regulatory relief. They didn’t publicly outline any requests, but Christie was cooperative.

“We’re going to be working with them on additional ways we can bring Atlantic City’s regulations into the 21st century,” Christie said.

MGM fully owns the Borgata, buying out operating partner Boyd Gaming last year. Caesars owns three casinos in Atlantic City, Caesars, Bally’s, and most importantly for this discussion, Harrah’s Resort.

Between the Borgata and Harrah’s Resort are acres of undeveloped land, originally envisioned as a third casino when the property was subdivided by Mirage Resorts (later purchased by MGM) in the early 2000s. Harrah’s recently added 100,000 square feet of convention space that has been very successful. Borgata lacks that kind of meeting space, so a joint venture would make a lot of sense to fill in that land between the two properties.

“We believe very strongly in the future of Atlantic City,” said Murren. “We wouldn’t have invested billions of dollars into that market if we did not. As recently as last year, when we consolidated the ownership of Borgata, we have 6,000 men and women that rely upon Borgata for its employment, and we own a tremendous amount of land on Renaissance Point. People have asked me why did MGM doubly down in Atlantic City at this difficult time, and I’ll tell you the answer to that. We believe in the state. We believed in the Governor’s ability to make tough decisions in order to create and preserve jobs, and we believe in our ability as entertainment companies to drive business. We do not think Atlantic City is but a finite pool, but we do believe it is a important regional destination.”

Frissora, whose company is poised to exit bankruptcy, was equally positive.

“We continue to see a lot of vibrancy in fact there’s not only stability but improvement that we’ve seen in our numbers in Atlantic City, and it’s been one of the biggest reasons, actually it’s helped us improve our operating results over the last couple years,” he pointed out. “We approved them about $780 million but almost, you know, 15 percent of that was due to Atlantic City’s improvement. So we feel really good that this has been a great investment for us, and we continued to look at reinvestment.”

For Christie, who will leave office early in 2018, it’s the culmination of his plan to revive Atlantic City.

“These folks in Atlantic City have come here to say that they are ready now to make further investments in Atlantic City, so if you want a headline, that’s the headline,” he stated. “MGM Resorts and Caesars are now saying that they’re ready to make significant new investments in Atlantic City, and they’re going to have announcements about that in the weeks ahead.”

Sports Report – The Wild B’s Greet Sports Bettors

Posted on March 2, 2017 by -

A rare boxing, basketball and baseball bonanza is about to greet bettors.

Boxing’s Best Lines

Boxing unfurls a high-profile, competitive fight March 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Keith Thurman faces Danny Garcia in a clash of unbeaten welterweight champions. Garcia is 33-0, Thurman 27-0.  Both have decisioned former champion Robert Guerrero. Neither feels like an underdog in this title unification.

Bettors enjoy one of boxing’s best lines, with Thurman roughly a 2-1 favorite. Some sites have Thurman at -180, (9-5) for line-shoppers looking to back him. Garcia is as much as a 5-2 underdog in some places. Thurman has faced slightly better opposition.


Baseball Futures Bets

Major league baseball, meanwhile, entices fans with futures bets. Season win-total props offer daily action without the placement of a daily wager. They also provide an excellent, unofficial chart for season-long gamblers.

Projected win totals for many teams are close to their final number and for some, like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the prediction has been dead-on for three straight years. One can follow teams closely and determine whether they are playing well above or below season-long expectations. This lets bettors anticipate and ride in-season streaks. For daily action, also keep your eyes on overworked bullpens.

Individual props are risky. Giancarlo Stanton was well on his way to paying out a 6-1 premium to hit 50 home runs two years ago. He had 27 of them in 74 games. Then he got hurt—and a looming win was busted.

Some key off-season moves fortified elite teams. The Cleveland Indians obtained Edwin Encarnacion, who slugged 42 homers and drove in career-high 127 runs last year for Toronto. The Boston Red Sox added flamethrower Chris Sale to their rotation, pairing him with David Price and Rick Porcello.

The books don’t believe the rich got much richer. Cleveland, which won 94 games last year, opened at 93 in early lines from William Hill. Boston was at 93, matching last season. The Chicago White Sox, however, saw their over-under drop to 71 after unloading Sale for a harvest of prospects.

The Baltimore Orioles, who opened at 81, are expected to win a whopping eight fewer games than last year. And the Kansas City Royals had a 76 over-under after winning 81 last year.


March Madness Approaches

As for hoops, March Madness begins March 14. The No. 1 seed is 128-0 all time versus the 16th seed. Upsets occur most readily in the 5-12 and 6-11 matchups, where the underdog wins more than one time in three. It is difficult for oddsmakers to hone in on teams that usually haven’t played each other, so early-round opportunities abound.

Find your angle and grab them.