Gambling, soliciting prostitutes, ripping down a ladies‘ charity and leaking painful and sensitive company information, it’s all just a later date in the office, apparently, for the former president of America’s milk-processing companies that are biggest.
William ‚Billy‘ Walters leaves a Manhattan court that is federal. He is alleged to own made $43 million in unlawful stock trades on Dallas-based Dean Foods. He is pleading not guilty.
Tom Davis, the former chairman of Dean Foods, of Dallas, continued his testimony in the trial of his one-time buddy, the gambler that is legendary Walters, on Wednesday. Walters is accused of making $43 million from illegal trades on Dean Foods‘ stock, making use of information that is privileged furnished by Walters.
Due to the fact star witness for the prosecution, Davis was expected by United States Assistant Attorney Brooke Cucinella to reveal any unsavory facts about his history which will later surface over the course associated with the test. This is standard training, as it’s preferable that such info is presented to the court at the start rather than being wheedled out of the witness later by way of a protection attorney.
And, boy, did Davis deliver!
$200,000 On One Hand of Blackjack
The court had heard the day that is previous the nature of Davis‘ relationship with Walters changed after the latter loaned him around $1 million. After Davis became indebted to him, Walters‘ obtain information became ‚more demanding.‘
On Wednesday Davis explained that also after borrowing the money, his failed numerous investments and gambling practices forced him to embezzle $100,000 from a tennis charity for battered women. Davis eventually paid the amount of money back, but later took another $50,000 which he spent on ‚gambling and hookers.‘
Davis stated that he initially received $625,000 from Walters but he blew it quickly, losing $200,000 alone on one hand of blackjack in 2011 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. He then asked Walters for another loan of $400,000 which he said was to help refinance a bank in Dallas.
Davis Lying, States Walters Attorney
‚I made an extremely bad decision at that period of amount of time in my life,‘ admitted Davis, in what Bloomberg described this week as ‚his gravelly Texas drawl.‘
‚I’d developed a strong friendship with Mr. Walters,‘ Davis stated. ‚I knew who Billy Walters was… he ended up being a fairly famous gambler. He had a complete large amount of connections in Las Vegas. He had been a big activities gambler. I was frankly enamored with him.‘
Barry Berke, Walters‘ attorney called Davis ‚a liar‘ who ‚wrongfully implicated Walters only after he got caught stealing from a charity and cheating on his taxes.‘
‚Our company is going to prove through incontrovertible evidence that he’s lying about every single allegation of his entire tale,‘ Berke said.
Davis is testifying against their previous friend as part of a plea bargain with federal prosecutors after admitting costs including securities fraud and cable fraudulence myfreepokies.com.
Michigan On The Web Gambling Supporters ‚Cautiously Optimistic‘
Michigan online gambling advocates say they’re encouraged by the recent help that’s been generated for the latest internet casino bill introduced in Lansing.
State Sen. Mike Kowall is once again cheerful about his Michigan online gambling bill’s opportunities, but native groups that are american opposed. (Image: MI Senate GOP)
State Senate Majority Leader Mike Kowall (R-District 15) introduced SB 203 earlier this month. In the event that legislation becomes law, commercial casinos and federally recognized tribes will be allowed to obtain online gaming licenses to offer interactive poker rooms and gambling that is internet.
It’s perhaps not the first time Kowall has tried to push through a bill that could end online gambling prohibition in the Wolverine State. But this time around, there appears to be more support.
Talking with WZZM 13, the ABC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Kowall stated he’s ‚cautiously positive‘ on SB 203. ‚The number one issue is to be sure online gaming is safe while bringing in some income to the state during the same time,‘ he explained.
Tribes Opposed
Land-based gambling in Michigan is presently reserved to Native American groups which are permitted to offer games of possibility on their reservations that are sovereign. The exception is Detroit, where in fact the authorization of three commercial gambling venues had been approved throughout a voter referendum in 1996.
Three years later on, the 3 casinos in Motor City started for business. Indigenous American teams were none too happy during the time, as well as the potential expansion of online gambling is now seen by Indian leaders as more legislation that fails to respect tribal sovereignty.
In a joint letter from the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi and Saginaw Chippewa Indians, the tribes tell the Michigan Senate Regulatory Committee that they are allowed under federal law to commence internet gambling.
‚ The legislation requires unconditional and unwarranted waivers of sovereign immunity,‘ the page states. ‚By failing to notice that Indian tribes are currently authorized to conduct on reservations internet gaming under both the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the illegal Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the legislation would curtail these lawful aspects of Indian tribal video gaming.‘
Where There Is Cash, There’s Help
The tribe’s opposition is because of their belief they would be unfairly tariffed if they decided to go ahead with on line gambling. Both Native American groups state from doing so if they want to offer interactive gaming to persons on their sovereign lands, there’s no barrier currently preventing them.
But if passed and signed into law, Kowall’s bill would require maybe not only the commercial operators in Detroit, but in addition the tribes, to pay $100,000 per year should they wish to launch on line gambling. Ten percent of these gross revenues would also be directed to your state’s coffers.
Michigan, like so governments that are many the country, continues to find new revenue channels as tax payments remain at lower levels than before the Great Recession hit in 2008.
It’s difficult to identify simply how much the Michigan online gambling bill might experience for their state, as it’s unclear how casinos that are many tribes would bite. However, some forecasts demand as much as $30 million an once the market reaches maturity year.
Amaya Reports Record Revenue in Q4 But Profits Fall Slightly Short
PokerStars parent Amaya has reported record profits in Q4 and across 2016, citing ‚proactive changes‘ to the online poker ecosystem, also better-than-expected growth of its casino operations.
Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi said that record profits were down up to a controversial but policy that is successful of PokerStars‘ ‚ecology‘ in addition to better-than-expected recreations book and casino results. (Image: Amaya)
The company that is canadian, year-over-year, revenues rose 5.9 per cent in Q4, to $310 million, and 7.8 percent for your of 2016, to $1.15 billion.
Nonetheless, profit in the fourth quarter was 53 cents a share, which missed the typical projection of 56 cents.
PokerStars‘ changes to its ecosystem, initiated in late 2015, caused sit-out protests by some players at the time, mainly its high amount, high stakes players, who were, by definition, its best customers.
Rebalancing the Poker Ecosystem
But Amaya wanted to tip the scales in support of leisure players, or web depositors, who had been scared away in recent years by a widening ability gap as well as the increasing usage of poker tracking software by multi-tabling, net-withdrawing professionals.
It tweaked its player rewards scheme and introduced a number of recreational-friendly ‚jackpot‘ design games, which were designed to level the playing field by increasing the luck factor. To the horror of pros, it appears to have worked.
Even so, Amaya is wary of relying completely on poker because the appetite for the overall game continues to wane globally.
‚[Changes to poker] and customer acquisition initiatives carry on to reverse certain negative trends so we are starting to see organic growth in that company, our casino providing exceeded objectives we continued to build and develop our sportsbook,‘ said Rafi Ashkenazi, Amaya CEO as we introduced limited marketing campaigns and focused on our cross-sell efforts, and.
Product Diversification
Poker accounted for 70 percent of revenue in Q4 compared with 78 % in the quarter that is previous while the share of online casino and sports guide rose to 25.8 % from 17.2 per cent, respectively.
Last year was a turbulent one for Amaya. It saw its founder and shareholder that is major David Baazov, resign as president and CEO, in the face of serious insider trading fees, while a proposed merger with William Hill had been derailed by way of a William Hill shareholder revolt.
Nevertheless, Amaya is reducing your debt it accumulated in its $4.9 billion takeover of PokerStars, which means increased revenues will soon begin to translate into bigger profits.
‚ The strong performance of our business has aided us to reduce our currency risk, lower our interest expense, and accelerate the payment of the residual amounts owed on our deferred re payment responsibility, all of which will allow us to continue pursuing our four strategic priorities,‘ said Ashkenazi. ‚We expect you’ll continue our 2016 momentum and execute on our strategy in 2017.‘
Georgia Casino Bill Resuscitated But Prognosis Maybe Not Good
Supporters of casino gaming in Georgia have new, albeit slim, hope. Hawaii’s Destination Resort Bill, which died in the Senate last thirty days, has resurfaced in the House with a few tweaks and a new sponsor.
State Representative Ron Stephens hopes to breathe life that is new the push to bring casino gaming to Georgia. (Image: yogonet.com)
Representative Ron Stephens (R -Savannah) presented an updated form of the bill to your House Regulated Industries Committee on Thursday. He hopes that by proposing four licenses rather than two, the legislation will gain more statewide support by enabling more communities to profit.
Double the Fun
The previous bill proposed a casino for the Metro Atlanta area and another for a smaller city, such as for instance Savannah or Columbus, thus alienating most of the state from involvement.
‚[With the previous bill], we’ve eliminated the chance for certain places around the state to even be the main game, in the event that you will. No pun intended,‘ Stephens told committee members.
‚We really want for the high-end investment for tourism,‘ he included.
There clearly was a sense that when Atlanta is to compete nationally within the convention company it needs a far more entertainment that is compelling in the downtown area. a recent survey revealed that 22 percent of Atlanta convention site visitors said they would not keep coming back to the town because of not enough evening activity.
Under the terms for the bill, the Atlanta resort would need a good investment of at minimum $2 billion from the successful bidder, with the second largest casino needing at the least $450 million. Two smaller, ‚tertiary‘ properties would also be permitted with an investment that is minimum of150 million each.
Dissenting Sounds
But to opponents of casino video gaming, the doubling of licenses will simply make the proposition doubly unappealing, and there are many dissenting sounds in the state, particularity from church groups.
‚Casinos really are a loss that is net the state,‘ claimed Dave Baker, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition of Georgia. ‚ They bring addiction, bankruptcy and crime. That includes human trafficking. And we work to fight so many of these things in a lot of other bills to bring casinos to hawaii is just going completely in the wrong direction.‘
The version that is previous of bill, sponsored by Senator Brandon Reach, failed also making it out of a Senate committee, following a committee hearing on the bill had been canceled due to lack of interest. Its reemergence into the homely house suggests that its sponsors at least believes it offers a better possibility there.
Stephens, certainly, is positive, it will take some political maneuvering to make it work although he concedes.