Faces of Gaming: Darren Elias, BetMGM Poker Ambassador – The “End Boss” of poker, record-holding champion and family man

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Sunday, June 14, 2026

Weekend Report Feature

Darren Elias began playing online poker in college and became the number-one-ranked online player. In 20 years of professional poker, he won an estimated $20 million dollars and is recognized in the poker world as a consummate competitor and professional.

His nickname, “The End Boss,” reflects the respect many poker professionals have for his ability to dominate late stages of major tournaments.

He powered through online poker in the 2000s to become the number-one-ranked online player in 2009. Pivoting to live tournaments, Elias holds the record for four World Poker Tour titles – the most in history. All before his 40^th birthday.

Continue Reading: Tom Osiecki — CDC Gaming and Raving Partner

SBC Americas: Operators can grow by making online, brick-and-mortar options equally accessible, attractive

Leo Perri, CEO of Delta Bingo and Gaming, admits bingo is traditionally a social game that people play with friends. During the session “Designing the Future of Play: Creativity Meets Casino” at SBC Americas in Fort Lauderdale, Perri said there are ways to recreate bingo’s social aspect. “We have an online chat where players interact with each other,” said Perri during the session. “It’s obviously different from your land-based center, but we also look to mimic a lot of the games we do in the center.”

Read more: Rege Behe, CDC Gaming

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Lisa Vanderpump says she couldn’t say no to another opportunity with Caesars in Las Vegas

The Barbary Coast had a nearly three-decade run at the northeast corner of Flamingo Road and the Strip — a focal point in the resort corridor, sitting quietly since the 1990s as it was dwarfed by megaresorts such as Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Horseshoe Las Vegas. Built and opened by Michael Gaughan, he never took the small hotel-casino above eight floors as other Strip properties expanded. Caesars Entertainment — then known as Harrah’s Entertainment — took it over in 2007 in a Strip land swap with Boyd Gaming, three years after Gaughan’s Coast Casinos was merged into Boyd.

Why Queens’s Chuck Park is running a campaign for Congress on a platform of federal regulation of gambling

Tired of ubiquitous ads for casinos and sports betting? New York congressional candidate Chuck Park has the solution for you: a complete ban. He equates gambling with tobacco and alcohol, as addictive substances that need federal regulation. “Tobacco used to be on TV all the time, on billboards, in commercials. I’m old enough to remember that too,” says the youthful-looking Park, who’s in his early 40s. “I’m actually older than I might seem.” But those tobacco ads aren’t around in that form anymore, and Park says, “We can do the same with gambling.”

Read more: David McKee, Casino Reports

Passion, goose bumps and bets as World Cup soccer hits Atlantic City casinos

Passion. Goose bumps. Brightly colored jerseys from around the world. National pride. All those things were on display Thursday in the city’s casinos as the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer championship tournament kicked off and fans declared their loyalty, often backing it up with a bet or two. Alex Louis, a Haitian-American who lives in Atlantic City, had just started to explain the emotional appeal of World Cup soccer when Mexico scored the tournament’s first goal on a giant screen in the sportsbook at Ocean Casino Resort. “See?” he asked. “It’s that excitement! It’s exciting.”

Sorsby injunction: A jump-the-shark moment for college sports?

The ruling on Monday that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby can play NCAA football despite having bet on his own team is a sports law earthquake. It’s occurring at the intersection of a modern double whammy: one involving dozens of ineligible college athletes suing to extend their NCAA eligibility to profit from lucrative NIL and revenue-share opportunities, and the other in which athletes in several sports have been suspended and even banned for sports betting. No recent college eligibility case has been quite like Sorsby’s, who the NCAA ruled was permanently ineligible due to his gambling history before a judge stepped in.

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How accurate is AGA’s projection of tax dollars lost to prediction markets?

Big, bold numbers command attention. Dr. Evil understood this (even if he was a bit disoriented at first and out of step with inflation when first unfrozen in the 1990s). And the American Gaming Association (AGA) understands this. That’s part of why AGA President and CEO Bill Miller appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box when he did a little under two weeks ago, on the occasion of the AGA’s running counter of “State Gaming Tax Dollars Lost Since Prediction Markets Began Offering Sports Event Contracts” crossing…(cue Dr. Evil voice)…$1 billion.