Areas of Expertise
3039 stories by Philip Conneller
US Supreme Court Declines to Squelch Florida Sports Betting
The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday declined to block the $2.5 billion gaming compact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe, owner of the Hard Rock Casino brand. The SCOTUS decision means the tribe is free to launch mobile sports betting throughout the state...
UK Lottery Winner Becomes Pool Champ, Now Plays for England
The first thing UK lottery winner Neil Jones bought after collecting a £2.5 million jackpot in 2010 was a good pool table. Thirteen years later, he’s representing his country in the sport. Jones, a former tiler, will play for England this November...
Marina Bay Sands Roulette Colluders Get Prison in Singapore
A gambler at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison Monday after admitting to conspiring with two dealers to win at roulette, CAN reports. Daniel Koh Tze Zhou pleaded guilty to two counts of violating Singapore’s Casino Control...
Wisconsin’s Alleged ‘Eyedrop Killer’ Stole $300K to Feed Gambling: Prosecutors
The trial of a Wisconsin woman accused of murdering a wealthy family friend with eyedrops got underway in Waukesha County Court Tuesday. Prosecutors believe Jessy Kurczewski, 39, killed Lynn Hernan, 62, by administering a fatal dose of Tetrahydrozoline, the main ingredient in...
Alvin Chau Fails to Get Reduced Prison Sentence, Must Pay Triple Damages
Former Macau gambling kingpin Alvin Chau has seen his sentence for fraud quashed by the enclave’s appeals court, the Court of Second Instance. But the ruling will come as scant consolation to the ex-Suncity boss, as the court also affirmed his 18-year...
Malta Casino Owner Denies Journalist Murder, Points Finger Elsewhere
A Maltese casino owner accused of organizing the 2017 murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has once again denied being the mastermind behind the killing. Instead, lawyers for Yorgen Fenech have raised questions about Keith Schembri, the former Prime Minister’s chief...
Property Developer Lost $900K for Regeneration Project at JACK Cleveland
A Cleveland, Ohio property developer blew $885,000 on craps and blackjack at the JACK Cleveland Casino. But the money wasn’t his. It was supposed to go towards rebuilding a local market in the city’s Greenville district. On Thursday, a jury in the...
Florida ‘Crypto Bro’ Charlatan Gets Five Years for $1M Fraud
A Miami “crypto bro” who claimed to have developed advanced AI trading software that “never lost” has been sentenced to five years in prison for bilking victims out of almost $1 million. Ryan “Brodie” Crawford, 30, told investors he was a highly...
Joran van der Sloot Confesses to Murdering Natalee Holloway
Former poker player Joran van der Sloot has pleaded guilty to the 2005 murder of American Natalee Holloway on the island of Aruba. He also admitted attempting to extort $250K from the victim’s mother. In May, Dutch national van der Sloot was...
UK College Student Bilked Grosvenor Casino Out of $24K, Sentenced
A 22-year-old UK college student who scammed the Grosvenor Casino Birmingham out of £24K (US$29.1K) after memorizing a supervisor’s PIN code was handed a 12-month community service order this week, Birmingham Live reports. Londoner Samuel Bob-Emmanuel was a regular at the casino...