I don't get any tickets to take to any kiosk, I just get chips that I take to the cage.
Quote: SOOPOOMDawg is here to tell me about high stakes gambling, Rolexes, luxury comps, etc….
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Actually there is something interesting going on in the world of luxury goods.
Rolex Authorized Dealers (ADs) are starting to have at least some lower end models (such as Explorers and Datejusts) available just for purchase for anyone who walks into the store. The years long "waiting for the call" is starting to become "I got it in stock, here and now" which is the way it was for most Rolex watches, pre-pandemic.
Auto dealers are giving up on dealer mark up for many cars, even some high demand ones. If you play your cards right, you will not have to pay over MSRP right now for any brand new car, and might even get below. This is representative of the over all car market, new and used, that prices are settling to more normal levels.
MDawg vs. the casinos!
Quote: MDawgI'm negotiating some terms that might make it hard to decline returning for at least another challenger champion bout. Just got the call this morning that my offer terms had gotten greenlighted as far as senior VP so far. It's just more of the same, but slightly different.
MDawg vs. the casinos!
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Thank god. I need you to post that kind of stuff rather than DarkOz squabbling.
What is a ‘challenger champion bout’?
The issue was that Schwarzenegger was bringing the watch to Austria to auction it which I suppose is the same as importing the watch for sale, so he was obligated to pay duty on it.
When you travel with a high end watch and leave the U.S. you ask customs to note your watch(es) upon leaving the country, such as in your passport or on a form, so that upon return the same watches are noted, if they are noticed at all. Nowadays of course, with all the watch robberies in for example Europe, you don't even want to travel with any expensive timepiece.
He hit three monster bets — and then the sportsbook wouldn’t pay
That "fine print" caveat nearly cost Christopher Kozak $127,420 recently, after Hard Rock Bet voided three successful long-shot hockey wagers - involving bets on a host of NHL players being held scoreless in the same game - that he placed in Tennessee. The sportsbook, operated by the Seminole Tribe, notified him several days after the games in question that his payouts were an “obvious error,” and therefore he wasn’t owed anything beyond a refund.
When he pushed back, Hard Rock sought to renegotiate the odds - “a slap in the face,” said Kozak, who shared screenshots of his bets, as well as his extensive correspondence with Hard Rock, with The Washington Post. The messages show company officials repeatedly declining to explain the nature of the “error” or what made it “obvious.”
The company declined to answer questions from The Post. Then, last week - nearly two months after voiding Kozak’s bets and following questions from a reporter - it agreed to pay him in full. He had recently brought his complaint to the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, though a company spokesperson said Hard Rock hadn’t been ordered to pay up.
I actually heard anecdotally from someone who won 22 bets in a row at Baccarat at one of the majors on the Strip (not on a run either, seemingly random bets). Player told me was paid (no problem cashing the chips), but later got a lot of flack from the casino about how it was "impossible" that could have won fairly.
If he would have lost all 10 parlays, do you think Hard Rock would be trying to refund them? I think not.
As the gambler himself said, this is what he does for ALL bets. He tries to determine when, essentially, the bet is +EV. This was just one example.
Lot of changes in Tahoe:
Montbleau (formerly Caesars Tahoe) became Bally’s (owned by Edgewood Companies) in 2021, and the Hard Rock that closed in 2023, recently became a Golden Nugget (Fertitta Entertainment).
The old Lakeside was gutted in late 2022, and is supposed to become a hospital.
And you thought keeping track of who owns Caesars and what happened to Harrah’s Entertainment was hard. Which actually – it is!
What’s interesting to me is that Caesars Tahoe was sold to Columbia Sussex in 2005, and became Montbleau to overcome regulatory issues when Harrah’s acquired Caesars – so that Harrah’s wouldn’t lock up three properties (along with Harrah’s Tahoe and Harvey’s) in Stateline. In 2018, Eldorado Resorts bought Montbleau (along with the Tropicana). And then in 2020, Eldorado acquired Caesars Entertainment but renamed itself Caesars Entertainment the same way that Harrah’s changed its name to Caesars after buying Caesars Ent in 2005, and assuming its name in 2010. And when Eldorado acquired Caesars, they too had to sell off the former’s Caesars Tahoe / Montbleau property (which became Bally's now owned by Edgewood Corp) so as not to lock up three Tahoe properties. You practically need a flowchart to follow the action and understand the anti-monopoly gaming measures.
Speaking of the Hard Rock, when Harvey’s was an independent entity and well before it was acquired by Harrah’s Ent., Harvey’s bankrolled the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas. Peter Morton eventually bought out Harvey’s interest. In 2006, Morton sold the Hard Rock Vegas, and in 2015, the Hard Rock Tahoe was opened. Up until that time, Harvey’s operated a section of their casino as a sort of branded “Hard Rock casino” with the purple felt tables and its own Hard Rock Café, but after Tahoe got its own Hard Rock, that section of Harvey’s was closed down along with the café, and remained barren for years.
I'll report on some of the changes inside the Tahoe casino resorts themselves over the next days.
Caesars Tahoe / Montbleau = now, Bally's.
Golden Nugget Tahoe doesn't have permanent signage yet.
If you've followed Tahoe news, you know about how visitors especially since the Pandemic have been leaving mounds of trash and even defecating openly on trails.
Lake Tahoe residents fed up with influx of visitors amid pandemic
Tahoe is being trashed as tourists visit during the pandemic and residents say they're going to do something about it.
8,500 pounds of trash removed from Lake Tahoe beaches after Fourth of July festivities
And Tahoe is definitely being developed.
Harvey's (open since 1944) hotel rooms were remodeled completely after the pandemic, and are quite nice. However, within the hotel there is no longer any traditional room service (just order via website, for delivery in paper bags), and inside the rooms even the suites there aren't any glasses even (just paper cups, which is quite telling). What hotel has only paper cups in the rooms?
Housekeeping is by request only. Actually that is the way they do it at Caesars Vegas too in that it is optional, but at least in Vegas they ask you at check in if you want daily housekeeping. In Tahoe, the default is none.
This is the lobby, there used to be a huge clear plastic chandelier here:
Main casino table games:
This is the old high limit area
high limit play is confined to the Harrah's side now. There used to be a grand Baccarat table at Harvey's high limit - no longer. There is just a single midi Bacc table now, in Harrah's high limit.
Harvey's Sports Book pretty empty on a weekday:
Hell's Kitchen took over the casino level Sage Room
but the Sage Room remains, on the 19th floor, where Llewellyn's used to be
This is where the old purple tables used to be, the Hard Rock within Harvey's. Just empty, with slot machines now.
The old Hard Rock cafe shuttered
Poker room, empty on a weekday
Ballrooms floor
Fitness center and spa - open to 10pm on Harvey's side, 24 hours on Harrah's side.
Arcade under the casino (lobby level) remains
The classic old elevators to the old Mountain tower remain too
The lake remains as beautiful as ever though.
Quote: MDawgHousekeeping is by request only. Actually that is the way they do it at Caesars Vegas too in that it is optional, but at least in Vegas they ask you at check in if you want daily housekeeping. In Tahoe, the default is none.
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Not only is the default none, but unless you are staying at least a week, housekeeping doesn't even want to visit the room except to drop off towels or other amenities on request. Sure, you could pull the Seven Stars card and call VIP, but in general they just don't want to even enter the room during most stays apparently. At least at Caesars Vegas they will provide full housekeeping anytime upon request.
The south shore skiing isn't bad, but isn't great either. I have been sticking to the intermediate runs because most of the advanced runs have rocks on them and uncovered areas.
But on the plus side the runs are not crowded and there is no wait at all on most lifts.
But looking back at some of the Adventures of MDawg session reports from a few years or more ago, I'd pull something like $8000., $10000., maybe $20000, markers and by the end of the session be happy with winning several grand or whatever.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/betting-systems/33908-the-adventures-of-mdawg/23/#post759552
Fast forward to 2022, and I was pulling no marker smaller than about $50,000. at a time, and considering a session win of less than say, $20,000. - nowhere. True, some sessions I'd walk about even after coming back from in the hole, but over all, I wasn't interested in any small to medium play.
So it can get progressively heavier without even intending for it to go that way. A few big wins may make you want to always win big. All it takes is an edge, a large bankroll, and the willingness.
While not as multi-dimensional as Elvis (2022), Priscilla is not a bad movie.
When we started watching it my wife immediately declared, this is going to be about Priscilla, not Elvis!
Being more of a Beatles person than an Elvis person, I don't know much about Elvis anyway.
Quote: ChumpChangeThey have to report the full amount of their winnings and no deduction is allowed for tips. (A professional gambler might be able to deduct tips as a gambling-related expense, depending on his or her particular situation.) - Jan 14, 2020
It's hard to find much about this topic anywhere. Small time poker players give a tip on winning hands but never keep track of how much they tip all night so it just comes out in their color up amount. Somebody wins a large jackpot and tips $14K and suddenly there's a gift tax and estimated tax on the balance?
With MDawg's closed loop of private tables, they can easily calculate how much went into the tip box and add that back to his win column at the pit kiosk. If he's a professional gambler, which MDawg may not be, he may have had to ask them not to add those tips back on as winnings at the kiosk.
But yeah, if you're giving away $18K of tips to one casino this year, you might be subject to a gift tax, idk.
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You mean it is hard to find information about this from free sources on the internet. A fifteen-minute conversation with an accountant who specializes in gaming would clear all of it up for you, but he'd want to get paid.
Unsealed court records revealed that Sibella admitted that year he knew Nix was involved in illegal bookmaking but "didn't want to know because of my position. If we know, we can't allow them to gamble. I didn't ask, I didn't want to know I guess because he wasn't doing anything to cheat the casino."
See also
Casino Anti Money Laundering and Compliance
(Versus AxelWolf’s “free wheeling Marx Brothers approach to how casinos work even though I have no personal experience with casino cage table game pit winnings checks.”)
Trump shouldn't even be allowed in his own casinos if he has any left.
Nix was in the casino gambling from 2017-2019 and was arrested for 2022 charges, so how does that revert back to the casino president of 2017-2019? It doesn't make sense, unless there were previous convictions or charges prior to 2017 not listed in the article.
For the most part, the names of the current and former professional athletes who used Nix's network to place illegal sports bets have remained concealed in court records.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12833893/Michael-Jordan-Wayne-Nix-illegal-gambling-betting.html
Nix pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiring to run an illegal gambling operation and failing to report $1.4 million in income in 2017 and 2018.
He has agreed to pay back taxes and interest of $1.25 million and forfeit $1.3 million seized from bank accounts and faces up to eight years in prison.
Nix’s longtime partner in the gambling operation, 45-year-old Edon Yoshida Kagasoff, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business.
Kagasoff, whom prosecutors say acted as an enforcer and collected gambling debts for Nix, was sentenced on July 5 to six months of probation, fined $1,000, and ordered to forfeit $3,164,563 in ill-gotten gains.
However, Nix's sentencing hearing, originally scheduled for last July, has repeatedly been delayed, and is currently scheduled for March 6, 2024.
Since he entered a plea, many documents related to his case have been filed under seal, which among other things could mean they pertain to an ongoing investigation.
The kingpin of an illegal sportsbook that catered to professional athletes cultivated a network of A-list contacts whose names have emerged in court filings and media reports, drawing scrutiny to the unusual case.
Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player who prosecutors say ran an illegal sports betting ring for 20 years, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal tax and gambling charges last year.
Quote: ChumpChangeC'mon, do the casinos run criminal background checks on everybody who walks in? I thought they just wanted our ID for mailers.
Trump shouldn't even be allowed in his own casinos if he has any left.
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I'm going to call that political speech and a 3 day timeout.
(I'm not seeing the KYC commentary as off topic, as the door already seemed open.)
I just completed almost a full year (over 11 months) no red meat - only poultry and seafood as far as "animal flesh."
Each year I run about 14 different blood / urine tests. Once in a blue moon, 4 additional. My doctor keeps saying "you don't need to do all that," but I insist, and I do them anyway. One needle stick anyway, just takes a bit more time to draw more tubes.
I didn't see any change in anything between a year ago's results, and this year's.
Where I expected to see change were in the
Lipid Panel w/ Chol/HDL Ratio
Lipid Panel w/ non-HDL
but really - no difference to speak of. For example triglycerides about 60 a year ago, about 50 this year both tests (range 0 - 149). Cholesterol (total) about the same, and T. Chol/HDL Ratio still about 3.
Now, it could simply be that seafood like lobster and shrimp are just as high in cholesterol as red meat, but at this point I'm not willing to give those up, given that my levels are very good, just wanted to know if they would change when mammal flesh was removed from the equation. They really didn't.
As far as - do I feel better not eating red meat. Well, let's just say that I feel better "about" not eating red meat because I assume red meat is not as healthful as fish and poultry. And we do eat a lot of fish.
BTW the most important number for purposes of life insurance is that T. Chol/HDL Ratio - as long as it is 4 or lower, you get top tier lowest rates.
And also BTW, one way to lower your cholesterol and especially triglycerides "naturally" is by taking Niacin (not niacinamide, niacin). If you take the prescription medium speed time release variety (Niaspan https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9751239/ ) it flushes out over time, and doesn't give you that excessive burning flush. That's another thing my doctor said "you don't need" but I still got the croaker to write the script.
That's a good lawsuit. Definitely some emotional trauma there, and being placed in harm's way with the cold and lack of water.
Cell phones are so ubiquitous these days though, and she didn't have one with her.
The problem stems from that with the weak snow coverage so far this year in Tahoe,
Quote: MDawgThe south shore skiing isn't bad, but isn't great either. I have been sticking to the intermediate runs because most of the advanced runs have rocks on them and uncovered areas.
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so many people are coming down the Gondola versus trying to ski all the way down the Nevada side.
When there is good snow, I'll ski down anything including the California Gunbarrel. But so far this season, the only decent snow is at the higher elevations and even there it may be spotty and must be mostly man made.
It's like a rudimentary Westlaw or LexisNexis that allows searches for case law. I've so far used it just for statutes, and it works all right. It does allow a simple Shepardizing (finding out how the case has been treated and cited).
By the way as far as ChatGPT it definitely has been reprogrammed from the way it worked over a year ago, to be more mealy mouthed and resistant to pulling outside sources. I have tried asking identical questions that I posed a year or more ago and the answers nowadays tend more towards "you should consult with an attorney" versus giving any sort of useful response. Also, a year or two ago I gave it the Adventures of MDawg URLs and asked it "Does MDawg win?" 😂 and it gave an intelligent answer as to yes he does, and why, but now ask the question and all it does is say that it cannot cull outside sources.
I even asked it why it has become so mealy mouthed and it got defensive, claimed its programming has not been changed. But it has. Which is part of why I rarely use ChatGPT, it rarely tells me anything I don't already know, and tends to just say "consult with an expert" on serious matters.
He Ran a Vegas Empire worth BILLIONS. He now faces 5 years in JAIL. Scott Sibella. The REAL Story
Not Leaving Las Vegas - a Vegas Video Channel
70.2K subscribers
But still decent.
Tahoe - snow.
Quote: foseanusa25
Hello spam bot
Quote: foseanusa25
Banned for not having a soul.
FYI, I'm glad we're getting some rain here and snow up there. We're still way behind in reaching the April 1 normal snow pack level: https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action
At Harrah’s one thing that has changed is that Friday’s Station moved from the lower floor around the casino to occupy the 18th floor. They tried to maintain the Summit on the 16th floor but that failed. The 16th floor at Harrah’s still has their best suites but again - haven’t been touched in years.
But it didn't keep me off the slopes!
Quote: BigCatAnd how is the casino and gaming industry doing this year?
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It's presumably doing a lot better since I'm not playing.
Quote: BigCatHello MDawg!
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Which has more of a soul...the Big Electric Cat, or this BigCat?
I feel like MDawg is a strictly snowboard guy instead of skis.Quote: MDawgIt definitely was a bit of a snow dump in Tahoe over the weekend. Visibility isn't the greatest while it snows.
But it didn't keep me off the slopes!
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I did get over the "catching an edge" smack your face in the snow with snowboards, that wasn't the issue. Once I was told not to do that, I didn't!
This was the first duck I've baked up here at this house, and it isn't apparently all that easy to find fresh duck in Tahoe.
I did remember to take a pic of MY duck.
and over all, the freshness of this duck versus what must have been defrosted frozen duck at the Sage Room, carried the day, although - that smoked flavor of at least the confit leg, pretty freakin' good such that my wife was pausing when I asked her which duck is better.
Have a supply of duck fat now too.
We're in Tahoe, so we'd have to cut this trip short to go anyway, but, given that two years ago we were in a SoFi suite at the Super Bowl courtesy of a casino, I can see why she's wondering. Actually, it simply has to do with that...I never even asked. A couple of the hosts were emailing me starting at the very end of July asking if we wanted to go, but I didn't even bother to respond as I assumed they were just talking about the usual casino ballroom affair.
Shows you how much of a football fan I am that I wasn't even thinking about where the Super Bowl is being held until very recently.
F1 in Vegas, yes, I knew. Super Bowl, had no idea.
Tennis, Golf, even Baseball, I might know what is happening where. Football, nah.
I think if the 49'ers hadn't had that 10 yard penalty during overtime they would have made a touchdown too.
49ers’ bizarre OT coin flip decision comes back to bite them in Super Bowl 2024
I heard what the ref said about "both teams will have an opportunity to possess" and realized that Sudden Death wasn't in play, but still it seemed odd especially in that the referee himself got it wrong at first when he said "both teams will have an opportunity to score." Also that comment about "unless the first team is as a defensive score," obviously some of the players didn't know what exactly that meant (neither did I).
Quote: MDawg49ers players say they didn't know Super Bowl overtime rules
49ers’ bizarre OT coin flip decision comes back to bite them in Super Bowl 2024
I heard what the ref said about "both teams will have an opportunity to possess" and realized that Sudden Death wasn't in play, but still it seemed odd especially in that the referee himself got it wrong at first when he said "both teams will have an opportunity to score." Also that comment about "unless the first team is as a defensive score," obviously some of the players didn't know what exactly that meant (neither did I).
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He did not get it wrong when he said both teams will have an opportunity to score. He got it right.
The fact that the players could not figure out if the first score is a defensive score (a safety or pick 6 or fumble returned for TD) that the game is over is just indicative of the generally low intellect of many football players.
In any case, if some members of the '49ers didn't realize that they were not playing sudden death, they might have been not pushing as hard as they got closer to the end zone, and were assuming that even a field goal will end it.
And what about the '49ers coach, why did he direct his team to pick offense after winning the overtime coin toss? It does seem to make sense that the greater advantage would be to let the other team try and then know exactly what is needed to win or at least keep the game going. The only advantages I can perceive to going first are being less tired, and also the element of panic that would be instilled in the other team if they scored a touchdown.