mFortune Online Casino On The Up

mFortune has revealed that it’s total prize payouts for the last 30 days is over £27 million.

The online casino operator, based in the UK, has seen individual payouts reach four-figure sums. Winners included K. Moffitt, who pocketed £8,624 and P. Brown who won £9,660. These are two among many winners at mFortune, whose games are compatible with Android and iOS.

mFortune are enjoying a growing reputation among players of online casino games, a reputation reflected in the casino being shortlisted for Best Mobile Poker, Best Mobile Bingo and Best Online Poker at the EGR Operator awards 2013. They won Best Mobile Poker at the Mobile Gaming awards 2012.

With games designed specifically for mobile devices, it is thought that the rise in people accessing games through their smartphone or tablet has encouraged many to opt for mFortune. The rise in the number of players at the site also indicates a growing enthusiasm for games on mobile devices.

The website hosts games including blackjack, poker, roulette, bingo and slots. Some of these games include additional features, including live chat and loyalty points.
mFortune online casino have been based in the UK since their inception, and are licensed by the Gambling Commission. New players at mFortune are given a £5 free bonus, subject to terms and conditions.

Casino has reported organic growth of +11% internationally for the first quarter of 2014. We look at its performance in Latin American markets.

Brazil powers regional growth

Latin America posted organic growth of +12.3% (ex. fuel and calendar effect), driven by good performance of GPA and dynamic expansion in Brazil. A change in the average exchange rates had a negative effect of -18.4%, caused mainly by the sharp depreciation of the real against the euro since the second half. Same store sales in Latin America were up 7.9%. There was an additional impact from the later Easter, and in Colombia Éxito was affected by the shifting of its anniversary marketing campaign to Q2, from Q1 last year. Same store sales in Brazil, excluding calendar effect, at GPA posted growth of 8.7%, boosted mainly by strong growth at Assaí cash & carry stores. In the first quarter, 11 stores opened, comprised of six Minimercado, three Extra Hyper and two Assaí.

Éxito benefits from expansion

Éxito reported positive organic growth, excluding fuel and calendar effect. The network of affiliated stores grew to 379, six stores were opened and the retailer acquired a shopping mall. Éxito is set to publish Q1 figures on 28 April.

For the wider group performance

To find out how Casino fared in other international markets, and in France in Q1, click here.

For more on Latin America

Download our latest insight presentation: Latin America In Focus: Maximising the opportunity.

Over the weekend, a story about Phil Ivey, the best poker player in the world, made its way around the Internet. He's being sued by the Borgata casino in federal court for cheating at a version of baccarat using a method known as "edge sorting." All told, Ivey took the casino for close to $10 million. Here's how he did it.

This is an old story, surfacing now only because the Borgata finally filed suit. Ivey is actually involved in an almost identical case with the UK-based Crockfords Casino, also from 2012, but in that case, Ivey is suing the Crockfords for about $12 million in winnings, after it returned his original $1 million stake, but refused to pay him his winnings. We'll get to that, but for now, let's focus on how Ivey took down the house.

What is edge sorting?

Simply put, edge sorting is exploiting defects in the ways playing cards are designed and cut. Look at the cards below:

Image from A.P. Heat

The cards are supposed to cut off the pattern so that each edge of the card is identical to its opposite. However, these cards, manufactured by Gemaco, featured a defect that meant if you turned some cards around, and left the others the way they were originally, never shuffling them so that the edges were all mixed up, you could identify flipped cards from non-flipped. This is possible because in casinos, you're generally dealing with pre-shuffled decks, and if a shuffling machine is used, the vertical orientation of the cards will never change. And so, Ivey and his partner asked that the "good" cards for baccarat be flipped.

Here's the scene from Grantland's rundown of Ivey's other edge sorting incident:

The previous night he and his unnamed companion, a Chinese woman from Las Vegas, started with a million-pound stake and played punto banco in a private room until they lost a half million pounds. They asked to raise the stakes, from 50,000 pounds per hand to 150,000. The club agreed. Soon Ivey and company were up almost two million. They agreed to come back and play again the next night only if the club agreed to keep the exact same cards for them to use. "Superstition," the mysterious woman explained. Crockfords agreed.

The next night when Ivey and his friend returned to play, the woman insisted that the dealers turn certain cards 180 degrees before putting them into the shoe to deal. Again, Ivey is superstitious, she explained. He also happened to be a very good tipper. The club again agreed to the unusual request. A few hours later, Ivey and his partner had won more than seven million pounds.
There are a few forces at work here. First, casinos bend over backwards to accommodate peculiar superstitions by big time gamblers—especially at table games in which the house has the edge—and Ivey is one of the biggest gamblers who's going to walk through your doors.

On the other hand, come on, guys. In the Borgata incident, Ivey's partner, identified as Cheng Yin Sun, allegedly requested a Chinese dealer so that she could make her requests in Mandarin. But still, this is a well known method of cheating, and as soon as a player begins making requests like this, a lot of bosses would, without being rude, try to eyeball if they're getting an advantage from something like edge sorting. This apparently never happened, even as Ivey returned multiple times over several months during 2012.

How does this work, and how much of an advantage is this?

There are any number of ways to cheat in any number of games if you can identify a card before it's turned over. For the version of baccarat Ivey was playing, punto banco, you're betting whether the "player" or "banker" hand will get closer to a value of 9. So want to know when a 6, 7, 8, or 9 is coming. If you can know that, you can know how you should play each hand. And because you can bet on either hand that's been dealt, you can get an edge on every single hand, averaging 20.928 percent across all scenarios, as you can see from the following two tables by Eliot Jacobson, who runs A.P. Heat:

From there, you just follow these simple betting rules:

There are a few more intricacies to this, and presumably a lot of game theory on how to bet to avoid detection, since betting optimally in too many cases will be obvious, but these are the fundamentals of what Ivey was up to. For a fuller rundown of edge sorting in baccarat, read the A.P. Heat explainer.

OK, that's a good racket. But is it illegal?

It probably isn't! And remember, Ivey readily admits that he made these plays. But that's also not the point. The Borgata alleges that Ivey's play was against its own rules, by which it agrees to pay and honor bets made. This is a subtle difference, and there doesn't seem to be much precedent for the case. The key difference in this case and Ivey's against the Crockfords is that the Borgata paid Ivey out, and is trying to recoup that money now, while the Crockfords is a more traditional situation, where Ivey was caught while he was playing, and though he was given a receipt for his winnings, he was not paid.

The case against Gemaco, which the Borgata is also suing, is probably a little tighter, since that's just plain negligence. It does speak to the top-level supply chain security protocols generally in place throughout casino business, though, that a single defect from a single company could be noticed by a few players, and then tracked down to a few casinos where the cards were in play.

The lesson, if there is one, seems to be that a sure thing is hard to pass up, even if you're the baddest-ass poker player in the world.

I am very glad that the Spokane County commissioners have hired attorneys to take another look at whether they should OK another Indian casino at Airway Heights. They point out that Fairchild Air Force Base contributes $1.3 billion to the region’s economy each year. How much would another casino bring to the economy?

The casinos do not pay taxes or share their profits with the county. Why should we risk the closure of Fairchild AFB and $1.3 billion a year just to provide a few jobs to the Spokane Tribe? They should find a more suitable place to build their casino that does not threaten Fairchild’s future.

Barbara Green

Triangle released pictures of Im Si Wan getting trained as a casino dealer.

On April 15, MBC’s upcoming drama Triangle released a set of pictures of Im Si Wan, who will be acting as ‘Yoon Yang Ha,’ the adopted son of a rich family who works as a casino employee in order to earn experience in hotel management.

Triangle is a melodrama about three brothers who get separated during childhood after losing their parents and reuniting again through twist of events.

Im Si Wan will be acting as the youngest of the three brothers, who gets adopted into a rich family when he is a baby.

In order to act as ‘Yoon Yang Ha,’ Im Si Wan attended training in Paradise Casino Walkerhill in Kwangjin-gu on March 29.

Im Si Wan said, “I read books about game players and their analysis on the probability of winning a game before. It was my first time trying the games I learned today and I had so many questions. I heard real dealers get trained for 6 months before they start working but I’ve been taking a crash course.”

He also added, “I never let go of the casino chips from my hands. I’ve been practicing on my own by watching videos about handling chips in professional ways.”

Meanwhile, Triangle is set to air on May 5.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Casinos, Inc. (NASDAQ Capital Market® and Vienna Stock Exchange: CNTY) today announced that its 66%-owned subsidiary Casinos Poland Ltd. successfully launched a casino in Poznan, Poland, on Saturday, April 12.
Century Casinos is currently operating nine casinos under the Casinos Poland brand in most major cities all over Poland. Casinos Poland now relocated its casino license in Poznan from an unfavorable location to the four stars hotel "Andersia", one of the best hotels in town.
During Saturday's opening party, guests were served local gastronomic specialties and entertained with live music. The opening celebrations were part of a "Fashion TV" fashion show and parade to be broadcasted all over Europe soon. The casino is currently offering nine gaming tables and about 50 "ticket in – ticket out" slot machines.
About Century Casinos, Inc.:
Century Casinos, Inc. is an international casino entertainment company that owns and operates Century Casino & Hotels in Cripple Creek and Central City, Colorado, and in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and the Century Casino in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Company also operates casinos aboard twelve luxury cruise vessels (Regatta, Nautica, Marina, Riviera, Mein Schiff 1, Mein Schiff 2, Wind Surf, Wind Star, Wind Spirit, Seven Seas Voyager, Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Navigator). Through its Austrian subsidiary, Century Casinos Europe GmbH, the Company holds a 66.6% ownership interest in Casinos Poland Ltd., the owner and operator of nine casinos in Poland. The Company also manages the operations of the casino at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa in Aruba, Caribbean. The Company is currently developing a project in the north metropolitan area of Calgary, Alberta, Canada that will include a horse race track and other gaming, restaurant and entertainment facilities. Century Casinos, Inc. continues to pursue other international projects in various stages of development.
For more information about Century Casinos, visit our website at www.centurycasinos.com. Century Casinos' common stock trades on The NASDAQ Capital Market® and the Vienna Stock Exchange under the symbol CNTY.
This release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Security Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of the management of Century Casinos based on information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future results of operations (including results for Casinos Poland, Ltd.), operating efficiencies, synergies and operational performance, development of and the prospects for the REC project, debt repayment and plans for our casinos and our Company. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, among others, the risks described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" under Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. Century Casinos disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by it or on its behalf.
SOURCE Century Casinos, Inc.