Автор: genom

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cummins Allison, the leading innovator and provider of currency, cheque and coin handling solutions, today introduced the JetScan iFX® i100 and i200 ticket processing solution. The compact desktop devices scan and image casino tickets and currency at an industry-leading speed of 1,200 items per minute – eliminating the need to copy and store physical tickets.

JetScan iFX i100/i200 provides gaming organizations with additional cost saving benefits, including eliminating the need to presort tickets and cash prior to processing. Gaming organizations currently photocopying or microfilming tickets can experience significant time savings with this groundbreaking technology – ticket images are scanned and digitally stored on a host. Customers can choose to send the images to their own systems or use Cummins Allison’s Image Management Software, which allows tickets to be stored in a central database and later researched, sorted or reviewed without affecting legacy software.

The i100 also comes standard with a currency scanning and counting feature at rate of 1,200 notes per minute. It is the only machine that can process tickets, currency and cheques on a single device, saving employee time and processing fees as well as equipment and service costs.

The i200 counts, sorts and captures mixed tickets and currency at 1,200 items per minute into two fully-functioning pockets. Tickets can be sorted into one pocket while currency is sorted into another for faster, more complete processing.

Cummins Allison Canadian managing director, Harry Patrinos, said, “The JetScan iFX i100 and i200 are part of Cummins Allison’s revolutionary JetScan iFX document imaging platform, which features advanced ticket, currency and cheque processing capabilities. This new technology paves the way for the ultimate in ticket processing. With a single machine that images and processes tickets, currency and cheques gaming operations can streamline functions and reduce processing costs, providing new ways of improving the bottom line.”

EL CAJON, Calif. - A world-famous gambler and poker player accused of marking cards at a Barona Casino blackjack table must stand trial on charges of burglary, winning by fraudulent means and cheating, a judge ruled Thursday.

Anargyros Karabourniotis, also known as "Archie Karas," faces three years in prison if convicted.

He was arrested last September at his Las Vegas home and later extradited to San Diego.

Following a preliminary hearing today in El Cajon, Judge John Thompson found that enough evidence was presented for Karabourniotis to proceed to trial on felony counts of burglary and winning by fraudulent means, and a misdemeanor count of cheating, said Deputy District Attorney Andy Aguilar.

Prosecutors allege Karabourniotis, 63, was seen on surveillance cameras marking cards last July by members of the Barona Gaming Commission, and cheated the casino out of $8,000. The California Department of Justice's Bureau of Gambling Control and Nevada Gaming Control Board assisted with the investigation into the Barona case.

Karl Bennison of the Nevada agency said it has investigated Karabourniotis multiple times, and arrested him on four occasions dating back to 1992.

Between 1992 and 1995, Karabourniotis had a run of luck in which he turned $50 into $40 million by playing poker and dice games, winnings he subsequently gambled away.

Karabourniotis will be back in court May 14 for arraignment.

SIOUX CITY | Nichole Uhl started working at the Argosy Sioux City at age 18 as a cashier in the casino cage.

Over the next 15 years, she worked her way up to her current position as the assistant casino operations manager.

On Wednesday morning, Uhl was told her long career at the boat could come to an abrupt end in two months.

Facing a state order to shut down by July 1, the Argosy handed out layoff notices to all of its more than 300 employees. Those notified also included Uhl's husband, Jacob, who works in the casino's surveillance department.

"It's very devastating for us and our family to receive that letter, to know that in a couple of months we'll no longer have a job or money coming in," Nichole Uhl said. "It's very depressing."

With the future of the floating casino uncertain, Argosy's parent company, Penn National Gaming Co., said it was forced to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act, which requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide at least 60 days' notice of a workplace closing or mass layoff.

By issuing the notices, the company is not abandoning its fight to keep the casino open, Penn National spokeswoman Karen Bailey said.

"The legal challenges will continue and we remain confident in our legal standing on all matters related to our license,” Bailey said in a statement.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission on April 16 ordered the Argosy to cease operations on or before July 1. The five-member panel found the Argosy's state license lapsed after its former local nonprofit partner, Missouri River Historical Development, refused to sign off on a renewal in 2012.

Penn, the nation's second-largest gaming operator, has petitioned the IRGC to reconsider its decision. If the commission, as expected, denies that request, the company is prepared to use "every permissible legal avenue to stay the closure order and allow the Argosy to keep operating after July 1 ...," Argosy General Manager Lance George said in the letter to employees.

"If the commission's ruling stands, and our legal efforts fail, the (Argosy) will permanently close its facility and terminate its entire workforce beginning on July 1, 2014," George said in the letter.

Uhl said Argosy employees had been bracing for the layoff notices for months, ever since the IRGC in 2012 decided to put the Woodbury County gaming license up for bid.

"I think for a lot of people, it was a long time coming, but very sad, very disappointing," she said.

Uhl said she and her husband are exploring a range of options, including transferring to other Penn-owned casino properties and going back to school. The couple have a 1-year-old son, Kaleb.

A number of Argosy employees have applied or plan to apply for jobs at the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, which is scheduled to open in mid- to late summer, replacing the floating casino.

While not her first preference, Uhl said she would not rule out applying as well.

"I'm never going to say never. I'm keeping my options open,'' she said.

Argosy workers who stay until the boat closes would be eligible for a severance package as well as the latest in a series of retention bonuses. The company started offering the bonuses, which generally range from $500 to $2,500, depending on the position, when its future in Sioux City started looking uncertain.

Iowa's unique gaming statute requires casino operators to partner with licensed nonprofit groups that hold the license and also share in a portion of the casino revenues for distribution to charitable purposes.

The IRGC had allowed the Argosy to stay open without a license under what's known as operation of law.

Here are three points to ponder, as my favorite sports columnist, Kevin Gleason likes to say, while waiting to see who gets licenses to build casinos in New York.

First, the state is wading into this at a time when revenue is declining and competition is increasing. All of those applying to build casinos in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties know the challenges very well because they have read the bad news coming out of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Their hope, and by extension ours, is that by building casinos in New York they can tap a new and underserved market. If that accelerates the troubling trends in those properties in nearby states, it won't be our worry, at least not right away.

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Second, while everybody is focused on who gets a license where, the man most responsible for pushing the state to this point is looking ahead to the new, post-casino reality. Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, has introduced S6913, a bill that would allow online gambling in New York.

He told The Associated Press that he does not expect any action on this until after the state sees how the new casino licenses work, but he believes it is time to start talking about it.

New Jersey started allowing people to gamble from home in November and revenue has increased each month but not enough to offset declines from Atlantic City.

Online gambling might be cutting into the money spent at casinos. Or the two might be operating in parallel. While casinos suffer from too much competition and overbuilding, the online alternative takes advantage of a general shift in society toward doing more things on the Internet. Look at it that way and getting into the online gaming business makes sense for New York sooner rather than later.

But the third point is the one that I find most intriguing.

People in Sullivan and Ulster are upset with the emergence of Orange as a competitor for a license. This was supposed to help them, and Bonacic got a promise that they would get two of the casinos. So if the Gaming Commission fulfills that promise, they can breathe easier because there would be no license for Orange County in a future round of applications, the way the enabling legislation is now crafted.

That's good for Ulster and Sullivan, not so good from the Orange point of view. But we don't know how the members of the commission are going to look at this.

It's hard to imagine that the commissioners will grant one license in Sullivan and one in Ulster when that decision denies forever the chances of a casino going up in Orange County, a location that even its opponents — especially its opponents — argue would have a better chance of turning a profit. Yet if the commission splits the decision, it puts a casino in Orange County to undermine the chances for the remaining casino farther north to get the traffic it needs.

The governing body of Rolling Hills Casino in Corning is going through some tribal changes. Some members are being disenrolled, while others are stepping down.
Some council members of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians recently decided to leave their council seats.
Meanwhile, the Tribal Chairman, Andy Freeman, has retained his position.
A representative with Rolling Hills tells Action News Now that operations at the casino will continue to stay the same.
Tomorrow on Action News Now, we'll look into the reasons behind this tribal transition.
Rolling Hills, opened in 2002, employs an average of 500 North State residents.

The Schenectady City Council played a cool hand Monday, backing away from a resolution that would have instructed the Planning Commission to review zoning changes needed to accommodate a gambling casino at the old Alco site.

The problem is that Galesi Group, which last week paid $1 million and said it would be filing a plan with the state to build such a casino, doesn’t really have one yet — at least not one they’re willing to make public. And until the city’s longtime developer does reveal the details, any action by the council seeming to embrace the plan would seem premature. No wonder at least a couple of its members are undecided.

That said, the city does need to start laying the groundwork to take action soon, because once the plan is made public — on May 15, according to Galesi — the city won’t have much time: The final application deadline is June 30, and Galesi’s plan would need the city’s support to have a reasonable chance of beating out the five other Capital Region applicants.

Without further delay, the council should be appointing a committee to determine what needs to be done and when, including the scheduling of a public hearing so residents can provide their input before any votes are taken.

The council should also appoint a liaison between it and Galesi to work with the company so that both know each others’ needs.

Schenectady, of course, isn’t the only municipality with a casino application pending. Some municipal governments have already jumped on their applicant’s bandwagon, including the one in East Greenbush, before townspeople had even heard a word about it. But others, like Schenectady, seem to be taking a more prudent approach, preferring to actually see the cards in their hand before deciding whether to bet on them.