Page 8 - September 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

September 2006 Gaming News (Continued)
TV Producer Jamie Gold Wins $12 Million at WSOP® Main Event
he new king of poker was crowned on August 11th when Malibu resident Jamie Gold, 36, won the No-Limit Texas Hold’Em Main Event at the 37th annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP). Gold won $12 million, the largest prize ever awarded in a live poker tournament.
Wasicka’s pair of 10s. Wasicka earned $6,102,499 million for his second-place nish.
Michael Binger of Atherton, California, nished third, collecting $4,123,310. e remaining players at the nal table were: 4th place: Allen Cunningham, Las Vegas, Nevada, $3,628,513; 5th place: Rhett Butler, Rockville, Maryland, $3,216,182; 6th place: Richard Lee, San Antonio, Texas, $2,803,851; 7th place: Douglas Kim, Hartsdale, New York, $2,391,520; 8th place: Erik Friberg, Stockholm, Sweden, $1,979,189; 9th place: Dan Nassif, St. Louis, Missouri, $1,566,858
Agua Caliente Tribe’s New Compact Waiting for Approval
He outlasted a record eld of 8,773 players who anted up the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event, creating an unprecedented prize pool of $82.5 million—the largest for any sporting event in history.
e Main Event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino was the culmination of the 46-event WSOP, which this year generated more than $158 million in total prize money.
Gold was the chip leader from Day 3 of the 10-day Main Event and never relinquished the lead.
On the nal hand of the tournament, Gold’s pair of queens beat Westminster, Colorado, resident Paul
Jamie Gold (center), the $12 million winner of the 2006 World Series of Poker® Main Event
Television coverage of the 2006 WSOP World Championship Main Event begins August 22 on ESPN and continues on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. until September 26 when action at the nal table is broadcast.
measure allowing the Agua Caliente Band of e new compact would allow the Agua Caliente Band, on all those over 2,000. e $23.4 million represents Cahuilla Indians to operate 5,000 slot machines owners and operators of Spa Resort Casino in Palm about 9 percent of the tribe’s slot revenues last year. Gov. cleared the state Senate on August 22nd. e Springs, and Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the new compact if
measure went to the Assembly, and the result of the vote was not available at press time. Supporters believe the economic bene ts to the state and local communities will be enough to sway a majority of Assembly members. e bill would ratify a revised compact for the tribe, which operates two casinos with 2,000 slots.
to build a third casino and add up to 3,000 more slot machines for a total of 5,000 slots. e new compact is expected to generate $82 million a year for California, or nearly $1.9 billion over 23 years before it expires in 2030. e tribe agreed to pay a xed payment of $23.4 million a year on its existing slots and 15 percent of revenue
it reaches his desk. e U.S. Interior Department must approve the agreement after that.
e tribe has said it does not know when or where it would open its third casino. e tribe plans to renovate the Spa Resort Casino hotel soon, and is currently adding a hotel to the Agua Caliente Casino.
Father of Three Wins $1.2 Million on New Wheel of Fortune® Special
OEditionTM Super SpinTM at San Manuel Casino
n July 20th 46-year-old Orange County resident, Mario Martinez Mr. Martinez took the day o work as a belated birthday gift to himself
and went to the casino as a rst-time visitor. “ is jackpot is very exciting for us as it marks the rst big win on our new Special Edition® Super SpinTM slot machine. We have only had this machine three weeks, and it is already paying out big money,” said Ron Mastandrea, general manager for San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. You can read all about the new Wheel of Fortune Special Edition® Super SpinTM on page 16, and see a very happy Mr. Martinez with his check on pages 18 and 30.
3T M i l l i o n o n t h e H o u s e P r o m o t i o n G r a n d e F i n a l e a t H a r r a h ’ s R i n c o n
hit a $1,249,830 MegaJackpots® top award on a Wheel ®TMTM
of Fortune Special Edition Super Spin nickel slot machine at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino.
His wife of 25 years was the rst person he called to tell they were millionaires. “She thought I was joking and got mad at me,” he said. Even though his children are grown, the proud father would like to give them all the option to go back to school to further their education.
he exciting summer promotion, 3 Million on Is Right Live at Harrah’s Rincon in 2004 and recently Center. Live drawings for cash prizes and nalist spots the House, comes to a thrilling conclusion on hosted VH1’s In Search of the Partridge Family. (four total from Harrah’s Rincon) for the simulcast September 10th with the live simulcast, this year For the Grand Finale, guests can activate their drawing will be held at noon and 2 p.m. at the Oasis
originating from the lovely pool garden at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort and broadcast to all Harrah’s owned and operated properties nationwide.
Emcee for the festivities is Todd Newton, best known to his audiences for his work on E! Entertainment Television. For nearly a decade, Newton has hosted Coming Attractions, Talk Soup, E! News Live, and many of E!’s live events such as red carpet arrivals at the Academy
Awards®. Newton also hosted e Price
promotion entries (earned May 7th–September 9th) by swiping their Total Rewards cards between 10 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. on September 10th at the Promotions
Lounge.
en the action moves poolside for the 5 p.m. main
event where three lucky winners will each receive one of the following prizes: $1 million cash,
1 million American Airlines miles, or 1 million Reward credits.
Harrah’s Rincon will also hold a second chance drawing at the conclusion of the nale where one lucky winner will receive 3 million Reward credits.
Page 8
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
September 2006
Southern California Gaming News (Continued)