Red Rock Resorts just published its financial results for Q4 2022, demonstrating mixed results. Despite the headwinds in Q4, the company’s annual results were positive, inspiring confidence in the business.
As reported by the operator, it recorded net revenue of $425.5 million in Q4, which represents a slight 0.7% year-on-year increase. Net income, however, declined by 14.9% to $170.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA sat at $194.4 million, or a YOY increase of 2.5%. Revenue from Las Vegas decreased slightly to $419.6 million with an adjusted EBITDA of $206.9 million.
In 2022, Red Rock Resorts earned $1.66 billion, representing an increase of 2.8%. Net income was $390.4, which translates into a significant 10% increase. Lastly, adjusted EBITDA was at its all-time high at $743.9 million. The Las Vegas operations saw the company’s annual net revenues increase by 3% to $1.65 billion. Adjusted EBITDA from those operations sat at $812.8 million.
By December 31, 2022, the company had stockpiled cash and cash equivalents of $117.3 million. Its outstanding debts at that moment were $3 billion.
Cootey Shared His Optimism During the Earnings Call
Red Rock Resorts addressed the results in a quarterly earnings call. Stephen Cootey, the company’s executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, spoke extensively on the recorded results. He noted that the company is optimistic about the future, despite the challenging macroeconomic situation.
Cootey said that 2022 was full of challenges such as inflation and high interest rates. Despite this, Red Rock’s focus helped it remain true to its business and improve adjusted EBITDA while maintaining its adjusted EBITDA margin and returning over $1.1 billion in capital.
The CFO praised the company’s corporate structure and operations for standing strong and delivering impressive annual results. He said that Red Rock will remain disciplined and focused on executing and investing in its core strategy.
Currently, Red Rock is working hard on its Durango casino hotel. The venue is expected to have a gaming space of a whopping 83,178 square feet and is located in what Cootey called one with a “very favorable demographic profile and no unrestricted gaming competitors within five miles.”
Cootey added that construction work on the new casino is progressing nicely. The casino resort should be ready to open by the end of the year, Red Rock hopes.
Meanwhile, the company is preparing to open Wildfire Fremont, a Las Vegas-based gaming venue with 21,000 square feet of gaming space. Red Rock is also planning to construct a new casino near Madera, California.
Cootey is certain that Red Rock Resorts is poised for growth thanks to its strong portfolio of best-in-class assets and locations and robust pipeline. The executive believes that this will allow the company to capitalize on the favorable demographic trends in Las Vegas and beyond.
The CFO concluded that Red Rock will remain vigilant of the changes in the landscape as it continues executing its long-term strategy.
While we await the return of Garrett Adelstein, the woman he accused of cheating on Hustler Casino Live in September — Robbi Jade Lew — has already planned her first appearance on live-stream since the incident, and it will be Valentine’s Day on Live at the Bike.
Joining the game will be Phil Hellmuth whose infamous appearance on LATB in August was heavily criticized when he bought in for only a fraction of the top stacks. He’s since vowed to only buy in for $300,000 or more when he competes on live-streamed poker shows going forward.
Robbi Sends a Message
Although the “Poker Brat” is almost always a headliner when he appears on TV or a live-stream, that won’t necessarily be the case next week. Lew, who teased a possible return to Hustler Casino Live in December, has decided that her live-stream return will instead be on Live at the Bike for three straight days beginning Feb. 14.
The social media account for the longest-standing live-streamed poker show at Parkwest Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles tweeted out a video with Lew promoting the event, as did Hellmuth.
@RobbiJadeLew has a message for her LOVERS and HATERS…she returns to live streaming poker on Valentine’s Day with… https://t.co/ka54ZitglC
— Live at the Bike (@LIVEattheBike)
According to info provided to PokerNews from Live at the Bike, Hellmuth is scheduled to play all three days (14th, 15th, and 16th) and, yes, he has committed to buying in for $300,000. The blinds will start at $100/$200/$200 along with straddles the first two nights and then $50/$100/$100 plus straddles the third evening.
A full roster hasn’t yet been determined but poker pro and commentator Maria Ho is slated to play the 15th and 16th, streamer Kevin Martin will play the 16th, and LATB regular Aussie Al is scheduled for all three days. Expect the full lineups to be announced soon.
Where’s Garrett?
On Sep. 29, Adelstein accused Lew of cheating during the infamous Hustler Casino Live stream. He emphatically claimed she somehow had access to his hole cards when she called off a six-figure bet on the turn with nothing but jack-high (Jx4x) and no draw while he was semi-bluffing with eight-high on a draw.
The hand took on a life of its own, and the accusations reached mainstream non-poker media. Many poker fans and even non-poker fans accused Lew of cheating, but she has maintained her innocence ever since. No hard proof was ever discovered against her, and she’s remained in the spotlight at times since, competing in some tournaments including the record-setting WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
As for Adelstein, outside of the occasional random tweet and an interview with The Los Angeles Times, he’s been non-existent in the poker world since the alleged cheating incident. But he did tweet out the possibility of returning to action in May when Hustler Casino Live hosts a $1 million buy-in cash game.
@HCLPokerShow Might be down if there’s a seat
— Garrett Adelstein (@GmanPoker)
It’s unlikely we’ll see Adelstein and Lew at the same table any time soon, if ever again. But it appears we are getting close to the return of both of them in live-streamed high-stakes poker games.
Supplier of sports betting technology Kambi announced that pre-match BetBuilder bets will be available for live cash out for the first time during Super Bowl LVII.
Raise Excitement during Super Bowl Sunday
The launch of the new feature that will allow players to cash out a large majority of pre-game BetBuilder bets live was introduced alongside new in-game functionality as Kambi is looking to raise the level of excitement for bettors for the event that is expected to rank among the biggest of all time betting-wise.
“The Super Bowl is always one of the highlights of the sporting calendar and with the immense popularity of Bet Builder, it was important for Kambi to continue to improve its market-leading product in time for Super Bowl LVII,” commented Simon Noy, senior vice president of Trading at Kambi.
BetBuilder accounted for approximately 30% of all pre-game bets on the Kambi network during the regular season in the NFL, making same- and multi-game parlays a must-have for sportsbook operators, and the addition of the cash-out and in-game functionalities is expected to enhance further the BetBuilder product and its lure to players.
“Kambi has been consistently ahead of the market with its premium Bet Builder product and the launch of cash out and live functionality was the next logical step in the product’s evolution,” added Noy, looking forward to the moment when these new features will be rolled out “across other sports and leagues in the coming months.”
Encouraging Player Response during Trial
The new cash-out and in-play functionalities went through a successful trial during the NFL Playoffs during which the cashing out of BetBuilder in-game bets reached two-thirds of the level of single bets, convincing Kambi that bettors liked the feature.
Kambi, which recently won the EGR B2B Award for “Innovation in Sports Betting Software,” will allow bettors this weekend to place BetBuilder bets live and cash out their pre-game or in-game BetBuilder bets during any stage of the game. The new BetBuilder features will be available for combinations made up of main bet offers.
Kambi is planning to extend the cash-out functionality to additional markets in time for the next NFL season, as well as to various other sports and leagues, including the MLB, NBA, March Madness and others, over the coming weeks and months.
Available as a core feature of Kambi’s sportsbook or as a standalone solution, BetBuilder is aimed at enhancing the user experience and is currently live for baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.
The popular business-to-business supplier and aggregator of speed-to-market and innovation solutions for the iGaming industry has launched an open invitation to players eager to take a walk on the wild side of nature.
The fresh Wild Hike release is played on a 6×4 grid and it is a high-volatility game boasting a 96% Return to Player Rate (RTP), scatter symbols with free spins, and plenty of multipliers on expanded wilds for a greater win potential.
Wild Hike Metrics Overview
Reels: 6
Rows: 4
Paylines: 4096
RTP: 96.09%
Hit Freq: 20.12%
Max Win: 20,000x
Volatility: High
Min/Max Bet: 0.10-50
Release date: February 8, 2023
Wild Hike, the “Perfect Game for These Cold Winter Nights”
The studio’s director of casino products Shelley Hannah called the new slot “the perfect game for these cold winter nights,” inviting players to relax and be carried into the very heart of the forest while enjoying a captivating journey at midnight. Hannah also believes the new game is prone to “hit the right notes and maintain a high level of excitement” among players.
The action is set at night time and players are invited to sit around the campfire and listen to the soothing crackles while being joined by mesmerizing wild animals like deer, bears, wolves, and owls in a well-secluded spot.
Matching six of the cards valued from 10 to A triggers a payout of 1x the stake whereas hitting six wild animal symbols brings players a payout of up to 1.8-10x the bet.
The howling wolf symbols are the wilds in the game. Their purpose is to replace the rest of the regular paying symbols represented by the wild animals and they are located on the four reels in the middle.
To admire the sky full of stars, gamers need to trigger the free spins round. This causes the camera to automatically pan upwards, right above the majestic treetops.
Free Spins, Expanding Wilds & Bonus Buy Features
Coming across three scatter symbols brings players seven free spins, whereas landing four scatters triggers ten free spins for players eager to join Mother Nature. While engaged in the free spins round, multipliers are generated by the Expanding Wilds/Re-spins feature and they remain saved until the end of the round. The value of each of the multipliers can be seen above reels three and four when there are no Expanding Wilds in sight.
Every new scatter symbol that lands during this bonus round brings one additional free spin. When the free spins are activated during a Re-spin round, all multipliers obtained from the Re-spins are transferred in the free spins round.
All acquired multipliers on expanded wilds boost their value with each new win, sending players closer to a max win capped at 20,000x. Leading two expanded wild symbols at the same time means seeing them multiply each other for a massive win potential.
The buy feature allows players to enjoy seven or 10 free spins in exchange for 75x the bet. It is also possible to buy wild free spins and receive seven or 10 free spins along with a guaranteed win on double expanding wilds in exchange for 150x the bet.
At the start of February, Relax Gaming announced a partnership with AboutSlots.com, agreeing to co-produce a fresh player-led slot game. In January, SmartSoft Gaming joined the provider’s Powered by Relax aggregation platform.
The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) announced it has signed into a partnership with Denuvo by Irdeto to collaborate with the global games protection and anti-piracy technology provider on solutions against cheating and match manipulation in esports.
Tightening the Grip on Match Manipulation
The Anti-Cheat Partnership with Denuvo by Irdeto made the tech supplier the first-ever anti-cheat partner of the global esports integrity watchdog, signaling willingness from both organizations to join forces and develop a sophisticated approach to tackling cheating and esports manipulation.
Proud to announce the partnership with Denuvo, ESIC’s director of Global Strategy and Partnerships, Stephen Hanna, outlined that the partnership’s objective would be to strengthen “the role of anti-cheat providers in the maintenance of competitive integrity within the esports industry.”
“As a distinguished partner to the games industry, Denuvo is well poised as our first anti-cheat partner to work with us in finding and executing upon more sophisticated applications for anti-cheat technology to tournament operation,” Hanna concluded.
Seeking to develop a framework that will bring anti-cheat technology to the esports industry, Denuvo will provide ESIC with its Anti-Cheat software and keep the integrity body updated on particular data metrics related to integrity and industry risk via periodical reports.
On behalf of Denuvo by Irdeto, Steeve Huin, chief operating officer, Video Games Security, expressed the company’s excitement “to fight piracy and cheating on the fast-growing esports segment” alongside ESIC, keen to ensure a level playing field in esports.
“As gamers ourselves, we at Denuvo are dedicated to bringing fairness and fun back to online gaming and are therefore thrilled to ensure the same fair game opportunities will be available for the players of esports,” Huin added.
Insights and Support
Denuvo’s role will be to support the ESIC in its continuous efforts to deliver best practice standards and integrity frameworks to the broader esports industry by providing insights into the industry’s pain points and promoting fair play.
With over 50 years of expertise in security, Denuvo by Irdeto is the world leader in digital platform cybersecurity, providing services and solutions that protect revenue, enable growth and fight cybercrime in video entertainment, video games, and connected industries, including transport, health and infrastructure.
Counting on its people as its greatest asset, Denuvo has teams around the world that offer everyone an equal opportunity to innovate and contribute to the company’s success and promote diversity and inclusion.
The announcement of the anti-cheat partnership came right before the return of the ESIC Global Esports Summit (EGES) set to take place on February 9-10 at ExCel London and gather publishers, tournaments organizers, teams, non-endemics, media and other esports stakeholders to discuss hot industry topics.
The nominees for the 4th annual Global Poker Awards have been announced and several players are in the running to pick up multiple awards, including two-time GPI award winner Jamie Kerstetter as well as World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Espen Jorstad and content creators Ethan “Rampage” Yau, Caitlin Comeskey and Marle Spragg, the latter four of whom are after their first awards.
Voting panels in 17 categories completed the process earlier this month and this week the final four of the fan’s choice categories were also announced. There are plenty of previous GPI award winners among the nominees, including players like Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Negreanu, Brad Owen and Lex Veldhuis as well as industry professionals like Matt Savage, Paul Campbell and Jeff Platt.
The winners of each category will be announced at the live-streamed Global Poker Awards inside PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on March 3 at 5:30 p.m. local time.
For more information about the 4th annual Global Poker Awards, visit www.globalpokerindex.com/awards.
Read about the 3rd annunal Global Poker Awards!
Full 4th Global Poker Awards Nominees
Here is a list of all the nominees for the 4th Global Poker Awards:
Fans Choice – Best Trophy
Best Trophy
EPT Main Event Trophy
PGT Stairway to Millions Trophy
WPA – Women’s Poker Association
WSOP Main Event Bracelet
In the race for best trophy, the golden European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event trophy faces off against the winding PokerGO Tour Stairway to Millions trophy and the suggestive Women’s Poker Association (WPA) trophy, as well as the iconic WSOP Main Event Bracelet.
Fans Choice: Fave Livestream
Fave Livestream
EPT Live – PokerStarsLive
King’s Casino Livestream
Hustler Casino Live
Poker at the Lodge
2022 was dominated by live streams as live poker bounced back at casinos and card rooms around the US.
The frontrunner in the live stream race is Hustler Casino Live, which drew mainstream attention with its content creator game and the jack-four hand seen around the world.
However, the other nominees are all worthy contenders, including the EPT Live – PokerStarsLive broadcast handled by James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton, the King’s Casino Livestream and always entertaining Poker at the Lodge.
People’s Choice for Poker Personality
Ryan DePaulo
Felipe Mojave Ramos
Lex Veldhuis
Ethan “Rampage” Yau
Content creators made up the final four of the People’s Choice for Poker Personality race, including vloggers Ryan DePaulo and Ethan “Rampage” Yau and streamers Felipe Ramos of GGPoker and Lex Veldhuis of PokerStars.
Yau and DePaulo were both nominated for Best Vlogger last year but lost out to Brad Owen, while Veldhuis is after his second award after being named Streamer of the Year in 2019.
Fans Choice – Best Hand
Best Hand
Daniel Negreanu hits runner-runner quads on way to SHRB victory
David Diaz lays down absolute monster on Day 7 of WSOP Main Event
PapoMC pulls monster bluff in WSOP Main Event
Wild J4 vs 89 hand between Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein
Leading the way in the Best Hand category is the wild jack-four hand between Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein that resulted in an intensive investigation and international news coverage, but there were other big hands this year.
One such hand is the runner-runner quads Daniel Negreanu hit against poker villain Bryn Kenney in the Super High Roller Bowl VII that propelled him to victory to win $3.3 million. There was also a massive laydown David Diaz made on Day 7 of the WSOP Main event and an even bigger bluff that Alejandro Lococo pulled in the same event.
Players Choice for Toughest Opponent
Toughest Opponent
While Brian Altman and GPI award winners Alex Foxen and Stephen Chidwick are all solid contenders for the toughest opponent award, it will be hard to outshine Stephen Song’s incredible 2022 performance that earned him both the overall GPI Player of the Year and the Mid-Major Player of the Year.
Brian Altman (USA)
Stephen Chidwick (England)
Alex Foxen (USA)
Stephen Song (USA)
Best Final Table Performance
Daniel “Jungleman” Cates (USA), WSOP 50K Poker Players Championship
Espen Uhlen Jørstad (Norway), WSOP Main Event
Daniel Negreanu (Canada), Super High Roller Bowl VII
Stephen Song (USA), WPT Prime Championship
Song’s performance at the WPT Prime Championship in December 2022 is up for nomination for Best Final Table performance, alongside Espen Jorstad’s WSOP Main Event performance and Negreanu’s Super High Roller Bowl victory. But it will be tough to compete against Dan “Jungleman” Cates‘ historic back-to-back victories in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
GPI Breakout Player
Breakout Player
Angela Jordison (USA)
Espen Uhlen Jørstad (Norway)
Alejandro Lococo “PapoMC” (Argentina)
Punnat Punsri (Thailand)
Ethan “Rampage” Yau (USA)
Angela Jordison is a nominee for GPI Breakout Player after narrowly coming short of being named the GPI Female Player of the Year and Mid-Major Player of the Year. Also up for nomination is Jorstad, who won two bracelets last summer, as well as rising poker personalities Lococo and Yau and high-stakes up-and-comer Punnat Punsri.
Comeback Player
Phil Ivey (USA)
Alex Keating (USA)
Taylor von Kriegenbergh (USA)
Daniel Weinman (USA)
Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey’s return to the felt has earned the poker legend a nomination for Comeback Player as he competes against fellow nominees Alex Keating, Taylor von Kriegenbergh and Daniel Weinman.
Rising Star in Content Creation
Rising Star
Natalie Bode (USA)
Caitlin Comeskey (USA)
Jesse Fullen (USA)
Lexy Gavin-Mather (USA)
Among the four nominees for Rising Star in Content Creation is PokerNews’ own Jesse Fullen, who in 2022 did everything from orchestrate an elaborate April Fool’s prank to coordinate the 2022 PokerNews Cup.
Also nominated in the category is Caitlin Comeskey, who is also in the running for Best Media Content: Video for her hilarious spoof of the jack-four controversy, as well as PokerGO’s Natalie Bode and PokerCoaching.com’sLexy Gavin-Mather.
Best Media Content: Written
PokerNews’ received a second GPI award nomination as Connor Richards’ December 2022 article about Erik Seidel’s creative side was nominated for Best Media Content: Written alongside pieces by Jen Shahade for the Wall Street Journal, Robbie Strazynski for Cardplayer Lifestyle and Tim Fiorvanti for WPT.
Best Media Content: Photo
Best Photo
Moments captured by the PokerNews WSOP photo team make up three of the four nominees for Best Media Content: Photo, including Hayley Hochstetler’s photo of Matt Glantz pulling the million-dollar bounty, Spenser Sembrat’s shooting of a memorable final table celebration and Alec Rome’s poignant capture of Jake Schindler’s bracelet victory.
Also in the running is Antonio Abrego’s photo of Cates’ historic back-to-back win for PokerGO.
Sports betting technology supplier Elys Game Technology announced it has received Gaming Labs International (GLI) certification for its kiosks and wagering system for deployment in Ohio.
Ready to Deploy Operations
The GLI certification to the GLI 20v2.0: Standards for Kiosks and GLI-33 v1.1: Event Wagering Systems for Elys’ self-service betting terminal (SSBT) as per the testing, inspection and compliance standards of the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) moved Elys closer to deploying its sports betting platform and kiosks in Ohio.
The certification of the company’s retail betting platform was hailed as “the foundational blocks” of Elys’ expansion throughout the US by Mike Ciavarella, executive chairman of Elys Game Technology.
“The U.S. market has grown significantly since the repeal of PASPA in May 2018 with about 37 states now allowing or having passed legislation to permit some form of regulated sports betting,” he said.
Ciavarella further noted that a company’s internal analysis, based on the assumption that the regulated market expands to 42 states by 2026, estimates that “the annual gross revenue in the US could hit approximately $10 billion in 2023 and could potentially reach approximately $16 to $21 billion by 2026.”
As Elys strongly believes that its addressable market in the US “can significantly outsize” its operations in Italy over the next few years, the focus of the company remains on “scaling value creation” for its long-term shareholders.
Kiosks’ Certification Key to Elys’ Strategy
With a focal point on the retail sports betting market that is largely under-served outside of land-based casinos, Elys is seeking to provide its small business partners such as neighborhood restaurants and bars with additional revenue streams, and SSBTs are central to its strategy implementation.
In November, Elys Game Technology received conditional Type C sports gaming proprietor licensure from the OCCC to commence betting operations in Ohio starting from January 1, 2023, for five years, pending further required certifications and licensing.
In anticipation of the license, Elys secured over 100 host locations for its retail sportsbook solution in Ohio partnering with local small businesses which showed an interest in the land-based sports betting platform Elys is offering, seeing it as an opportunity to offer socially interactive gaming to their patrons.
“The innovative distributed model architecture of our cutting-edge betting technology certainly should make its mark on the global gaming industry in the coming years,” Ciavarella concluded.
The Canadian-based technology supplier also moved to establish partnerships with small businesses in other US states, including BetDupont, Grand Central and Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club in Washington, D.C., Top Hat Sports Bar & Grill in Maryland and others, and will look to expand its operations into these states in the future.
On Tuesday, the company confirmed that more than 1,000 new state-of-the-art games were added to the gaming floor of the casino. Thanks to the newly revamped gaming floor, Empire City Casino can now deliver new and unique engaging experiences for its visitors. Bringing popular new hits, the location replaces nearly 20% of its slot and electronic table games machines that are nearly 5,000.
Thanks to the latest improvement, visitors of Empire City Casino can now enjoy leading games from Konami Gaming, Aristocrat and Light & Wonder. As a result, gamblers can experience Konami’s Ba Fang Jin Bao, Aristocrat’s leading Might Cash Double Up and Light & Wonder’s popular games Dancing Drums Explosion and 88 Fortunes Money Coins.
“In my 15 years working at Empire City, I can’t remember a time where we’ve had so many new games hit the gaming floor over a relatively short time period. MGM Resorts continues to make the necessary investments to ensure a top-tier experience for our guests.“
Ryan Munroe, executive director of slot operations for Empire City Casino
Ryan Munroe, Empire City Casino’s executive director of slot operations, outlined that the venue’s gaming floor undoubtedly looks different. He explained that after more than a decade with Empire City, he hasn’t seen that many new games delivered in such a short time. At the same time, Munroe said that MGM Resorts remains focused on providing unique experiences for its visitors by completing investments in its locations.
Plenty of Big Prizes Await Empire City Casino Visitors
According to Munroe, visitors of the Empire City Casino have a shot at winning big prizes. He explained that the venue offers some of the highest payouts which confirms that money played by the customers is returned as prize money for lucky guests.
“Empire City also has some of the highest payouts in the industry, which means that more of the money played at Empire City is returned as payouts to our guests,“
added Munroe
Moreover, Munroe said that currently, Empire City Casino offers multiple progressive jackpots that are six figures each. The top three jackpots with the highest payouts at the venue are Bally’s Celestial King which is getting closer to $600,000, Bally’s Monopoly Millionaire jackpot which surpassed $500,000, as well as IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Triple Stars jackpot that is currently close to $500,000.
NeoGames S.A.’s subsidiary which mixes proven recipes with innovative concepts to create highly valuable iGaming experiences has announced the launch of the new game meant to add an engaging twist to the regular card staple.
The studio which is constantly busy adapting its games and tools to the players’ expectations and preferences has added Baccarat Magic to its library of 120+ casino games.
Magic Baccarat Carries the Fun and Payouts to a Different Level
Players are given the opportunity to place all types of classic bets, including Banker, Tie, and Player, with a 1:1 payout for each. The element of magic comes from the added option of placing side bets like Super 6, Banker Pair, and Player Pair. Each of these alternative side bets comes with a payment of up to 12x. Players need to focus on getting a hand with a value that is as close to nine as possible for a maximum win of 13x on each hand.
The game follows the release of other equally exciting Wizard Games titles, including Dragons of the North Blackjack and Sultan’s Palace Fortune.
The company’s managing director Joey Hurtado spoke about the new title, calling it “another strong launch” while explaining how the new table game incorporates familiar gameplay with profitable side bets. Hurtado also spoke about the studio’s efforts to constantly introduce versatile content to their players, ranging from fully immersive video slot games to standard games with a lot of stylish elements.
Side Bets That Keep Players’ Winning Streaks Rolling
To start winning, players can opt for the three standard bets. To increase their winnings and make their gameplay more interesting, they can choose the special Player Pair and Banker Pair side bets with an 11:1 payout.
The Super 6 alternative bet brings a 12:1 payout when the banker’s hand wins with a 6. The Bead Plate puts players’ last played hands on display, together with their outcomes. Players can use this information and mix it with their Baccarat strategy so they can enjoy an edge while playing.
Wizard Games’ portfolio is currently available in over 20 regulated jurisdictions worldwide, spread all around North America, Latin America, and Europe.
At the beginning of February, the company appointed industry veteran Yoganand Aiyadurai as the director of game technology. Last November, the company made another strategic move by appointing Simon Jagdhar as director of game studio to assist it with reaching its growth goals.
After a 2022 that saw Alexandre Mantovani join 888poker, represent the site at live events around the world and cash in the WSOP Main Event, the Brazilian is looking forward to 2023.
PokerNews caught up with “Cavalito” to find out just how ready and raring to go he is, and found him determined to put in the effort to make this an extra special year — both on and off the felt.
888poker LIVE Madrid
“Before Madrid, I had been on vacation and had only played two small online sessions,” he told PokerNews. “I managed to win two online tournaments, so it’s been a good start to the year.
“Cashing in the first 888poker LIVE event of the year was great, but I’m really wanting a big live event final table”
With 2023 already well underway, Mantovani is targeting two New Years resolutions to get the most out of his year and came close to achieving one with a 20th place finish in the 888poker LIVE Madrid Main Event.
“Cashing in the first 888poker LIVE event of the year was great, but I’m really wanting a big live event final table. It’s been a while so that would be nice. I would have loved to have it here in Madrid, as my wife was there with me.
“They’ve Nailed It!” says Mantovani as 888poker Adds MORE Mystery Bounty Tournaments to Schedule
“It would have been nice to have a big occasion like that while she’s with me, as I’m not sure if she’ll be able to join me on other stops.”
Off the felt, Mantovani is also keen to put in the hard yards, and is determined to get in the “best shape of his life” to help his poker. However, he admits that it’s a tough balancing act.
“I’ve been putting more attention on fitness and nutrition, but I’m taking it steady. I’ve burnt out twice in the past five years, so I need to be able to maintain a pace that means I don’t hurt myself.
“I know I have the ability to just flick a switch and put in the hours to make things happen, but it has to be done in a sustainable way. So that’s another part of my plan for 2023 — improve as a player and as a person, but not get burnt out in the process — if possible!”
Discover The Wizard’s Spell on 888poker
There is still plenty of time to win a share of $300,000 in freerolls on 888poker thanks to The Wizard’s Spell.
The freeroll-focused promotion runs until April 23 with daily, weekly an monthly freerolls waiting for you to play your way into!
Will Shillibier
European Executive Editor
Will Shillibier is based in the United Kingdom. He started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019.
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German, and then studied for a NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism at Sportsbeat in Manchester.
