Casino magazine is now one year old. Happy Birthday! Thank you! And, just like any respectable, self-esteem magazine, it had its share of lit candles and of good time with its best friends, in an intimate and elegant atmosphere. Special people, with big hearts, were next to us, in the clinging of the champagne glasses.

This is not the place to portray in rigid colors and in lifeless words the time that has gone by. We will not say that “it was difficult, just like any start”, that “it took a lot of courage”, that “we undertook the challenge driven by passion”, that “we rediscovered the wheel”, that “we want to let people know…” and that “we stumbled across…” or that we had to fight against prejudice. What point would it be in all that now?! Pardon my aplomb, but I will just say that we made a decision, we started the whole thing and then got to work. I will also say that, regardless of the area it defines, the press activity is done firmly and all the way through. If something serious needs to be done, it’s fine! If not, no problem! There are various other domains to approach.

I discovered here a world – both literally and figuratively – with good and bad. With its elements of show, of ineffable, of magic.- But also with its hues of despair and misfulfillment. I approached gambling industry from its economical perspective but also from the social, legislative and legal ones. I brought within the pages of the magazine thoughts, ideas and personalities from all the domains which, one way or the other, interact with the gambling area, with entertainment, with show-biz and sports.

I paid special attention to the editorial and graphic quality. A successful man needs to find himself with satisfaction in the pages of an elegant magazine. An elegant man needs to identify with the atmosphere around him. And Casino Life & Business Magazine wanted and succeeded in creating the proper scenery, both in terms of printed material and in the immediate reality. Hereby I mean the Gala of Annual Awards of Casino Magazine, organized at Hotel Hilton in Bucharest.

Because, after all, if we are talking about a context in which any dream can come true, then we are the first who want to turn them into a reality.

Such a poker tour, barely just ended, in which participated only representatives of the high class, was the Sunflower Children 2nd annual Texas Hold’em, already at its second edition. All the winnings collected within the tour were donated to poor children in underdeveloped countries as medical, educational and nutrition supplies. Among those to sit at the green table there were Russell Simmons (a producer and agent of many artists among whom Jay-Z or Tupac Shakur), who was also one of the main sponsors of the event, the actors Michael Kelly, Ben Bailey, Ana Ortiz, Mark Indelico, Ma-linda Williams and David Zayas. They were joined by the professional swimmer Michael Phelps (a gold winner at the Beijing Olympics of 2008) and by the poker player Lee Childs, the model Lane Carlson and the beautiful Ta-tiana Kucharova: Miss World 2006.

It has already become a trend for stars to sit at poker tables. For charity purposes or simply out of pleasure.

tour had supermodels Helena Huodova and Roberta Armani as hosts. If many actors are known to have poker game as one of their hobbies, not that much is known about the models who left the catwalk to sit at the table and play.

Priscilla Meirelles, a highly appreciated model who posed for Playboy and hundreds of other magazines, has been playing poker for well over a year and says she is completely fascinated by it. In 2008 she even participated in the World Series of Poker.

Joanna Krupa, model (posed for Playboy, FHM, Inside Sport, Stuff etc) and actress (starred in Legally Blonde, Planet of The Apes, Scary Movie 4 etc.) has a genuine passion for poker and, moreover, is a spokesperson for Titan Poker.

Lacey Jones did much more than that. She went from a modeling career to one as a poker player. She then participated in several events, among which WSOP also, where, in 2005, she occupied one of the positions awarded with money within the event Ladies No Limit Hold’em.

More notorious for their presence in tabloids, rather than for the performances at poker tables, are Nicky and Paris Hilton. They are not just the loyal clients of a poker parlor, but also organizers of a tour, Nicky Hilton New Years Eve Poker Tournament, in which great
names of the poker world participate.

“THE SIXTH SENSE” AT THE POKER TABLE

And since we are talking about stars, it’s impossible not to remember Shannon Elizabeth from the comedy “American Pie”. She is a passionate poker player, participating in tours in Hollywood, Los Angeles or Las Vegas. She even participated in the WSOP and in 2005 she won the Nicky Hilton New Years Eve Poker Tournament held at Caesars Palace and placed sixth in the tour Calvin Klein’s 2nd Annual Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. In 2007 she reached the 4th position in the tour NBC National Heads Up Championship. However, “the record” of participations in poker games belongs to Bruce Willis, a loyal client of the casinos in Las Vegas and Monte Carlo. He places hundreds of thousands of Euros worth of bets at poker, roulette and blackjack.

Ben Affleck is also a passionate poker player, participating annually in charity tours; in 2004 he even won one of the tours within the World Poker Tour event, worth $10,000.

Poker fashion has also hot gold of sportsmen. Christiano Vieri, Boris Becker, Tomas Brolin, Andrei Sevchenko are only a few of those who more and more often set foot in poker rooms. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, one of the greatest Russian tennis players (26 single titles and 27 double titles) took up professional poker once he withdrew from tennis. In 2004 he won the “Corona” Russian Poker Championship and in 2005, at the World Poker Tour, he was the great surprise of the competition. The next step will probably be the WSOP.

Tan Tolga Cebeci is working in the gambling industry for almost 20 years. He held management positions, and was managing partner in Romania for four casinos. Until recently, mister Tolga was general manager at Platinum Casino, the biggest casino in Bucharest and the biggest in Romania.

So MR. CEBECI, WE ARE LOOKING OVER A STRANGE COMBINATION OF COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY. IN ONE HAND UNITED GAMING SUPPLIES
AND IN THE OTHER HAND TARACE ADVERTISING AGENCY; BOTH OF THEM DEVELOPING FAST AND ADMIRABLY SUCCESSFUL ON GRAPHIC CHARTS. WHAT IS GOING ON?

Well, as you already pointed, many things going on; Global economy’s indicators quite unstable. In the mean time Romania’s economy and commercial actions are remarkably holding their ground. I guess this is just another proof that we were right about this country’s economic strength. When we founded Tarace Advertising, idea was almost complete. Our operation was designed from the beginning in order to cover two powerful and very active markets; Casinos and marketing.

HOW THESE TWO MARKETS WERE CHOSEN MR. CEBECI?

During Romania’s great development, these sectors were clearly much more glamorous. Romanian business people and investors discover the power and importance of marketing very quick. Even now, after too many marketing companies established, there is still room for more companies, especially for the companies with brand new and modern marketing mentality like Tarace. The other sector, Casino is even greater economical dynamic. As we all know, Romania is the leader country for this market in this zone. And now, things are getting even more complicated. Shape of the Casino business is changing and developing so fast related with global move-ments regarding this market. That is the point where United Gaming Supplies comes to the surface. Soon, Casinos and marketing sector will become most powerful and dynamic facts of the economy while they are feeding each other and keep growing.

WHAT IS THE MAIN ACTIVITY OF UNITED GAMING SUPPLIES?

United Gaming Supplies is acting as distributor of the Octavian Slot Machines in East Europe and representative of Liberty Gaming and many other Casino equipment manufacturers in Romania. Despite it was founded in 2008, already took action in two gaming exhibition and was successful beyond our expectation. Currently, company’s main effort is focused on Octavian Slot Machines which is promising to be in first three best seller machines on the market in 2009.

WHAT ARE THE PROJECTS THAT YOU’RE WORKING ON, NOW?

Apart United Gaming Supplies, as Secretary-General of the Turkish Romanian Chamber of Commerce, I work on developing B2B programs and maintaining connections with the Turkish business community in Romania. A project which I’m very fond of is connected to editing and distributing the Turkish business community paper, Gurbetci.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CASINO BUSINESS IN ROMANIA?

Growing, and will keep growing with even higher acceleration. While things are changing in global manner, also Romanian market is facing quick changes. At this point, I would like to widen our perspective a little bit.

WHAT MAKES THE CASINO AN IMPORTANT AND POWERFUL ECONOMICAL FACT?

Casino is provider of high amount of cash flow, tax income for the states, large employment volume and constant liquidity income. Governments are realizing the dynamics and real power of casino business in their countries. All around the world, casinos are renewing their operations and their identities along with their government’s policies. In America, states are approving Live Casino Gaming laws one after other. America is not consisting of Vegas and Atlantic City anymore. When we turn to the East, Macau is rising as a new jewel of Asia, pulling incredible amount of money from countries and states around. Russia just launched their modernization and centralization process. Russian investors are already started to overwhelm European casino market with their huge projects. Turkish government is suffering the consequences of the closure decision they took 10 years ago and looking for ways to set the things back. Kazakh authorities took swift decision for their program almost two years ago in order to become casino paradise in their zone. Clearly, despite global crises, casino market is developing very aggressive and remarkably. In Romanian market things are not different.

The year of 2008 ended with special results for the Romanian poker players within live tours, culminating with Ciprian Hrisco’s performance of placing second at EPT Budapest. Live poker has grown in popularity in recent years and online poker rooms have began focusing their attention on live events. One of the most popular poker rooms in Europe to have turned its attention towards live events is Unibet Poker. In 2008, Unibet organized four live tours in Prague, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw, each of the four having prizes totaling over EUR 400,000!

In 2009, Unibet continues the series of live events with Unibet Open Budapest which will take place at Tropicana Casino in the Hungarian capital, between the 4th and 8th of March. The fund of prizes for the tour in Budapest is estimated at over EUR 450,000!

Romanian players have available several options to participate at the open in Budapest. Beside the direct buy-in at the event, which can be done directly at Unibet Poker, or the structure of daily satellites, beginning from EUR 0, Unibet Poker also offers a place to the winner of the ’09 Poker League, competition dedicated exclusively to omanian players, with total prizes adding up to more than EUR 3,000!

IS CRINA MATEI PRIMARILY A SINGER OR AN ACTRESS?

I am an actress before everything else. I made this definitive choice at a fairly young age, when I had to focus on a profession. With a short three-year activity in education and with a combined relapse between the art of show setting and educational management. Acting means availability and versatility. My singing voice has these attributes too. This happens now, after having studied with professors, with good knowledge of the speaking technique and of the art of singing. Alexandru Repan, my class professor, Mitica Popescu, Nicolae Gafton, Ozana Barabancea and the wonderful person who
is the soprano Mihaela Stan-ciu, leading singer of the National Opera in Bucharest were and still are my teachers in controlling and guiding the “beast”, that is my voice. I am a character full of contrasts and I let that show in everything I do.

HOW DOES THE “BEAST”, AS YOU ARTISTICALLY CALLED YOUR VOICE, HELP YOU?

The voice serves my personality and vice versa. Whether it is about theater, music or television and, sometimes, not that often, I help my friends who request my presence on fashion presentations.

IN WHAT OTHER LIVES OR COSTUMES CAN A PASSIONATE FAN OF OPERETTA THEATER OR OF MUSICHALL MEET YOU?

For instance, in the show “Broadway-Bucuresti”; or in “Cabaret”; or, why not, the show “A Buffoon in Venice”. All played at the National Operetta Theater. But also in a private project signed by Beatrice Rancea: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare. There I play Hermina. I miss “fiatra”, another wonderful show also signed by Beatrice, played at Constanta. I played Rozika in that one.

HAVE YOU BEEN PART OF OTHER INTERESTING PROJECTS?

I had the chance to collaborate with well-known Romanian artists: Claudiu Bleont, Marius Bodochi, Marius Miha-lache.
Together with Marius Miha-lache I carried out a special project, inspired from Romanian music belonging to various times, which I successfully presented in Austria, Germany and Vietnam. The latest travel was to Belgium, where I took Romanian singing under the dome of the European Parliament.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR LAST PROJECT, CALLED “CRINA MATEI ORCHESTRA”!

Starting from old successful hits, fiddler songs, inspired by folklore, I wanted to bring to the public that particular music that addresses our common subconscious heritage, by introducing current trends to the ever young rhythms of the Romanian fiddler bands.

DOES THIS SHOW HAVE GUESTS FROM OVERSEAS?

Yes. My special guests are the Cubans in the band Los Cubanisi-mos. They have the role of demonstrating once more that, even though we may have two different cultures, music remains a universal language. Los Cubanisimos are those who, by means of their tunes, bring an addition of positive energy from the Caribbean area.

WHAT OTHER CHARACTERS DOES THE PROJECT INCLUDE?

The rhythms and musical performances are strongly sustained by humor, typically Romanian and ex-pressed in various shapes: either through text, or through a dialogue between the instruments or through a certain way I interpret things.

And then there are other actors dancing and singing, sometimes with subtle appeals, other times with outbursts of energy. They are Vasile, Petru and Vadim. They all work in Dan Puric’s band and their echnique is easily recognizable. The boys bring back the charm of times past, in contrast with contemporary rhythms and energies…And also add to the picture the costumes of the designer Geanina Punkosti.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A LUCKY PERSON?

I am a person loved and protected by God.

HAVE YOU BEEN IN ANY CASINO TO BET ON NUMBER 13?

No, even though 13 is no bad luck for me. However, I won the biggest sum of the evening the first time, and last, I set foot in a bingo room: beginner’s luck.

WHEN YOU HAVE THE TIME, DO YOU BROWSE THROUGH CASINO MAGAZINE?

I read it when I can find it on a plane.

The Venetian resort is the largest five-star hotel on the American continent. Built on the spot of the former Hotel Sands, the resort which also includes the hotel and casino with the same name is located in the famous Vegas Strip, the place where gambling fans all over the world meet.

As its name announces, the resort is built in a genuine Venetian style, from architecture, to the street atmosphere and typical Italian details.
The hotel has 4,049 apartments and a huge casino covering a surface of over 11,000 square meters. Together with the Sands Expo Business Center and The Palazzo Hotel, all three belonging to Las Vegas Sands Corp, The Venetian is part of the largest complex in the world, offering its visitors 7,128 rooms and apartments.

On November 26th 1996, only 8 years after being bought by Sheldon Adelson, the hotel The Sands was demolished in order to make room for the Venetian Resort. The opening of the resort took place on May 3rd 1999, with white pigeons, trump sounds, gondoliers singing, having Sophia Loren as special guest who also “baptized” the first motorized gondola, along with the owner Sheldon Adel-son.

VENICE SEEN FROM UPPER FLOORS

The location spoils its visitors by transposing them directly in the midst of the Venetian atmosphere, with the famous Grand Canal Shoppes, with a replica of the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, the Venetian Tower, Phantom Theater and Blue Man Theater but also with Madame Tussaud’s Theater in Vegas and Tao night club, full of celebrities. Right before the casino, but also on the channels on the second floor of the building, there are Venetian gondolas wandering around.

The Venetian Casino offers over 122 casino games, beside slot machines and playing tables, as well as a sport bets room. Classic opulence dominates the gaming zone from The Venetian. A poker room of over 350 square meters, marble floors, ceilings with hand made frescos and sophisticated furniture.

Even if you prefer Texas Hold’em, Stud or Omaha, in the poker room from The Venetian you will find 39 poker tables with different game variants and with limits from 4 and 8 dollars. Here there is also a separated area for high-stake games, with 7 tables with high limits, two relaxation areas, a comfortable environment, for non-smokers, 21 large plasma TV sets, adjustable chairs and safe deposit boxes. The Venetian offers a great variety of playing tables in a friendly environment. More than 139 tables, among which Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Pai Gow Tiles, Pai Gow Poker, Poker Let It Ride 357, Caribbean Stud, Big Six, Three-Card Poker, Spanish 21, Casino War and Poker Texas Hold’em.

Beyond the poker and playing table zone, The Venetian offers the best Mega-jackpot slot machines in the entire Las Vegas, even the most demanding of players can find an option to play here. One can play from 1 to 1000 dollars and the jackpots reach as high as 1 million dollars. The area for bets offers a possibility of relaxation and each guest of the resort can watch here all the favorite sports on the huge screens. The bets include sports among which football, basketball, baseball, boxing, hokey etc.

Spot is a well-known brand in gambling industry and not only; it was set up in 1990 in the Czech Republic by the Valenta family.

The holding includes 50 companies operating in the Czech Republic, and 16 more, set up in various European countries. Although Synot Holding is a well balanced organization the business activities of which span over various sectors, the most important area relates to gambling industry, proving to be a success ever since its debut in 1990. Synot also operates in the sport bets area, VTL systems and is a producer of video multigame machines and video multigame terminals.

The most important production lines are the Explosive Games and the IVT1 and IVT2 online versions. All these products have proven their value in the Czech Republic and Explosive Games have also registered excellent results in other European countries such as Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. Explosive Games were developed by Synot’s Swedish partner, Boss Media, owned by one of the most important players in the world gambling industry -Gtech. Explosive Games currently offer 10 video games and new ones are scheduled to be added.

Beside Explosive Games, Synot produces Mystic Games with 6 video games and is a distributor of machines produced by JPM International. Explosive Games and Mystic Games are offered in three types of metallic cabins, produced in the Czech Republic – Marius, Synot and Slant Top. Explosive Games are equipped with products belonging to some famous gaming equipment producers.

A game not very familiar in Romania but highly popular in the Asian countries where every fourth citizen practices it is Pachinko. Pachinko is a device which could be described as a crossover between a flipper and a slot-machine, like a sort of a vertical pinball. It seems it was invented after the Second World War, in Nagoya. Today, there are around 15,000 parlors dedicated to it and approximately two million machines. In Japan, this game places third in entertainment industry, after restaurants and tourism.

Officially, the first pachinko machine was made in 1920 and it was meant for children. Only in 1930 did the first versions for adults appear in the conditions in which during that period all gaming parlors had been shut down in Japan. In the ’40s, when the officials allowed gambling once again, pachinko had already become very popular and appreciated.

STEEL BALLS CAN MAKE YOU A RICH PERSON

There are several types of pachinko machines but all are based on the same game style. The participants buy metal balls, either directly with money, or with chips or cards. With these balls the player shoots on target on a special track with the purpose of winning as much balls as possible. The digital machine has a screen on which several symbols are aligned and the objective is to line up three symbols of the same type. The screens are rich in animation, with a preference for classical cartoon or erotic characters.

Initially, the machine was manually driven and the player would aim at each ball at a time. The modern models are electrically driven and there are thousands of aligned balls participating in the game while the player controls only how fast these balls move around. The steel balls are confined in a labyrinth and fall through an opening after crossing all along the screen. While most balls drop at the bottom of the machine, some occasionally drop in the center of the screen, driving the symbols which spin on the same principle as the slot-machines.

When two symbols match, the digital program automatically switches on and enters “reach mode”, time at which short films and animations are presented in order to postpone the moment when the big prize is announced. It’s all a matter of entertainment meant to build up the pressure on the player. If three symbols of the same type are aligned, for which fact the odds are 330 to 1, the player wins balls which can be turned into money or which he can use to play one more series of rounds. On average, one can win 1250 balls on a jackpot. But these are not delivered all at once, but throughout 15 rounds.

More recently, that is in 2007, the producers thought of another method of winning, the mini-jackpot, in which the balls are delivered in two rounds. The opening through which these balls drop remains open for only 0.8 seconds.

But once a jackpot is won, the probability to win the next one increased 10 times and instead of having odds of 330 to 1, the player will now have 33 to 1 chances.

YAKUZA RULES PACHINKO

These systems are valid for standard machines. But they can be adjusted for other jackpots, or to award a certain number of balls, or for different gaming speeds, etc. And, of course, they come decorated with thousands and thousands of drawings.
The latest type of pachinko is Pachinko Go in which there are launched entire series of balls; however, their number can be decreased or increased by means of a special handle.
You should also know that if you decide to play pachinko in Japan, you won’t get prizes in money, this thing being forbidden in this country. You will be rewarded with plush toy-animals or even pens and cigarettes. It’s also good to know that gambling parlors in Asia, especially pachinko ones, are used by the Yakuza, the local mafia clans, for money laundering. So, this law allowing only for prizes in symbolical objects is actually trying to limit illegal winnings. Pachinko can also be played online on lots of websites, including in Romania.