Sphere CEO James Dolan Sexually Assaulted, Trafficked Masseuse, Litigation Claims

The CEO of Sphere Entertainment, which has a venue in Las Vegas, was accused Tuesday of the sex trafficking and repeated sex assault of a young woman who worked as a masseuse.

 Harvey Weinstein, left and James Dolan
Harvey Weinstein, left, and James Dolan, at a social occasion. The two are named as defendants in a lawsuit which claims they sexually assaulted a woman. (Image: Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the victim, Kellye Croft, filed a sensational lawsuit in California federal court. It claims Sphere CEO James Dolan and the embattled former film producer, Harvey Weinstein, were involved in the sex-capades.

Croft, a licensed massage therapist who worked for the Eagles rock band, gave Dolan a massage when the two were on a concert tour in 2013. Dolan then was part of a band, JD & The Straight Shot, which opened for the Eagles.

The massage was not particularly troublesome, until Croft tried to end it. Dolan treated Croft’s “resistance as part of a challenge or a game,” the suit claims.

Dolan then “grabbed Ms. Croft’s hands, dragging her to a couch in the same room and forcing her hands between his knees as he sat down… Dolan was extremely assertive, and pressured Ms. Croft into unwanted sexual intercourse with him.”

Later on the concert tour, Croft often was called to Dolan’s room.

On each of these occasions, Dolan made unwelcome advances toward Ms. Croft, and she felt obligated to submit to sex with him,” the suit said.

In 2014, Croft again joined the tour in Los Angeles. Dolan allegedly trafficked her.

While in California, Croft returned to a hotel to find Weinstein in the building.

While in his hotel suite, Weinstein tried “to intimidate Ms. Croft into giving him a naked massage on his bed, at one point physically preventing her from leaving his room.”

Weinstein followed Croft to her room, and sexually assaulted her, the suit claims.

Suffered Trauma

Attorney Douglas H. Wigdor is one of the lawyers representing Croft. In a statement provided by his office, Croft said,

“I have suffered so profoundly because of what James Dolan and Harvey Weinstein did to me years ago, and it was not an easy decision to come forward and seek justice.  But for me, to truly address my trauma, I need to seek accountability.”

James Dolan manipulated me, brought me to California to abuse me, and then set me up for a vicious attack by Weinstein.  My hope is that my lawsuit will force Dolan to acknowledge what he did to me and to take responsibility for the harm he has caused.”

Croft is seeking monetary damages in a jury trial.

Claims Without Merit

In a statement given to Casino.org on Wednesday, Dolan’s attorney, E. Danya Perry, said, “There is absolutely no merit to any of the allegations against Mr. Dolan.”

Kellye Croft and James Dolan had a friendship. The references to Harvey Weinstein are simply meant to inflame and appear to be plagiarized from prior cases against Mr. Weinstein. These claims reflect an act of retaliation by an attorney who has brought multiple cases against Mr. Dolan and has not won, and cannot win, a judgment against him. Mr. Dolan always believed Ms. Croft to be a good person and is surprised she would agree to these claims. Bottom line, this is not a he said/she said matter and there is compelling evidence to back up our position.”

Jennifer Bonjean, an attorney representing Weinstein, who is in prison, said he “vehemently denies these meritless allegations,” CNN reported.

Dolan is also the chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports, the group that manages the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.

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Revised New York iGaming Bill Filed by State Senator

Joseph Addabbo, a state senator from New York, has introduced a new version of a bill that, if approved, would legalize online casino gaming and internet lottery in the Empire State.

Senate Bill S8185 was tabled on January 11 and it has been referred to the committee for racing, gaming and wagering within the New York Senate. Senator Joseph Addabbo has previously attempted to have a similar bill approved, Senate Bill S4856 in early 2023, but it failed to pass.

The new bill includes, among other important aspects, information regarding the eligibility for licenses in the state. According to the bill, land-based casinos from New York are eligible to get licenses to operate online casinos. At the moment the state of New York has four upstate casinos and another three downstate that are currently in development.

The three racetracks that operate in the state are also eligible for iGaming licenses. These racetracks are operated by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Seneca Nation of Indians and the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

Three More Licenses

The bill also stipulates that three additional online casino licenses will be awarded through a bidding process. Applicants will need to commit to an affirmative action programme and each operator that eventually gets a license will have to pay a one-time fee of 2 million dollars.

The proposed legislation also states that live dealer studios that supply content to casinos licensed in the state must be located within the borders of the state of New York. Moreover, suppliers of live dealer games must enter into a labor agreement with a union. If the bill would pass into law then it would come into effect right away.

Internet Lottery Rules

The bill also proposes rules for internet lottery, allowing customers in New York to play joint, multi-jurisdiction and out-of-state lottery games online. This actual access to the lotteries could be done either through a mobile device or desktop computer. Senate Bill S8185 also states the New York State Division of Lottery would be in charge of overseeing sales of tickets online.

When it comes to taxes on iGaming activities, the bill sets a tax of 31.5% of gross gaming revenue for all license holders. Then the state will give a portion of 11 million dollars of the taxes collected to the Commission and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports in order to fund gambling addiction treatment.

Aiming To Replicate Sports Betting Success

The state of New York is looking for a repeat of the success registered by online sports betting. Almost two years ago the state launched legal internet sports betting, with the regulated market opening on 10 January 2022. Since then it has grown significantly and has become the largest market in the United States.

Moreover, in December 2023 a new state revenue record was set as operators managed to generate 188.3 million dollars in online sports betting revenue. The previous record for the state of New York was set in October 2023, with 166.3 million dollars. In November 2023 the state also reported a new record when it comes to internet sports betting handle: 2.11 billion dollars, an all-time high for the state but also for the entire United States.

Source: “Addabbo files revised New York igaming bill“. iGaming Business. January 12, 2024.

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Canadian Casino Forced to Close After Pipes Burst

Playtime Casino, located on Water Street in Kelowna, British Columbia, was overcome by water this week. Pipes burst and water flowed onto the floor and outside the building.

Playtime Casino Kelowna
Playtime Casino Kelowna, pictured above. The Canadian gaming property closed temporarily after pipes burst. (Image; Playtime Casino)

Kelowna Capital News reported that the flooding caused the gaming property to shut down for about a half hour on Sunday afternoon.

Local firefighters responded to a report of a broken sprinkler head at the property at about 3:30 p.m., according to the local news outlet.

Visitors were allowed back on the gaming floor after the water was cleaned up, and the casino was operating normally on Monday.

Cold Temps Blamed

The burst pipes allowed water to flow from the second floor of the gaming property to the outside and onto Water Street, according to Castanet, a local online news site.

No official damage estimate was released by the casino, but the repair costs were believed to be minimal. No injuries were reported.

Casino General Manager Clarissa Pruden told the news site that pipes running between the casino’s kitchen and its parking facility had frozen because of cold temperatures. Temperatures in Kelowna on Sunday ranged between 28 and 34 degrees, according to AccuWeather.

Clinton Wood, a casino visitor, told Castanet that he was playing a table game on Sunday afternoon when an alarm went off and officials ordered all visitors to leave.

Water was running all over the place and onto the street below by the parkade,” Wood recalled. “We got a pretty good car wash. All these people making all that money, and then the alarm went off. I joked that we were making too much money.”

He added there were “quite a few people” who were there at the time playing table games and slots.

Playtime Casino Kelowna features more than 450 slot machines along with a variety of table games, including blackjack, e-roulette, ultimate Texas hold ’em, and EZ baccarat.

Kelowna is located some 242 miles east of Vancouver, Canada.

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Lucky Player Hits Jackpot Worth 42 Million Dollars at Sportsbet.io

sportsbet-io-player-wins-biggest-ever-online-slots-jackpot-Sportsbet.io, the well-known international sports betting website and online casino, has announced that one of its customers has hit a huge slot jackpot worth no less than 42 million dollars.

The respective player was placing bets in USDT (Tether) cryptocurrency on Wheel of Wishes, one of the most popular slot games delivered by Alchemy Gaming, and the major jackpot dropped on December 20, 2023.

The enormous prize was one of the progressive jackpots offered in Games Global’s WowPot program. Jackpots within this brand start at 2 million euros and grow to much larger proportions as a part of each bet made on the game gets added to the prize pool.

Sportsbet.io also announced that the winner desired to remain anonymous, but did share some thoughts with the bookmaker’s representatives. The lucky customer revealed that he could not believe his eyes when the spin landed. “At first I thought it was a mistake,” the lucky player said, but revealed that later the fact that he won over 40 million dollars sank in and prompted him to start “running around the room shouting and celebrating.”

The winner said that he has not yet decided what to do with the money, revealing that he was not ready to make “any big decisions just yet.” However, he did say that one thing is certain: his family “will never have to worry about money again.”

Not In a Million Years

The lucky Sportsbet.io customer revealed that he was just relaxing by playing a few spins on his favorite online casino and that he was not expecting that moment to change his life, “not in a million years” he said. “I’ve been playing with Sportsbet.io for years,” the player added, “and it has proven to be the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Alex Haig, Director at Sportsbet.io, congratulated the lucky winner and underlined that this was the largest ever prize won on a single spin on an online slot game. “We couldn’t be prouder to see a Sportsbet.io player win the biggest prize in online slots history,” the Director added while also revealing that the player was able to withdraw his huge prize in less than 90 seconds.

In addition to the vast amount of money, the winner will also be treated to a flight to London for dinner with the Sportsbet.io team and also to VIP tickets to a football match at Newcastle United, a Premier League club which has the online sportsbook as one of its official partners.

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EGT Digital Expands to the Italian Market Thanks to the Deal with Microgame

EGT Digital keeps expanding across the European continent. The most recent expansion is on the Italian market, thanks to the deal with Microgame, one of the leading companies in the online gaming industry.

A huge milestone for both companies

egt-digitals-gaming-content-enters-the-italian-market-with-microgame- (1)EGT Digital is one of the leading providers based in Bulgaria. Its vast portfolio of games is currently available on 35 betting sites on Microgame’s platform. Among the games included in the offering is a popular jackpot Bell Link, as well as its top-performing titles such as Shining Crown Bell Link, Flaming Hot Bell Link, and Burning Hot Bell Link.

Zornitsa Boncheva, Regional Manager at EGT in Italy, commented on the recent expansion: “We are honored to start a partnership with a well-established company as Microgame, as it allows us to present our gaming content to numerous operators. Bell Link is already widely popular in many countries around the world and has demonstrated excellent results so far. That is why I am confident that it will fully satisfy the preferences of local players as well and will quickly rank among their favorites, which will pave the way for our next highly potential gaming proposals.”

The COO of Microgame, Marco Bedendo, is also satisfied with the recently signed deal and has huge expectations of it. He said: “Being the first in Italy to offer EGT Digital’s titles in our portfolio is an expression of our constant strive to always be at the forefront of the market and reflects our constant commitment to providing the Italian operators and players with a wide and continuously updated portfolio of games.”

Industry leaders

Microgame is one of the leading service providers in Italy. The company offers its customers a range of services, including access to advanced gaming platforms, various gaming products that captivate the attention of players, as well as various solutions that help in improving overall players’ experience.

On the other hand, EGT Digital is a Euro Gaming Technology subsidiary and established its position as one of the leading names in the Bulgarian market. It offers various services and modern products, including the X-Nave platform, CRM services, as well as impressive sports and gaming offerings, and many more unique and advanced services.

This newly established partnership sets a huge milestone for both included parties. This partnership follows other significant deals EGT recently made, such as the ones with VBet, Admiralbet, Player.ro, and other big industry names.

Source: Miller, George, EGT Digital’s gaming content enters the Italian market with Microgame”. European Gaming. January 9, 2024.

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