You are here: Home / Archives for grand

VIDEO: Boyz II Men Ripped for Awful National Anthem at Las Vegas Grand Prix

Boyz II Men grabbed some unwanted attention from the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday by butchering an a cappella version of the national anthem.

Boyz II Men  came into the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix promising a memorable performance and delivered one for the wrong reason. (Image: YouTube/@Fe1ipe)

It was clear that the four-time Grammy winning soul stars, known for their chart-topping 1992 hit “End of the Road,” were in trouble from only their third note. Their attempt to harmonize on the “Oh” in “Oh say can you see?” resulted in a flat clunker from which the trio never fully recovered.

Oh Say Can You Sing?

Immediately, social media did what it does best — attack.

GPFans editor Chris Deeley tweeted: “Congratulations Boyz II Men for the worst anthem rendition of the season.”

“Ears are bleeding,” echoed Threads user @casperalizander.

“Maybe they didn’t have in ears,” reasoned Threads user @formulawhat. “The wind can be lethal. (I’m coping. This is me 90s rnb coping.)”

Judge for yourself…




“@context”:”http://schema.org/”,”@id”:”https://www.casino.org/news/boyz-ii-men-ripped-for-awful-f1-national-anthem/#arve-youtube-mebi7w65jqi674412741ecac907508478″,”type”:”VideoObject”,”embedURL”:”https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/meBI7w65jQI?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0″

About a month before the race, band member Wanya Morris made last night all the worse by raising expectations.

“I’m not sure if F1 has ever experienced hearing a Boyz II Men anthem,” he said, “but we’ve been told it’s pretty sexy.”

Banner Bad

Boyz II Men’s version was by no means championship-level awful. The high bar for screwing up “The Star-Spangled Banner” remains, of course, comedian Roseanne Barr. Her 1990 rendition at a San Diego Padres game included singing nowhere near any of the notes, grabbing her crotch and spitting on the pitcher’s mound.

After that atrocity, every bad performance finished far behind. They include Christina Aguilera’s Super Bowl XLV attempt that included wrong notes and lyrics, flubbed high notes from Olympic track star Carl Lewis prior to a 1993 Chicago Bulls game, and a slow, throaty rendition by former Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie that cracked up basketball stars Draymond Green and Steph Curry at the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend.

The post VIDEO: Boyz II Men Ripped for Awful National Anthem at Las Vegas Grand Prix appeared first on Casino.org.

Filed Under: Gambling News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort Agrees to $250K Settlement With Nevada Gaming Commission

The Grand Sierra Resort in Reno has agreed to pay the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) a quarter of a million dollars to settle a regulatory complaint stemming from an incident last year.

Grand Sierra Resort Nevada Gaming Commission
The Grand Sierra Resort in Reno has agreed to pay $250K to settle a regulatory complaint brought by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. This week, the Nevada Gaming Commission signed off on the resolution. (Image: Grand Sierra Resort)

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) brought a complaint against MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC, doing business as the Grand Sierra Resort, after one of its agents reported being denied prompt access to the property’s Grand Theatre during a routine inspection.

Michael Somps, a senior deputy attorney general in the Nevada Attorney General’s Office who represented the state in the matter, told the NGC that a Gaming Enforcement Division agent arrived at the Reno casino on Dec. 19, 2023. During the agent’s inspection, casino security approached the agent after he bypassed a metal detector outside the theater’s entrance.

Casino security told the agent, who had his NGCB badge and credentials displayed, that he had to relinquish his firearm before entering the theater. After about six minutes, higher-ups with the resort informed the security personnel that the gaming agent could enter the theater with his weapon.

Rare Occurrence

All establishments licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission are subjected to routine inspections. State gaming agents are to have immediate and full access to “all portions of the premises,” with the definition of premises being “curb to curb,” said Somps.

The senior deputy attorney general explained that gaming agents review areas off of the casino floor to ensure that no illegal gambling or other unlawful activity is occurring inside the licensed gaming facility.

While a brief delay for access is sometimes common, a delay of six minutes, which the agent disputed and said was longer, is an outlier according to Somps. Paired with a similar incident in 2021 where a third-party security guard hired by the Grand Sierra blocked a gaming agent’s immediate access until he was wanded, Somps said a $250K penalty against the resort was warranted.

Licensees have a long history of complying and granting Board agents immediate access to all portions of the premises. The Board views the Grand Sierra Resort’s violation seriously and maintains that licensees and their employees understand that any Board agent be given immediate access to any portion of the premises of the gaming establishment after they display their credentials,” Somps said.

The Meruelo Group, the parent owner of the Grand Sierra Resort controlled by billionaire Alex Meruelo, did not contest the fine in agreeing to settle the complaint.

The $250K fine comes just days after Meruelo’s Grand Sierra donated $15K each to the Robert Mitchell Elementary School and Vaughn Middle School, both of which are part of the Washoe County School District.

Where the Money Goes 

The Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board are responsible for the strict regulation of all persons, locations, practices, and activities associated with the state’s gaming industry. Nevada’s gaming law allows the NGC to impose fines on licensees found to be non-compliant with its regulations.

Fines received by the state gaming agency are directed to the Nevada General Fund. The $250K fine against Grand Sierra slightly offsets another decision made on Monday that determined that Nevada Restaurant Services Inc., the parent of Dotty’s gaming taverns, was owed a $3 million tax refund.

The post Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort Agrees to $250K Settlement With Nevada Gaming Commission appeared first on Casino.org.

Filed Under: Gambling News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Off-Strip Casino Sues F1 Over Las Vegas Grand Prix

The owners of Ellis Island Casino are suing F1 for monetary damages it claims to have suffered at the hands of last year’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The grandstands Ellis Island erected in front of its property for Las Vegas Grand Prix viewing. (Image: Nevada Independent)

The suit — filed last month but first reported on Friday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal — seeks more than $50,000 in compensation and also names Clark County and the State of Nevada as defendants.

Ellis Island claims that the race, and the six months of setup and teardown on either side of it, impeded both employees and customers from accessing its property, which is located on Koval Lane right next door to F1’s now-permanent, $500 million paddock building.

The night before the first practice round, according to the lawsuit, “plaintiffs’ graveyard shift team was informed by F1 or its agents that no one [was] allowed to come or go” for three hours.

The lawsuit also faults the county for categorizing the race as a special event without requiring F1 to file for a special use permit, and faults F1 for promoting this year’s race before the county held a debriefing on the first one.

Ellis Island was a Grand Prix sponsor that erected a 1,000-seat grandstand in its parking lot for viewing the race — reportedly paying a handsome but undisclosed sum for the right to do so and charging $1,500 per three-day pass.

“We saw the value of Formula One and having the facility right next door, we knew we wanted to find a way to get involved,” Ellis Island VP of Development Christina Ellis told the Nevada Independent last September. “We got into conversations pretty early on how we could be good neighbors.”

Not the First

This is the second lawsuit against F1 over the race. Last November, a group of 35,000 fans filed a class action suit last November for being cleared out of a grandstand because of a delayed practice round they paid hundreds of dollars each to view.

The outcome of that lawsuit was never reported.

In February, more than a dozen businesses near the circuit threatened to sue F1 for the $30 million they claim to have lost when race preparations cut them off from their normal customer base.

No lawsuit has yet been filed on their behalf. However, six of the businesses filed a Change.org petition calling on the Clark County Commission to deny a special use permit to close the streets for this year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 21-23.

 

The post Off-Strip Casino Sues F1 Over Las Vegas Grand Prix appeared first on Casino.org.

Filed Under: Gambling News Tagged With: , , ,

On-Sale Dates Announced for (Cheaper) 2024 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Fans can see the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix starting at $150 less than they paid to see last year’s inaugural race. Tickets, starting at $350, will go on sale to the public starting Monday, March 25, at 10 a.m. PT for race weekend, which will be held Nov. 21-23, 2024.

Tickets to the inaugural F1 Grand Prix started at $500. (Image: Reuters)

“We are incredibly proud of the inaugural Las Vegas race and look forward to leveraging the successes and learnings of 2023 as we evolve the race weekend for the benefit of all our stakeholders,” Renee Wilm, CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, said in a statement.

Single-day tickets for the Grand Prix race on Saturday, Nov. 23, start at $350. Standing-room-only tickets in the Flamingo General Admission section start at $600 for a three-day ticket.

All prices listed here exclude taxes and fees.

The Caesars Palace Experience will start at $850. This section will be located along Las Vegas Boulevard and will have access to the Caesars Palace fan zone. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

T-Mobile General Admission, which is also standing-room-only, will start at $1,050. These tickets include interactive experiences plus complimentary food, water, and soft drinks.

Grandstands are priced as follows:

  • Heineken Silver Main Grandstand ($2,750)
  • T-Mobile Grandstands (three tiers starting at $1,800)
  • West Harmon Zone Grandstands (two tiers starting at $1,500)

Clubs are priced as follows:

  • Skybox* ($10,500 plus taxes and fees) — NEW for 2024: Fans will have the option to purchase a Skybox ticket with an assigned seat in the Heineken Silver Main Grandstand for a total of $12,500 per person.
  • NEW Turn 3 Club ($9,300)
  • Champions Club ($8,900)
  • NEW Club Overtake* ($5,500)
  • Legacy ($5,500)
  • Club Paris ($3,750)
  • HGV Clubhouse ($3,500)

Luxury spaces are priced as follows:

  • F1 Garage ($35,000)
  • Additional details on the F1 Garage experience will be shared in the coming months
  • Wynn Grid Club ($25,000)
  • Paddock Club ($15,000)
  • Bellagio Fountain Club ($12,500)

Nevada residents will get early access starting Friday, March 22, at noon through Sunday, March 24. To access the presale, fans must purchase tickets via Ticketmaster using a credit or debit card linked to a Nevada billing address.

Visit f1lasvegasgp.com for more information and to sign up for updates.

The post On-Sale Dates Announced for (Cheaper) 2024 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix appeared first on Casino.org.

Filed Under: Gambling News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Baroness Mone’s Grand National Favorite in £202M PPE Medpro Fraud Storm

A racehorse owned by the UK’s most controversial couple may be pulled from England’s famous Grand National steeplechase, despite being one of the favorites for the race.

Michelle Mone, Doug Barrowman, Monbeg Genius, PPE Medpro, Grand National, fraud
Baroness Michelle Mone, left, with her husband, Doug Barrowman, may be the UK’s most hated couple. But what does that mean for their racehorse, Monbeg Genius, one of the favorites for the Grand National? (Image: BBC News)

Monbeg Genius is owned by Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, and is priced by bookmakers at 20/1 to win, making it the third favorite.

But the couple is at the center of a media storm. Mone and Barrowman are currently under investigation by the National Crime Agency, the UK’s version of the FBI, over alleged links to PPE Medpro. That company won government contracts worth £202 million (US$253 million) to produce PPE equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PPE Medpro Scandal

Mone, a Scottish former model who founded the lingerie company Ultimo in 1996, was made a “life peer” in September 2015 for her services to business. This allowed her to sit in the House of Lords, the UK’s upper house, and call herself Baroness Mone of Mayfair.

PPE Medpro was contracted to supply facemasks and surgical gowns without competitive tenders under COVID-19 emergency rules that waived regular procedures.

In January 2022, it emerged that Mone used her government position to “aggressively” recommend Medpro for the contract five days before the company had been incorporated.

Much of the supplied equipment fell below the required standard, and the UK government has initiated proceedings to recoup £122 million (US$153 million) from the company.

Despite the couple’s repeated denials of involvement with PPE Medpro, The Guardian reported in November 2022 that an offshore trust received £29 million from the company via a series of transactions involving Barrowman. Mone and her children were the beneficiaries of the trust.

In late January, it was reported that £75 million worth (US$94 million) of assets controlled by the couple had been “frozen or restrained” by a court order obtained by Crown prosecutors.

Wedding Present

Meanwhile, the British Horseracing Authority is investigating whether Monbeg Genius is one of those frozen assets. Mone purchased the eight-year-old gelding in November 2020 as a wedding present for her husband.

The BHA is aware of reports regarding a court order in relation to the assets of Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman,” a British Horseracing Authority spokesperson said in a statement. “We are in contact with the relevant individuals to understand what implications, if any, there are for their involvement with racing.”

Should Monbeg Genius be free to run, as has been suggested by The Daily Mirror, it would be bad optics for the BHA.

The Grand National is a national institution and the only horse racing event with which the general public engages every year. For bookmakers, it’s huge because it captures the “one-bet-a-year” demographic – those who choose to place a bet. After all, they see it as a harmless tradition.

The race comes with a £500K (US$627K) prize for the winning horse’s owner. Should Monbeg Genius run and come through at 20/1, he may just be the most unpopular winner in the race’s 185-year history.

The post Baroness Mone’s Grand National Favorite in £202M PPE Medpro Fraud Storm appeared first on Casino.org.

Filed Under: Gambling News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,