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Poker and gaming are without any doubt two industries that certainly have a lot of interesting people and stories to reveal. While the poker community is presently buzzing with the exciting action happening in the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the gaming sphere is battling the emergence of widespread illegal activities.
If you thought that the poker fraternity could only be unconventional on the felts, then you’re in for a surprise. Our first story brings to you the eccentricities of poker pro and YouTuber Joey Ingram, who chose to perform karaoke rather than entering the WSOP Main Event all for a $400 prop bet!
In our second and final story, we take a look at the efforts that the Macau Judicial Police are making in order to prevent the illegal exchange of money in casinos located in the Cotai area.
So, let’s get right to it folks!
Well known poker pro and YouTube star, Joey Ingram is a rather quirky personality. From taking a prop bet for speaking fluent Mandarin to ranting on Twitter about being harassed by phone charger salespeople to running deep to place 17th in Event #49: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship for $28,502 in the ongoing WSOP, Ingram has done it all! So, it wasn’t really out-of-character for him to miss out on the Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em MAIN EVENT – World Championship.
After the fireworks display on July 4, Ingram posted a short clip on his Twitter handle revealing what he skipped the Main Event for.
How is my Main Event going??
I’ve retired from poker to become a professional out of line singer that seduces older women 😈🚀pic.twitter.com/RuEBJccIys
— Joey Ingram (@Joeingram1) July 5, 2018
The 16-seconds long clip showed Ingram performing karaoke. A longer version of the clip was posted by the co-founder of FantasyLabs Jonathan Bales.
My 4th of July was betting @Joeingram1 he wouldn’t do this. He did, and we all won. pic.twitter.com/84O7lu1bwz
— Jonathan Bales (@BalesFootball) July 5, 2018
After further enquiry it was found out that the impromptu karaoke performance was a result of another prop bet. Bales had initially offered $200 to Ingram but was refused. However, with a little bit of liquid courage and an increased offer of $400, Ingram took to the stage like a rockstar!
In retrospect Bales said, “It was actually pretty hilarious because they weirdly had really good singers and Joey was… not.”
On July 4, the Judiciary Police in Macau arrested 13 individuals for visiting casinos in the Cotai area. The arrests were made in relation to an ongoing anti-crime operation regarding the unlawful money transactions that have been taking places in casinos.
The 13 people who have been arrested in an effort to combat online gambling were all natives of the Chinese mainland. Similar to the detention of eight people in June at casinos in Cotai, these individuals were also held back for the purpose of interrogation.
Judiciary Police Director Sit Chong Meng informed the local media that the officers on his force ‘have been actively pursuing illicit money exchanges in casinos since the end of 2017’. He hinted that hundreds of mainlanders who had been suspected of participating in illicit activities have already returned to mainland China following a three-year ban from Macau.
An announcement had been made in May by the secretary for security in Macau, Wong Sio Chak, stating that an increase in effort will be made by the city’s police to eradicate illegal money exchanges in casinos that lie within Macau’s territorial jurisdiction. Following the announcement, 12 different operations were carried out to target the activity, with Wong claiming that “the police have effectively ‘cracked down’ on gaming-related crimes since the beginning of the year”.
A spokesperson for the police force, Chan Cho Man had stated in February this year, “We are paying close attention to this situation and we will continue to crack down on this type of crime.”
Hopefully, with the immense effort and hard work that the Macau cops are putting in, they will be able to bring an end to this problem of criminal monetary exchanges in casinos.
So that’s it for this Gossip Column scoop! We’ll be back again soon with more exciting news and gossip from the world of poker.
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