Bay 101 Casino News

Bay 101 Casino announced that it is extending its temporary closure until most likely the end of May. Below is a message posted on the casino's Facebook page and website. 'Six Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara county, announced today that they are extending the current Shelter-In-Place orders through the end of May, 2020. Bay 101 announced plans in 2013 to move across the freeway to the site of the San Jose Airport Hotel, near the new location of the city's other cardroom, Casino M8trix. The Bumb family had purchased the hotel in 2012 for more than $20 million, in anticipation of the cardroom's lease coming to an end in 2017.

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The 2020 running of the Bay 101 Shooting Star $5,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew 290 entries, building a $1,331,000 prize pool despite the growing concerns around the country regarding the spread of COVID-19. The field was narrowed down to stacked final ten that were set to return on Friday, March 13 to play down to a winner. Before play resumed, though, the remaining players negotiated a ten-way chop of the remaining prize pool based on ICM numbers. The Casino’s live bloggers covering the event explained that the decision was “due to circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus.”

World Poker Tour champion and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Craig Varnell held the chip lead at the time the deal was made, and was awarded the largest payout of $159,710 and the title. The score brought his career earnings to $2,643,430.

Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell was second in chips when the deal was made, and was awarded $141,520 as the second-place finisher in the final results listings. The cash was enough to see Bicknell surpass $5 million in career live tournament earnings, making her only the third female player to ever do so behind Vanessa Selbst and Kathy Liebert. After the deal was made, she took to Twitter to note how tough the situation was to assess.

One of the strangest chop situations I could have imagined. Would have loved to play it out and personally don't think ending play at this point would reduce any possible spread, but I could be wrong

— Kristen Bicknell (@krissyb24poker) March 13, 2020

Bicknell also Tweeted that it was, “Unfortunate to not play this out, I hope all are safe and well! Thanks to [Bay 101 Casino] and [Tournament Director Matt Savage] for hosting another great event and handling this the best that they could.”

There were plenty of other highly accomplished players who were involved in the deal, including WPT and WSOP winner Tyler Patterson, who took home $113,860 for fourth place. Patterson described the result as a “Covid-19 induced ICM chop” on Twitter.

Swedish poker pro Michael Tureniec was awarded $91,180 as the sixth-place finisher, while three-time WPT champion and two-time bracelet winner Anthony Zinno cashed for $55,600 as the eighth-place finisher. Bracelet winner and two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Anthony Spinella earned $50,000 for ninth place, while Lexy Gavin earned her largest career cash of $41,060 for tenth place.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded to the final ten:

Winner photo via Bay 101 News’s tournament blog.

We’ve now entered June, and California is slowly beginning to open back up. That includes several gambling venues around the state. Unfortunately, it seems that Bay Area casinos are unlikely to reopen to the public within the next few weeks.

This part of the state has been one of the slowest to lift restrictions. Of course, the decision to reopen a casino ultimately lies with the Native American tribe that owns it. Today, we’re going to discuss when the gaming venues in the Bay Area are likely to start accepting guests again.

Let’s get into it!

Many Of California’s Casinos Have Already Reopened

California is home to a huge number of world-class gambling venues. Interestingly, all of these casinos are run by Native American tribes based in the state. California’s leaders have not yet approved commercial casinos to start operating.

Most of the casinos in this state are highly successful. That was, until March, when all of these gambling venues closed their doors to the public. For almost three months, nearly all of the casinos in California were closed.

Obviously, this couldn’t stay shut down forever. Many of the Native American tribes in the state instantly began working on ways to safely reopen to the public. These casinos sit on sovereign land, meaning they do not need specific approval from state officials to open back up.

Last month, several major California casinos began opening back up. Based on numerous reports, this was a hugely popular move. Hundreds of gamblers began flocking to these gaming venues to play.

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Some areas of California are taking longer to reopen than others. That’s especially true in the Bay Area, where officials have continued setting major restrictions. It’s unlikely that the casinos in this part of the state will remain closed for a little longer than some hoped.

Here’s what we know about this situation.

Bay Area Casinos May Not Open in June

As we just mentioned, the Bay Area has been a little slower to life restrictions than many other parts of the state. Things are slowly beginning to get back to normal here, though. Based on what’s being said, however, casinos here are still hesitant to reopen.

Each of the three casinos in this area, the San Pablo Lytton Casino, Graton Resort & Casino just outside Rohnert Park and River Rock Casino near Geyserville, all claim that it’s too early to open back up. Enormous pressure is being set on these venues to start operating again. Many tribes rely on their gambling revenue to function.

Matt Rodriquez, City Manager for the city of San Pablo, spoke about this situation to the media this week.

“Hopefully, there may be a state-wide order issued by Governor Newsom and the state public health officer to enable California tribal gaming to reopen with aggressive protective measures in place to protect their workers and the public,” he said.

Gavin Newsom is warning the state’s casinos about the danger of opening back up too soon. If a major spike in infections takes place, it’s likely that these venues will be forced to close once again.

The three venues we listed above have not yet set an opening date. No one knows exactly when they plan on reopening to the public. If the stars align, these properties may be able to offer sports betting options later this year.

California Continues to Push for Legal Sports Betting

The popularity of sports betting continues to grow around the United States. That’s especially true now that several major US sports leagues have begun operating again. More than 20 states have now legalized sports gambling, most of which are earning a huge amount of revenue every month from this industry.

Gavin Newsom and other state leaders recognize how much money can be earned by legalizing sports betting. California has one of the largest sports fan bases in the state.

The main issue now lies with the Native American tribes in the state. Many of these tribes want to ensure that a portion of the revenue earned here is dispersed properly. These tribes are also pushing against any commercial sports gambling options being offered.

Many feel that 2020 is the year that this happens. California’s economy has taken a major hit due to the global pandemic. Legalizing sports betting is just one of many ways that the state can start to earn more money.

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Sports fans around the state are getting excited. Before the end of the year, we may see the state’s gaming venues, including Bay Area casinos, offering sports betting options. We’ll be sure to offer updates on this situation as it changes.

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Do you think it’s time for Bay Area casinos to open back up? Will the coronavirus ever force these venues to close down again? Let us know in the comments section below!