The Isle's $1 million Football Frenzy continues in November, with a weekly component and prizes. Meanwhile, the casino will give away an Acura MDX on Nov. 29.

According to the casino:

Jackpot Sweepstakes: On Nov. 1, all the winners of taxable jackpots during October will be eligible to enter a $10,000 drawing.

Play for Turkey: On Nov. 15-16, earn 50 points either or both days and get a Thanksgiving turkey certificate.

$100,000 Swipe and Win: Swipe your IsleOne card in November for your chance to win a share of $100,000 in cash and prizes. Prizes include t-shirts, gift cards and cash.

Acura Sweepstakes: The casino is giving away $5,000 in Isle Play from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 29, with a drawing for a Acura at 9 p.m.

$4.95 Breakfast: Every Saturday and Sunday in November, breakfast for is $4.95 in the Isle Buffet from 8 a.m – 11 a.m.

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At Dania Jai-Alai: The fronton has established a Play Your Way Card and rewards those who play non-tournament games. Among the prizes for those who play the most during the month are a 67-inch Samsung DLP HDTV with stand, a 37-inch ViewSonic LCD HDTV, a 31-inch AOC LCD HDTV, a 26-inch Envision LCD HDTV and a 16-inch ViewSonic Widescreen HDTV.

The Isle Casino’s poker room at Pompano Park is holding a $100 no-rebuy tournament at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1. Winner gets a seat into the WPT Boot Camp at The Isle, which will be held Nov. 15-16. For more info call the Isle poker room at (954) 972-2000, ext. 5123 or 5124.

Mardi Gras is holding an Election Day tournament, at 7 p.m. Nov. 4. Buy-in is $150, with $15,000 in prizes being paid out. (Assuming at least 75 players.) The casino is also giving away seats in the tournament to winners of $35 single-table tournaments.

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I wrote in the business section last week about a course teaching people how to repair slot machines.

Now if they can show me how to get one to hit a jackpot.

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Even though the Miami Heat isn't a participant, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is offering two promotions related to the team.

It starts with a watch party opening night Wednesday at the center casino bar for the game against the New York Knicks. From then until Dec. 29, those who sign up for the promotion will receive $20 in free play if the Heat wins 16 games (enough to break .500) from opening night through Dec. 30.

Then on Jan. 17, everyone that registered will be entered in a drawing; if the winner makes a half-court shot, he or she wins $500,000. (The casino likely will set up a hoop outside, near the front valet area.) To be part of the promotion, you have to join the casino's Players' Club, which is free.

The Heat is aware of the promotion, but can't endorse it. (The team has a marketing agreement with the Miccosukee Tribe.)

Sports gambling is illegal in Florida, but casinos are tiptoeing into ways to tie in sports. The Isle and Gulfstream, for example, have NFL prediction contests running and Mardi Gras gives away tickets to "Your Hometown NFL Team," while not naming the Dolphins directly.

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One of the most-asked questions regarding South Florida gambling has nothing to do with slot reels, blackjack opportunities or poker tournaments.

It’s about free booze.

Casino patrons familiar with Las Vegas and other parts of the country are often accustomed to sipping on a cocktail as they spin the slots or play blackjack.

But here, they’re coming up dry.

Why?

Here’s a primer:

Seminole Indian Tribe casinos (the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and casinos in Hollywood and Coconut Creek) generally don’t offer free drinks as a “business decision,” according to the Seminoles’ Joe Giaimo. But the Hard Rock makes an exception in the high-roller areas and table games where the action is at $100 minimums or more.

Slot areas at Gulfstream Park, Mardi Gras and the Isle, which are regulated by the state, are not allowed to give away drinks because of Florida State statute 551.121, created two years ago when the slots came to Broward County. The rule reads, in part, that slot players can’t get any breaks on alcoholic beverages that anyone else who walks into that casino can’t have.

“The concern of the legislature was that that casinos not provide some incentive for people to just sit there for eight hours at a time,” said David J. Roberts, director of the state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering.

Poker players generally aren’t big drinkers – they concentrate on the cards – so in some cases the free-drink issue is moot. That said, in September the card room at Dania Jai-Alai began offering free drinks to those playing “cash” (non-tournament) games.

“We’re trying to entice the players that come for the tournaments and bust out to go play live cash games,” assistant GM Marty Fleischman said.

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Gulfstream Park has added a $1 million NFL game-picking contest, similar to what www.theislepompanopark.com the Isle is running.

If you get 125 of the 143 games correct against the spread (87 percent) you win $1 million.

But you gotta get your picks in by 11 a.m. this Sunday.

The details:

You pick the winners of Sunday and Monday games. You have to belong to Gulfstream's Players Club. Entries are accepted Wednesday through Sunday.

Players may play once per day. Weekly winners will be announced by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Weekly prizes: $100 cash or NFL memorabilia for first, $75 or memorabilia for second, $50 or memorabilia for third; $75 in free play for fourth and fifth; $50 in free play for sixth through 10th.

The Isle's contest has grown each week, growing from 2,400 players in week one to almost 4,000 last week. Eight participants have picked more than 68 percent of the games correct. The prize for going through the whole year getting two-thirds correct is $1 million.

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Pembroke Pines resident Elizabeth McKinney flopped a full house of fives full of sevens to take the biggest pot of the night and the trophy at the third Dan Le Batard Celebrity Poker Tournament at Dania Jai-Alai Thursday night.

The fronton reported almost 300 participants, including "the world’s greatest American jai-alai player," Joey Cornblit. (I couldn't make it, so this is their report.)

“I was so nervous after I won that pot that my hands were shaking,” said she told Dania officials, as she posed for a post-tournament picture with 790 The Ticket’s host Dan Le Batard, whose name I am happy to spell correctly for once.

She chopped the pot with nine other players at the final table. They all got $1,077.

The card room is open Sundays through Thursdays from noon to midnight, Friday and Saturdays from noon to 3 am (or later). It's at 301 E. Dania Beach Blvd in Dania Beach.

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Those $100 tables on opening night have now become more player-friendly at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

The casino is promising $10 tables from 7 a.m. to noon on weekdays.

The casino has had $10 minium tables for a while now -- all casino minimums are based on supply and demand, so if action's slow the minimum drops -- but only last week began connecting the $10 tables to set hours. Currently, a minimum of four $10 tables are guaranteed during that timeframe, excluding holidays, and more may be available if those tables are full, Seminole spokesman Gary Bitner said.

"We want to accommodate these $10 players and are able to do so during our off-peak hours," he said.

The Hard Rock became the first Florida land-based casino to offer blackjack and other table games back on June 22. The first night it opened, there were 14 tables with $25 minimums and 41 with $100 minimums. Since then, the action has slowed down on off-peak times, but finding an affordable seat on weekends is still not always easy -- as is the case at any Las Vegas or Atlantic City casino.

So, the question for those who weren't playing before... we know the economy stinks, but will you hit the $10 tables?

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A Pembroke Pines woman hit a $1.4 million slots jackpot at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek last week and became the third person to score a $1 million-plus payday at that casino in 2008. Which prompts some questions:

How rare is it for a casino to have three such paydays in a year?

Only four other casinos have had a year of three $1 million-plus jackpots, according to statistics kept by International Game Technology, a slot machine manufacturer. They are the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, the Trump Taj Mahal and the Resorts Hotel Casino in New Jersey and the Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut.

How much did the players in Coconut Creek bet?

You only hit the jackpot if you bet the maximum (called “covering all the paylines” in slot parlance.) On March 22, Paulette Miles of Margate, who won $1.1 million on “Cash Cow,” played nine lines at 5 cents a line (a 45-cent bet). On July 19, a Lake Worth man who didn’t reveal his identity won $2 million on “Wheel of Fortune,” betting 25 cents per line over nine lines ($2.25 a spin). On Oct. 14, Gaskin played “Millionaire Sevens” and what is called a three-bet, 20-line, nickel reel machine ($3 per push).

How are such big jackpots rolling up?

The Seminole casinos are part of what are called wide-area progressive machines, linked to Native American casinos nationwide. Gaskin’s machine was one of 180 machines at 41 Native American casino nationwide. The three Broward racinos have slots that can be linked inside their own buildings, but not with other casinos – although they’re asking the state to allow them. Their largest jackpots often are at $250,000 or so.

Is there a downside to wide-area progressives?

Well, an undisclosed percentage of money from each spin is siphoned off from the regular payouts to build up the jackpot pool. So if you don’t hit the jackpot, the overall payout is lower than at non-progressive machines.

So if the payout is shared among 41 casinos, Coconut Creek hasn’t been hit that hard.

Correct.

How are the players paid?

They can walk out the door that day with a lump sum, or take installments over many years. Such decisions are not made public, Coconut Creek management says.

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My story about Jason Mercier, who tore it up in Europe this summer, made the print version of the SunSentinel today.

I didn't have space to include that he endured a bit of a slump: He cashed in only three of the 22 World Series of Poker events he entered. And I couldn't fully explain the online poker world (who could?) in a few paragraphs. Clearly, playing 5,500 hands a day on average meant that he was playing multiple games -- something I'd never had the skills, or the patience for.

Some commenters also had a good point: Not everyone should try this at home. In the original (non-cut) version, I quote Pat Fowler from the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, who, like a commenter, said that for everyone one Jason Mercier, there are dozens of college students who drop out, with no education and no job. Gambling addiction among college students has more than doubled because it's so easy to sit in your room and play online, she notes.

They also cut the kicker: that he bought his parents a new car, and that he offered them more money, but they said no.

His mom, Dottie: "It's his money. He won it, not us."

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Stop me if you're heard this one before: Someone hit a million-plus jackpot at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

Victoria Gaskin, 49, won $1,469,701.20 on the Millionaire Sevens. It's a linked progressive machine, meaning that the jackpot builds with money from several Seminole casinos. It's a 5-cent machine, but she likely was playing 45 cents a push to cover all the paylines.

Gaskin, of Pembroke Pines, was on an outing with her daughter, Brandi Northington. She was in an auto accident on Oct. 3; Brandi talked her into going out and getting her mind off her troubles. Gaskin's grandfather had died earlier that day as well.

"I hit it just once or twice and I thought I got a bonus and said, oooooo it’s adding up – when’s it gonna stop?" she told casino representatives. (She's pictured with her daughter and Seminole Coconut Creek GM Steve Bonner.)

The casino said she thought she saw the light going around -- it was jackpot light, and the machine locked up -- and Gaskin thought she had won $400 or $500, she said. Her daughter, who’d walked away for about 10 minutes, returned and said: “Mom you won the progressive slot!”

It's the third big hit since March at the Coconut Creek casino. On March 22, Paulette Miles of Margate played the "Cash Cow" nickel machine and won $1,114,815. On July 19, a Lake Worth retiree who declined to be identified played a 25-cent "Wheel of Fortune" machine and won $2,029,595.34.

Gaskin's story:

She'll be going home to Buffalo for her grandfather's funeral, then use the rest to pay off her townhome, which she bought in 1998. After that, she'll buy a new car to replace the one that's almost totaled, but she'll wait awhile, because she's banged-up so bad she can't drive for awhile anyway.

The rest will go into investments (talk about gambling!). She hopes to retire early from her 20-year job as a fleet service clerk (ramp bag handler) at Miami International Airport.

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Forget music superstardom. You know you've made it when people toss your face around as they gamble.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has created a $5 casino chip with Gloria Estefan's picture on it. This special edition collectible, the first in a musical series the hotel plans to promote, debuted to players and fans on Monday and is limited to a 2,500 run.

The chip is available at the casino cash cage and is valid for all table games (such as blackjack and Pai Gow poker, but not regular poker) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, only.

The casino chip launch coincides with the five-time Grammy Award-winner’s charitable concert 8 p.m. Oct. 24 at Hard Rock Live. A portion of the proceeds from that show will benefit the education funds of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Indian River County public schools. Tickets are available via ticketmaster.com

The rest of the Hard Rock release:

“Without a doubt, the Gloria Estefan chip will be an in-demand cross-over collectible,” said Gene Trimble, noted gaming chip collector, author and historian. “Between the chip collectors and Gloria’s fans, it is certain to be a scarce chip.”

Gloria Estefan’s career has spanned almost 3 decades with over 90 million albums sold worldwide. Her live concert tours have taken the performer around the globe with millions of fans cheering her on.

The former Gloria Fajardo, born in Havana, Cuba, in 1957, enjoyed her childhood and adolescence in Miami, where she still resides. At 18, she was invited to sing at a wedding with a local band called Miami Latin Boys. The gathering, in which she would meet the group’s young leader and future husband, Emilio Estefan, would mark the beginning of a radical change in her life. The singer would become an integral part of the band, later renaming itself Miami Sound Machine, and enjoy a string of hits known around the world.

Their first album in English, Eyes of Innocence, spawned the famous single “Dr. Beat,” a hit in Europe that took Miami Sound Machine to number one in the United Kingdom. The hits arrived continuously with the release of the album Primitive Love which sold more than 3 million units in the United States, alone, and produced the hit singles “Bad Boy,” “Words Get in the Way” and “Conga” - the song with which the band would become most identified. The song also has the distinction of being the only track in the history of music to appear simultaneously in Billboard’s Pop, Latin, Soul and Dance charts. The next two albums, Let It Loose (1987) and Cuts Both Ways (1989), were worldwide sensations. This period was dominated by audience favorites such as “Anything for You,” “Can’t Stay Away From You,” “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” “1-2-3,” “Don’t Wanna Lose You,” “Oye Mi Canto” and “Get on Your Feet.” Around this time also, Gloria Estefan’s name had taken center stage, still being backed by her infamous band Miami Sound Machine.

With success and awards in pocket, Estefan’s fortune took a severe turn in 1990. While sleeping, her tour bus, was involved in a horrible accident, leaving Estefan partially paralyzed. Against all odds, she surprised the world when she appeared on the American Music Awards just one year later singing an emotionally personal new composition, “Coming Out of the Dark.” That #1 song was followed by the album Into the Light and by a huge 17-country tour attended by more than 10 million people.

Following a Greatest Hits release in 1992, she released Mi Tierra (My Homeland), her first in Spanish in a decade. A critical and commercial success, Mi Tierra earned Estefan her first Grammy award.

In 1995, she returned once again to her Latin roots with Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors), another Grammy and another #1 hit with “Más Allá’ (Beyond)”. Estefan became the first pop music star to sing to a pope when she performed that song for John Paul II.

The ‘90s were a decade of great achievements for Estefan with “Reach,” the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics; from the album Destiny; a collection of dance tracks launched in 1998 to the name of Gloria!, and which featured “Don’t Let This Moment End” and “Heaven’s What I Feel” which she also performed at the Original Divas Live concert series for the VH1 network. The composer and musician also delved into acting working alongside Meryl Streep in Music Of The Heart, receiving accolades as well as an Oscar nomination for her theme song of the movie recorded with Justin Timberlake’s band *NSYNC.

In 2000, the Spanish-language album Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul) brought her another Grammy and several radio hits including a duet with Cuban music legend Celia Cruz. This was followed by one of her most personal and intimate records, Unwrapped in which she collaborated with music icons, Stevie Wonder and Chrissie Hynde.

An exemplary role model and artist, Estefan has received innumerable awards and distinctions including the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, BMI Song-Writer of the Year, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a host of MTV, VMA and Cable ACE awards. She was also given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor in 1993. This award constitutes the highest honor that can be bestowed on a naturalized U.S. citizen. She has even penned two New York Times best-selling children’s books. She is currently working on a script based on the life and career of ‘60s pop music icon, Connie Francis

The CD 90 Millas is Gloria’s Estefan’s latest and features musicians Arturo Sandoval, Andy Garcia, Chocolate, India, Cachao, Papo Lucca, Johnny Pacheco and Generoso. It includes the hit single “No Llores.”

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Twenty-four hour poker rooms make a difference to people like Harvey Factor.

The retired Aventura developer pops into Mardi Gras Gaming a couple of mornings a week now and sits down to play $2-$4 limit Texas Hold 'em.

"I'm glad to have that option," he said.

The expanded poker room hours at Mardi Gras apparently are drawing plenty of players like Factor: The card room's revenues are up 20 percent since going to a 24-hour format July 1.

Poker rooms based at horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai frontons have 12-hour licenses and usually operate from noon to midnight. But Mardi Gras has two racing permits, and this summer the state decreed that Mardi Gras could stack the permits and go to 24-hour poker.

The result: Mardi Gras' action has increased, while poker action a mile away at Gulfstream has dropped.

Gulfstream and The Isle also have two permits and are considering going to 24-hour poker. Dania Jai-Alai, which also has two permits -- but no slot action and thus an overall smaller crowd -- has gone to slightly expanded hours, keeping the poker room open from noon until about 3 a.m. on weekends.

Card rooms are trying to get you to be loyal. Three venues now have plans that reward you for playing there more:

At the Palm Beach Kennel Club, players can earn tickets for a $35,000 giveaway on Oct. 25. Each day between now and Oct. 25, the first player to get four of a kind or a specific straight or royal flush gets a drawing ticket.

From 2 to 8 p.m. Oct. 25, the card room will draw five $500 winners each hour. (So that's $2,500 per hour times six hours = $15,000.) The grand prize drawing is $20,000 at 8 p.m.

The fine print: only one winner each for the first four of a kind or straight flush each day is issued, i.e., the first person to get four deuces, for example, gets a ticket, all the way through four aces. Same goes for the straight flushes: one ticket for the first A-5 straight flush, one for the 2-6, etc., through the A-10 royal. Some of the higher hands get two tickets for the drawing, instead of one.

Dania Jai-Alai is logging players' time at the table (live games, not tournaments) from now through Oct. 31. The player with the most time gets $1,850. Players two through 10 get $250 to $450.

Gulfstream is holding "qualifying rounds" each night at 6:30 p.m. for a big tournament on Dec. 7. The top 50 point earners between now and Dec. 6 will gather on Dec. 7 and play for a 2009 Mercedes.

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We spent a day filming some video tips for SunSentinel.com, and I thought I'd put them all up here on one post.

The material is geared toward the beginning gambler, mainly because South Florida is still a relatively new gambling market.

The topics:

Hitting on "Soft 17" in blackjack:

The value of small pairs in video poker:

The importance of patience in Texas Hold 'em:

Making sure to join your casino's Players Club to maximize your benefits:

And making sure you "max bet" on slots to get the full jackpot -- you know it's gonna happen someday:

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Hey, I know it's a gambling blog, but since you're on the Internet, you might want to check out my fitness blog: www.sunsentinel.com/trialsanderrors,

Work off those casino buffets...

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Why didn’t someone else think of this?

The Seminole Casino Hollywood is having a “Strip Poker” promotion, and, while it’s not as good as it sounds, it’s still fun.

The casino, the old bingo hall known by locals as "Seminole Classic," spread across one wall an image of a female and male model, and each are covered with envelopes containing playing cards.

Contestants pick five envelopes to reveal not only the model, but a poker hand. A royal flush pays $75,000, a pair pays $750 and hands in between pay $750 to $5,000.

Drawings for players are hourly, 6 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through October.You have to fill join their Players' Club -- which is free and takes about 15 seconds -- in order to get entries into the drawing.

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If you're looking to adopt a greyhound, now's the time: The Palm Beach Kennel Club is waiving the standard $200 fee this month.

Palm Beach Kennel Club, Greyhound Pets of America (GPA), Greyhound Adoption League (GAL) and Elite Greyhound Adoptions (EGA) are offering the free adoptions as part of the state's declaration of October as "Greyhound Adoption Month."

The adoption groups offer applications online and will interview potential families. Once applicants are approved, the pets are placed and the groups offer continued support.

5-8 p.m. tonight and Oct. 17 and noon-7 p.m. Oct. 11-12 and 18-19 at Oktoberfest at the German-American Club, 5111 Lantana Road in Lake Worth.

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Mounts Botanical Gardens, 531 North Military Trail, West Palm Beach.

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 17-18 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Home & Garden Show at the South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 25 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 26 at World Pet Expo at the South Florida Fairgrounds.

9 a.m. to noon Oct. 25 at Howl O Ween Dog Expo at Wellington Dog Park, 2975 Greenbriar Blvd., Wellington.

5-7 p.m. Oct. 29-30 at Rooney’s Golf Foundation Tournament, Rooney’s Public House, 1153 Town Center Road, Jupiter

Oct. 31 at the Halloween Party at the Kennel Club, featuring a Greyhound Pet Costume Contest. The kennel club is at 1111 N. Congress Ave., West Palm Beach.

According to Palm Beach Kennel Club, greyhounds who are retired are gentle, friendly and easy to care for. Because of their temperament, they are great with children and make good companions on walks and jogs.

The kennel club works with Greyhound Pets of America, the Greyhound Adoption League and Elite Greyhound Adoption to find homes for retired Greyhounds, the kennel club says. The non-profit groups screen and inform potential adopters in order to find the right dog for the right person or family.

The contacts: Greyhound Pets of America: 561-737-1941 www.greyhoundpetsfl.org

Greyhound Adoption League: 561-615-0818 www.greyhoundadoptionleague.org

Elite Greyhound Adoptions: 561-252-2216 www.elitegreyhounds.org

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But if he's really in character, he'll try to take the oil well away from the winner...

Larry Hagman, who played conniving JR Ewing on the TV show Dallas, is part of the latest Seminole Casino Coconut Creek giveaway: an oil well. Hagman will sign autographs at the casino from 3-4:30 p.m. Oct. 11.

On Nov. 22, the casino will give away an oil well that produces two to five barrels per day.

"Everybody is giving away gas cards these days. But anybody can do that. We figured we’d one-up them and make a tycoon out of someone," Coconut Creek GM Steve Bonner said.

The winner of the oil well will receive a recurring revenue stream for life, he said.

"With the cost of oil at $100 a barrel, you can figure out yourself. The winner will receive thousands every month," he said. (My math: $200/day *365= $73,000 per year.)

Hagman's show ended 17 years ago (Dallas aired from 1978-91), but the casino has reached farther before, bringing in Leave it to Beaver stars. That show's first run ended 45 years ago.

Meanwhile, the casino has established a corporation with this name Take Stock in Black Gold Inc. Players Club members are all eligible to be stockholders and earn shares with every 1,000 points they earn while playing slots. The market value will be posted daily. They’ll turn their shares in each day for that market value/ free play.

Whatever happened to just a good old free-play coupon?

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The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling has hit the jackpot.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida announced a $300,000 donation to the center Tuesday, specifically for treatment of problem gamblers.

For the past 20 years, the gambling council has directed problem gamblers to treatment, but has had no funding to actually help them, executive director Pat Fowler said.

"As you can imagine, many people facing this isue don't have the funds to go out and pay for treatment," Fowler said. "We have a helpline, but it doesn't make any sense."

The council contracts with the state and is funded by $1.3 million from the Florida Lottery; a $250,000 licensing fee from the three Broward pari-mutuels; and a $100,000 contribution from the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The council took 4,208 calls on its 1-888-ADMIT-IT line last year, an increase after slots came to Broward County racinos.

The Tribe's John Fontana, president of the Hard Rock Tampa, also sits on Fowler's board. He pushed for the funding and made the presentation at the Florida Gaming Summit Tuesday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

"I've worked 10 years nonstop toward this goal," she said. "I not only badger the state, I badger the Tribe."

The council is now planning how to set up the program. In South Florida, for example, there are "certified and well-trained clinicians," she said.

"But in other parts of the state, there isn't even a Gamblers' Anonymous meeting to send them to," she said.

The best the council has been able to do is direct gamblers to Gamblers' Anonymous -- which she supports -- and develop aninteractive workbook, she said.

"But one size doesn't fit all, and there are people who need clinical help," she said.

Photo caption (Hard Rock photo): L-R: John Fontana, president, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa; Pat Fowler, executive director, Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling; Jim Allen, CEO, Seminole Gaming; and Paul Ashe, president, Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling.

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Through the first four weeks, 10 participants in the $1 million Isle Football Frenzy are on pace for the big prize.

The casino is offering $1 million to anyone who picks 67 percent of the NFL season's games correctly (against the spread).

The contest has drawn about 3,000 players a week; 10 have hit 64 percent or better, meaning they're within a good week of staying above water. The leader is 42 of 60 (70 percent).

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There’s been a lot of noise coming from our south lately about full-blown casinos in downtown Miami and at the revamped Fountainbleu Hotel on Miami Beach.

The Miami Herald has reported that developers of the proposed Miami Worldcenter project are exploring a constitutional amendment drive to allow casinos.

Good luck with that.

In theory, the idea makes perfect sense.

In reality, it’s never going to happen.

Some things to consider:

--If the developers go the amendment route, it would need 60 percent approval statewide to go forward. The 2002 amendment that opened the door to slot machines at pari-mutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade squeaked by with just over 50 percent approval. The threshold for passage has since been changed to 60 percent.

--This doesn’t have to be done by constitutional amendment. The Legislature has the authority to allow casinos or craft laws allowing votes at the local level. But that’s a real longshot, considering the traditional anti-gambling bent of central Florida and Panhandle legislators.

--Casino expansion beyond the pari-mutuels in Miami-Dade would blow up the framework of the state’s compact with the Seminoles, which already has been nullified by the Florida Supreme Court. The compact was based on limited exclusivity, with all Seminole payments stopping if any kind of slot machines or other gambling landed beyond the South Florida pari-mutuels. So much for that minimum annual $100 million coming from the Seminoles.

New casinos would infinitely complicate the compact process, and could ultimately allow the Seminoles’ gambling empire to go on forever without a single cent going to the state.

The shame of this is beachfront resort casinos are what Florida should have based its gambling policy on long ago. Can you imagine how much the state could have made if it authorized a dozen casinos in tourist areas – say Key West, Miami Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, etc. – with a bidding war up front from casino companies for the licenses and then a healthy rake of the profits?

Instead, after numerous casino proposals were shot down through the decades (by legislators and voters), we’ve had this backdoor piecemeal gambling expansion that has led to the state getting ridiculously shortchanged.

The Seminoles and Miccosukees were able to launch an untaxed empire after the federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulation Act in the 1980s, and local voters allowed slots at pari-mutuels in response to the tribes’ virtual monopoly.

Now the Seminoles continue to run blackjack and other table games without a compact and the federal government has shown no inclination to stop them. The pari-mutuels are playing catch up again and want a lower tax rate (currently 50 percent) and full table games.

What a squandered opportunity.

Too bad nobody had the foresight to do this right 30 years ago.

We could have been Las Vegas’ worst nightmare.

--MICHAEL MAYO

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The case of David Rheem is now closed in Broward County. His seat at the World Series of Poker is safe.

On July 15, Rheem became one of nine players to reach the final table at the World Series of Poker, set for Nov. 9. He’s short-stacked, but he’s one of the more experienced players at the table. First prize: $9.1 million.

Rheem, who lived in South Florida around the age of 20, had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest. News surfaced after our research department ran a routine public records check on him, which we do on every story source.

We found he had two felony convictions – we’ll touch on those later – and, in this case worse, a warrant still outstanding, for a 2003 trespassing charge that was never resolved. He was cited at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood; the police report doesn’t say much more.

Broward Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren said it wasn’t likely the warrant would be a problem, but if he happened to be in Broward, got stopped for some minor traffic infraction, then ...

But on Aug. 6 this year, Miami-Dade lawyer John Hager took the trespassing charge in front of Lerner-Wren and pled guilty. So it’s done.

“We could have won, but didn’t want to take the time,” Hager said. (One gambling web site earlier reported how "Hollywood police" weren't pursuing it, which was mistaken reporting on their part; the police don't make the call on who to pursue on a warrant, the county courthouse does.)

Rheem didn’t need to appear, and Hager hadn’t met him. And Hager didn’t know Rheem had a shot at $8.2 million.

“Guess I should have charged him more,” Hager said.

A bit of background: Rheem was picked up once on the outstanding warrant – on what lawyers call a ‘capias’ – in Orlando in Feb. 6, 2004. You could argue that should have motivated him to take care of it then. Through one of his sponsors, PokerStars.net, he has declined an interview request. (Can’t say I blame him.)

Meanwhile, I pulled the two files on his felonies. You’re probably curious and so was I.

Turns out his two cases of “Burglary on an unoccupied structural conveyance” -- police talk – means he broke into cars and stole stuff. They also got him with marijuana.

On Jan. 25, 2000, he took about sporting equipment from a car in Dania and sold it for $95 at a second-hand sports store, Play it Again Sports.

On Feb. 27, 2000, a passerby saw him break into a car, and tracked him and the getaway driver down.

Rheem served four months, according to records. Looks like the cases were combined into one plea.

It happened eight years ago, when Rheem was 20, and while it a real pisser to have your car broken into – if you haven’t experienced it, good for you (I’ve been hit at least three times) – I’d suggest this post be the end of it. He did his time.

Rheem, now 28, said about as much to a publicist, who queried him about it, saying “I moved to California to get away from trouble,” according to the publicist. He was born in Los Angeles and spends most of his time there, although this summer he was in Europe playing. While in South Florida, he befriended Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his family, and they’re all still good friends, other players say.

The internet boards have all said nice things about him, and a follow-up records check in California we ran, similar to what we ran here, shows no other incidents.

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I wrote in today's Showtime section about the World Poker Tour Boot Camp, an undertaking I visited a couple of years ago, as I began to learn poker.

Because I was working, I didn't sit in on everything but here's what I got:

Play only premium hands, especially in early position.
Limp less; put players on decisions more.
Suited connectors can be a beautiful thing.

This boot camp is more on the cash game -- sorry, haven't been able to pull the trigger on that yet, but...

So, what would you want to learn from a cash camp?

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The bad beat jackpot has passed the $150,000 mark at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

It'll pay off if someone has aces full of jacks and loses to four of a kind or better.

50% will go to the qualifying losing hand, 30% will go to the qualifying winning hand and 20% will be divided among the players at the table who were dealt cards when the qualifying hand was dealt.

So, someone's going to win $75,000.

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The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is conducting another "Main Event" poker tournament, playing off of the boxing theme.

The Middleweight Division is $350 (45-minute rounds, 8,000 units), with Round One at 10 a.m. Oct. 6 and Round Two at 10 a.m. Oct. 7.

The Cruiserweight Division is $575 (45-minute rounds, 10,000 units), with Round One at 10 a.m. Oct. 8 and Round Two at 10 a.m. Oct. 9.

The Heavyweight Division is $1,100 (60-minute rounds, 20,000 units), with Round One at 10 a.m. Oct. 10 and Round Two at 10 a.m. Oct. 11. If you're eliminated from Round One, you can rebuy for Round Two. The remaining players battle it out on Sunday, Oct. 11 for the title.

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All In Free Poker, a South Florida bar poker league, has a five-day, four-night cruise set for Jan. 12-16 on the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas.

Cost is $999 for two people, including your cruise, taxes, port charges, fees & fuel surcharges, plus all food on board. Singles are $799.

All-in has set up a special private room onboard and will be running events every night that are private just to the people booking their cruises. So far they have 50 rooms booked.

Two professional players coming onboard who are going to give instructional seminars every day. Plus, there will be a private cocktail party for our group, as well as group dinner seating.

Call 954-600-9088 or go to www.allinfreepoker.com.

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