Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

It was the high-tech key to a massive, illegal gambling kingdom a laptop computer that authorities say was owned by professional poker player James Giordano. Giordano, who rarely let the laptop out of his sight, unknowingly took a gamble earlier this year by leaving it behind while attending a wedding in a New York suburb, said police. In the three hours he and his wife were away from their Long Island hotel room, New York Police Department investigators armed with a search warrant and computer expertise sneaked in, found the laptop on a desk and made a digital copy of the hard drive before the couple returned. The covert operation helped unlock a sophisticated online US$1 billion-a-year gambling scheme that rivaled casino sports books, authorities said at a news conference announcing charges against Giordano and 26 other defendants on Wednesday. Giordano, 52, was arrested early in the morning by FBI agents who had to scale the walls of his fortress-like compound in Pine Crest, Florida. "This is the largest illegal gambling operation we have ever encountered," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "It rivals casinos for the amount of betting." Giordano and his accomplices allegedly laundered and stashed away "untold millions of dollars" using shell corporations and bank accounts in Central America, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Property seized since the bust includes four Manhattan condominiums, millions of dollars in cash, tens of thousands of dollars worth of Las Vegas casino chips and a football signed by the 1969 New York Jets following their Super Bowl victory. Before his arrest Giordano was best known for winning a Texas Hold 'em tournament at Las Vegas' Bellagio casino worth nearly US$100,000 earlier this year.