MADRID (Reuters) – As if having a fairytale wedding was not enough luck for one day, Spain’s Prince Felipe and new wife Princess Letizia hit the jackpot on Saturday with a lottery ticket given to them as a wedding present, state radio reported.
The happy couple — who wed in a glittering ceremony attended by the world’s royalty on Saturday — won 12,000 ($14,460) on a ticket given to them by a Barcelona pensioner, National Spanish Radio said.
The retired employee of state television — where Princess Letizia worked until she became engaged — gave the couple 10 tickets. One ticket won 12,000 and another, the number of which corresponded to the date of the wedding, won a 60 prize, the radio reported.
Harrah’s Breaks from World Series of Poker Tradition
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has announced that most of the 2005 World Series of Poker will be at the Rio Hotel-casino, with only the final bitcoin dice two days being held at the Horseshoe.
The company has previously said that the Rio is its preferred venue, due to its size and the increasing volume of entrants each year, but this year bowed to pressure from Mayor Oscar Goodman who clearly felt that the WSOP would be good for the newly re-opened historic Horseshoe, and for the city. The Las Vegas City Council quickly approved an ownership and liquor license transfer for the Horseshoe in March.
In order to accommodate this year’s competitors, some 2000 in all, Harrah’s has had to split players into two groups, each playing on consecutive days. With a capacity of 1000, however, the casino’s resources are still stretched.
The decision will be seen as a compromise; a means of accommodating the ever-growing number of tournament hopefuls, while retaining the important association that Binion’s Horseshoe has had with the tournament since its inception thirty four years ago
Poker Tournament Dream Comes True
A 39-year-old patent lawyer has won the 35th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, winning the final pot of $5 million.
In the final hand of the no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, Gregory Raymer from Stonington, Connecticut turned over a full house (twos full of eights), beating out the smaller full house (twos full of fours) held by the David Anthony Williams, his last competitor.
“It was wonderful,” Raymer, 39, said. “I played the best poker of my life and I got as lucky as I’ve ever gotten in my life. It’s a dream come true.”
Williams, a 24-year-old math and economics major at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, won $3.5 million for his second place finish.
The total prize pool at the 2004 World Series of Poker, held at Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel & Casino, reached $49 million, a record. Last year’s World Series of Poker tournament prize money was just under $22 million, and Chris Moneymaker won the top prize of $2.5 million.
The entry fee this year was $10,000.