"Age factor" boosts Turning Stone casino

2008-05-19 16:08:55

New York State's Turning Stone Resort & Casino benefits greatly from laws that allow under-21s to play poker there, a representative has suggested.

Jason DiBenedetto, who is in charge of all things poker at the gaming venue, told Poker Player that there is no competition for its 18-20 market for well over 100 miles.

"This for us is huge," Mr DiBenedetto said of the rule, which brought the casino to the attention of Annette Obrestad earlier last year.

The 19-year-old is considered to be one of the strongest female poker players in the world but will not be able to compete at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas until 2010 because she is too young - even though she won the WSOP Europe event in 2007.

"We get a lot of the players that don't have anywhere else to go because of the age factor, except to the internet," remarked Mr DiBenedetto.