BetCRIS Lands A Celebrity - Kinda

READ MORE: "BetCRIS', NYC Poker Raids, Poker, Robert Iler

Robert “A.J. Soprano” Iler must be getting frustrated. With the recent increase in poker raids in NYC, he not only must be having difficulty finding a game, but NYC’s tourism could be taking a hit too. That means less tourists to rob for weed money in the park. What’s a semi-employed actor to do? The New York Daily News reports:

After the 20-year-old actor recently made headlines for strolling into an illegal upper East Side poker den mid-bust, he apparently decided to take his gambling itch to the right side of the law - by signing a contract with the legal betting Web site BetCRIS.com.

“He approached us about two weeks ago,” said Ariel Espinoza, BetCRIS.com’s marketing director. “He wanted to be able to gamble from home and not end up in the newspaper.”

Hmm, it looks like that plan backfired.

Lowdown hears that the U.K.-based Web site agreed to give Iler a $50,000 account in exchange for permission to use his name and likeness for promotional purposes.

His agent, naturally, denies there’s an exclusive contract. Just an open note to any of the various gambling sites: We can’t be bought like any old C-list actor off the street. Not for less than $75K at least.

Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown (Second Item) [New York Daily News]
Previously: Robert Iler’s Proposed to by Sportsbook [Oddjack]

Robert Iler’s Proposed To By Sportsbook

READ MORE: NYC Poker Raids, Poker, Robert Iler

Leave it to BetCRIS to sweep in and take full advantage of a celebrity’s negative publicity in order to find a better promotion angle. And leave it to us to eat it up completely and report on it. We’re idiots. Yes, it turns out Soprano’s star Robert Iler’s presence at last week’s New York City poker bust has earned him a promotion offer from BetCRIS that will pad his bankroll and hopefully keep him out of illegal NYC poker joints:

As reported in Page Six of the New York Post, Robert Iler from the hit show Sopranos on HBO, was almost busted by the law once again. This time for being in an illegal poker room on the upper east side of New York called the Ace Point Backgammon Club & Chess Studio.

Iler entered the poker room only to find the police already breaking up the club. Iler and about 30 other poker players were eventually let go after having their ID’s run for outstanding warrants.

Iller’s late night venture in Manhattan has inspired executives at BetCRIS.com to offer the young Sopranos star an exclusive account of $3,000 to play at home and out of trouble.

“We hope that by offering Robert Iler an account to play at BetCRIS.com, he’ll be able to keep himself from having more run-ins with the law,” said Mickey Richardson, CEO of BetCRIS.com. “The Sopranos is one of my favorite shows and I’d hate to see them lose Anthony Soprano Jr. because of something like this.”

BetCRIS [BetCRIS]
NYC Poker Raids: Celebrities in the Crosshairs [Oddjack]

NYC Poker Raids: Celebrities In The Cross-Hairs

READ MORE: New York City Poker Raids, Poker, Robert Iler, The Sopranos

We’re declaring a state of emergency in NYC, as yet another illegal poker room got busted yesterday. This one had the balls to dub itself “Ace Point Backgammon Club & Chess Studio,” which leaves us with imagery of old men discussing the virtues of the Winawer Variation in opposition to the Nimzo-Indian Defence. Not so much. And, in a gleefully reported bit of bad luck, a celebrity had the ill fortune to walk into the club mid-raid. The New York Post reports:

“”SOPRANOS” bad-boy Robert Iler was almost dealt a bad hand early yesterday morning when he strolled into an illegal Upper East Side gambling den looking to play some poker — only to find the NYPD in the midst of busting up the game, cops said. Seven card dealers were nabbed for allegedly promoting gambling, but Iler — who plays Anthony Soprano Jr. on the hit HBO series — and about 30 others were let go after officers ran their IDs for outstanding warrants. Cops stumbled on the high-stakes poker room after receiving a 911 call complaining about “a disorderly crowd” in the fifth-floor apartment at 328 E. 61st St. that houses the Ace Point Backgammon Club & Chess Studio. They found card players huddled around seven gambling tables, police said. As they placed the dealers under arrest, Iler and two friends — in a case of exceptionally bad timing — walked in, presumably to try their hand at lady luck, police said”

Marijuana possession, jacking Brazilian tourists for $40, and now illegal gambling? Insert-Sopranos-related-thug-joke-here.

Gossip [New York Post]
Robert Iler [Wikipedia]