Archive for the ‘Gambling’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

US Gambling Market Valued at $12 Billion

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Eventually one day online gambling will be legalized in the United States. Goldman Sachs, an American investment bank predicted the legalization in a note to their investors last week.

According to one report, a legal online casino and poker market could be worth up to $12 billion, with the numbers too great for lawmakers to ignore.

“We believe it is logical to assume that the US market will eventually regulate – given the potential implications for US tax take, if nothing else,” the bank said.

“Were the market to be legalized, we believe that the size of the revenue opportunity could increase materially… Based on an assumption of 30% penetration of offline poker players and $300 gross gaming revenue (GGR) per player, we estimate that a legal poker market could be worth $3bn.”

The conclusions reached in this report were based on a “grossing up” of the PartyGaming`s intake and related to its 9% of the markets share. In 2008 the American poker market was valued to be worth around $1.5 billion.

Goldman Sachs also added that efforts to help regulate online gambling on a federal level, which could take time, will take longer than efforts on the state level, where we will see progress made at a faster rate.

It was recently reported that hearings on legislation introduced by US Congressman Barney Frank (D – MA) to overturn laws against online gambling have been delayed until at least September.

Congressman Frank recently reported that he is pushing to overturn the laws prohibiting online gambling with hearings beginning in September.

Congressman Frank has worked very diligently since 2006 to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was enacted that year that banned Internet gambling by outlawing the transfer of funds from a financial institution to a gambling website.

If online poker has a friend in Congress, it’s Frank. Thus far, he’s recruited at least 50 other senators and representatives of the US Congress to support his efforts to legalize and regulate online gambling activity in the US.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

New Online Scratch Cards Pays $50K Already

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Recently, NeoGames, pioneers in the realm of online scratch cards, have released another new game in their ever-growing online gaming portfolio, “Mister Joker.”

The theme in this brand new online scratch card is “Mister Joker” is to locate the winning joker card among the three possible cards dealt on the poker table. If the joker is found before all three cards are revealed, the player wins. The casino setting behind the game is to relay the effect of a real-life casino game.

NeoGames has made this new online casino game available in 10 languages in order to accommodate their global player base.

Only days after released, “Mister Joker” has already paid a winner €50K. Bernard V from France found the joker in the pack on Scratch2Cash, one of the Net’s premier online scratch card sites powered by NeoGames.

After winning this big payout, Bernard V said, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
The slogan at Scratch2Cash is “Scratch and change your day,” which is exactly what happened for Bernard.

“Mister Joker” is the 41st game available at Scratch2Cash, and just last month, €27.7+ million were paid on across a variety of the scratch cards they offer to players just like you! Play at Scratch2Cash right now by clicking this link. You can get €5 free just for signing up… what have you got to lose? You may just be the next winner!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

UIGEA Appeal Update

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Many poker players in the US still believe that they cannot legally play online poker at this time because of the 2006 UIGEA gambling act that is ineffectively being enforced. Even though it isn’t technically a regulated activity, there are still millions of US citizens who are playing poker online in some of the largest rooms on the Internet and placing real money bets at online casinos as you read this.

If you are looking for a US-friendly online casino or poker room to check out, try Golden Palace Casino or Golden Palace Poker. This online gambling brand has made a point to offer a wide range of depositing options in order to accommodate most all deposits made by US players.

There are some online gambling operations that have rejected US players and prohibited them from making deposits, placing wagers, creating accounts, and even accessing the home page, and they will continue to do so until the US online gambling saga is resolved.

The best and most popular way, currently, for US gamblers to make deposits online at casinos and poker rooms is via eChecks, which are just like paper checks that you write from your bank account. These are easy and simple and work both ways—for both deposits and withdrawals.

You can also fund accounts via NETeller and Moneybookers, both of which allow deposits via a third-party service. Many online gambling sites encourage this to promote anonymity.

Most online poker rooms do accept credit cards, but there is a lot of red tape and stipulations attached to credit card transactions, specifically when you are trying to take cash out of your online casino or poker account. Only use credit cards at online casinos and card rooms as a last resort when no other option is available to you.

There are about 50 US Senators and Representatives from Congress who support regulation of Internet gambling, and this number keeps growing as politicians are repeatedly being asked to support policy changes where online gambling is concerned. The US government recently launched a website that called for policy change requests from US citizens. Online gambling ranked a number one concern right up there with environmental issues and healthcare interests.

The bottom line may be that the US could stand to benefit substantially by legalization, regulation, and then taxation of online gambling revenue and winnings.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

Costa Rica’s Role in Online Gamblin

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

An article on GamblingPlanet.org (link can be found at the end of this article) suggests that when the Internet was first starting to get popular in 1990’s, at the same time Las Vegas was an extremely popular tourist spot for gamblers. By 1995, the first online casino was created. Within one year, three online casinos were in existence and up and running. What is interesting though is that many of the customers at these online casinos were American, but none of the online casinos were based in the United States. This was due to US legislation that prohibited such activities as gambling online in the States that only continued to get worse, ultimately leading to the screeching halt of online poker and casino play in the US by the UIGEA. Since Costa Rica was close to the United States, it ended up being the choice for offshore operations by many online casino operators.

Today, Costa Rica is home to many online casinos and poker rooms, but the truth is that Costa Rica has had a very long history of live gambling anyway. As well, the country has a very dependable technology, knowledgeable workforce, and the most important requirement of any successful online gambling site, an online-gambling-friendly government.

The US government has tried to get involved in the Costa Rica online casino industry, but has ultimately failed, as Costa Rica fought back, filing arbitration with the World Trade organization, which allowed them keep their rights to online gambling.

Even though Costa Rica is not currently doing that well in the tourism industry, they still are banking from online gambling, and their economy is thriving because of it. For example, at least 10,000 jobs have been created due to the online gambling industry online in Costa Rica. They also have a very considerable share of the billions of dollars in revenue that the online gambling industry generates.

Though economic times are very unstable and uncertain right now around the world, online gambling is still a successful and thriving business with a strong foundation and unlimited potential for growth. And Costa Rica knows the importance of this industry to their well-being, as they are very committed to the cause of keeping the monopoly on online gambling in the Caribbean.

Resource:

http://www.gamblingplanet.org/news/Costa-Rica-The-online-Las-Vegas/062209

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

Barney Frank Makes a Promise to Poker Players

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

When Barney Frank visited the Main Event at the World Series of Poker, he reiterated his view against UIGEA supporters. He assured everyone that he would move forward with the bill that suspends the UIGEA. He urged the poker players at the event to write to the Congressmen and Senators about repealing it. He made known how he was going to get it out of the law books during a press availability after the Main Event.

Frank commented, “By the way, it is odd that we say no gambling, because the country is in a terrible economic hole because of gambling. The difference is the law that passed by the Republicans stops individuals from gambling in the thousands with their own money. At the same time, they were allowing other institutions to gamble in the billions with other people’s money.”

Frank says that the new financial regulation should be done by September and that he will start working o the online gambling legislation in the fall.

Frank stated that, “I did not further push the bill (that passed in the House Financial Services committee) last year because it was clear President Bush would have vetoed it.”
“So it is my intention this fall to bring up in the committee bills that I’m sponsoring. I think they’re going to pass. I am really optimistic we’re going to get this repealed,” he added.

He continued, “It’s a wedge issue for the Republican party. It puts the Republicans in a bind between hardened conservatives and another strong group of theirs. If you look at people who say keep the government out of my business, say don’t interfere with my personal freedom, don’t over regulate business and let’s have freedom on the Internet, this bill is the worst example of a violation of all of those.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

UFC Bets Match Those of the NFL

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

While the Ultimate Fighting Championship has started to increase attention from a younger audience, the idea of gambling on the fights has not gotten through to the majority of the viewers. Reason being, not many odds makers understand how the UFC fighters are lined up. Predominantly as of now, only hard core UFC fans who regularly watch the fights actually bet on the tournaments.

During UFC 100 card, which was at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the top names were Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, and Georges St. Pierre. These names are not widely known to the public unless you are a regular viewer. It might be because it is not even a main sport. In fact the Nevada Gaming Control Board classifies Mixed Martial Arts as “Other Sports”.

“There’s just not enough events to properly give UFC a fair rating as far as the take at the wickets goes. It’s definitely the fastest-growing betting sport that we have now, overtaking NASCAR. Each and every UFC event seems to get more and more action,” said the Las Vegas Hilton sports book director, Jay Kornegay.

When commenting on the total bets placed on the last UFC card, Kornegay stated that it “would equal a good NFL game. It would surpass a Falcons-Browns game and equal a Giants-Bears game. It’s tough to say sometimes since you might get some large wagers on any given fight or very few large wagers.”

Las Vegas Sports Consultants has only eight odds makers that view the UFC events. One of the odds makers Sean Van Patten says, “I know enough about some of the bigger fighters. I don’t follow it as much as some of these mixed martial arts junkies do. In order to get a good feel for it, you have to watch all the fights. That makes it difficult. When we first started doing it, we were only putting up the main event. Now, every two or three weeks, we’re putting up five or six of the fights because the books are asking for more.”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

Newly Introduced World Series of Backgammon

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

The World Series of Backgammon (WSOB) is joining the new backgammon network for Jadestone Networks, which is the Nordic based owner and operator of multi-player gaming networks such as, GamArena and DiceArena. In Cannes on Friday July 24, 2009 it will officially be launched as a live event at the WSOB.

CEO at Jadestone, Robert Henrysson, says, “We’ve already seen that backgammon is a tremendously popular game. All of our partners are hungry to launch our new version, and player numbers in the network have grown every day since early June. We want to become the largest network and to be the first choice for dedicated backgammon players across Europe and this partnership with the WSOB underlines just how serious we are.”

The Managing Director of WSOB, Andy Bell, is also really looking forward to the new partnership with Jadestone Networks and he has said, “We’ve been building up to this online backgammon launch on our WSOB site for some time, but we think it was worth the wait; the Jadestone platform is absolutely the right solution for us. From July 24 all backgammon enthusiasts will be able to play online via our site and qualify for WSOB offline events in cities such as Cannes and Prague and for the WSOB Championship in London this October where the expected prize pool will top €300,000. We have a strong field of players lined up to get rolling on our new online site.”

The WSOB is joining Jadestone at a great time because they are growing very quickly in the amount of players that they have. The WSOB backgammon site will launch on July 24, 2009 at the Cannes WSOB event at the Palm Beach Casino. From that day on, the Prague WSOB event will be online for the qualifying tournaments.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

Online Scratch Cards Becoming More Popular

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Over the last few years the world of Internet gambling has taken on several different faces. From online slots to online scratch cards, like those offered at Lion Slots, have provided players with a new way to place wagers at online gambling sites. In addition to lotteries that draw numbers, now players can enjoy the same experience and instant satisfaction (or disappointment) that they do at their local lottery outlets.

Although there are a lot of online scratch off options, Lion Slots has been considered to be among the very best. While the online scratch offs are somewhat of a novelty, if you’re a player who requires extra stimulation, scratch off games might not hold your attention that well.

Lion Slots does offer an array of scratch off games, one being the popular Penguin Payday. This game is set up with a pay table to the right of the screen; there you can place your bet in the three empty boxes.
The number of times a player can win are 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x, 40x, and 80x. Players can place bets in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, and 100. Players are required to scratch off a playing card to reveal the six numbers; if they have three that match, then the player wins that many times the bet. So, for example, if you bet 100, and your scratch off reveals three 2x, you win 200.

The Penguin Payday game is set in the arctic, while the other online scratch off and win game at the Lion Slots, Tiki Treasure, is set in the tropics. Tiki Treasure is very similar to the Penguin Payday, except the cards here are more tropical. The betting denominations are the same, but the winning amounts differ. Penguin Payday pays out at 40x and 80x, Tiki Treasures top prizes are 20x and 50x in this game.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

Will Online Gambling Ever Be Regulated in the US?

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Eventually one day, online gambling will be legalized in the United States. Goldman Sachs, an American investment bank predicted the legalized in a note to their investors last week. According to one report, a legal online casino and poker market could be worth up to $12 billion, with the numbers too great for lawmakers to ignore.

“We believe it is logical to assume that the US market will eventually regulate – given the potential implications for US tax take, if nothing else,” the bank said.

“Were the market to be legalized, we believe that the size of the revenue opportunity could increase materially… Based on an assumption of 30% penetration of offline poker players and $300 gross gaming revenue (GGR) per player, we estimate that a legal poker market could be worth $3bn.”

The conclusions reached in this report were based on a “grossing up” of the PartyGaming`s intake and related to its nine percent of the markets share. In 2008 the American poker market was valued to be worth around $1.5 billion.

Goldman Sachs also added that efforts to help regulate online gambling on a federal level could take time, but efforts on a state level would help the issues move faster.

It was recently reported that hearings on legislation introduced by US Congressman Barney Frank (D – MA) to overturn laws against online gambling have been delayed until at least September.
As recently reported by US Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), he is pushing to overturn these laws on online gambling with hearings beginning in September. As Congressman Frank is still trying to overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, (UIGEA), which banned Internet gambling by outlawing the transfer of funds from a financial institution to a gambling website, he’s not likely to give up anytime soon.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

3 Million Online at Bodog

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Earlier this month Bodog.com conquered a major milestone for an online gambling brand—they registered their 3 millionth players. Bodog announced that Arizona’s Charles C. was the lucky 3 millionth sign-up! Not only can Charles C. now brag about being the 3 millionth player at one of the world’s biggest online gaming conglomerates, he is also the lucky recipient of the exclusive 3 millionth sign-up prize package.

The package includes $100 in BodogLive credits, $100 worth of casino chips, $25 credit at the Bodog Racebook, and a very lucky seat at a $109 buy-in Sunday $100,000 guaranteed online poker tournament.

A writer for Bodog.com’s blog, Bodog Beat, Elizabeth Fairview, interviewed Charles C. about his fortunate registration and his plans for prize package he won.

Fairview asked Charles, a football and race book bettor, why he had chosen to sign up at Bodog.com on that particular day. He replied that “I came to Bodog for the convenience of betting live versus driving 30 miles to place a bet.”

After placing a few bets and a boxed Quinella wager on the ponies, he was contacted by Bodog and awarded his special prize package. It wasn’t hard for Charles C. to come up with a plan on how to spend his prize. He said the $100 in BodogLive credits would go towards some in-game action on the LA Lakers, his favorite NBA basketball team. The $100 in casino chips would be spent at the Craps table and possibly some Pai Gow. Charles is a sports fanatic and is looking forward to the upcoming 2009 NFL season, during which he’ll be betting on and rooting for the Minnesota Vikings.

With the 15th anniversary of the Bodog brand and the now looming 4 millionth sign-up, Bodog says there are big things ahead.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Gambling | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »