Online Casino Edition – Casino News News about online casinos and gambling

January 14, 2011

What 2011 Has In Store For The Online Gambling Industry

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

A Futile Wait For Online Casino Legislation

The year 2010 proved to be a futile wait for the United States online gambling players. The chances of the United States legalizing online gambling has faded away with the year 2010 drawing to a close. The Republicans had quietly passed the antigambling law in the form of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGE). In fact, online gambling was added to the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 and President Bush signed this Act into a law on October 13, 2006. Nevertheless, there is speculation that individual states may well formulate their own online legislation, the way it is presently happening in New Jersey and some other locations. Gambling in the United States is USD 12 billion a year industry. Experts on gambling and e-commerce believe it will be very difficult to put a cap on this industry. They speculate that online gambling will eventually recover.

Gaming Law In New Jersey

A January 2011 date has been set for online gaming bill number S 490 to be presented to the assembly in New Jersey. A slight delay in the presentation of the bill was because of certain minor modifications made in the text of the bill itself. After it passes through the assembly, the bill will be presented to Governor Chris Christie for approval.

Sobering News From Behind The Iron Curtain

It is bad news for gamblers in Russia. Not only is Russia trying to close down land-based casinos, but is also in a process to shut down online gambling. Those caught placing wagers online are fined up to 2000 rubles. There are elite lottery clubs in Russia that continue to offer online gambling. The authorities have already shut down 78 such clubs and seized 3000 pieces of equipment purported to have used for gambling. The Russian government is suspicious that there are loopholes in the law and they plan to ban even slot machines in the near future.

A Fortune Transacted For Two Truffles

A Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho paid a whopping amount of USD 330,000 for two truffles at a weekend auction in Hong Kong. This is the fourth straight year he has won the truffle auction at his own Lisboa Hotel. Ho is now an owner of a massive truffle from Tuscany, Italy, weighing around 900 grams and a smaller piece weighing around 400 grams.

Double Whammy For A Slotland Player

It is booty time for a player named Robinson J, who is expecting her first grandchild in early 2011 and has won $78,112 playing her favorite Slotland game. It will be a great New Year start for her.

Nevada Gaming News

The Nevada Gaming Commission made an important announcement recently that internet gaming will start in the state soon. The Nevada Gaming Commission gave approval to the Leroy Group for their Leroy Apps that allows the residents of Nevada to place sports bets on their mobile phones. The key argument that convinced the legislators was that the application had the technology to identify when the gamblers were within the state boundary.

December 3, 2010

Online Gambling more Addictive than Land based Casinos?

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

A new study on gambling spends show online casinos have proved beyond doubt what most of us knew all along. Online gambling is more popular and is beating land based casinos by a long shot when it comes to spends made.

Published in the reputed Montreal Gazette, the study was on the gambling habits of people in the city of Quebec. The reason for the study using a Canadian location can be traced to the fact that Canada is one of the very few countries in the world where gambling is a legal operation.

There are some provinces where gambling is banned but Quebec is not one of them. It showed that nearly 86,000 adults in Quebec spent to the tune of $10,000 per annum on internet based casinos and gambling activities. An actual number of 11,888 gamblers were actually interviewed for as much as 12 minutes to understand their habits, spends and preferences.

The report also said that people who were not fans of online gambling are spending the sum of $527 on average annually; This is a revelation when you compare it to the spends of the online gambler who is spending 18 times as much. It was also found that the average or median annual spending of users who claimed lower spends on online gambling, is $856 as compared to the average spend for gamblers who actually stayed away from online gambling which is $128.

Apart from the above, this study also showed the demographics of the high-spending bracket of online casino users which turned out to be mostly 44 years old, unmarried males with a tendency towards marijuana smoking as compared to the other types of gamblers. Most interesting results and insights are expected to continue from this 5 year research that will continue till 2015. It will also be insightful to compare the evolution of the industry and the users in the 5 year time period.

Why Is Online Gambling Becoming More Popular?

While the study shows it to be a fact that online gambling spends are several times more than spends in land based casinos, it does not elaborate on the reasons why. It is interesting to note that a professor of the Concordia University who is also a director of the Addiction research Lab had already gone on record claiming that people spend more in online casinos as compared to land based gaming establishments. Some of the reasons thought to be behind this popularity could be:

  • Ready Access : As against, land based casinos, internet gambling can happen 24×7, 365 days of the week without taking the trouble to walk out of your home.
  • Privacy: Online gamblers do not have to share details of their hobby with their spouse, children or other extended family.
  • At home entertainment: Internet casinos actually rate high in terms of entertainment as compared to other `do at home’ options.
  • Controlled environment: Many new and even veteran gamblers find online gambling a more controlled environment in which they can read up, take time and take more informed decisions than in a casino where the tendency to get carried away is higher.

November 27, 2010

High Stakes Program To Be Aired Soon

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

The seventh series of the popular High Stakes Program is all set to make a comeback on America’s Game Show Network (GSN). This is going to be hosted by journalist-turned-poker player Kara Scott and veteran host Gabe Kaplan and shot at Las Vegas Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. The shooting will occur sometime mid-November and the program is likely to be aired next February.

Slotastic Announces 1 .6 Million Jackpot

The casino Slotastic.com declared the top prize of 1.6 million for the Jackpot Pinatas title. It even offers some lesser progressive rewards like the Let’Em Ride jackpot that involves the games Caribbean Draw, Caribbean Poker and Caribbean Hold ‘Em that helps to achieve a jackpot more often for lesser values. Following its launch, this jackpot has been hit nearly 14 times but for the past month there have been no hits. The manager says the company is more than willing to make a million dollar payout to that one lucky player.

Launching “Cats”

The new online slot game called “Cats” was launched recently by Virgin Casino. Set against a backdrop of plains this game is themed on some of the most popular wild cats all over the world. The “cats” logo acts as the wild symbol and when five of these symbols pop up, the player can get a jackpot of 10000 coins. This game has the regular background music and special sounds when one player wins – you can even hear the cats growling when they make a winning combination.

Around The World In 80 Days

A promotion called “Around the World in 80 Days” where bingo players need to collect “travel miles” to win a $500 vacation and other cash prizes is being hosted by Jackpot City Bingo. This is due to come to a close on December 31st with three prize draws on October 31st, November 30th and December 31st. To take part in this, you could play the everyday Leader Board Challenges where you get to collect travel miles. The top 50 players with the most travel miles during this promotional period will be eligible for the end of the year draw. The prize is a $500 holiday for a couple from any of the eleven exotic places the site has listed. The ten players with the most miles before the October and November draws will be entitled to participate in the raffle whereby they can travel to exotic places for the day.

Halloween Surprises

With Halloween around the corner, many online casinos are organizing fun tournaments to share the festive spirit with their players because most people are too busy to gamble online. In land based casinos there are costume contests where the best dressed get to walk away with attractive prizes. To keep up with their competition with land casinos, online casinos make desperate efforts to attract more and more players by offering really handsome bonuses for their games.

More Students Take to Online Gambling

Research by the Pennsylvanian Annenberg Adolescent Communication Institute reveals a greater number of students today accessing gambling websites this year compared to previous years. So the restrictions on online gambling were hardly effective! From 4.4% in 2008, the number of male students using such sites has gone up to 16%. Female students from high school marked a 1% increase. Nearly as many as 40,000 colleges used online casinos each month which goes to show that payment bans have not been successful in curtailing the number of users.

November 11, 2010

Better Bet In Online Gambling

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

Casinos have been in existence for a long time. They are said to have originated from Europe and then spread to all parts of the world. Today they have reached the World Wide Web as well. Many casinos owners now feel that online casinos are more profitable than the on-land ones.

The Off-Liners See The Point

Most of the big casinos in the United States opposed the idea of online casinos and considered them as a big threat to their business. Besides that, online gambling is still illegal in the US. However, recently, in October 2010, some of these high end casinos like MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Harrah’s Entertainments have decided to come together and work on a proposal that would request the Congress to legalize online gambling. This was in lieu of a statement released by the American Gaming Association which stated that online casinos could also be properly regulated. The Association has also mentioned that the details of the Internet gambling regulatory rules are being worked out. Before all this, in July 2010, there was a congressional bill that was put forth by Democratic Representative Barney Frank, which aimed to legalize all Internet gambling. However, the bill at that time was not supported by the Gaming Association or the leading casinos. Due to this, the bill was not passed by the congressional committee.

With the air changing, there is definitely hope for the bill to pass. This would turn around the face of gambling all together. Some states, like California and Florida, have made online gambling legal within the state boundaries. But the passing of this bill in the congress would make it legal across all state boundaries. One of the major oppositions of Internet gambling comes from Nevada State which is the center for gambling in the United States. The senator of Nevada too is rethinking his stand and there is every likelihood that Nevada will be supporting online gambling.

There is speculation that if the bill is going to be passed it would be mainly legalizing online poker than the other games. A study by experts has shown that internet poker does not and will not cut the profits of off line casinos. Even if there is a cut it would be negligible. It is this study that has led to the changing of opinion in favor of Internet casinos. Another reason for the change in stand by many of the big guns in the casino industry is the fact that online gaming is a very profitable industry. Online companies like Pokerstar reel in as much as Dollar one billion in profits per year, a figure that cannot be ignored easily.

Mr. Fahrenkopf, CEO of American Gaming Association, states that the group has been studying Internet gambling for a period of two years and also studying the issues involved with it including taxation, consumer protection and security. According to him, the group will be making a presentation to the congress soon once the study is complete and all the loop holes would be closed. With that presentation and the already existing bill, there is no denying the fact that online gambling would be legalized under Federal laws.

November 9, 2010

US Students Undeterred By Online Gambling Prohibition

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 12:00 am

A recent survey conducted among US students has revealed that an increasing number of students – high school and college – are logging on to online gambling websites. The survey was conducted over the phone by the Annesberg Adolescent Communication Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. Figures arrived at denote an upward trend among US students with regards to frequenting online gambling websites. The research has revealed many interesting facts.

Facts Of The Matter

Students in the age group of fourteen to twenty-two years were involved in the study conducted by the Annesberg Adolescent Communication Institute. An important finding of the study was that as many as sixteen percent of the college-going male population in the US participates in online gambling. This sixteen percent is a twelve percent leap from the percentage in 2008, which then stood at 4.4 percent. In addition to the significant increase in the number of college-going males logging on to online gambling websites, an increase was also registered in the number of high school children who visit such sites. The percentage of high school children frequenting online gambling websites has risen from 2.7 percent to as much as 6.2 percent.

As per the study, the percentage of high school or college going females taking part in online gambling has too seen an upward trend. Both online as well as offline gambling by high school females belonging to the age group of fourteen to seventeen years has risen by over nine percent since 2008. Nevertheless, popularity of gambling websites among females is comparatively lesser as compared to males in the same age group.

Virtual Gambling

The survey conducted by the Annesberg Adolescent Communication Institute of the University of Pennsylvania included as many as 835 respondents interviewed in 2008, followed by 596 respondents in 2010. All the respondents were between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two. The researchers estimated that on an average more than 400,000 college men belonging to the age group of eighteen to twenty-two gamble online at least once a week and more than 1.7 million tend to gamble over the Internet once in a month. Another finding by the researchers was that around 530,000 males belonging to high school going age gambled online at least once a month.

According to Dan Romer, the Director of the Annesberg Adolescent Communication Institute, the increase in the number of college males frequenting online gambling websites reveals that payment restrictions are no longer any hindrance for the young population. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, in effect since 2006, has hardly discouraged people from participating in online gambling. Rather, there has been a further increase in the number of people gambling online ever since the Act has been passed. Currently, approximately 400,000 college-going males participate in online gambling each week, as per the survey.

Recently, there has been much lobbying by online poker players to convince lawmakers to change the laws currently in place. Despite the incessant lobbying, there has not been much progress on the subject. Many states in the US have also been attempting to open up more casinos in a bid to add to the tax revenue for balancing the budget of the state.

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