Latest Casino News

College Moves Ahead with Online Casino Course

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:24:51 +0100

A community college in Reading, Pennsylvania, is offering a new course this year. The course is an online casino class. While this might seem strange to many, the course is being offered to prepare students for jobs in the future, and even though the United States has yet to legalize online gambling, those that run this college obviously feel that this is a good course to prepare students for the future.

The course will teach the students about table games, dealing, and other information about casinos, even though there are no casinos anywhere near the college. Students will also learn how online casino games operate, and are controlled, as well as how the online casino games are created. They will also learn some information regarding the business side of online casinos and other online gambling institutions.

John Devere is the Dean of Reading Community College. He is of the opinion that there is not likely to be a land based casino in the area of the college anytime in the near, or possibly distant, future, so he feels that business opportunities and job opportunities for those who wish to work in the gambling industry, lie with online casinos.

When asked why he would offer this kind of course, Devere said: "We keep a pulse on the local labor market."

Not only will the course educate students about land based and online casinos, it will also be taught online. This way, the course will be available, even if only one student signs up for it. Devere noted: "We normally couldn't afford to do this, so whether we get one student or 100, we can run that class."

He further explained: "Since there was no guarantee there were going to be any casinos close by, I thought how can I get involved in this and how can the college get involved with it without making a commitment to hiring a full-time or part-time instructor."

According to the State House Gaming Oversight Committee, there are already jobs available in this field. Reading, Pennsylvania, certainly has the distinction of being the first college to offer a course such as this one, but there are predictions that it is not likely to be the last college to offer courses of this type.

An interesting way that this course could be applied for those who wish to work only with online casinos, and not with land based casinos, is that the students who learn to deal, can use their skills in a "live dealer" online casino.

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Newfoundland Against Online Casino Legalization

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:31:13 +0100

While British Columbia and other provinces in Canada have opened up, or are in the process of opening up, their online gambling worlds, Newfoundland has taken a strong position opposing this move.

It seems that at the moment, there are very few locations that are neutral when it comes to online gambling. Either they already have online gambling, or they are strongly for or against it. While the rest of Canada seems to be going the way of legalizing and regulating online gambling, Newfoundland simply does not want to, or at least, the local provincial government simply does not want to legalize online gambling at this time.

The Newfoundland government have made it public knowledge that they do not want online gambling in their province, and that they are trying to block online casinos from starting there. The reason that many other provinces are in favor of opening up their markets to online gambling is because they will receive huge tax benefits since legalized online gambling sites can bring in large amounts of taxation revenue.

Many countries are turning to online gambling to help keep them in better shape financially, as are certain Canadian provinces. Newfoundland, however, would not like to have any of that. It seems that the Canadian province has enough tax income from both tobacco and alcohol to feel the need to allow online gambling to be legal.

Newfoundland is opposed to online gambling, and would prefer that it is totally blocked from their province. They are not attracted by the extra income, and their government officials seem to be in opposition to online gambling for the most part. Although it seems that the Premier has noted that the Atlantic Lottery has made some mention about online gambling in Newfoundland, nothing has yet been done about it. It certainly seems that if there was a move to legalize online gambling in Newfoundland, that it would not likely happen because many of the government officials are opposed to it.

Of course, there are also those provinces and countries that would prefer legalized online gambling, not because of the licensing fees that they can charge, or for the taxation benefits, but because they feel it is safer for their citizens. Regulating and legalizing online gambling certainly makes it safer for the players because when online gambling is unregulated, there is always the fear that there could be scam online casinos, and much more out there that players would prefer to avoid.

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Online Casino Jackpot Won on Mega Moolah

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:25:04 +0100

Less than two weeks ago, Casino People published an article about the Mega Moolah online casino progressive slot jackpot. The article explained that Mega Moolah had reached and crossed the four million mark, and now, less than two weeks later, this fun and exciting, and very lucrative online casino progressive slot game has been won.

Mega Moolah was hit for a little more than 4,170,100. That means that there is a new millionaire in the world! The winner has not yet been announced, and the online casino where the winning sum was hit, as well as Microgaming, their online casino software provider, will need to verify with the winning player before anything is publicly announced.

The winning hit took place in the early hours of the morning on August 29th, 2010. What a thrilling and exciting thing it must have been for the lucky player who won this huge online progressive slot jackpot.

Mega Moolah, in its original form, was released in November of 2006. It has an African theme, with lions, giraffes, water buffalo, elephants, and other icons, as well as the higher card values. There have been other versions that have been released, such as Mega Moolah Isis, and Mega Moolah Summertime. Players can enjoy the game on whichever version they like best, and will stand an equal chance of winning on all of them.

The Mega Moolah progressive jackpot always starts at one million, and is currently at a value of 1,496,562. The Mega Moolah Major progressive is a smaller progressive jackpot that can be won on the same game, which begins at a level of 10,000, and is currently at 22,377, after having been won recently on August 28th at a value of 16,991, and also on August 27th at a value of 22,160. The Mega Moolah Major jackpot is usually won a number of times a month.

In order to win one of the progressive jackpots associated with Mega Moolah, players need to spin the wheel, which will payout whichever progressive it lands on. The red spaces are for the Mini Progressive that begins at ten. The orange wedges are for the Minor Progressive, which begins at 100. The three yellow spaces for the for Major Progressive, and the single white wedge is for Mega Moolah’s main jackpot. The higher that players bet, the more chances they have of winning the jackpots.

Unfortunately, for those in the United States, the very large Mega Moolah online casino jackpot is not available for their playing pleasure, since Microgaming online casinos do not offer their sites to players who are located in the United States. Perhaps Microgaming will return to the US sooner or later, after the United States makes their final decisions regarding the legalization of online gambling in their country. However, that still remains to be seen.

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McDermott Pushing for Markup of Online Gambling Tax Bill

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:00:41 +0100

Since the Barney Frank online gambling bill HR 2267 has received its markup, Congressman Jim McDermott now feels that the companion bill HR 4976 should also receive markup.

At this time, the Internet Gambling and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010 is still stuck in committee. The original bill regarding online gambling tax enforcement was numbered HR 2268, but has been amended, and renumbered as HR 4976. The bill has three co-sponsors, Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), John Larson (D-CT), and of course, Barney Frank (D-MA.)

This gambling taxation bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Education and Labor. John Larson, one of the co-sponsors is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. The author of the bill, Jim McDermott, is trying to get HR 4976 to be marked up before this Congressional session is over.

The bill is obviously closely linked to HR 2267 because it deals with how the online gambling sites will be taxed, and how the division of taxation income will be carried out. Once the online gambling bill is being dealt with, it would make sense that taxation issues should also be dealt with.

It has been estimated by independent parties that once online gambling is legalized and regulated in the United States, it is expected to bring in billions of dollars over the next ten years or so, in revenue to the government on both a state and a federal level.

There are many who feel that it is important that the online gambling bill that Barney Frank authored should move through the process with a taxation bill. HR 2267 received markup recently, after a long wait, however it was debated and amended, and even ended up with another co-sponsor after this was done.

As much as McDermott is pushing, it seems that the bill is most likely only going to be dealt with after a long list of other projects which the House Ways and Means Committee is currently dealing with. Many committees are trying to wind down their workload and are now looking toward the break in October, in which they will begin to campaign for mid-term elections, which take place in November.

Many in the online gambling industry are keeping an eye on McDermott and on Sander Levin, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, to see if McDermott manages to convince Levin to deal with HR 4976 sooner rather than later.

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Online Gambling Decisions in Holland

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:30:19 +0100

In Holland, certain forms of online gambling are already legal and acceptable to the Dutch government, namely the lottery and sports betting, both of which are run and owned by DeLotto, a state owned monopoly.

Nearly a year ago, in September last year, the Dutch Ministry of Justice set up a committee to look into the country’s online gambling policy and then to report on their findings as to whether online gambling should be legalized in Holland, and if so, what online gambling should be legalized.

The report has finally been released, and has some surprising results. The report that was released from the sex member committee states that online gambling, such as online casinos, and bingo, and also sports betting should be kept illegal for public concerns. Sports betting, however, would remain legal through DeLotto, along with any other games they currently offer the Dutch public. According to the report, however, online poker should be legalized in the public domain, and not restricted to a state owned monopoly.

Online poker is already quite entrenched in the Dutch society, even though the game is currently illegal in Holland. The recommendation has been to bring in a number of online poker licensees and legalize them for the current market. Interestingly, in a move that is quite the opposite of the way the United States looks at things, the report even suggests that those online poker sites that are currently illegally offering their sites to the Dutch people should be brought into the framework of the games that are regulated and legalized.

The United States, on the other hand, has almost tried to punish those who offered their online gambling wares to US residents without legal permission to do so, even when the law has not been particularly clear. It does not seem likely that any of the companies that have not made deals with the US government, or had not pulled out of the US early enough, will be allowed to apply for online gambling licenses when they are first opened up for a legal and regulated market.

There have been many objections to the suggestions that were raised in the report. While there is some satisfaction that at least online poker will be legalized and regulated, there is much disappointment that other online gambling, such as online casinos have been left out of the loop. Sports betting is also a contentious issue, but with sports betting, it is at least being offered by DeLotto, so this decision may have been made in order to protect the state owned monopoly.

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Online Gambling Payment Processor Settles with US Feds

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:15:01 +0100

The United States federal prosecutors have slowly been trying to prosecute those that they can in connection with online gambling violations. There are many who have agreed to settle out of court, paying the US federal government huge sums of money in order to stay out of court, even though it is not always clear that the law has been breached. It is most likely that the reason these online gambling operators, and others connected to the industry are prepared to take deals like this is because they would not be able to afford to take on the US federal government head to head.

A recent settlement has taken place between federal prosecutors and online gambling payment processors. The two payment processors, Allied Wallet, and Allied Systems, were run by Ahmad Khawaja. Khawaja, and the online payment processing sites used a bank in Scottsdale, Arizona, called the Goldwater Bank. The feds seized the sum of $13,335,248.91 from the bank accounts held by Allied Wallet, Allied Systems, and Ahmad Khawaja because funds that were deposited were traced back to PokerStars, and a number of other online gambling sites.

The civil forfeiture complaint was filed in Manhattan, and showed records from January 2009 to May 2009, which noted that the online payment processing company had received funds, and had attempted to hide their origins. A large portion of the money received was from PokerStars, and it seems that the online gambling company did not know that the payment processors were hiding where the funds were coming from.

PokerStars issued a statement that included the following: "PokerStars does not condone efforts by processors to conceal the nature or purpose of funds used to play online poker."

The online poker site also wanted to assure the public that they intend to be transparent in the future. "PokerStars has taken steps to ensure that processors properly disclose the nature of their business to their relevant financial institutions."

The funds that were seized by the federal authorities was what was used for the out of court settlement between Ahmad Khawaja and his payment processing companies, and the US federal prosecutors. Although it was a large sum of money, it is not likely that the seized funds would have been returned to the payment processing companies or their owner, even though many feel that the law was not quite clear on these issues.

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South African Province Warns Online Gambling Illegal

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:45:43 +0100

South African online gamblers and online gambling operators have long been awaiting decisions regarding legislation and regulation of the online gambling industry in their country.

In a recent, and somewhat surprising move, the province of Guateng came out with a statement regarding online gambling. The Gauteng Gambling Board warned the media that online gambling in Guateng is illegal at the moment since no regulatory action has taken place at this time.

The national government in South Africa has long been debating and procrastinating where online gambling is concerned. Aside from the parliamentary debates, there have also been investigatory commissions, however, the law has not been affected, and there has been no official legalization of online gambling in South Africa yet.

Gauteng, apparently, has had enough of waiting for a national decision, and has taken the initiative on a provincial level with a decision being handed down by a North Gauteng High Court Judgment. On August 20th, Judge N. B. Tuchten handed down a decision regarding the jurisdiction of online gambling transactions in South Africa.

Essentially, Judge Tuchten’s decision makes local and foreign online gambling operators, who offer online gambling to South African residents, illegal. The same would go for those that play on these online gambling sites for real money.

As in other countries, the Internet Service Providers are also involved. The Business Times newspaper notes that ISPs can be held accountable for any online gambling sites that should be banned according to the ruling. Financial institutions are also considered to have broken the law if they process payments for online gambling sites.

Those who continue to gamble online, and those that offer online gambling, or aid it in any way, will find that they have broken the law, according to the Gauteng Gambling Board, and could be prosecuted for this breach of the law.

Those founds guilty of breaking this online gambling law, could face up to ten years in jail, or be given a fine of up to ten million rand, or could end up with both of these punishments.

Lucky Lukhwareni, the head of legal services at the Gauteng Gambling Board, has said that online casinos can now be prosecuted.

Mr. Lukhwareni told the Business Day: "That's why we approached the media, to alert them to the judgment which makes online casino operations illegal, and if they continue we will have them arrested and fight for conviction."

Mr. Lukhwareni also noted that help to facilitate online gambling, even if by simply advertising the service, can also result in prosecution.

The national government has made no comment at this time, although they may still legalize and regulate the industry.

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British Columbia Online Casino Back Online

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:46:37 +0100

The British Columbia online casino shut down almost as soon as it had begun. The online casino had announced at the time that there were some technical glitches, and they would be back up soon. Since the first launch of the online casino, PlayNow.com, it has been offline for over a month, which is a long time for those who had already signed up and deposited funds with the new online casino.

The British Columbia online casino seems to be back online, and the casino claims to have sorted out all their glitches. On Thursday, players had attempted to go back and play at the site, but it was not yet up and running, although it has been online since Friday, so perhaps all will be good this time.

The site has come back online after Deloitte, an independent consulting firm reviewed it. During this first week that the site is operating, Deloitte will be performing a second review to ensure that the online casino is running as it should be.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Michael Graydon, noted that the 33 days that the new online casino was down, cost the company about five million Canadian dollars, which is equivalent to roughly 3.76 million Euros. Graydon feels that the online casino will begin to recoup its losses now that all the glitches have been fixed, and their customers' confidence would be regained.

One does wonder, with all the excellent online casino software companies available out there, who already have working online casino software, why the British Columbia Lottery Corporation decided to create and run their own new online casino, Play Now.

The site was originally launched on July 15th, and was shut down when the information of 134 players was being shared incorrectly. In fact, private information was being shared. At the time that this occurred, there were already around 140,000 players that had signed up with the new online casino site.

Of the original 140,000 players, most have chosen to stay with the site, although they were given the option to close their accounts, and receive their balances back. There were some players who did avail themselves of this option.

There are other provinces in Canada that are now considering hosting their own online casinos, just as British Columbia has done. There are currently large numbers of Canadians who are playing at offshore online casinos.

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