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Are you ready for Take Off? Online gambling is. Starting early next year, passengers on one of the following airlines - British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airlines - will be able to pass the time while gambling online. Should we call it gambling in air instead? An agreement between gambling company 888 and the airlines will offer casino games operated on the company's sites to the passengers on these airlines. With personal screens and use of a credit card, playing online will make flying more entertaining for many. How many is exactly the question. The service will open up the ability for many online gamblers to do what they would otherwise be doing if they were home by their computers. It will also reach out to many who were not aware or were never exposed to gambling sites. This is both the criticism of the new venture and the defined business goals of 888. With advanced technologies that provide fast Internet connections to passengers on planes and the customer service level that 888 is known for, this might turn out to be a wise move for the company, now pretty much recovered from the American ban on online gaming and seeking new frontiers. The positive side that both online gamblers and opponents of gambling can agree on is that at least the lines to the toilets will now be considerably shorter...
Gamblers, convention participants, tourists and the entire world had a special opportunity given them on November 13 to watch the implosion of the Frontier Hotel and Casino, a Las Vegas Strip landmark. Thousands have stepped out of the casino floors on Tuesday night - something rarely done in Vegas - to watch the extravagant fireworks show that was followed by the implosion of the aforementioned hotel. TV crew cameras and personal digital cameras too followed the exciting moments and broadcast the spectacular event to the entire world. The event served the city of Las Vegas well, its lights in full force and an exciting event filling the air with a historical sense. As for the hotel itself, the world has learned that the Frontier has hosted Elvis Presley in his Vegas debut in 1956, and Diana Ross in her final performance with The Supremes in 1970. As for the site, the world has learned of the gigantic plans to build a new Plaza Las Vegas, modeled after the New York Plaza, both from the Elad Group. The $8 billion project will include luxury apartments, a shopping mall and, of course, a casino. The explosive devices set in sequence (they took weeks to set in place) have blasted this desert gambling capital onto the newspapers' front pages. Welcome to Las Vegas, they read. Welcome to where not only growth is booming, but so are terrific boomings and spectacular projects.
The cloud of smoke has settled since the big blast on the Las Vegas Strip earlier this week. The Frontier Hotel and Casino now a pile of ruins, a new hotel and casino (and shopping mall and luxury condominiums) is planned to open at the site. The project is an $8 billion investment and is scheduled to open in 2011. who was willing to put so much money towards such an extravagant project and bet on a return so far into the future? If you followed the lines that connected the explosives on the one end and the trigger on the other, you would have seen two men smiling in their best suits. The two were Elad Group owner Isaac Tshuva and IDB Group owner Nochi Dankner. Mr. Tshuva is an Israeli real estate developer whose most famous project to date is the Plaza hotel in New York. Unsurprisingly, the Las Vegas project is also under the Plaza brand. "The new project will exude the same elegance and grandeur that the Plaza in New York is known for," Tshuva said. Tshuva has teamed up with fellow Israeli businessman Nochi Dankner. He already owns the biggest mobile phone provider in Israel, a large supermarket chain and other businesses. Both Tshuva and Dankner are now expanding overseas. Israel is not only a small country with 7 million citizens. It also lacks the open borders and peaceful relations that would allow it to do business in neighboring countries. Hence the entrepreneurs' acquisitions, holdings and development projects overseas. IDB's Clal Insurance Enterprises has spent $61 million for a stake in Titanium Asset Management, based in Florida. Other Israeli companies (Africa Israel Investments is one noteworthy example; others include Delek Group and Israel Corp.) have also made acquisitions abroad in recent years. Still remaining is the particular investment - in Las Vegas. Not only is the industry showing its first ever signs of a slowdown (a 4.4% decline in business in August 2007 compared to the same month a year before), Las Vegas is facing new competition from Indian reservations and online casinos. With new projects under development - MGM Mirage's CityCenter, Boyd Gaming Corp's Echelon, and Wynn Resorts Ltd's Encore - it also faces competition across the street. Which could be a good sign the industry is sprawling.
Professional poker player Annie Duke is widely respected across the industry. That's what winning a World Series of Poker bracelet do. Duke is also related to another poker star, Howard Lederer, her older brother. The two do not meet only around the poker table. Nor do they meet at the cash-out station, which they both often cash out at. Duke has joined Lederer, already a vocal supporter of online gambling, in speaking on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the UIGEA. The United States policies regarding Internet gaming are highly contested and in these days, when the world is challenging the US at the international courts, they are being re-evaluated in Washington, DC as well. At least we hope they are, for the sake of fairness and the future of online gambling in the US. In interviews and in her official appearances, Duke made interesting remarks: Legislating Morals When asked about her opposition, currently having the upper hand, in congress, Duke said they are only vocal, not necessarily many. She accepts their morals, but asked that they not force theirs on her. "What I don't respect is their belief that they're supposed to now legislate that moral code on me," she said, adding that legislation should be neutral enough to allow anyone to keep their own morals and live by them. Furthermore, attaching poker with gambling is a mistake they make. "Poker isn't gambling anyway, so it's misunderstood," she said. Electoral Power The number of Americans that gamble online is 23 million, according to Duke who quotes figures presented by the Poker Alliance. But motivation to consider their call for legalizing Internet gambling is greater and more fundamental. It originates from the standpoint of what the Founding Fathers intended. When Duke says that "in a free society adults should be free to do as they choose as long as they're not inflicting harm on other people," she expresses not only her opinion, but that of the framers of the Bill of Rights as well. Regulate, Don't Legislate "Where there's a will there's a way," Duke has said, referring not only to the universal axiom but also to the impotence in banning. People are still going to ban, only it will become illegal. That is a brave realistic observation by Duke, one that the Congressmen and women have clearly missed. Celebrity Power Though Duke and her brother are vocal speakers, and are listened to by legislators and gamblers across the nation, she personally is more impressed by the non-celebrity players who cared enough to travel to Washington to speak. "I think that when a Congressman meets his constituents who bothered to fly in from Alaska to discuss this issue, that's a big deal to that politician, she said. For Duke too, it is all about the individual gambler's personal experience.
As it stands today, online gambling is prohibited in the United States. The land based casinos are the benefactors of this. But these casino operators know that the industry is heading in another direction, and so they are preparing for the day after. It is one thing to be preparing for offering online gambling to Americans for when UIGEA is reversed. But news from two of the biggest casino operators, MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, have it that they are preparing for catering to other markets even before then. In what will surely raise more criticism of the American hypocrisy, the companies are said to target member countries of the European Union and Caribbean countries too. Companies that operate from these countries, however, are not allowed to serve American gamblers. If and when this happens, it will not be the first time American companies have entered the online gambling world. MGM has already launched a site once, in 2001, located in the Isle of Man, but which turned out to be a flop for various technical reasons. This time, besides a better product, we can only hope, the companies are focused on poker sites specifically. Poker is not only the more promising and popular gambling form, but also expected to be legalized before other casino game sin the US.
Hillary Clinton may be making wide use of YouTube. Howard Dean's successful fundraising campaign online from the last Presidential campaign is still fresh in memory. But Ron Paul offers a new twist to the relationship between Presidential candidates and the internet. The veteran Republican Texas Congressman and current Presidential candidate has defended online gambling throughout the campaign. In fact, Paul is of the few who have objected to the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was included in the Port Security Act. The gambling community has not only supported Paul on his defense of their hobby. It has also donated a respectable amount to his campaign. His goal, which seems within reach, is to raise $12 million for the final quarter of 2007. It remains to see if Paul can translate his popularity among the Web users into real votes. That was the problem for Internet-savvy and Web-favorite Dean in 2004; regarding the candidates use of the Web in the current Presidential race, its effect is yet unknown. As it seems now, Ron Paul's candidacy cannot be disregarded; his candidacy and his message both. One cute post on a forum dedicated to the candidate read: "Somebody call George 'That's not going to happen' Stephanopoulos and tell him to put his money where his mouth is." The ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent and the host of Sunday morning news show This Week said during an interview that Paul would not win. Barack Obama, who is known to be a poker player, has not addressed online gambling and the US policy during his campaign. For that alone Paul deserves our vote.
There has been an ad posted around the Web recently, on discussion forums popular among MTV viewers and young crowds in general,seeking recruits for the next season of True Life. The reality TV series has been running since 1998. Each episode of the documentary deals with a particular issue, a sub-culture or another that is common among young adults. The next season will cope with online poker. The ad seeks online poker players between the ages of 18 and28. For a general picture of what to expect, more than just knowing your private life will be aired for the nation to watch, consider the previous editions of the show that dealt with celibacy, debt, meth and turettes syndrome. Online poker has long established itself as a popular "alternative life" indeed. For a serious show to deal with it and its effect on you this a brave and wise move. Some comments on the forums have called this post a hoax.Whether it manifests to become a serious documentary or turns out to be someone's joke is yet to be seen. Actually, we can bet on which of the two options it is...
Steve Budin may not be the genius or pioneer he refers to himself as. But he is a shrewd businessman and has made a lot of money in from online sports betting operations, as well as from selling a book that tells his story. The name Steve Budin became widely known first in 1998, when the American citizen was arrested by the FBI in a persecution into I-betting. Based on a 1961 law that prohibits gambling over interstate telephone lines and advertising such services online. This was the first ever such prosecution in the US. Then Attorney General Janet Reno made a statement then that would largely affect online gambling policy for years to follow, saying the Internet was "not an electronic sanctuary for illegal betting." The Story Told Budin's life is detailed in a book called "Bets, Drugs and Rock & Roll" in which he tells his story, of running betting on the streets as a teenager, through his Internet betting pioneering claims and his ultimate arrest. The book, released in early October, has enjoyed strong sales so far. It depicts the early stages of offshore gambling in general, and sports betting in particular. This system of betting from home, through a country in the Caribbean or elsewhere around the world, has since become a mega business. As the book's titles hints, Budin describes the high life that he and his partners have enjoyed at the time. "We lived like rock stars," he says. "We had the big houses and big pools and the tons of people and the parties." He adds, however, that not all was glorious. "But don't get me wrong. We work very, very hard, 16 hours a day." maybe this explains the missing third in the famous phrase Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll... Objection! The new reality that Budin and other sports betting websites have brought about must be qualified. NBA referee Tim Donaghy betting scandal is fresh in mind, and cannot but be related to such operations. Of course this does not disqualify any form of online gambling. But it can thrive and be enjoyed in full only in a supporting, regulated and disciplined environment. Budin also has some critics around who make sure to emphasize his minor role, not a pioneer as he refers to himself. Russ Hawkins, an industry observer, says other offshore sports books existed before Budin. Clearly, jealousy runs in this industry.
You know something is wrong when one of the top 5 athletes in your sport is suspect of throwing matches. In tennis, the number 4 player in the world, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, is in such a spot. But while the bets on the game he allegedly threw amounted to millions of dollars, the danger that the world of tennis faces is much greater. What will it take for tennis to clear its reputation from the match-fixing scandal that hovers over its head like Democles' sword? So far players have kept quiet over the scandal. Davydenko himself has denied any wrongdoing. About a dozen other players have talked to the media about being approached and offered to lose games on purpose, but none have talked to the Association of Tennis Professionals or the International Tennis Federation before going public. True, tennis games are easy to throw. It only takes convincing one person - the player. Also true are the ties to online betting, which make it easy to place bets on games anonymously and in large amounts. But the media and the tennis world should stop short of blaming online betting. The main industry hurt from such a scandal, other than the game itself, of course, is online betting. Odds and bets are set and placed based on the match-up. If new, outside, even criminal elements factor in, the odds and bets are like shots in the dark. It makes it all worthless, no less. Hence the double urgency in solving the issue. Tennis cannot enter 2008 with a match fixing scandal over its head. Online betting cannot keep its popularity with matches being fixed. It is time for the tennis world to set things straight.
The tennis world has great concerns over its head as the Davis Cup Final is about to get on its way. The best of five series between the USA and Russia will open on November 30, in Portland, Oregon. It is the return of the classic finals match-up between the two teams, which have last met at this stage in 1995, in Moscow, when the USA has last won. Why is this anything other than a celebration? Fraud Suspicions This time around, there are allegations of match-fixing in the professional circuit. The Russian tennis player, ranked fourth in the world, Nikolay Davydenko, will play on the Russian team. Davydenko is also at the center of the investigation. His match against Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina, which he lost, in August, has seen unusual bets that were in fact all voided by the betting site company, Betfair. Davydenko has since repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. More Fraud Suspicions If this wasn't enough, a new potential scandal has surfaced earlier this month. Italian tennis player Alessio Di Mauro has been suspended for nine months for betting on games of others. He was also fined $60,000. The 124 ranked player, Di Mauro did not try to affect results, and believes his punishment is therefore too severe. It is true that the suspension and fine are harsh, perhaps for it being the first such penalty handed out under the ATP new rules. Di Mauro refuses to be singled out and is expected to appeal. Tennis (Over) Reacts The ATP and Betfair have agreed to share information on suspicious matches, such as the large volume Davydenko match, which saw over $7 million in wagers, mostly on the underdog Arguello. "Do I believe we have a corruption problem? No, I don't," ATP president Etienne de Villiers said. "We will do anything we can to deal with this threat." In light of this comment, it is peculiar that Di Mauro, who bet on 120 matches, none of them his own, sums between $15 and $22, is penalized so harshly. What Can Bettors Do? With all this in mind (and all over the Internet), it is time to revise the basics of sports betting. The first thing to do - and we can congratulate the ATP for leading in this direction - is admit that there is a problem; at least a potential problem. The second thing is to keep your hands - as a tennis player, surely, but also as a sports bettor - away from this mess. This latter rule does not mean that you should stop betting on sports events. Hence the third rule we propose: do what you are free and legally allowed to do. But do keep your eyes and ears open to any peculiar patterns. Sports betting is based on educated analysis. If the underdog is getting too much attention by bettors, pull out. If the player (or team) you view as favorites is not putting full effort, in your own eyes, then consider that in addition to any statistical or rank advantage. Lastly, our fifth rule, is don't bet the house on one side. Always allow for surprises. Surely, that should not come as a surprise to you.
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