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A recent study of US and UK online gamblers by Internet gambling company Betfair has found that American online gamblers are slightly more cautious than their British counterparts. In light of the global recession, the study found that: 52% of American players were playing less this year than they were last year, compared to only 48% of Brits. Betfair, which has a policy of not accepting bets from poker players in the United States because of the legal problems in doing so, also found that more than half of American players were not aware their money could be at risk. The study found that only 42% of US players and 31% of British players knew about the seizures of over $30 million of funds belonging to thousands of online poker players in New York in June. It also found a lot of confusion over which sites accept American bets, with 76% of Americans who were aware of the legal issues saying that they moved sites as a result. Some 88% of Americans aware of the issues said they were concerned about the safety of their funds, compared to 59% of Brits. Betfair spokesman Richard Bloch said it was very difficult for operators that do not take bets out of the US to compete with those that do. "This research demonstrates that there are other factors which consumers are taking into account when it comes to choosing their preferred place to play poker online. It's no use having funds in your account if a government is going to seize them - and consumers are obviously aware of that."
Manchester City have emerged as the fifth big club in betting odds for the 2009-10 Premier League season, but cross-town rival Manchester United remain the team to beat. Defending premiers Man United, fresh off the back of an 11th premier league title in 17 seasons, go into the new season as favorite, despite the loss of star players Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. The Red Devils are an outright 3.00 favorite at Ladbrokes and equal 3.00 favorite at William Hill Sports. Perpetual challengers Chelsea are hot on United's heels, sharing favoritism at William Hill, but slightly adrift at 3.20 with Ladbrokes. Since becoming champions in 2005 and 2006, the Blues have finished top three in all of the last three seasons while Man U has taken home the trophy. William Hill Sports currently offers a Bet One Get One Free promotion. Ladbrokes offer a £10 Free Bet for New customers. Liverpool, which stormed home late last season to almost take its first English title in 19 years, completes a treble of teams that are hard to split, with Ladbrokes offering odds of 3.60 and William Hill odds of 3.75. Arsenal is 9.00 at both Ladbrokes and William Hill, a sign of how far they slipped last year in comparison to their three rivals. Man City, 13.00 at Ladbrokes and 12.00 at William Hill, is expected by many to knock Arsenal out of the top four and qualify for the UEFA Champions League. With high-profile signings such as Carlos Tevez from Man United and Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal, City will be the first team in years to genuinely threaten the big four.
One of the most popular features of a mobile phone has become not only the ability to play games but also to interactively gamble. Today, mobile gaming is offered by an increasing number of online casinos and poker rooms eager to cash in on an emerging trend.Online gambling saw explosive growth since its launch in the mid-1990s and is now an established sector of the gambling industry with literally thousands of online casinos around the world. And online gambling has been no exception to the general trend to transfer successful forms of online entertainment into the mobile environment. The future of gambling is now predicted by many in the gaming industry to lie largely in mobile phones.Things you can do with your mobileMany casino are have started to offer versions of their most popular and successful games in a mobile device format. These days, it is possible to do many of the things that you would normally do from your home computer via your mobile phone instead, such as, place a sports bet or visit an online casino to play poker, blackjack, roulette, slots or video poker.Provided that your mobile phone features WAP or is an internet enabled handset and is less than five years old, it is probably compatible with casino software. Various functionalities can be added or removed depending on your particular handheld device and software is scaled to fit your screen.Room to growMobile gaming, however, still has some way to go with one of the main drawbacks being of course the lower quality of graphics and playability. Also, many of the mobile phone versions of games released are lesser versions of the ones accessible on online.Nevertheless, experts are forecasting that the mobile gambling market will continue to experience solid growth over the next twelve months.Probability Games, a mobile gaming service provider, recently released a list of Britain's top 10 mobile phones for mobile gaming based on registrations over a three months period with their casinos. At the top of the list of over 5000 models was the Nokia N95. Behind it were SGH F480 by Samsung (second best) and K800i by Sony Ericsson (third).Completing the Top 10 Mobile Phones list:4. Samsung SGH J7005. Nokia 6500s-16. Sony Ericsson W5800i7. Samsung SGH G6008. Samsung SGH E2509. Sony Ericsson W910i10. Nokia 6300Mobile portalOther elements of the online gambling industry are also going mobile, to best accompany and support the gaming sites themselves.One such is The Mobile Version of Online Casino Reports, where the latest gaming news are updated several times a day with links to excellent online casinos - including those best adapted to mobile devices.Meanwhile, mobile phones will continue to improve and offer better processing capabilities, displays and internet connection.
As reported last week, William Hill, Ladbrokes and other major British bookmakers will be moving their online casino and betting services from the United Kingdom to offshore locations. William Hill plc, for example, will be moving its operations to its Gibraltar headquarters. Ladbrokes has now announced it will do the same before the year is out. Both online casino companies have decided on the moves mainly for tax reasons, since Gibraltar charges gambling companies a lower tax rate than the UK - 1.5% compared to the UK's 15%. Gibraltar's policy encourages online casino companies to move operations to its territory. It easily beats the high taxes that companies must pay if based in the UK, which is "unsustainable," according to Ladbrokes Chief Executive, Chris Bell. Greater Effect But is the move - basically a financial decision of the companies - cause for concern for the UK online gambling industry? Will they be out of the reach of regulators? British sports leagues think so. They have reportedly asked the UK government to clarify whether Ladbrokes, William Hill and the other online casino companies still be required to share information and disclose suspicious betting patterns. No Cause for Alarm Examples of international efforts involving sport leagues and associations in full cooperation with online casinos and sportbooks abound. The tennis example and common sense point at the joint motivation of all involved to keep gambling clean. Sportbooks stand to lose as much as the games themselves if the betting is rogue. Would players bet if they suspect results are fixed. Would you?
For online casinos the most important relationship is the one between their customers and themselves. JackpotCity Bingo has recently acquired the services of a dedicated and knowledge team of fantastic chat moderators. Their job is to enhance the overall quality of customer care, technical support and to take charge of the bingo chat rooms, games and answer customer queries. The face of the company JackpotCity Bingo realizes that their chat moderators are on the front lines with their customers, and they take this relationship very seriously. The moderators are a team of friendly folks from Australia, the UK and the United States. Together they work as a team to deliver superior service to JackpotCity Bingo fans. Carefully selected JackpotCity realized that nothing less than the best would suffice, so they embarked on an extensive search for quality personnel. Finally, a stellar team was put together. It includes Chloe, Billy, Danny, Amber, Ruby and Jenna. Together they make it happen. Online Casino Reports recommends a visit to our special bonus section, where you will find the latest and best online bingo bonuses.
Satellites for the upcoming PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker have begun, with a total of 2,350 seats at the tournament to be won. For the first time, PokerStars has launched a special Website, wcoop.com, devoted specifically to those attempting to qualify for the tournament, which begins on September 3 with a guaranteed prize pool of over $40 million, in what is being billed as the richest online poker tournament series in history. Satellites Going On Now Dozens of satellites are being held up until August 16, with entry for as little as $1. And successful qualifiers will have the chance to compete in one of 45 WCOOP events across the month of August. Any PokerStars account-holder can enter, or alternatively, entry is possible by downloading the PokerStars software and setting up a new account. Players can buy into the competition directly, win a satellite or even qualify through Frequent Player Point satellites. Poker History The World Championship of Online Poker has taken place every year since 2002, when it began with a total of nine events and $730,000 in prizes. Since then, it has grown each year, with more than $100 million in prize money already awarded in total.
President Barack Obama declared that the unemployment numbers indicate "the worst may be behind us." Even if true, the states are thinking of new revenue sources during the tough days ahead of us. One way to recover lost revenue is gambling. States are aggressively expanding legalized gambling, says the USA Today. No less than a dozen states will see gambling expansion by 2010, which will yield, according to state estimates, an extra $2 billion in gambling taxes. Most states entertain a form of casinos. Forty states allow casino operations under law, up from 31 in 2000. Other recent changes in states' policies include: Extra slot machines at racetracks Video poker in bars Casinos stay open 24 hours a day Roulette and craps betting limits raise. Gambling tax figures according to the USA today include: Ohio expected government take: $933 million in 2010. Pennsylvania expected take: $550 million in 2010. Illinois video poker additions to generate $300 million in 2010. Indiana casinos generate $800 million annually. With such figures, important sources of income, and ongoing casino expansion, one cannot help but see online casinos legalized down the stretch. Question remains how soon?
Hey ladies, what do you say for a former marine, single, in his late 40's and living in beautiful Kansas? If that doesn't sound promising enough, then how about this one..... this lucky man is a two-time winner of the Kansas lottery with his most recent prize totaling almost $900,000? Gotcha now, ha? Edward Williams, 47 years old, has made headlines as the winner of not one, but two, Kansas sponsored lotteries. His first time was winning $75,000 on a $10 scratch ticket. Then to add more bounty to his bundle, he did it all over again by matching all the numbers in the Super Kansas Cash and taking the jackpot! Payable in one lump sum, the jackpot after taxes equals out to be $627,541. After playing consistently for over 17 years, Edward said "When I hit $75,000, I figured lightning struck once, it won't ever hit again... This one knocked me flat!" As to what he did with his new found riches, he bought a car and put the rest on CD's in order to save for retirement in which he hopes comes at 55 years old, a mere eight years away. And for all who are after their first big win, and those who have won once but are hungry for me, we have the Top Online Jackpots waiting to strike.
It's that time of year again when all the big European leagues get underway, but as usual only a handful of teams in each country stand any chance of actually winning the title. In England, Chelsea has overtaken Manchester United in recent days as a slight odds favorite - the Blues are 3.10 at William Hill, compared to the Red Devils, 3.30, although both are 3.25 equal-favorites at Ladbrokes. Liverpool, (William Hill, 5.00, Ladbrokes, 4.50), Arsenal (William Hill, 10.00, Ladbrokes, 11.00), and Manchester City (William Hill, 12.00, Ladbrokes, 15.00) are the only other contenders. As expected, there are only the usual two contenders in the Spanish La Liga, with Real Madrid hoping new signing Cristiano Ronaldo can help them recapture the title arch-rival Barcelona took from them last year. Barcelona is the bookmakers' favorite - 1.91 vs. 2.10 at William Hill, and 1.83 vs. 2.10 at VC Bet. Sevilla and Atletico Madrid are considered the next best bets. In Italy, three teams stand a chance of winning the Serie A, and predictably it is the big three, who have won 61 titles between them. Inter Milan, winner of the last three Serie A titles, seems headed for a fourth if the odds are anything to go by - they are a 1.61 favorite at William Hill, followed by Juventus, 4.33, and by bitter cross-town rivals AC Milan, 5.00. Follow the sports betting season across Europe right here, and don't miss out on the best sportsbook bonuses.
US Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ) has submitted a new online poker companion bill that will try to establish a framework for online poker and similar forms of Internet gaming. The bill, called Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Protection and Enforcement Act, is the latest effort in a pro-poker campaign by legislators led by Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank. Under the proposed bill, online poker and gambling companies would be required to undergo a review process conducted by the Treasury, which would examine their business records and other vital details. Gambling License Requirements Any people or companies with a record of previous indictments for gambling or financial related violations will automatically lose out on obtaining a license. The bill also introduces security features that gambling Websites must incorporate, including a requirement to enforce age limits and residence verification, and to implement online payment fraud protection and money-laundering prevention. Safety First "The safety benefits of the bill are particularly crucial," Menendez said. "Parents are worried about their children falling prey to illegitimate gaming sites and thousands of Americans have been fleeced of millions of dollars by these sites. With proper regulation, we can prevent minors from playing poker online, crack down on predatory operations, and sanction the legitimate ones." The Fight Continues Menendez's proposal follows the introduction by Frank of two other bills as part of a new push to overturn the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which effectively banned Internet gambling by outlawing the transfer of funds from financial institutions to gambling websites.
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