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Why aren't these online casinos located in the USA if they are all in English and the majority of the client base is also in the US? Read on to find out the answer to this provocative question. In December 2002 the U.S. General Accounting Office reported that online casino gaming had worldwide revenues of more than US$4 billion, with roughly half of that total earnings coming from the United States. Ironically, in the United States it is illegal to run an online gaming company. Despite this fact, many gaming sites are succeeding in playing a significant part in the world of online gambling. Internet gaming got started around 1995, and since then, 73 governments have approved some form of play. Recent consolidation maneuvers may knock the number of sites down a bit, but that does not mean the industry is in decline. As David Carruthers, CEO of Internet gambling site betonsports.com puts it "This industry isn't different to any other. It's growing and stretching to meet demand. We've had meteoric growth in the last three to five years." Yet some U.S. legislators are pushing for an all about online gambling prohibition. Pat O'Brien, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig who specializes in representing online gaming companies explained that that the United States Government would like nothing more than to make online gambling illegal. Doing business as an online gambling company in the United States is already illegal, this is why all online gambling sites must be run from outside the country in places like the Caribbean and Gibraltar where it is not illegal. Betonsports.com is located in Costa Rica, and other sites are spread across the globe, with companies based in Europe, Asia and especially the Caribbean. Carruthers said that the American craze to wipe out online gaming seems to be more rooted in certain legislator's belief that gambling is immoral than the actually will of the country's citizens. "Online gaming is entertainment," he noted. "It's not one of the seven deadly sins. But some people think it is." Ironically it already exist in the US at land based casinos across the country. law demands that any online gaming company adhere to state laws -- but at the moment most states do not have specific Internet gaming laws. "There are problems all the way down the line," O'Brien said, "because the Justice Department takes that position that it's all illegal. But they're wrong." Despite the cloudiness of current legislation, O'Brien said companies have decided not to risk prosecution, so they choose to run their businesses from outside the United States instead.
Although online casinos are not allowed to operate in Israel due to a legal ban, there have been some developments in the country regarding sports wagering. Israel's social and economic cabinet recently approved the development of horse racing tracks in the north and south of the country, which would include betting at the tracks. The government will now have to pass legislation in order to change the law that currently exists in Israel prohibiting gambling in sport. Perhaps the online casino industry may see some changes in the future as well.The first race track will be in the north of Israel in the Gilboa region, and later one will also be built in the south. The hope was that entrepreneurs would be encouraged to invest in raising horses, establishing veterinary facilities, riding schools and services, and that this would provide jobs and boost the economy in these two regions of the country.Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz proposed the initiative and said it would be a great boost for the rural economy in Israel. He said the rules for betting would be coordinated with the council that arranges gambling in sport. The ministry will supervise all aspects of horse racing to assure legality.The treasury backed the proposal from the outset and said the first tender for the race track would be issued within six months. The hope is that thousands of jobs will be created in the north.Horse racing brings in millions of dollars in many countries around the world and jockeys make good salaries. Several attempts were made to bring the sport to Israel in the past- at the existing private racing club in Pardes Hannah, Jews and Arabs take part side by side without the slightest problem."When I heard the news, I nearly fell off my seat," said a local horse lover, Daman Zuabi of Taibeh-Zuabiyeh village near Afula. "I buy feed for my horses before I buy myself a shirt," he said. Zuabi, who used to own seven horses and now has two. The horse race track is a dream which he now hopes to see come true. "I want a horse farm that will be recognized worldwide, and a riding school," said Zuabi. "It is impossible to imagine what this will do for the area. People will have jobs and everyone knows that makes people happy. Children will come after school to the horses instead of to the streets.""We have a great deal to learn about the subject, starting from producing the right feed for race horses and including the veterinary services," The chair of the Gilboa regional council, Danny Atar added. "We have to put ourselves on an international footing because horses are sent from country to country.""This will become a different world," says Atar's deputy, Eid Salim. "The whole region will breathe tourism. Take Afula, for example. It will become a major town, and only a railway from Haifa to Afula is now missing." Zuabi said: "It's not by chance that our area has been chosen. A horse is an animal that brings people together. Whoever loves horses, loves people and we in this regional council have made it our aim to live together, in sorrow and in joy - Jews, Arabs, moshavniks, kibbutzniks - we have them all."
In what is sometimes described as guerilla marketing, one online casino in particular has been partaking in extreme publicity stunts. Golden palace has been using people to crash sporting events, run around with the casino logo painted on their bodies and spend as much time on camera as they can before being hauled away by security. It's a sure way to generate some free publicity but nobody can be sure exactly how much business it actually brings to the casino. The online casinos name was recently in the news again, this time because of a stunt that was pulled off at the Olympic Games. A Canadian man who has been named "the fool in the pool" for jumping into an Olympic swimming pool, embarrassing Greek security officials at an Olympicf event and admits he did it for the publicity. Ron Bensimhon sprung out from the stands during the synchronized diving competition Monday and stripped off his pants to reveal a tutu and tights underneath. He had the name of Internet casino written all over his body. He was in the headlines earlier this year in Dortmund, Germany, when he slipped onto the ice at the world figure skating championships wearing skates, a tutu, ski goggles and a small top hat with the same online casino name plastered all over his body. Steve Baker of Cyberworld Group, Golden Palace's parent group, said he was surprised by this latest stunt. "We had no idea Ron was planning this," Baker said. "From time to time we do hire some of these people to do some interesting stunts for us. But Ron actually pulled this one off all by himself." Baker admits that Bensimhon could have been in a serious situation. "Originally, he was charged with trespassing at an Olympic venue. We understand the Olympic committee tried to get him charged with terrorizing the Olympic Games, which carries a sentence of three to five years in prison." Baker says while the stunts may offend some, they're great publicity. "Ambush marketing is a definitive form of marketing. It's used quite frequently throughout the world and continues to be used," he says. "It's a time-honored way of doing marketing and certainly, it's effective." So why did he do it in the end? Baker explains in his own words "I wanted everybody to know who I am."
The main idea behind the guess the name competition is to invite prospective online gamblers to send in emails with what they think will be the name of the upcoming site once it is launched on September 1st. There's room for up to 10 correct entries and all 10 winners will be eligible for some great prizes. The new siteo is based in Canada and it will include the option to play games with Canadian dollars and to be paid out in Canadian currency as well. Right now the owners and managers are expecting the new site will also receive an eCOGRA certification which will help promote its fair gaming, confirmed payout rates and legitimate software right off the bat. Charlotte Jackson, the manager of the Canadian online casino says "We are looking forward to the response when we launch on 1 September. We've been met with positive response from Casino Affiliate Partners (who want to offer their Canadian members gaming tailored to their needs) as well as the general online Canadian sector...We plan to operate on exactly the same principles as our sister casinos, and, like our other casinos, we expect to be awarded another coveted eCOGRA Players Seal of Approval as soon as Price Waterhouse Coopers audits the casino. This certification is essential for the online casino to get recognized as a fair and honest online business." Vegas Partner Lounge, the company behind the new site, has already got a footing in the Canadian gambling market and has previously reached many Canadian members. The purpose of the new site is to allow them to supply Canadian players with exactly what they want and expect out of a top online casino. Although there are some gambling sites that operate out of Canada they hope to pinpoint the player's needs and expectations and meet them.
But there are a number of protective measures the online casinos can take in order to better protect themselves and the player. One of the gamblers' biggest concerns when it comes to gaming is security and privacy. Although fraud on the internet is relatively low, it does still exist and so it is up to the online casino and the player to protect themselves and take action. One aspect of gambling that is important to understand is the certification process. Many top sites feature logos and certificates on their website. These certificates indicate that the software has been audited and checked to be fair and random in its outcomes. The auditors also check the financial records of the online casino to make sure that the payout rates they display on the website are accurate. If a casino is awarded a certificate by a third party auditor it is a good indication to the player that it is safe, secure and practices fair gaming. The sites must also take preventative action. Land based casinos have to watch out for card counters and other crooks but the providers must watch out for hackers and people trying to collect credit card information and commit fraud. A new software security project called Fairdice has announced the launch of a new program that is designed to help fight fraud among the sites and create a more secure and trustworthy online gambling environment. Douglas Ray of Fairdice says: "This will deal a bitter blow to conmen and criminals in the gambling industry, and clear the way for the honest online casinos who give their players a fair chance. With the launch of this initial implementation of the Fairdice cryptographic protocol," he continued, "Project Fairdice is offering casinos another way. We're saying to all the casinos out there, 'Come get involved in the project. Enable your websites to use the Fairdice Protocol. If you are not rigging your games, you have nothing to lose. This is your chance to really prove to your players that your random number generators are not fixed."
Ben Affleck recently cleaned up at the World Poker Championship. So next time you are playing poker at your favorite online casino you might just be playing against a world famous celebrity. Ben Affleck, one of the hottest young stars in Hollywood today who has appeared in a number of recent blockbusters won $356,400 at a poker tournament that also earned him a seat in next year's World Poker Tour Championship. The 31-year-old actor beat out a group of 90 players in order to take the Commerce Casino's California State Poker Championship. On the final table round, Affleck managed to beat poker pro Stan Goldstein, who finished second, and knocked out Chuck Pacheco, president and co-founder of Castle Rock Entertainment, who finished third. Fellow actor Toby Maguire didn't do so well and was out of the competition by the first day of the three-day tournament. The win will allow Affleck the opportunity to take a $25,000 seat in the World Poker Tour Championship to be held next April in Las Vegas. This current event cost $10,000 to sit in on. The poker playing actor recently ended a romance with sexy singer Jennifer Lopez abruptly earlier this year just months before she married another man. Obviously the heart break didn't affect his game. He started at the final table with the second-to-lowest chip count among the nine players but still managed to take first place and a chance to move on to the next completion.
The player protection body, eCOGRA, has announced it has added several new provisions to its Generally Accepted Practices, or eGAP, the set of principles it uses to judge online casinos for fairness and responsibility. The changes are the result of significant feedback from players and, according to CEO Andy Beveridge, are necessary to stay in line with player demands and emerging industry trends.The new amendments to eGAP include the following: Terms and conditions applicable to promotional activities must now be clearly displayed and shall not be unreasonably altered subsequent to the wagering activity. To meet international demands for tighter controls the section on anti-money laundering has been revised to include requirements for preventative and detection controls addressing money laundering and fraud risks to be documented and implemented, and where appropriate for controls to be according to the relevant points in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines. This has been addressed in order to accommodate the FATF's Forty Recommendations which were published last year. The Total Gaming Transaction Review requirements have been amended to incorporate additional tests that are being performed by eCOGRA's audit panel members including independent inspection authority PriceWaterHouseCoopers. One example of this change is that wagering activity, including wins, should be distributed amongst an acceptable population of players. This test includes PwC verifying beyond question that a significant sample of the winning players does in fact exist, providing further assurance of data integrity. eCOGRA now requires all games and slots to have a combined average theoretical / estimated statistical return to players of at least (the minimum) 92%. This compares favourably to land-based jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, that requires a return of 83% on slots. Another amendment relates to those casinos which aready have eCOGRA Seals of Approvals, stipulating that they cannot simply add a new casino brand and legitimately display the eCOGRA seal, but must go through a comprehensive review by eCOGRA's independent inspection contractor. Beveridge recommends that players and operators alike communicate with eCOGRA with suggestions or problems, in order to help strengthen the emerging climate of responsibility and trust.
Does the name Chris Moneymaker mean anything to you? He is the guy that is partly responsible for breathing new life into one of the oldest card games around: Poker. Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, was eligible for the May 2003 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and after working on his poker skills at the online casinos headed to the tournament to go for the big win. With only about three years experience at playing poker, Moneymaker beat out a lineup of professional players in the Las Vegas tournament, and took the $2.5 million jackpot home with him. This big win was well publicized and, along with other "World Poker Tour" TV show, and celebrities endorsing the game, the online poker industry has seen a recent boom in popularity. There are many online poker Web sites drawing in tens of thousands of players every hour. Most online casinos give you the option to play for free or for real money wages. This option to play for free is exactly the kind of perk you can only receive at an online casino. Many players, like Moneymaker, spend hours honing their skills for free before they start to bet online. It's the best way to practice the game and build a strong playing technique. "Technology has completely changed the face of the game," said Vikrant Bhargava, general manager of Party Poker, one of the most popular online poker Web sites. Ever since Moneymaker's big win the average number of customers playing poker for real money online jumped from about 1,500 per hour to more than 14,000, according to Poker Pulse, a Vancouver company that tracks people and money at the top 20 online poker rooms. The average number of paying players in non-tournament games jumped from 2,500 to more than 11,000. This has helped generate roughly $3.2 million per day for the top 20 websites, according to Poker Pulse. "Imagine a stadium full of people playing poker," Bhargava said. "If we put all of those people at real tables, we'd need 15 or 20 stadiums. Technology has made it possible for so many people to play in one virtual room." Every player that joins an online casino and starts playing poker in free or pay mode could potentially turn out to be the next Chris Moneymaker.
According to gambling site manager Jake Slater, the new software will bring with it the immediate introduction of several new features, including a faster, user-friendlier betting interface, online daily & weekly transaction & wager breakdowns, new Flash and Java games and one-account betting. All phone clerks have been thoroughly trained on the new software and business is expected to continue as usual. Sportbet and IslandCasino are just two of the most recognized online sportsbooks and casinos in the business to have switched software providers and have been two of the most recognized names in the industry for the past 8 years. Staying on top of the industry is no easy task. Many of the top sites rely on software providers such as Microgaming, Playtech and Viper for some top Notch software and support. In fact even though there are so many great options on the net there are in fact only a handful of software providers that create the fantastic software they rely on. Each website is given a tailor made software package that is in tune with the casino's theme. A lot of thought and time goes into the software development of the software and as internet technology improves the features of these online software companies become better and better. You can now enjoy the games via free downloadable software or Flash for people that don't have the means or the time to download software online. Live dealers and person to person chat as well as mobile gaming (on your cellular phone) are all part of the modern day landscape. Always look for the seal of approval when playing that indicates the software is provided by one of the industry leaders. This will ensure you a good time.
We recently reported on a competition giving the public a chance to guess the name of a new online casino located in Canada since then the online casino has been launched and is getting a lot of attention in the industry. Some lucky winners that guessed the names of the new online casino located in Canada one a number of great prizes. The online casino named Maple Casino (maplecasino) offers players the option to play in US, European and Canadian currency. It also features all the great casino gambling you'd expect form an online casino and it has all the classic games such as blackjack, poker, slots, craps, roulette, high-paying progressive jackpots and many others to choose from. Even the response to our pre-launch press release and competition has been reassuring, says Casino Manager Charlotte Jackson, but the really good news is the gaming activity we're witnessing on our servers says Charlotte Jackson. From the first press release, she continues, the response from members from across the gaming industry has been remarkable: affiliate deals, media and advertising opportunities and casino auditing. Most encouraging, however, were the countless entries from players entering our Guess the Name teaser competition run prior to the launch on September 1st. Canadians have always enjoyed casino gambling and with the recent flux in land based casinos, a large amount of which are situated on Native Territory, American players have started heading northbound for some great casino action. Now that Canadian casinos are online people from all over the world can try out a first rate Canadian online casino. There have been a few additions to the land based casinos in Canada recently as well. Great Canadian Gaming Corp. is aiming to complete a $90-million expansion of its casino in Coquitlam, B.C. by next spring. The casino, which is to expand from 3,400 square meters to more than 71,000 square meters, recently expanded its operational hours to 24 hours a day. Great Canadian Gaming, with more than 3,000 employees, has six casinos, a thoroughbred race track, several licensed restaurants and a marina operation in B.C.
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