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Week 2 of the NFL Preseason continues tonight in Cleveland, with the Buffalo Bills coming to First Energy Stadium. After tonight one team will be 1-1 and the other still in search of a win at 0-2. Both the Bills and the Browns are in search of an adequate Quarterback situation, and they will be trying new rotations behind the line. Neither team made the playoffs last year, the Browns had a terrible season at 7-9, while the Bills finished exactly the opposite at 9-7. The Browns had high hopes for Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel last year, but the first round draft pick failed to impress. The will be trying their luck with Josh McCown tonight, but his season was also a bust in Tampa Bay last year following a relatively successful year for the Bears in 2013. Last week he went 5-5 with 33 yards and a TD, but they couldn't hold on to a win and lost to the Redskins 20-17. The Bills are more optimistic with their new QB, Matt Cassel, whom has got the start over EJ Manuel. Last week's loss, 25-24 at home against the Panthers was a heartbreaker, but Manuel had 89 yards at 50% completion rate. In contrast, Cassel hit seven of eight passes and showed that his experience could be the card the Bills need for the regular season. Buffalo's new coach Rex Ryan will be without his star running back LeSean McCoy, out with a hamstring injury after he had six carries for 53 yards and a TD last week. NFL Preseason Betting Odds Bet365 is offering competitive preseason odds for all games this year and have three props for tonight matchup. Over/Under, Point Spread and Outright Winner props are all available prior to Kick Off. The Jets are slight favorites at 1.64, while the home team needs to prove critics wrong and come from behind at 2.35.
Two of the main fantasy sports start-ups, FanDuel and DraftKings, have recently raised millions of dollars - each - which has caused some of the gambling bigwigs, such as MGM Resorts International, Boyd gaming Corp and William Hill Plc, to stand up and take notice. While these companies are obviously not opposed to gambling, they do think that fantasy sports should be regulated just like online gambling is/is not regulated. "I make my living in the gambling industry, so I'm hardly opposed to gambling," said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US. "I think daily fantasy sports betting should be legal, just like I think traditional sports betting should be legal. But let's not pretend one is OK and the other is not. Drawing some artificial line between the two makes no sense as a matter of law or policy." The Question of Fantasy Sports The question of fantasy sports is whether it should be considered a game of skill, or a form of gambling. If it is a form of gambling, then it should be regulated just as traditional sportsbetting and online gambling is regulated. This includes being overseen by a gaming board, with strict guidelines about enforcing anti-money laundering procedures, protecting player funds and paying special gaming taxes. Lobbyists for fantasy sports claim that the game is clearly one of skill, not one of chance. They argue that the players who play fantasy sports have a major influence on the outcome of their game, unlike casino games, which are ruled solely by chance. Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, AG Burnett, who is currently reviewing the legality of fantasy sports, said, "When you start offering daily fantasy contests, then you start to blur the line between skill and chance. When chance begins to govern the outcome more than skill, you have a form of gaming, and that's when the need for regulation kicks in." As of now, fantasy sports and online gambling will remain separate industries, but the future of both is as yet undecided.
Another important milestone is about to be set in the world of online jackpots, with Mega Moolah being once again in the spotlight. One of the top progressive jackpots, who earned the reputation of millionaire making, it has just crossed into the realm of eight digit amounts. One week ago, players were anxiously anticipating for the €10 million barrier to be shattered as nobody managed to hit the winning combination. Previous Winner Took Home €7.5 Million The very nature of progressive jackpots has them reset whenever someone wins the first prize and the last time this happened was in April. A lucky player walked away with almost €7.5 million, but given the tremendous interest surrounding this game, the jackpot was restored fairly quickly. The fact that it is pooled across the entire Microgaming network means that players from dozens of online casinos are competing for this life-changing amount. All Slots Casino, Casino Cruise and Crazy Vegas Casino are some of the gambling operators whose players have a chance at winning the Mega Moolah jackpot. Whenever the first prize hits psychological milestones, the interest of players increases and the jackpot starts going up at an accelerated pace. Three Slot Machines One Jackpot Mega Moolah is not the only slot machine that online gamblers can play if they hope to win the €10 million jackpot. The African wildlife themed game is arguably the most popular, yet players are free to opt in for the Mega Moolah Summertime or The Dark Knight video slots. A change of scenery always helps and the odds of hitting the winning combination are the same regardless of what progressive jackpot game players prefer. After all these years and hundreds of jackpots awarded, Mega Moolah hasn’t lost its appeal and players enjoy spinning the reels populated with amusing cartoons celebrating the African fauna.
Vegas Mobile Casino is one of the most popular mobile casino platforms currently available. Its popularity is due, in part, to their continual release of new gaming and a wide range of special offers; their latest addition is Treasure Blast. About the New Game The new game comes thanks to IGT and GTech, whom have actually merged to form one of the largest online gambling companies in the world. Treasure Blast is a huge 5-reel, 40 pay-line video slot that is full of exciting stacked wilds, free spins and bonus symbols. As its name suggests, Treasure Blast is full of bombs and explosions. The Bomb symbol is the main one and it pays out 1,000 coins when all five are on the reels. Free Spins come thanks to Red and Hot spins, which start an entire Free Spins round. Treasure Blasts' release comes just in time for the conclusion of a big Vegas Mobile special offer. A Big Deal From Monday the 24th of August, until the 30th of August, players are invited to deposit a minimum £20 cash to play either Treasure Blast, Pots O Plenty or Knights Jackpot, and to win a big cash prize. Anytime during the special offer, to win a Weekly Draw for one of ten weekly prizes. Prizes include 1x £100 cash, 2 prizes x £50 cash, 5 prizes c £25 cash, 2 prizes x £25 Bingo bonus. This is great incentive to login to ones Vegas Mobile account, deposit a minimal amount of money, with ten chances to win a cash prize. Vegas Mobile Casino can be played anytime and anywhere, and it is optimized for iOS devices, Android and other mobile devices. The special offer is only available until the 30th and the prize draw will take place on the 31st. Winners will be contacted within 72 hours of the prize draw. It's the last offer of the last month of summer, so if you want a chance to win free casino cash, check out Vegas Mobile Casino.
PSG has extended its invincible run to four matches in a row and won both official games played so far in France's Ligue 1. They now travel to Montpellier and are entitled to be optimistic against the team that is mired in a four-game losing streak. The two teams are at the opposite end of form, with the reigning champions being invincible in August, while the hosts struggle to win their first match. Ibrahimovic Still Mending Injuries The Swedish striker is still unfit to play and he is unlikely to travel to Montpellier for this fixture, after sustaining an injury. He didn’t play over the weekend, but PSG managed to make his absence go unnoticed, by using a 4-3-3 starting formation. The fact that they play on the road won’t change anything and Blanc is going to use Moura, Cavani and Augustin once again in the offensive. Against Ajaccio the reigning champions scored twice and kept a clean sheet, with two midfielders sending the ball into the net. Montpellier will have to defend with all lines and pay attention to these players as well as the strikers, while trying to do something about their permeable defensive. Back-To-Back Defeats for Montpellier Home pitch advantage didn’t matter the last time Montpellier took on PSG, as the Parisians won twice on the road in 2015 alone. The hosts can count on the support of their fans despite sitting in the last place, but they are not expected to aim for more than one point. The starting formation will feature a single striker, while the backline will be comprised of five players, in an attempt of reducing the number of goals allowed. Bet365 Sports only offers odds of 9/20 on PSG to win at home, but they very clearly reflect the difference of quality between these two teams.
If you thought that the goal of the popular computer games Solitaire, Minesweeper, Hearts and FreeCell was to help office employees pass the time in a fun way, think again. According to a recent article by Mental Floss, Microsoft's true goal in creating these games was to help people learn how to use their computers. Solitaire Let’s take Solitaire, added to Windows 3.0 in 1990. While Solitaire is undoubtedly fun, the real reason behind its creation was to teach mouse-fluency. It may sound funny now, but when computers were in their infancy, there was no such thing as a mouse. A mouse, in fact, is a Microsoft creation, and so it makes sense that Microsoft would want to encourage people to learn how to use it. Minesweeper Let’s look at another game: Minesweeper. Many people simply think of it as a game that is impossible to win (unless you have mastered its secrets), but in reality, this was a game created by Microsoft to help people get used to left and right clicking on the mouse, as well as fostering precision in mouse movement. Hearts In the Microsoft game Hearts, players can communicate with other Hearts players on a local network. So when it was launched, it was not only was it a fun pastime, but it was also a way of showcasing Microsoft’s impressive networking capabilities. FreeCell FreeCell, another game, started out in Windows 3.1 as part of a bundle package with Win32’s 32-bit applications. The goal? To test the 32-bit thunking layer (a data processing subsystem), which was part of Win32s. If the thunking layer was improperly installed, FreeCell wouldn't run. Brilliant, right? And so, what started out as stealthy methods of testing and promoting Microsoft’s software, turned into a computer-game craze that paved the way for future game crazes, notably, online casinos. These Microsoft games, which today we consider basic, allowed people to cultivate the skills used in online gaming, an industry that is currently worth billions and billions of dollars.
Findings from a 2014 research study, entitled Gambling Research Australia, have delivered some fascinating revelations. The Southern Cross University-commissioned study was conducted online and drew information from 1,554 respondents during May and June of 2014. Gender was largely equal across respondents, but a third were deemed to be social casino players. Attitudes to Social Games and Gambling Australia-based online casinos are not currently permitted by the country, so the researchers wanted to find out how their legalisation would affect the on-going activity of gameplay at social casinos. To summarise, 64% said they would play as normal, 26% would play fewer social casino games, and 10% would play more. Perhaps more telling, however, was that 69% of respondents said that they would be uninterested in playing real-money online casino games. Meanwhile, 28.4% would be somewhat interested and 2.6% would be very interested. Despite holding an overwhelming majority, it would appear that many of the 69% of respondents are sceptical of social casinos. Of the respondents, 57% believe that social casinos were encouraging real-money gambling. Social Gamers Who Gamble Social commentators in Australia have voiced concern that social casino gaming could encourage players and make the more likely to engage in real-money gambling. However, the 2014 study actually revealed that only 17% of respondents said that they gambled more after playing social casino games. The study was eager to point out that young people performing well at social casino games were not guaranteed to do well at real-money gambling. This was an important point to make, given that the researchers found that 28% of young people aged from 12 to 17 engaged in real-money gambling after playing with social casinos. A further finding revealed that 33% of teenagers and 15% of adults believed that playing social casino games could make them better at real-money gambling. Social casinos are expected to generate $4.4 billion across the world in 2015, which explains the desire to explore social gaming attitudes. The Australian government is concerned about how its residents view gambling, but the findings reveal that only a minority of Australians are impacted by social gaming. Land-based slot machines (pokies) and sports betting will continue in Australia, while players can only currently access international casino sites. Casinos that Accept Australian Players Although Australia-based online casinos are yet to be legalised, there are international options that are popular with Aussies. Three favourites would have to be BETAT Casino, Casino Cruise, and Casino Mate.
Slotland has a total of 34 real money video slots, ranging from classic three reel versions, to the latest releases featuring 3-D graphics and immersive animations. All exercise a special attraction on the fans of the genre, but one of them stands out from the crowd. Those who play Treasure Box enjoy the best of both worlds, as they experience the thrills of a classic slot machine while competing for a jackpot. Lucky Dentist Wins Almost $150,000 Unlike other slot machines which pit players against counterparts from other casinos affiliated to the same gambling network, the Treasure Box jackpot is won locally. This means that only those who have an account with Slotland Casino enter the race for this life-changing amount, therefore competition is less intense. Players only wager a few coins and upon reset, the jackpot starts at $100,000. A player who goes by the name of Samuel W. is the most recent winner and when the reels of Treasure Box stopped spinning, he was $149,645 richer. The dentist describes himself as a recreational player, who enjoys spinning the reels of video poker games such as Jacks or Better. Treasure Box and Gods of Egypt are his favorite video slots and it is only fair to assume that he will enjoy these games even more now. Treasure Box Jackpot Currently Exceeds $110,000 When asked about how he plans to spend the amount recently won, Samuel suggested that he will pay off his credit cards and purchase a new car for his sister. A vacation is also on the list and he intends to keep playing the popular Treasure Box video slot, as well as other classic three reel titles offered by Slotland. The jackpot has already climbed to more than $110,000 and it could easily surpass the sum won by Mr. Samuel W.
It is no secret that Bwin.Party sold itself to the highest bidder: the confusion brewing is over is who is actually buying the company. Original Deal Challenged Gibraltar-based online gambling provider Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment is an attractive asset whose holdings include leading online gambling brands such PartyPoker and World Poker Tour. Which is why 888 put up $1.4 billion in cash and stock for the rights to acquire the company last month. Now, a $1.6 billion bid has been submitted by GVC Holdings, a b2b and business-to-consumer provider of online gaming and sports betting markets that merged with William Hill Plc two years ago to take over Sportingbet Plc. Both 888 and GVC are familiar and adept with the current merging strategy for takeovers in iGaming to absorb acquisition costs: this is boiling down to a pure bidding war between the two iGaming heavyweights over an attractive, diverse and growing online gambling superbrand. While oftentimes a company goes up for sale because its fortunes are sagging, or the market is shrinking, in this case Bwin is being sold for profit as a hot company with multiple online gambling brands currently in operation. Background Roughly one month ago, 888's bid of a combination of $1.4 billion in cash and stock was proclaimed as the winning bid in the battle for Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. Undeterred, GVC came back several days later with a similar mixture of cash and stock totaling $1.6 billion proposal to acquire Bwin.Party, stalling the completion of 888 acquisition. As the delay dragged on, GVC came back once again a few days ago with a token raise on its own max bid, from 1 billion pounds to 1.03 billion pounds. Now, a $650 million (€585.7 million) leverage loan secured to finance 888’s proposed acquisition has reportedly been put on hold. Deal or no Deal? The question is: what happened, or happens, to the 888 deal? If disregarded, the process by which Bwin was put up for sale then shapes up as an auction to the highest bidder. With Bwin still accepting bids, and engaged in ongoing discussions with GVC after “auction” close, Bwin seems to have originally set up a bidding process with more flexibility than usual. The ability of Bwin to conduct an auction-style sale of their company that leaves the auction open even while setting up financing for the announced winner may be decided in court--or by the winning bid, which continues to grow.
A mobile upgrade of BingoHall has just been launched, with users of the online bingo site now able to access games via their smartphone or tablet. So long as players have WiFi access or a mobile internet connection, they will be able to enter all of BingoHall’s rooms on their preferred device. A complete optimisation for mobile devices has ensured that players will not be deprived of access to any of BingoHall’s rooms. BingoHall instructed the developers performing the mobile conversion to guarantee that the overall experience would be just as appealing to players as on their desktop devices. As part of realising that aim, the software developers have maintained the graphical integrity of the bingo rooms. Being able to provide the same very same features and functionality were also crucial. This is why BingoHall plans to give away the very same prizes on mobile devices as it does on desktop PCs and laptops. BingoHall Promises Seamless Gameplay A focus was also dedicated to ensuring that the bingo rooms, jackpots, cards, and chat moderators were even simpler to browse. In announcing the launch, BingoHall believes that the new experience delivers “seamless gameplay.” And it would appear that the usability of the mobile bingo site means that players of every experience level can get to grips with the new BingoHall and its gaming options. Thousands of online bingo enthusiasts play daily at BingoHall, which is now ready to deliver games that are at pace with current technology. Mobile compatibility is anything but a new trend among online gambling sites. Most of the leading operators already made their initial entry into the mobile sector some years ago. BingoHall players are likely to be pleased that their site was able to make the upgrade. From now on, players will be able to access rooms such as Desperate Housewives while on the move.
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