Ying C. of VT had more than one reason to celebrate this New Year’s weekend after he scored a total of $40,230 playing online Baccarat. What a great way to start off 2011!
Other New Year darlings included Chucky L. of NC who won a scandalous amount of cash playing Rain Dance slot machine where his skills led him to a grand $40K win. What a weekend it was and a great reason to stay in and play your favorite casino games.
Other big Bodog Casino winners over the weekend included:
Larry S. of TN won $9,573 playing Roulette .
Victoria S. of CA won $9,918 playing Tiger Treasures online slots.
Marcia M. of TX won $9,260 playing Gold in Bars online slots.
Senada A. of won $8,416 playing Caesar’s Empire online slots.
Hope H. of MI won$8,037 playing Let Em’ Ride card game.
Ram C. of MO won $7,975 playing BlackJack.
Fernando C. of ON won $7,780 playing online Blackjack.
Kyle K. of IL won $7,500 playing online BlackJack.
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As mayor of Las Vegas for almost 12 years, Oscar Goodman has made it his mission to personify what he calls this "adult playland" in the desert.
He prances through the casinos with scantily clad showgirls draped on each arm (although he is happily married). He claims to drink a bottle of gin every night (but "never before 5 p.m."). In his office, he sits on a carved throne and gives visitors a symbolic gambling chip that depicts him, with his trademark Martini glass, as "the happiest mayor of the greatest city in the world."
Alas, much of this, like most things in Las Vegas, is purely show. This is not merely because the famous strip of hotels and casinos that accounts for more than half of all gaming in the state is deliberately (for tax reasons) just outside the city limits, and thus beyond Goodman's remit. More important, few residents of Las Vegas would agree that their city is either great or happy.
Nevada has America's highest unemployment rate. In Las Vegas, unemployment has risen more this year even as it has flattened in the rest of the country; it peaked at 15.5 per cent in September. Nevada also has America's highest foreclosure rate. In Las Vegas, more than 70 per cent of homeowners with mortgages owe more to the bank than their houses are worth. This desert valley, which once represented the most extreme pleasures in American consumerism, now has the most severe hangover.
There are signs of recovery, but they lag those in the rest of the country. Whether house prices, visitor numbers or gambling revenues, "the numbers are bumping along the bottom," increasing in some months and flattening again in others, says Stephen Brown, of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada.
The question is whether there will ever be a complete recovery, or whether something more fundamental has changed, threatening the existence of places that rely directly or indirectly on gambling. (Nevada has no income tax, for example, financing its services largely from gaming and sales taxes paid mostly by tourists.) Goodman, typically sunny, says, "We're heading back to where we were." Others have their doubts. Las Vegas "needs easy money and easy virtue" to prosper, says Eric Herzik, a professor at the University of Nevada. Well before the last boom, the state was built on excess, and with Americans and foreigners (i.e., most potential tourists) "down on excess, our whole model is now being questioned."
Once the famous Comstock Lode ran out of silver in the 1880s, Nevada made legalized sin its new foundation. It started with prizefighting, illegal elsewhere in an era of bare-knuckle boxing. Then -- in 1931, conveniently pre-empting the Great Depression -- the state introduced the country's laxest divorce laws to attract frustrated spouses. On the very same day, it legalized gambling, which has been the mainstay of its economy ever since. It is supplemented by complementary industries, from prostitution (legal in the rural counties and allegedly available in Las Vegas) to gourmet cuisine.
Las Vegas also "thrived on irresponsibility" in a second, related, way, says Michael Green, a historian at the College of Southern Nevada. Just as the booming gambling and tourism industries provided new jobs, the parched but spacious valley provided new housing. Thus the population of Clark County, the area around Las Vegas, quadrupled between the 1980s and 2008 (before shrinking slightly in 2009), as people from southern California, in particular, fled overpriced houses and moved to Las Vegas. This caused one of the biggest U.S. construction booms and housing bubbles.
Then, in 2008, all these bubbles popped. Whether in or out of state, Americans, who had recently felt rich because of their inflated house values, suddenly felt poor and out of luck. They stopped coming or, if they came, sat for less time at the tables and gambled less. They became "gun shy," says David Schwartz, the director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada.
Tourists are now returning, but in numbers too small and with mind-sets too cautious to help Las Vegas much: They are spending less on each visit than before the bust. Two huge and glitzy casino-hotel complexes, both conceived before the bust, opened recently, adding yet more rooms to the city's already dire overcapacity and forcing other hotel operators to discount even more. And yet, even though Las Vegas has become "a bargain," as Goodman says, many tourists who want to gamble increasingly ignore the city altogether by patronizing Mississippi river boats, American Indian casinos or the Internet.
Goodman, who insists the city's only big problem is the term limits that are forcing him out of office next year, rejects all such pessimism. He wants people to be aware of the cultural offerings he has brought to the city, from classical music to a new mobster museum due to open soon. (A lawyer, Goodman once defended alleged mobsters in court and even starred in the film Casino in that role.) He dreams, too, of attracting a big sports team. A new hospital has opened and Goodman predicts a boom in "medical tourism," as boomers come for new hips while their families have fun on the Strip.
Las Vegas has never been much good at diversification. It is good at one thing, and for now the zeitgeist has turned against it. But one day flamboyant sin will be back to help Goodman and his city out. Just not very quickly.
Maryland's second casino opened on Tuesday with 750 slot machines in a $45 million parlor next to the Ocean Downs horse racing track on the Eastern Shore.
The 34,000-square-foot casino will employ 236 people at the track near the resort town of Ocean City. Gov. Martin O'Malley noted at the opening that building the casino supported about 300 construction jobs, and he cheered it as a job creator and money-collector for the state.
"The most powerful place in our state is the family's home and there's no way to protect that home unless mom or dad has a job, so the 236 jobs here are important," O'Malley said.
The casino's opening comes more than two years after Maryland voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing slot machine gambling in a state where the issue had stymied lawmakers for years. In a 2007 special session, state lawmakers punted the divisive issue to the voters. The amendment passed in every county.
But the difficulty of legalizing slots in Maryland prompted lawmakers to impose restrictions to make the vote more palatable, and any further expansion of gambling like table games will require another vote by residents. The soonest that can happen is 2012.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a longtime supporter of expanded gambling to raise state revenue, used the opening to criticize restrictions to the casino that he believes should be lifted.
The casino can't offer free food or drinks, nor can it provide entertainment beyond a piano player. The owner also can't build a hotel or a golf course there. The restrictions came because nearby hotel and other business owners opposed the casino.
"This is a great facility," Miller, D-Calvert, told reporters before the ribbon cutting. "It needs to expand. The restrictions on it need to be lifted."
The opening means that Maryland now has about 2,250 slot machines of a potential 15,000 slot machines operational. Maryland's first casino opened in Perryville off of Interstate 95 in September. That casino has 1,500 machines.
Three other potential casino sites in the state have stalled for a variety of reasons, including a lack of interest at a site in western Maryland, local opposition to what will be the state's largest casino in Anne Arundel County and trouble finding a viable operator for a casino in Baltimore.
The Anne Arundel County site that is being developed by the Cordish Cos. near a popular shopping mall survived a referendum in November initiated by opponents. It is on track to be finished by late 2012 with 4,750 slot machines. A temporary casino with 2,000 machines could be finished by late this year.
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The state of Maryland took a while longer to get into the casino gambling industry in the Northeast, but now that they have, everybody wants in on the action. Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos became the latest to show interest in expanding gambling in the state on Wednesday.
Angelos has bid for the second time in the Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington. Angelos was set to buy the race track back in 2005, but instead opted to forfeit the $500,000 he had paid to purchase the track and backed out. At the time, it was thought that Angelos backed out because he did not feel slot expansion was imminent.
The times have changed in the state, however, over the past five years. Casino gambling has been authorized and approved by lawmakers, and two casinos have already opened their doors to customers. The issue of slots at state race tracks is one that is being pushed, and Angelos has strong lobbying power within the Maryland government.
It will be tricky for Angelos to complete the purchase. Major League Baseball prohibits their owners from having a stake in a gambling operation. There is speculation that Angelos may want to turn the raceway into a thoroughbred track. The Orioles owner also owns several horses.
Ocean Downs near Ocean City became the only harness track in the state when Rosecroft closed their doors. Ocean Downs became the second facility to open a casino in the state on Tuesday, and Angelos may be banking that he can gain a casino license for Rosecroft if he revives its racing. Angelos would pay $9 million in cash, and would owe another $5 million if slots were operational at the track before December 1st, 2012.
It is highly improbable that the track would have the slots running before that date. Voters could not even approve the slots until the 2012 election, and that would leave less than one month to install the slots and receive all the necessary permits and approval by state gaming regulators.
Michael S. of IL fearlessly tackled one of the greatest empires known to man, Caesar’s Empire, and during this taxing challenge he managed to walk away a winner with a $33,797 in cool casino cash.
We’d like to congratulate Michael along with Ying Cai C. from VT who played his cards right during a session of online Baccarat where he walked away with a total of $28,668.
These two guys have certainly earned their bragging rights for today but so have a whole bunch of Bodog casino players. Check out our list of winners below.
Other big Bodog Casino winners from yesterday included:
-Larry S. of TN won $24,730 playing American Roulette.
-Harold S. of TX won $18,235 playing Gold in Bars slots.
-Mark R. of CA won $14,797 playing online Craps.
-Chucky L. of NC won $14,783 playing Crystal Waters.
-Joshua M. of MA won $12,403 playing online Blackjack.
-Carl M. of AZ won $11,625 playing Rain Dance online slots.
- Marcia H. of IL won $11,150 playing Bonus Deuces Wild.
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It is hard to find a player that is played slots many times and has won a lot. It is like either someone that turns out to get lucky by hitting a very large jackpot or a fraud. Slots are games that are for fun,ghd iv mini styler, not profit. There is not anything incorrect with take pleasure in them in amounts, but do not formulate this as main game.
The next tip is just for the guys and gals playing in the land based casinos. It is a common good manner for players to tip good dealers or the cocktail waitress. This is good but it is money consuming as you need to consider it for itself. For example, if you are playing ￡1 Blackjack and you are up ￡10 when the cocktail waitress comes about plan for a minute. If you tip ￡1,ghd outlet reviews, you have just dropped 10% of your profits. The player needs to tip only comparatively. The money in any ways out is lost,cheap ghd straighteners, think whether it is good or bad. When the Baccarat for a player is boring,ghd iv review, even though Baccarat is having the best bet in the house it does not make a difference. The main thing is you have to have passion for what you are doing to achieve success. When you are gaming without having passion then you'll get emotionally tired and thus a condition where money is lost certainly. Stick with your passions and then you will definitely achieve success. Consider and follow these to become a smart gambler.
The following commentary was submitted by Russ Meyer, Jack DeBoer, Dick Coe, Fred Berry, Mark Kahrs, Ron Badger and Glenn Thompson of Wichita:
Legislators led Kansas into uncharted, precarious waters in 2007 when they approved state-owned casinos, a step no other state has taken. Now we'll see if state regulators have the courage to reject a casino development contract with a company charged with criminal activities, Peninsula Gaming Partners.
Last October, a special prosecutor for Iowa charged Peninsula and its chief executive officer and chief operating officer with illegally funneling $25,000 in contributions through a third party to the re-election campaign of Gov. Chet Culver. The trial of the Peninsula officials, who deny all charges, is scheduled to begin in June.
Peninsula and another company, Global Gaming, have been competing for a contract to develop a casino in Sumner County. Last month the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board ignored the criminal charges and selected Peninsula as the winner. The board's chairman stated the board's only responsibility was to determine which of the contracts would be best for the state.
Gov.-elect Sam Brownback told the Topeka Capital-Journal that he was puzzled and concerned by the decision: "I'm not in charge, and so people have to make their own decision, but I have real qualms about that.... Giving political contributions in another name? Why are you doing that?"
The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission will meet Friday in Topeka to review background checks of Peninsula officials and make the final decision on accepting or rejecting Peninsula's contract. Commission rules and regulations provide broad discretion for the commission to deny a gaming certificate if officers of an applicant would "pose a threat to the public interest or to the effective regulation of gaming, or create or enhance the dangers of unfair or illegal practices in the conduct of gaming."
The serious criminal charges against Peninsula officials and the company certainly meet this criteria.
The casino industry is notorious for white-collar crime and corruption. With the integrity of state-owned casinos on the line, commissioners should set a high standard during this first major test.
We certainly understand that a person charged with a crime is innocent until proved guilty. But the criminal charges against Peninsula and its officials are too serious to ignore. Therefore the commission should either deny the contract to Peninsula or delay the decision until the company and its principals are cleared of all wrongdoing.
We urge Kansans to express their opinions on this issue to commission members by sending them a letter at the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, 700 S.W. Harrison, Suite 500, Topeka, KS 66603-3754. The commission's e-mail address is [email][email protected][/email].
SINGAPORE -- Wear red if you want to win at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands casino, but sport white to boost your luck at rival Resorts World Sentosa.
So says feng shui expert Danny Cheong, who has seen demand for his skills soar thanks to last year's opening of the city-state's first two casino resorts.
"Before I would occasionally get clients who asked for help with playing the horses or the lottery," said Mr. Cheong, a 50-year-old Singaporean trained in Hong Kong. "Now everybody wants advice about the casinos."
Singapore's two huge casino resorts, which together cost more than $10 billion to build, are at the center of a decade-long effort to diversify the island's economy toward services such as tourism and finance and less on manufacturing. The casinos have created more than 20,000 jobs, helped attract record visitors and fueled 14.7 percent economic growth last year, likely the second-highest in the world behind Qatar.
Singapore is also benefiting from strong economic growth in Asia, led by China. Almost all the growth of tourist arrivals last year came from regional neighbors and, for the first time, Chinese demand for Singapore's exports likely surpassed that of the U.S. in 2010.
To woo Chinese visitors, the resorts incorporated feng shui and other Chinese beliefs in their design and operation. Resorts World opened its casino at 8:28 a.m. on Feb. 14 while Marina Bay Sands opened March 27 at 3:18 p.m. because eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture.
Its strong economic ties in the region, particularly with China, put Singapore in a favorable position to ride the current wave of growth from Asia, said DBS economist Irvin Seah.
Gross domestic product rose 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago, compared with 10.5 percent in the third quarter, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Monday. The economy grew an annualized, seasonally adjusted 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter after contracting 18.9 percent in the third, the ministry said.
Singapore in recent decades lost much of its low-wage manufacturing to regional emerging economies like China and Vietnam, and it has focused on exporting more value-added products such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Manufacturing soared 28 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous year while services gained 8.8 percent and construction slumped 1.2 percent, the ministry said.
This year, the resorts should contribute about 1.7 percentage points of GDP growth to an economy that Singapore's DBS bank expects will slow, but still grow a healthy 7 percent. The government is forecasting economic growth of between 4 percent and 6 percent for 2011.
Services will overtake manufacturing as the key contributor to growth, and gaming will overtake pharmaceuticals as the fastest growing sector, Seah said.
Singapore, which has a population of 5 million and is about the size of New York City, saw visitor arrivals average about 1 million per month and jump 20 percent in the first 11 months of last year from the same period in 2009.
The resorts also plan to expand this year. Marina Bay Sands, owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., is scheduled to open the world's first ArtScience Museum in February while Genting Bhd's Resorts World will open its Maritime Xperiential Museum by midyear, with two more hotels and a marine life park later.
Retailers, at the resorts and at Singapore's famous Orchard Road shopping malls, have also benefited from the tourism boom, with spending by visitors soaring 47 percent to $13.7 billion in Singapore dollars (about $10.56 U.S. dollars) in the third quarter from the previous year.
Other winners include feng shui masters such as Mr. Cheong, who for 22 years has advised companies such as Pizza Hut, Renault and Robinson's department store on the finer points of attracting the right kind of qi, or energy.
Gamblers are now paying 500 Singapore dollars ($380) for "wealth achievement" sessions -- advice on how to beat the casinos where Mr. Cheong analyzes the date and time of a client's birth to dole out tips about lucky clothes and the direction to face at a card table.
Some Singaporeans have misgivings about the embrace of casinos, however.
Lee Kuan Yew, prime minister from 1959 to 1990, rejected casinos out of fear they would undermine morality. Mr. Lee's son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, argued the resorts would help make Singapore a world-class city.
To discourage impulsive gambling by locals, the government imposes on all citizens and permanent residents a SG$100 (about $77) entrance fee for a 24-hour visit or SG$2,000 ($1,542) for a year. More than SG$100 million ($77 million) was collected in entry fees last year, which suggests many Singaporeans still tried their luck.
Local media have reported increasingly aggressive harassment of debtors by loan sharks, and police last year began a crackdown on illegal lending, which often targets desperate gamblers. The government has banned about 194 problem gamblers from casinos at the request of family members and more than 2,000 people have asked to be excluded.
Even some feng shui experts are wary of encouraging betting. Adelina Pang, author of Classical Feng Shui for Homes Today, said she's frequently approached by poorer Singaporeans who hope she can help them hit the jackpot.
"I try to tell them not to gamble because I don't want to help them dig their own grave," Ms. Pang said. "With the casinos here now it's so convenient that some people are getting really addicted and not taking care of their families."
The city of Las Vegas has yet to recover from the economic recession of 2008, and if the city is going to do so, it will have to be helped along by some of their newest facilities. MGM Mirage's CityCenter is one of the new casino resorts being counted on.
The end of 2010 saw Las Vegas casinos gain some revenue momentum going into the new year. In order to keep that momentum, CityCenter is turning to their convention space with the hope of resurrecting the ailing gaming industry in Sin City.
CityCenter has used it's convention bookings to post a gain for the first time in the third quarter of the fiscal year. With 1.6 million convention room night bookings for the new year, there is little doubt what the business model is for the casino resort.
"Conventions used to be the biggest way for casinos to lure gamblers to Las Vegas," said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. "But after the recession, many executives were concerned they would be scrutinized for holding company meetings in Las Vegas, so they started to turn elsewhere."
With the emphasis after the recession on enlarged spending accounts for executives while layoffs were taking place at major corporations, companies started to scale down their business meetings. Out were the thousands of people meetings in the lavish Las Vegas casinos, and in were budget cutting get-togethers in more centralized locations of the US.
If Las Vegas is again going to be the gambling giant it once was, it will have to start with bringing back the conventions. MGM Mirage is just one of the companies in Sin City that will be relying on business travelers to increase slot and table game revenue at their casinos.
The other new facility, the Cosmopolitan, has chosen to lure vacationers through celebrity's. Jay-Z performed New year's Eve at the Cosmo, and several other big name musical acts were also in attendance for the festivities to kick off 2011.
Could you see yourself dishing out $5K for a burger, even if you had just won a $1 million slots jackpot? Well, whether you have that kind of cash or not, a new Las Vegas restaurant in Vegas called Fleur inside the Mandalay Bay, is introducing the most extravagant type of junk food you’ll ever see – it’s the $5,000 Fleur burger.
The Wall Street Journal looked into the matter and was able to find out which ingredients were chosen for Chef Hubert Keller’s infamous burger. The key to the Fleur burger is the use of Kobe beef which originates from Japan is considered somewhat of a delicacy. After the Kobe beef patty is prepared, they then use foie gras and black truffles to top it off along with a special sauce which is definitely not mayo but a special black truffle creation.
The $5K burger comes as part of a combo which includes fries and a suave bottle of a fine wine called Petrus (1995) which is poured into the finest of wine glasses, Ichendorf Brunello, which are imported from Italy. The wine alone is worth $2,500 so all in all this is probably a really good deal if you’re a high-roller.
The man behind the burger is Frenchman Hubert Keller, which according to the WSJ, is a somewhat of a celebrity and has starred in “Secrets of a Chef” and “Top Chef Masters.” The inspiration behind the Fleur burger comes from his love for burgers which has led to his chain of burger shacks and perfecting the art which is all explained in his 'Burger Bar' book.
Fleur Restaurant hopes to sell at least six burgers in one year’s time so it’s really all about creating buzz and attracting customers. Wouldn’t it be great sitting next to the person that orders one?
Was it slots, was it craps or was it video poker? No, it was Blackjack that packed a punch over the weekend and awarded $52,454 in cold hard cash to Chris D. of NY. Hopefully that Blackjack win made his winter just a tad bit warmer!
Our second weekend over-achiever was Gregory S. of ME who walked away with a $33,085 playing a few lucky hands of online Blackjack.
-Michael G. of MO won $31, 151 playing Caesar’s Empire online slots.
-Joshua M. of MA won $20, 015 playing online Blackjack.
-Daniel T. of MN won $19,900 playing online Craps.
-David G. of TN won $18, 970 playing online Goldbeard online slots.
-Jack H. of TX won $18, 091playing Victory online slots.
-Brad K. of WI won $14, 380 playing Casino Hold’em.
-Yu K. of MA won $12,475 playing Fruit Frenzy online slots.
-Chucky L. of NC won $12,331 playing Crystal Waters online slots.
-Stephen A. of MS won $10,912 playing online Blackjack.
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Here's something nice that everyone in the area should try to participate in: the Peppermill Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada is hosting a charity poker tournament for the Nevada Humane Society on January 20th at 7pm. It's part of a series of events at the Peppermill designed for poker players at every level of the game, and in addition to helping out a worthy cause, players get food and drinks.
"We are honored that the Peppermill chose Nevada Humane Society to be the beneficiary of this tournament," said Bonney Brown, Executive Director of the Nevada Human Society. "We are just starting the busiest time of the year for us and our communities’ animals need our help more than ever."
The $120 buy-in poker tournament offers $50 rebuys that give up double the amount in chips while shuffling the entirety of their proceeds to the charity's local efforts. The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization, backed by donations and work from 11,000,000 people.
Some not-so-shocking news came out of Vegas this weekend after comedian Andy Dick was kicked out of the Palms Casino Resort for harassing a porn star at the Adult Video News (AVN) awards held on Saturday night.
He’s the man who you can count on getting arrested, kicked out of bars and restaurants and even being the cause of a brawl wherever he may go. Does he do it for a little press love? That’s the question that everyone is dying to know.
According to the Examiner, he was kicked out of the Palms Casino on Saturday after continuing to harass adult film star Tera Patrick and drag queen Chi Chi LaRoux while spending time backstage. He was apparently babbling nonsense and spilling beer everywhere.
After complaints, a security guard grabbed Andy and kicked him out of the casino for ‘being disorderly and pushing people.’ It just sounded like he wanted the world to know that he was there and hey, pay attention everyone or I’ll show you my goodies. He actually did do that a few times, according to the Toronto Sun, who claimed he once dropped his pants and exposed his penis at a coffee shop in LA and also during a drunken stupor during a show in Canada.
If you enjoy Andy’s humor then you can catch him on his satellite radio show “The Shit Show” which is on Howard Stern’s radio channel Howard 101 and is aired on Thursday nights.
Ontario casinos are poised to get a new high-tech tool to keep problem gamblers away.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation plans to place new facial recognition scanners at its 27 gambling facilities across the province.
And unlike the current, and difficult to enforce, practice of having security trying to personally detect people who keep coming back to casinos even after putting themselves on a self-excluded list, the new program is being hailed for its efficiency.
Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner, said the program is the most privacy-protected system using biometric encryption in the world, and it has a 91% accuracy rate.
"It delivers two positives," Cavoukian said. "It protects self-excluded individuals who want to be excluded from casinos and it also protects the privacy of regular patrons, as their information will not be captured."
Starting in May, anyone entering a casino in Ontario will have their face digitally scanned by a camera. The image will be sent through a database of people who have voluntarily put themselves on a banned list because they admit to having gambling problems.
The system focuses on detailed facial features, and was designed to make sure no permanent link be established between a biometric template of a person's face and their private information.
If a match is found, security is notified. If there is no match, the patron's image is deleted and they are free to play.
Critics of the existing system say to have front-line security staff, who see countless patrons on any given day, trying to match faces with pictures of people on the self-excluded list is untenable.
Paul Niesink, a clinical supervisor for Gambling Support Services, said the new system gives "more teeth" to the whole self-exclusion process.
"It's more likely you will get caught," said Niesink. "It gives people a better understanding that you probably will get caught versus you might get caught.
"The self-exclusion procedure is more valuable this way. It's a step in the right direction."
Paul Pellizzari, director of policy and social responsibility for OLG, said the existing manual system catches around 1,000 self-excluded gamblers a year.
"We hope that increases manyfold,” he said.
IView Systems will build the new system, which will cost the OLG between $3 million and $5 million.
David N. from TX was quite the smooth operator over the weekend after using his poker talents to score $48,007 playing a wicked combo of casino games including Tri Card Poker, Let ‘em Ride and Aztec’s Treasure.
Other suave types who topped off our list included Sonia P. from AZ who won $22,095 playing Crystal Waters and Goldbeard slot machines followed by Jeffrey R. from CA who scored $7,379 playing online Blackjack.
Other big Bodog Casino winners from the weekend included:
Mark R from CA won $6,651 while playing Craps.
Beatrice W from PA won $6,004 while playing Victory.
We had many more winners over the weekend and these guys were just a few of the many more Bodog casino players who scored thousands playing their favorite casino games over the weekend.
Congratulations to all of our casino winners!
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Legalizing Internet poker could generate $1 billion during the next decade for the cash-starved state treasury, according to a group of California casinos itching to start dealing cards online.
The proposal, which has been put into legislation pending in the California Senate, is timely because the state is currently facing a $25-billion budget shortfall, according to the California Online Poker Assn., which includes the Commerce Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Hollywood Park Casino and Indian tribes that operate card rooms including the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
"This could be part of a solution to California’s budget woes," said Ryan Hightower, a spokesman for the association, which is sponsoring SB 40, a bill by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana).
The group commissioned an economic study from former state finance director Timothy L. Gage, who concluded that with a 10% operator fee on gross gambling receipts, the state would initially earn about $82 million each year, but the revenue would exceed $100 million annually after five years.
Opponents say Internet poker is not a budget solution. They note that some Indian tribes have threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in slot-machine revenue from the state if lawmakers approve what those tribes see as competition to their brick-and-mortar casinos.
Fred Jones of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion also said the state budget could be hurt if more families end up in bankruptcy or foreclosure because of the ease of Internet gambling.
"No society has ever, nor ever will, gamble itself into prosperity," he said.
Miss Nebraska, Teresa Scanlan, was one of the favorites heading into the final night of competition in the Miss America pageant in 2011. On Saturday evening, Scanlan emerged victorious, beating out the other finalists for the crown.
Scanlan became the youngest winner ever in the event and the victory came largely on the heels of a strong showing in the talent competition. Miss Nebraska performed "White Water Chopsticks" on the piano.
The finale was held at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Sin City has shown to be a good home for the pageant since it left Atlantic City back in 2005. New Jersey had hosted the competition since back in the twenties.
Las Vegas was desperately in need of a boost after struggling through the past couple of years. Nevada is largely reliant on the gaming industry, and when the economy soured in the US, the casino industry dried out. US residents no longer had the funds to spend a weekend in Las Vegas gambling.
Macau was also instrumental in the decline of gaming revenue in Las Vegas. Macau has become the gaming capital of the world, and a large portion of the Asian gamblers that used to travel to Nevada, now stay closer to home at Macau casinos.
Nevada was able to gain some additional revenue during the Miss America pageant. Scanlan emerged as the victor, but thousands of others came to Las Vegas to witness, or be part of, the competition. Miss Nebraska claims her focus during her run as Miss America will be on eating disorders.
Hey, guess what? Bodog Casino has added a new slot machine called China MegaWild and it comes with plenty of added features and winning combinations that just may lead to mega cash. It's a Chinese wonderland full of plenty of bonus features and whimsical characters for a cash-filled trip to the Far East.
China Mega Wild comes with five reels and twenty pay lines filled with a definite Chinese flair including tigers, lotus flowers, pandas and fun artifacts associated with the ancient culture. Players will want to look out for the dragon which acts as a WILD and will substitute for many symbols to help you create special winning combinations. An added bonus to the WILD symbol is that when it appears on reel 3, it triggers the MEGAWILD feature which converts all symbols into wilds and pays out three times the cash.
A second bonus feature of China MegaWild slots is the mighty multiplier symbol, in this case a Chinese woman, which doubles when appearing during special winning combinations.
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Vegas is the land of excess and while you may think that worrying about environmental issues may be an afterthought for these billion dollar monsters, many Vegas casinos are now complying with standards that fall in line with the U.S. Green Building Council, therefore helping them leave less of a carbon footprint.
Many Vegas casinos are striving to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and also work together with an organization called Green Key, which rates hotels and casinos and helps them to achieve the highest possible environmental rating. Among the hotels who are cooperating have been rated by Green Key include the Aria Resort & Casino, the Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, MGM Grand, the Excalibur among others.
Green Key focuses on an online rating system that may includes spot checks on indoor air quality, building infrastructure, land use, energy and water conservation, hazardous waste management and community outreach. The assessment is completely voluntary and works with hotels in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.
There are quite a few incentives involved in Vegas casinos going green including tax breaks and saving a good amount of cash once energy-saving systems are put into place. According to Tiny Green Bubble, Cindy Ortega, the senior vice president of Energy and Environmental Services at MGM Resorts International, “We think, there’s a natural parallel between conservationism and environmentalism. When you conserve you save money. Without exception, every one of the (green) programs have benefitted our shareholders.”
It’s difficult to determine whether such hotels have a true interest in being environmentally sound or if the rise in profits may be the motivation behind ‘going green’ but either way, they are taking a step in the right direction.
Other New Year darlings included Chucky L. of NC who won a scandalous amount of cash playing Rain Dance slot machine where his skills led him to a grand $40K win. What a weekend it was and a great reason to stay in and play your favorite casino games.
Other big Bodog Casino winners over the weekend included:
Larry S. of TN won $9,573 playing Roulette .
Victoria S. of CA won $9,918 playing Tiger Treasures online slots.
Marcia M. of TX won $9,260 playing Gold in Bars online slots.
Senada A. of won $8,416 playing Caesar’s Empire online slots.
Hope H. of MI won$8,037 playing Let Em’ Ride card game.
Ram C. of MO won $7,975 playing BlackJack.
Fernando C. of ON won $7,780 playing online Blackjack.
Kyle K. of IL won $7,500 playing online BlackJack.
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