Let your mouth speak archive

Electronic wallets, also known as an e-wallets, allow casino players to make electronic commerce transactions quickly and securely. Like regular wallets, you can only spend the money you have. These are clear advantages when coming to make a deposit at an online casino - registering an account and funding it.

E-wallets help players control their spending, as they simply cannot exceed their limits, as could happen with "open ended" payment methods.

This explains the rise in popularity for such electronic wallet services as NETeller and Moneybookers.
No Fees

In addition, there are no fees involved in using NETeller and Moneybookers, as well as when using EcoCard, another popular e-wallet service.

Credit Cards, such as VISA and MasterCard, are also free of fees, and are staples at online casino cashiers across the boards.
Bet-at.eu Banking

As the Bet-at.eu Casino executive told us in a recent interview, e-wallets are indeed popular at the online casino, as are credit cards; most deposits are done using VISA credit cards.

In general, casino members may choose from various fast and secure methods to deposit and withdraw funds at Bet-at.eu.

They differ in the system they use - credit, debit, electronic wallets or other, as well as in processing time and limits per transaction.

Consult our reviews of casino payment methods before choosing the option you prefer at Bet-at.eu.

The 2012 Oscars are less than three weeks away and you’d think that George Clooney, the favorite to win the award for best actor, is focused in on the big day. Instead, Miss Piggy trying to do what she always does: step into his spotlight and share the attention.

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Miss Piggy has challenged Clooney to a wrestling match at the Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) 2012. Sounds a bit odd, doesn’t it? The Hollywood diva and Muppets TV star is hosting the official red carpet show for the film awards and she’s relishing a chance at meeting Clooney. Her wrestling reference refers to Clooney dating WWE wrestler Stacey Keibler. Miss Piggy says she wouldn't wrestle Keibler because she doesn’t wrestle girlfriends, but she is willing to have a best two-out-of-three with Clooney. What’s more likely to happen is the tandem just wrestle on the microphone since Miss Piggy doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to her questions.

For Clooney, the bigger focus will be on February 26th when he finds out if the Academy will tab him as the best actor for 2012. He shined in The Descendants but has some stiff competition from Jean Dujardin from The Artist. Brad Pitt’s effort in Moneyball as well as Gary Oldman’s and Demian Bichir’s performances in their respective movies are considered far bigger long shots to win the golden statue.

2012 Oscars - Odds to Win Best Actor
George Clooney (The Descendants) 4/9
Jean Dujardin (The Artist) 3/2
Brad Pitt (Moneyball) 15/1
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) 25/1
Demian Bichir (A Better Life) 50/1

University of Memphis President Shirley Raines is among officials opposed to a bill in Congress that they said might cause a decrease in funding for HOPE Lottery Scholarships.

A measure to legalize online poker playing in the United States has been proposed by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), something many state governors argue would create competition for state lottery revenue and reduce funding for lottery scholarships as a result.

"We are looking at the legislation now, as well as trying to research states where both (online gaming and lotteries) are allowed," Raines said. "We are not in favor of online gambling because we believe lottery revenues, which fund Hope Scholarships, would decrease."

Barton proposed the measure in June. If passed as is, the bipartisan bill would legalize online poker, which Barton argues is a game of skill not luck, nationwide. The bill is currently in a House subcommittee, which it was referred to in August.

Rep. Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.) has cosponsored the bill along with 26 other representatives. Cohen also played an instrumental role in establishing the Tennessee Education Lottery when he was a member of the Tennessee Senate. He said interest in state lotteries won't decrease.

"Legalizing online poker would not weaken Tennessee's Lottery because online poker caters to a different population of gamblers," Cohen said. "But it is ultimately up to the General Assembly to decide whether online poker will be legal and how revenue from online poker would be utilized in Tennessee. Should online poker be approved, I would encourage the General Assembly to use that revenue to strengthen the Lottery Scholarship program to include more students."

Barton's plan allows poker sites to accept players from states across the US, but mandates the sites register with a state where gambling is legal and regulated.

A summary of the bill says that it prohibits "licensees from knowingly accepting bets or wagers by persons residing where a state (has) … specific gambling limitations."

According to Mike Young, a Texas-based attorney who specializes in internet law, "… under (Barton's) plan, states would be able to opt out of legalizing online gambling and thereby prevent residents from engaging in internet poker."

Wendell Moore, senior public policy advisor to a law firm that provides back-of-house operations for the Tennessee lottery, said that while lobbying in Washington, D.C. in meetings with opponents to the online poker act, he was told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to propose an online gaming amendment to the Senate's unemployment payroll tax bill this month.

Attempts to reach Reid were unsuccessful, but he was reported to have been organizing a bill to legalize a limited amount of online gaming in 2010. Reid's primary campaign donators for his reelection were Nevada casino companies in favor of the measure, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In Tennessee, the state lottery has plugged $2.2 billion into education programs statewide since its inception in 2004. During the 2010-11 academic year, funds assisted about 100,000 students at higher education institutions across the state and another 16,000 in dual enrollment courses. Collectively, over 4,800 retailers in the state have earned roughly $549 million in commissions since ticket sales began.

At The University of Memphis, over 5,500 students received the Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship last fall. If a measure passes, opponents say scholarships could be cut due to a decrease in money earned from the state lottery.

"Leaders in the State of Georgia, on which the Tennessee Lottery is based, are taking stands against online gambling because of similar concerns," Raines said. "We will contact our federal and state legislators about these concerns."

Historically, states have had the right to regulate the gambling industry. By restricting gambling, a state can generate funds via steering people to its lottery. Tennessee has gained more than $8.4 billion from its lottery since residents voted to have one in 2004.

Barton's bill would have gambling online federalized, with the federal government generating roughly $3 billion annually, according to the proposal, which would in turn benefit states who would receive a portion of revenue generated from constituents' gambling taxes.

Some state governors say states are better off controlling in-state gambling laws.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam‘s spokesman, David Smith, said the two haven't had a chance to review the legislation and didn't have a comment at this time.

Idaho, Maryland and New Hampshire governors, whose states all benefit greatly from state-run lotteries, have each written letters to members of Congress pleading for the bill to be withdrawn.

In a letter to Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), which was obtained by The Daily Helmsman, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter of Idaho cited that "many state lotteries now generate more revenue than do state corporate income taxes."

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch argued in a letter to Reid, also obtained by The Helmsman, that competition for state lotteries could jeopardize the public education system in his state.

"Lottery revenues represent 12 percent of the state's non-statewide property tax distributions to our schools," he wrote. "The proposed federal legislation will materially place those revenues at risk."

Mobile gaming specialist Probability (LON😋BTY) has applied for a gaming licence in the state of Nevada ahead of the possible legalisation of online gaming in the US.

Chief executive Charles Cohen said the group chose Nevada because he believes it will be the first US state to respond to the shock change in stance announced by the US Department of Justice before Christmas.

The DoJ said online gambling now applied only to sports betting, which has effectively allowed the legalisation of online poker, casino and slot games on a state-by-state basis.

Cohen believes this will present a huge opportunity for mobile gaming specialists as mobile is the only platform where the location of the user can be assured with any degree of certainty at the time they place their bets.

He also believes the difficulty of getting a gaming licence in places such as Nevada will also mean significant barriers to entry for smaller companies trying to break into the US from abroad and restrict the market to large established companies such as Probability.

He said that as part of the application in Nevada, he and all the board will be fingerprinted and have to provide detailed personal financial records for the past ten years as well as providing the information on the company.

Last month, Probability said it had already started early stage talks with possible partners in the US.

To operate a gaming business in the US, a company has to own a casino, so analysts suggest Probability’s route into the market will be through a joint venture with an established gaming group.

In the UK, Probability is best known brand is the LadyLuck’s online slots games, while it also licenses its technology to a number of leading bookmakers.

The D.C. Council has repealed its Internet gambling law, the first such law in the country, over concerns that the legislation was approved without proper public notice.

The Washington Post reported that the council voted 10-2 to reverse the legislation and terminate the city’s contract with iGaming, which would have allowed residents and visitors to bet money on online games of chance. Council members said they would consider future such legislation, however.

Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) said the Feb. 7 vote would result in the loss of tens of millions of dollars in revenue and make it illegal for District residents to gamble on the Internet. He had estimated iGaming would have generated more than $100 million for the city over 15 years.

According to The Post, the gaming legislation was added to the city’s lottery contract in 2009, months after the council had approved the contract. It was then formally adopted in the city’s 2010 spending bill.

In addition to the loss of potential revenue, Intralot, the firm that created the city’s program, has spent more than $5 million in developing the gaming system and could sue to recoup its investment.

Reached by The Post for comment, Byron Boothe, a spokesman for Intralot, would not address the possibility of a lawsuit and said the firm was “disappointed in the council vote,” but would work with the District to create “New state-of-the-art technology and city jobs.”

Calvin Ayres, the founder of Bodog online entertainment and gaming brand, has made a number of predictions for 2012 regarding the online casino industry (after finding that his 2011 predictions pretty much held true). Here is a look at some of those predictions made in regards to different locations around the world.

Europe

There will be not a lot in terms of significant developments in the online gambling industry. Ayres has stated that “with faith in a common currency significantly shaken in 2011, the ongoing Balkanization of Europe’s gambling markets will only accelerate.”

America

Ayres long predicted that there would be no positive momentum for legislation regarding online gambling at a federal level even before the United State’s Department of Justice admitted that their Wire Act did not go past sports betting. However, with the recent announcement by the Department of Justice, it can be seen that the states are the ones holding onto the gambling decisions. in 2012, there is a 50 percent likelihood that one of two states will do emote gambling.

Asia

The Asian market is still in the infants’ stage, but it is much bigger than the rest of the world if individuals take a look at its brick-and—mortar casino profits. There has been no determination in regards to the companies that will be making a name for themselves in this region, but it will most likely not be public companies.

Latin America

While the continent of Latin America and never rival the continent of Asia in regards to scale; however, as far as gambling terms, Latin America is still mainly a virgin territory. With recent economic downturns hitting a majority of the area, causing the countries to look for new venues for money, Latin America may be second best (right behind Asia) market for targeting during the 2012 calendar year.

India

India is a huge market that tends to get overlooked a lot. Once an online gambling company figures out how to open this market, it will be like a slot machine getting all cherries – huge payout!

The online gambling industry in Europe is growing in leaps and bounds although the road to liberalization is far from smooth. Germany has presented problems by trying to maintain their monopoly France has a tax regime that is untenable for most operators and there are legal issues in other parts of the Union.
Spain is becoming a place where the rules are about to change and those companies which operate there now are pulling out of the market in order to qualify for a license to be issued by Spanish authorities.

Microgaming the worlds biggest supplier of software for the online gambling industry has decided to take a break from the Spanish poker jurisdiction. NordicBet which operates one of Microgaming’s poker rooms has confirmed they will no longer be offering their poker services to residents of Spain. This action is so that Microgaming can comply with the new regulations imposed by the Spanish Authorities. Poker players in Spain that are involved with Microgaming skins are being told their money will be transferred to their principal betting accounts on the sites.

The action by Microgaming is welcomed by land based Spanish operator Codere which launched legal action against online gambling giant Bwin last year. Codere is of the opinion that any operator that established an online presence pre-regulation will hold an unfair market advantage. The law suit went ahead on the pretext that the Austrian operator’s online presence in the unlicensed market amounted to “unfair competition” for anyone entering the market anew.

Sportingbet and PokerStars, were also the subject of Codere’s allegations and the court was asked to supply injunctions to block the access to Spanish punters via Sportingbet and Pokerstars. Sportingbet’s Spanish-facing site Miapuesta was then blocked by Spanish internet service providers and payment processors after a commercial court in Madrid granted an interim injunction. Recently a Barcelona mercantile court rejected imposing an injunction against PokerStars, saying they held another E.U. located license and will apply for a Spanish license once they become available.

The online gambling giant 888 Holdings has seen its full-year revenues rise by 26% in 2010. The company said thats its income from bingo, poker, casino and sports betting rose to £209 million, which was 26% up on the 2010 revenues.

The number of customers using their online gambling websites showed increased growth helping sales figures. The company also said that trading in the first quarter of 2012 was impressive.

"We are delighted with 888?s strong performance over the last year and in particular Q4,” claimed Deputy Chairman, Brian Mattingley. “Current trading in January continues to be strong. We believe our focused strategy will continue to drive growth in 2012."

888 said that by the end of December 2011, it had 10.6 million real-money customer accounts across its different brands, which was 22% up on the previous year.

The company added that the economic downturn has led to an increasing number of people opting to stay at home and gamble online. ?Shares in the company have provided significant returns for investors over the last 12 months having more than doubled from the years low.

On the eve of the music industry's biggest night of the year, one of its biggest stars shines no more. Whitney Houston has died. She was 48. According to Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen, Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 in her room at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

Following the tragic announcement, recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow released a statement that said Houston "was one of the world's greatest pop singers of all time who leaves behind a robust musical soundtrack spanning the past three decades."

"Her powerful voice graced many memorable and award-winning songs," Portnow said. "A light has been dimmed in our music community today, and we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, fans and all who have been touched by her beautiful voice."

Over the course of her career, Houston amassed a total of 415 awards, more than any other female act. Ever. Included among those awards are two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards.

Now that the football season in America has ended in spectacular fashion, we turn our sights and head directly into the heart of the next league of fantasy statistics, bone-crushing hits and end zone celebrations. That’s right, state legislatures are now in session across the country.

This is the time of year when political intensity reaches its peak. Budgets are proposed, criticized and ultimately passed. Programs are slashed and new ideas are born. In 2012, perhaps more than any other year, the stakes are at an all-time high. According to the Brookings Institution, states face a projected nationwide deficit of more than $400 billion, which means more cutting, tax hikes and searches for revenue. The U.S. Department of Justice recently reinterpreted the Wire Act, essentially declaring that online gambling could be legalized – if states adopted the appropriate measures. Said differently, it’s now “game time.”

This explains why 2012 will be known as the year that at least one state – probably two or three – launch the first instance of legalized online gambling in the United States. In 2011, the District of Columbia approved it but had implementation issues. Nevada has also legalized and is taking applications from operators. New Jersey and Iowa were close to passing it. Now, at least 10 states are actively considering it. States are looking for the types of revenue that online gaming can bring – immediate, significant and well regulated.

Reports by Morgan Stanley suggest that 15 million, or more, Americans today will log onto their computer and illegally play poker online. This seems innocent enough until you realize that it is unregulated, untaxed and completely unlawful. With smart technologies and the leveraging of existing state regulatory and law-enforcement organizations, online gambling could be taxed and generating revenues in any number of states quickly and safely.

Technology can monitor financial transactions, verify ages and locations, track play patterns and ultimately, prevent play from compulsive gamblers before they become problematic. Online, gaming is safer than Tom Coughlin’s job security and safer, too, than any other form of wagering, from casinos to horse racing, Keno to lottery.

And why wouldn’t a state and its legislators approve a new source of revenue that is voluntary to its participants and critical to preserving programs or jobs? Consider the revenue impact to California. We project that over five years, the potential tax revenue to the Golden State from online gaming could be $1.5 billion. That could fund a year’s worth of the state’s total highway repairs or the entire backlog of deferred maintenance at state parks. The needs in each state are different, as are the potential revenues. But every state certainly has a program in funding crisis, from law enforcement to healthcare or education.

The argument that this is an expansion of gaming and somehow corrupting the moral fiber of the nation is as old as the Wishbone offense. It is no longer relevant, with 48 of 50 states having some sort of gaming and, 43 states having more than three types of legalized gambling. With millions playing online in their living rooms or offices without any controls, wouldn’t it be in the best interest of law enforcement and financial regulations to manage this sub-culture of illegal activity?

The states are crafting a smart and strategic game plan for initiating online gaming. They are evaluating the revenue projections and looking at how best to initiate the right regulatory framework to manage this. I applaud the review and analysis. The best route to success in launching a new industry like this is transparency, compliance and full buy-in from the private and public sector alike.

We’re still in the first quarter of the state legislative cycle but, you can get a sense of the game and how it will be played. My prediction: The legalization of online gaming is imminent; probably a late-game play with a few ticks left on the 2012 clock. This critical outcome will create a highly regulated industry that will operate in the open and, generate critical tax revenues at a time when they are needed most.

That’s a winning score by any count.

More than 100 Miccosukee Indians owe the federal government about $25.8 million in back taxes, penalties and interest on income the tribe handed out from gambling profits at its West Miami-Dade casino operation.

The tribe made the unprecedented admission in its increasingly bitter malpractice lawsuit against its longtime former lawyer, Dexter Lehtinen, who is trying to have the complaint thrown out.

For the first time, the Miccosukees revealed the financial fallout of Internal Revenue Service audits for 2000-05 to bolster their argument that Lehtinen gave them “faulty advice” on personal income-tax disputes, causing the tribe and its members to incur “outrageous interest and penalties.”

In court papers, the Miccosukees said that for many years Lehtinen advised tribe members that they owed no individual income taxes on the gambling distributions, but he changed his position before he was fired in 2010 after a change of tribal leadership. The tribe accused Lehtinen of providing misleading advice that reveals a “clear and concise picture of the fraud he committed upon tribal members in order to collect outrageous fees.”

The tribe says it paid his law firm $50 million for counsel on environmental, income-tax and other legal issues starting in 1992. Now it wants him to pay damages as the tribe takes a publicly aggressive stand against Lehtinen, a former U.S. attorney in Miami and the husband of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami.

But Lehtinen’s lawyer, Joseph Klock, said the Miccosukee Tribe has sued his client because it needs a “bogey man” to pay for the mistakes of its political leaders, who fired the lawyer. “Those folks left him high and dry,” Klock said. “Their case is absolutely ridiculous.”

The tribe’s court filings also provide new details of the decade-old tax battle between the Miccosukees and IRS over the distribution of gambling profits from its slot machines and bingo games.

Audits continuing

The malpractice suit filed last fall in Miami-Dade Circuit Court parallels the IRS’ continuing audits of the tribe’s 600 members. The agency has ramped up its investigation into alleged unpaid taxes by members on potentially tens of millions of dollars in unreported income from the Miccosukee’s gaming profits through 2010.

A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24 in Miami federal court on the IRS’ latest effort to obtain personal financial records from all Miccosukee members for 2010 at Morgan Stanley and other institutions. Last year, U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold rejected the tribe’s bid to block the IRS’ summons for those same records for 2006-09, saying the federal government’s sovereignty trumps that of the Miccosukees.

Although the Miccosukee Tribe as a sovereign nation does not have to pay taxes, members must pay them when they receive income from gaming profits, according to the IRS.

Unreported income

The IRS alleges the Miccosukee Tribe failed to report income and withhold taxes from the gaming distributions, and that individual members did not pay their full taxes on the quarterly cash payments.

The tribe’s attorney, Bernard Roman did not return calls for comment.

According to tribe’s court filings, there are 255 Miccosukee Indians who faced IRS audits for 2000-05 stemming from the gaming distributions. Of those, the agency issued “notices of deficiency” to 117, demanding that they pay additional taxes.

The total tax liability with penalties adds up to $9.4 million for those years, according to the tribe. But with compounded daily interest, the IRS claims those members now owe a total of $25.8 million.

By far the biggest alleged tax scofflaw is former Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Billy Cypress, according to the IRS. The agency claims he owes the federal government almost $2.8 million in taxes and penalties on $6.65 million in unreported income from 2003 to 2005.

About half of that unreported income came from cash advances on tribe-issued credit cards, according to IRS records obtained by The Miami Herald. Cypress used tribal funds at hotels, casinos, restaurants, sports venues and on spending sprees, the agency records show.

Lehtinen’s defense

In his response to the legal-malpractice complaint, Lehtinen said he privately advised the tribe of its members’ potential tax liability. At the same time, he said he argued to the IRS that members owed nothing on the gaming distributions because those funds were derived from a general Miccosukee tax on its casino operations.

Lehtinen says he privately advised the tribe to create a tax-reserve fund as a “prudent step” should the Miccosukees have to settle with the IRS.

The tribe, under Cypress, put more than $20 million into the fund. But after Cypress lost his post to Colley Billie in late 2009, the tribe scrapped the fund and “dissipated” the millions set aside by continuing to dole out unreported cash payments to tribe members, according to Lehtinen’s court filings.

A small group attends the workshop “Betting on Your Child’s Future: Parents are Partners in Gambling Prevention” on Thursday afternoon Feb. 2, at the high school.

“What do you know about gambling and children?” asks Roxanne L’Esperance. She is the local service provider for the BC Responsible and Problem Gambling Program and presenter of the workshop. L’Esperance is contracted to provide prevention programs that raise awareness about gambling addictions. The BC Responsible and Problem Gambling Program is gambling neutral and their service is free.

She provides some interesting facts. Did you know that less than half of the parents ever discuss gambling issues with their teen and that only 13 per cent of parents believe that their teen actually gambles for money? Reality is that approximately half of the underage youth in BC gamble and they start at the average age of 13.

“Gambling always has an unpredictable outcome and when a bet is made it cannot be reversed,” Roxanne L’Esperance explains. The difference between video games and gambling is that video games actually improve skills where gambling does not. Yet, a lot of children think that practice in gambling can improve their chances of winning and that if they know what they are doing, they can win.

Drugs and alcohol are often made more important than gambling. However, youth gamble more often than they use alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes because it is easy to access and their awareness about the risks is not as high. Also, their brain is still maturing and they are in a stage of risk taking and experimentation.

Reality is that kids from all social backgrounds gamble at home, a friend’s house, or school with friends, family, relatives, and siblings. In most cases, their parents will actually buy their lottery tickets. They play cards, sports betting, lottery, and the Internet, where most money is spent in on-line gambling.

“Gambling is part of our society and it is not going to go away,” Roxanne warns. “Youth are exposed to gambling now more than ever before and they think it is normal.” Fortunately, children also indicate that they would turn to their parents for help if they ever experienced problems with gambling. That is why parents play a crucial role in educating their kids about gambling and its risks of addiction.



The workshop is one of several put on during a Community Wellness Day put on by the community outreach program at Clearwater Secondary School.

– Margot Venema

Thanks for your updation....

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Caesars Entertainment Corp stands to benefit from the rise of social media gaming, Chief Executive Gary Loveman said in a speech on Tuesday.

Loveman described what he called "the continued remarkable growth of online social games" in remarks at a luncheon in downtown Boston. Although the Las Vegas company's resort plans are often tied up in local proceedings, online games like those Caesars offers through its Playtika business face fewer rules.

"These games are legal for anyone to play anywhere in the world," Loveman said.

Shares in the casino operator have fallen after an initial public offering last week. Investors have worried about Caesars' debt and lack of a presence in fast-growing Asian markets. Loveman gave few financial details during his speech, sponsored by the Boston College Chief Executives' Club of Boston.

But in a document filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission Caesars made clear its ambitions for online gaming, such as through its World Series of Poker franchise. Prior to restrictions in 2006, online poker in the U.S. generated roughly $1.5 billion in revenue, the document states.

"We are not aware of another U.S. landbased casino company that owns an online gaming business," the filing states. Though many online players spend money mostly for fun and not for wagers, as at casinos, Loveman reminded journalists after his talk of the IPO of gamemaker Zynga Inc in December best known for games like Farmville.

BOSTON LOCAL

Caesars Entertainment runs resorts under the Caesars, Harrah's and Horseshoe names. Loveman remains a Boston local, commuting from his home in the suburbs.

Before he joined the casino company in 1998 he had been a professor at Harvard Business School. Loveman had written then-CEO Phil Satre a letter with ideas for the company; Satre responded with a job offer and later made Loveman CEO of the company then known as Harrah's Entertainment.

In its IPO on February 8 Caesars sold about 1.4 percent of its shares outstanding. The offering was widely viewed as a way for the debt-laden company to make up some losses for its private-equity backers. Minority investors have included Goldman Sachs and hedge fund Paulson & Co.

The shares rose that day from their initial price of $9 each to as high as $17.90, but they have since fallen and were trading at $12.72 Tuesday afternoon. It was taken private by Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital in 2008.

HELPING ADDICTS

Loveman spent much of his talk on Tuesday arguing criticism of the growing casino industry is overblown and that new casinos do not boost crime or take advantage of poorer customers.

He did say about 1 percent of the population is prone to gambling addiction. "We have to deal with that," he said.

Loveman spoke just months after Massachusetts officials approved a bill to allow casinos, and began a process to select operators for three of them. Caesars has a partnership with a Boston-area racetrack to create one of the facilities.

Depending on the design of the facilities, about 40 percent of their revenue could be captured from neighboring states, he said.

Researchers from Monash University say gambling companies are increasingly targeting young men who have disposable incomes.

:dirol

Last week there has been online gambling news from three European countries. The liberalization of online gambling in Spain has taken a bizarre turn. Belgium is relentless in its opposition to unlicensed online gambling, whereas Portugal is contemplation generating revenues from online gambling.

The Spanish land based gambling group Codere has adopted an aggressive strategy to get rid of potential competition in the newly liberalized and regulated market in the country. It has launched a series of legal actions seeking injunctions against leading European online gambling operators. Its argument is that the operators that illegally accessed the Spanish online gambling market in the period before liberalization gained an unfair commercial advantage. During that period Codere, being a Spanish company, was compelled to stay away from online gambling. In order to compensate for this, Codere is demanding that the pre-liberalization operators should be made to start all over again, and even pay some sort of deferred taxation penalty.

Codere has targeted the big fish like Bwin, PokerStars and Sportingbet. Codere got an injunction from a Madrid court to block Sportingbet's Miapuesta website, forcing the online gambling operator to pay €2 million as a deposit to vacate the injunction and fight the legal battle in court. In the case of PokerStars a court in Barcelona declined to award the injunction.

Now that Belgium has launched a regulatory regime, it wants unlicensed online gambling operators out of the market. The steps that had already been initiated in this regard by the Belgian Gambling Commission had included instructing Internet Service Providers to block access to the web sites and threatening action against institutions involved in payments processing for these operators. Now the blacklist has been sent to the national police by the office of the public prosecutor for necessary action where possible. The Belgian regulatory authority has simultaneously sent a message that illegal operators who close their web sites to Belgian players would be taken of the blacklist.

The Portugal News cited an unidentified source from the Portuguese ministry of economy confirming that the Government expects to collect up to €250 million from online gambling concessions this year. Online gambling is currently illegal in Portugal. The funds generated through the proposed gambling concessions would be ear-marked as a means to partly cover the costs of bankers' retirements in 2012, which have been estimated at €478 million. No news is available on what online gambling verticals are intended to be covered or on the nature of concessions that will be offered. It has been reported that the intent to raise funds in this manner has been recorded in an internal Government document towards the end of last year.

Amaya Gaming is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and sale of technology based gaming solutions for the regulated gaming industry worldwide. Amaya is onto the latest way to play and has announced it will offer mobile applications to its customers.

The Canadian firm has been very aggressive in the online wagering world of late and it is not surprising they have made the move. Darcy Krogh, VP of business development commented that the direction is part of the Amaya Games business model, “Amaya recognizes that mobile gaming is fast becoming a standard as more players demand the convenience of portability in iGaming,” said Darcy Krogh, VP of Business Development. “We are excited to be the first provider delivering a mobile Live Dealer product which will complement our comprehensive selection of mobile slots, table games, and lottery games. Combined with our monthly release of quality online casino games, this demonstrates our continued commitment to provide our customers with the best casino games and platform on the market.”

Just last month Amaya entered into a three year development and licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Australia-based gaming company Aristocrat Leisure Limited. Aristocrat Online is a division of Aristocrat Leisure Limited and is a Company that is licensed by more than 200 regulators and its products and services are available in over 90 countries around the world.

The mobile casino industry is moving at lightning speed as tablets become more popular and smart phones continue penetrate huge segments of the world’s population. The youthful demographic is the target market as it has been since the internet came of age. Amaya’s mission statement says it all, ‘Amaya was founded on the principles of innovative thinking and world-class customer service. We remain deeply committed to providing customers with exceptional technical expertise and state-of-the-art technology-based solutions and products. Creativity, technological brilliance and customer responsiveness. That’s the Amaya edge.’