Let your mouth speak archive

Poker buff Joe Veneklase felt as though he’d drawn aces when he discovered his favorite card game on the Internet in 2001.

From his home computer, the 42-year-old UPS truck driver from eastern Louisville could click his way to virtual green felt tables at PokerStars.com — until the U.S. government shut down the website and two others last year on fraud and money laundering charges.

With that, Veneklase folded his online poker game — “I don’t want to disobey any laws,” he said.

But he was thrilled to learn recently that federal authorities might be changing their stance.

Struggling against an onslaught of Internet gambling operated legally from other countries, the Justice Department issued an opinion in late December reversing a long-standing position that the 1961 federal Wire Act prohibited most betting over the Internet.

It ruled that states can legalize many forms of wagering over the Internet, except sports betting, as long as it’s within their own borders.

Gambling law experts predict the decision will trigger an avalanche of online gaming — including lotteries, poker and other casino games — being legalized by states eager to capture tax revenue from the estimated $100 billion global Internet gambling industry.

“Clearly there’s going to be this big explosion of Internet gambling,” said I. Nelson Rose, an authority on gambling law and a professor at the Whittier Law School in California. “All the states are desperate for revenues.”

Previously, Internet gambling sites have operated legally from other countries and have been only a mouse click away for American bettors like Veneklase, who weren’t explicitly prohibited from playing.

But lawmakers in 10 states — including neighboring Ohio and Illinois — have indicated interest in trying online lottery sales or poker to capture some of that revenue.

Things are moving slower in Kentucky and Indiana, where officials say they are researching the possibities but expect no action anytime soon.

“Our job right now is to look at what the options can be,” said Arch Gleason, the Kentucky Lottery’s president. In Kentucky, customers buy Powerball and other lottery tickets at store terminals in retail locations. But under the state lottery law and the justice department’s recent ruling, the lottery could sell some existing games such as Powerball and scratch-offs over the Internet to players located in Kentucky, he said.

But they wouldn’t do so without discussing plans first with policy makers, Gleason added.

In Indiana, the law clearly states that it’s illegal to gamble over the Internet. (A separate federal law has allowed interstate betting via phone and computer to wager on horse racing.)

Gleason said any new forms of Internet sales for lottery products, particularly online casino-style games, would most likely require statutory changes, and the priority has been Gov. Steve Beshear’s proposal for a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling, which was defeated in the state Senate last week.

Brian Wilkerson, a spokesman for House Speaker Greg Stumbo, said no new legislation is likely to be proposed this year because of the casino bill.

In Indiana, Hoosier Lottery officials are reviewing the state’s laws and “getting up to speed” on the Justice Department ruling, spokesman Al Larsen said.

It’s also unlikely that Indiana lawmakers would take up any new gambling-related legislation during a short session of the General Assembly, which wraps up by mid-March.

Mike Smith, executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana, said the trade group has focused this term on ensuring the riverboats are exempt from a proposed statewide smoking ban.
Industry takes action locally

But in the meantime, local gambling interests are not sitting on the sidelines.

Louisville-based Churchill Downs Inc., this month purchased Atlanta-based Bluff Media, a poker fan website, for an undisclosed sum.

Company CEO and Chairman Bob Evans previously had said the company saw the online poker market as a growth sector and wanted a foothold if online poker is legalized. Bluff Media doesn’t offer gambling with real money, but publishes a magazine, ranks players and directs gamblers to other sites. Meanwhile, Caesars Entertainment Inc., which owns the Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino in Harrison County, has created a Montreal-based subsidiary to handle its World Series of Poker brand and to allow it to operate online poker where it’s legal to take bets from overseas customers.

Still, it’s unclear what the future holds for American online poker players like Veneklase. For years, he and thousands of other players in Kentucky and other U.S. states faced no barriers to navigate the Internet to download software and use credit cards to set up an account at Paradise Poker, Full Tilt Poker or another site.

Although federal law has prohibited gambling companies from taking bets over the Internet or by interstate phone lines, there was little to stop American players from connecting with sites in Aruba, Costa Rica and other countries.

Veneklase said he set up an account on PokerStars using $25 and started playing, winning as much as $10,000 during one stretch, he said.

“I don’t believe the government should regulate morality. Why not go ahead and let people do what they’re going to do anyway? I consider it entertainment.”

His trips to virtual poker tables ended after federal prosecutors in New York charged the operators of three popular sites, including PokerStars.com, with money laundering and fraud last April 15. Authorities also blocked access to the sites, asserting that the dot-com’s had violated a 2006 law which prohibits U.S. banks from processing online bets.

Beshear’s administration also tried its own crackdown in 2008 by suing 140 gambling websites that provide services to Kentuckians. The case is pending.

Veneklase said he plays online poker without wagering real money now, but he’d st

The gambling industry needs to stop fighting among itself and join forces to get full-scale resort casinos approved in Florida.

That was the consensus Tuesday at the seventh annual Florida Gaming Summit at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, which drew about 230 people including Las Vegas casino operators, owners of the South Florida parimutuels and Wall Street analysts.

“The No Casino people didn’t kill this,” said Andy Abboud, vice president of Las Vegas Sands Corp. “The one thing the gaming industry is very good at is killing itself because nobody can agree on anything.”

Proposed legislation died earlier this month, as sponsor state Rep. Erik Fresen, D-Miami, pulled the bill from consideration when he realized he did not have the votes to get committee approval. In an election and redistricting year, legislators were feeling pressure from an anti-gambling coalition led by the Florida Chamber and Walt Disney World. But at the same time, the parimutuel industry and the Seminole Indians were also exerting their own influence, while Las Vegas Sands and Genting also had differing views.

“The casino industry has to come up with a unified bill,” said John Kempf, managing director with RBC Capital Market, who follows the gaming industry. “It can’t be a Genting bill or a Las Vegas Sands bill. The parimutuels have to be involved and the Seminoles. If everybody is coming at it from different directions, you’re not going to get enough votes to override the people that don’t want it. The more groups you have together fighting for it, the less relevant it’s going to be that Disney is against it or Carnival Cruise Lines.”

Despite this year’s defeat, industry analysts are highly optimistic about the prospects for expanding gaming in Florida because they say there remains too much potential, particularly in the South Florida market, to be ignored.

“I think it’s a matter of when, not if,” said John T. Maxell, managing director with Jefferies & Company who follows the gambling industry. “What form it’s going to take is still anybody’s guess. It’s definitely a market that can withstand more competition.”

Andrew Zarnett of Deutsche Bank Securities, predicted the Legislature will approve destination resort casinos within three years, while Gregory Roselli with UBS Securities offered a slightly longer horizon of three to give years.

But attorney Alan Koslow, director of the gambling practice at Becker Poliakoff, isn’t convinced. He thinks it has to be about getting the Legislature to approve “small steps’’ to first expand full-scale gaming at existing parimutuels like his client, the Isle of Capri Casinos in Pompano Beach. Then parimutuels could have the option of transferring licenses to other facilities within a 10-mile radius. That would allow someone like the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach to move its license to the Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, another Koslow client.

“I don’t think it works in Florida until the tracks that have been here for 30 or 40 years get it first,” Koslow said. “Florida is not ready for land-based casinos coming in and saying you have to do it our way. By doing it with the tracks, you haven’t created one new site.”

Industry experts suggested that the parimutuels need to stop seeing destination resorts as a threat because they will cater to a different customer, with the resorts drawing more tourists and the parimutuels catering to a more local market.

“The population density and the tendency to game are really attractive here,” said Adam Rosenberg, managing director and global head of the gaming group at Goldman Sachs. “This is a unique market. There is the ability for both models to work and work extremely well.”

The judge in Alabama's gambling corruption trial refused Monday to dismiss any of the charges against five defendants and left open the possibility that he might dismiss some, but not all, of the charges against VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor.

U.S.District Judge Myron Thompson also laid out a trial schedule that has the jury beginning deliberations Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.

The six defendants are on trial on charges accusing them of buying and selling votes for legislation designed to protect casinos such as McGregor's in Shorter from a state crackdown on electronic bingo games. The prosecution presented its last witness Friday evening, and the defense chose not to offer any witnesses.

The trial entered its fourth week Monday, with the judge giving the jury the day off while he heard arguments from the defendants seeking to have the 27 charges against them dismissed. Closing arguments are scheduled for all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday. Then the judge will give his instructions to the jury, but the start of deliberations depends on how long a juror has to spend at a doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon in Birmingham.

On Monday, the judge refused to throw out any of charges against state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, former state Sen. Larry Means of Attalla, former Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega, VictoryLand casino lobbyist Tom Coker, and Country Crossing casino spokesman Jay Walker.

The judge refused to dismiss five of the 10 charges against McGregor, but said he wanted to study one count of bribery and four counts of honest services fraud. He will rule before closing arguments begin Tuesday morning.

Four people previously pleaded guilty in the case. Two of them, Country Crossing casino developer Ronnie Gilley and one his lobbyists, Jennifer Pouncy, testified in the trial. Two others, Country Crossing lobbyist Jarrod Massey and former state Rep. Terry Spicer of Elba, did not testify. All are scheduled for sentencing in April.

In court, prosecutor Emily Rae Woods said testimony by the Gilley and Pouncy, plus recordings from wire-tapped phone calls, show that the six engaged in a conspiracy to buy and sell votes.

She recounted one tape-recorded call where Coker told McGregor that he had been to see Means and Preuitt about making sure they voted with gambling interests.

"I'm spending a lot of your money," Coker told him.

"You are delivering the cheese, ain't you," McGregor replied.

She said another taped call showed Walker describing how he offered campaign support, including a poll, to sway Preuitt. "And, oh, of course I said all I need is your vote," she read from a transcript of the call.

Woods said testimony showed Gilley provided $200,000 in campaign money for Smith, Gilley offered $2 million in campaign contributions plus the support of country music stars to Preuit, and Gilley and McGregor offered $100,000 in campaign contributions to Means.

Defense attorneys said there was nothing on any tape and no testimony where someone said they were swapping a campaign contribution for a vote and that the conversations recorded by the FBI were normal discussions about campaign contributions during an election year.

"There is no evidence of anything other than campaign contributions," said David McKnight, Coker's attorney.

All three senators voted for the gambling bill when the Senate passed it March 30, 2010. The FBI announced its investigation of vote buying two days later, and the bill died in the House without coming to a vote.

McGregor's casino, 15 miles east of Montgomery, was once the state's largest with 6,000 electronic bingo machines, but it has been closed since the state's crackdown in 2010. Other electronic bingo casinos, including one operated by Gilley's former partners in Dothan, are open.

The case was originally tried last summer, with the jury convicting no one, acquitting two defendants and not reaching a verdict on all the charges against the remaining defendants. That prompted the second trial, which started Feb. 6.

The Japanese government is moving toward opening the country to casino gambling for the first time, driven by American gambling interests, the success of other Asian casino centers, and a search for new growth industries to end the long economic slump.

In a rare sign of cooperation amid the country's fractious politics, a group of 150 lawmakers from the ruling party and five opposition parties have embraced legislation that could begin the process of legalizing gambling within two years. Leaders of the group say they plan to submit the bill before the current parliamentary session is scheduled to end in June. Passage would pave the way for casinos in the world's third-largest economy within five years, according to some estimates. Casino gambling would "help promote tourism, encourage business, create jobs, and boost local development," Takeshi Iwaya, a lawmaker from the biggest opposition party, the Liberal Democratic Party, said in an interview. "Neighboring areas are contemplating similar plans, so if we don't hurry, we may risk missing out on a big opportunity."


American casino companies, facing a bleak outlook for growth in the U.S., also see big opportunities. Sheldon Adelson, chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp. a vocal supporter of the campaign for at least five years, will give a speech in Tokyo Tuesday titled "The Economic Benefits of Integrated Resort Development." Mr. Adelson touted Japan's casino campaign in a call with analysts earlier this month, and he follows a string of other casino executives to travel to Japan in recent years.

Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn has also embraced the campaign, though his impact may be muddied by his messy breakup with his erstwhile Japanese business partner Kazuo Okada.

Still, although experts say the legislation holds the most promise in overcoming parliamentary objections than ever before, proponents concede a backlog of heftier issues may possibly derail the issue from advancing to the next critical stage.

While gambling is currently technically illegal in Japan, the government does allow betting on bicycle, motorboat, motorcycle and horse racing. And pachinko, a popular vertical pinball-like game, is similar to the slot machines lining the casino palaces of Vegas. Mr. Okada earned his fortune as a pachinko manufacturer.

Japanese lawmakers have been weighing measures to legalize casinos for 10 years, but the campaign so far has stalled. Advocates have been fighting concerns that introducing casinos would create a generation of gambling addicts or spur a new crime wave—and also that it would provide new power to Japan's still-influential organized crime syndicates. It didn't help when the chairman of a Japanese paper company was arrested last year for allegedly skimming money from the company to cover casino gambling debts from overseas trips.

That case "has spread the notion of how risky casinos are," a lawmaker from the Communist Party—one of the few that doesn't back casinos—said during a December parliamentary debate.

Public opinion surveys in Japan have generally shown strong support. Two newspaper polls in 2011 showed more than 60% of those surveyed were in favor of allowing casinos. But a December poll conducted by Toyo Keizai, a leading business magazine, had a different result: 40% of those surveyed were in favor of allowing casinos in Japan, and 47% were opposed.

Supportive lawmakers and experts have noted the success of the nascent casino scene in Singapore. International tourism has been on the rise to the city-state since two casino resorts—Marina Bay Sands run by Las Vegas Sands, and Genting Singapore PLC-operated Resorts World Sentosa—opened in 2010. Singapore took in 22.2 billion Singapore dollars (US17.6 billion) in tourism receipts in 2011, up 17% from 2010, while total international visitor arrivals climbed 13% to 13.2 million. At the same time, strict safeguards are believed to have kept crime at bay.

"Casinos in the old Las Vegas may have been run by the Mafia but that's not the case today," Sakihito Ozawa, executive secretary of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's pro-casino group said in an interview. "Casinos now are first-class resorts with shopping centers and show businesses—wouldn't it be nice if Japan had something like that too?"

While Macau and Singapore are the most lucrative gambling markets in Asia, casinos have sprouted up across the region, in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. South Korea has opened a foreigners-only facility. Meanwhile, Taiwan and others have been deliberating whether to join Asia's gambling industry.

The gambling debate comes at a critical time for Japan. The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident last March exacerbated the country's decadeslong slump, as the number of tourists plunged, and the government incurred steep reconstruction costs to rebuild the battered northeast region. Some pro-casino lobbyists have argued that casino revenue would bring a fresh stream of much-needed funds into government coffers without having to raise taxes.

Estimates of potential revenues for a Japanese casino industry range from $10 billion to $44 billion. Even the low end would make Japan a more lucrative market than Las Vegas.

Regional governments are already jockeying in anticipation of a change. Okinawa, Osaka and Chiba prefectures have carved out a portion of their budgets to study potential casino-building plans. The maverick mayor of Osaka, a rising star in Japanese politics, Toru Hashimoto, has been a fervent supporter of the measure to bring casinos to Japan.

In a strategic shift from the past, the current bill is intentionally thin on specific policies such as how many casinos will be built and where, to minimize political complications that bogged down previous efforts. Passage would essentially commit the government to submit a more detailed bill that fleshes out the policies required to legalize gambling within two years.

Have you ever wished that politicians would just settle their differences in the ring instead of on the campaign trail? That is about to happen at the end of March and regardless of who is the victor in the ring, the real winner will be charity.

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Justin Trudeau is incredibly popular in Canada as a member of Parliament in Quebec for the Liberal Party and he has picked up a large number of his followers from his late father, Pierre Trudeau, who was arguably the most beloved Prime Minister in the history of the country. But he has decided to participate in a charity boxing match on March 31st at the Hampton Inn in Ottawa and odds makers have him as a heavy underdog.

Political Boxing Special - Patrick Brazeau vs Justin Trudeau March 31st 2012, Ottawa, Canada
Patrick Brazeau -500
Justin Trudeau +300

Trudeau has been put up at +300 by Bovada in his bout with Patrick Brazeau, a member of the Conservative Party and an activist for aboriginal rights. Brazeau is also currently the youngest senator in Canada and is a -500 favorite, standing at 5’10” and weighing 183 pounds. Brazeau, who is three years younger than his opponent at 37-years-old, has a reach of 70 inches, which is three fewer than Trudeau, who is 6’2” and 175 pounds. However, Brazeau has a black belt in karate and appears to be much stronger physically than Trudeau.

It’s all for charity, however, as the money that is raised from the match will go to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation and it’s being billed as the “Fight for the Cure”. The elder Trudeau passed away of lung cancer in 2004, so this is obviously a personal issue for his son and that could be the motivation he needs to pull off the upset. Now, if we could only schedule a few more of these political boxing matches.

WASHINGTON, Feb 29, 2012 (AFP) - Despite a new crackdown on Internet gambling this week, the US government appears to be easing its stand on many forms of online betting, prompting states to swing into action to tap a new revenue source.
The turnabout by Washington came quietly in December when the Justice Department released an opinion stating that only sports betting should be prohibited under a 1961 federal law known as the Wire Act.
This opens the door to online poker, which is hugely popular on the Internet, and possibly other casino games along with state lotteries, say analysts.
The opinion is a marked reversal from Washington, which previously maintained that all online wagering aside from horse racing was a violation of US federal law -- a stand which prompted a complaint at the World Trade Organization.
Ken Adams, a Nevada-based gaming industry consultant, said the opinion was “quite possibly the most important event of 2011 for the gaming industry... theoretically creating a legal path for all other forms of wagering on the Internet.”Adams said that by saying sports betting is illegal, “that automatically means everything else is legal.” He said it was confusing to see news this week that US authorities seized the gambling website Bodog and announced the indictment of four Canadians on charges of illegal sports betting and money laundering.
But despite this, Adams and other analysts say there is now a path ahead for Internet gambling in the United States, if legislation is passed by individual states to enable this.
Nevada has already approved such a measure to allow online gambling by residents within the state and other states that pass enabling legislation.
I. Nelson Rose, a Whittier Law School professor and industry consultant, said he believes at least a handful of states may legalize Internet poker or lottery sales this year based on the Justice Department ruling.
He said it may take some time to work out licensing and regulations, and possibly more time to determine procedures for gambling across state lines. Eventually, he said states could work out reciprocal arrangements with other countries or jurisdictions.
“State legislators and governors are desperate to find ways to raise revenue without raising taxes,” said .
“Gambling is seen as a painless tax, so every state is looking into expanding legal gaming. They can now do so. The only exception is sports betting, which cannot be introduced into a state that does not already have it, due to a different federal statute.”The American Gaming Association estimates that online gambling generates $30 billion a year worldwide, and that states could collect up to $2 billion in tax revenue with some online games.
But some say the stakes could be much higher.
The potential revenue “is a number we don't know, but it's going to be much higher than anyone expects,” Adams said.
“In a normal casino context, 80% of people will play slot machines, and about 80% of the population of the US has a propensity to make a wager,” says Adams. “That's as big as the movies. ”The United States had been a major market for global-based online gambling firms, but during the crackdown in recent years, “most of the big companies said they lost 60% to 70% of their revenue,” said Adams.
Some say the situation won't be clear until Congress passes legislation to set guidelines and safeguards for online gaming.
“We need Congress to make clear” what is legal, says Mark Lipparelli, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
“Federal regulation is the best way to ensure that the best protections are in place to protect consumers, and will ensure there is not confusion because of different state regulations,” said Michael Waxman of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which represents financial firms with a stake in online gaming.
The latest move by the US government leaves unresolved the issue of a longstanding dispute with the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, a gaming haven which filed a WTO complaint against Washington for unfairly restricting trade -- and won.
Waxman said that in order to comply with the WTO, “federal legislation would need to be passed to create a level playing field. It remains to be seen whether that's going to be accomplished.”Antigua said in February it would “re-engage” the WTO on the dispute.
“Now that the entire basis for the United States objection to allowing our trade in remote gaming services has gone away, it is increasingly impossible to understand why the United States has not complied with this decision,” Antigua Finance Minister Harold Lovell said.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus thinks online gambling is a "natural fit" for its games, he said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference today.

"I think it's a good natural fit. I think, philosophically, the part people haven't noticed yet, real money gaming is the perfect with virtual goods and social games."

Online gambling represents at least a billion-dollar opportunity for the social gaming company. Some recent changes in laws could open the door for online gambling games on platforms like Facebook, which represents a golden opportunity for the now-public social gaming company.

Zynga is already well-positioned, Pincus said, because Zynga Poker is the largest online poker game in the world. It has more than 30 million monthly players, and Zynga is releasing other casino-related games like Zynga Bingo.

Don't expect them to focus on solely traditional gambling games, though, he said.

"We're interested, but you should expect to see us do a lot more than what you've seen in offshore casinos," he said.

Four Canadians, including a reputed billionaire playboy, behind the popular online gaming company Bodog have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States on charges of running an illegal sports gambling business and conspiring to commit money laundering.

Charged are Bodog founder Calvin Ayre - who was once profiled in a cover story in Forbes magazine titled "Catch Me If You Can," and named one of People magazine's hottest bachelors - along with James Philip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney.

"Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country," Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement Tuesday.

"Many of the harms that underlie gambling prohibitions are exacerbated when the enterprises operate over the Internet without regulation."

Vickie LeDuc, a spokeswoman for Rosenstein, said none of the defendants was in custody.

"They are in Canada, to the best of my knowledge," she said.

While authorities seized control of the U.S. site bodog. com this week, it remained to be seen how big a blow the seizure would have on the company. Customers had already been redirected to another site, bovada.lv. The Canadian site, bodog.ca, continues to operate. In fact, bodog.ca recently released odds in the upcoming charity boxing match between Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau and Liberal MP Justin Trudeau (Brazeau was favoured to win).

In a statement, the 50-yearold Saskatchewan-born Ayre, who is described on his personal website as an "online branding icon" and "serial entrepreneur," said the charges represented an abuse of the U.S. criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large U.S. corporations.

"It is clear that the online gaming industry is legal under international law," he said, adding that prosecutors were playing to the media in a "rush to try to win the war of public opinion."

The charges "will not stop my many business interests globally that are unrelated to anything in the U.S. and it will not stop my many charity projects through my foundation."

In 2010, Bodog, which bills itself online as an "irreverent, rogue-ish" company, offered golfer Tiger Woods a $100-million sponsorship deal following revelations that the golfer had cheated on his wife. Woods declined the offer.

According to the indictment unsealed Tuesday in Baltimore, the four Canadians are accused of running an illegal online sports betting business from June 9, 2005 through to Jan. 6 of this year.

Key to the success of the business was the movement of funds from accounts in Switzerland, England, Malta, Canada and elsewhere to accounts in the U.S. to pay winnings to gamblers, as well as to pay companies that helped promote the business.

Payment processors in the U.S. were used to deliver payments by wire and cheque to gamblers across the country, according to the indictment. One company, JBL Services, processed at least $43 million U.S. for Bodog, while another company, ZipPayments Inc., processed at least $57 million U.S., it said.

"The proceeds from illegal Internet gambling are sometimes used to fuel organized crime and support criminal activity," said William Winter, special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore.

Employees across the UK are using online gaming sites to indulge in a bet break during work, according to a recent poll.

Research by gaming site Roxy Palace revealed that one in 20 employees aged 45 and under had treated themselves to a flutter while at work during the last 12 months.

The rise in popularity of gaming apps is thought to be the main driver behind the trend, with workers able to circumvent restricted internet access, placing bets through their smartphones and tablets.

A spokesperson for the Roxy Palace site said that due to a rise in the popularity and availability of online gambling it wasn’t surprising that many workers were turning to bet breaks as a way of removing tedium during their day. “We all like to break up our day in different ways, whether it be making a quick cup of coffee, stepping outside for a cigarette, or going for a walk. However, it seems an increasing number of workers are now turning to online gambling as a way to inject some excitement into their day.”

More than three quarters (76 per cent) of those who admitted to gambling at work did so on mobile devices, such as smartphones and iPads, rather than through company PCs and laptops.

The poll also revealed that men were nearly nine times as likely as women to gamble while at work (89 per cent compared to 11 per cent). Peak gaming time was revealed to be between 1-3pm.

One employee who was polled said that he feels it is justified given that he works long hours without a break. “My employer blocks most external websites so I usually nip off to the toilet and bet on my iPhone. It’s so easy and quick to place a bet or play a casino game that it’s pretty rare anyone even notices that I’m gone.”

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Barack Obama was named the 44th President of the United States, but a lot has gone down in the last three-plus years as we get ready for another election in 2012. President Obama will have to fend off the Republicans in order to stay in office for another four years, and we are getting closer to seeing who his competition will be.

Right now, it looks like Mitt Romney is the favorite to represent the GOP as some have him at 2/11 after he has picked up wins in New Hampshire (primary), Florida (primary), Nevada (caucus), Maine (caucus), Arizona (primary) and Michigan (primary) and currently holds 41.5% of the popular vote among Republicans. Romney, from Massachusetts, also ran in the 2008 primaries and he almost looks like a lock to come away with the win this time.

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However, Romney still has to hold off Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum at 5/1, who has won in Iowa (caucus), Colorado (caucus), Minnesota (caucus) and Missouri (primary), although he has been accused by cheating by Romney’s staff in Michigan. Newt Gingrich out of Georgia comes in at 20/1 despite leading Santorum in the popular vote by a count of 23.2% to 22.1%; Gingrich has won only South Carolina (primary) and he’ll need a furious late push just to hold off Santorum.

Ron Paul of Texas is the wild card in this race with almost 11% of the popular vote and odds of 30/1 to represent the Republicans, and with no major wins it’ll take a small miracle for Paul to even catch up to Gingrich and Santorum.

2012 US Presidential Election - Republican Nominee
Mitt Romney 2/11
Rick Santorum 5/1
Newt Gingrich 20/1
Ron Paul 30/1

It seems like it is Romney’s race to lose, but the 64-year-old governor has to avoid any major mistakes coming down the stretch if he is going to try and move President Obama out of the White House in November.

Join Bovada Sportsbook and bet on political props throughout the entire 2012 race.

WASHINGTON - Despite a new crackdown on Internet gambling this week, the US government appears to be easing its stand on many forms of online betting, prompting states to swing into action to tap a new revenue source.

The turnabout by Washington came quietly in December when the Justice Department released an opinion stating that only sports betting should be prohibited under a 1961 federal law known as the Wire Act.

This opens the door to online poker, which is hugely popular on the Internet, and possibly other casino games along with state lotteries, say analysts.

The opinion is a marked reversal from Washington, which previously maintained that all online wagering aside from horse racing was a violation of US federal law -- a stand which prompted a complaint at the World Trade Organization.

Ken Adams, a Nevada-based gaming industry consultant, said the opinion was "quite possibly the most important event of 2011 for the gaming industry... theoretically creating a legal path for all other forms of wagering on the Internet."

Adams said that by saying sports betting is illegal, "that automatically means everything else is legal."

He said it was confusing to see news this week that US authorities seized the gambling website Bodog and announced the indictment of four Canadians on charges of illegal sports betting and money laundering.

But despite this, Adams and other analysts say there is now a path ahead for Internet gambling in the United States, if legislation is passed by individual states to enable this.

Nevada has already approved such a measure to allow online gambling by residents within the state and other states that pass enabling legislation.

I. Nelson Rose, a Whittier Law School professor and industry consultant, said he believes at least a handful of states may legalize Internet poker or lottery sales this year based on the Justice Department ruling.

He said it may take some time to work out licensing and regulations, and possibly more time to determine procedures for gambling across state lines. Eventually, he said states could work out reciprocal arrangements with other countries or jurisdictions.

"State legislators and governors are desperate to find ways to raise revenue without raising taxes," said .

"Gambling is seen as a painless tax, so every state is looking into expanding legal gaming. They can now do so. The only exception is sports betting, which cannot be introduced into a state that does not already have it, due to a different federal statute."

The American Gaming Association estimates that online gambling generates $30 billion a year worldwide, and that states could collect up to $2 billion in tax revenue with some online games.

But some say the stakes could be much higher.

The potential revenue "is a number we don't know, but it's going to be much higher than anyone expects," Adams said.

"In a normal casino context, 80 percent of people will play slot machines, and about 80 percent of the population of the US has a propensity to make a wager," says Adams. "That's as big as the movies."

The United States had been a major market for global-based online gambling firms, but during the crackdown in recent years, "most of the big companies said they lost 60 to 70 percent of their revenue," said Adams.

Some say the situation won't be clear until Congress passes legislation to set guidelines and safeguards for online gaming.

"We need Congress to make clear" what is legal, says Mark Lipparelli, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

"Federal regulation is the best way to ensure that the best protections are in place to protect consumers, and will ensure there is not confusion because of different state regulations," said Michael Waxman of the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which represents financial firms with a stake in online gaming.

The latest move by the US government leaves unresolved the issue of a longstanding dispute with the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, a gaming haven which filed a WTO complaint against Washington for unfairly restricting trade -- and won.

Waxman said that in order to comply with the WTO, "federal legislation would need to be passed to create a level playing field. It remains to be seen whether that's going to be accomplished."

Antigua said in February it would "re-engage" the WTO on the dispute.

"Now that the entire basis for the United States objection to allowing our trade in remote gaming services has gone away, it is increasingly impossible to understand why the United States has not complied with this decision," Antigua Finance Minister Harold Lovell said.

WOW !
You guys bet on anything 😁
I guess Im just naive hihi

Online lotto – and virtual slot machines, blackjack, and poker – could be coming to your state or one near you. The US Department of Justice announced late last year it was reversing its previously held position that all Internet gambling was illegal, clearing the way for a potential boom in online gambling. Proponents call it a windfall for flagging state budgets. Opponents ask, 'At what cost?' Here are answers to five key questions.

So, gambling online is legal now?

Not so fast. The Department of Justice's decision itself doesn't automatically give a green light to Internet gambling. Since gambling is regulated at the state level, states must now approach their legislatures if they want to legalize online gambling within the state. It's also important to remember that the DOJ decision doesn't carry the authority of, say, a US Supreme Court ruling, and can be reversed at any time, says Frank Fahrenkopf.

"I don't think that based upon the DOJ decision, states are given an automatic imprimatur," says Mr. Fahrenkopf, chief executive officer of the American Gaming Association, a Washington, D.C.-based casino industry trade group. "The DOJ decision leaves open a lot of questions.… It creates more confusion than clarity."

For example, does the ruling mean states can offer more than lottery tickets to include games like Internet bingo, blackjack, and poker? Must the players and operators be within state lines or can states assemble Powerball-like interstate poker? The DOJ has been asked to specify.

The turnabout by Washington came quietly in December when the Justice Department released an opinion stating that only sports betting should be prohibited under a 1961 federal law known as the Wire Act.

This opens the door to online poker, which is hugely popular on the Internet, and possibly other casino games along with state lotteries, say analysts.

The opinion is a marked reversal from Washington, which previously maintained that all online wagering aside from horse racing was a violation of US federal law -- a stand which prompted a complaint at the World Trade Organization.

Ken Adams, a Nevada-based gaming industry consultant, said the opinion was "quite possibly the most important event of 2011 for the gaming industry... theoretically creating a legal path for all other forms of wagering on the Internet."

Adams said that by saying sports betting is illegal, "that automatically means everything else is legal."

He said it was confusing to see news this week that US authorities seized the gambling website Bodog and announced the indictment of four Canadians on charges of illegal sports betting and money laundering.

But despite this, Adams and other analysts say there is now a path ahead for Internet gambling in the United States, if legislation is passed by individual states to enable this.

Nevada has already approved such a measure to allow online gambling by residents within the state and other states that pass enabling legislation.

I. Nelson Rose, a Whittier Law School professor and industry consultant, said he believes at least a handful of states may legalize Internet poker or lottery sales this year based on the Justice Department ruling.

The Gamesys Group is England's top gaming company providing a great selection of online games. Their most popular brand Jackpotjoy has now launched a Swedish gaming site offering entertaining bingo games, exciting online slots and the most popular kasino games.

Jackpotjoy.com is one of the most popular gambling and bingo sites in the UK and pays out over 150 million pounds in wins every month which equals about 10 winners per second. The game site is also known for its huge jackpots, with a record jackpot of over 2 million paid out last year to a happy Deal or No Deal slots winner.

Just as the English version, Jackpotjoy.se keeps high quality and offers a wide variety of well designed slots, bingo and kasino games. You will find games known from TV, such as Money Drop, Deal or No Deal and X-Factor.

All kasino and slot games are available in a demo version, players can get to know the games before they play for real money and pick their favourite.

Jackpotjoy's generous promotions gives new members 100 SEK (Swedish Kroner) free to play plus a deposit bonus that doubles the deposit amount. Jackpotjoy also offers a daily free game; "Tikis Catch of the day", where you can win money for free and have a chance at winning 1 000 000 SEK. An important part of Jackpotjoy is the chat rooms. Swedish hosts are there to answer questions and entertain the players during the games with for example free mini-games that provide the chance to win some extra cash.

A major focus of Jackpotjoy is player safety. Jackpotjoy is working with the four leading banks in Sweden to make sure that the players' transfers are 100% safe. All transactions are encrypted with a Thawte SSL certificate which is the same market-leading security system that most Swedish Internet banks use.

[Tallahassee, FL] It is a pretty good bet that those neighborhood Internet cafes offering web access, phone cards and online gaming (gambling) are sticking around, at least for another year.

The Florida House is poised to approve a plan to shut down internet cafe gaming that critics compare to slot machines, but two key senators said Wednesday that such a ban would die in the Senate.

“I don’t think the House’s ban is going to get anywhere after it leaves the House, that’s for sure,” said Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (R-36/Miami), who is sponsoring an alternative proposal to regulate Internet cafes.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee in January overwhelmingly approved Diaz de la Portilla’s regulatory approach (SB 380), while refusing to support a ban.

Meanwhile, Rep. Scott Plakon (R-37/Longwood) – who is sponsoring the House ban – has repeatedly said he will not support the regulation idea, describing it as “amnesty” for Internet cafes that offer gambling.

“These are the functional equivalent of slot machines,” Plakon said.

The House on Wednesday took up Plakon’s bill (HB 3) and approved an amendment to protect games offered by charity groups such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans. A vote on the overall bill likely will come Thursday. An estimated 1,000 Internet cafe gaming sites have opened in Florida during the past several years, with many popping up in strip shopping centers. While the cafes typically sell such things as Internet time or phone cards, they profit from computerized sweepstakes-style games that the industry says are allowed under state law.

But opponents contend the games are a form of illegal gambling and that the cafes particularly target low-income people. Plakon said state law needs changes to make clear that the games are prohibited.

Diaz de la Portilla has proposed a series of regulations for the industry, such as requiring certification that Internet cafe gaming meets legal standards, imposing a $100 fee on each terminal and restricting advertising outside cafes.

He and other regulation supporters argue, in part, that Plakon’s bill would close the cafes and put thousands of people out of work – which Diaz de la Portilla described as “total craziness.”

Plakon said Wednesday the businesses could stay open if they sell other goods or services, such as phone cards and Internet time. But he said he has seen people in the cafes losing hundreds or thousands of dollars on the games.

“These are right in our neighborhoods, right next door to the Publix and the dry cleaner,” Plakon said.

But Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Dennis Jones (R-13/Seminole) said his committee has already shown that it wants to approve Internet cafe gaming regulations, not impose a ban.

“Essentially, what they (House supporters of a ban) are saying is they want nothing to happen this session,” Jones said.

The agreement with Playtech marks a significant venture into online gaming for Caliente, which has almost 100 years of experience in the gaming industry and currently operates over 90 land-based venues.

It covers Playtech's online casino product, including table and slot games as well as Playtech's range of highly recognisable branded games. The offering will be supported by Playtech's information management solution technology platform.

The online offering will operate under Mexican gaming regulations, making the products available to players in Mexico and parts of Latin America. Under the terms of the agreement, the two plan to extend Caliente's online offering to additional Latin American countries as opportunities arise.

Mor Weizer, CEO of Playtech, commented: "Our work with Caliente is in line with Playtech's strategy of entering new regulated markets and diversifies the company's geographic footprint beyond its European and Asian marketplaces. We are very excited about this project and committed to making it a great success."

Eduardo Hernández, CEO of Caliente, added: "Our agreement with Playtech will provide a solid, state of the art casino platform that, combined with our current offering, will deliver the best online gaming experience to our customers. With our combined expertise and commitment to excellence, we will be able to fully expand into Latin American regulated markets."

It has been rumored for a long time that Facebook is seeking to enter online casino market. So, now it happens.

The social media giant, with 800+ million users, is seeking new ways to ring in revenues prior to its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The worrisome news, learned by casino gambling news, is that users experience what is known as a ”Facebook fatigue,” meaning the members start spending less and less time on the site.

After all, how much can you watch some stupid videos posted by ”friends” you really don’t know, or read some daily garbage written about morning shower feelings of your unknown buddies? This is worrying the Facebook masters and, in never-ending quest for the Internet loot, the social media company is adding online blackjack gambling to its portfolio.

To start well, Facebook has teamed up with ComTrade to offer free blackjack games in order to quickly acquire players. Oliver Lynch, director at ComTrade stated, “Our Facebook Blackjack solution will be used by our clients as a key tool to drive player acquisition or retention.”

Later on, real money casino games are expected to arrive. Those online casinos that make it to Facebook will most likely pay a usual Facebook fee of 30%.

The idea is there and a potential to participate in a Black Jack Tournament with your friends is encouraging. Indeed, this worries many Internet casinos. After all, not every online gambling business will make it to the Facebook platform.

Then again, the ”Facebook fatigue” may kick in, with users looking to do anything but spend more time at the site. This leaves window of opportunity for alternative gambling solutions such as mobile blackjack or Android casinos.

As the Internet is in constant motion, so will be the online casino and sports betting industry. With new challenges, new opportunities arrive. Only those who can fix their weaknesses and take advantage of strengths will prosper.

Social gaming has proven itself to be a strong revenue driver for companies that can bring in those freemium players. One investment firm, Digi-Capital, published its in-depth review of the global gaming space, Thursday that shows just how profitable and vast the global gaming space is.

Digi-Capital found that online and mobile games are poised to grow into an $82 billion market with a revenue share of 50% as the historically popular console gaming flattens out.

Social and mobile gaming has done something that few thought was possible, turned some of the least likely demographics into serious and paying gamers -- the over 40 crowd, and this is proving to be a great growth market for gaming companies and an enticing market for advertisers that want to reach that market.

Last year, gaming investment and M&A more than doubled just as private placements grew by 96% to $2 billion.

Also, the number of transactions increased by 67% to 152 -- showing just what a boom gaming companies are experiencing right now.

In fact, the average fundraising round increased by 17% to $13 million just as two big players in the gaming space (Zynga and Nexon) put in their IPOs.

All of this attention and response to growth in gaming resulted in an 88% boost to M&A volume, brining it to 113 transactions -- with a value bump of 160% over the previous year (equating to $3.4 billion). And you can bet that protective buyers and sellers in the gaming weld like to hear that the average M&A deal size grew 38% to $30.4 million. Ca-ching!

While global gaming can be broken down in to multiple segments, it is important to note that the biggest players making money are still US console and media companies such as EA, Popcap, Disney and Playdom, but US gambling and Japanese mobile companies are gearing up for some serious action.

The 14th season of Dancing With The Stars will start on March 19th, but the cast was revealed on ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday and it should be another exciting season of one of the most popular reality television shows going. Here is a look at the full slate of characters.

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Dancing With the Stars Season 14 - Odds to Win
Gavin DeGraw 18/1
Donald Driver 5/1
Roshon Fegan 17/2
Melissa Gilbert 12/1
Katherine Jenkins 10/1
Gladys Knight 15/2
William Levy 4/1
Maria Menounos 11/2
Martina Navratilova 20/1
Sherri Shepherd 12/1
Jack Wagner 15/1
Jaleel White 5/1

Levy will be paired with Cheryl Burke, the first professional dancer to win Dancing With The Stars twice and she has finished second twice, including last year with socialite Rob Kardashian. Driver, a veteran wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers, will dance with Peta Murgatroyd, who has been on the show just once, in the 12th season where she was eliminated with Los Angeles Lakers’ forward Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest). Driver is out to continue the success of football players on Dancing With The Stars as the stars of gridiron having won twice: Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith (who won with Burke) and receiver Hines Ward, formerly of Pittsburgh, who won with Kym Johnson.

This time, Johnson will go with White, the former star of the hit sitcom Family Matters, so she has a good chance to join Derek Hough is three-time winners on the program. It seems like this could be one of the most unpredictable seasons of Dancing With The Stars yet, so you’ll have to stay tuned regularly to keep on top of the fireworks that will inevitably happen.