Let your mouth speak archive

It wasn't in the draft platform. But word is a small group of puritan activists at last week's Republican National Convention in Tampa won approval of a plank that stipulates: "Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department's decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting."

National candidates rarely are called upon to defend every plank in their party's platform, these days. In fact, platform planks often become a way to throw a bone to minority constituencies whose agendas are unlikely to advance any further.

But no state has been hit harder by the Great Recession than Nevada, and Internet gaming is a multibillion-dollar pie whose fruits are going to profit someone. Most business and government leaders here (including Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and Republican U.S. Sen. Dean Heller) envision a unified federal regulatory regime - including a major role for the Silver State, with its proven history of regulatory expertise - as a major potential creator of both tax revenues and private-sector jobs.

Read More: GOP platform a slap to Nevada - Opinion - ReviewJournal-com

Is it time for western society to accept the inevitable – and openly celebrate casinos?

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email]ftsales-support@ft-com[/email] to buy additional rights. The great American gamble - FT-com

As I was flicking through a political website the other day, I spotted a curious fact. According to calculations by Bloomberg, two of the five largest donors to the Republican party hail from the gambling industry. One, Sheldon Adelson, presides over a global empire of casinos, hotels and convention centres (such as The Venetian in Las Vegas); the other is Stephen Wynn, a man who played a key role in revitalising Las Vegas (via the Wynn Resorts group). And while both of them have tried to stay out of the limelight, Adelson is spending tens of millions of dollars on the campaign, and Wynn is offering sizeable donations too.

Is this a coincidence? Perhaps. The other big donors on both sides hail from a wide range of other business backgrounds, such as finance, real estate and manufacturing. But, if nothing else, the presence of those tycoons casts a spotlight on a fascinating cultural contradiction.

Read More: The great American gamble - FT-com

As part of Betsson’s (STO:BETS😎 commitment to responsible gaming, Betsson’s subsidiary company will participate in a unique pilot study in collaboration with Spelinstitutet. The scope of the pilot study is to evaluate and possibly further develop and enhance an online based self-help program for customers who are seeking more information, who wish to modify their gambling behavior or who wish to stop gambling altogether.

Customers who opt to participate will receive a detailed assessment of their gambling behaviour based on the information they have provided. Customized programs will be offered which are tailored to individual needs and levels of motivation. The self-help program is based on CBT and MI concepts and will be up to 10 weeks long, including home-work, virtual therapist’s sessions and follow up sessions after program completion.

Customer participation is voluntary and any personal data which customers provide to Spelinstitutet whilst participating in the self-help program will be treated as confidential and will not be shared with Betsson.

”Betsson intends to further strengthen and intensify its efforts within responsible gaming. Our support to research and continuous development of responsible gaming tools is therefore an important part of our business plan. We are primarily interested in contributing to the development of preventive tools that would prevent or limit the harmful effects of gambling. This is why we see an excellent fit between the online self-help tool developed by Spelinstitutet and Betsson’s plan for responsible gaming development”, says Magnus Silfverberg, CEO of Betsson.


Read More: Betsson to launch unique responsible gambling tool

When you join a new online casino there are a lot of terms and conditions to check, but doing so thoroughly can save you a lot of hassle later on. Let's take the example of casino deposit and withdrawal methods (the credit cards, debit cards or online payment methods such as Neteller which you use to fund your casino account).

Have you checked whether you can use the same card or payment method to withdraw your cash from the casino too? Well you should! It turns out that online casinos don't always allow you to withdraw and deposit using the same payment method.


Read More: Read the Small Print on Casino Withdrawals - Special Reports - Onlinecasinoreports-com

As America turns its restless attention to the Democratic National Convention, with its own platitudes and pieties aplenty, a word must be said about Clint Eastwood’s eccentric speech at the GOP convention in Tampa. That was one for the political ages.

Of course, I disagreed with everything he said. I disagreed with every single word, plus the periods and commas and any random exclamation points. I disagreed with his frequent use of “er,” a word that should only be found in decadent Scrabble dictionaries.

To my mind, the speech was by turns incoherent, puzzling, embarrassing almost to the point of skin-crawling and cringe-inducing, wrong-headed and obviously written on a planet not of our galaxy.

Other than that, I liked it.

This is the moment when I should remind you that I made the slight acquaintance of Clint Eastwood when I was an editor in Monterey, Calif., more than 20 years ago and I immediately liked him. I hope he would say the same for me if he could remember who the heck I was.

While I realize I am confounding educated opinion about the supposed total awfulness of this speech, my contrariness is not colored by past memories. Something more important weighs on me.

Plenty of commentators have criticized the speech’s obvious faults, but some have gone still further, saying that it was off-color and thus shockingly disrespectful of the office of the president.

“Pshaw!” I say. While I cannot retell an off-color joke before the children are in bed, all you need to know is that Eastwood told one of those jokes in which the listener had to fill in a naughty thought not made explicit. If you laughed even a teensy bit, you were an accomplice.


Read More: Convention entertainment: At least Clint was real, and that

The online gambling industry has many aspects of which one very important one is providing problem gamblers with the tools with which to combat the issues. A firm that specializes in providing those services to operators is Spelinstitutet which is a private knowledge based company focusing on gambling behaviour. Spelinstritutet has developed many responsible gaming tools for players and gaming operators, which include everything from interactive training and self-diagnostic tests to different support tools for players.

Spelinstritutet was founded in 1999 and is owned by Thomas Nilsson, Roger Edlund and Johan Brandsten. Their web site presents their business concept. "Our business concept is to help the nationally regulated gaming companies in the world offer relevant responsible gaming products and services based on specialized knowledge and research. We deliver models and products based on a platform that attracts their customers and thereby prevents problems of gambling abuse in the society."

In collaboration with Spelinstitutet it was announced recently that Betsson will participate in a ten week pilot study through Betsson’s subsidiary brand, Betsafe, in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Site participants who take part in the study will receive a detailed assessment of their gambling behaviour. Chief Executive Officer of Betsson, Magnus Silfverberg, commented on the project, ”Betsson intends to further strengthen and intensify its efforts within responsible gaming. Our support to research and continuous development of responsible gaming tools is therefore an important part of our business plan.” Mr. Silfverberg continued, “We are primarily interested in contributing to the development of preventive tools that would prevent or limit the harmful effects of gambling. This is why we see an excellent fit between the online self-help tool developed by Spelinstitutet and Betsson’s plan for responsible gaming development.”

Tailored programs are to be offered custom built to individual needs and levels of motivation. Thomas Nilsson, CEO, Spelinstitutet also commented, “Spelinstitutet is looking forward to the collaboration with Betsson as one of the gaming companies with a long standing commitment to responsible gaming. Since Betsson is a leading online gambling operator, its work in the area of responsible gaming can be expected to have a positive impact and help drive responsible gaming tools development further”


Online Gambling Operator Betsson and Spelinstitutet Launch Study

Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. has chosen Madrid over Barcelona for a multibillion-dollar gambling resort project dubbed “EuroVegas.”

The Spanish capital, the country’s largest city, emerged as the company’s best choice for the development, Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said in a statement released late Friday in Las Vegas.

“The regional government of Madrid has been a strong advocate for this potential development, and we are appreciative of the energy they have brought to this process,” Adelson said.

“Barcelona is an outstanding tourism destination, and choosing Madrid over Barcelona was not an easy selection,” he said.

The decision was highly anticipated in Spain, where a high jobless rate and a shrinking economy make the prospect of thousands of construction and service jobs attractive to project supporters. But critics predict that gambling will attract criminals and say positions as hotel maids, waiters and blackjack dealers aren’t a recipe for success for young people badly in need of jobs.

Adelson has said he wants to invest about $22 billion in the project. The company statement made it clear Las Vegas Sands will allocate no more than 35 percent of that amount.

Adelson has also said he wants Spanish laws changed to let gamblers smoke inside the casinos and new zoning regulations allowing him to send buildings soaring above the skyline.


Read More: Sands picks Madrid for 'EuroVegas' project | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Who were those willowy young women with Barack and Michelle Obama -- and where'd they hide little Sasha and Malia?

Four years is a long time when it's a half or a third of your life, and so TV viewers who hadn't seen the Obama girls much since 2008 might have been truly startled at just how much they'd grown when they appeared onstage with their father Thursday night.

After all, Malia, now 14, who started (gasp!) high school this week, was just about as tall as her already tall parents.

Relaxed and composed, in a purplish blue sleeveless dress from H&M, Malia laughed with her father onstage after his remarks, and earlier sat and applauded with her mom and her sister, Sasha, who wore a black-and-white print frock from Anthropologie. (Now 11, Sasha hardly fits in her parents' laps anymore, and even resists a cuddle, the couple ruefully told People in an interview last month.)

There was one sign, though, that the girls were still kids: "Yes, you do have to go to school in the morning," their dad warned them at the beginning of his speech.

What struck one former White House aide was the ease and comfort with which the girls were inhabiting their public roles.

"Their smiles were genuine and huge tonight," said Anita McBride, a former chief of staff to Laura Bush, as well as an assistant to Bush's husband. "There was no awkwardness. They clearly have adjusted to their life in the public eye." McBride said she was also stunned by how poised and grownup the girls looked.

Read More: Where did the time go? Obama girls now young women : Utah Entertainment Ticket

The election in the USA has nominated the party leaders, with the Republican party coming out firmly against online gambling and internet poker in the party manifesto. On the other hand who would expect otherwise seeing the Republican’s were the ones who brought in the prohibition of online gambling at the end of Presidents Bush’s administration.

The problems that the new Democratic administration inherited are of a magnitude that any leader of the USA would have trouble chewing through. It is interesting to see that the Democratic manifesto does not mention online betting in any way.

Barack Obama, the current leader of the free world is known to like a friendly game of cards on occasion. When the country is in deep financial trouble and jobs are hard to find a president should concentrate on things of greater importance than the right to play poker over the internet. This viewpoint is echoed by some online gambling critics that think this approach is a positive one.

The strong lobby group in the USA the Poker Players Alliance was of the opinion that the decision not to include the issue of online gambling into the Party's manifesto is a good. John Pappas executive director of the PPA said that the decision not to include the issue means that the Democratic Party agrees with the legalization of online poker. John Pappas has been engaged in high-level policy and political consulting in Washington, D.C., for the last 14 years and prior to taking a full-time position as vice president of government affairs for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) he was a public affairs consultant for the Washington PR firm Dittus Communications. During his four years at Dittus, Pappas served as a media and policy advisor for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, start-up firms, trade associations and grassroots organizations like the PPA.

Detractors of the Democratic manifesto ignoring the issue say the party is afraid of losing votes and didn’t want to stir up the hornet’s nest of undecided voters who may disagree with a position positive or negative.


Democratic Party Silence on Online Gambling Positive Says PPA

The long awaited split of Playtech’s iPoker network into 2 different tiers is finally here.

The top tier consists of major companies that include Paddy Power, Titan Poker, Poker 770, Bet365 and William Hill. These 5 poker websites have succeeded to meet the criteria for the top tier of the network and they will be the reason behind an exponential increase in the traffic which will satisfy the poker network’s need for more players.

The criteria for the top tier companies includes a minimum number of six thousand real money and active players per month and eight hundred and fifty new real money and active players per month.

This split is going to divide the online gambling network into 2 different pools that will divide all of the real money games and SNG players. This split was effective on the forth of September.

The only exception is that Multi table tournaments and Speed Poker cash tables will not be split.The internet poker websites at the iPoker network that did not meet the standards and the criteria are going to form another yet smaller liquidity pool.

They are best defined as the medium and small sized poker operators at the iPoker network. This separate pool will include Betfred and Mansion Poker to name a few.

It has also been rumored that a number of the operators in this category are having business talks in order to collaborate to provide better competition and elevate their performance.


Online Gambling News, Playtech’s iPoker Split : ADI News

The Toronto film festival opened on Thursday with action movie "Looper" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but it was "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart who attracted the biggest buzz on the red carpet at the star-studded festival scattered with Oscar hopefuls.

Anticipation was high for one of the world's premier film festivals that coming off Venice helps mark the beginning of Hollywood's awards season. Filmmakers see it as crucial launching pad and Toronto has previously propelled such films as "The King's Speech" to go on to success at the Academy Awards.

Ben Affleck, Selena Gomez, Halle Berry, Tom Hanks and rapper-turned reggae wannabe Snoop Dogg, now known as Snoop Lion, are all among a lineup of top stars due to appear. But it was Kristen Stewart who wowed the red carpet Thursday, signing autographs to streams of cheering fans in her first media appearance since issuing an unusual public apology for cheating on long-term boyfriend and "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson with British film director Rupert Sanders.

Read More: Kristen Stewart steals limelight as Toronto film fest opens - NBC News Entertainment

Silence is not always positive. But i hope that americans soon can play at any casino.

Zynga is expanding into mobile gaming and is looking to enter into real money online gambling. It recently tied up with Nokia to add Draw Something and Zynga Poker to Nokia feature phones such as Nokia Asha Touch and the Nokia Series 40 range. The games will feature in the phones released in Q3 and will cover nearly 100 million users. Zynga game apps are already available for smartphones and the company plans to expand into feature phones to increase its user base and target emerging economies.

The company has also hired a new COO, Maytal Ginzburg, who was most recently the senior VP of regulated markets at 888 Holdings, a U.K-based online gambling operator. Zynga needs to diversify its income streams and cannot depend on Facebook to drive its revenues. It is becoming expensive for the social game maker to advertise and attract new users on Facebook. In the first two quarters of 2012, sales and marketing expenses for Zynga was up 44% y-o-y while revenues from online gaming was up 18% y-o-y. We expect mobile gaming and real money gambling to be the areas of focus for Zynga in the coming years.

Read more: Zynga Looks At Mobile Gaming And Online Gambling To Diversify Earnings - NASDAQ-com

It came as somewhat of a surprise when many of the online gambling domain names seized in May 2011 in Maryland were made available for purchase last week. The most noteworthy of those seized were bookmaker-com, betmaker-com, doylesroom-com and beted-com. Bookmaker-com was the U.S. facing website for BetCRIS but moved to the alternate domain name bookmaker-eu after Blue Monday and hasn’t missed a beat. Few customers have left as a result of the domain change and a .eu extension can’t be seized by U.S. authorities since it’s not controlled by VeriSign. BetEd closed shop after Blue Monday but was in trouble long before that. BetEd apparently had little money available when they started offering 100% deposit bonuses prior to the seizure but their demise was imminent when they started processing most of their transactions through Linwood Payment Solutions – a bogus processing company set up by the U.S. government created to learn more about the financial side of the industry and also to entrap unsuspecting gambling companies. Doyle’s Room was a poker site which used the face of famous poker player Doyle Brunson to promote it but closed down following the seizure. Other sites available for purchase are Truepoker-com, 2betdsi-com, betehorse-com, betgrandesports-com and funtimebingo-com. Goldenarchcasino-com was also seized but was not up for sale, likely due to complaints by McDonalds.

While it’s not unusual for the government to sell seized assets to the general public, what has many scratching their heads is the fact that the domains were sold to David Gzesh, a Nevada based attorney who was once the CEO of Truepoker-com and President of Yatahay poker network. If the names True Poker and Yatahay ring a bell, it’s likely from the Kentucky Domain names case. In that case, the Governor from the state of Kentucky tried to seize 141 gambling domain names, arguing they were operating in violation of Kentucky law and the state was challenged by Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), a trade association for Internet media and gambling. The courts ruled that iMEGA did not have standing and had to produce at least one owner from the 141 gambling sites that the state of Kentucky was trying to seize in order to demonstrate standing. In response iMEGA produced an affidavit from the CEO of Truepoker-com which read that iMEGA was looking out for the interests of all companies under the Yatahay poker network including Truepoker-com and that they were members of iMEGA. Ironically BetCRIS’s poker room was also a Yatahay skin. It’s uncertain whether the name on that affidavit was David Gzesh.


Read More: David Gzesh

The approval of the first operator licenses by the Nevada Gaming Control Board for South Point and Monarch Casino has made online poker in the USA a reality. With other companies waiting in line for review and approval, the entire gaming industry has been put under even more pressure to finalize their iGaming strategies and to select technology partners which will help them ensure a quick route to market.

As other recently regulated markets in Europe, such as Italy and France, have demonstrated, the first-mover advantage when launching iGaming is crucial to build brand leadership, secure a substantial market share and build a profitable business. Just like in the European markets, however, the local gaming businesses will have to compete against the existing and established online poker brands that have been operating in the market, taking advantage of a grey or unclear legal framework. The recent settlement of PokerStars with the U.S. Department of Justice that saw the company take over FullTilt’s player accounts could potentially create a serious competitive threat to the American casinos, should PokerStars, which still has strong brand recognition in the country, be allowed to apply for a license.

Apart from market entry lessons, Europe could offer many other lessons to U.S. companies planning their iGaming launch, from regulatory considerations to business strategy and affiliate marketing. Having operated online gambling for over 15 years now and seen the market’s transition from an un-regulated environment to a fully regulated one, however with a patchwork of state-by-state licensing and compliance rules, European iGaming companies have a wealth of expertise transferable to the USA. It’s not surprising that most U.S. companies are looking for European partners to help them set up their iGaming operation.


Read More: U.S. gaming companies rush to find partners, select technology to launch online gaming

Comparing apples and oranges is like comparing the stock market in all its variety from the penny stock to the billion dollar buyouts to the gaming world of high stakes cards and million dollar wins at a slot machine.

Some would say that gambling is gambling and the market is the market. Maybe not as different, the penny stock buyer who strikes it rich on a gold mine or the fellow that hits the jackpot playing blackjack.The traders of stock are sellers of a service, and the service of a bookie is necessary for the making of a legal bet. Comparing the services, they are similar and in the opinion of many governments taxable and controllable. Gambling on the stock market takes a considerable stake for companies that are looking to expand. Stakes for some poker games can be in the millions.

Another stock market, gambling industry similarity is the research required and the fact that both are online. Punters who do their home work have a better chance at making a good bet. That’s what Online-Casinos-com is all about, information to make informed choices. The same is true for stock market playing which involves following a firm and factoring in everything you know about the company to make a wise choice. The recent news that the public offerings of big social networking giants have seen the value of the stocks of these very large firms diminish rapidly. The two worlds of money and risk are very much the same in both industries.

The stock market gamble and the other side the entertainment afforded by just watching as internet interest falls. With firms like Zynga and Facebook looking at monetizing their products with social real money gambling the belief is if they build it they will come philosophy, strategy may be a better description for the concept. Gambling, compare the apple and oranges, they look similar, they’re round.



Gambling On the Stock Market Apples and Oranges

Spain may make legislative changes to facilitate the creation of a giant gaming complex which would create about 200,000 jobs in the Madrid region, officials said Monday.

US billionnaire Sheldon Adelson, head of the Las Vegas Sands gaming corporation, announced last week that he had chosen Madrid over Barcelona as a location for the complex known as EuroVegas.

It is to include 12 giant hotels, six casinos, conference centres, golf courses, shopping and restaurants. Details about the project are still unclear, including its exact location and its financing.

Adelson would pay about a quarter of the project, while the rest would come from banks, Madrid regional Prime Minister Esperanza Aguirre said on Monday.

Officials see the EuroVegas project as a ray of hope amid Spain‘s deep economic crisis, which has made unemployment soar to nearly 25 per cent.

But the project has sparked criticism over the conditions that Adelson is reportedly setting, such as tax exemptions and legislative changes to allow smoking in casinos.

There has been concern that the gambling city would draw criminals and encourage money laundering.

Spain should change "whichever laws that were necessary" in order to facilitate the creation of EuroVegas, Aguirre said.

However, Adelson would have to adhere to the same rules as other entrepreneurs in the sector, commerce secretary of state Jaime Garcia-Legaz said. Any eventual legislative changes would thus apply to all Spanish casinos, he explained. dpa sit bve Author: Sinikka Tarvainen


Spain ready to change laws to draw giant gambling complex | EUROPE ONLINE

ONLINE gambling group Betfair has complained to the European Commission about restrictions on its business in Cyprus.

Betfair argued yesterday that any ban on betting exchanges is discriminatory and disproportionate and so breaches EU law.

“Current Cypriot law goes against European free market principles,” said Betfair chief legal and regulatory officer Martin Cruddace.

The firm’s shares dropped in June when Cyprus unveiled the laws, but Betfair stock closed up 1.9 per cent at 748p yesterday.


Betfair fights Cyprus ruling | City A.M.

There oughta be a law barring 13-year-old girls from singing Nina Simone songs. No, seriously. That law would please me a lot. And a lot of you too, I’m guessing.

A few minutes into the presentation reel for the new season of The X-Factor (Wednesday, Thursday, Fox, CTV, 8 p.m.), along comes this mere child in shorts and what appears to be her dad’s vest, who opens her mouth and proceeds to spend several minutes murdering Feeling Good, from Simone’s classic album I Put A Spell On You. Her voice goes hither and thither. It’s a circus trick. The judges and her family are in some kind of ecstasy listening to this vocal assassination. Me, I think the kid should be in borstal for ransacking the song.


Read More: The X-Factor returns: That

Nevada's senators remained in turmoil Tuesday over online gaming, as time grows shorter for Congress to consider a bill sought by the casino industry and millions of card players to legalize poker on the Internet.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller insisted that industry players and Democratic Sen. Harry Reid had agreed on a strategy that would have the U.S. House act first on a gaming bill, until Reid "decided to change gears midstream."

Reid said Heller's statement was fiction, and accused him of "failure of leadership."

Reid said he has never strayed from pushing the legislation through the Senate first, where as majority leader he has control over the voting process and schedule. Behind the scenes, Reid aides continued to charge Heller was masking an inability to attract Republicans after being asked to produce at least 15 GOP votes for the bill.

Finger-pointing between the two Nevada leaders surfaced as crunch time nears on a bill that seeks to legalize and regulate online poker on the federal level while toughening restrictions against other forms of Internet gambling. A legalized market for Internet poker in which most states would be expected to participate would mean millions of dollars in business for casinos that are positioning themselves for the next big thing.


Read More: Reid, Heller clash over online gaming bill - News - ReviewJournal-com