Let your mouth speak archive

Mark Pincus, Zynga’s chief executive officer and co-founder, needs to draw an ace quickly. His company’s stock is down 74% this year and is one of the worst-performing big publicly-traded companies in America. His most talented employees have been heading for the exits for months and his most important partner, Facebook, is backing away from him.

One year ago Pincus had Zynga sell investors $1 billion of Zynga stock for $10 each in an IPO on the promise of social gaming. Not long after Pincus moved to side-step lock-up provisions and pocketed $190 million by selling his own Zynga stock in a secondary offering.

Now that Zynga’s stock has collapsed and is trading for $2.50, Pincus is trying a new trick. He is trying to sell investors on the idea of online gambling. It’s a natural pitch for Pincus because Zynga Poker was Zynga’s first social game and is the largest free-to-play online poker game in the world. Pincus got Zynga to announce yesterday that the company had applied for a preliminary finding of suitability from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to promote the idea that the company might find salvation in online gambling. Investors on Thursday took the bait, pushing up Zynga’s stock by 7%–the best day Zynga’s stock has had in weeks. This follows up on an earlier announcement in October that Zynga had signed a deal with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, the Gibraltar online gambling company.

The problem, however, is that Zynga is not that well positioned to conquer the online gambling world. To begin with, there is no regulated online gambling market in the U.S. Despite the efforts of Nevada Senator Harry Reid and others, it has proven to be very hard to push through any federal legislation in this area. If by some sort of miracle federal legislation gets passed, it will probably be limited to online poker.

Zynga’s real-money online poker prospects are not as great as one might think. Running real-money games is a very different type of experience than free-play games and Zynga has zero experience doing it. Furthermore, a very high percentage of Zynga’s online poker players are under the age of 18 and come from countries like Indonesia, says a well-informed online poker source.

In addition, if any form of online poker comes to America, Zynga will have to deal with big and rich competitors. PokerStars, the biggest online poker company in the world, dominates the global online poker market and its recent deal with the Department of Justice appears to leave the door open for it to come back to the U.S., where the company is now revered by real-money online-poker players, both for its product and the way it worked to reimburse players after the federal government effectively shut down the online poker business in America in 2011.

The big casinos, like Caesars Entertainment, which owns the World Series of Poker, have also invested heavily in online poker and gambling plans. Competing against these players on either the federal—or more likely—state level will be extremely tough. The Nevada Gaming Control Board tentatively approved Caesars’ online poker web site on Wednesday. Companies like Caesars and MGM Resorts see online gambling as their industry’s last frontier and will fight for tiny markets like Nevada for long-term reasons if a handful of states beat the feds in the race to regulate online gaming.

That leaves the rest of the world. In the online poker landscape, nobody has been able to seriously compete with PokerStars internationally for years and there seems little chance that Pincus will change that. His partner, Bwin.Party, is already the biggest publicly-traded online gambling company in the world. Its market capitalization: $1.36 billion. In other words, it’s worth less than Zynga.




Zynga's Online Gambling Fantasy Will Never Work - Forbes

The British government intends to increase regulation of online gambling and bring foreign operators into line with the standards of their local counterparts, according to a draft bill published this week.

Bringing foreign operators into line

The proposed new amendment will regulate online gambling on a point of consumption basis, irrespective of where the actual operators are based, Sport and Tourism Minister Hugh Robertson said.

Overseas operators applying for a licence will be expected to pay a fee and contribute toward education about responsible gambling. Like their British counterparts, they will be required to report about suspicious betting patterns.

Robertson explained that that the aim of the proposal was to ensure British consumers enjoy consistent standards of protection, regardless of where a gambling business is based, and will also help the fight against illegal activity and corruption in sports betting.

Leader in online gambling regulation

The UK has long been considered a leader in online gambling regulations, with many countries on the continent still formulating their own laws and coming to grips with the rapid growth of online betting and casinos.

This bill is an attempt to reverse some of the mistakes of the last piece of legislation in 2005. That law granted licences to operators only if they were based in UK, enabling those with licenses in tax havens like Gibraltar to advertise to British consumers.



UK Intends to Fully Regulate Online Gambling - Industry Coverage - Onlinecasinoreports-com

Papa needs a new pair of … cows? Zynga yesterday filed the first salvo of paperwork necessary to obtain an online gambling license in Nevada, the Wall Street Journal reports. But don't expect to be betting on Farmville (or more likely titles like Zynga Poker) anytime soon. The document filed yesterday was a request for the state to decide if Zynga is even potentially suitable for a license, and that decision alone is expected to take 12 to 18 months.

It's unclear how long after that final approval would come. The move comes amidst a rapidly changing legal landscape around online gambling. Nevada became the first state to legalize online poker earlier this year. Though it has handed out a few licenses already, none of the companies' online poker games is up and running yet. And when they are, they'll be limited to state residents. But that could soon change: Harry Reid and Jon Kyl are working on a bill that would legalize online poker nationwide and even create an Office of Online Poker Oversight, the Journal reported yesterday. However, the bill would simultaneously ban most other forms of online gambling.



Zynga Is Trying to Get a Gambling License - Company files paperwork in Nevada

THE Grammy Awards celebrated the diversity of music as six different artists tied for lead nominee – Kanye West, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, and fun.

The diverse nominees list was revealed at a special concert broadcast live from Nashville, Tennesee.

Dan Auerbach received five nominations as a member of the Black Keys, and is also up for producer of the year. But his band little resembles any other acts on the list.

The nominations for Jay-Z and West, two of hip hop's most important figures, is a familiar refrain. Each has routinely been at or near the top of the nominations list for the last several years.

Indie pop band fun, a featured performer during the show, aired live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, rode the success of its anthemic hit 'We Are Young', featuring Janelle Monae, to sweep the major categories, earning nods for best new artist, song and record for 'We Are Young' and album of the year for 'Some Nights'.

"When you call your band fun. with a period at the end of the sentence, you set a high standard for yourself and for fun itself," Taylor Swift,(above) the host, said introducing them. "Fortunately, this band has lived up to the name."

R&B singer Ocean, whose mother was in attendance, made a bold social statement earlier this year when he noted he had a same-sex relationship in the liner notes of his new album 'channel ORANGE', and the Recording Academy rewarded him with nominations for best new artist; record, for 'Thinkin' 'Bout You'; and album of the year.

Folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, who made an auspicious debut in front of an international audience at the 2011 Grammys, are up for album of the year for 'Babel', one of 2012's best-selling releases.




Diversity rules as Grammy nominees revealed - Music, Entertainment - Independent.ie

Social game developer Zynga Inc. (ZNGA - Snapshot Report) is gearing up to enter the U.S. gambling market. This Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) stock recently announced that it has filed an application with the Nevada Gaming Control Board for an online gambling license in the state. However, Zynga did not specify what it intends to do with the license. If Zynga is granted the license, it will be able to offer online real money gambling games, similar to its upcoming offering in the United Kingdom. In October this year, Zynga entered into a partnership with Gibraltar-based online gambling operator bwin.party to provide real money online poker and other casino games (approximately 180) in the United Kingdom in the first half of 2013.

Online gambling is illegal in the U.S. as per the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) 2006. However, UIGEA, which was implemented in June 2010, does not define illegal online gaming. The Act also does not apply to online gaming conducted within the boundaries of a state or a tribe.

Similarly, the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 prohibits the operation of certain types of betting businesses in the U.S. However, in a December 2011 ruling, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) clarified that only sports-related betting falls under the purview of this Act. The DOJ also said that Internet poker does not violate the Wire Act.

The DOJ’s ruling called for a federal framework to regulate Internet poker and other forms of Internet gambling. This is particularly important as state governments are looking for ways to boost their crumbling budgets. Granting licenses for online gambling was looked upon as an effective way to boost state coffers.

Nevada is one of the first states (Delaware being the other one) to legalize online gambling. Besides Nevada and Delaware, other states such as New Jersey are expected to legalize online gambling in the near future. We believe that this provides a huge growth opportunity to online game providers such as Zynga over the long term.

According to data available from market research firm H2 Gambling Capital, as reported by Forbes, the global gambling industry’s total gross wins are expected to grow 5.6% to $417.0 billion of which 8.1% comes from online sources, which is expected to increase approximately 10% by 2015. Of the global gross wins, the U.S. generates approximately 25%, with only 3.3% of the coming from online sources.

Lately, Zynga has been looking for new avenues to boost its sagging revenues. The company recently lost its exclusivity to Facebook (FB - Analyst Report), which is a huge setback. The company has been losing traffic on a regular basis, which had a negative impact on its top-line growth.

In such a scenario, we believe that Zynga’s entry into the online gambling industry will drive revenue growth, particularly due to its innovative product portfolio that comprises online poker and slot games. Moreover, this will help Zynga to reduce its dependence on Facebook going forward.

According to Zynga, the whole process will take approximately 12-18 months to complete. We believe that Zynga will utilize this time to build strategic partnerships with casino operators in the state. The company has a sizeable cash balance ($1.3 billion at the end of the third quarter) which will also help it to pursue acquisitions in the sector.

We believe that partnerships and acquisitions will help it to gain an immediate foothold in the online gambling market provided it wins the license. Moreover, these partnerships and acquisitions will help it to fight stiff competition from the established casino operators going forward.

Nonetheless, we believe that the whole process is a time consuming affair and the stock will likely be range bound until the license is won. Year-to-date, the stock is down approximately 74% and we believe that Zynga’s core business (social gaming) needs to perform in order to gain investor confidence in the near term.

Thus, we remain Neutral on Zynga over the long term (6-12 months).


Zynga Plans to Tap Gambling Market - Zacks-com

Since the Gambling Act of 2005 was introduced in the UK, all online gambling operators have been required to obtain a license and pay 15% tax on UK wagers. Unfortunately for the UK government, the overall effect was to compel most of the affected businesses to exit the country and set up in such offshore locations as Gibraltar, Alderney and the Isle of Man, where they were then able to offer their services without a UK licence, while also avoiding the 15% tax on profits.

However, a new bill amending the 2005 Gambling Act is set to close that particular loophole such that even offshore operations offering their service in the UK will be subject to the same licensing and tax requirements as domestic online operators.

The bill is expected to be passed in early 2013 and could see companies such as PokerStars and PartyPoker shifting their UK operations to ‘co.uk’ domains, so as to subject just the UK part of their revenue to the local gaming tax. The system is then expected to go live in early 2014 with minimal disruption to UK players.

However, online operators will have to shoulder the burden of increased costs related to UK licensing, as well as gambling duty currently at 15%, and corporation tax at 23%. This increased cost will likely in turn be passed down to players and could lead to a situation such as in the Spanish, French and Italian markets where online poker sites have raised the rake they charge. However, these countries have segregated player pools, unlike the UK, which may instead opt to simply reduce its player bonuses and rewards. It is estimated these total rewards may be reduced by around 10%.

The good news for UK players, though, is that they will still enjoy tax exemption on their gambling winnings unlike countries such as Sweden which recently started demanding back taxes from its online poker players who had played on poker rooms located outside the European Economic Area.


New UK Online Gaming Tax Implications

Jamie Foxx has some electrifying news for ET: He will definitely be starring in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man! "Electro is a great character," Jamie tells ET's Nancy O'Dell when she asks him if he's confirmed to be in the next installment of the blockbuster franchise "I met with the director, Mark Webb, I met with Andrew Garfield, and we talked. … I think Electro will be an exciting character to play because he's a … genius electrician-type person, and he gets the short end of the stick from the whole world, and the next thing you know he turns it on."

Rumors had been swirling for quite some time that Jamie would be taking on the role of Spidey's nemesis, and he fueled the fire the day after Halloween when he tweeted that he dressed up as the character.

Plus, Webb alluded to the super-villain being a part of the next movie while promoting the upcoming release of The Amazing Spider-Man on Blu-ray and listing his favorite villains: "I like Green Goblin. I like Electro a lot. I think Electro is pretty fantastic."

Earlier today it was announced today that Chronicle and Lincoln star Dane Dehaan will join the super sequel as Harry Osborn, with Webb tweeting, "Meet Harry Osborn. So excited to have him on board. @danedehaan."

Of course, Spidey fans know that Harry Osborn is the son of Norman Osborn, who becomes The Green Goblin, and Harry himself eventually becomes the super-villain Hobgoblin. So who are the official baddies of the next Spider-Man film? No actual names have been announced, but the information is all there for those who want to connect the dots.

Video: 'Spider-Man' Sequel Secrets Hidden in Blu-ray?

Also starring Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Shailene Woodley, the new film in the Spider-Man saga is set for release in 3D on May 2, 2014. Production will begin in early 2013.

George Osborne is set to hand the gambling industry a multi-million-pound tax cut as part of an incentive to bring the offshore internet gaming business back to Britain.

The highly controversial move comes the day after the Chancellor faced nationwide protests over the Government’s failure to crack down on massive corporation tax avoidance by companies including Starbucks, Google and Amazon.

Last night, fair tax campaigners criticised any new tax concession to the online gaming industry, which is linked to alarming increases in gambling addiction, with children suffering as families are plunged into debt.

Britain’s biggest gambling companies moved their internet gaming operations offshore after Labour brought in a 15 per cent tax for all internet betting seven years ago.

But The Mail on Sunday has been told the Treasury is considering slashing the gambling levy by a third to recoup some of the £2.1 billion in revenues that has been lost over the last seven years.

Read more: Online gambling: Companies to get tax cuts to lure them back to UK as protests erupt over tax avoidance schemes by Starbucks, Google and Amazon | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

It seems that there may be some progress in the battle for legal online gambling in the US. This week an amended version of an online gaming bill, which would allow all online casino games, passed in the New Jersey Assembly.

According to State Sen. Ray Lesniak the bill will go to the full Assembly on Dec. 17 and the state Senate on Dec. 20th.

Lesniak said that “it’s still not too late for Atlantic City to become the Silicon Valley of Internet Gaming.”

However, this bill has been delayed in the past. Governor Christie vetoed it last year and it is not known what he would do if it is passed before Christmas.

Meanwhile, there has also been progress in Congress. A Democratic senator with strong backing from Nevada casino interests and a Republican senator who is opposed to betting have been working together to get an online-gambling bill into the lame-duck session.

Senator Harry Reid and Republican Senator Jon Kyl are looking into a way of wording the bill which would allow some forms of online wagering while limiting others.

Part of the bill would see the creation of an Office of Online Poker Oversight which would fall under the Department of Commerce.


Legal Online Gambling May Be on the Way - Online Casino Archives

Since publication of her first mystery, "Shinju," 18 years ago, Laura Joh Rowland has churned out about one book a year.

A Rowland novel is like one of those old Harold Lloyd silent comedies, in which the klutzy star finds himself dangling from a building 12 stories above the street, and then a bird starts pecking his head. After piling on one impossible predicament after the next, Rowland then masterfully extricates him, until it's time for the next nerve-wracking installment.

These cliffhanger scenarios are made possible because Chamberlain Ichiro Sano is subservient to a blooming idiot. And it's true that the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi (1646-1709), was quite eccentric. Over his three-decade reign he got religion and ordered the feeding and sheltering of some 50,000 dogs in Edo. (He is also believed to have been murdered by his wife, who acted for the good of the country.)

In "The Incense Game," a major earthquake has devastated Edo on the last day of 1703. As Sano supervises the city's recovery, three women are discovered dead in a ruined house, the home of an incense master. An autopsy confirms they were killed by poisoned incense. Two victims are daughters (by different mothers) of the powerful Lord Hosokawa, who demands Sano break off his duties to find their killer. Should Sano refuse, Hosokawa threatens to side with other rebellious daimyo (lords) to overthrow the Tokugawas.

Sano's headstrong wife, Reiko, who's expecting a child, hides her condition from her husband to assist him. Sano's investigation eventually determines that the incense master, Madame Usugumo, had used a type of chemical similar to truth serum, which she mixed into her incense. After entranced students confided their deepest personal secrets, she extorted money from them. Among the key suspects in the killings are two important figures, both of whom are involved in palace intrigues. One, the head priest of the Zojoji Temple, enjoyed an intimate relationship with the shogun's mother. The other presides over Edo's Confucius Temple.

Meanwhile, ex-Chamberlain Yanagisawa — brilliant, devious, amoral and utterly determined to discredit the loyal Sano — is back, still bent on installing a member of his own family to usurp the Tokugawa dynasty. Sano and his teenage son, Masahiro, now a young page in the palace, must fend off both the pedophilic shogun and his hunchbacked cousin — the brilliant but thoroughly unpleasant Lord Ienobu.

In another subplot continuing from Rowland's previous work, "The Ronin's Mistress," Sano's most competent retainer, Hirata, has come under the control of three shady characters who dabble in the dark arts, and who are clearly are up to no good. By having fallen under their influence, Hirata is in no position to provide support in his master's greatest time of need.

Rowland piles on one seemingly impossible situation after the next, forcing her protagonist to negotiate a series of predicaments in which he slips, trips, stumbles and lurches, but always manages to stay on his feet and keep his head on his shoulders — no easy task in early 18th century Edo.

'One Red Bastard" is Ed Lin's third novel featuring Chinese-American New York City policeman Robert Chow. Assigned to the Chinatown beat largely as a public relations move, Chow is determined to move up from his largely ceremonial position as a token Chinese cop and earn a detective's shield.

Chow's a flawed character, having fought off PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and alcoholism from his combat experiences as an infantryman in Vietnam. But he's tough, determined and has earned the respect of his fellow cops.

"One Red Bastard" is set in 1976, on the eve of the U.S. rapprochement with China. Chen Xiaochuan, who represents Li Na, the daughter of China's recently deceased chairman Mao Zedong, is found dead of blunt force trauma, on the street in Chinatown. The last person to have seen him alive was Lonnie, Chow's journalist girlfriend, who had been sent to interview Chen for her news agency. And her alibi appears weak.

Chow's efforts to absolve his love interest of the crime take his investigation to the bitter rivalry between pro-Taiwan and pro-mainland factions in Chinatown. Was Chen's killing politically motivated? Or was it the result of some personal grudge?

Lin's Chinese-American protagonist is a native New Yorker and very much part of that city's multicultural mix. But what endears Chow most to the reader is his wry observations about the city and its colorful cast of characters. Chow's first-person narrative is peppered with laconic expressions and humorous metaphors that make it difficult to read a Lin novel without breaking into frequent grins.

Like Rowland, Lin demonstrates his craft as a writer by transforming the deadly serious business of murder into an entertaining read.
Mark Schreiber is a fanatical collector and reader of mystery and thriller fiction set in Asia.



Serious business of murder turned into entertainment | The Japan Times Online

The tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua & Barbuda intends to pursue retaliatory sanctions against U.S. commercial services and intellectual property as part of its David vs. Goliath trade battle with the United States, the islands' finance minister announced Sunday.

Antigua Finance Minister Harold Lovell told The Associated Press that the tiny country of less than 90,000 people has tried unsuccessfully for years to negotiate a "fair settlement" with the U.S. It accuses its neighbor to the north of hobbling its fragile economy by banning Americans from placing online bets with gambling operators, including licensed online casinos based in the twin-island nation.

"As a small country, it is not our intention to have a fight with the United States. But we believe also that as a sovereign nation we are entitled to all the rights and the protection of the WTO," Lovell said in a Sunday phone interview. "We believe the time has come (to pursue sanctions) having exhausted all other possibilities."

Save a last minute settlement, Antigua intends to formally announce its intentions to pursue punitive action at a Dec. 17 meeting of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization. It will then announce specifics of which U.S. industries it intends to target.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office did not immediately return a Sunday email seeking comment.

In 2007, the WTO awarded Antigua the right to target U.S. services, copyrights and trademarks in retaliation for its online betting ban. But in a setback for the Caribbean country, the global trade body capped the limit of annual trade sanctions at $21 million. Antigua had sought the right to impose $3.4 billion in retaliatory measures, while the U.S. offered about $500,000.

Still, Lovell believes the countermeasures can be an effective tool to pressure the U.S., even with the WTO's token amount of $21 million a year.

"We are resolved that absent a fair settlement that this is the route we will take," Lovell said from Antigua.

The former British colony had been promoting electronic commerce as a way to diversify its small economy and end its reliance on tourism, which was slammed by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s. In 2000, there were numerous licensed online casinos that employed roughly 3,000 people, and the flourishing sector had an annual income of nearly $1 billion.

Now, Lovell said the shriveled sector's annual income is "miniscule" and there are just 400 employees. He described the impact of the U.S. ban as "devastating" for the islands' economy, which was also rocked by the 2009 collapse of the financial empire of convicted Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, who based his Stanford International Bank on Antigua and was once the country's largest private employer.

"We have basically been driven over our fiscal cliff .... We feel that we really have had our backs pushed right up against the wall," said Lovell, referring to the impact of the U.S. online betting ban.

Antigua in 2003 initiated WTO dispute proceedings against U.S. federal and state laws barring foreign participation in U.S. Internet gambling markets. The WTO, in rulings in 2004 and 2005, found that the U.S. had violated its 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, which the WTO says allows Internet gambling.

The WTO has upheld rulings striking down the U.S. ban. The trade body said Washington was violating trade law by targeting online gambling without equal application of the rules to American operators offering remote betting on horse and dog racing.

But in 2006, Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country. The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a growing market worth about $15.5 billion at the time. About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the U.S.

Washington also responded to its legal defeat by announcing it would take the unprecedented step of revising the conditions under which it signed the GATS. That allowed a number of countries to seek compensation under a separate process. But the U.S. has failed to do so with Antigua.

As a result, Antigua gained the right to penalize U.S. services and intellectual property until Washington either permits Americans to gamble over foreign-based sites or eliminates exceptions for off-track betting on horses, including over the Internet.

Lovell said the U.S. Trade Representative's office recently rejected efforts to have the trade dispute referred to the WTO for arbitration, prompting the islands to pursue countermeasures.

He said Antigua has also been following with interest U.S. complaints on pirating and fake goods in China and its threats to take the Asian giant to the WTO's dispute resolution board.

"We believe that the same rules that apply to big countries should be the same rules that apply to small countries. It is very difficult for us to sit back and hear the United States speak about unfair trade practices that are alleged against China, and at the same time ... we've played by the rules, we've done everything that we were required to do, we were successful — and yet we have not been able to arrive at a proper conclusion to this matter," Lovell said.



Antigua to pursue annual trade sanctions against U.S. for online betting ban - Toledo Blade

Malta has a licensed and regulated online gambling industry that is part of Malta’s economic engine. The European Union has been attempting to bring a stable and universal set of rules into play that is compatible with all the member states concerns and needs.

Malta has been vocal and critical of the European Commission’s recent efforts to combat match fixing in sports. Malta is opposed to the strategy that sees member states able to restrict technological access to illegal betting in accordance with national legislation. During a meeting of the EU’s Education and Sports Council Malta responded to the strategy by saying that some member states may use these measures to bypass general EU rules permitting international gaming companies to operate freely within the Union.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Maltese government, Clyde Puli, while supporting efforts to combat corrupt practices in sport also wanted to see more specific wording in the strategy to deal with the geographical origin of gaming activities. Malta’s veto of the strategy speaks volumes about its need to protect its economy and online betting industry. The right to offer services throughout the European Union has been supported by the industry and the European parliament. The gambling industry agreed with the Maltese stand, “Malta cannot afford to have countries using this new policy as an excuse to block online access to Maltese online gambling sites in their territory,” the source continued to explain, “We already had many attempts in the past from large member states such as France and Italy trying to stop companies operating in other EU member states to access their lucrative gambling markets. If we believe in the free movement of services, then Malta is on the right track.”

It was argued that the regulation of internet sports betting was under the auspices of the internal market and not the responsibility of sports ministers to make policy. Online gambling makes up as much as eight percent of Malta’s GDP.



Malta Moves to Protect Its Online Gambling Industry

TYPICALLY, they will be a male aged between 18 and 24.

They are usually technology savvy and started playing online poker games to kill time, maybe because they saw an online poker ad with an offer of some free credits.

After they spent the free credit, they spent a little bit of their own money, just to play for an hour or two after work.

But then they started spending even more money and they play the poker game during breaks at work and for hours when they get home.

They aren't engaging with the people in their lives, maybe the addiction has even cost them their relationship, and they are now struggling financially.

This is the kind of case Hervey Bay's Ingrid Payne is encountering on a regular basis on the Fraser Coast.

She works for Uniting Care which provides a gambling help service.

Ms Payne said there had been a significant increase in online problem gambling on the Fraser Coast.

The hours spent gambling online not only harms the person financially but also impacts on the time they spent with friends and family.

That can seriously damage the relationships in their lives.

"The people I see are of a younger generation," Ms Payne said.

"A lot of them don't realise how much money they have been spending."

Many of the people feel embarrassed and ashamed about what has happened, Ms Payne said.

"When they come to see me they are actually desperate," she said.

"Everything has gone wrong in their lives. It's so insidious, it's difficult to control."

Often the people who came to Ms Payne for help needed her assistance in rebuilding their lives.

"Often they are in terrible trouble," Ms Payne said.

Ms Payne generally saw more young men than women but it did happen to both, she said.

Depending on what people wanted to do, she helped them change their thought processes when it came to gambling.

For those who were unable to gamble responsibly, she helped them learn to abstain from gambling.

"It's wonderful to see them get their lives back," she said.

Jenni Rivera, the Latin music and TV superstar who was on the cusp of a crossover move into English-lingo TV, was presumed dead after her chartered plane crashed early Sunday following takeoff in Monterrey, Mexico. She was 43.

Mexican authorities confirmed Sunday afternoon that the wreckage had been found and there were no survivors among the seven people believed to be on board.

Rivera, a native of Long Beach, Calif., was known as the Diva of Banda, having logged numerous platinum-selling records in the regional Mexican music genre. Her profile in the U.S. was boosted by the success of the Mun2 reality series "I Love Jenni," which documented the vivacious singer's jet-set life as an entertainer, entrepreneur and mother of five children.

Her daughter, Chiquis Marin, is also the subject of a Mun2 reality skein, "Chiquis 'n Control," which bowed earlier this year. Rivera's four brothers are also prominent figurers in the Mexican music biz.

Earlier this month, Rivera inked a deal with ABC to develop her own sitcom. At a time when major media companies are eagerly courting Latino viewers, Rivera was well-positioned for crossover stardom. She had a role in the 2012 indie drama "Filly Brown," about the Mexican music biz.

Rivera's death is sure to reverberate through Latino pop culture. Spanish-lingo nets Telemundo and Mun2 quickly scheduled two-hour primetime specials on Sunday devoted to her life and career.

Rivera had given a concert Saturday night in Monterrey. The U.S.-registered Learjet lost contact with aviation authorities shortly after takeoff at about 3:30 a.m. It had been scheduled to arrive at Toluca, outside Mexico City, an hour later, according to the Associated Press. Six other people were believed to be on the plane, including her publicist, lawyer and makeup artist, all of whom were known to viewers of "I Love Jenni."

Rivera's by-the-bootstraps rise to fame is well-known in Latin pop culture circles. Her parents were both Mexican immigrants; her father, Don Pedro Rivera, was active in the music biz and had his own label.

Rivera became pregnant at 15 but continued her education, studying business administration in college. She obtained a real estate license, but eventually shifted her focus to music. She signed with Capitol/EMI's Latin division and released her first album, "Chacalosa," in 1995. She later recorded for Sony's Latin imprint and top Mexican label Fonovisa.

Among Rivera's signature tunes were "La Gran Senora" and "De Contrabando."

In 2010, Mun2 tapped Rivera and her daughter Chiquis for the reality skein "Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis & Raq-C." That show led to the launch of "I Love Jenni" in 2011. "Jenni" ranks among Mun2's most-watched shows.

Rivera was slated to play a middle-class single mother in the ABC comedy that was in the works through ABC Studios from sitcom vets Robert Boyett and Robert Horn.

Rivera recently launched a line of cosmetics and had been working on her autobiography. Recognizing that her showbiz clout was growing, Variety selected Rivera as one of notable femmes to watch in this year's Women's Impact Report (Daily Variety, Oct. 5).

Off screen, Rivera was known for her tumultuous love life, after suffering abuse at the hands of her first husband while her second husband cheated on her. After Saturday's concert, she spoke at a post-concert press conference about the recent end of her third marriage, to baseball player Esteban Loaiza.

"I can't get caught up in the negative because that destroys you. Perhaps trying to move away from my problems and focus on the positive is the best I can do," she said, according to the AP. " I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other women. The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up."



Latin star Jenni Rivera believed dead in crash - Entertainment News, Music News, Media - Variety

It's About Time.

Jenni Rivera RIP

A recent study in Israel suggests the idea of legalizing gambling in the country would see revenue generated by the activity to the tune of 1.2 billion NIS in taxes. The study conducted by Netanya Academic College and Ronen Bar-El of the Open University, will be published for the Sderot Conference on Social Issues coming up at Sapir College. The study reveals that 12.5 billion NIS is spent per year on sports gambling, stating that as much as 11 billion NIS is spent on illegal betting. Assuming correctly the study suggests that illegal betting on sports harms both gamblers and sports associations, while regulating these activities would take the profit away from criminal organizations and would mitigate attempts at match fixing.

The study’s author economist Avichai Snir commented that competitive sports throughout the world are "subject today to the growing threat of match fixing and turning it into a tool of organized crime," The study which makes clear the need for legal online betting points out that the trend is to make a regulated environment for online gambling for a safer and more honest situation. The study continues to explain how online gambling has been legalized in 28 countries around the world, with another 13 countries working towards regulation. Gambling online is illegal in Israel, and efforts to stop the activity have been mostly unsuccessful.

The economic impact of illegal gambling in Israel amounts to 21% of GNP, about 136 billion NIS, with as a much as 34 billion NIS being laundered through sporting events and other related sales. Figures gleaned from the International Monetary Fund estimates that criminal elements take in $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion per year, with one-third to half of this amount being laundered money, which accounts for 2% to 5% of the world's gross national product and about 10% of all of the world’s economic activities.



Israel Study Suggests Legalizing Online Gambling

Sportingbet has branded plans by Greece to award a monopoly in online gambling to state betting operator OPAP “a disgrace”, but said it would continue to take bets in the country for the time being.

The group, which is in the process of being bought by William Hill and its joint venture partner GVC Holdings, is one of 24 online gambling operators which signed interim licences to operate in Greece but which may now have to quit the Greek market.

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OPAP already enjoys a monopoly on offline betting, but the Greek finance ministry is now proposing to end the interim licences and extend OPAP’s monopoly to include online sports betting and other gambling products, with a licence to last until 2020.

Sportingbet has 50,000 active Greek players who are expected to provide €20m-€25m of revenues in 2013, and earnings of €3m-€4m.

The group said: “It remains business as usual and depending on what any official announcement says, Sportingbet will take the appropriate action at that time.”

The industry is awaiting a ruling from the European Court of Justice on the legality of the offline monopoly held by OPAP.

William Hill has already reduced its joint offer for Sportingbet to £485m after the UK-listed group reported a decline in third-quarter revenues. But William Hill is unconcerned about Sportingbet’s Greek business, because it only intends to purchase the group’s “clean” regulated assets.

The proposed actions by the Greek government highlight growing volatility in European gambling markets, with some member states reluctant to open up online gambling to competition.

Betfair last month said it was withdrawing from Greece, having already said it was pulling out of Germany and complained about new laws in Cyprus.

William Hill also said it was abandoning the Greek market in light of warnings from the government that operators without licences faced financial penalties and criminal action.

Gambling operators have complained to the European Commission about the gambling regimes of several member states.

Sportingbet said: “It is scandalous that the Greek ministry of finance is planning to award OPAP an extension of its monopoly. What is particularly galling is the fact OPAP’s incumbent hand has been strengthened as the monopoly now covers not only the offline arena but also the e-gaming space as well.

“This is a disgrace and the Greek government should be ashamed with how this has been allowed to happen.”

The Remote Gambling Association said: “There can be no justification for extending OPAP’s monopoly to cover nearly every aspect of online gambling. We have urged the Greek government to reconsider and have called on the European Commission to take action if it does not, because this move is a blatant breach of EU process and EU law.”


Greek gambling plan branded ‘a disgrace’ - FT-com

No company can be a serious player on any front, unless they have an online strategy. If not in whole, at least in part. Be it retail or selling services, the online space is more important than ever and those who ignore this fact pay the price.

Years ago many doubted that people would shopping online. It took Amazon (AMZN) to prove everybody wrong and it took Barnes and Noble (BKS) and its corporate blunders of a decade ago, to prove that online shopping was a serious contender to full retail outlets.

Gambling is no exception. Just as retail migrated online, so will gambling

Anyone who wants to be a serious player in the gambling space will have to develop an online strategy. Also, those who want to enter the gambling space, are probably better of starting online than actually building a casino.

And companies who are already in the gaming business and want to make the transition to gambling, are probably half way there.

Zynga (ZNGA) has pioneered the online social gaming space and is ready to enter the online gambling space. The recent deal announced with bwin is probably only the beginning of this transition. For Zynga this move is a natural and an evolutionary step.

According to PWC's 2011 global gaming outlook:

With governments now facing severe fiscal constraints and eager to replenish their coffers, their attention has been caught by the potential of legalized and licensed online gaming services as a valuable source of tax revenues. There is also a strong argument that, since consumers will engage in illegal online gaming anyway, it is better to license and tax it than to allow the revenues to go to unlicensed operators.

In other words, governments around the world will seek to legalize online gambling to tap into revenue that today is not taxed. The easiest way to do this is via online casinos, where there is transparency and governments know exactly what is spent.

According to intelligence firm H2 Gambling Capital, global gambling proceeds (the amount money people gamble and lose) will be about $417 billion this year. The U.S. is the number one gambler globally with about $104 billion in proceeds, but only 3.3% of that comes from online channels, while the world average is about 8%.

This means that if and when online gambling is legalized across the U.S., companies who get a foothold in the online gambling space will probably end up making a lot of money.

Can Zynga execute?

Zynga is perfectly positioned to play a key role in the online gambling space, simply because of the fact that it is an online gaming company by default. So moving to online gambling, from social gaming, is something like second nature to Zynga.

The company should be able to leverage its millions of social gaming players one way or another. But what is even more important is that no one else has such a ready clientele. In other words, they are already better positioned than almost everybody else by default.

If Zynga will be successful or not we do not know. We can only "play" with the possibilities. What I can tell you however is that Zynga has all that is necessary to succeed and, is by far ahead of everyone else in many respects. So if anyone can make it in the space, it will be them. Companies who breath and operate in the online space have better chances to succeed than regular casino operators.

The risk reward possibilities for Zynga's stock, assuming a successful transition to the gambling space, at current valuations, is in investors favor. Not only has the stock corrected and current valuations are more than reasonable, but the company has a very strong balance sheet, to be able to finance such a transition.

Social gaming at the moment is in a downturn. As such, I don't look at Zynga as a social gaming stock, but as a possible future gambling stock, for that's where the big money will be.

So I reiterate my buy recommendation for the stock, based on valuation metrics (please read my previous articles here) and because of the tremendous possibilities for profit in the online gambling space.

Yes there is quite a bit of speculation in my logic, but if things turn out the way I think they will, the potential for profit is substantial. However, as with any stock, one needs to follow developments of what is going on -- in this case that includes the gambling space -- and position himself accordingly as information becomes available.

On a technical note, the stock is above the 50 day moving average, which means that short term trend is up. I think the stock will need to break above the $3 range and fill the gap before we see real excitement. I don't have any estimates or targets as of yet, but I will keep you posted as news and earnings come along.


Can Zynga Execute In The Online Gambling Space? - Seeking Alpha

For $3, visitors can get a "lollipop" of the stuff, made by pouring hot maple syrup over snow – or considering Orange County's general lack of snow, crushed ice. The clash of heat and cold causes the syrup to gel slightly. A flat stick gets inserted into the cooling mass, which is then rolled on the bed of ice to cool it further.

"It's food, and it's entertainment," said Russ Knibbs, the vice president overseeing the park's food offerings. "The response has been tremendous. The curiosity alone. ... The guests are overwhelmed by the experience."

As Knibbs noted, the trough across from the GhostRider tends to gather inquisitive crowds to gawk at the sight of maple hand-rolled by a Knott's employee in a lumberjack outfit topped with a "toque" – the Canadian name for a beanie or knitted cap.

"They're shy to buy it at first, so one person will buy it for $3, they'll try it, and pretty soon they'll come back and buy three more," Knibbs said.

On a recent afternoon, lumberjack Morgan Broadaway smiled broadly to lure in the small crowd.

"This – is so much fun," Broadaway said as she twirled some freshly-poured syrup, "especially because I love working with people."

The tradition is native to the rural maple woodlands in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec. There, the cabanes sucre (known as sugar shacks in English Canada) offer the maple taffy lollipops to visitors. The taffy provides a taste of the locally produced syrup, and, the proprietors hope, an enticement to enter the gift shop to stock up on maple products.

Earlier this year Knibbs wanted something different for visitors to the park's Christmas Crafts Village, known the rest of the year as Ghost Town.

When an employee showed Knibbs a magazine article about maple taffy, the native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, jumped at the idea. He got on the phone to the park's carpentry crew, which constructed a trough designed to keep the crushed ice cool in a climate normally devoid of snow.

"Especially in a park like this, where we're known for food, it's great to have something like this for people to try," Knibbs said. "It's fun to explore different tastes."

The icy lollipops are here until Christmas Eve; Knibbs hasn't decided if the run will be longer.

Knibbs' next Canadian import?

Also a specialty du Québec: poutine, a mélange of steak fries and cheddar cheese curds with scalding gravy poured on top. Knibbs said there's no set date yet for that dish, but he promised that it will be just one of many international foods set for upcoming release at the park.

The Knott's Berry Farm Crafts Village is open every day through Dec. 24. From 10 a.m. through 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, visitors can enter the village (temporarily separated from the rest of the park) without having to pay park admission; free parking is also available for up to three hours in the lot behind TGI Friday's.