Let your mouth speak archive

Bitcoin gambling has had a short, but explosive lifetime on the Internet. Satoshidice.com, the most widely-known gambling service, was founded in April 2012. In July 2013, the site’s founder, Erik Voorhees, sold it to an anonymous buyer for 126,315 bitcoins—equal to $12.4 million. That pile of Bitcoins is worth around $70 million today. By most estimates, more than half of global Bitcoin transactions are wagers on gambling sites. Just-Dice.com, where Mechs made his colossal bets, has handled more than $2 billion in wagers since it was founded in June 2013. All of this gambling happens in a currency that is largely unregulated, on websites set up on offshore servers, and right under the noses of officials who are unaware it exists.

Bitcoins have gained popularity in a relatively short period of time (as our Making Sen$e broadcast segment explained). The currency is growing and changing so fast, regulators are having a difficult time keeping up. Even Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who chaired last November’s Homeland Security Committee hearing on virtual currencies, admitted to the PBS NewsHour that he’d only learned about Bitcoin six months before. His only knowledge of virtual money had come from his teenage son’s World of Warcraft habit. Carper had heard of Bitcoins being gambled, but said “we talked about a lot of uses of virtual currency yesterday, and I don’t recall gambling ever coming up in a two-and-a-half hour hearing.”

Efforts to regulate Bitcoins, let alone Bitcoin gambling, have barely begun to materialize. Meanwhile, wagering the currency grows ever-more popular.

Bitcoin makes online gambling easy

By most accounts, gambling represents between 50 and 60 percent of all Bitcoin transactions. Transaction costs are extremely low, meaning it doesn’t cost a lot to send and receive coins. Transactions are also irreversible. Once you send Bitcoins to someone else, you can’t request them back in exchange for returning the service or good you purchased. For gambling operators, this irreversibility eliminates the risk of chargeback fraud.

The benefits of doing business in Bitcoins have been a boon for 34-year-old professional poker player Bryan Micon, the chairman of Bitcoin poker site SealsWithClubs.eu. The site, Micon estimates, has done about 20,000 transactions over its 2.5 year existence, and paid about $20 in transaction fees.

Betters like Bitcoin because they receive their winnings right away. There are no bank wires or deposits to wait on because Bitcoin is itself a payment processor. And in the same way the Internet breaks down international boundaries, the uniformity of Bitcoin enables international gambling without the hassles of currency exchanges.

Bitcoin gambling sites also take a lower cut of the winnings than a Las Vegas Casino would, said Satoshidice founder Erik Voorhees, in an email. SatoshiDice’s house edge is about 1.9 percent. Just-Dice is only 1 percent. “A Vegas casino game might have a house edge of 10%,” Voorhees said. “This means that if you’re going to gamble, it’s far smarter to play SatoshiDICE than a Vegas casino.”

Central to Bitcoin’s success is this apparent contradiction: all transactions are at once anonymous and transparent. Every transaction and its size is listed in a public ledger, while the parties involved remain anonymous. When it comes to gaming, Voorhees said, that transparency allows all players to verify that each bet is fair. Because of Bitcoin’s mathematical algorithm, there’s no way for the house to cheat, he explained.

“This is absolutely revolutionary, and isn’t being done by any billion dollar casino in Vegas,” Voorhees said.

But with all gambling, players have to trust that the operators won’t steal the money they put down, which seems particularly risky with anonymously run sites. The immediacy of transacting Bitcoins minimizes that risk. And for the gambling operators, not holding players’ money for long periods of time allows them to more easily skirt gambling laws that crack down on payment processing. SatoshiDice, Voorhees’ Bitcoin casino game, was the first, and for a long time, the most popular Bitcoin gambling site. The game is simple. The “Ghost of Satoshi” rolls the dice to select a number. If the “lucky number” is less than your chosen number, you win. (“Satoshi” refers to Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous person or group who circulated the whitepaper floating the “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” that gave birth to Bitcoin.)

But is it legal?

In May 2013, SatoshiDice, whose servers are overseas, announced that the site would be blocking IP addresses from the United States.

The move was not, SatoshiDice claimed, in response to any official investigation, but rather a “proactive measure” to minimize risk. U.S. courts have been unclear about the definition of Internet gambling, and the ambiguity has been enough to spook the sites.

Voorhees sold SatoshiDice because he said running a Bitcoin gambling site made him a target. “I needed to separate myself from it before it put me in the crosshairs of the U.S. government.”

“Bitcoiners” are generally wary of the U.S. government–their aversion to a centralized monetary system is typically what draws them to Bitcoin in the first place. But avoiding any legal grey area is a smart move, said Whittier Law School professor Nelson Rose, who’s consulted for the gaming industry and taught classes about gaming to the FBI.

There are no signs the federal government is cracking down on Bitcoin gambling, Mercatus Center senior fellow Jerry Brito, who testified before the senate, told the PBS NewsHour.

But that doesn’t mean it’s legal – or does it? You’ll be sorry you asked.

Even though online gambling carries an illicit perception, there is no consensus on its legality within the United States. Gambling in general, Rose explained, has always been a state issue, and almost all federal statutes require that gambling be a violation of state law for th

Next month the I-Gaming Forum will begin in Stockholm Sweden on April 8th - 9th – 2014 at the Grand Hotel. Please keep in mind that the I Gaming Forum 2014 shares two venues for each day pre-conference activities take place on the 8th of April 2014 at the Scandic Grand Central.

The event is being organized by the Midfield Media Group is a group of specialist companies within the events industry. The Midfield Media brand is associated with executive forums the Public Sector, IT, finance, gaming, PR and telecommunication sectors.

The title of this year’s I Gaming Forum is Insights in an Evolving Market and the speakers list consists of high level executives from leading global organizations, covering a variety of industries. The impressive list of knowledgeable speakers includes Mikael Pawlo a co-founder of the international Malta-based online casino Mr Green. He is the chairman of the fast-growing Swedish dating website Happy Pancake and a board member in the Swedish equity crowd funding site Funded by me. He has a background in PR and Internet startups and is currently the CEO of a new company still in stealth mode, within the Green Gaming Group (owner of Mr Green).

With the online gambling industry changing almost daily, for the 6th consecutive year I Gaming Forum continues to bring together key stakeholders from the online gaming industry sharing their experience, knowledge and visions on an evolving industry.
Denmark liberalized their market in 2012 and last year Norway elected a new government which opened up for a possible liberalization. Questions are being raised as to whether Norway will evolve on the same path as Denmark and will the introduction of Norway to the industry have any effect on Finland or Sweden. For example in November of last year the EU-commission launched infringement proceedings against six member states and threatened to take Sweden to Europe’s highest court. Other topics include the latest trends and development in mobile gaming and mobile gambling, social gaming and social gambling and match fixing, among others.


I-Gaming Forum on Online Gambling Stockholm April 8-9 2014 | Online-Casinos-com

Oscars 2014 host Ellen Degeneres crashed social networking site Twitter with the biggest selfie ever.

Degeneres took a selfie with (brace yourself) Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'O, Peter N'yongO and Angelina Jolie.

The chat show host headed into the audience during the ceremony and whipped out her smartphone, passing it to Cooper and beckoning pretty much the entire front row to assemble behind her. The selfie saw about as much celebrity as you could cram into shot, including 12 Years A Slave actress Lupita N'yongo's opportunistic brother Peter, the only non-actor pictured.

Kevin Spacey arguably stole the pic meanwhile, offering a rather wonderful open-mouthed expression amid all the grins.

Ellen wrote: "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever."

DeGeneres swiftly posted the picture on Twitter, with it attracting 80,000 retweets in three minutes and more than a million at the time of writing.

She later admitted to the crowd that she'd had an email from Twitter saying the tweet had been retweeted so much, Twitter briefly went offline.

Last year, the most retweeted tweet was a message from Lea Michelle about the death of her boyfriend Cory Monteith. It received 408,000 retweets.

Ask anyone in Silicon Valley to describe the “gaming industry,” and she’ll tell you about Call of Duty or Candy Crush Saga. Ask someone in Nevada or New Jersey, and you’ll get a very different response. Pretty soon, though, there will be no distinction between these two types of “gaming.”

True to the name of this column, I’m going to place a wager. I predict that gambling will be broadly legal in the United States by the end of this decade. It will start with online poker, which is currently legal only in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware. But it will expand from there, both in categories of games and in geographic acceptance. This is already happening, to a certain extent: The wheel’s started spinning, and the ball is in play. When it drops, the video gaming business will win big. The makers of today’s mobile games will build tomorrow’s mobile casinos.

They’ve tried before. Zynga, the granddaddy of social gaming, launched a real-money gambling site in the U.K. last year, calling it Zynga Plus Casino. It collaborated with bwin.party, a Gibraltar-based gambling company that reported nearly 770 million euros in revenues in 2012. (That’s about $1.05 billion in current dollars.) But Zynga has had a tougher time gaining headway in the U.S. Entrenched anti-gambling statutes and complicated interstate regulations are difficult hurdles to clear. Barely a few months after it had opened its casino for business in the U.K., Zynga told analysts that it had given up on plans to let Americans in the door.



The biggest roadblock facing Zynga, and anyone else, is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Originally drafted as a last-minute rider on a port security bill, the UIGEA has been used to prohibit companies from offering Internet-based poker, sports books, and games of chance to Americans. Its passing put an end to a decade-long gold rush in online gambling in the U.S., led by sites such as Bodog, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker. A series of indictments, issued most notably in United States v. Scheinberg, showed that federal authorities were willing to prosecute broadly and aggressively on behalf of the UIGEA. In Scheinberg, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara alleged that the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Cereus (Absolute Poker) were guilty of bank fraud and money laundering as a result of transferring funds to and from players online. PokerStars and two other defendants agreed to forfeit over $731 million to settle the case, and PokerStars was permitted to continue business operations.*

Money laundering and bank fraud might seem like unusual charges to levy against online casinos. But the UIGEA focuses primarily on the financial transactions enabling gambling; it focuses to a much lesser degree on the gambling itself. Specifically, the UIGEA “prohibits gambling businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.”



By attacking a specific aspect of gambling—namely, the transmission of funds—the UIGEA appears to cut off online gambling at the ankles. If no financial company is willing to handle transfers, then online casinos won’t take on American customers.

The law’s specificity, however, leaves wiggle room at its margins. For one thing, the UIGEA does not seem to apply within the boundaries of states that have already legalized various forms of gambling, or that may do so in the future. But logistical troubles remain: Any businesses running legal online casinos or poker tables must operate entirely within a given state. The UIGEA seems to prohibit the transfer of funds for the purposes of gambling across state lines.



Let’s look at the states themselves. At present, all states in the Union, with the exceptions of Hawaii and Utah, allow for some forms of gambling. Commercial casinos (i.e., for-profit gambling enterprises not including those run by Native American tribes) are permitted in 20 states and two U.S. territories. At the moment, just shy of 500 commercial casinos are up and running in the country. Las Vegas is the biggest and best-known gambling hub in the U.S., but gambling is just about as legal in, say, Iowa or Michigan as it is in Nevada.

These states, and the companies doing business within them, will begin to compete for your dollars—especially online, where you’re most readily available. They’ll start the fight by making gambling as seamless and convenient as possible. The Nevada Gaming Commission, for instance, just voted 4–0 to approve the use of prepaid debit cards for slot machines. The cards could be tied to players’ loyalty points and slots clubs at Nevada’s major casinos. The biggest among them, including Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts International, operate hotels and casinos across the country and around the world. They’ll press for the ability to keep players clubs—and prepaid debit accounts—applicable throughout their interstate gambling ecosystems. They can’t legally do that now, but they’ll have very strong financial incentives to sponsor amendments or challenges to the UIGEA. In the meantime, they’ll redouble their efforts in gambling-friendly states.


Nevada is leading the charge in online gambling innovation. But other states will up the stakes—especially those states that don’t, or can’t, rely as heavily on in-person tourism. New Jersey, in particular, is rapidly liberalizing its gambling policies in an attempt to outdo Nevada. Atlantic City’s tourist traffic and gaming revenues have been declining for most of the last decade. Lawmakers in the Garden State are eager to reverse its fortunes online. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak recently introduced legislation that would open up its online gambling sites to players from out of state. Within the state, the sites are flourishing. In January of this year, players had created a total of nearly 200,

It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year again – tax time!

In case you missed our four part series on understanding tax liabilities associated with playing online poker or otherwise gambling via the Internet in the state of New Jersey, below is a brief summary of each installment.

The series was written by Brad Polizzano, a New York-based tax attorney and accountant.
Part I: Introduction

The first part of the New Jersey online gambling tax guide is an introduction.

This segment deals with understanding when federal tax is owed, what constitutes a gambling session, how to track winnings and losses, distinguishing amateur play from professional play, and more.
Part II: New Jersey Residents

Part two of our Garden State tax guide is specifically focused on residents of New Jersey.

Learn the difference between recording gambling earnings and losses for New Jersey state tax filings as opposed to a federal return, find out what constitutes a New Jersey resident, and more.
Part III: Residents of Other States

The third article in the series centers on residents of other states who play at New Jersey’s online casinos and poker rooms.

Players who record winnings may be subject to taxes in New Jersey as well as in the player’s home state.

This part also addresses tax implications for players from the nearby states of New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.
Part IV: International Players

The fourth and final installment of the New Jersey online gambling tax guide series is geared toward players who are not residents of the United States.

Even non-U.S. residents are subject to taxation on gambling winnings.

This article explains the different tax circumstances facing amateur players and professional players from outside the United States, and also addresses tax situations encountered by players from treaty countries.



Tax Guide for New Jersey Online Gambling Players: A Summary

ThreatMetrix is a fast growing provider of integrated cybercrime prevention solutions. The ThreatMetrix™ Cybercrime Defender Platform helps companies protect customer data and secure transactions against payment fraud, malware, account takeover, fraudulent new registrations, data breaches, as well as man-in-the browser and Trojan attacks. San Jose, California USA based online security company ThreatMetrix has announced its entry in the online gambling industry offering its context-based security and advanced fraud prevention solutions to internet gambling operators.

The firm recently confirmed it had become a registered vendor with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, allowing it to conduct business with casinos in Atlantic City.

Andy Swett, director of business development for ThreatMetrix commented, “ThreatMetrix is uniquely positioned to serve the online gaming market by providing frictionless context-based authentication to protect against cybercrime risks both online and via mobile devices,” Swett continued, “Our solution enables Atlantic City casinos to provide a safe, reliable outlet for online gaming while offering an unmatched customer experience free of inconvenient authentication barriers.”

ThreatMetrix maintains its Global Trust Intelligence Network is the largest trusted identity network of shared intelligence, protecting casinos and gamblers from payment fraud, account theft and other suspicious online activities.

Speaking on the issues facing the online gambling industry Swett said, “The key to making online gaming successful in the U.S. is an effective security platform and anonymized global sharing of threat intelligence through a trusted identity network,” adding, “While it’s essential to protect the personal data of online gamers, if the customer experience is arduous due to time consuming authentication techniques, the industry will turn gamers away and fail to thrive.”

ThreatMetrix cybersecurity solutions protect more than 2,500 customers and 10,000 websites across a variety of industries, including financial services, enterprise, e-commerce, payments, social networks, government, and insurance.

The Network processes and analyses more than 500 million monthly transactions and with Real-time analytics evaluate logins, payments and new account registrations for validity, enabling ThreatMetrix to authorize legitimate transactions and flag potential threats without negatively impacting the customer experience.


Security Firm ThreatMetrix Enters Online Gambling Industry | Online-Casinos-com

American pop star Bruno Mars has cancelled his Brisbane performance on Friday due to illness.

The sold-out show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre has been rescheduled to March 13.

Mars has been in Australia on his Moonshine Jungle tour and has previously played in Perth and Melbourne.

His Sydney shows scheduled for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday are going ahead as planned, Ticketmaster said in a statement.
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The 28-year-old, whose real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, performed at the 2014 Super Bowl half time show and both of his albums have gone platinum in Australia.

He won the 2014 Grammy Award for best pop vocal album.

Brisbane ticket-holders will be able to use their existing passes to enter the concert next week.

Those unable to attend need to contact Ticketmaster before 5pm on Tuesday, March 11 to arrange a refund. Visit Ticketek Australia 132 849.

Read more: Bruno Mars Brisbane concert cancelled due to illness

Iconic Irish online gambling operator Paddy Power has been on the edge when it comes to advertizing and making choices about the things they offer odds on. The recent debacle involving Dennis Rodman and his basketball adventure in North Korea is one such low point in the company’s list of gambling options.

Now without a blink they are advertizing odds for South African Oscar Pistorius chances in the murder trial of his wife. The campaign was controversial from the beginning and although Paddy Power defended its right to air the spot the Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom received a record 5,200 complaints and ordered Paddy Power to stop running the advert, this was an unprecedented decision by the ASA prior to any investigation.

ASA chairman Lord Smith acting on the huge number of complaints has demanded that the advertiser withdraw the advert from circulation pending the outcome of the investigation.

In exceptional circumstances, and this is obviously one of them, ASA procedures under the Advertising Code enable it to take interim action and have the adverts amended or withdrawn pending investigation.

Paddy Power doesn’t mind negative press in fact the company depends on the buzz factor to keep its name in the spot light. Social media strategist Joakim Nilsson at Scrmcloud-com commented on the Paddy Power campaign, “It’s in the DNA of Paddy’s marketing strategy to be thought-provoking. Whether this had a negative impact on their business only Paddy can answer. What is clear though is that today’s consumers are increasingly vocal online, that’s not a trend that’s disappearing anytime soon and smart brands will use it to their advantage.”
The advert presented this option, “IT’S OSCAR TIME. MONEY BACK IF HE WALKS. WE WILL REFUND ALL LOSING BETS ON THE OSCAR PISTORIUS TRIAL IF HE IS FOUND NOT GUILTY. PADDY POWER.”

The promotion analytics found that the bookmaker’s advert got almost 74,000 online mentions predominately on Twitter, with 42% of the mentions deemed negative and just 4% of them positive.


Online Gambling Firm Paddy Power to Stop Advertizing Pistorius Odds | Online-Casinos-com

Gerard Mortier, the Belgian opera director whose nonconformist style often grated the tradition-bound elite and who worked tirelessly to bring the art closer to the public, has died. He was 70.

Belgium's prime minister made the announcement Sunday, and media said Mortier died after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer.

A baker's son from humble background, Mortier was enchanted with opera from a young age and tried to revolutionize it at revered institutions, from the National Opera of Belgium to the Salzburg Festival.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo called Mortier a "visionary and generous personality."

The artist became the director of Belgium's National Operation, known as La Monnaie in 1981, steering it away from "bourgeois" entertainment and to international recognition and acclaim.

Lets hope he's okay and it's nothing serious.

Wow that's alot of retweets, celebrities have such power which can be used to such good causes.

With over twelve years of experience in the e-commerce industry, SafeCharge combines financial expertise and technological know-how to deliver a complete set of global payment methods together with a powerful fraud prevention system. Designed and customized to suit the unique processing needs of e-commerce merchants, SafeCharge's payment solution guarantees maximum sales conversion with a fully-integrated risk management platform that accurately recognizes and minimizes potential online risks, while at the same time increasing profits.

Well known in the online gambling industry Teddy Sagi, founder of listed gambling software group Playtech is now going to float another of his successful firms. Sagi is a 90 per cent shareholder of the company, founded in 2006 by chief executive David Avgi, who owns the rest. SafeCharge intends to raise $100m in new equity for acquisitions and for the launch of a digital wallet to make money processing aavialble to online gambling customers, and other services. The free float of about 30 per cent on the AIM will dilute Mr Sagi’s stake to about 63 per cent. After the flotation, the company’s market capitalization would be in the area of £210m-£230m.

SafeCharge recent presented a suite of new innovations in the online funds processing solutions sector at the ICE Total Gaming event in London last February. SafeCharge is further enhancing their partnership with gaming merchants with the recently released Cashier, an innovative personalized deposit and withdrawal management solution, that was exhibited at the event. It also demonstrated the innovations of its powerful fraud prevention risk platform including specific profiles of gaming related fraud patterns. SafeCharge has the ability to process gambling bets at high rates of speed, at 300 transactions per second, and with virtually zero down time. SafeCharge last year processed $5bn in transactions and its revenues were $43.1 million, up 31.4 per cent in 2012, while its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was $11.2 million.



Online Gambling Funds Processor SafeCharge to be Listed | Online-Casinos-com

The National Council on Problem Gambling recently announced the National Problem Gambling Awareness Month campaign, a grassroots public awareness and outreach campaign. The goal of this campaign is to educate the general public, and health care professionals about the warning signs of problem gambling and raise awareness about the help that is available both locally and nationally. The campaign was previously held during the first week of March to coincide with March Madness, one of the most widely bet upon events in the U.S. Now, the campaign takes place during the entire month of March.

According to the NCAA, one in 10 Americans will fill out an NCAA tournament bracket this year, participating in the American gambling strategy known as Bracketology. According to the FBI, March Madness generates $2.5 billion in illegal wagers each year. Keith Whyte of NCPG stated that gambling is occasional and fun for most adults, but for 6 to 8 million Americans it negatively affects finances, work, and family. Though March Madness may be fun for some adults to participate in as a social activity, others wager outrageous amounts of money at casinos and with bookkeepers to try and make money from the games. This can be detrimental to the financial stability of an individual.

According to the Wikipedia the definition of problem gambling, or ludomania, is an urge to continuously gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others, rather than by the gambler's behavior. Severe problem gambling may be diagnosed as clinical pathological gambling if the gambler meets certain criteria. Pathological gambling is a common disorder that is associated with both social and family costs. The condition is classified as an impulse control disorder, with sufferers exhibiting many similarities to those who have substance addictions.

There is help please gamble responsibly stay within your limits.




Online Help March is Problem Gambling Month | Online-Casinos-com

Does being charged with murder influence whether a celebrity is found guilty?
As the trial of South African double-amputee track star Oscar Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp creates worldwide interest we take a look at other celebrities who have been charged with murder - and the verdict they received.

1. Fatty Arbuckle

The first major Hollywood murder: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was a successful silent film actor who worked with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. In 1918 he was one of the world's highest paid actors, earning $1 million a year.

In September 1921, Arbuckle hosted a party at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco. During the party, would-be actress Virginia Rappe and Arbuckle ended up in a bedroom where screams were heard. When people rushed to the scene, Rappe uttered the words: "He did this to me". She died four days later of a ruptured bladder. Arbuckle was accused of sexual assault and manslaughter.

The verdict: After two hung trials, Arbuckle was found NOT GUILTY and received a formal written apology from the jury.

2. Phil Spector

Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector was an American record producer and songwriter who successfully produced more than 25 Top 40 hits from 1960-1965. Originally working with girl-group bands he has also collaborated with Ike and Tina Turner and John Lennon. He produced and co-wrote You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, which is listed as the song with the most US airplay in the 20th century.

On February 3rd, 2003 actress Linda Clarkson was found dead in a chair in Spector's California home with a single gunshot wound to her mouth. Spector claimed Clarkson had 'kissed the gun' and her death was an accidental suicide.

The verdict: After a first, hung trial, Spector was found GUILTY and sentenced to 19 years to life. He will be eligible for parole when he is 88.

3. OJ Simpson

Orenthal James Simpson, better known as OJ Simpson, was a professional American football player and actor who was charged with murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman who were found dead outside OJ's condo in Los Angeles on June 13, 1994. Although there was a strong case against him, including DNA evidence and a history of spousal abuse, OJ pleaded not guilty.

Verdict: NOT GUILTY

Civil court: In 1997 Goldman's parents brought a civil suit against Simpson for wrongful death. The jury awarded Brown and Simpson's children $12.6 million from their father's estate and $33.5 million to the victims' families in compensatory and punitive damages.

4. Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., also know by his stage names Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop Dogg and Snoop Lion among others is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. In 1993 he was charged with murder when his bodyguard shot and killed Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang. Prosecutors claimed it was a coldblooded murder, with Woldemariam shot in the back and buttocks as he tried to flee from the confrontation.

Verdict: The trial lasted two-and-a-half years and both Snoop Dogg and his bodyguard McKinley Lee were found NOT GUILTY.

5. Sid Vicious

Born John Simon Ritchie, Sid Vicious was the bass guitarist and vocalist of the punk group Sex Pistols. He formed a destructive relationship with Nancy Spungen that was based on drug use. On the morning of October 12, 1978, Vicious called the police to tell them he had found Spungen dead with knife wounds to her stomach. Vicious was charged with second-degree murder and served 55 days in prison before being released on bail for $50,000.

Verdict: Vicious died from a heroin overdose before the case went to trial.

6. Robert Blake

Born Michael James Vincenzo Guibitosi, Blake worked first as a child actor and, after a brief time in the army, he continued work as an actor with roles including In Cold Blood and the television series Baretta. Blake met his second wife, Bonnie Lee Blakely in 1999 - a woman notorious for dating older, wealthy men. She was also dating Marlon Brando's son, Christian, at the same time. When she became pregnant she told them both they were the father. When a DNA test proved that Blake was the child's father he married Blakely in 2000. It was her tenth marriage.

In 2001 the pair went out to dinner and later Blakely was found shot dead in their car parked around the corner from the restaurant.

Blake was arrested for her murder and solicitation of murder in 2002 and was granted bail for $1.5 million in 2003.

Verdict: In 2005 Blake was found NOT GUILTY.

Civil court: Blakely's three children filed a civil suit against Blake, claiming that he was responsible for their mother's death. He was found GUILTY and ordered to pay $30 million. He filed for bankruptcy soon after.

7. Mark Wahlberg

Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is a former rapper, model and producer but is best known as an actor starring in films such as Boogie Nights and The Perfect Storm. He was also an Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor in The Departed. A troubled youth who battled with drugs, Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder in 1987 for beating a Vietnamese refugee with a metal hook, leaving the victim blind. He pleaded guilty to assault.

Verdict: The charge was reduced to criminal contempt and as he had pled guilty, Wahlberg was sentenced to two years in prison. He served 45 days.

The state Gaming Commission is looking to hit the jackpot by pushing Internet gambling, which would make Massachusetts the fourth state in the nation to open the door to online betting.

“The time is now, it’s upon us,” Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said yesterday. “We can’t wait any longer, even though we’re still in the middle of (casino) licensing.”

State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, the architect of the state’s casino law, said he would take his cues from the commission on how best to legislate online gaming. “It’s a new frontier,” Rosenberg said. “I personally don’t see how you avoid it.

“You can’t control the Internet. When people turn on their computer they go where they want to go,” Rosenberg added. “We’re just at the early stages of trying to understand how this actually works, and given that you can organize businesses inside the commonwealth, within the country, and internationally and set them up online, so we need to figure out how that all works.”

Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Steven Grossman is still in favor of exploring online gaming, his campaign said last night. In a 2012 report, a task force Grossman convened concluded, “If the Lottery does not enter this online market, other entrants — including commercial casinos, tribal casinos, commercial gaming companies and other states — will.”

The report added keeping Lottery sales agents working and helping problem gamblers would also need to be addressed.

It was all part of yesterday’s forum at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where online betting dominated a day-long fact-finding forum.

So far, several models exist, including restricting online gambling to inside casinos, as in Nevada; only allowing licensed casinos to set up gambling sites, as in Nevada and New Jersey; and having the state Lottery run the sites and collect the revenue, as in Delaware.

Under federal law, all betting must take place within the Bay State’s borders — and sports betting is forbidden.

Crosby added awarding three casino licenses in the state — two by this summer and possibly a third later on — must come first before online gaming is tackled. The lone state slots license has just been awarded to Penn National Gaming at the Plainridge harness race track in Plainville.

Yesterday’s forum included representatives from the states that have legalized online gambling, as well as reps from companies that provide equipment and guidance.

But not everybody is a fan.

John Ribeiro, chairman of the campaign to repeal the state’s casino law on the November ballot, called online gambling a scourge.

“There’s no shovel in the ground yet to build the casinos or slots parlors, but already we’re talking about expansions of casino gambling,” Ribeiro said. “This is what happens everywhere in the country, (casinos) get a foothold and expand at all costs.

“Instead of having honest debate about tax revenue and economic development,” he added, “we’re just going to allow these charlatans to open up casinos not just in our communities, but in every living room, every office, every door room in the state. We need to stop the bleeding.”



Gaming chief:

Online gambling state-by-state has been allowed by the U.S. Justice Department since 2011. Here’s a few facts before rolling the dice:

• States must pass laws, and online gambling can take place only within the borders of each state.

• States must track IP addresses, and Wi-Fi and cellphone carrier data to make sure all online gambling is taking place within state lines.

• In New Jersey, anyone over 21 can gamble online in any of the 13 iGaming casinos.

• Self-limiting features allow players to set how much they want to spend online, to keep from going too far.

• New Jersey also allows player to ban themselves from online gambling for one to five years.

• Delaware and Nevada allow players to face others in virtual poker tables.




Some facts about Internet gambling | Boston Herald

Based on allegations of animal abuse and warnings issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I think Caesars Entertainment should not allow Dirk Arthur to entertain at its properties. Many of the local hotels have already gotten away from this practice.

It is time for us to step out of the dark ages and stop the use of exotic animals for entertainment purposes. It is animal cruelty plain and simple.

The age old question, to gamble or not to gamble, is one that is discussed on various levels from religious views to economic value. Across the United States, there are several gambling options available from casinos to lottery and now even online gaming. Online gaming is in the early stages, with only three states offering such options and the argument continues as to whether or not the option should even be legal. A recent article at The Hill, by Former Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio, sheds light on why online gaming should not be banned in the United States.

Oxley starts his piece by stating that there has been talk of a congressional ban for online gaming in America. As a former Chairman of the House of Financial Services Committee, Oxley had to deal with this on a regular basis and he wrote the article to shed light on why banning is the wrong policy.

Oxley points out that millions of people participate in online gaming and that the overseas black markets are earning billions in revenues. As Oxley states, we should not be questioning whether Americans are participating in online gaming but will a congressional ban of online gaming make consumers safer or less safe online.

Oxley feels as though families in American, including children, would not be safe if a ban were passed. According to Oxley there would be an increase in risk of identity theft, fraud and money laundering with unregulated overseas black market gambling. Oxley states that ignoring the black market instead of addressing the issue only further creates safety issues.

The former representative also points out that as former FBI, his experience has shown that a ban of online gaming will not stop players from using the black market sites. Oxley points out these sites are usually operated by those who are engaging in serious criminal activity as reported by the Justice Department. Prohibition did not work with alcohol, so Oxley believes it will not work with online activity as well.

The report further points out that Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey are all offering online gaming with consumer protections in place to provide fair gaming and prohibit minors from participating. Oxley states that Congress cannot reverse time or take away the internet so the focus needs to shift to protecting families, businesses and consumers with online activities by utilizing technology instead of blocking use.







Former Representative Speaks In Favor of Online Gaming in US

India’s Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is likely to grow at 14.2 per cent to more than Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the next four years.

“The media and entertainment industry is expected to register a CAGR of 14.2 per cent to touch Rs 1,78,580 crore by 2018,” said a FICCI-KPMG report released on Wednesday at the FICCI Frames 2014 event in Mumbai.

FICCI’s M&E Committee chairman and Star India CEO Uday Shankar said: “Amidst an environment of gloom and doom, the media and entertainment industry registered an impressive growth of 12 per cent last year.

“The fact that we have been able to deliver this in light of an overall economic growth of 4 per cent and a major resetting of exchange rates is a testament to the tenacity of the industry’s leaders and stakeholders.”

In 2013, M&E industry’s growth rate remained muted, with a slow GDP growth and a weak rupee. The industry grew at 11.8 per cent over 2012 and touched Rs 91,800 crore.

“Lower GDP (in 2013) meant lower demand from the consumer and this impacted advertising,” the report said, adding that this added to slower revenue growth.

The report sees digital advertising witnessing the highest Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.7 per cent by 2018.

The addition of new media such as social networking services, animation and VFX, online gaming and applications running on mobile devices, has given a new dimension to the world of media that was usually dominated by traditional media, it said.

According to the report, the television industry in the country which is estimated at Rs 41,700 crore in 2013, is expected to grow at 16 per cent over 2013-2018, to touch Rs 88,500 crore by 2018.

KPMG Head of M&E Jehil Thakkar said: “Once the television industry completes the entire process of digitisation, including the required back end infrastructure, it will result in increased top and bottom-line across the industry.”

The report said that aided by digitisation and the consequent increase in average revenue per user (ARPU), the share of subscription revenue to the total industry revenue is expected to increase from 67 per cent in 2013 to 71 per cent in 2018.

It said the print sector continues to remain resilient. In 2014, the growth in print sector is also expected to be promising with the general elections.

“The print industry is estimated to reach Rs 24,300 crore, a growth of 8.5 per cent in 2014 and by 2018, it will grow at 9 per cent to reach Rs 37,300 crore,” it said.

Mr. Thakkar said: “Print had a better year and regional performed well. Elections this year will also provide a boost to the industry.”

The film industry recorded a double digit growth in 2013, albeit slower than in 2012, with multiple movies scoring big on box office collections.

According to the report, going forward, multiplexes’ growth is expected to slow down, in line with the overall delays and future expectations for retail sector and commercial real estate development, impacting box office growth in the short term.

Highlighting the new media, it said the total Internet user base in the country, which grew 40 per cent at 21.4 crore in 2013, is likely to reach 23.9 crore by end 2014.

The FICCI-KPMG report said the advertising industry faced a rough year in 2012, but there are expectations for a better performance in 2013. In 2013, the total advertising spend from various sectors across all media was estimated at Rs 6,250 crore.

Talking about the challenging tax environment in the country, the report said that the myriad of taxes in various forms and multifarious statutory compliance are, to an extent, playing spoilsport.

“Issues such as dual levy of tax, service tax as well as VAT on licensing of copyrights in certain cases, uncertainty regarding withholding tax on various payments made by the broadcasters, withholding tax on discount on sale of set top boxes/recharge coupon vouchers in the case of DTH industry, uncertainty surrounding taxability of foreign sports associations, are being faced by the tax payers in the M&E sector,” it said.

Tax issues have been long outstanding and require utmost attention and address by the Government, the report added.

After a tepid start for online gambling in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie's administration has told a leading Democratic lawmaker it can no longer estimate the tax revenue coming from Internet bets.

"Given the complex connections between internet and on-site gaming, we do not break down the anticipated total collections between the two sources," state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff wrote in a letter today to Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen).

That's a change from last year. Christie predicted then that online betting would become a booming industry for New Jersey in its first year, producing $180 million in tax revenue for the state budget.

New Jersey legalized Internet gambling in November, but the boom hasn't happened yet. In fact, the Republican governor so far has had to lower his revenue forecast for the first year of online betting by more than $100 million.

Treasury spokesman Chris Santarelli declined to take questions today, noting that "the treasurer will appear in hearings with the Legislature later this month to discuss the budget and revenues."

Scrapping the revenue predictions for online bets could save Christie a few headaches in the coming fiscal year.

In March 2013, Christie anticipated that online gambling would yield $180 million. A few months later, the Christie administration lowered the number to $160 million when the governor signed the state budget that took effect July 1.

Sidamon-Eristoff changed the number again last month. Casino revenue in total — from both online and on-site wagers — would rise only $34 million for the fiscal year, he said.

"We were told by industry at the time that the introduction of online gaming would help energize Atlantic City's ongoing recovery," Sidamon-Eristoff said last month, adding later: "We're pretty bullish on this in the medium-to-long term. But clearly, this hasn't met our expectations for the first fiscal year."

The treasurer told Sarlo, who is chairman of the Senate budget committee, that there are "complex connections" between online gambling and traditional casino betting. But the state collects the data separately.

Today, for example, the Division of Gaming Enforcement reported that the state brought in $2.96 million in tax revenue from online gamblers from the first clicks in November to the end of February.

"As of February 28, 2014, 248,241 Internet gaming accounts have been created since the beginning of soft play on November 21, 2013," a more than 25 percent increase from January, the gaming regulators reported.

The DGE also noted that "Internet gaming win per day was $368,110 for February 2014," up 20.6 percent from January.




Christie administration no longer making bets on online gambling revenue | NJ-com