Feb
18
Britain’s only real live Blackjack TV channel has announced changes after a series of player consultations.
Smart Live Blackjack — part of the Smart Live Casino franchise — is extending its hours and betting limits.
Smart Live’s Rob O’Connor said: “We’ve been listening to our customers and have made some big improvements.
Upped
“We’re now running every day between 7pm and 2am — previously it was week nights only!
“And we’ve upped the bet limits to £500, which means we have the biggest bet limits for any online Live casino, anywhere in a the WORLD.”
Smart Live rival Net Play currently offer a maximum £100 bet on their live tables.
Feb
16
The leader of an illegal online gambling cartel has been jailed for six years and fined more than HALF-A-MILLION POUNDS.
Nineteen other men were handed prison terms ranging from one to five years and fines of between £2,000 and £100,000.
Overseas
“This is possibly the country’s biggest online gambling case,” the spokesman for Shanghai Putuo District People’s Court, Zhang Minxian, told reporters.
A report by the Xinhua News Agency says the gang set up shop to coincide with the 2006 World Cup, which was hosted by Germany.
The court heard Qian and two others opened accounts on overseas gambling websites and began to develop a network of agents and gamblers across China, earning £162,000 from wagers.
Feb
16
Dozens of British MPs have backed a call for Google to rethink its decision to allow gambling firms to advertise on the search engine’s website.
The early day motion — signed by more than 40 MPs — follows a warning by the Church of England that Google’s actions were “irresponsible”.
The Bill — which has no chance of being made law — reads: “This house notes with concern the recent decision of Google to reintroduce online gambling advertisements during a period of economic downturn; supports the Church of England’s position that the actions of Google risk normalising gambling in society; and calls on Google to review its policy in line with its own obligations on corporate social responsibility.”
Boost
A Church spokesman said fantasies of instant wealth could become particularly attractive at times of financial uncertainty, and the consequences of losses correspondingly serious.
Live TV roulette website SmartLive Casino.com was first off the mark to take advantage of Google’s rule change last October, followed quickly by bigger companies including Ladbrokes.
Insiders say Google’s revenue is likely to be boosted by up to £300 MILLION this year by allowing gambling ads.
Feb
16
Ministers have revealed they will soon publish new rules on who can run 16 “New Generation Gaming Complexes” around the UK.
The proposed Las Vegas-style attractions were announced in the wake of the decision to scrap the Manchester “Super Casino” project.
Now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport says local council chiefs can start to award operating licenses this summer.
Jackpots
Cities pencilled in for the new casinos include Scarborough, Middlesbrough, Wolverhampton and Leeds.
However, some authorities say it will be 2010 before any licence is granted.
The proposed casino in Leeds would be THREE TIMES BIGGER than current UK casino venue with 150 slot machines offering top jackpots of £4,000.
Experts have said the scheme could bring in more than £20 million of private sector investment and create around 700 jobs.
Feb
12
The effects of the recession on the Las Vegas Strip are “worse than 9/11″, an industry expert has claimed as the world-famous gambling centre posted its WORST fall in takings ever.
Gambling revenues plunged 23 per cent in December, as fewer punters came to visit and those who did spent less, figures released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show.
Drawn out
By contrast, Strip revenues were down just 5.3 per cent after the terror attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
But NGCB senior financial analyst Frank Streshley said what was happing now was “much worse than September 11.”
Streshley told reporters that revenues were in their 12th straight month of decline, compared to a five-month slump after 9/11.
Severe
“In the 53 years we’ve been recording gaming wins, there have only been three declines — in 2001 and a 0.3 per cent in 2002,” Streshley added.
“You can see the severity of where we’ve gone since then.”
Feb
11
Atlantic City’s casinos took another HIT last month as the recession bit deeper.
Figures from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission show the resort’s combined revenue was down 9.4 PER CENT on the previous January, with slots hit harder than table games.
‘No Surprise’
Playing down the significance of the fall, commission spokesman Dan Heneghan Atlantic City was being hit as hard as other US centres.
“Just in the last few days, Illinois and Indiana reported that they’re down significantly,” he said.
“Las Vegas, which is a month behind in reporting revenues, had declines for the first 11 months of 2008 and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were down in December, too.”
Teetering
The fall is an improvement on the figures for December which — at a fall of 18.7 per cent — were the WORST in Atlantic City’s history.
Several Atlantic City casinos are said to be cose to the edge, including Donald Trump-owned properties and the Tropicana Casino and Resort, which may be sold off in a bankruptcy auction.
Feb
11
Hundreds of illegal slot machines and other “gambling devices” are being sent to the CRUSHER.
The 320 machines — seized by cops across South Africa’s Eastern Cape province — are said to be worth £17 MILLION to the gangs running them.
Tax
“The machines would have generated around £6,500 per day,” said a spokesman for the The Eastern Cape Gambling and Betting Board.
“Assuming that they were operational since 2001, the government has already lost more than half-a-million in unpaid tax.”
The illegal slots are expected to be destroyed in the provincial capital tomorrow.
Feb
11
The disputed ad
An online betting site has been rapped by advertising watchdogs for an ad which glamorised gambling.
The press ad, above, showed a man flanked by two scantily-clad women seated in the back of a stretch limo.
Now the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint that the ad implied gambling made men more attractive to women.
Sex
The ad for ShortsandLongs.com, launched in September 2008 as a way to trade financial markets through spread betting, showed the women “touching the man’s arms intimately”, said the ASA.
Upholding the complaint, it said people who saw the ad printed in regional newspapers were likely to infer that “one of the rewards of success in spread betting was enhanced attractiveness and increased sexual success”.
ShortsandLongs.com today condemned the ruling, saying the site actually REDUCES the risks of spread betting.
The company — the trading name of Spreadex Ltd — said it was leading the way in responsible gambling rather than glamorising betting.
Feb
10
The highest court in Greece has called on European lawmakers to rule over the country’s state gambling monopoly.
Industry insiders say it shows Greece is worried the European Commission may OVERTURN Greek law which it is claimed breaks free trade rules.
State-upported gambling monopoly OPAP has the exclusive license to provide gambling services to the home market, even excluding other EU nations from gaining a foothold.
Arrests
Now the High Court has asked the European Court of Justice to decide matters after a challenge to the status quo from Stanleybet International.
Stanleybet’s outlets in Greece were raided last year by cops and several employees arrested. The fact that all were quickly released without charge, spurred suggestions that many thought police had overstepped the mark.
Stanleybet boss John Whittaker welcomed the court move. “The opinion clearly shows the Greek Authorities have discriminated against our company by acting in clear violation of EU Treaties,” he said.
“What further evidence does the Commission need to bring Greece before the European Court of Justice?”
Feb
9
A gambling addict suing a casino for £16 MILLION lost a further £600,000 in a SINGLE DAY while on honeymoon in a luxury Bahamas resort.
Property developer Harry Kakvas is waiting for a court date for his claim that Melbourne’s Crown Casino LURED him into gambling away a fortune — even though he had been banned from wagering at other casinos in Australia.
Now Atlantis Paradise resort is claiming the 42-year-old owes them thousands he lost in November 2006 in single bets of up to £27,000 which he did not settle.
Date
Kavkas claims Atlantic new of his addiction and therefore the debt cannot be be enforced under Bahamian law.
However a Bahamian judge has ordered and exchange of documents in the case and set a date for trial in July.
The court was told that Kavkas would be calling a large body of evidence from psychiatrists and psychologists who had examined his “special disability”.
Paradise Enterprises claims Kakavas signed five “markers” ranging from £7,000 to £270,000 during his spree and did not make repayment of the loans when requested.
In his defence, Kakavas says the island casino was aware he had a special disability and that he had voluntarily banned himself from Australia’s main casinos with more than £2 million in outstanding “markers” at other casinos.
A full hearing of his action for damages against the Crown Casino is due later this year in the Melbourne Supreme Court.
