Confused about the Legality of Online Gambling in the US?
No need to worry. Gambling Planet has word of a website called USA Online Gambling devoted solely to shedding some light on the murky legal waters of america's online gambling scene.
The website has been established to inform US players of their continued ability to enjoy playing poker, blackjack, slots, and other games of chance on the Internet. The website describes how the law works and why it is still possible to gamble online, listing poker rooms, sportsbooks and USA microgaming online casinos that are still accepting US players.
Thanks Gambling Planet for giving everyone the heads up! And thanks US Online Gambling for helping to clarify things!
Sadly, it seems a bid to build the world's tallest casino will not come to pass any time soon. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
JAMES PACKER'S ambitious roll of the dice aimed at creating the world's tallest casino has failed to come up with the right numbers, with financiers failing to support the Las Vegas project.
Crown Ltd, of which Mr Packer owns 38 per cent, yesterday announced that plans to build a $5.2 billion casino with American partners had been thwarted by the global credit crunch.
The decision to pull the plug comes after the plan to transform an empty block of land into a casino and hotel development was effectively put on life support about three months ago.
There are plenty of dead beat dads out there, and some of them may in fact be turning to spend money that they should be spending on their child, on the thrills and spills of casinos. Well thanks to some new legislation in West Virginia and Colordado, some casinos can start doing their part to help track down these guys. It won't be perfect, but its a great step to help get those kids the money they deserve.
Charles Barkley and Wynn in Dispute over Gambling Debt
News coming in from across the 'Net seems to indicate that Charles Barkley and the Wynn casino are having some "disagreements" about some markers he borrowed. And these didn't come cheap, no they were to the tune of $400,000!! We've always wondered how a big casino might deal with a high roller who didn't pay on their loans, and it sounds like the answer is with a big fat lawsuit.
Bookies say Hillary Clinton Will Win Primary and Presidency
This story amused us as we were checking out the news headlines from the casino world.
It seems that online bookies have predicted that Hillary Clinton will in fact become the next US president.
The political pundits had all but written off Sen. Hillary Clinton when she pulled out a victory in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. Online bookies, meanwhile, have Clinton winning her party's nomination as well as the presidential election.
Though there's plenty of evidence that betting action has been a more reliable indicator of results than polls, it's possible Clinton's popularity in the books is a fluke.
These days online books are based offshore, and for the non-Americans who run them, figuring out the byzantine American election process is probably a lot tougher than trying to understand Australian-rules football. Those dedicated gamblers who have set up foreign bank accounts to gamble online may also be voting with their hearts rather than with their minds.
Happy New Year Germany, Sorry You Won't be Gambling Online Anymore
Its sad but true, in Germany, it is no longer legal to gamble online. Poker Pages.com has the story:
Taking a page from the U.S. and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), Germany will begin its own online gaming ban on Jan. 1st.
According to Bloomberg.com, all 16 German States approved the new anti-gaming laws after voting held mid-December. Any Web-based betting is off limits, with the possibility of individual States blocking bank transfers and ordering Internet service providers to deny access to online gaming sites.
Mariah Carey Hosting New Years at Tao nightclub at the Venetian
Word is spreading that Mariah Carey will be hosting New Year's Eve at TAO nightclub at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Tickets aren't cheap, at $200, but it could make for a very special New Year's Eve
It feels like a long-shot, but some congress-people are making a push to try to ease internet gambling bans. Casino City Times has the story:
The Bush administration should consider relaxing laws against Internet gambling rather than risk setting a potentially expensive and "worrisome" precedent with European nations and other trade partners, eight lawmakers said in a letter on Monday.
The lawmakers were critical of the U.S. government reaction after it lost a World Trade Organization dispute with the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua over online casinos. U.S. officials declared the administration never meant for Internet gambling to be covered by international trade agreements.
Arbitrators now are considering damage claims from Antigua, an online gaming haven that said a U.S. law seeking to block betting over the Internet was an illegal form of protectionism.
Other members of the World Trade Organization, including the European Union, Japan and Australia, also are claiming compensation for lost online gaming revenues in the billions of dollars.
Compensation "could prove expensive to the U.S. economy," the lawmakers said in a letter to Susan Schwab, the U.S. trade representative. "However, we are perhaps more concerned about what this withdrawal says about U.S. credibility as a trading partner."
It appears that for the first time in 29 years, Atlantic City casinos will be seeing a decline in annual revenues. This is an unfortunate turn for a true gem of the casino world. Let's hope that his downturn is only temporary.
The leaves are falling, and so are revenues at Atlantic City's 11 casinos, which continue to see their profitable slots customers flee to Pennsylvania and New York.
The gambling halls took in $384.4 million in October, a 7.5 percent decline from the October 2006.
Slots revenues were $270.3 million, a decrease of 12.6 percent over a year ago. It matched the worst month of the year so far for slots here, along with September, which was also down 12.6 percent.
Revenue from table games was $114.1 million, an increase of 7.3 percent over a year ago.
Since the first slots parlor opened in the Philadelphia area last December, customers who once had no closer alternative than Atlantic City began deserting this resort for slot machines closer to home.
It sounds like Massachusetts casino opponents are not going to just sit around and wait for the three planned resort casinos to be built up around them. On Monday, opponents of the casino plans announced their own plans to oppose the casino, and they are organizing to do so.
Religious groups and small business owners that oppose Gov. Deval Patrick's gambling legislation want Massachusetts residents to know a casino could be coming to their backyards.
Instead of lobbying lawmakers who must approve the measure, the coalition calling itself Casino Free Mass unveiled a campaign Monday to hold forums around the state to encourage people to get involved. The first forum is scheduled for next month in New Bedford.
The French government on Tuesday distanced itself from the high profile arrest of an internet gambling executive and ordered the case against him to be dropped. Petter Nylander, chief executive of Unibet, was detained on Monday at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on a European arrest warrant issued by a French judge on charges of money laundering and cybercrime.
The arrest was triggered by a commercial complaint by Française des Jeux, which runs the lottery, and PMU, the national horseracing board, who claimed that Unibet had breached their monopoly rights to internet gambling in France. The French government appeared embarrassed by the arrest, which comes as Paris prepares to concede that it has discriminated illegally against online operators to protect its state monopolies.
World Championship Of Online Poker Winner Disqualified
Cheating has been a part of poker since its inception. Wherever there has been money changing hands, and games of skill and chance, people have been trying to swindle their way into big earnings. The entry of online poker has been no exception. We are sad to say that today cheating in a major online tournament has reared its ugly head, and the winner of the WCOOP has been disqualified for cheating.
On the bright side, this player was caught, and justice is served. We can only hope that online tournament organizers continue to remain vigilant against any and all forms of cheating in online poker, so that it can stay as clean and fun as possible.
While we are feeling pretty dirty for even bringing it up, we would be remiss if we didn't post at least once about the talk of Vegas the last couple days. Yes, O.J. Simpson. THE O.J. Simpson who was acquitted of murder, and who now has been arrested for armed robbery.
If you simply MUST read the details, you can read them from Vegas' own Review Journal. We are sure that you won't miss any gory details on this ongoing story.
Of course, if you are actually *IN* Vegas now. Take advantage of the extra news coverage, and the gawking crowds, and sneak PAST them into the games! We bet those poker tables are a touch emptier with everyone outside right now.
It sounds like those in the US who are just dying for some gambling action can get their itch scratched at UK gambling sites now. This may, in fact, be in conflict with US laws, but hey.. whats a little Unlawful Gaming Act among old friendly nations?
Britain's new gambling law comes into force at midnight, legalizing U.K. advertising campaigns for the first time and licensing online casinos that can accept bets from gamblers worldwide including the U.S.
William Hill Plc, Gala Group Ltd., and 13 other companies find out tonight if their virtual casino licenses have been approved to start accepting bets immediately, a spokesman for the Gambling Commission, the U.K.'s new regulator, said today. More than 300 others applied to operate licensed online sites including sports betting under the Gambling Act 2005.
The U.K. law highlights a potential conflict with the U.S.'s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, adopted in 2006, which prevents credit-card companies from collecting payments for online bets. The legislation has prompted gaming companies to shut down U.S. operations to focus on Europe and Asia.
"We aren't banning people from using Web sites based in the U.K.,'' Julia Smith, a spokeswoman on gambling for the U.K.'s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said in a telephone interview. "It is up to the consumer what they do.''
It will be interesting to see if this becomes an issue between US and UK leaders, or if in fact the US will now have more pressure to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act.
Confused about the Legality of Online Gambling in the US?
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