November 11th, 2009 by admin

Going into the final days of the Main Event last Saturday, Phil Ivey was the overwhelming favorite despite an underwhelming stack. A pre-event poll on the official site of the WSOP saw 78% of readers predicting championship win for Ivey. Unfortunately, his final table run ended far too soon when he went all in on hand 175.

The surrounding crowd of 1000+ was chanting the eight-time bracelet winner’s name as he and lumberjack sensation Darvin Moon went into the flop. Ivey held an Ace of clubs and a King of spades. Moon held the Ace of diamonds and Queen of spades. Fortune smiled upon the underdog when a Queen and two 6s hit the board. Ivey remained aloof when the turn revealed a 3 and bowed out respectfully when a 5 on the river ended his Main Event run. But don’t feel too bad for Ivey—he’s still taking home more than $1.4 million.

October 20th, 2009 by admin

In the world of Superhero’s and comic books, well, let’s just say that anything goes. From earth defying powers to villains poised and ready to take over the world, superhero comics certainly help to exercise the imagination. And where one superhero’s exploits are left off, another one begins. This week it’s The Incredible Hulk who will save the world from Dr. Destructo, while next week, good’ol Superman will come flying in to save the masses.

And in the case of online casino slots, now it’s Batman and Wonder Woman who get their day in the Sun. You might have already heard about the Marvel Superhero slots - first developed by Cryptologic Software several years ago, and more recently reinvented by Playtech online casinos. Well, now DC Comics are getting in on the action, and Batman and Wonder Woman are the first of the new superhero slot games getting the branding makeover.

Once again, innovative Cryptologic is behind the development of these games. Before Playtech even announced its intention to give their own spin on Marvel’s superhero characters, Cryptologic was plotting to expand it’s portfolio, which by the looks of it, will one day feature a slot game for every famous comic book super hero who ever lived.

As for Wonder Woman and Batman, they are certainly two of the most famous. Staying true to the world of each superhero, Cryptologic has devised entertaining bonus rounds, including a Joker-inspired Descent into Madness bonus round that shows Batman fighting his way through the Arkham Asylum, while offering the chance of nabbing 100x winnings. Wonder Woman gets to go on a dangerous adventure of her own, taking out zombies on her way to the supreme battle with the God, Ares. Oh ya - and along the way she will help you pick up free spins with her magic lasso.

October 10th, 2009 by admin

The weekend is just arriving and already there have been three large progressive jackpot wins, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars dolled out to the masses of online gamblers currently spinning the wheels of steel (not record players, but slot machines) and flipping the cards.

One of the jackpots was hit on Cryptologic Software’s popular Marvel Superhero slots series of games. It was worth nearly $16,000. The original Marvel slots games (Playtech now has a series of their own), Cryptologic’s Marvel slots have been enormously successful not just because of the comic book oriented fun they offer, but probably more so because of the potential of large progressive jackpots.

The second largest of the progressive jackpots hit was worth $17,474, and occurred on the U.S. facing Rival Gaming online casinos network. The game to bust was none other than Mega Moolah, which is quickly becoming Rival Gaming’s most popular and largest progressive slot machine. This latest jackpot was the sixth big jackpot hit in the last three months.

The largest jackpot of the trio, not surprisingly took place at Microgaming’s network of non U.S. facing online casinos. One of the oldest and largest networks in business today, Microgaming’s progressive jackpots consistently return some of the largest wins ever recorded. The jackpot in question this time around was worth $39,229, and was hit on the Mega Major Moolah slot game. Offering four different progressive jackpots, Mega Major Moola is something of a hybrid between Major Millions and Mega Moolah, and was launched almost three years ago to the day.

All these winnings sounds great, does it not? So great, makes you want to go out and start gambling at an online casino right now, right? Well, not so fast. First allow me to offer a disclaimer that big jackpot wins do not occur as frequently as you might think.

In fact, this latest batch of jackpot wins actually occurred following something of a dry patch. Winning one is strictly a matter of luck, and most veteran slots players know it comes down to being in the right place at the right time. But of course you have to be online and wagering real money, not to mention the fact that in order to qualify for the main progressive jackpot, you must wager the maximum amount.

So, in a way, there is some strategic planning to winning a progressive jackpot. Just remember, while you have to be playing to be in the game, don’t forget to have fun knowing that playing online casino slots is all about the journey and not the destination.

September 23rd, 2009 by admin

Intergame has reported an exciting fresh introductory proposal for newcomers joining the sports gaming company Sports One on One, which is situated in the Isle of Man. New entrants will automatically be given as much as thirty company shares, in a proposal that gives the players, an opportunity to buy and sell their shares online on the company’s website, without incurring a cost.

Apart from having the privilege of contributing positively to SB1on1’s exponential growth, best online casino players will also benefit from a referral program where they will be able to earn extra shares by successfully introducing new members to this wonderful scheme.

Even though they opened their doors in November of 2008, SB1on1 has seen its reputation and expansion to soar momentously, accruing sales totalling 60 000 shares for the month of March alone.

The company has reiterated that it desires to see any new entrants become part and parcel of its growth plan.

Stephen Bamford, the company’s chairman remarked that the company is pleased to greet newcomers who register thus actively participating in SB1on1’s success story. The company is striving to turn into the stock-exchange of sports betting.

The business is coming up with lots of new and interesting ideas, as well as ambitious plans for its future. The company is working in a setting which is pro-active and looking for innovative ideas.

August 24th, 2009 by admin

Steven Begleiter didn’t even get a full sentence when we did our write-up on the WSOP Main Event’s final nine. In the same piece, we called him an “unknown,” and his Bluff player profile is still all zeros, but the players at the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker tournament certainly know who he is.

In a field of 279 top players, Begleiter quickly rose to the top on Day 1 of the Legends action, and he stayed there through Day 2. Going into Day 3 he still had a formative chip lead, though Prahlad Friedman was working hard to close the gap.

While Begleiter is no doubt excited about his potential to claim the $1 million-plus Legends of Poker top prize. In an interview on Day 2 of the tournament, he confirmed that his success had him looking ahead to the Main Event in November. “I hope I can do this on November 7,” he giddily told a reporter.

August 4th, 2009 by admin

Several gambling interests are currently reporting their Q2 numbers and, for the most part, those numbers have been holding steady and proving that while the recession has certainly affected the gambling industry, it hasn’t crushed it.

Some corporations like Las Vegas Sands Corp. posted disappointing numbers that fell below even economy-adjusted expectations. Macau’s major gambling interests faired much better despite recent concerns.

One notable company has risen above the recession this quarter to post a 23% increase in income: Playtech’s positive Q2 report stands as proof that the online gambling industry is still going strong.

While Playtech’s total revenues for the quarter were slightly less than Q1 revenues, they nevertheless continue to profit thanks to their innovative gambling applications, industry-leading software and sharp marketing plan. Playtech’s board released a statement predicting that the company would underperform against current expectations (due to the delayed launch of WHO and economy issues), but that they were nevertheless optimistic that they would continue to post strong profits for the remainder of 2009.

July 13th, 2009 by admin

Friday, July 10th sees the first time that surviving players from the various World Series of Poker Main Event heats come together on Day 3.

Of the 6 494 original main event hopefuls going after a massive prize pool worth over $61 million, only 2 044 remain in the race. The last surviving 648 players will cash for varying amounts, whilst the 9 final table players, who will compete for the $8 million plus main prize later this year, will each earn over a million dollars.

Harrah’s Entertainment, organisers of the WSOP, have released official numbers from the Day 2B heat that concluded with 1 437 survivors late Wednesday night after starting with a field of 2 924 players. At the close of play, Amir Lehavot (34) of Weston, Florida was the chip leader on a stack of 610 500.

His closest rivals were Peter DeBaene (465 000) and Troy Weber (453 200), followed by Dan Bilzerian (439 500) and Franklin Grigsby (424 400)

Day 3 will see the 607 survivors of the Day 2A heat combining with the 1 437 players left in the Day 2B heat in a single field for the first time.

Former World Champions who are still in the Main Event include Bobby Baldwin, Phil Hellmuth, Jim Bechtel, Dan Harrington, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, and defending champion Peter Eastgate.

Many are watching the play of international online and tournament ace Phil Ivey, who is currently on 346 200 in chips and still very much in contention, having already won two bracelets this year. Other 2009 multi-bracelet winners who have enjoyed an exceptional WSOP this year and remain in the field and include Jeffrey Lisandro, Ville Wahlbeck, Vitaly Lunkin, and Greg Mueller.

July 4th, 2009 by admin

The chief operating officer of UK online gambling group William Hill Online.com, Peter Marcus, has appealed to colleagues in the Internet poker sector to clamp down on the use of rakeback by affiliates and poker skins.

In an interview this week with the publication EGR, Marcus called on operatoirs to “get together and be strict” on allowing affiliates and poker skins to offer rakeback as he criticised a rewards model that incentivises players by offering to return a share of the operator’s rake. Marcus characterised the practice as cannibalising poker traffic and failing to attract the new players he felt were needed to develop the market further.

Commenting that networks and licensees have to find ways of rewarding loyalty which don’t encourage the player to constantly switch venues, or which involve stealing each other’s customers, Marcus said: “It’s going to take time and be tough to get there, but the whole industry has to get together and be strict on this.”

Marcus claims that rakeback in its present form “has a limited shelf life” and that “licensees who just want to give rakeback and not spend money on marketing will find it’s not going to work, because someone coming up behind working on smaller margins will just steal their customers.”

“It’s the wrong way of building a sustainable industry – you do this by brand marketing, giving great customer service and rewarding customer loyalty,” he added.

June 27th, 2009 by admin

Politicians and anti-gambling groups have argued for years that Internet gambling is dangerous because children are put at risk. The children can go on the gambling site and play under their parents accounts, that was the argument.

That battling point is now non-existent thanks to Internetsafety.com. The group has developed the first program in the world that can block online gambling. Internetsafety.com is a leader when it comes to web filtering technology.

The program that has been unveiled is called BetStopper. It is a free application that is being offered to Nova Scotia families through the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation. Nova Scotia has a higher rate of youth online gambling taking place than adults, so the timing could not be better for the new software.

“In ten years of specializing in helping parents shield their children from the unsavory side of the Internet, this is the first time we have been asked to create a project specifically to address underage gambling,” said Forrest Collier, CEO of Internetsafety.com.

The new software has the ability for parents to set specific days and times that their children can use the Internet. That luxury comes via the SafeEyes software from Internetsafety.com. The BetStopper software takes that a step further. Every day, the software checks requested websites against blacklisted sites that are updated constantly.

The new software presents a problem for lawmakers who have relied on the children gambling issue to help win the fight against legalized online gambling. Now that there is software available to help prevent underage Internet gambling, many jurisdictions should move forward in their efforts to legalize online gambling.

The US is one of the countries where lawmakers have been debating the issue. It is believed that the US is the largest online gambling market in the world, even though the government has tried to criminalize the activity.

June 21st, 2009 by admin

If you are an avid online gambling enthusiast, you probably already know that there are three popular online casino software developers. The current state of the online gambling industry has spawned three major companies which develop the software for most of the online casinos in the world - MicroGaming, Playtech and RealTime Gaming (RTG). The first two companies have stopped allowing U.S. players to join the casinos they license out, hence only the RTG online casinos are left servicing the gamblers from the United States. Therefore for most gamblers the question of which are the best RTG casinos online often arise. And here you will find the list of the best RTG online casinos and get help with finding a quality RTG online casino to play on the Internet. Here are the top RTG online casinos today:

1. Vegas Casino Online - best RTG casino, $500 bonus for new players

2. Bodog Online Casino - get 10% on every deposit you make here

3. Slots Plus Casino - $500 free and play all the slots you can

Vegas Casino Online ($500 free bonus) - the best RTG online casino. We voted Vegas Casino Online as our best RTG online casino for many reasons, which created an overall package worthy of sitting atop of our list. For starter, this online casino utilizes all games available and created by RTG - over one hundred slot machines, all table games imaginable (including multi-hand), more than a dozen different video poker machines and quite a few specialty games, such as Keno and virtual scratch cards. If you are looking for online casino that represents all of the RTG games, Vegas Casino Online should be your first stop.

As already mentioned, this RTG online casino has no restrictions on the player’s residence, gamblers from U.S. and Canada are also welcomed, as well as players from any part of the world. A generous bonus offer awaits the first time customers of the Vegas Casino Online - you can get 125% on your first deposit at this RTG casino up to $500 in free money. In addition, 15% extra bonus will be given to people using the preferred payment methods at the casino, which include ewallets for US players. But that’s not all. A comprehensive loyalty program gives customers comp points which could be converted into real money, additional bonuses are given weekly and a $1,000 reward awaits every week of the month. Bottom line, you will not be left without free money at any given time.

Another reason this was chosen by us as the best RTG casino is the great reputation and customer support. You can contact the customer representatives of this RTG online casino 24/7 via chat, telephone and email and they stand ready to answer any question or resolve any problem you may have. Unlike many other casinos, here the CRs are knowledgeable about their product and will help you quickly. The reputation of Vegas Casino Online is one of the most solid in the online gambling industry - over a decade of experience with the online gambling market has taught the management the value of the customer and you will not be mistreated here. Payments of your winnings will be made on time and without any bull, while fair play is ensured by the random number generator carrying Certificate of RNG Evaluation from TST. Overall, if you are looking for the best RTG casinos, you must begin your journey with Vegas Casino Online and it may even end there.

Bodog Online Casino - top RTG casino. As life goes, people love choices, hence we present you with another member of the best RTG casinos online, the Bodog Casino. The reason we have placed the Bodog casino at the second spot is mostly because the casino does not allow gamblers from Canada and Turkey to wager with this gambling website and the bonus is a bit on the low side by percentage. And although Bodog uses the RTG software for the basics of its online casino, it’s kind of proprietary as well. For those new to the online casino industry, the software developers such as RealTime Gaming create the casino software and then license the use to online gambling companies. This cuts the cost for the companies operating the online casinos, but also gives the software developer various powers over the casinos, such as making the decision to stop accepting players from various countries. Bodog management decided that this is too much power over their casino and have purchased the online casino software from RTG, rather than just leasing it. This also ensures that Bodog will allow U.S. players for as long as they want, independently from RTG.

And this is as far as the difference will go with the Bodog’s semi-proprietary RTG casino. You will still find all games offered by RTG here, including the big progressive jackpots and the large number of rather loose slots. The online casino offers a 10% bonus, which is quite small as far as percentage goes, but on the other side - it has no limit on how high it will go in dollar amounts. Another good feature of the Bodog bonus is that it’s given on every deposit you make at the online casino, not only the first one. Additional bonuses are also available and the Bodog casino often comes out with different promotions, contests and perks to sweeten the deal.

The reputation of this RTG online casino is also rock-solid. The casino was established well over a decade ago and has been one of the most popular online gambling websites in North America for years. And thanks to the fact that Bodog is a complete online gambling website, featuring sports betting, poker and horse racing, there are always thousands of players gambling at any given time, which improves the odds for the individual to win big here. Your withdrawal request are usually processed within days, except around major sporting events, when it could take a bit longer, due to the large number of gamblers requesting withdrawal of their winnings. But rest assure, people get paid here no matter what. Bodog is a great RTG online casino and players can join and gamble with confidence.

Slots Plus ($500 bonus) - final addition to our best RTG online casinos. And just for the sake of giving more choices to our readers, we will add one more online casino to our list of best RTG casinos - the SlotsPlus. As the name of this gambling website suggests, this is where the slots players come to enjoy all the reel-madness of the RTG casino software. All slots created by RealTime Gaming are available at this online casino, in addition to table games and video poker. But the slots are the strong suite of this casino and you will not be disappointed with the selection. Find any slot - 3-reel or 20-reel, free spins, bonus features and even try your luck at the progressive jackpots which often reach over one million dollars.

This RTG online casino offers up to $500 in free bonus money for the first time customers, includes a good loyalty points program and welcomes players from all over the world. Another very reputable RTG online casino, withdrawals are processed swiftly and you can fund your casino account using a vast number of payment methods and ewallets. Nothing fishy goes on here - it’s all down to beating the odds and, of course, being lucky. If you’ve gambled at the two RTG casinos above and are looking for something a bit different, or you are a big slots fan, stop by the SlotsPlus RTG online casino and give them a try using the free-play feature.

These are the top three RTG online casinos at this time. Of course, you don’t have to confine yourself to playing only RTG casinos. Visit our list of U.S. online casinos to find gambling websites from various other gambling developers which allow U.S. players. There you will also be able to read short reviews, check out the bonus offers and see if any restrictions apply.