English Harbour Casino is offering a Labor Day special from September 3rd through 6th. If you signed up and make your first deposit on those days, they’ll triple your bankroll. The offer is for a 200% deposit bonus up to $500.00 on that first deposit. You’ll need to use coupon code 200S-010 to claim the offer. You’ll also want to check out the details on the free tournament entry. When you open a new account and make your first deposit, you’ll earn a free entry to one of the great tournaments on the site.
English Harbour is a Vegas Technology powered casino with a great selection of weekly, monthly and even daily tournaments. They are also one of the rare casinos that offers tournaments on more than just slots games. At English Harbour you can play in blackjack, video poker and even roulette tournaments. The buy-ins for these are a reasonably priced $2 to $5 that won’t break the bank.
The casino offers both instant play and download options for players who want to enjoy the games. The casino has been around since 1997, so players can feel secure joining and playing the games. You’ll find all your favorite casino games plus some online variations that will convince you that English Harbour is the place to be.
We all know it has to happen. After all, the casinos don’t stand at the entry way to every casino and check IDs. And even that wouldn’t work in Las Vegas where slots machines are everywhere: hotel lobbies, grocery stores, bathroom stalls. (Okay, I made up that last one. At least I hope I made that up. Someone let me know if they’ve come across a slot machine next to the urinal.) But casinos don’t have to pay out a jackpot to an under aged gambler and they will check ID if you win big. Mostly because there is a point at which they have to report back to the IRS. But we’re always going to hear fussing that the casinos don’t do enough to keep under aged players away from the games. And this week, it’s Marcus Jordan, Michael Jordan’s son, who’s making under aged gambling news.
Now Marcus is 19 and a college sophomore at the University of Central Florida, so he’s too young to gamble but old enough to vote and old enough to sign up for military service (which is probably a bigger gamble than Vegas ever is). But Marcus is also right in the midst of that social networking age. In other words, he tweets. And he tweeted about his adventures in Las Vegas. What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas if you put it on twitter. Marcus tweeted “Last night was stupid… 35K at Haze,” and “Totals 50K something the whole day.” These tweets were later deleted and Marcus tweeted “I didn’t mean it the way it came across. My family and friends know the type of person I am.” Apparently this tweet came after a conversation with dad. Apparently the Nevada Gaming Control Board is investigating the casinos, and the gaming control board isn’t always as understanding as “dad.”
Now here’s a problem with playing at real world casinos — people notice when you win money. The more you win, the more they notice. Take the case of the poker pro and the lovely lady. Well, I assume she was attractive. He was interested in her looks. She was interested in his poker winnings.
The poker pro, who prefers to remain unnamed, was playing at the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana and doing well. In fact, he left the tables with more than $9,000 in winnings. Well, sort of left. He didn’t get far before a young woman pulled up a chair and started chatting with him. The lady and the flattered poker pro chatted for a while. Then they went out for breakfast. Then bought some gum and condoms and headed back to his room at the Quality Inn. There the poker pro hid his winnings behind the TV table and he and his new lady friend made use of the condoms. They may have even chewed gum together. Then “they” fell asleep. Well, he fell asleep. She snuck out the door with the $9,000 hidden behind the TV set (doesn’t Quality Inn have one of those in room safes?).
Now the good news is that the lovely lady aka Lakasha Johnson was caught and ordered to pay restitution to the poker pro. She was also sentenced to probation and ordered to do some community service. (Maybe picking up used condoms from the side of the highway.)
Folks, if you’re playing at a real world casino, please remember that someone may want to take those winnings off of you. Be careful. Make sure your hotel room has a safe at that you know how to use it. Don’t leave the casino with someone you don’t know, especially when you’re carrying close to ten thousand dollars. And if you really have one big, ask if a security guard can accompany you to your car. And if the security guard does escort you out, remember to tip him.
The big problem I ran into with the iPad when I first got to give one a test run was that it didn’t run Flash. Flash is the program that many online casinos design their programs to run in. Not just online casinos but may websites run a Flash interface to let you interact with the site. So, the not flash friendly iPad was a bit of a problem. And a stand off between the web and Apple. Because Steve Jobs said he wasn’t going to add Flash to the iPad and everyone needed to get on board. Oh, Steve. You always expect them to follow you.
And they do. After all, Apple customers are known for spending money on trends. This is something that is attractive to any place trying to make money. Such as online casinos. Apple delivers what they want – a web savvy customer base that will spend money online without panicking. So, it really only makes sense for online casinos to adapt to Steve Jobs’ view of the world rather than waiting for him to come over to their side.
Betfair, one of the largest gambling sites not available in the US, (Which is why US gamblers will be wonder Bet who?), is launching its first IPAd betting app. The app will let players in England and Ireland (sorry US) gamble on their iPad. But this new trend of designing for the iPad also has Betfair looking to hire about 100 people in technology jobs. Which is a part of online gambling that sometimes people forget about. It may be entertainment for the gamblers, but it is a money making industry that provides jobs in a variety of fields, including higher paying tech jobs. So here’s to Steve Jobs for creating some jobs.
Have you ever won so much at a casino that you just wanted to hop on the Baccarat table and dance the night away? No? Me either. But unfortunately for Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, one of their players felt this urge and it’s resulted in a quarter of a million in fines for the casino.
So, let’s go back to October 10th, almost a year ago. An unnamed gentleman, we’ll call him Mr. Happy Feet, playing at the Baccarat table became thrilled and enthralled by the game and climbed up on to the table. He even placed a bet while standing on top of the Baccarat table. No one at Caesar’s stopped him, but then I don’t know if this sort of thing is covered in the “standard operating guidelines” for the average casino. What do you do when an overly enthusiastic player wants to keep gambling, but he just wants to do so from a different perspective, say standing on the table. Or stable on his chair. Which Mr. Happy Feet also did before deciding that maybe he should sit down.
As far as the reports go, nothing more dangerous or threatening happened the night Mr. Happy Feet danced on the Baccarat table at Caesar’s Palace, but the good people of the Nevada Gaming Control Board heard about the event. Apparently the Control board prefers things to be a bit more controlled. So they’ve fined Caesar’s Palace $250,000 and explained that the casino’s security staff should have prevented the table dance.
I’m sure Caesar’s is updating their Standard Operating Guidelines right now.
It seems impossible to avoid online gambling debates coming out of Europe. And somewhat ironic since the European Union was to supposed set up universal gambling regulations for all member countries. The EU has even made claims that the UIGEA in the United States violates the fair trade agreements between the US and the EU. But this is a bit hard to uphold with the member countries don’t seem to be agreeing with their own gambling agreements to such an extent that none of them can even disagree with the others disagreeing.
Today I’m seeing news from Holland where the country appointed a committee to review the existing gambling laws. This seems to be a common step for countries. Even Australia where politicians decided to ignore the committee’s report when it came back in favor of gambling. The Holland committee came back with a mixed report. They believe that online poker should be legal in the country. Of course poker players know not to hold their breath until they find out if that means legal and open or legal but restricted, like France.
But unfortunately, the Dutch committee that recommended approving online poker has stated that other forms of online gambling such as casinos, slots and sports betting should be illegal. And some people are crying foul. Why? Well, because sports gambling and the lottery are both currently legal through Holland’s government run DeLotto. No one believes that the report is going to shut down their own gambling structure based on the committee report. So, people believe that the report will be used to create and maintain a government owned monopoly for online gambling. And a monopoly doesn’t have to work to be competitive, so it’s never the best thing for players.
I keep reading articles that tell me that laws against online gambling are to protect Americans from gambling addiction. But the problem here is that a surprising amount of the campaigning against online casinos comes from brick and mortar casinos. So it really isn’t designed to protect the public against the evils of gambling but to protect existing real world casinos against competition from online casinos. Competition that could, in some games would actually, force them to offer better payouts. Let’s take a look at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California to see how this works.
The Commerce Casino boasts the world’s largest poker room. It’s a real world player’s paradise with dining, entertainment and accommodations. But it’s turning out to be a poker player’s hell when it comes to the casino’s attitude on online gambling. The casino is against Barney Frank’s bill HR 2267 (Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act) which would provide for legalized online gambling with provision to protect consumers and provide revenue. But the casino isn’t against completely against online gambling. Instead they want it to be regulated at the state level. This is so that they can use their money and backing for a more restricted online gambling process in California. Their proposed California process would restrict online gambling in the state to casinos operating in the state. Which would also restrict players to gambling online with state casinos.
The Poker Players Alliance has object to this because poker is a highly social sport and players want to be able to compete on the world stage. But this restriction to strictly state casinos also affects players of other online games. Online casinos have to offer players the best games and odds they can. Play video poker? Online, you can always find the best pay tables. Even slot games have to squeeze that house edge as much as they can to tempt players back. Restricting online play by creating a state monopoly doesn’t protect the players. It protects the casino’s profit.
South Africa is known for having some spectacular brick and mortar casinos, including the Sun City Casino and the massive GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World. Which means that once again we have a location where real world casinos are at odds with online casinos. Generally brick and mortar casinos put a lot of pressure on the government for regulations against online gambling so that they can protect their own investments and the tourist trade. So, online gambling regulations are designed less to protect the individual, though that’s what the government will say, and more to protect the existing brick and mortar casinos.
Which is why you’ll see situations like the one currently falling into place in South Africa where gambling at a brick and mortar casino is perfectly legal, but online gambling suddenly is not. So South Africans will no longer be able to gamble in the comfort of their home. The Gautang Gambling Board has now decided that it is illegal for those in South Africa to gamble using digital devices or products. So, it is illegal for an individual to gamble online in South Africa. It is illegal for an online casino to offer services in South Africa. And even more, the ban makes the actual internet service provider accountable for providing the banned services. And of course financial institutions are breaking the law if they process payments to casinos or winnings from online casinos. Break the law? Even by gambling in your home? Well, you could receive a R10 million fine or ten years in jail. Or both.
Oh, gamble at one of the real world casinos in South Africa and you could receive free drinks.
Harry Reid, the senate majority leader and a senator from the great state of Nevada, has casinos in the state, including Las Vegas casinos, worried. So, what has the democrat from Nevada done to cause this consternation? Well, he’s indicated that he will support fellow democrat Barney Frank’s gambling legislation. Barney Frank’s bill HR 2267 (trust me, the number is easier than the actual name of this one) would provide a process for licensing and taxing of online gambling while putting measures in place to protect consumers. Now most gamblers themselves are in favor of the legislation because it provides gamblers with more options.
But brick and mortar casinos are worried about the potential competition from online casinos. After all, they would mean that people wouldn’t have to travel to Las Vegas to gamble. Or even to leave their house and drive to the nearest casino to their town. This of course worries casinos who make money only if we travel and play with them.
Now Harry Reid has said that he only supports online gambling in the form of online poker, not general casino gambling. Online poker should be less of a worry for real life casinos because poker games aren’t really a large source of income for casinos. In poker, players play against each other and the casino only earns money from the “rake” which is a percentage of the pot. Since poker tables take up space and the games take time to play out, there isn’t a quick turnover from poker. Also, online poker rooms do sponsor real world poker tournaments that take place at brick and mortar casinos.
But the casinos feel that legalizing even just online poker would open the door to other forms of online gambling. Now I like Las Vegas. It’s a unique sort of city and a game of online slots certainly doesn’t match a trip to Vegas. And if Nevada can keep Vegas special, it never will.
The online gambling market in Europe isn’t turning out to be as unified as everyone expected. The European Union Treaty actually had provisions to ensure a uniform online gambling market throughout Europe. But gambling operators in Europe have quickly discovered that what’s real on paper isn’t real in the countries they operate in. Or in other words, every country is setting up their own rules, regulations and application process. And the European Court of Justice has been ruling in favor of the countries’ right to set their own rules rather than enforcing a single standard.
The result? Well, online gambling operators benefit more by jumping through the hoops and getting individual licenses to operate in a variety of countries than to get bogged down in the legal battles. So they’re applying for licenses and working to meet the requirements country by country. But the some, such as the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), are calling for harmonization of the industry. Perhaps a process that would allow regulators to exchange at least partial recognition between one another so that every country doesn’t have to recreate the same gambling infrastructure over and over. And so that gambling operators wouldn’t have to repeat the application process again and again in different variations.
All of this does stands as lesson to the United States where some states are calling for a federal solution to the online gambling question rather than state by state legislation. Because if the US requires gambling operators to apply state by state, that would require 50 states creating 50 different bodies to regulate and approve the online casinos and 50 different processes for online casinos to follow.
