As the internet gambling industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, so too does the Las Vegas casino industry, which has realized the complimenting aspects of online poker over the years.

And when Super Bowl rolls around, Vegas is quickly reminded of why online sports betting helps fuel its own local economy.  Professional sports bettors are known for splurging in Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend and March Madness.  It's the ultimate reward for a successful gaming experience over the Net.

Virgin Media looks to take on BSkyB and BT in the competitive telecommunications sector.  The company launched its combined television, internet and telephone services Thursday.

The company has become the first to offer a "quadruple play" of mobile and fixed line phone services, TV and broadband access.

The television service, which will be a hybrid of a traditional station and TV-on-demand, will start broadcasting on February 20. Virgin will offer its range of services in packages priced from £20 to £40.

"The amount of funds seized by the USAO or otherwise restricted by third parties does not exceed $55 million (28 million pounds)," said NETeller, which abandoned 65 percent of its business by quitting the United States.

Reuters confirmed reports appearing on Gambling911.com earlier this week that the US Federal government had seized funds from the company and a widening investigation was likely.

Want to hone your online casino skills without breaking the bank?  Play Station 2: Hard Rock Casino offers just the perfect opportunity.

The real meat and potatoes of HR Casino is in the Adventure mode, writes William Usher of CinemaBlend.com.

Now If you’re heavy into creating your own character, you’ll find a very modest CAC available in Hard Rock Casino; on the plus side there are accessories and clothing options available as you progress through the game. But primarily you choose a body (from various male and female builds), a head, some pants, a shirt and the option of a hat. After you get done with your character it’s off to the main casino floor. In the main hall of the designated casino players can move the cursor around and select what sort of game they’d like to play, including: slots, poker, craps, roulette, blackjack and many others. Variety certainly isn’t lacking, as there’s 20 different games in all

To keep the game progressive, players are tasked with challenges that they must complete in order to earn bonuses, acquire more money or move on to one of the other three casinos in the game. The challenges are actually handled in Chapters, and each Chapter has a set amount of challenges that must be completed in order to progress. Hence, gamers who want to “gamble with a purpose” have Hard Rock Casino to grant them that much to go on.

US Customers Prohibited

Usher issues a "WORTH IT" rating to PlayStation 2: Hard Rock Casino though he believes only the hardcore online casino player will really be able to get into the game. 

The single-player casino romp with numerous characters and nominal cutscenes that string together the player’s progress, is seemingly good enough to put across a designated purpose for the player. So if you’re really into casino gambling (and who would honestly buy a casino game that didn’t like casino gambling?) and want to hone your “luck”, you’ll probably find a decent enough gem in the budget-priced Hard Rock Casino.

US casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corporation wants to operate the UK's first super Casino in Manchester.

They will be facing stiff competition from Kerzner International, which runs Atlantis in the Bahamas. 

Las Vegas Sands' interest comes shortly after Europe’s biggest gambling company, Gala Coral, declared that they were not in the running for the licence of the super-casino and would focus their attention on a smaller scale.

"We're not looking at the regional casino, but we are looking at all of the 16 smaller sites," said Neil Goulden, Chief Executive of Gala Coral.

Las Vegas Sands are at the other end of the scale and have stated their tunnel-vision in achieving their aspirations.

US Customers Prohibited

A Gambling911.com readers asks: "Chris, can I use the money tied up in my NETeller account to purchase merchandise that is non-gaming?"

In this customer's case, he has upwards of $5000 tied up in the third party payment processor which last month pulled out of the US market and is yet to pay thousands of online gamblers, some of whom are owed six digit sums.

It's home to Gambling911.com, which is purely an industry-focused news and information website, and soon may be home to a number of online gambling entities that actually take bets from around the globe.  Alberta Canada is seriously considering regulation of online gambling.

It is ironic that credit cards seem to be the best option right now when it comes to US customers betting online.  It's far from a perfect remedy but some people have been able to deposit money via their Visa and Mastercards. 

Withdrawals are a problem since online gambling firms stopped paying back on credit cards years ago as a result of chargeback issues and the Patriot Act.

The United Kingdom government is being urged to reconsider its decision to grant a super casino license to Manchester at the expense of Blackpool, according to the BBC.

A Commons motion expressing "surprise and regret" that the Casino Advisory Panel rejected Blackpool's application has been signed by 18 MPs.

It says there was an "overwhelming case" for regeneration at the resort.

The licence will allow Manchester to build a venue for up to 1,250 unlimited-jackpot gaming machines.

Meanwhile, licences were granted for new "large" casinos to Great Yarmouth, Hull, Newham, Middlesbrough, Solihull, Milton Keynes, Leeds and Southampton.

The Casino Advisory Panel also granted licences for "small" casinos to Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

The Early Day Motion states that Blackpool's bid matched the panel's "key criteria" and had widespread support.

Blackpool and London had been the front runners to get the UK's first regional casino licence, with Manchester a 16-1 outsider at the bookmakers.

But in a surprise announcement last week, the independent Casino Advisory Panel named Manchester as their top choice for a licence, allowing it to build a venue for up to 1,250 unlimited-jackpot gaming machines.

The panel's chairman Stephen Crow said Manchester had been chosen because of its "very thorough consultation" and "the way it dealt with questions of problem gambling".

The news was welcomed in Manchester, but those behind Blackpool's bid described it as a "smack in the face".

They believed the super-casino was vital to restore the fortunes of Blackpool, which has seen visitor numbers slump by seven million in the past 15 years to an annual figure of 10 million.

Commenting on the panel's decision, Doug Garrett, chief executive of urban regeneration firm ReBlackpool said: "It is tragic. It is very difficult to see how they have drawn their conclusions".

The government has confirmed that only one super-casino licence will be awarded for the duration of this Parliament.

You had to pay upwards of $2000 per head to get into some of Miami Beach's hottest celebrity filled Super Bowl parties.  But the one everybody is talking about was absolutely free of charge.

The Gambling911.com Super Bowl Party, held this past Friday, featured some of the hottest babes in town and a fully stocked bar - minus the Crown Royal.

StraightFlush.com, which is poised to become a major player in the world of online poker, is counting on this week's cold snap and snow to reel in new customers.  The brand new poker room is part of the Tribeca Network and will join the likes of BetUS Poker and Golden Palace once they leave for a newly developed network this coming spring. 

The company launched its much anticipated services on Gambling911.com along with Virgin Poker during Super Bowl weekend.  A main goal of StraightFlush.com is to gain vital affiliate relationships through the Gambling911.com website.

"StraightFlush.com realized early on that most online poker affiliates read Gambling911.com daily and trust our opinion," says Payton O'Brien of Gambling911.com. 

The poker room had already secured its endorsement space on Gambling911 months before actually launching.  Straightflush is tied in with one of the industry's most prominent poker networks with marquee brand, Doyles Room.

The company anticipates a jump start thanks to wintry weather overspreading much of the US this week.

"Forecasts across the nation call for sub freezing temperatures and some snow over a large portion of the Midwest into the East Coast region.  This translates into more poker being played online.  Who wants to go out under these frigid conditions?"

StraightFlush.com promises an exceptional loyalty program for its online poker affiliates and top of the line bonuses for poker players.  100% signup bonuses are being offered to kick things off and all customers can participate in big money jackpots. 

Those in the know say "Look out!  The online gambling industry is coming back bigger and better than ever before."

And they point to YouTeller, a "private e-wallet", which promises to fill in the void left behind by NETeller.com.

"Wait till you see the back end software when it launches...looks hauntingly familiar...as do the people behind the scenes," a source told Gambling911.com.  "Looks like we will survive without NETeller after all."

The St. Louis Dispatch reported on Monday that a federal judge in St. Louis ordered the international online betting company BetOnSports and its executives to pay a fine of $5,000 per day for ignoring pending criminal charges.  These executives include Operations Manager Clive Archer and quite possible Lord Glentoran, Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland, though he was listed as a non-executive director in BetonSports.

It's still early but in the first few weeks of 2007, the online gambling industry has been turned completely upside down.  Not all is bad in the world of web betting however.  We've formed our own predictions based on years of experience dealing with this industry.

1.  Europe will sustain, Asia will not

Everybody is talking about Asia.  That's fine and dandy but the Asian market has crippled the likes of BetCorp, Sportingbet and Golden Palace in recent years.  Golden Palace is one of the world's largest online casino operators and they pulled out completely. 

Now that we have waded through the excuses issued by NETeller, it has been announced that the US Justice Department has seized funds from the third party payment processor nearly three weeks after the arrests of the company's founders.  Only US customers appear to be impacted though Gambling911.com has cautioned anyone living outside the United States to tread carefully in regard to NETeller.  Nearly 80% of its customer base was located within the US.

Instead of raising tax revenue from football betting, the government chooses to prosecute morality.


MILLIONS OF Americans have engaged in criminal behavior leading up to today's Super Bowl. You know who you are — those of you outside Nevada who placed bets on the Indianapolis Colts or Chicago Bears. It's estimated that about $5 billion will be on the line this afternoon in a nation in which even office pools are technically illegal in some states.

President Bush in October signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a law intended to resolve any ambiguities about the unlawfulness of placing bets online. Although most fans in the free world can place bets with regulated online casinos, U.S. law enforcement has been busy cracking down on the heinous crime, going after enabling credit card companies, detaining those who run legal foreign online sites if they deign to enter the country and subpoenaing major Wall Street investment banks involved in overseas initial public offerings of online casinos. It's another brazen attempt to extent prudish American mores to other jurisdictions.

One bemused Las Vegas sports handicapper told the Wall Street Journal last week that the ban on Internet gambling should be renamed the "Sopranos Support Bill," because the main beneficiaries of keeping closely regulated casinos from doing business online are bookies. Instead of protecting consumers and raising tax revenue from this popular entertainment, the government is protecting the turf of unsavory bookies, many of whom have ties to organized crime.

The gambling crackdown is part of a broader trend of a paternalist state protecting citizens from themselves, curtailing their freedoms in the process. We live in a nation still engaged in a war on terror and in a city struggling with escalating gang violence, yet precious law enforcement resources are being spent on prosecuting morality. But, for today, enjoy the game while pretending you don't know the spread. After all, that could prove incriminating.

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Los Angeles Times Editorial

Originally published to Gambling911.com February 4, 2007 11:33 pm ET