Online casino gambling

Players have characterised the T&Cs on progressive jackpots at a number of online gambling websites as predatory this week as the forum row over Joyland Casino and player SylvieP continues to reverberate around the Internet (see previous InfoPowa report).

Briefly summarised, the issue involved a Canadian player who hit the jackpot for $4 188 719.98 playing the Beach Life progressive slot at Joyland – a Playtech powered brand which is now (but was not at the time of the big win) part of the William Hill Online group following the major Playtech-Will Hill deal earlier this year.

The “win” was widely publicised as one of the biggest jackpots ever paid out. The sad thing is that the player only received about half of the winnings.

It turns out that the Terms and Conditions under which the player gambled at Joyland specified a maximum payout of $9 000 a month. This would mean that SylvieP would have to be around for the next 39 years to collect her full winnings!

Playtech presumably made the full jackpot payment to Joyland’s owners, whom Trading Markets.com identifies as Six Digits Trading, allegedly associated through a trust with businessman Teddy Sagi….who is a major shareholder in Playtech.

Long story short is that following some email exchanges through hotmail addresses the player felt pressured to agree to a payment of half the jackpot to ensure that she was paid immediately and in one tranche.

SylvieP recalls: “Feeling like there was no way out of this I decided to go ahead and collect only $2,3 million (half the prize) plus bonus which was $61 000 in VIP points because I was not getting anywhere and I felt that the VIP manager was not honest because he was changing and using words one day and the next day there was always something else. So to collect most of my winnings and make sure I was getting it I did as per their request.

“I was forced to collect what they offered to a total sum of $2,3 million I was so upset that on our last conversation I requested a witness and also recorded the whole conversation when all the sums and terms were discussed with them in order to finanlise the 2,3 mill. I made the VIP [casino representative] talk and asked him how much was my total winnings how much I had lost as per their requests and my bonus points? He summarised it and he stated at the end that he had erased my account balance, after which I tried to re log in and was unsuccessful. I guess they have blocked my account.”

Since this incident, the Joyland brand along with the playerbase (but not the actual company, we are informed) was transferred to William Hill Online as part of the “Purchased Assets” in a widely reported major deal with Playtech (see previous InfoPowa reports)

But William Hill have washed their hands of the affair, judging by statements made to Casinomeister owner Bryan Bailey by a Will Hill exec.

Playtech has thus far been less than forthcoming when approached by Bailey, leaving some major question marks over what happened here:

1) Is it Playtech policy to allow licensees to do what they like with the progressive prize once it has been paid to them by the network? A full payout is what players anticipate when they hit the big one – not offers of half the prize or payments to eternity.

2) Where is the missing almost $2 million left after the player was only paid half the prize? And to whom should it rightfully belong? Joyland? Playtech’s progressive network?

The storm of criticism that has swirled around this issue has resulted in players and webmasters on information sites gearing up to compile a list of those online casinos that have this sort of constraint on payments of progressive jackpot prizes, so that players can be warned in advance to carefully check the relevant T&C before deciding whether they wish to play the progressives at a particular establishment.

Thus far, the nascent list contains the following:

32Vegas
Goldenpalace
WilliamHillcasino
playgate
carnavalcasino.com
eurogrand
casinotropez
zodiacbingo
majesticcomet.com
grandplaycasino.com
rubybingo.com
bettercasino
city club casino

Obviously in touch with player sentiments and the developing list, two online casinos, Betfred and Bet365 have assured players that they will honour the expectation that any progressive jackpot won will be paid out without delay and in full.

This issue has triggered investigations of online casino T&Cs across the Internet as the list is developed, and could have important implications for progressives providers which pay jackpots in one tranche and immediately like Cryptologic and Microgaming…and perhaps in a negative sense for those that do not.

The Irish newspaper The Independent reports that Betjacks.ie has been finally launched following a new contract signed only last year. This latest on-line gambling site expects to attract customers mostly from Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada.

Conceived by two ICT veterans back in 2006, Betjacks.ie is Ireland’s first and only dedicated on-line betting and gaming site that uses the latest gaming platform. Messrs. Brian Nesbit and Eamon Garland say their company offers a rich media experience and excellent peer-to-peer gaming applications fully compatible with the next generation of networking solutions.

The managing director of Betjacks.ie, Mr. Damien Levingston, says that when they decided on putting up a new site, they mainly focused on creating a unique user-friendly experience that will develop loyalty and easier communication feedbacks from end users. of loyalty and communication with the end user.”
Using Cryptologic’s latest software called WagerLogic, this new site offers a wide choice of the most popular on-line sports betting, casino games, all poker variants and even bingo games. The technical director of Betjacks.ie, Mr. Garland, assures clients and members that they will get the best possible deals when playing at his site. Fairness and integrity will be the hallmarks of this site, he added. As a step further towards those goals, Betjacks.ie has partnered with the developers of the top gaming industry platforms in conjunction with well-respected payment solutions providers to give all players a totally safe, exciting, fun and wholly secure gaming environment.

Games software developer Wideload Shorts is soon to launch for Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Arcade a new poker game branded Texas Cheat ‘Em, which will support avatars, party chat, online multiplayer, matchmaking and high score tables for a full-spectrum online play experience.

Wideload punts the new offering as: “There’s No Limit to the fast-paced, frenetic fun in Texas Cheat ‘Em. This game is a new take on the classic Texas Hold ‘Em rules, turning an average online poker table upside down by layering party games and other gambling minigames on top of the basic rules, and allowing players to cheat to win.

“Cheating is fundamental in Texas Cheat ‘Em! Cheat attacks are earned by players through more than a dozen minigames, so time usually spent waiting for others to deal or bet in online poker is replaced with loads of fun as players hoodwink their opponents. The game offers single-player as well as multiplayer options for up to eight players for a truly unique and robust gameplay experience.

The Netherlands has been fertile ground for hosting a series of affiliate conferences geared towards the online gambling community. But the Dutch Government over the past year has begun cracking down on the activity itself, taking a stance similar to that of the United States. Known for its tolerance of prostitution and pot, Holland wants to protect its own state run casino – the Holland Casino.

The European Union, expressing discord with America for its stance on Internet gambling, is beginning to realize they must first harness their own. Holland is a member of the European Union.

The EU has initiated an investigation into Dutch efforts to stop banks processing payments for online betting services, the Telegraaf reported on Friday.

‘The European Commissioner has asked the appropriate services to start an investigation into the banking blockade,’ a spokesman for commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the Telegraaf. ‘As far as we are aware, the Netherlands is the only country in Europe to do such a thing.’

Holland’s justice ministry ordered banks to stop accepting transactions for Internet gambling services or face potential legal action.

A survey in January said the Dutch are spending €450m a year on illegal internet gambling.

Yesterday, British online betting group Betfair said it was taking legal action against the Dutch ban on Internet gambling which it claims breaks single market rules.

Times are tough all over. People are getting laid off. Their houses are worth less than they paid, or even the amount they owe on them. Their retirement savings have collapsed. Their credit card debt is off the charts.

So, what is the response of their elected leaders here in progressive Massachusetts, home of undying empathy and compassion for “hard-working people” and “the most vulnerable among us”?

Take even more money away from them, through more taxes and more gambling.

Of course, it is all done in very genteel, civilized fashion. The Orwellian abuse of plain language is elevated to high art. The mayors — including Salem’s Kim Driscoll — and labor unions pushing for more taxes and more gambling, call themselves the Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth. Nobody is ever so gauche as to say the words “taxes” or “gambling.” It is “revenue” and “gaming.”

Everybody is well dressed and well spoken — well, maybe Boston Mayor Tom Menino isn’t so well spoken, but it doesn’t seem to matter. He keeps getting re-elected. All the talk is about services, about infrastructure, about education, about local aid to cities and towns.

Legislative leaders, including state Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, chairman of the House Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee, speak of “best practices” and keeping tourism money from wandering into Connecticut or New Hampshire.

Basically, you’re supposed to think of it as government giving you something.

You’re not supposed to think about where the money it gives you comes from. It wouldn’t work so well to figure out that you give them 10 bucks and they give you two or three, or less, back.

Here is the less euphemistic reality. There are more taxes coming at you from every direction. In the works right now (in the form of budget amendments filed by your representatives) are proposed new or increased taxes on meals, on hotel rooms, on liquor, tobacco, candy and soft drinks. Taxes on nonprofit organizations. Taxes on e-mail, Internet sales and online banking. Higher taxes on gasoline. Some legislators are pushing for increases in the sales and income tax, as well.

And, of course, you can almost see the dollar signs in the eyes of legislators considering the prospect of people voluntarily letting more than $1 billion get sucked out of their pockets by slot machines and/or casinos.

According to the “gaming” industry’s estimates, three resort casinos in Massachusetts would produce nearly $500 million in new tax revenue, create 10,000 construction jobs and 20,000 related jobs, and generate another $400 million in spinoff business.

Of course, that $500 million, if that much really is generated, will disappear like a puff of smoke into the pockets of public employee unions to make up for the allegedly huge sacrifices they made by deferring raises or taking one or two furlough days. It won’t provide any new or improved services.

And that is what this is all about. It is not about funding reform or really fixing our bloated, inefficient and crumbling transportation structure. It is about using taxes and predatory gambling (slots are generally known as the “crack cocaine” of gambling) to perpetuate business as usual.

Meanwhile, nobody wants to hear the voice of Richard Young, president of Casino Free Mass, who cites other studies showing that for every dollar the state gets from casinos or slots, it will have to spend another $3 dealing with “social costs” like increased crime, lost work time, bankruptcy and family disintegration.

Nobody wants to hear that the bulk of the money coming from gambling is coming from those who can least afford to lose it.

No, that will all be drowned out by voices like that of Senate President Therese Murray. “Ka-ching,” she said recently, moving her hand like a slot player. “We need the revenue.”

Of course, this recession will eventually end. But all these new and increased taxes and gambling palaces will remain. And the next time the economy tanks, and state and municipal budgets are twice what they are now, you will hear the same story.

Pinnacle Entertainment(PNK Quote) shares moved higher on Friday as the casino company reported first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.
Pinnacle reported earnings from continuing operations of $1.2 million, or 2 cents per share on lower pre-opening and development costs, compared with a loss $15.8 million, or 26 cents per share in the prior-year period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who were expecting a loss of 3 cents per share.

Pinnacle shares were trading up 8%, or 86 cents to $11.59.

The $269 million in revenue also beat Wall Street’s forecast of $265.3 million.

Pinnacle, based in Las Vegas, Nev., operates seven casinos in the U.S., mostly, in Louisiana, Indiana, Missouri and Nevada.

Elsewhere in casino land, shares of Las Vegas Sands(LVS Quote) were up 12.7% to $7.05 of volume of more than 27 million shares.

Penn National Gaming(PENN Quote), which reported an upbeat quarter Thursday, was up 6.8% to $32.86.

The results impressed JPMorgan gaming analyst Joseph Greff: “We continue to believe that PENN is well positioned in relatively healthy regional gaming markets, possesses a strong competitive positioning in these markets, and has the ability to extract margin improvement even on flat year-over-year revenue performance,” he wrote in a note late Thursday. “We are also raising our year-end 2009 price target to $34 from $31, which assumes that PENN can trade at 7.5x 2010E EV/EBITDA by the end of the year.”

MGM Mirage(MGM Quote) was up 5% to $6.01.

Boyd Gaming(BYD Quote) was up 11.4% to $7.32.

Wynn Entertainment(WYNN Quote) was up 4.8% to $38.18.

Isle of Capri Casinos(ISLE Quote) was up 6.8% to $9.60.

Ameristar Casinos(ASCA Quote) was up 2.9% to $15.51.

Boss Media signs long-term contract with Gaming VC
Gaming VC Holdings SA, a leading European Internet gaming and sportsbetting firm, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with famed software provider Boss Media AB. The contract was for the provision of instant –play games that further improves its present software suite from Boss.
Boss Media is the current provider of Gaming VC’s casino downloads, poker game variants, back office support systems and on-line payment services going back to 2004. This successful partnership between the two Internet-related firms will be strengthened some more with the new agreement. Specifically, Gaming VC will utilize Boss Media’s industry leading state-of-the-art Instant Casino software package that includes additional mesmerizing games developed by Dynamite Idea and Finsoft., a spokesman for Boss Media revealed only this week.
Mr. Rahul Parek, the CEO of Boss Media claims this new strategic partnership reaffirms the superiority of Boss Media’s product suites and enhances its overall market position. He was extremely delighted to have renewed his company’s tie-up with one of Europe’s leading gaming sites.
On the other hand, Mr. Kenneth Alexander, the CEO of Gaming VC, states the strategic contract with Boss Media will enable his to company pursue long-term stability and healthy growth rates in the years to come. Boss Media, without doubt, can deliver on leading-edge digital content and also liquidity to the business, he added.
Gaming VC is a force in the gaming industry with several subsidiaries like Casino Club, Casino Club Poker, Poker Kings, BetPro, Betaland, 777 Slots Club, Affiliate Club and WinZingo.

Investigators are looking into gambling as the possible motivation for a Boston medical student accused of targeting women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist, luring them into hotels to rob them and killing one woman who fought back.
Philip Markoff is accused in the death of Julissa Brisman, a masseuse who was found dead April 14 in a Boston hotel after being bashed in the head and shot three times. He’s also suspected of robbing and tying up another, and police have said there could be more victims.
A Connecticut casino has confirmed it is cooperating with authorities investigating Markoff’s gambling habits.
Markoff was arrested on Monday on Interstate 95 in Massachusetts as he and his fiancee drove to Foxwoods Resort Casino.
“We do not release information publicly concerning individual patrons; however, we are aware of this situation and are cooperating with the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” the casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation said in a statement.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley refused to comment directly on reports that Markoff might have been seeking money to pay gambling debts.
“As we explore various motives for the robberies, gambling is certainly a motive that we will look at,” he said.
Authorities have portrayed Markoff as a predator.
“This was a brutal, vicious crime – savage, and it shows Philip Markoff is a man who is willing to take advantage of women, to hurt them, to beat them, to rob them,” Conley said Tuesday. “He probably thought he was going to get away with it. He thought he was too smart for us.”
Markoff’s fiancee, Megan McAllister, is standing by her man and swore he couldn’t hurt a fly.
But Markoff’s former medical school lab partner at Boston University said she is not surprised that he’s a suspect in the case because he had profound mood swings and often appeared “disturbed.”
Markoff would appear warm and friendly one day, then be brooding and depressed the next day, Tiffany Montgomery told The Boston Globe. She was so troubled that she considered alerting school counselors that he might be suicidal.
He spoke only when someone else initiated a conversation, and although he seemed nice, he was also “strange in a dark way,” she said.
Police also said they found a semiautomatic weapon, duct tape and restraints – what prosecutors called “critical, powerful” evidence – in the couple’s Quincy apartment.
Markoff, a second-year medical student, appeared in court Tuesday on charges including murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. Dressed in a wrinkled button-down shirt and khakis, he said nothing during the brief hearing and was jailed without bail.
Defense attorney John Salsberg said later that Markoff is not guilty and “has his family’s support.”
ABC News, citing an anonymous source who has knowledge of the investigation, reported on Tuesday that Markoff gambled all night at the Foxwoods Casino two days after Brisman’s death, leaving with $5,300 in winnings.
He also gambled at the casino two days after the attack on another woman at the Westin Hotel in Boston, said the source, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity.
A police source close to the investigation told ABC News this week that police believe Markoff’s motive in the alleged crimes was to pay off gambling debts.
Brisman, 26, of New York City, was an aspiring model and actress who had advertised erotic massage on Craigslist. Authorities said she and Markoff communicated through e-mail and cell phone to set up a meeting.
Investigators traced an e-mail to Markoff, who created a new address the day before Brisman’s body was discovered at the Marriott Copley Hotel. He was arrested Monday on his way to the casino.
Authorities say he was the man seen on surveillance video near where Brisman was found and where a woman was robbed in Rhode Island.
Markoff’s grandfather, Jerome Markoff, a lawyer from Arnold, Md., said he was shocked.
“This is not my grandson. I know my grandson,” he told The Boston Globe. “I hate to see a rush to judgment … He’s a wonderful boy, just absolutely wonderful, and couldn’t be better. I’m proud of him and proud of his abilities as a medical student. He always wanted to be a doctor.”
Markoff’s grandfather did not immediately respond to a call from The Associated Press. Police said his grandson has no prior criminal record.
Markoff is also suspected in the attempted robbery Thursday in Warwick, R.I., of a stripper who had posted an ad on Craigslist. She was held at gunpoint before her husband entered the room and her attacker fled.
Markoff’s mother, Susan Haynes, declined to comment through a receptionist at her apartment complex in Sherrill, N.Y., where Markoff went to high school.
He graduated in 2007 from the State University of New York at Albany.
Boston University has said Markoff was suspended immediately following his arrest.
The McAllister family did not answer the door of their Little Silver, N.J., home Tuesday.

Silversands could be under pressure as SA’s regulation of online gambling comes into effect

The most prolific online poker advertiser on South African national television, Silversands Poker, could be about to face difficulties with the South African authorities as that country’s long-anticipated Internet gambling regulations come into effect, reports Business Day.

Published in the Government Gazette for public comment in February this year, the legislation making online gambling a licensed activity is nearing inception….and one of its stipulations is that any operator that works illegally will not be allowed to apply for a licence or advertise its services within the boundaries of South Africa.

Silversands has until now taken advantage of a regulatory void and continues to operate illegally, raising the ire of both the National Gambling Board (NGB) and the [land] industry, the newspaper reports.

Thebi Moja, acting CEO of the NGB, told Business Day that the board and various law enforcement bodies are trying to put a stop to Silversands’ operations. “They know very well that they are operating illegally and we have for a number of years attempted to put a stop to their activities,” he said. “If we are able to prevent them from operating in South Africa that would be a big victory.”

The board is taking a hard line against illegal online gaming. Moja cities the example of a South African who won SA Rands 8 millions ($800 000) on an offshore online gaming site but was prevented by the South African authorities from bringing the funds into the country.

The local land gambling industry is also frustrated at being unable to compete with the likes of Silversands. Last year the Casino Association of SA (Casa) unsuccessfully lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the country regarding the Silversands television and print adverts.

“We have let it ride for now. There was no point in pursuing Silversands as there is no regulation yet to hold them to,” says Casa CEO Derek Auret, explaining that Silversands repositioned their adverts as an educational campaign, claiming to teach people how to play poker rather than as an online gaming site per se.

National Gambling Board spokesmen are hopeful that the new licensing regime will be in place within the next few months, provided that the public consultative phase does not result in significant changes to the proposed regulations, which have already been subjected to extensive debate.

Under the proposed regulations South Africans wanting to play online will have to open a nominated South African bank account that will be used solely for online gaming. Only credit cards can be used to make payments, and the accounts will have to adhere to normal banking and FICA requirements.

“We will work together with the banks and the SA Reserve Bank to monitor the accounts and players will not be permitted to have more than R20 000 in their accounts at any point,” says Moja.

Once the regulations are in place, the NGB envisages issuing 10 online licences to South African operators, Business Day reports. Licensees will be required to have their servers based in SA.

The South African horse racing and betting group Phumelela CEO Rian du Plessis has confirmed that his group will seek a licence once the regulations are in place.

Anthony Puttergill, CEO of the land casino group Peermont, says they too will apply when the licences become available. Puttergill believes there is huge growth potential in the online environment, particularly as internet penetration in SA increases. He estimates the market at between R400 million and R1 billion at present.

The proposed Interactive Gambling Tax Bill provides for a tax on online operators of 6 percent of gross gambling revenue.

Meanwhile, Professor Don Ross, research director at the National Responsible Gambling Programme in South Africa, has been considering the likely impact of regulated online gambling in the country.

“On a theoretical level, online gaming’s increased accessibility should make it more dangerous than traditional gaming,” Ross said in a recent interview. “But from the limited investigation we have done, that does not seem to be the reality.”

However, Ross believes that easy access to credit may be a bigger problem than addiction itself. “It can be said that people may not fully appreciate the financial implications of using credit and it could get even responsible gamblers into trouble,” he suggested, adding that limiting online accounts to R20 000, as proposed in the new online gaming regulations, was a prudent regulatory feature.

Do New Jerseyans want to be able to wager on professional sports events at Atlantic City casinos or horse racing tracks? You bet!

A new poll shows state residents favor legalizing sports betting in the nation’s second-largest gambling market by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll comes shortly after a state lawmaker, an online gambling association and others sued the U.S. Justice Department to overturn a law that restricts sports betting to only four states. Sen. Ray Lesniak says New Jersey and other states are missing out on a large source of revenue that’s now going to organized crime.

Pro sports leagues oppose the idea, arguing against anything that casts a shadow on the integrity of the games.

“Betting on sports is not an uncommon practice for many New Jerseyans,” said Donald Hoover, a professor in the university’s International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and a former casino executive. “But for the most part, the state doesn’t supervise it, doesn’t tax it and doesn’t take any revenue from it.”

That is one of the main arguments Lesniak and others make in favor of opening up sports betting to the 46 states where it is currently banned. Estimates of illegal sports betting in the United States vary widely, but range as high as $380 billion a year, according to the National Gaming Impact Study Commission.

A consultant hired by one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, estimated that sports betting could become a $10 billion-a-year industry in New Jersey by 2011 if it were permitted in casinos, at racetracks, online and by telephone. That could generate nearly $100 million a year in tax revenues for the state, according to the group’s CEO, Joseph Brennan.

In the poll, 63 percent of New Jerseyans said they support making sports betting legal at the 11 Atlantic City casinos, while 32 percent opposed it. Men favored it by a 69-27 margin, while women’s support was softer at 58-36.

The poll also found similarly strong support for allowing sports betting at horse racing tracks, by a margin of 63 percent to 30 percent.

But voters were nearly split on whether to allow it at off-track betting parlors, with 48 percent saying yes and 43 percent saying no.

By a wide margin, 66 to 26 percent, New Jerseyans oppose legalizing sports betting by telephone and the Internet.

The statewide telephone poll of 728 randomly selected registered voters was conducted from March 30 through April 4. It has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Lesniak’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, seeks to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The 1992 law restricts sports betting to the four states that met a deadline to sign up for it: Nevada, where Las Vegas sports books determine the odds for sporting events across the country; Delaware; Montana; and Oregon.

The law carved out a special exemption for New Jersey, giving it a chance to decide if it wanted legal sports betting. The state failed to enact a law that would have done so, and the exemption window closed.

The lawsuit argues that the U.S. law is unconstitutional because it treats four states differently than the 46 others. It names U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Ralph Marra Jr., New Jersey’s acting U.S. attorney, as defendants.

The Justice Department has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.