Archive for the ‘Online Casinos’ Category
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Yesterday Florida hosted their primary elections for the upcoming November general election. Up for grabs in the general election will be a seat in the Senate and the governor’s chair. And the winners of both could have a big impact on the future of blackjack in the state of Florida and on online gambling for the nation.
Naturally the Republican and Democrat split can be also put like this: anti-gambling and pro-gambling.
The Republican candidate for governor is Rick Scott, who is not in favor of expanding the casino offerings in Florida. This could mean that when the five year blackjack exclusivity in the Seminole compact expires, Scott might not allow for further negotiations, possibly pulling blackjack out from under the Seminoles. He could also pull back the extended hours and higher limit on poker that pari-mutuels now have.
On the other side is Alex Sink, the Democrat candidate. Overall, the Democrats have a more liberal view of gambling within Florida, seeing it as a source of income and an addition to the tourist industry, which has been down—it seems that Disney is monetarily out of reach for some families and that Harry Potter is not drawing as much tourism as expected.
And there is a third governor candidate—Charlie Crist is running in the Independent party. And after his battle with state lawmakers over the Seminole compact we all know what his stance on blackjack and casinos in that state is. Maybe next time he will be able to definitely send the money to Education.
Let’s not forget the Senate race. This comes down to Marco Rubio, Republican, and Kendrick Meek, Democrat. And this race could have an impact on the future of legalizing online gambling and regulating it.
Rubio is strongly against online gambling. However, Meek, being a Democrat could vote in favor of Rep. Barney Frank’s bill to repeal UIGEA and set up a structure of regulating online gambling in the U.S. If Frank has to table his bill until next year, the Florida Senate seat will have an impact on what is looking like a close race to approve Frank’s bill.
Those in favor of online gambling and Floridian blackjack players will be keeping an eye on the upcoming November Florida general election.
Tags: Alex Sink, Barney Frank, Blackjack, Casino Games, Casinos, Charlie Crist, Florida, Kendrick Meek, Legalize Blackjack, Legalize Gambling, Marco Rubio, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, Rick Scott, Seminole Tribe, Seminoles, UIGEA
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Ever heard of Casinoville? Sounds a lot like that Farmville that is so popular on Facebook. If you like your blackjack and ever wondered what it would be like to own your own casino then this Facebook game is right up your alley.
Okay, I was half joking. There is no Facebook online game called Casinoville…although with all of the Ville online games on Facebook I am surprise there is not a Casinoville yet.
However if you want to get your blackjack and casino owning fun on there is a Facebook online game for you.
Last Legion has created and released a Facebook game called Golden Nugget Vegas Casino. In this Facebook game players can build their very own casino to manage. Online. Yes, I know, you would be online building a brick and mortar casino to play in online. This is kind of like one of those mirror in a mirror things.
But not only do players of Golden Nugget get to build and manage their own casinos—like those Ville Facebook games—they can play in them too. You can play blackjack, video poker and roulette. To win chips to do more things to your casino.
It seems the chips are the key to the game. Players can play in their own casino for chips, or they can visit their friends’ casinos and play there for chips.
Part of managing your own casino in this game is to draw in non-player patrons and win their money off of them. Talk about the shoe being on the other foot. But if you get bored of playing the house you can always roam the floor of your own casino and play blackjack all you want.
And unlike all of those Ville games, Golden Nugget is played entirely with fake money—those chips I spoke of. The chips are in game money that do not cost a single penny of your real money. So Last Legion and Golden Nugget are not angling for your cash…for now.
CEO of Last Legion, Seth Gearson, says, “It’s pretty satisfying to actually generate in-game money in a way other than the classic social game format.” Translation: You do not have to harvest crops to earn money—you merely win it off of your friends…which is in the true spirit of gambling.
I suppose you could think of it as a garage game of blackjack in which you take your friends chips. Only this is all on Facebook where you can make a cute little casino avatar of yourself.
Oh, and since this is your own casino you can have all of the blackjack tables you want.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack online, Blackjack player, Blackjack Variations, Casino Games, Casinos, Facebook, Golden Nugget, Golden nugget Vegas Casino, Last Legion, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack, Seth Gearson
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
Barney Frank’s bill, HR2267, which would legalize and regulate online gambling in the United States, is taking a step forward. And hopefully this means that we are one step closer to being able to play online blackjack in the States.
Tomorrow, July 27th, HR2267 moves into markup. When a bill is in markup it is discussed, amended and rewritten if necessary. In the case of HR2267 it is intended to find ways to appease those who are opposed to it. But the point of the bill is still to regulate online gambling.
If Frank can get HR2267 to pass in the House and Senate, and get it signed into law, every state would be able to choose if they would like to regulate online gambling in their state. Having regulated online gambling not only would legalize it for US citizens, and bring in much need revenue on both the state and federal levels.
How much money?
Well the Joint Committee on Taxation has figured that by legalizing online gambling and regulating it that could make about $42 billion for the government over the course of ten years. As for the states, they would be looking at about $30 billion going into their coffers.
And I do not know of a state that does not need the revenue.
But first HR2267 must overcome its opposition. It seems that the most opposition comes from religious conservatives who feel that online gambling would corrupt Americans. In response Republican Congressman John Campbell had this to say:
“I don’t gamble. I don’t partake in it, but freedom is not about legislating what I like to do. Freedom is about allowing Americans to do what they want to do.”
And in that statement, Campbell hits it on the head. Professional poker player Annie Duke was right behind Campbell, saying, “HR2267 provides this freedom in a safe and regulated environment and I urge everyone on this Committee to support this common sense policy. However, you feel about gambling on the internet, I would suggest that gambling with freedom is far more risky.”
Hopefully HR2267 on legalizing online gambling and regulating it can be moved through markup by Frank and on to the House. Americans want to play their blackjack, poker, slots and more online, and with this country being founded on freedom, why should Americans be told how to spend their entertainment money.
Tags: Annie Duke, Barney Frank, Blackjack, Blackjack player, HR2267, Legalize Blackjack, Legalize Gambling, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
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Monday, July 19th, 2010
Online blackjack players have just received another point in their corner in the democrats attempt to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).
For those online blackjack players who have not been following closely, the last session ended without Representative Barney Frank being able to get his bill, Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, up for debate. Frank’s bill would overturn UIGEA and also set the stage of the United States to regulate and tax online gambling.
Once his committee, the House Finance Committee, finishes their debate on Frank’s bill, it will then be passed on to the entire House. And if the House finishes its debate and passes the legislation guess where Frank’s bill goes next. That’s right, it will go to the Senate and so on. You see how this works.
So what has happened to make another step towards online blackjack being legal?
There is a change in West Virginia’s seat in the Senate: Carte Goodwin will be in place of Robert Byrd. And Goodwin is a Democrat. He is a favorite to take up Byrd’s seat in November vote in West Virginia.
But while Goodwin is the favorite to win the West Virginia seat, it is possible that someone else could be voted in. But for now, Goodwin is in Byrd’s seat which puts another Democrat in the Senate.
If Frank can get his bill pushed through the House Finance Committee and through the House overall, and get it to the Senate before the West Virginia November elections, it will give online gambling one more pro vote.
But while Frank’s bill does have a handful of Republican co-sponsors, he is still going to need each and every Democratic vote. Goodwin will be one more Democratic vote. And that extra vote is happy online gambling news for online blackjack players.
Here is to hoping that Frank will get his bill pushed through and voted on before November while he still has Goodwin in the Senate.
Tags: Barney Frank, Blackjack, Blackjack player, Carte Goodwin, Casino Games, Casinos, House Finance Committee, Legalize Blackjack, Legalize Gambling, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack, Robert Byrd, UIGEA
Posted in Online Blackjack, Online Casinos | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Recently I wrote a short series about blackjack tournament strategy. This can be owed to my rediscovering the fun of playing in an online blackjack tournament.
Blackjack is a player versus dealer kind of game. You might have other players at the table but their hand does not affect yours. You could win and they could lose and that is just the way blackjack goes.
But on occasion blackjack players want a little more from their favorite online casino game. And this comes in the form of a blackjack tournament. In a blackjack tournament suddenly those other layers matter. It matters what they are wagering and how they are playing.
In a typical brick and mortar blackjack tournament there will be several rounds of play. The rounds will either be timed or have a certain number of hands to play per round. The player with the highest chip count will advance to the next round. This keeps going until there is only one table, and the player with the highest chip count wins.
Online blackjack tournaments will typically work a little bit differently. Players sign up and then sign on at the start of the tournament. Since online tournaments have a set time limit, players will usually play until the time limit runs out. Whoever has the highest tournament balance is the winner.
Playing in an online blackjack tournament does not offer the same pressure as a blackjack tournament in a brick and mortar casino because you are not actually face to face with the other players. This makes online blackjack tournaments a good way for novice blackjack players to get into tournaments and become comfortable with competing with other players.
If you are looking for an inexpensive blackjack tournament at an online casino to try I recommend the tournaments offered at Go Casino. They fun for twenty-four hour periods every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The entry fee is only $0.99 and it gives you 50 tournament credits; rebuys are allowed for $2.49 for another 50 tournament credits.
Tags: Blackjack, Blackjack player, Blackjack Tips., Blackjack tournament, Casino Games, Go Casino, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Online Blackjack Tournament, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Well, it is the beginning of June. And that means that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is now in effect.
But really do not expect things to change for those who play in online casinos and gamble online. The actual implementation and action of UIGEA does not rest on the shoulders of those of us who play blackjack online, or slots online, or poker or any other online casino game. That is correct. The UIGEA does not actually focus enforcement on the players.
Rather the enforcement and implementation rests in the hands of financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies. Under UIGEA banks and credit card companies are the ones responsible for stopping all transactions to and from online casinos.
And that is why those who play online casino games will probably not be as affected by the UIGEA as they might think. See, online casinos are on the clever side. They use coding so that banks and credit card companies will not recognize that the funds to or from an online casino will not be recognized.
The UIGEA says, in short, that banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions cannot knowingly process transactions to or from online casinos. But if, thanks to the coding used by online casinos, banks and credit card companies do not recognize that the transactions are going to and from online casinos then they will not be able to stop them. And because they are not knowingly processing the transactions, it makes them ‘not guilty.’
Take MasterCard for instance. A few months ago MasterCard quit processing transactions in which players were trying use their cards to make deposits to an online casino. However, players are still able to make deposits to their playing accounts. This is because MasterCard does not know that these transactions are to an online casino because of the coding online casinos are using.
So I am not saying that the UIGEA does not change anything, we will certainly see its impact, the UIGEA will probably not have the effect that lawmakers had intended.
So we can all hope that Rep. Barney Frank will succeed in passing his bill on regulating online gambling. If his bill passes then the UIGEA will be over turned. But we will have to wait as he is waiting. And analysts believe that Frank will now hold off on trying to overturn the UIGEA in hopes that voters will become upset with the UIGEA and vote in against the Republicans in November. Until then it seems that we will have to watch ourselves with our online gambling.
Tags: Barney Frank, Blackjack, Blackjack player, Blackjack Tips., Legalize Blackjack, Legalize Gambling, MasterCard, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
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Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Many online blackjack players enjoy taking a break from regular game playing and take some time to play in an online blackjack tournament or two. Some of these players are serious high rolling players and they will seek out online blackjack tournaments with higher limits.
But not everyone wants to play in such a tournament; they would rather play in an online blackjack tournament with less pressure—especially if they are just breaking into online tournament play.
For online blackjack players who are new to tournaments or who are just new to playing their favorite casino game online, low entry tournaments are a nice alternative.
And thankfully there are a couple of online casinos that offer low entry tournaments. How low is low? Try a $0.99 entry fee. Now, that is low. In fact, it does not get lower than that unless you are playing in some low entry online slots tournaments. But you are a blackjack player, and $0.99 is as low as blackjack tournaments online get.
These online blackjack tournaments happen every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8pm on the starting day to 8pm on the next day. In other words, these are 24 hour tournaments. Players are given 50 tournament credits to play with; rebuys are $2.49. Players are playing for a percentage of the Pot. As for the variation of online blackjack being used, it is Vegas Strip.
This type of online blackjack tournament is great for those that are novices at online tournaments and for those who like the thrill of a tournament but do not want to drop a large entry fee or “invest” a large entry fee.
Now the names of the two online casinos that were nice enough to offer novice tournament players and for-fun tournament players to play for such a low cost: Online Vegas and Go Casino.
Online Vegas is a Vegas technology powered online casino and licensed out of Cyprus; it has a payout percentage of 97.8%.
Go Casino is newer online casino licensed out of Curacao with a payout percentage of 97.1%, it also is powered by Vegas Technology.
To get in on this $0.99 online blackjack tournament action every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, click over to Online Vegas or Go Casino.
Tags: Blackjack Payout, Blackjack player, Blackjack Tips., Blackjack tournament, Go Casino, How to play Blackjack, Online Blackjack, Online Blackjack Tournament, Online Casinos, Online Vegas, play Blackjack
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Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
New Jersey is one of the leading regulators of the brick and mortar casino industry. So it isn’t any surprise that those in the U.S. are eyeing them as the potential first to regulate online gambling for their state.
In fact, there are two bills in the state’s Senate and Assembly. And they both have bipartisan support too.
What these two bills are aiming to do is allow brick and mortar casinos the chance to apply for licenses to operate some online gambling services, which are to include online blackjack.
The way the bills are structured is that brick and mortar casinos that would like to add online gambling services to their casinos games would have to pay a $200,000 licensing fee for the first year. This would be followed by $100,000 renewal fee every year thereafter, as well as having the profits from online gambling games taxed 20%.
There are those that are opposed to these bills, saying that by legalizing and regulating online gambling within New Jersey the amount of people addicted to gambling will increase. However, to address these concerns, the two bills also have in them that $100,000 each year will be put into programs to prevent gambling addictions and to help those with gambling addictions.
You have to love a bill that wants to legalize online gambling and is still concerning itself with gambling addiction.
Recently California tried to put through a bill that would legalize online gambling in their state, but was met with opposition from tribes in the state. The bill never passed.
New Jersey has a more favorable chance of getting their bills passed because they don’t have any tribes within their state that are recognized by the federal government.
We’ll have to sit back and see how this one plays out. But here’s to hoping that New Jersey can get these bills passed and be the first state to legalize online gambling. Perhaps if the federal government sees states beginning to legalizing online gambling, they’ll work on it themselves.
Tags: Blackjack, California, Casino Games, Casinos, Legalize Blackjack, Legalize Gambling, Legalize Online Gambling, New Jersey, Online Blackjack, Online Casinos, play Blackjack
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Friday, May 14th, 2010
What needs to be done for the good of this country’s revenue seems to be taking a backseat to the clash of Democrats and Republicans. It’s no longer about do we legalize online gambling for revenue, but about who’s in power.
And it’s a back and forth thing.
First a review. Representative Barney Frank has introduced two bills to the House. One is written to do away with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The other bill is to pave the way and lay the foundation for the U.S. to have a regulated internet gambling industry. And that would mean revenue for this country, which is badly needed.
On top of Frank’s bills is one introduced by Representative Jim McDermott. McDermott’s bill is designed to set up taxation of a U.S. regulated online gambling industry.
Now comes the political power struggle.
UIGEA was supposed to go into effect in December, however, lobbying created a six month delay. Frank’s hearing for his bills was supposed to happen before the rules take effect.
So the Republicans get UIGEA created and the Democrats delay it so that their Frank could come in and try to get his bills passed, which would wipe out UIGEA and get the U.S. geared up to have its own regulation. (Republicans-1, Democrats-1)
Next, Frank’s hearing is delayed and the implementation of UIGEA is in less than three weeks. So it’s now unlikely that Frank’s bills will get passed before UIGEA goes into effect. (Republicans-2, Democrats-1).
Now here’s where it gets a bit clever. Frank is going to wait to have his hearing on his bills and McDermott’s. Why wait though? Why not fight right up until June 1st?
Think about it, if UIGEA goes into effect there will be millions of Americans who won’t be able to play their blackjack, poker and slots. They will be quite unhappy to have a preferred form of entertainment taken away “for their own good.” And in November is an election…
You see where this is going.
The Democrats are hoping that if enough online gamblers are angry enough at what the Republicans have done that it will give the Democrats the edge. With a majority, the Democrats can push through Frank’s and McDermott’s bills, opening up a source of revenue for the U.S. And giving us back our access to our blackjack, poker and slots. (Potentially, Republicans-2, Democrats-3)
Tags: Barney Frank, Democrats, Jim McDermott, Legalize Online Gambling, Online Blackjack, online gambling industry, online gambling regulation, Republicans, UIGEA
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Thursday, May 13th, 2010
John Stossel is a business anchor for Fox News, and when it comes to the concept of legalizing gambling, he’s a savvy and straight forward guy.
In a recent interview with Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor, Stossel brings up several good points as to why the government should legalize gambling and leave “consenting adults alone.”
The government’s main problem with legalizing online gambling is that it’s a public safety hazard. Mainly one person could go out, be irresponsible and lose all his money and wipe out his family. Ergo, the government says that gambling is a danger to others.
But then Stossel points out that adults can go out, get drunk and crash their car. That would wipe out a family too, in addition to potentially wiping out the lives of others. Yet, as long as you are 21, you’re legal to drink alcohol.
To counter that, it was pointed out to Stossel that the government understood that and enacted prohibition. Stossel then asks us to consider how prohibition turned out. Americans still wanted to drink and they found ways of doing so. Just like how right now Americans want to gamble in online casinos from the comfort of their homes, and they are finding ways to do so.
The problem with this is that the money being made off of Americans gambling isn’t going back into America. It’s going to other companies overseas. We are, in essence, funding other countries.
O’Reilly then brings up the point that if it’s bad for you then it should be banned. Stossel counters that by saying that everything would be banned for public safety because some many things that we like could have a bad impact on us. Like cheeseburgers. Overindulge in those and you could give yourself a heart attack, die and hurt your family. Because you died from a long-term cheeseburger overdose.
Stossel sums himself up by implying that the government can’t mother us all, and to “leave consenting adults alone.’
I like this guy’s point of view. There are a good many things that we do that are harmful to us that are legal, such as cigarettes and liquor. Granted those have age limits on them, but if you’re at least 18 and 21 respectively then you’re legal to use them.
Stossel has another good point about legalizing online gambling. The tax revenue is going overseas rather than funding our own country. And if Americans are going to find a way to play games like blackjack, slots, roulette and poker then go ahead and legalize it and bring the revenue into our own country.
Besides Americans will find a way to gamble online if they really want to.
Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Blackjack, John Stossel, Legalize Gambling, Legalize Online Gambling, Online Blackjack, prohibition, public safety
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