The luminaries of the poker world gathered last weekend to honor Mike Sexton on his induction into the Poker Hall of Fame at the Rio in Las Vegas, where the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table was also being played. This year, Sexton was the only nominee to gain induction, although his name appeared on the ballot alongside players such as November Nine member Phil Ivey.

Mr. Sexton has long been credited with being an “ambassador” for the game. He founded the Tournament of Champions, an invitation-only event for players who had won tournaments earlier in that year. He was also one of the first poker pros to endorse an online poker site, PartyPoker, at the time, the leading online poker site in the world. He also wrote a regular column for Card Player magazine for several years.

As a player, Mr. Sexton has a long list of accomplishments, including winning the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions in 2006 and earning a championship bracelet in the US$1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud High-Low event in 1989. He is one of the leaders in career earnings, with over US$3.7 million, and WSOP cash finishes with forty-five. Mr. Sexton’s charitable efforts were also highlighted in his induction speech, as he has donated a substantial portion of his tournament winnings to children’s charities.

His main contribution to the game in recent years has been as “The Voice of the World Poker Tour”. He has become the “play-by-play” voice of the biggest and most successful poker circuit since it began in 2002. Along with his broadcast partner, former actor Vince Van Patten, Mr. Sexton has called the action at poker tournaments from Paris to Los Angeles and from the Caribbean island of Aruba to the Las Vegas Strip.

Mr. Sexton thanked Mr. Van Patten in his acceptance speech, along with Steven Lipscomb, the creator and producer of the World Poker Tour, and Linda Johnson, the former publisher of Card Player, whom he recommended for induction into the Hall next year. The sixty-two-year-old Sexton also mentioned his wife, Karen, and his eighteen-month-old son, Ty.

Just like anywhere else in the world, people in Australia like to gamble. Not all of them, of course. But enough do to warrant gambling legislation and regulatory measures to ensure the government gets its fair share of revenue spent towards gambling. While land-based casino gambling and sports betting account for the bulk of regulated gambling in Australia, there is “betting activity” that is still unaccountable for.

Take a guess which one that is. Right - since Online Casino Suite is an informational online gambling website, it’s safe to say that I’m referring to online gambling in Australia. In all truth, it simply is ironic that online gambling is illegal in Australia, for one of the first government regulated online casinos to be launched and take real money wagers was an Australia-based destination.

And that’s the kicker. Even though Lasseters is based in Australia, not to mention the fact it is the largest casino operation in Australia’s brick ‘n mortar gambling industry, the Lasseters online casino is not allowed to take bets from Australian citizens. That’s almost as ironic as Alana Morissette’s fly in her Chardonnay.

But here is where things could be changing in the near future. Now that the Australian Federal Productivity Commission (interesting name for a commission, don’t you think?) has released the findings of a study on how gambling has been impacting Australia over the years, policy toward online gambling could be overturned. In fact, the productivity commission has recommended the “online casino ban” be overturned based on the findings of the study, not to mention the fact that the ban is legally questionable and ineffective at protecting Australian citizens and preventing them from gambling online.

4% to be exact. According to the report, 4% of the Australian gambling market is now going to online gambling, which is likely a low estimate at that. Besides the fact that the government could stand to economically gain from taxing that money, the commission says that choosing to enforce an online casino ban is likely to draw lawsuits from legitimate foreign operators on the receiving end of the government’s discriminatory policies.

The commission went on to say that so long as online gambling is unregulated, credit card betting will go unchecked and problem/underage gambling cases will rise. Just when you thought this only happens in the U.S., more evidence supports regulation of online casino sites. Lets hope that both the U.S. and Australia take heed and exercise some good sense.

Flagship online casino for the English Harbour Gaming Ventures Group (EHGV, English Harbour Casino (a fitting name, don’t you think?), has launched four new online casino games, expanding their online portfolio to well over 100 online casino games, 60+ of which are online slots. All four games are slot machines, and are available on both the no-download Flash and download versions of Vegas Technology Software’s cutting edge platform that has been certified for RNG fairness by Certified Fair Gambling (CFG).

The Real Deal slots game probably stands the greatest potential to become one of the more popular slots out there today. It has five-reels and twenty-five paylines, which is a nice middle ground for online slots. It doesn’t get too expensive, while still offering the chance for heavy payouts. What makes this slot stand out are the bonus features. The Real Deal bonus round actually offers a chance at winning 10,000x one’s wager. And with the multiplier’s and scatters offered, we’re talking about some big winnings, especially for high rollers.

All three other new games each offer 20 paylines of action and five reels. “Safari” is themed on the plains of Africa and features bonuses, scatters and wilds. “Super Market” is a fun game themed on the excitement of grocery shopping, and also offers a generous bonus round. “Winter Wonderland” is just in time for the holiday season and features several winning symbol combinations and a generous bonus round as well. For more details on each game, visit the EnglishHarbour.com homepage and click on the links under the “New Games” section.

About English Harbour Casino: English Harbour is one of the EHGV’s longest running online casinos. Launched in 1997, English Harbour has won numerous awards over the years from online gambling magazines, watchdogs and reputable portal sites. Licensed in Antigua and Barbuda, English Harbour Casino offers new players outstanding bonus incentives, including a four-part welcome bonus worth up to $800 Free and $750 in weekly reload bonuses. For more information, read the English Harbour Casino Review.

Due to the grave nature of ID authentication, Betfair has recommended rigorously restricted access to public records.

A report appearing on the popular newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald, indicates that betting giant Betfair recommended to the Australian Commission for Productivity on gambling that scrupulously restricted access to community records such as marriage statistics, statistics for birth and deaths, motor vehicle registries, as well as passport information could become an efficient procedure for betting firms to authenticate players’ IDs. The broad perception has been around in for some time, with European certification establishments like UHU offering some degree of public information with the same end results.

Betfair’s documentation of client’s and prevailing tracking knowhow has been very influential in forestalling numerous betting scams in recent days. Betfair’ s acquiescence indicates that the betting firm”… provides important benefits in calculating and identifying stabs at money laundering or engagements in illusory financial activities permitting more effectual programs for effectual betting. “

According to Betfair best online casino operators would do their best with controlled access to distinct records such as Medicare records, motor vehicle registries, passport information and births, deaths and marriages, for the purpose of authenticating client’s identity in line with federal legal requirements. It added in its recommendation, that Betfair retains a stringent prerequisite that each client must confirm his identity, and that every stake that is put on Betfair, is followed to an individual client.

The committee which will obviously put a spotlight on web base poker machines as well as gambling will present its findings within a year.

If you were upset to see golf pro Tiger Woods fall short again at this year’s U.S. PGA Championship, then you certainly weren’t alone, but your disappointment probably didn’t come with the $2.12 million price tag that online sportsbook Paddy Power’s did.

It’s safe to say this will be the end of Paddy Power’s early payouts. On August 15, the sportsbook posted a cheeky entry to their own blog, jokingly implying that they were crazy to offer early payouts on Woods-win bets, then insisting that Woods was just too good to be defeated. “Do you think we’re going to be caught with our trousers down,” their writer jokingly asked. Turns out they were.

Last Monday, Paddy Power released a less lighthearted statement in which they referred to themselves as “dimwitted.” Bettors that put their money on the actual winner—Y.E. Yang—before the beginning of the tournament made off with payments on odds of 150-to-1, while those that forecasted his win in the final round will get paid on odds of 16-to-1. They weren’t the only winners though; hundreds of Woods fans profited from Paddy Power’s foul prediction to the tune of 1.5 million Euros.

The Station Casinos are local favorites among resident Las Vegas gamblers who frequent them for their cheap rooms, cheap food, and generous players club promotions. They’ve long been a regular feature in the most off-strip locations of Sin City, making it unlikely that the trendier tourists even know they exist, but there can be no doubt there would be a hole in the American gambling industry should the eighteen popular casinos suddenly close their doors. And closure is certainly a possibility with Station Casinos filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday.

The Station Casinos went under new ownership in 2007, but the profitability of the casino chain was greatly diminished by the recent recession. Fortunately all of Station Casinos’ partners and casino operating units were spared the same fate, and the company has already been approved to borrow an additional $150 million. While these factors will spare the casinos from immediate closure, if the economy doesn’t improve soon or if the company does not find a more effective way to restructure its debt then future closures or sellouts seem likely.

This latest bankruptcy comes on the heels of several other filings made by large Vegas gambling operations like the historical Tropicana and the once-powerful Trump Entertainment Resorts.

The Malta-based online scratchcard developer NeoGames has taken an ancient game and given it a 21st century twist in its latest, and fortieth, game offering. Dancing Domino is a mulltiplayer scratchcard game just released online to Neo’s three licensees, Scratch2Cash, Hopa.com and PrimeScratchcards

The developer took the idea of the classic domino game, known among most demographics and turned it into an online scratch game that shows 16 dominos on 2 rows. There are 8 on each row, with 8 scratch areas underneath the bottom row. The idea of the game is to find the perfect number match to win.

The player can pick from 1 - 8 dominos to play. Each domino chosen is classified as a single game, which means that players can have up to 8 games on each card.

Once the Dominos have been chosen, both the player’s and dealer’s Dominos are revealed. If the numbers match, the dominos will dance their way to the centre of the board and show the win. The prize amount will be revealed under the matching pair.

The company has made provision for a GBP 200 000 jackpot in the game.

The relatively new 3D online casino Buzzluck is spreading its wings with an online store, and it’s looking for player participation in the T-shirt design area by launching a competition on the information portal.

Several designs using the Buzzluck logo and its slogan “Never Bored” have already been posted up and displaying some impressive design talent, and the competition is running through to July 13, giving plenty of room for more ideas.

The winner will receive a Euro 250 no-wager-thru bonus in his or her Buzzluck casino account, and the runner-up Euro 100.

Online keno is basically a game of luck so you wouldn’t think strategy would be a major factor. For the most part that is true, but there are some things you can do to increase your chances of winning.

To begin we need to look at online keno as a game of luck. There isn’t much you can do to change this fact but you can understand it. If you are looking at keno as a grind it out type of game where you look to make some profit you are looking at it the wrong way. You need to look at casino keno as a game of chance and a game you can enjoy. You can also look at it as a longshot chance to hit the big score.

Really the only strategy for playing online keno is to go for the big jackpot payoff. It doesn’t happen very often so you should know your chances of hitting it are small, but it is the only thing you can do if you are out to make money at keno. You can’t grind it out in keno because the house edge is too large. You can hope to get lucky and hit a big score. That is the only strategy worth looking at when it comes to casino keno. When playing keno you have to realize that you aren’t going to collect every time. Keno is a game where most of the times you are going to lose some of your money or make very little. That is why you should always go for the big ticket. If you are just going to play three or four numbers then you are going to eventually get worn down by the house edge. Your only real chance is to go for the bigger score. It may never happen, but at least you have a chance. Casino keno is all about enjoying your play more than anything else because the house edge will make it next to impossible to win over the long term without hitting a big jackpot somewhere along the way.

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There is no real strategy that you can use in keno. All you can do is practice smart money management and have a plan of looking for the jackpot score. All you can hope for in any game is a chance to hit the big jackpot. It is those big scores that can make playing any game worthwhile and keno is definitely a jackpot type game.

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A survey conducted by Abac Poll revealed that 59.6 per cent of the respondents opposed the government’s online lottery scheme because it would cause more social problems.

Assumption University’s Abac Poll Research Centre director Noppadon Kannika said on Sunday that the survey involved 1,250 respondents who are over 18 years old in 17 provinces nationwide.

79.7 per cent knew about the online lottery scheme.

77.5 per cent believed people would be able to play lottery easier if it is approved.

74.6 per cent viewed that playing lottery would make people get addicted to gambling.

59.4 per cent said it would encourage youths to play lottery.

Asked whether politicians should be inspected to see if they hold shares in state concessionaires, 75.8 per cent said they should be probed. 52.7 per cent said they had less confidence in the government’s stability after they heard this news.