And lots of it. According to PC Magazine's John Dvorak, in the United Kingdom, Facebook is experimenting with legal gambling online by launching a real money online gambling app. In the United States, Facebook hasn't announced plans for any such gambling initiative, but I agree with Dvorak that someone is likely working on it now. Facebook has been somewhat of a disappointment from the perspective of investors, Read More
Is There Really Money to be Made in Gambling?
If you ask the Shakopee tribe, the answer would be a resounding "yes!" According to the New York Times, a generation ago, the Shakopee Mdewakanton tribe lived in a motley collection of beat-up trailer homes, melting snow for bath water when wells froze over because they lacked indoor plumbing. Three-quarters of tribal members received government food supplements. Today, the Shakopee Mdewakanton are believed to be Read More
Put your Makeup On, Fix your Hair Up Pretty
According to iGaming Business, patrons at casino properties in Atlantic City will soon be able to place wagers using mobile devices after New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed new legislation on Wednesday. The new gaming bill will allow casinos and adjoining hotels in Atlantic City to offer electronic versions of authorised games of chance. Mobile gaming devices will also be authorized to take bets on sporting Read More
The Best Carolina Can Do
With no proper casino to speak of in the Carolinas, the only legal options for gambling enthusiasts are slot machine parlors (including the one run by Harrah's in Cherokee). Earlier this year, the North Carolina Court of Appeals effectively legalized the white trash version of slot machines known as "Sweepstakes" machines. Old women of the Carolinas now have hundreds of places they can go to get their gambling Read More
The Tribal Empire Strikes Back
According to PokerNewsDaily.com, Thursday’s meeting of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs discussed the issue of online gaming, in particular poker, and presented a new twist in the ongoing battle for federal action regarding the subject. During the meeting, committee Chairman and Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka presented a draft of a bill that would allow the Indian gaming community to open up for online gambling Read More
Pay Attention, USA
One comment I have heard from European gambling regulators is that they fear the US will repeat a lot of the mistakes that Europe has made in the past decade of regulating online gaming. As the old saying goes, those who do not learn from the mistakes of their European neighbors are bound to repeat them, or something like that. iGaming Business is reporting that the cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Select Read More
Who Wants Legal Online Gambling in the US Anyway?
As it turns out, the answer is pretty much everyone. A recent survey conducted in the USA regarding the opinions of the American population on legalized online gambling has revealed that 81 percent disagree with the current prohibition on the activity. What propagandist rag published these findings you ask? The Wall Street Journal’s Marketwire published the results of an internet survey of a random selection of Read More
The buzzword of 2012: Convergence!
All indications are that the US is finally starting to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to the convergence of land-based casino gaming with online, social, casual and mobile gaming. We are seeing daily examples of this in the news. Here is a picture that is supposed to illustrate convergence, although to me it looks like rejected artwork from a Journey album cover. One such example was announced Read More
Feds Indict Calvin Ayre – Zero People Surprised
Most of us in the iGaming industry were shocked last year on Black Friday. For me, the shock stemmed not only from what happened, i.e. the surprise shutdown of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker (and the indictment / arrest of their owners), but what didn't happen. "What about Bodog?" I wondered. Bodog was still accepting US players (a fact of which I had first hand knowledge). What about Bodog's Read More
