Online Casino & Gambling Latest News

According to one report, legislators are keen to meet with prospective operators in order to help solve the state’s $42 million budget deficit.

Friday 27th February 2009

Legislators in the American state of California are so intent on legalising online poker that they are reportedly looking to attend an upcoming iGaming conference in order to meet with prospective operators. According to a report from online news portal Gambling911.com, the western state is looking towards online poker as a way to help solve its troubled economy, which has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country and near double-digit unemployment. However, Gambling911.com reported that the state would not be speaking with PartyGaming due to Anurag Dikshit, the online operator’s billionaire co-founder who recently pled guilty and agreed to pay a $300 million fine. 'Too much baggage,' Gambling911.com quoted a source. 'California is not going to have an online casino poker room licensed in the state where one of the founders pleaded guilty before he was even charged with a crime. '888.com is one that's been mentioned. They are looking at companies that are publicly traded and 888.com fits the bill. They are also trying to settle any issues with the US Government in relation to their taking bets from US customers prior to passage of poker prohibition in 2006, much like PartyGaming, but nobody there is turning themselves in.' Although California is the world’s eighth largest economy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reached a compromise with legislators this week that increased taxes and cut services in order to close a $42 million budget deficit.

Top Gaming introduce new US-friendly online casino Gold Vegas.

Friday 27th February 2009

With the anti-gambling legislation in place in the US at the moment, coupled with the trying times against the online gambling industry, it’s a real surprise to see a new online casino accepting US players. Gold Vegas Casino, a product of Top Gaming software, features the best part of 100 online casino games including roulette, blackjack, video slots, video poker and a mighty progressive jackpot that is rising as we speak. In addition they offer a new deposit bonus of up to $2,000. Casino manager Chad Brooks says: 'Being a new provider of a service that has a great number of competitors brings something unique to a company such as ours; this being that we are geared up to go out there and show the world that we can truly provide online casino players with something more than other suppliers have shown to date. We are confident to say that when one looks at our casino bonuses and promotional content they will have no other alternative but to play with us. We are still however very cautious concerning our early steps into this market - it is a wily one to master.'

Leading online poker room offering players the chance to win their place at the London Poker Circuit set to take place in three of London’s finest hotels.

Tuesday 24th February 2009

Online poker room 888Poker.com has announced that it is set to hold a series of satellite competitions offering players a seat at what promises to be one of the most prestigious live events the UK has ever seen, the London Poker Circuit (LPC). The LPC is a series of live poker tournaments due to be staged at three prestigious London hotels between March 16 and November 11. Taking place at The Westbury Mayfair, The Kingsway Hall Hotel Covent Garden and The Kensington Close Hotel And Spa, the LPC will see amateur events spread over seven days alongside two-day ‘high-roller’ competitions featuring a £10,000 buy-in with some of the biggest prize pools Europe will see this year. '888Poker.com is delighted to have joined forces with the London Poker Circuit and we look forward to delivering a successful land-links partnership,” said Matt Robinson, Vice-President of Brand Marketing for 888.com. “888Poker.com customers can qualify for these prestigious events through a series of online satellites and it's just another example of 888Poker.com putting our customers first.”

The first LPC poker festival is scheduled to run from March 16 to 22 at The Kensington Close Hotel And Spa with a ‘high-roller’ event following from March 17 to 18 at The Westbury Mayfair. It then continues with a ‘high-roller’ event from April 14 to 15 at The Westbury Mayfair followed by a poker festival from May 4 to 10 at The Kingsway Hall Hotel Covent Garden. There will then be nine other events before the LPC culminates with a festival at The Kingsway Hall Hotel Covent Garden from November 2 to 8 and a ‘high-roller’ tournament from November 10 to 11 at The Westbury Mayfair. “The LPC is offering unrivalled live poker tournaments to the best players on the European circuit,” said Phil Gregg, Chief Operating Officer for Cola Holdings and Cola Hotels.

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British betting giant Ladbrokes has released its preliminary results for 2008 showing a 4.5 percent drop in revenues compared to casino game the year before alongside a 27.6 percent decline in profits after tax. Ladbrokes is the firm behind popular online casino and sportsbook Ladbrokes.com and reported revenues for last year of £1.17 billion compared to £1.2 billion for the previous year. Profits after tax for continuing operations were quoted as £211.4 million, which was down from the £292.1 million reported for 2007, while operating profits dropped 23 percent to £323.9 million from £420.7 million.

However, it is not all bad news for Ladbrokes as it also announced that net gaming revenues for its eGaming division increased by 20 percent casino over the year with new customer sign-ups growing by 21.5 percent to 373,000. In addition, the number of unique active players using Ladbrokes.com also increased by 20.8 percent to 726,000.



Ladbrokes stated that the improving nature of its online business came on the back of a new eGaming strategy announced in February of last year UK casino that saw it advertise LadbrokesBingo.com and LadbrokesCasino.com on television in the UK alongside tailouring regional content to more effectively satisfy its customer base.

It addition, it introduced several content innovations including increased opportunities for betting in-play. “The competitive environment bingo sites for poker remains extremely challenging and, in the second week of February, we joined the Microgaming network to improve the liquidity on higher staking tables,” read a statement from Ladbrokes. “We have always been clear that the frequency of high rollers activity is unpredictable and, although not as active as 2007, high rollers contributed £80.

1 million of profit during 2008, a very material source of cashflow.” “Notwithstanding the challenging economic background, Ladbrokes has continued to grow during 2008 with group gross win, excluding high rollers, increasing 11.1 percent and group operating profit, excluding higher rollers, up 0.9 percent, slightly ahead of market expectations,” said Christopher Bell, Chief Executive Officer for Ladbrokes.