Internet Casino Gambling News

Source: Xinhua ()

    BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) — Google Inc., Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc on Wednesday agreed to pay 31.5 million U.S. dollars to resolve accusations that they had promoted illegal Internet gambling, according to U.S. Department of Justice quoted by media reports Thursday.
    The companies were accused of receiving money from online gambling businesses to advertise illegal betting from 1997 through 2007.
    Microsoft will pay 21 million dollars, Google will pay 3 million dollars and Yahoo will pay 7.5 million dollars, the department said in a news release.
    However the three companies will neither admit nor contest charges that they received advertising money from online-gambling operations, as part of the settlement.
    The settlement was announced by Catharine L. Hanaway, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. “These fines add to the over 40 million dollars in forfeitures and back taxes this office has already recovered in recent years from operators of these remote control illegal gambling enterprises,” said Hanaway.
    The settlement involved corporate conduct the government found in violation of the Federal Wire Wager Act, federal wagering excise tax laws, and various states’ statutes and municipal laws prohibiting gambling
    The Microsoft settlement includes a 4.5 million dollars fine and a 7.5 million dollars contribution to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
    The company also agreed to create a 9 million dollars online advertising campaign, focused on young people, saying that online gambling is illegal under U.S. law. The campaign will run for three years starting from 2008.
    Yahoo will 4.5 million dollars to a public-service campaign designed to inform users that operators and participants in …

Source: MiamiHerald.com ()

If you’ve ever sailed on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, you know the drill: big ships, exuberant interior designs, activities galore, Broadway-type entertainment, lots of action. It’s a formula that has worked well for the cruise line and for its passengers.

Carnival’s newest ship, the Carnival Freedom, is no exception. On a recent sailing out of Miami, the ship was rocking with passengers having a good time.

The last of the five Conquest-class ships built by Carnival, the 2,974-passenger Freedom is much the same as previous four — except, of course, for its interior design.

That’s the province of Joe Farcus, interior designer for all Carnival ships, who dreams up the imaginative ship decor he calls ‘’fun architecture.'’ Some people think his penchants for twinkling Tivoli lights and bold designs are a bit much, but there is no doubt that they impart a carefree ambience to the ship.

For Freedom, Farcus came up with a ‘’decades'’ motif, which he insists isn’t a theme. ‘’It’s an idea to follow through all public rooms,'’ he says.

So for the International Lounge, he chose Bauhaus minimalist designs of the 1920s with muted rich woods. The Sun King supper club harks back to the 1700s, with crystal chandeliers and a gold statue of Louis XIV. The disco has mirror balls a la 1970s, and the Swingtime Jazz Club reflects 1930s Deco. Large wall murals in the Habana Club reproduce 1940s Cuban cigar box tops and the multistory Millennium Atrium is layered with dozens of large headlight-like bulbs that constantly change color, Farcus’ nod to the 21st century.

PUZZLING DESIGN

Some designs are puzzling. Like what does Nebuchadnezzar and the Ishtar Gate have to do with casino gambling? Why have so many Statue of Liberty heads peering down in the casual pool-deck restaurant? And then there are the python-skin-patterned wood veneers the two main Posh and Chic dining rooms. Why pythons?

It’s a strange mix, even outlandish, but …

Source: Akron Beacon Journal ()

Like people who collect black velvet art, I have long been an aficionado of cumbersome institution names; the more cumbersome, the better.

I’m a sucker for a public servant who isn’t ashamed to flash a business card anchored by the magnificent ‘’County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board,'’ which is not so much a name as a paragraph.

I’m invigorated by the deep inhale drawn before uttering: ‘’Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy.'’

I shout ‘’Go Bucks!'’ whenever officials at ‘’The Ohio State University'’ bristle over people who drop their precious ‘’the,'’ as though the three-letter article is the most important word in the institution. I can’t wait until the halftime show starts featuring a ‘’Script The'’ routine.

Until now, my favorite 10-pound clunker has been Metro Parks, Serving Summit County. This is the shining example of an institution that goes out of its way, like a middle-school poet, to add extraneous syntactic flourish. It passes the highest Cumbersome Institution Name test: a moniker so long, it requires internal punctuation.

In the six years since I last wrote on this subject, there’s been some notable streamlining:

Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron is now Akron Children’s Hospital.

The Akron Zoological Park allows itself to be called the Akron Zoo.

Akron-Canton Regional Airport is now Akron-Canton Airport. (Or ‘’CAK,'’ if you speak Luggage Tag.)

I attribute some of this to the Internet, whose addresses favor the minimalist. Even Metro Parks, Serving Summit County goes by the Web address summitmetroparks.org. It seems only a matter of time before a light bulb goes off and someone suggests that ‘’Summit Metro Parks'’ would do just fine. Until then, I’ll gleefully count the syllables. (On hands.)

Meanwhile, there’s pure gold, not far away, in the verdant hills of West Virginia. A …

Source: Blogger News Network ()

NOTE: The piece below was published by Sunstone Magazine in November of 2005. Since, then it has been cited by many other national reporters, most recently last Sunday 12/16/07 by Tim Russert on Meet The Press. Regular updates about Romney’s pursuit of the Presidency are available at www.catchingmitt.com This piece may be reprinted or excerpted provided that the author and Sunstone Magazine are credited.

Sunstone Magazine
November, 2005

: : CAN THE THOROUGHLY MODERATE MITT
NAVIGATE THE RIGHT ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE?
By RB Scott

UPDATED EDITOR’S NOTE: A native of Salt Lake City, RB Scott – Ron to his friends and Bruce to his mother — has lived in New England for 39 years, two of them as a missionary. He was a staff writer for the weekly Life Magazine and was one of the founding editors of People Magazine. His first novel, Closing Circles-A Mormon Schmeickler in a Gentile World – “the ornate adventures of being Mormon” — will be out just as soon as an agreeable publisher offers a contract. He welcomes e-mail comments and inquiries to: rbscott@comcast.net

Here he goes again.

W. Mitt Romney has already proved that a Mormon Republican can be elected governor of the nation’s most liberal state. Now he’s off on another mission impossible to win over the hearts and minds of Christian conservatives who control the Republican Party and historically have not thought highly of Mormons like himself.

If he beats the odds again, he could well become the next President of the United States. If he is less persuasive, he could wind up as a capable and attractive running mate. Either way, the party gets a very smart leader at the top of the ticket or an agreeable number two man who always plays by the rules he likes to help shape.

But you never know what brass knuckle politics will dish: day now Vice President Dick Cheney could suddenly hightail it out of Washington to his hideout …

Source: Akron Beacon Journal ()

Like people who collect black velvet art, I have long been an aficionado of cumbersome institution names; the more cumbersome, the better.

I’m a sucker for a public servant who isn’t ashamed to flash a business card anchored by the magnificent ‘’County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board,'’ which is not so much a name as a paragraph.

I’m invigorated by the deep inhale drawn before uttering: ‘’Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy.'’

I shout ‘’Go Bucks!'’ whenever officials at ‘’The Ohio State University'’ bristle over people who drop their precious ‘’the,'’ as though the three-letter article is the most important word in the institution. I can’t wait until the halftime show starts featuring a ‘’Script The'’ routine.

Until now, my favorite 10-pound clunker has been Metro Parks, Serving Summit County. This is the shining example of an institution that goes out of its way, like a middle-school poet, to add extraneous syntactic flourish. It passes the highest Cumbersome Institution Name test: a moniker so long, it requires internal punctuation.

In the six years since I last wrote on this subject, there’s been some notable streamlining:

Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron is now Akron Children’s Hospital.

The Akron Zoological Park allows itself to be called the Akron Zoo.

Akron-Canton Regional Airport is now Akron-Canton Airport. (Or ‘’CAK,'’ if you speak Luggage Tag.)

I attribute some of this to the Internet, whose addresses favor the minimalist. Even Metro Parks, Serving Summit County goes by the Web address summitmetroparks.org. It seems only a matter of time before a light bulb goes off and someone suggests that ‘’Summit Metro Parks'’ would do just fine. Until then, I’ll gleefully count the syllables. (On hands.)

Meanwhile, there’s pure gold, not far away, in the verdant hills of West Virginia. A …

Source: AOL SPORTS ()

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones … and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.

“Benefit of the Doubt” … That’s a Good One

A Major League Baseball player would like the “benefit of the doubt” on the issue of whether or not he used steroids. Also, a member of the Klu Klux Klan would like the benefit of the doubt on whether or not he’s racist, and one of the Spears girls would like the benefit of the doubt on the issue of family planning.

Said Roger Clemens yesterday, “I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt.” Really? Well, I’m disappointed that my 15 years as an internet porn fiend haven’t earned me the title of a gifted and romantic lover, but I’m afraid that’s the hand that life’s dealt me. Some labels, we’re just stuck with.

(Also on Today’s List: Hardened criminals, the Big Ten believes you deserve a second chance at meaningful employment … Michigan believes itself to be very, very special … Terrell Owens isn’t popping off yet, but he’s ready to … and Fred Taylor, I hope, will be comforted just a little bit with Yesterday’s MVP̷

He wants the benefit of the doubt … oh, okay. You’re clean. So is Mark McGwire … so is Barry Bonds. Did you hear that, everyone? Roger Clemens gets the benefit of the doubt! Everyone back off! He’s clean because you’ve known his name for 25 years.

Come on … what kind of statement is that? You get the benefit of the doubt because you’re the great Roger Clemens, you’ve got a vigorous workout routine, your longevity is nearly unprecedented, and you’ve always had that chip on your shoulder? I think not.

Sorry Rog, but your benefit of the doubt went …

Source: Detroit Free Press ()

December 18, 2007

BY BEN SCHMITT

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

An embattled Garden City priest admitted to investigators that he has a gambling problem and accepted personal donations from parishioners while making numerous trips to casinos at a Caribbean resort that advertises itself as clothing optional, prosecutors said today.

Nonetheless, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said there is insufficient evidence to charge Fr. Donald Demmer of St. Dunstan Catholic Church with a crime.

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Worthy, meanwhile, today announced embezzlement charges against the fired church secretary, Debra Ann Kilyanek, 54, of Garden City. Kilyanek is charged with embezzlement over $100,000 and using a computer to commit a felony.

Worthy said Demmer, pastor at St. Dunstan for more than 20 years, made about 200 trips to casinos in Michigan, Nevada and Florida since 2000. He also made trips to the Casino Orient on the island of St. Martin, the clothes optional resort, Worthy said.

“He funded his lifestyle in part by multiple donations from parishioners made to him personally,” Worthy said. “It is unlikely that the parishioners were aware of how their gifts were used. The conduct of Father Demmer, while disturbing, is not criminal.”

Additionally, “numerous subscription charges were made to companies providing pornographic Internet services that appear on Father Demmer’s bank records.”

In the spring, the Archdiocese of Detroit conducted an audit of St. Dunstan’s books and uncovered a loss of $111,693, Worthy said. Starting in October 2005, Kilyanek begn charging her personal financial transactions to the St. Dunstan checking account, Worthy said.

Kilyanek was fired in February and the Archdiocese placed Demmer on medical leave in June.

Demmer denied any wrongdoing.

However, Worthy said he was responsible for overseeing the budget.

The parish also owes more …

Source: Hemscott ()

(Updating with Numis reaction, background)

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - 888 Holdings PLC, said it has continued to trade
in line with management's expectations, underpinned by stronger-than-expected
current trading.

The the online gaming company, which owns the Casino-on-Net and Pacific Poker
brands, added it remains confident about its prospects for the full year.

888 gave a trading update prior to entering the closed period in respect of its
results for the year ended Dec 31 2007.

Following the update, Numis Securities analyst Richard Carter reiterated its
'buy' recommendation and 174 pence price target. He also left his
top-of-the-range 2007 pretax profit forecast of 44.3 mln usd unchanged.

'With the regulatory landscape getting clearer, we think, the group's current
valuation is unjustified given the level of cash generation and growth,' said
Carter.

Numis forecasts pretax profit of 63.2 mln usd for 2008 and 76.4 mln for 2009.

Last month, 888 announced plans to enter the sports betting market after
signing a deal for Rank Group PLC's Blue Square business to provide it with
fixed-odds betting and sports content.

It is also looking at further strategic tie-ups following the launch of its
Tower Torneos white label offering in Latin America and Riley snooker clubs in
the UK. Last week, it announced a partnership with Kamay Holdings to provide
casino and poker products in 'growing markets' in Europe.

The company is looking for new revenue streams having being forced to withdraw
its US-facing operations in October last year, following the passing the US
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

At 8.50 am, the shares were trading at 130-3/4 pence, up 1-3/4.
matthew.scuffham@thomson.com msc/ms1

Source: Online-Casinos.com ()

IS ONLINE POKER GOING OFF THE BOIL?
 
Online gambling exec thinks it may have
 
Speaking to the UK newspaper The Evening Standard following the release of his company's Q1 results this week, the Sportingbet plc CEO Andy McIver suggested that the Internet poker juggernaut may be losing some momentum.
 
“There has been a lot of hype in internet poker and that has now come off a bit,' said McIver, the top man in a company that closed the once powerful Paradise Poker website earlier this year, migrating players to the Boss Media network in a major industry deal.
Sportingbet and Paradise Poker were forced out of the United States market late last year by a draconian clampdown on online gambling financial transactions, leading to a GBP 240 million write-down in the value of the business and sending the shares down 90 percent.
 
The newspaper reported that the quarter 1 results from McIver's company showed that in the three months to end-October this year its poker rake nearly halved to GBP 4.6 million.  “That is as a result of significantly reduced liquidity following the loss of US resident players,” the statement accompanying the results clarified.
 
The company plans to concentrate on getting Europeans to bet on sports going forward. Poker and other online casino games now account for only 40 percent of Sportingbet's business, with up to another 40 percent being spent by gamblers on European football.
 
European sports betting and underlying operating profits in the quarter were both up by about 15 percent, showing that there is still good potential in the European market despite its competitive nature following the restricted availability of American players, and consequent diversification by online gambling companies into other markets.
 

Source: PR Web (press release) ()

Online Casino Advisory Releases New Revamped Website

The Online Casino Advisory has revamped their website to include an online casino guide, daily updated gambling news, a free casino games section, a reviews section, and more. http://www.onlinecasinoadvisory.com

Vancouver, Canada (PRWEB) December 14, 2007 — A reputable online casino website, that served as a player advocate for several years, has been revamped and changed into the new Online Casino Advisory. The new version of the website will still serve players information they need in order to play online safely, but the information will come to them in a different format than it has in previous years.

The idea of the new Online Casino Advisory is to have a staff full of players so that visitors get a different perspective than they get at most other news related gambling websites.

The new Online Casino Advisory, which used to serve emails to opt-in members who looked for advantages for winning at online casinos, will now focus its energies on providing news, reviews, tips, and other information to players in a much more comprehensive and complete website.

The site, which was run by one Internet casino insider, now has a full staff full of online casino insiders. The staff of writers, reviewers, programmers, and designers has more than 25 years of combined experience just in the online gambling arena. Some have served as former affiliate managers, while others are former affiliates. Some are long time Vegas junkies, others love A.C.

Most importantly, all are considered online casino players, and most, experts.

One condition all staff members were required to meet before being hired was to play a minimum of 25 hours at different online casinos.

Ed Bradley, spokesman and senior editor for the site said, "The idea of the new Casino Advisory is to have a staff full of players so that visitors get a different …