The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which outlawed any kind of online wagering activites in the United States in 2006, has been in effect for 5 years now and not much has been done towards legalizing or regulating online gambling. Luckily the governments of most other developed countries have been more sane and have not yet felt the need to control what their citizens spend their money on.

This has led to a wide gap between an average American poker player and players from countries where online poker is still legal. Take World Series of Poker for example – before 2006 non-americans winning WSOP main event were few and far between, however since 2006 the tables have turned and only 2 out of 5 tournament winners were US citizens. Read more…

The online betting world can’t seem to catch a break, with scandal after scandal hitting the headlines across the world and causing untold damage to the reputation of sport and sportspeople everywhere.

But our cousins Down Under have taken another step towards cleaning up the image of sports betting, with Cricket Australia forming an anti-corruption watchdog to monitor its domestic competitions. The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) will oversee and maintain the integrity of Australia’s cricket comps in an effort to clamp down on sports betting corruption.

Following the sensational scandal which saw three Pakistani cricketers and a sports agent land in jail for their part in spot-fixing schemes, the Pakistani Cricket Board have also introduced an anti-corruption unit similar to the one created by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Sites like Bet365 and 888Sport already have stringent procedures in place to combat any kind of illegal activity including odds-fixing and money laundering, but the Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has reiterated the importance of online betting companies signing integrity agreements with the sports for which they offer odds. Read more…

Read a gambling blog this morning and it seems that over the pond, two Maryland officers are in a spot of hot water for their night jobs – so to speak.

Apparently working on the vice squad doesn’t pay a whole lot, so Capt. Randy Jones and Lt. Robert Adams decided to take work as security guards for The Cordish Cos., which will operate Maryland’s largest casino. Whilst it certainly appears to be a conflict of interest to regulate gambling and work (in a roundabout fashion) for a gambling company, it certainly makes you wonder just how much you would give up for your job.

Writing a gambling blog means I can play casino games whenever I like – in fact, it’s somewhat of a prerequisite. But if I worked for an online casino regulatory authority, would I be allowed to play my favourite games? Would I even be allowed to step into a brick-and-mortar casino and go for a quick spin on the slots? Read more…

The Nevada Gaming Board has given international online poker companies a glimpse of hope by accepting licence applications to begin as early as Q1 2012, sparking a fierce debate about the future legality of internet gambling in the US. Although currently being debated by the various state government authorities, the Board’s chairman Mark Lipparelli seems very confident that it will soon be legal for Nevadans to take part in poker tournaments online.

So after many states have tried and failed, why is Lipparelli reading the signs in favour of legalisation?

The answer lies mostly in the intricacies of the US political system; powerful gaming lobbies have been edging the state governments closer for some time. Despite clear reluctance manifesting itself in gubernatorial vetoes, the governors are becoming increasingly aware that their citizens are calling for change. New Jersey’s recent referendum showed clearly that people prefer to be able to indulge in sports betting legally with the protection of the law and a regulated industry. Read more…

 Online casino games are for many people an entertaining past time which promises the possibility of winning untold fortunes. For others they are a way of life, a full time occupation which pays the rent and bills each month. So what is it that inspires a player to make the leap from casual player to High Roller?

Anyone whose played at an online casino will know that winning can be totally arbitrary. One person who hardly ever plays may log on and suddenly win a land slide jackpot on a Progressive slot, while another player could be playing regularly for months and only be breaking even. Unlike poker where the more you play, the better you become, when you play online casino games, the same strategy cannot be applied. The incentive to play regularly for much higher stakes derives more from our individual desire for larger risks and bigger gains. True, the more you play, the more confident you’ll become, especially with table games, where skill does have a large factor to play, yet playing for small stakes can be frustrating because the amount you win can be so minimal it doesn’t justify playing in the first place. Perhaps if you want to make more of a difference you should consider playing with more at stake. Read more…

Many people like to play in the online casino while others like to play in the brick and mortar casino. While both establishments can give you a very good time, the casino online always emerges top when it comes to flexibility, money and time. That is why the number of gamblers who want to play on the internet continues to grow. There is no doubt that you too, even though you will still love the hullaballoo that you find in the brick and mortar establishment, you will want to alternate that with playing in an online casino. When you gamble online, you can play from the comfort of your living room. The time that you would have used to travel to a local joint can be used to play for more prizes.

It is important to note that in the online casino gaming, there is no real dealer pushing you to make decisions that may cost you money. You can play as fast or as slowly as you want. This is very good for newbie players because they can learn their way around the gambling sites as they play. This is the best way to get a good hands-on experience. Read more…

Whilst sifting through the bingo blog world, I happened upon an interesting and very sweet story about something that had unfolded – in all places – in an online bingo chat room.

The gentleman had found that life was progressing nicely. He worked a stable and moderately interesting job, was good to his parents, went to dinner most nights with some of his many friends, but had not yet managed to find that special someone. On the outside, he was a successful professional, but privately his lonely heart yearned to find a connection with someone.

One night, on the suggestion of a friend, he decided to try online bingo as a quiet way of winding down and preparing for the weekend. He had so much fun that soon he was a regular on the circuit, playing games each week and making new friends. One evening he started chatting in one of the rooms and he and another player hit it off – they had a lot in common and soon they were meeting to play bingo every evening. Eventually she suggested they meet up, he agreed and they fell in love. Read more…

William Hills’ latest online bingo promotion has caused more chaos than anyone could have predicted. Last month they offered players the chance of winning a car each day for the whole of October, little did they expect that some of the winners don’t actually know how to drive…

The first two online bingo winners who turned up, much to everyone’s disbelief, didn’t even have drivers licences The third winner who appeared, knew how to drive, but had had his drivers licence suspended! If you think that’s crazy, our award for best online bingo player of the month goes to Big Momma, who never even showed up to collect her prize.

In a hilarious twist of fate, a bunch of people turned up pretending to be the winners, one of them was described  as weighing in excess of a 100kg. Apparently she tore off her top and began jumping up and down, shouting “I is Big Momma!” Hilariously, she did note even know her own real name.

One can only be amazed at the sheer barefaced cheek required to pretend to be the winner, but when there’s a £6,000, Fiat Panda at stake, it’s every man, woman and child for himself. Read more…

A nun addicted to slot machines stole $1m to fund her habit, a court heard.

Sister Marie Thornton, known as Sister Susie, worked as financial officer in a Catholic college when she developed a penchant for slot machines. She turned to embezzlement to fund her habit, stealing over $1m from the college’s coffers over a ten-year period by turning in false invoices and claiming credit card bills racked up in Atlantic City.

Rather than indulging in online slots, Sister Thornton would travel to New Jersey and spend up to $5,000 on the slots in a single visit to one of the casinos. Read more…

I’ve been indulging in some free slots on Facebook and whilst they are certainly a lot of fun, there’s something I just don’t get about them.

Like any good online slots provider, Facebook give you different slots to choose from and they stick to the level-up format that keeps us coming back time and again. From Farm Fortunes to Cat Chef, their online slots have nifty little bonus games and allow you to gift coins to friends as well as post updates about your success on your wall.

So they’re free slots, which means you can’t win any money from them. But you also can’t play without virtual coins so when you run out, you can either look for coins on your friends’ walls, or buy coins to feel playing. With real money. You need to pay real money to buy fake coins, and even if you win, you can’t withdraw the winnings because it’s fake money. Read more…

A friend of mine recently bit into a chocolate bar that was supposed to contain wafers and discovered that someone had conveniently forgot to put the wafers in. 100% chocolate! It’s the little victories that count. Here are ten of our favourite casino moments:

Someone from customer support at your favourite online casino sends you a note saying that you’re being given some free money, just because you’ve been with them for a while (who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?)

1. Winning a few hundred pounds on slot machines (the only kind of pounds you’re happy to gain).
2. The casino games you love to play anyway have an extra special bonus attached to them (makes it just sensible to play, indeed).
3. The heart stopping moment just before the blackjack dealer goes bust and you win £100.
4. Discovering a new no deposit casino with an unbeatable match bonus (branching out and trying new things is like pushing oneself). Read more…

There are few past times that can give you the same kind of feeling as big win betting. The nail biting uncertainty, combined with the rush of adrenalin as the ball hits the back of the net, or your horse crosses the finish line cannot be reproduced or stimulated by any other form of entertainment. The excitement and the fear give you the same sense of jubilation that a footballer feels in scoring a goal or a jockey feels when coming in first. Through betting you are actively able to share your sporting heroes emotions, the joy, the misery and the celebration.

So what happens when the sportsmen themselves become involved in gambling. Many footballers practice online betting through their mobile phones, some less successfully than others. Recently, Ipswich Town striker, Michael Chopra revealed he lost as much as £2m in bad bets! Now that’s the kind of money the rest of us can only dream of, but Chopra is on a monthly salary that most of us wouldn‘t see in a year. While he may have lost many bets, he won a great deal too, the problem was he let online betting get the better of him. Read more…

We all love to celebrate winners here at the World Gamble Blog, in fact it’s sometimes much more exciting to share in someones joy than win yourself. Simply because of the satisfaction of knowing you’ve pointed them in the right direction of the best bingo bonus.

Today’s big winner is Sophie587, who won £2,500 playing at Wink Bingo. Sophie told us she we was overjoyed when she discovered she’d won playing 90 ball bingo. “I just got up for a sec to make a cup of tea and when I came back my account had gone up by £2,500. I had to ask the CH to double check if it was right. I thought I was going mad! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve only started playing online bingo and I’m not usually very lucky but nothing prepared me for this. I’m looking forward to taking my family on holiday and buying a new telly!” Read more…

If you play at an online casino you’ve undoubtedly come across the myriad of options offering different styles of play. From 3D Roulette to Multi Hand Blackjack and more slot machines than you can shake a stick at, the choice of games is as vast as it is varied. But it is not often we give a thought to the software that these casino games employ and how that effects our experience.

The two biggest software providers in the business are Microgaming and Playtech, both create reputable and reliable casino gaming platforms and both offer highly similar experiences when it comes to playing traditional games such as Roulette or Blackjack. It is only when it comes to slot games and scratch card games created by either company that you notice the exclusive content they provide for each online casino they power. To be honest it is unlikely most people care which company creates the software behind the games we play, however when it comes to the Live Casino option, it is a totally different kettle of fish. Read more…

Racist! Bigot! Typecaster!

Ooh, fighting words. I’m going to tread carefully and preface this article by saying that I’m not a sociologist nor an anthropologist, and therefore no expert on the link between slot games and the Asian culture. I am, however, Asian. And I think that gives me a pretty good grounding to chat about my cultural observations.

First up, let’s clarify. When I talk about the Asian fondness for online slots, I mean the Southern Hemisphere definition of Asian – Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Korean, Cambodian, Japanese, not the British definition which traditionally involves Indian and Pakistanis (although they might love online slots too. Who knows?)

As easy as it is to love slot games, Asians in general have a particularly strong affinity for them. Why? Sure, gambling has a deeply rooted place in Asian culture; kids grow up with the clatter of mah-jong tiles, the chatter of aunts, uncles and grandparents and many family road trips to Genting Highlands. The very Asian concept of ‘face’ is blatantly pandered to by casinos and their bright lights, from their sycophantic managers to their free hotel rooms and expensive cigarettes. Read more…

If any of you have been down under, to visit our Antipodean cousins on the opposite side of the globe, you may have learnt of their love affair with slots and games. According to a friend of mine, who went over their about 6 years ago to work on a farm to escape the rat race, it was common for all the local workers to congregate in the only pub in the vicinity on pay day, every Friday night, get royally drunk and proceed to stumble into a back room of the pub and play on the “Pokies”. “Pokies” is  the affectionate name, Australians give to slot machines and online slots.

Another friend of mine who is actually from Australia confirmed that such backrooms exist, where people spend their entire weeks pay on the “Pokies”, totally inebriated. Clearly gambling whilst drunk is not advisable, unless you are playing free slots! Even those with the staunchest livers and highest tolerances have been known to make rash decisions under the influence and it is wisest to avoid gambling and girlfriend issues whilst intoxicated! Read more…

The sports betting scandal that rocked the cricket world has resulted in three cricketers and a sports agent being jailed for their participation.

Former Test captain Salman Butt, fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif and agent Mazhar Majeed have been handed prison sentences of up to two years and eight months, with Majeed receiving the longest for his part in the spot fixing sports betting scam. The judge who sentenced them was most concerned about the image of cricket and sport in general, and said that the game had been damaged in the eyes of many, including young people ‘who regarded you as heroes and would have given their eye teeth to play at the levels and with the skills that you had’.

The betting industry has evolved over the past few years, with many high street shops offering online betting services, and the concern is that the relative anonymity enables punters an easier, more accessible way to scam companies. Big sites like Bet365 and 888Sport have sophisticated technology in place to detect any kind of fraudulent activity and prevent bettors from creating multiple accounts, bonus hunting or manipulating odds. Read more…

Being wild about online bingo isn’t an easy thing when you’re a guy.

I mean, it’s just not cool to say ‘Hey guys, want to drink beer, talk about women and play bingo games?’ You’d get some pretty odd looks. And yet, all evidence seems to point to the fact that playing bingo isn’t a women’s domain; men do like to play and chat just like any other creature. You mean, we can type and talk just like anyone else?? – shocking, I know.

I love bingo games, but I gotta say that the thing I really dislike about playing it online is that all the sites are so ridiculously feminine. The colours of the sites – I mean, I recently stumbled upon Sing bingo, and I mainly noticed it because it wasn’t pink and frilly. You know what I’m saying? Read more…

It’s not often you come across a site that has been named Casino of the Decade and with good reason, for titles like that shouldn’t be thrown about wily nily! In the hunt for the best online casino, competition is fierce and often, it is rather too easy to get sidetracked playing casino games than concentrating on the task at hand. It can be tough at times, requiring the resolution of a monk in brothel, for temptation is everywhere you look and for a professional gambler like myself, I’m telling you this online casino is one of the hardest to resist. Not only is it the best casino of the decade, in 2010, it was also named best global casino, best casino group and best casino manager. I know, it’s ridiculous! With over 450 games to choose from, all based on the fantastic Microgaming platform and £32 free money to start you off, you can’t go wrong with 32red casino. Read more…

11/11/11 is almost upon us and many are hailing it as one of the most auspicious days of the century. Casino King are celebrating this lucky day by offering 121 players the chance of taking home a share of a fantastic £22,000 prize pool. 11 of the luckiest players will win up to £500 in cash prizes every day between the 11th Nov and the 21st Nov. All you have to do is Enter the Matrix…

You can choose to play any of your favourite games to stand a chance of winning during the dates of the promotion, all you need to do is deposit £30 on one of the days. Whether it’s online slots, Blackjack or Video Poker, play to your heart’s content and just check your ranking on the daily leader board to see if you’ve hit lucky. Unfortunately, free slot games aren’t included in the offer, for any of those cheeky enough to consider it! This time you’ll have to deposit real cash to be eligible for the promotion.  Read more…