Lots of blackjack players are now taking part in a “21 Challenge Series”, christened 21, - a five-month blackjack tournament launched by online casino Bookmaker.

During the week the players are supposed to compete in a series of progressively higher-stakes tournaments winning seats for Sundays’ finals. Each week three winners are expected to compete for over $1,000 and a chance to advance to the main event in August.

Players, having deposited as little as $11, may win $21,000 in 21 weeks.

Other casino games and poker with a 20% bonus and a 10% 3x redeposit bonus for returning customers are also available at Bookmaker.

To get more information, visit online casino Bookmaker.

Street Fighter® II – your favorite character will face off against the evil Bison in a feature providing some of the highest payout on the Internet. The game is exclusive thanks to the best in the market 3D graphics.

Outstanding animation and enormous jackpots, unique settings and memorable characters are the features that Movie Mayhem will provide you with.

For those looking for a good game and a good sense of humor, there is nothing like Gnome and Dad’s Day In.

“CryptoLogic’s latest casino games showcase the player knowledge, creativity, and talent on our software team — and the innovation that will help our licensees attract and build player loyalty,” – said Justin Thouin, CryptoLogic’s Vice President, Product Management and Business Development.

Now Spanish residents are able to bet in Spain’s first sports betting shop (under the joint venture’s Victoria brand) opened last week. Before that Spaniards had to go online to bet on sporting events.

Gleaming with chrome and glass, Victoria’s new shop which is located above a Codere casino, Madrid, offers comfortable sofas and a bar. The shop, having a completely different look from the British bookie, has been made a more attractive destination for women. With the change of the image of a betting shop, people will gradually change the perception that betting is a male-only activity.

It must be noted that Madrid authorities have banned wagering on religion and politics. That’s why Madrid residents will bet on social events and TV competitions.

Opening of a sports betting shop in Madrid is just the beginning of the growth of the Spanish gambling market. British bookie William Hill and Spanish gambling firm Codere plan to open 70 sports betting shops – that is only across the Madrid area, the first of Spain’s 17 regions to grant licenses. They expect the Spanish betting market to grow to 39 billion euro, which is equal to $57.8 million, by 2010.

But the Victoria brand won’t be the only one presented in Spain. Last week Greece’s Inralot got a license. Then, Austrian firms Bwin and Betbull are planning to open a joint franchise as well, while Gala Coral has been in talks with potential Spanish partners for 6 months.

Existing casino operations in Russia will have to be moved to remote parts of the country such as the Primorie District, the Rostov and Krasnodar regions on the Black Sea, the Altai Republic, and the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. Though the move was set to go into place before June of 2009, the plan may now be delayed. The reason for that is a great number of requests from the industry asking to extend the deadline to move.

The plan was passed by legislators in 2006. All this time it’s been next to impossible to persuade the legislators to change the deadline, but “the lobbying efforts of the casino industry may just get the extension they are looking for”.

A lot is being spoken about the idea of using the infrastructure from Sochi which is being built in anticipation of the 2014 Winter Olympics, for a new gambling zone.

The Florida lottery is offering new lottery games. One of the newest, but most popular games is the one in which tickets cost $20, and the winners of the game are announced on the pre-chosen day.

Nevertheless, this week people will be standing in line to buy tickets for the Lotto game, an old one, in which jackpot has risen to $32 million. It is said to be the state’s second largest jackpot this year. In February the jackpot grew to $37 million and was won. This time, the $32 million jackpot is to be drawn on Wednesday.

Last time nobody managed to match all six winning numbers for the Lotto game. 116 people matched 5 of the numbers. They will get $4781 each.

It has been suggested that Finnish poker players spend €50 million a year on poker sites, but the money run outside of the country. Discussions of the reform of gambling in the country has not taken place yet, thought they are being planned for the end of the year.

Veikkaus, the state-owned lottery and betting monopoly in Finland, could get some of the revenue for itself – “two thirds of €50 million could be attainable”. It’s just the matter of the review of Finnish policy.

To gamble one day in the casinos of Las Vegas is a dream of lots of people. So, it is Williams’ – professional snooker player.

Actually everything has been arranged for him to go to Las Vegas to watch his friend Joe Calzaghe take on Bernard Hopkins at the Thomas & Mack Centre on Saturday,  but Mark Williams was not able to go because of the opening of the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.

Williams has already taken part in several poker tournaments over the last few years.

The Nevada resident, Michael Binger, is reported to have been the second best player of the year so far, according to Card Player’s latest rankings.

His winning at event 13 of the Five-Star World Poker Classic has helped him to move from the 11th to the second spot. He has managed to do it through regular final table appearances in medium-sized events. So far, his tactics has helped him to earn the second least amount of money this year.

Having scored 3,040, Binger is still far away from being the first – Erik Seidel has scored 3,700. At the same time, Binger cannot feel safe, as Canadian Michael McDonald is just 20 points behind.

Seven players from Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom will represent Titan Poker at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in San Remo, Italy, this month. Daniel Walker, winner from the U.K, and Kenneth Tomming, from Denmark, are among them.

All the players were rewarded with the $10,000 package including $2,500 for flights, accommodations, spending and the free entry to the Main Event.

Titan Poker awards its players with seats at the world’s most famous poker tournaments on the regular basis.

Thus, its players will also be taking part in the WSOP in Las Vegas and the World Poker Showdown in the Dominican Republic later this year.

An illegal gambling house in Lake Orange, Florida, was shut down late this past week. The operation was playing out slot machines with cash.

The investigation of the Special Investigation Unit has taken place for three months.

The games were being played on 101 computers. All of them were confiscated by police. Besides that, police confiscated a cash deposit machine that transferred money from electronic gaming cards, and cash.

If people won, they were paid out cash what is illegal for any slot machines being not regulated by the state.
Kerri Flowers was arrested ten days later after being warned by police to remove the machines, but none of them was.