Tom Hall, the founder of AsianLogic and executive vice chairman, has been appointed the Chief Executive for the group, while Christopher Parker, the former vice chairman, is positioned as a director of the group and a chief executive of the Asian Poker Tour.

Being of Eurasian Hong Kong origin, Hall is considered to be an expert in the field of Asia Pacific interactive gaming. Besides, he has extensive knowledge in international customer growth and the increase of customized software solutions for the Asian marketplace. Haill is also well known for the director and president of software developer Playtech’s operations in the field.

His experience includes such positions as Chief Executive Officer of TTR Strategic Holdings Limited (“TTR”), an Asia Pacifc focused financial services group; CEO of its data processing associate – NAV Limited; a non-executive director of a number of gaming and technology companies and, in addition, work in Swiss private banking and private client financial services in the UK and Hong Kong.

Jim Warren, a former senior official at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission said sports betting in Canada will bring tourists. “In order to attract Americans to the border casinos in Windsor and Niagara Falls, you have to provide them with exciting entertainment opportunities…” said Warren.

What Warren is speaking about is the idea of introduction of Las Vegas style sports betting in land casinos. Especially it concerns the land casino business in Niagara Falls and Windsor which is not going well. The idea is already being discussed at federal and provincial level. In case the proposals will go through, gamblers will be able to wager the outcome of individual football, baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer and other games.

Ontario casinos already have sports book network in place with TV screens, scoreboards and seating, but betting is limited to the government operated Pro-Line.

With sports betting permitted only in Las Vegas, US, Ontario casinos could get a major advantage over American competitors.

It must be noted that Canadian bureaucracy does not favor Internet gambling; however, it seems that they think differently about land sports betting.

More than 1,000 people were arrested and $30,000 was confiscated in Thailand. The people arrested were charged with gambling on Euro 2008 football matches. There were 192 bookies, 831 punters and 75 others among them.

As for the confiscated money, the sum is very small in comparison with the estimates by research company Kasikom which estimated that Thai gamblers would bet $1.2 billion.

As the police report, additional investigations would cause the prosecution of the biggest gambling operators.

With gambling banned in Thailand, police organized a special squad to keep an eye on major gambling criminals on the national scale. In accordance with the law, gamblers can be fined 1,000 baht or jailed for up to one year.
However, lots of Thais try to avoid the ban by going to Cambodia and Myanmar.

InterCasino is hosting a tournament based on the Tour de France, with a total of 11 stages to take part in, with prizes available each day based on how much players have wagered.

There, every $1 wagered is an equivalent of 1 km. To travel the most km’s over one day is the objective. So, the player who travels the most km’s can win up to $75 each day and a unique jersey.

Players can also get special prizes for overall results. Thus, the player who travels the longest distance overall wins $200 and a yellow jersey, while the person who travels the longest distance and he is younger than 26, wins $100 and a white jersey.

You can play 4 stages during the promotion, with different games such as Online Slots, Video Poker and casual games such as Roulette on every stage.

It must be noted that there are special trial stages where a time limit is given to wager $200 on the Streetfighter Slot game. Winners receive a $10 bonus. A $15 bonus is also awarded if you travel 500km within days 1-5, or days 7-12.

The 10th of July and the 17th of July are the pay days.

The number of UK-based online gaming sites is likely to rise, as the UK Gambling Commission has allowed licenses for online casinos using Chartwell technology.

Chartwell is a Canadian company having online poker, casinos, bingo and soft games including scratch off games on their list. Chartwell is rather ambitious, ad they hope their name will stand side by side with such giant names as Cryptologic, Playtech and Microgaming.

The issued licenses are remote and non-remote and they can operate online as casino and gambling sites. Despite the fact that lots of their products are at the stage of being tested, the idea seems to become a success, and innovative platforms are believed to take UK casinos a step above the competition.

For the entire month of July and August, Fortune Lounge’s affiliates and players can participate in promotional tournaments which are already available at one of the most popular Fortune Lounge’s casinos – Platinum Play Casino.

Fortune Lounge will be awarding more incentive for referred players, as well as“Vault of Mystery” bonuses to players as part of Fortune Lounge’s “Xmas in July” promotion.

The “Vault of Mystery” promotion being aimed at affiliates offers over 60,000 credits in to be given away during weekly promotions, with 100,000 in the final vault alone. The top winner is promised to receive 20,000 credits. In addition to that, there are 50 hidden keys up for grabs every week. They can be used to unlock the final vault containing 100,000 in real money credits. The list of winners can already be found on the “Winners Wall” web site page.

Players can enter the tournaments either via email messages or by means of the “Message of the Day” when logging into the casino platform. But the easiest way to enter is by downloading the Fortune Lounge Personal Manager – a little application sitting on your computer’s desktop and alerting you when you’ve got a new message.

Not only are they providing custom banners and marketing bundles for affiliates, Fortune Lounge is offering special commission bonuses for affiliates who refer new players during the promotional time frame.

Intralot is continuously growing, and new acquisitions in the Italian gambling market is another sign of the company’s excellent performance in the following few years.

The acquisition of the William Hill and Codere Italia betting company is a major step towards domination of the Italian betting market. Due to the government restrictions in the Italian gambling industry, Intralot offers only betting solutions there, but the company is actually prominent in the European online gambling, poker, and betting industries, as well as other emerging sectors

Almost 50 gambling markets present the Intralot brand. Its online casinos, gambling and betting sites operate in 45 countries.

The CEO at Intralot, Constantinos Antonopoulos, recently commented: “Intralot optimizes and consolidates its position in the Italian market through this significant acquisition. The fact that we have managed to gain an impressive market share in such limited time inspires a clear vision; to continue our successful course to the top, offering more exciting gaming experiences to the Italian community.”

Bet365 is known to be a long-lasting, trusted brand and one of the fastest growing corporations in the UK whose annualized revenue has rocketed in the past decade, and whose reputation and base of loyal internet bettors are constantly growing.

In accordance with the recent article in The Times, Bet365 has made the list of the top 100 biggest private companies in the UK.

Earlier Bet365 was associated with the land betting industry. With online betting industry getting more and more popular, Bet365 promptly made a decision to launch into it in addition to maintaining the land betting shops. And the idea has proved to be a success.

In 2005 Bet365 sold their land betting division, and now Gala Coral operates all their land betting shops.

Annualized profits for the company are predicted to come in at GBP 1.815 billion for 2008. So it is clear that Bet365 domination in the UK online betting industry cannot be denied.

According to the results of a new South African report, the number of problem gamblers does not rise or drop with changes in gambling law or policies, as problem gambling is more an individual mental disorder.

Researches at the University of Capetown and the University of KwaZulu-Natal show that “the incidence of problem gamblers is both smaller than generally thought, and consistently in the same percentage range regardless of local gambling availability”.

The approximate number of true gamblers comes to 0.5% - 0.7%. These people have proved to be resistant to treatment. They are thought to be the result of genetic factors. In the opinion of some scientists, a drug therapy treating the illness as a specific neural pathology may be the answer to the problem.

The result of the South African study supports the recent studies in the USA and Europe, in which problem gambling is said to be “a mere symptom of an underlying mental dysfunction, and in which physical differences were detected in the brains of those who suffered from problem gambling”.

Another group revealed in the course of the South African study, consists of individuals gambling beyond their means, thus causing themselves temporary financial distress. But these gamblers are not considered addictive, as they can easily moderate their own behavior.

So, the idea of politicians around the globe regarding problem gambling seems to be totally wrong. To ban gambling is not the way out, people should be let make their own choice, to play or not.

At the time when Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was put into law in the US, lots of people thought that US players would not be able to gamble any more. Some online gambling sites even began to bar US residents. Now, some people are still thinking that online gambling is impossible for US players, though it is actually not illegal at all.

www.usa-online-gambling.com is the website informing US players of their ability to play poker, blackjack, slots and other games on the Internet. There, players will find description of how the law works and why it is still possible to gamble online. The site also lists poker rooms, sportsbooks, USA microgaming online casinos accepting US players and gambling sites offering US online casino bonuses, often over 100%matching. In addition, the website offers information and details about how to make deposits now that the new guidelines are in place.

The site informs players about USA deposit methods (900Pay, Bank Transfers and Bank Wire); how players can deposit funds by means of credit cards, debit cards or electronic checks; how to use money orders and the newest service, UseMyWallet.
No doubt that such detailed information will enhance US players’ online gaming experience.