The Irish Poker Tournament Gets Bigger

Next year the Irish Open poker tournament is promised to be much bigger and better. For that purpose the event will move to the Citywest Hotel. Having 1,314 rooms, bars, restaurants, health and leisure facilities and two golf courses, the hotel can accommodate 1,000 players. Besides, being located only 20 km from Dublin airport, the tournament will attract more and more players.

The poker tournament will start on March 19 and it will run all week. The champion “will be crowned on the 24th Main event after playing a No Limit Hold’em Freezeout game for a 4,200 euro buy-in plus 300 euro entry fee”. The prize pool for the 2008 Main Event is guaranteed to be 3 million euros.

BlackJack Games in One Game Lobby

BlackJack games with the 3D graphics and avatars are now offered by the BackgammonMasters All-in-One Game Lobby.

The games offered are for five players playing simultaneously against the dealer. Play Money Mode and a Special View Mode “where players can sit in on real money games and observe before placing a bet” are offered for newbies. If you are looking for tips on how to play BlackJack 21 or want to know more about BlackJack, numerous articles are offered to you by BackgammonMasters.

Such games as Poker, Backgammon, Perudo and BlackJack are available in one download and one software, so players can log in at any time. Besides, real time chat, software offered in 10 languages and real money games played using one account cannot but be attractive for lots of BlackJack fans from all over the world.

Victor Chandler Launches a Tournament

The launch of the European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP) has been recently announced by Victor Chandler, leading British bookmaking and gaming group. It is going to be a ten-event online poker tournament. The tournament is planned to take place in November.

The top players from all over the world will take place in the inaugural event where the guaranteed prize pool is said to be $2.5 million.

One of the events on offer is a $50,000 MVP free roll competition aimed at rewarding players for their skill, effort and determination. The winner will get the title of 2007 ECOOP Most Valuable Player. At the end of the ten-day tournament the top 50 players will get entry into the $50,000 free roll competition which is to take place on the 11th of December.

Other games of the tournament are Pot Limit Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo poker games, a variety of no limit and limit Texas Hold’em poker. All of them have their own prize pool.

You can enter any of the ten ECOOP events online at VC Poker. At the site belonging to VC Poker – VCPoker.com – you can also find all the necessary information.

Playing a Slot Machine: is it Always Exciting?

Playing a slot machine can turn into a criminal offence, if… you have attacked a slot machine.

Truy Huu Phung was playing a slot machine at Catfish Bend Casino last July. Suddenly he started bashing the machine. As it seemed to him, nobody saw the incident. But he was mistaken. His outburst of anger was seen on surveillance cameras. The machine was checked. The officials found that the last inserted club card belonged to Phung.

Phung was arrested. He is charged with second degree criminal mischief – it I up to five years in prison. Trial should take place in November. Phung has plead not guilty.

Is Unibet Mistaken?

A complaint has been recently placed by the Belgian Gaming Commission against online gambling group Unibet regarding “its political proposition betting policy on the formation of the nation’s new government”. The commission regards Unibet’s game of chance at the time of the formation of a new government to be against the law. As for Unibet, they think that real money betting on political events is legal. Unibet’s site offers gamblers 25 to one odds for those who think a new Government will be formed before October 1, dropping to 2.5 to one if they pick a date after December 1, 2007.

Under Belgian law the event is forbidden, except licensed sports competitions and horse racing. Organization of this kind of betting is not an obstacle in other European countries, so it must be in Belgium – Unibet points out.

In case the company is mistaken, they will have to pay a fine of up to $140,755. More over, a penalty of a six-month to five-year suspension may be imposed on them.

32Red.com Selling BetDirect.com

32Red.com bought its Gibraltar-based BetDirect.com only 18 months ago, but there are rumors that 32Red.com is in discussions with some unknown party regarding the sale of its sportsbook subsidiary. People guess Irish company Boyle Sports may turn out to be the buyer.

32Red.com purchased BetDirect.com for approximately 25 million. According to the latest company research, there are more than 46,000 active customers. More than 11,000 new customers have signed up this year.

The business has operated in poor trading conditions, no wonder it resulted in a pre-tax loss of $7.4 million.

Losing You May Earn

A bad beat is not always disappointing. It is not bad when players are seated at a Bar Beat Jackpot table, because a winning hand that actually loses means jackpot for all of the players involved in the game.

Bad Beat jackpots were designed to reward players who lose a Texas Hold’em game with a hand that is favored to win. Players who lose the Texas Hold’em game with a hand of four 8’s or better trigger the jackpot.

AbsolutePoker.com is the place where the most recent Bad Jackpot was won. The jackpot was $821,670, what is the biggest jackpot of this kind won at online casino poker sites. $267,043 went to the “favored to win” loosing hand, $133,521 and some change to the player who actually won the hand, and $33,380 to all other players in the Texas Hold’em game.

Will Next Months Bring Profit to Mississippi Coast Casinos

This year it’s been 15 years of gambling for Mississippi Coast casinos. To say more, it’s been their best August on record, as the gross gaming revenue amounted to $108.9 million. The figure has dropped by 12% in comparison with July (an all time record was set in July with the opening of the Hard Rock Casino – it was as high as $124.7 million), but still, it is a record.

Revenue at casinos in Mississippi’s river counties in August also dropped from $143 million to $130.9 million. As for the state revenue, with the Coast and river casinos lower, it also dropped. The total state revenue so far stands at $1.98 billion, while the goal is $3 billion.

Mike Bruffey, an associate with the Biloxi law firm of Brown Buchanan and a casino development consultant, claims that investors take into consideration the monthly revenue. So, the fluctuations “might impact the scope of their project”. Bruffey thinks that a key to expanding the marketing area of the casinos beyond the Coast is the expansion of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and more non-casino attractions.

CanAffco Launches Affiliate Program

The launch of the new exclusive affiliate program called Care Rewards (the name CARE stands for Canaffco Affiliate Rewards), has been recently announced by the Canadian Affiliate Management Company (CanAffco.com). The program provides affiliates with additional compensation for their success “allowing them to work with the merchants that they choose to, instead of who they are told to”.

CARE points are awarded by participating merchants for new player registrations, conversions, ongoing activity and joining their affiliate program. E.g. having registered on the site of CanAffco, an affiliate is awarded with 500 CARE points. AffiliateAir.com, CanAffco’s new affiliate travel site, gives CARE points for bookings. So, their affiliates will be able to use their points if they want to attend CAP and CAC affiliate conferences and poker tournaments or if they want to take a vacation.

Being a Bronze Sponsor, CanAffco will represent their merchants and meet with affiliates at the CAP Euro conference in Barcelona, October 5th to 7th.

Online Casinos Changing

Five former executives of Nine.com and BetOnSports are going to take on the management of a new online bookmaker – LazerWagers.com (a UK company).

The company will offer wagers on all major sporting events and bets on various topics ranging from entertainment to politics. Having amazing benefits from a LiveDealer Casino application, the site also offers players casino games with real-life, live dealers via the Internet.

The offer is expected to change the face of online casinos, as nothing can be compared with real-time interaction with the dealer, an opportunity to see and hear every hand or spin as they are happening.