Pacific Congress on Interactive Gaming (PCIG) that took place in Macau last month has proved to be really popular this year, as the number of online casino and gaming professionals who attended it exceeded two hundred.

It was the fifth annual congress whose participants discussed and learnt lots of important issues concerning the Asian online betting market: cultural influence, gaming specific trends, why and how business is operated in Asia. Shailesh Naik of Cryptologic explained the aims of the conference and gave a very detailed overview of the Asian market what is very important for those operators who are new to the Asian gaming sector.

The conference is reported to have been well-organized and the most informative so far. The views of participants over the future of the gaming industry in Asia are very optimistic. Having lost the US market, online operators are trying to find other alternatives.

The introduction of the US UIGEA in 2006 has had a devastating impact not only on online gambling but also on mobile gambling in the US, having made its growth and development there really tough. The online gaming companies who had focused their activities in the mobile market in the first half of 2006, at the end of the year had to find other sources of profit from other sectors in the gambling market.

But despite this, as Juniper Research analysts report, the bets placed via mobile phones will bring income of about $16 billion a year by 2011. The research also reveals that the largest mobile gambling market in the world is located in Europe. Thus, in 2006 $665 million were placed in bets there. Moreover, specialists expect the UK to grow significantly within the European gambling market in the closest future.

Gambling Therapy e-helpline www.gamblingtherapy.org is now hosting the first live multi-lingual service. The service was launched on March 12, 2007 by the Gordon Moody Association (GMA) – one of the UK’s largest gambling support charities – and is conducted in 13 languages by highly trained counselors and advisors. With the help of the GMA’s “STOP!” sign, the player is linked to the Gambling Therapy e-helpline where he or she gets support for the cause.

The project is considered to be very important in the modern society, as the gambling problem has become and acute issue. The help the GMA provides is essential especially for those who have not had any access to gambling support earlier.

In addition to the project above the GMA is looking forward to the adoption of responsible gambling measures by the rest of the gambling market. It is already being supported by Betfair and William Hill. The GMA is sure that together they will be able to tackle the gambling problem.

The fans of online casino games have something to celebrate – the launch of two new online gaming sites: www.redfelt.com and www.redfeltcasino.com. The sites have been launched by CYOP Systems, online casino software provider, and its subsidiary RedFelt Software Ltd.

The variety of games offered is really great. There you can find blackjack, video poker, craps, American Roulette and Classic Slots. Moreover, the access to the games is really fast – 60 seconds will pass after you have entered the site through its Instant Play/No Download Flash version.

English is the language the www.redfelt.com site will be initially available in. Still, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Dutch, Italian and Traditional Chinese are the languages to be introduced.

The sites are characterized as those presenting the safest, most secure casino site online. You’ll be able to enjoy professionally run, fair and fun games.

John “Johnny World” Hennigan started his gaming career as a young man playing pool with his neighbors. Later he became a professional playing in Atlantic City. Now, he is considered to be one of the best cash players in the world. His participation in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event at the Borgata Winter Poker Open proves it: he became a winner of $1.6 million for the first place and re-established himself among today’s poker elite.

The sixth place winner was John James who won $276,935. The next player to be eliminated was Michael Sukonic of Warminster, PA. His award for the fifth place was $332,322. The third player to exit was Joseph Simmons, a Philadelphia native and former manager of the Grammy award-winning hip-hop group, The Roots. His prize for the fourth place amounted to $387,709. The third to finish with the prize money of $443,096 was John Gale, the British-born player, professional poker player and WSOP Bracelet Winner. Charles Kelley of Stanton, VA. Kelley, was the second. His attempts in running for the chip lead turned out to be desperate. Finally, it was “Johnny World” who won.

The Travel Channel will broadcast the Borgata Winter Open/ Borgata Poker Classic event in spring, 2007.

Online gaming tycoons usually have their spots on the Forbes magazine’s Billionaire list, but this year there are some changes. Because of the US gambling laws, some of them have dropped off. Calvin Ayre, Bodog founder, and PartyGaming founders Ruth Parasol and Russell DeLeon are some of them.

Calvin Ayre was on the list in 2006. Then his net worth hit $1 billion. But since it became difficult for American players to move money into online accounts, the company’s operation has slowed down. As a result, Calvin Ayre has dropped off the list.

The net worth of Ruth Parasol and Russell DeLeon was estimated to be $1.8 billion each in 2006. Being made to stop taking American play has really weakened their position this year.

But some of online gambling businessmen are rocking. So, India’s Anurag Dickshit kept his spot on the list with a net worth $1.6 billion. He is the one who developed the software for PartyGaming and helped its founders launch the product.

The Microgaming online poker network is widely known for their numerous promotion campaigns, given away jackpot earnings and buy-ins. E.g., last week alone the company’s buy-ins given away to 32 tournament winners at 17 different online poker rooms in its network amounted to $400,000. Among them there were twenty $9,000 buy-in packages to the EPT Dormund and ten $16,600 buy-in packages to the EPT Monte Carlo scheduled for the last weekend of March.

Still, Microgaming’s focal point is the World Series of Poker where the company will give away a series of online satellite tournaments for the WSOP finals each valued $15,000. Besides, six winners will each get $50,000 buy-ins to the WSOP tournaments of their choice. There will also be 2 roundtrip airfares to Las Vegas, five-star accommodation and $3,500 in cash to spend.

Taking into consideration the imminent entry of Turkey into the European Union, Betsson AB, the online gambling provider located in Sweden, cannot but see the perspective of the development of their business in Turkey. Still, there is a thing that may worry any gambling provider – the current gambling legislation in Turkey which may be regarded as a desperate attempt to protect the partially state-run monopoly.

It must be noted that 20% of Betsson’s profit comes from Turkey. Net Entertainment, their subsidiary software company, gets 15%.  The companies will be able to run their business with the proposed legislation having been approved, but it is certainly that they will get much less profit. Despite all this, Betsson remains very optimistic.

By signing a contract with Foundation Group Limited, Playtech, online software giant, has made a decision to expand into the Chinese market. In accordance with the contract Playtech will provide Chinese market with Peer to Peer (P2P).

Foundation Ltd is a new listed company in Hong Kong, but with a high potential and whose subsidiaries have recently signed licensing agreements with the Communist Youth League (CYL). The latter one is responsible in China for the implementation of China’s “Green Internet Policy”. According to they provide licensed play for cash prizes P2P tournament games via Internet cafes located throughout in the country.

To say more, this contract is the second one that Playtech has signed to provide Chinese market with their product, but this contract is the first one of that scale.

According to a number of surveys Cyberslotz is considered to be one of the top ten most popular online gambling websites in the UK. Winnings there are really great: over $150 million cash. Renovation of the site is believed to lead to really amazing results. The site is attractive, full of fun and interesting games.

Cyberslotz has also got a new game – “The Great Race”. It’s a 25 line game, the second one Cyberslotz has, with a mystery bonus. An amazing thing there is that even a line that seems to be a loser at the very beginning may win at the end. Up to 15 free games can be won when a winning badge appears.