Online Casino Gambling

Today, online poker is a tremendously large industry that brings in billions of dollars.  This can be attributed to the popularity of the game itself as it is largely viewed as a sport in which nationally televised tournaments have become a normal occurance.  Poker rooms are widely available online, offering your favorite variant and whatever type of tournament you want to enter.  While everybody knows that poker can be very fun and exciting, especially when you win, it is important to take the necessary precautions to make sure you are safe and secure while doing so online.

Internet Security Threats

One of the biggest challenges faced by any business conducted over the internet is security concerns.  If consumers have any doubts that a particular website can not adequately protect their personal and financial information, they will be hesitant to do business at best.  This goes for gambling or a buying a pair of shoes online.  Fortunately, reputable poker rooms and internet casinos employ the same defense against security threats as banks and e-commerce stores.  When playing at these sites, your sensitive information such as name, address, card details and login credentials are protected by a global industry-wide security technology known as encryption.  These operators take all the necessary steps to make sure cyber criminals do not have access to your information.

Despite all the measures poker rooms take, players must also play a key role in protecting themselves as well.  If you choose to play somewhere that you have not thoroughly researched, you stand the chance of downloading something on your computer that puts your personal information at great risk.  The poker software you thought you downloaded could just be a piece of malicious software intent on ruining your life.  Viruses, Trojans, spyware, and adware are just some of the types of malicious software that have been associated with rogue poker sites.  For this reason, it is advisable to install and run security software on your computer to keep it safe from the array of threats roaming on the web.  Little things such as this in addition to creating strong passwords and playing in a reputable poker room can better ensure that you enjoy a safe and secure online gambling experience.

Find a Secure Poker Room

Before signing up at any online poker room, it is strongly suggested that you read several review sites to gather some information first.  There are a number of credible sites online that review the top poker rooms in the industry.  If you run across reviews that look genuinely positive, this is an indication that is probably safe to play there.  However, if you see a review that the poker software or the game itself is a security risk, you might want to think twice about taking a gamble. Over years, online poker and internet gambling have taken a beating because of all the horror stories related to security breaches and fraud.  While some of this is overblown, there is still much to be concerned about, so do your part and make sure your favorite poker room keeps security in mind.

The Pacific Tour sponsored by PokerStars.net Asia is slated to wrap up their third season at Australia’s luxurious Star City Casino.  The tour is set to end with a bang as the APPT Grand Final that starts on December 1st to December 6th has an AUD $6,300 buy-in.

There are a variety of tournaments scheduled for the Grand Final, which could most certainly be considered one of the most anticipated poker festivals in Asia.  The stars will be participating as well, among them are former world champions Joe Hachem and Peter Eastgate, along with fellow PokerStars Pros teammates Eric Assadourian, Emad Tahtough, Tony Hachem and winner of the Season 1 Grand Final Grant Levy.  In addition, Dermot Blain, Dong-bin Han and Simon Watt, APPT champions of season 3, have all won themselves a seat in the Grand Final.

The schedule for the Grand Final opened with a No Limit Hold’em tournament at a AUD $200 buy-in.  A slew of additional events will take place each day up to the Final.  This includes a PLO event, mega satellite tournaments, and a deep stack tournament, all of which lead up the Main Event.  There are also several events that will kick off once the Main Event begins.   These include the Ladies Tournament, a Team Event, Heads-up Event, High Roller event with a AUD $15,300 buy-in, and the Camp Quality Charity Event in benefit of the Australian Children and Families Cancer Charity.

All these events lead up to the APPT Tournament, which will start on December 7th.  Dubbed the “Tournament of Champions”, an invitation only event that is comprised of winners from the APPT and other big names in poker, all of who compete to win money for the charity of their choice.  Australia’s Joe Hachem of Team PokerStars Pro, won the inaugural event.  Last year’s tournament was won by Vanessa Rousso of American Team PokerStars.

The immense success garnered from the 2008 APPT poker event which was hosted in the Philippines, on the magnificent Cebu resort island, shattered records for any event ever hosted in the country.  This inevitability helped to generate even greater interest in the APPT Grand Final this season.  Last year, the Grand Final Main Event alone attracted 477 players, seeing Martin Rowe clinch the title and take home a purse of more than USD $648,046.

PokerStars.net still has satellite tournaments running online that are free to enter, giving players the chance to win a prize that buys their way into the APPT Grand Final for free.  The prize package is worth a total of USD $9,500, which includes entry to the Grand Final and a free stay at the spectacular Star City Hotel in Sydney, Australia.  The Star City Casino is running live satellite tournaments daily.

It looks as is if the online gambling industry in France will be changing very soon as the country is on the verge of enacting a new legislation largely based on the successful models of the UK and other European nations.  One of the most important components of this legislation is to prevent problem gambling by setting fixed limitations on wagers among other measures.  In addition, gambling operators will be required to post warnings about underage wagering and the potential dangers of compulsive gambling.

The opening of the online gambling market in France will consist of sports betting, horse racing, and community games of skill such as poker.  At this point, it is believed that online slots games, lotteries and common casino games such as black and roulette will be excluded from the market as the French government considers them to have a higher risk of addiction.

French Gaming Authority

ARJEL, a new independent public gaming authority, will be established specifically to regulate the online gambling market.  This authority will be responsible for the following:

Making suggestions on requirements for different types of gaming licenses to the government.

Ensuring compliance for policies associated with internet accessible games.

Preparing and attributing requests for online gaming operation licenses.

Monitoring internet gaming operations and taking action against illicit gambling sites and fraudulent activity.

According to a recent report, ARJEL with be given the power to prevent access to illegal websites through a direct relationship with internet service providers, which will allow them to block financial transactions.

Operator Responsibilities

The new online gambling legislation will impose strict requirements on the operators that service French players.  These requirements include:

Operators must provide information and confirmation on their identification, shareholding, and experience in the gambling industry.  They are also required to take the measures necessary to secure online transactions, protect minors, and prevent fraud and money laundering.

Online gambling websites must be accessible via a first level domain ending in the “fr” TLD (top level domain).

Licensees must be located within the member states of the ECC and EU.  If any headquarters of operators or shareholders are based in jurisdictions considered as non cooperative tax havens, they will be refused the licenses needed to legally offer their services in France.

Possible Time of Implementation

With the implementation of the legislation known as the Draft French Gaming Law in the works, ARJEL will likely need more time to establish an efficient architecture for regulation and license distribution.  According to senior officials within the French government, France will not begin granting online gambling licenses until sometime until 2010.  In all likelihood, the Draft French Gaming Law will not be officially enacted on January 1^st as originally expected, partly because of the detailed opinion of the EU Commission rendered back in June.  For this reason, French government officials are expecting the online gambling market to open up for the launch of the World Football Cup in June at the very latest.

The Global Gaming Expo dazzled attendees with slot machines that featured games with HD, 3-D graphics and animated characters, touch-screens, and rich video game features.  Slot machines designed around popular themes and culture hogged the spotlight at the G2E held inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

WMS Industries highlighted a gamed based on the successful movie trilogy Lord of the Rings, while International Game Technology showcased a slot machined inspired by the popular HBO show Sex and the City.  Bally Technologies unveiled its games featuring liquid –crystal displays and new cabinet deigns as well slots with innovative bonus rounds to increase player interest.

Taking the experience to the next level, some vendors have embedded movie theater-esq audio systems into their slot machine chairs!  Imagine sitting in your slot machine chair and feeling the surround sound of your casino game.

Due to the positive turnout and reception, the manufacturers were more pleased with the 2009 event than they have been about prior shows.  For example, Patti Hart, International Game Technology CEO, felt the “sense of energy and anticipation” at the 2009 G2E, attributing the positivity to the attendees’ enthusiasm regarding new products.

Amidst a struggling economy, many of the casino corporations, as well as independent operators, have been reluctant to significantly update their slot machine floors.  To cope, casino managers have tried hard to maximum the life of their older, outdated games.  However, small but hopeful signs that the economy is heading in the right direction have raised the enthusiasm and outlook of slot manufacturers and investors alike.

Joe Greff, a gaming analyst at JPMorgan, told investors that the company is impressed with many of the newer products on the market and believe that they show significant improvement over products introduced at some of the previous G2Es.  He said JPMorgan feels these improvements are necessary because innovative and more competitive content is mainly what investors are looking to see as gaming expansion continues to open up new revenue opportunities.

Representatives from the slot machine manufacturing sector noted that the G2E isn’t all about sales as the trade show is more geared towards showing the casino industry what is in store for the coming months.

Steven Kent, gaming analyst at Goldman Sachs, remarked that the strength and technological innovation of today’s games are of such excellent quality that they should be able to catalyze replacement sales.  Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Simkins, echoed those sentiments by stating that the long-term prognosis for equipment manufacturers is in great shape.

Other highlights of the trade show consisted of IGT’s 3-D Center Stage series, a franchise that includes a network of slot machines link together and complimented by a 103-inch HD TV screen.  Among the many themes is one based on the hit reality television series American Idol.  Players can assume the persona of one of the show’s panel of judges in the bonus round and also enjoy clips of past Idol contestants.