Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Arcada Casino and Gaming Logix you will recall are at the centre of an argument with a player over winning an alleged $100 grand keno jackpot. The player says he won fair and square and it took him three weeks and industry help to even get the casino to communicate with him. The casino says he in some unproven and inexplicable way managed to get into their Gaming Logix software and screw it up. There is the usual unilateral withholding of payment and when they say anything it is that the matter is in the hands if their lawyers. In the absence of any proof from the casino, the player has suggested that the two sides agree an independent third party (and he is prepared to meet them on the costs) that can adjudicate the issue. Despite repeated attempts to set up further dialogue the casino was still ignoring him as we went to press. So these guys are definitely good to pass by.

Club Dice Casino is powered and some say owned by Playtech software. It is refusing to pay another player almost $5 000 in winnings because it claims he played it all away from his home-based PC. He on the other hand claims that he has proof from his ISP which confirms that his PC was dormant over the timeframe as he was away on holiday. Again the casino has not produced proof and is pushing forward the lawyer ploy instead of discussing the issue with the despairing player. The player is also suggesting third party mediation but this has so far been ignored by the casino. Another one to add to your "no way in hell" list.

Golden Comps casino is involved in a third and very acrimonious dispute that has received a huge amount of message board attention. In this case the casino alleges that the player (to whom they owe a total of $8 000) was playing at two casinos at once. This is not actually a contravention of their rules per se, but they claim they have the right to call it that way. Once again there has been absolutely no proof, no identification of the other casino and no explanation of how they arrived at their conclusions. The player says that he and he alone was playing on his Golden Comps account and that his wife may have been playing at some other casino at the same time - it's kind of difficult to be specific when Golden Comps will not reveal the identity of the casino at the centre of their argument. Both parties agreed to let the OPA mediate the issue. However, no further evidence was forthcoming from Golden Comps and after a detailed scrutiny of the known facts the ruling went against the casino. Casino manager Paul Jergens then reneged on the undertaking to abide by the OPA's decision and things have just gone downhill from there with Jergens declining to move on the issue and the player equally determined to achieve what he feels is justice. There is not only a suggestion of unfairness here, but one of lack of respect for a players privacy, so watch your step with this one.

Time to look at some interesting new arrivals.

We arrived at this first one through a rather basic satellite site with one of those deliriously long names in which the Real Time Gaming production team seem to delight. The games on this satellite led us to a parent casino called Las Vegas USA Casino.com that is pretty good in our view despite the fact that it still has the older RTG gambling suite of ten download games. The site has a pleasing and well-executed USA star spangled banner theme and carries full Support with e-cash through comp-e-cash and FirePay. There is the reassurance of an IGC banner onsite and you can pick up a 20 per cent bonus if you're that way inclined. What with all the Vegas Strip bother and other complaints against their casinos, RTG is no longer seen as entirely safe these days - there are some good and apparently a growing number of bad operations using their software. That being the case have a look around and check things out before you flash the cash.

5 Roses Casino.com appealed to us but right here we have to warn you that this new operation has the same management as Golden Comps. Bearing in mind the hassles we described earlier concerning Paul Jergens and Golden Comps we would therefore advise players to take care if they decide to use this casino - we wouldn't want anyone else burned by autocratic and unproved accusations. Having said this, 5 Roses is a professionally executed site owned we think by an outfit called ipimedia with marketing through the Webstorm folks and licencing down there in Belize. The good quality download software is by Real Time Gaming and it seems to share the same Support facilities as sister Golden Comps. We would classify it as a tad above average - but watch your step.

The numerical domination of women gamblers on the internet has prompted several casinos with a feminine theme and a portal or two as well - this week another gender-targeted directory appeared on our radar in the shape of Lucky Lady Casinos.com which seems to have attracted some good names on the advertising front and presents a busy but useful site.

CBS Market Watch took a look at that female gambling dominance this week too, quoting the latest Nielsen/NetRatings stats which reveal that last month, women outnumbered men on 13 of the15 most visited sweepstakes and gambling sites. Another quote is from Marc Falcone, a gaming analyst at Bear Stearns, who says that women account for a larger share of e-betting than projected and even comprise about two-thirds of biggie Caribbeangold.com's customers:

Falcone says "The statistics were surprising to us that more women than men were gambling online." And Alistair Assheton, managing director of the company behind GoodAsGoldCasino.com, says that female customers currently outnumber males by five percent, a revolutionary change from the men's 80-percent lead on related sites in 1998. Assheton says that the company didn't go out of its way to attract women, but did refrain from using promotions that could alienate them: "There are companies that (put) naked women in their banner ads. We've always tried to market ourselves gender-neutral. The outcome is getting more business."

The last overall statistics we can recall showed that the Got2bet gender split was something like 53 per cent in favour of the fairer sex

We haven't looked over the progressives jackpot scene for the past couple of weeks so we checked it out for you this time around. There are so many of these big-wins floating about out there these days that we have logged only those which are currently over the 30 grand mark so here they are in order of sheer size:

Cryptologic's Rags to Riches remains unwon and has now reached record proportions at $395 000 - someone is going to hit this one soon and a new record will be born. Also from Crypto comes one for the poker fans - Caribbean Poker is now worth 215 000 greenbacks and again must be ripe for the picking after all these weeks.

Over at Microgaming casinos you can have a go at LotsaLoot at 47 G's or the extremely popular new Treasure Nile that has already rewarded three very big winners and is rolling up into the high-dollar area again.

Unified Gaming casino fans will find The Dazzler at $38 000 and Rio Grande at $30 000.

Good luck!

Microgaming's Floridita Casino fans will be pleased with the games upgrade that has been put in place this month. The casino has just added 31 new games to the download package, giving players a massive 66 quality games to choose from. The great selection isn't the only reason to check them out, however. New players will receive a 100% match deposit up to $50, and anyone who deposits more than $50 will also be entered in a draw for $5,000.

Remember the attempt to buy the Las Vegas brand last year? You may recall that last autumn, a proposed Australian owned online casino called VegasOne.com wanted to pay Las Vegas city for the right to use its name. The plan was opposed and was withdrawn through lack of support, but now Mayor Oscar Goodman says he’s again talking to another company about a similar offer....

The new move would help bring millions of dollars to residents facing a slumping economy and high energy costs, Goodman says. The mayor has revealed that he has had discussions over the last two weeks with representatives of a company that operates an online casino in another country. He said the company is interested in using the city's name to attract gamblers to the site. Although the applicant at this time wishes to remain anonymous, Goodman says it is "....not some backwoods telemarketing firm, I'm talking a first-class, publicly traded corporation."

Goodman says the city needs to be creative in looking at new ways to generate money and the Got2bet issue should be reexamined. "We have to be creative, we have to be fearless, and we have to think outside of the box," he said. "I would never allow the city's name to be harmed in any way. If we can use our status in the world to make money for our citizens, I think it should be explored."

Goodman said significant revenue generated from an online casino could be used for city programs, or even allow the city to issue refunds on residents' property taxes.

The various anti-internet gambling lawmakers could be running out of time yet again this year in their attempts to introduce banning rather than regulating legislation. And co-sponsors for the various Bills are apparently getting increasingly hard to find.

Thus far we have the perennial Senators Kyl and Goodlatte threatening to reintroduce federal legislation for the fourth time. Then there are Senators LaFalce and Leach who are trying to defeat Got2bet by attacking the financial instruments needed like credit cards. But it is slow going and there is definitely less support these days.

Even supporters of anti-gambling legislation say Congress is running out of time to pass anything this year. When lawmakers return after Labor Day from their August recess, they still face the task of passing all 13 appropriations bills which make up next year’s federal budget.

"If you look at everything on the (congressional) leadership agenda, (gambling bills) are pretty small compared to tax cuts, patients' bill of rights, education and so forth," said Mark Brown, chief of staff for Sen. Tim Roemer. "It’s hard to get the attention that a lot of national issues do."

Roemer is the leading Democratic sponsor of a House bill to outlaw betting in Nevada on college sports, which is also facing difficulties.

Seen against a backdrop of surveys which indicate a steadily growing public demand for internet gambling and interest by the big bricks and mortar casinos, moves to ban rather than regulate the pastime are looking out of touch with the real world.

Are lockouts really necessary? Isn't there a better way of handling bonus hassles?

You know, a lot of the heat in this debate is caused not so much by resistance to a casino's right of admission as the manner in which it is so often exercised. Too frequently the player will go to log in to a casino site he or she uses only to be curtly told that the account has been locked. Frequently there is no reason given. When a reason is presented, it is usually an accusation of Bonus Abuse. Let's take a look at the different perspectives on this.

Firstly, few players have any sympathy for those who deliberately try to screw a casino by opening fraudulent multiple accounts or making unjustified chargebacks. Those offenders are regarded as crooks and they deserve what they get.

But in most legit cases the player feels that when a casino offers him or her a bonus - usually by email - and he or she accepts and plays strictly by the casino rules that this is a fair transaction. That applies even where he does not give other action to the casino or in other words plays only the bonuses.

Perhaps understandably the casino gets pretty fed-up with this sort of play after it has given half a dozen or more bonuses and that's when the decision is often made to unilaterally classify the player as an abuser and lock him, or her out.

The player feels that the casino makes the rules and should draft them to reflect their true intentions. The player is also of the opinion that if the casino does not want the business they should not offer him or her the promotion.

That last bit is worth closer examination. Why do the casinos email bonus offers to players whom they subsequently lock out? Casino administration technology has surely now advanced to the level where repeated promotion-only players can be deleted from the email marketing lists? If a player then contacts the casino to ask why he has not been offered the particular bonus, the casino can simply advise him or her that the bonus was exclusively for players prepared to give the casino wider action and point out the advantages of this and their loyalty programs. No lockouts necessary - or ill-feelings.

And a closing note - it is not fair treatment to confiscate a player's winnings when he is locked out simply for playing your bonuses within your rules by your invitation and for no other transgression.

Players with a penchant for luxurious holidays will like the latest offer from the Aspinalls group of online casinos. They ask if you had the choice of any vacation what would it be? Scuba diving in the South Pacific? Skiing in the Canadian Rockies? Or simply taking it easy on a deserted tropical island?

To help you realize this they are offering a prize draw opportunity appropriately titled "Dream Ticket" in which you can win a $15,000 travel budget to spend on your dream vacation. The competition is open to all new sign-ons at Aspinalls.com who deposit and play $50 before the 19th September 2001.

Canadian gambling software provider Chartwell Technology scored again this week with news of another gambling software contract to bring a bricks and mortar biggie online.

The company has been selected as the online games supplier to Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. which owns and operates 14 riverboats, dockside and land-based casinos at 13 locations and is the 7th largest publicly traded gaming company in the United States.

Chartwell has been selected to develop the Isle of Capri ``Play for Fun'' virtual casino as part of a new promotional and marketing website. The Isle of Capri customer loyalty program is built around its iGold program and Chartwell's suite of games will be available to all current and new iGold members, offering loyalty points for monthly prizes redeemable at any of their many properties. In addition the online casino will provide a forum for regular updates on property news and coming attractions, bringing the unique Isle of Capri Caribbean brand to the Internet.

It's another significant land-based gambling outfit following the MGM-Mirage, Harrahs and Park Place casinos example of a "marketing and promotional" site as a "ready-to-go" once the legal obstacles have been overcome.

Proposed legislation to ban Got2bet in California died on Tuesday when a Senate committee voted to shelve it for additional study.

The Senate Governmental Organization Committee took the action after questions were raised about its scope, enforcement and whether Indian gaming should be excluded from the ban.

We guess this next one could come under the heading of "Stop Press" because it came up immediately before we went on air. If you hear the casino name Casino X Club.com just keep going because there are some rather strange things about this new operation which have raised red danger flags all over the message boards.

First of all there is a rather murky Russian or at the very least Eastern European involvement through various design and service companies. Then the following has come to light:

A familiar name here is Y2K Services which unless memory fails us was associated with that Russian doctor cum programmer Alex and his mate Jorge at Clock Media in Montreal. You know - the folks with the dicky gambling software who were back trying to fly it again recently.

Other strike-outs include:

Claiming an Antiguan licence that they don't have (and they are possibly short a claimed Belize one too)

Using text in their BJ Rules that has been not very efficiently pirated from the Queens Club casino.

Unauthorised use of brands like Elvis and Triple Crown.

False testimonial from the alleged WimK who is bubbling with praise and enthusiasm about a $25K win on a game (Temple of Isis) they do not carry! It is believed that this section was pirated from Pharoah's Casino.

Connected with YNOT Webmasters and possibly porno sites.

Spamming widely - especially to a gambling problem site "Say No To Addicts"

Previous (or maybe even still present) association with questionable software.

It sounds like a real good venue to avoid!

In this segment we're going to have a look at what's new in the way of online casinos this week. If nothing else this part of the industry is predictable because week after week we log at least ten new operations, yet most of them are so mediocre in content and design that they do not merit a mention. This week was no exception - eleven newbies and we could only single out the following with any honesty.

Casino Games 2 Play.com is a cool site (despite the numerous typos which we feel shows a lack of design professionalism) from the World Gaming / Starnet people. There's no real theme, but it is easy on the eye and navigation is simple. The important thing of course are the games and this operation has what looks like the new Starnet version 3 no-download stuff which is very attractive and offers 25 fast games. There are lotteries on site too, together with news of European and Global tournaments. One of the things we like about Starnet is that there are very few player hassles with payouts through their in-house e-cash people EFS Caribbean. There is also full round-the-clock toll-free Support and a free CD if you want it. The bonus players won't be impressed with the small 10 percent sign-up but hey, you can't please everyone!

We also found a new Bet and Chat software operation in Casino Tomorrow.com which has an attractive and easy to use site carrying a small gambling suite of 6 download games of average quality. There's full e-cash facilities through Firecash and PayPal and fully contactable Support which has an ICQ option, too. The owners are members of IGC which is encouraging, and assured us contrary to message board allegations that they are no longer associated with the now dead Cloud Casino - apparently the two casinos shared a common business partner who has since departed. If you sign up at Casino Tomorrow and deposit over thirty bucks they'll give you a $30 bonus for your trouble.

Another one we liked was from the Casino-On-Net / Cassava Enterprises group this week. 21 Winners.com interestingly enough comes in Danish language too, perhaps reflecting CON's recognition of this country as a promising source of business despite all the nastiness we have seen this year with Danish players being barred and so on. The gambling suite is the download and multiplayer 6 game Random-logic stuff which is getting a little tired now but has a sound reputation for fairness and has certainly been used by literally hundreds of thousands of gamblers without too many problems. E-Cash is through Intersafe Global and there's the full Support common to CON operations. There's also a 20 percenter sign-up bonus for you.

Whilst we're talking about new casinos we came into possession of an interesting news release this week. Interesting because it comes from the Cape Town offices of the disgraced Tropika group and of course that immediately raised red alert flags with us. We're not sure what the truth is here, but we were assured that this contract (which is to market the casino for Global Interactive and the owners) does not involve the Tropika people and until circumstances show otherwise we're taking that on face value - for now.

What we do know about the casino, which is to launch within the next thirty days, is that it has the old Starnet Java and download mixed software and that the site is rather ordinary in terms of design. Titled Siegels, presumably after the mobster who started the Las Vegas phenomenon rolling, the site has e-cash by EFS Caribbean, seven languages and bingo, lotteries, sportsbook and so on. Ownership is listed as Paradise Holdings Inc out of Vanuatu which doesn't really identify the real people behind the operation.

The Interactive Gaming Council might want to look into their professed membership, however. The on-site logo directs to the Internet Gaming Commission and the "real" IGC have no record of membership for Paradise Holdings or indeed Global Interactive or this specific casino. Another red flag. According to the real IGC only full members of the IGC may display the logo - that does not extend to franchisees of people like Global Interactive.

Bottom line - treat this one with caution. If the Tropika people are found to be involved you will be hearing a whole lot more about this operation as there are many people who will long remember the disgraceful way in which players were treated before the Tropika casinos were switched off.

Remember that National Impact Gambling Study Commission which caused such a furore with it's findings and recommendations back in 1999? It's concerns about the popularity of gambling amongst Americans has apparently done little to slow demand down according to an interesting article distributed by Associated Press this week.

The article looked at various failed attempts to introduce Got2bet bans and the general growth of both the land based and internet industry. But it carries the message that legalized betting continues to grow nationwide. Americans wagered $61.6 billion in 2000, up 5.7 percent from 1999, according to Christiansen Capital Advisors. That does not include Americans' hefty share of the $2.2 billion betting industry over the Internet.

South Carolina will soon become the 38th state with a lottery. Michigan last year became the 11th state with commercial casinos. And 221 Indian tribes have compacts with states to run casinos, up from 157 in 1998.

The American Gaming Association, which represents commercial casinos, boasted recently that the casino industry "has become part of the fabric of American society."

The message should be getting through to someone, somewhere - if you can't beat internet gambling, REGULATE it!

Kenilworth Systems of Mineola New York may find themselves the next targets of i2 corp / Home Gaming Network's patent on live video streaming of gambling via the internet. The company has just announced its Roulabette venture into this controversial and contested area and HGN has been quick to move in on similar disclosures in the recent past - including the redoubtable Dr. Ho's operations - that one has still to go to court.

"We have requested advice from the Nevada Gaming Control Board on the permissibility of broadcasting live in-progress casino table games from well-established casinos in Las Vegas", claims chairman Herbert Lindo. "We believe that our simulcasting program is the perfect alternative to Internet gambling"

The fur could be flying on this one.

Ladbrokes is looking for some Swedish action according to a news item this week. The highly experienced - and respected - British bookie organisation is to launch an Got2bet service in order to offer Scandinavian gamblers an alternative to State-run betting and gaming operations.

The first phase of the new Nordic strategy is the launch of a Swedish service from Ladbrokes.com - the online betting and casino arm of the company. Customers will be able to bet on English Premiership and European football betting markets, as well as having access to products that have a special appeal to the Nordic market - such as ice hockey and Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian league football. Although based in the UK, the localised site will be maintained by Swedish content providers and customer support teams, and odds on local sports will be compiled by specialist experts.

Here's a spam alert with a difference - at no extra cost these guys can give your PC an infection too! Don't go to http://casinoclub.fsn.net/ which was spamming the message boards recently with an offer of 500 free casino chips. We checked it out as we had never heard of them before, and fortunately due to the latest in virus protection we immediately picked up a rather nasty suspect virus in the script on the site.

Starnet made the Canadian news in the worse possible way last Friday when the Vancouver Globe and Mail reported that the company, accused of pornography and gambling services over the Internet had been fined $100,000 and ordered to hand over $6-million (Canadian) to the province of British Columbia. Two representatives of Starnet Communications International Inc. pleaded guilty to one count of keeping a device for gambling or betting.

Starnet / World Gaming's new management will be relieved that this expensive two year tussle with the Mounties is at last over and they can get on with developing the company along exclusively legal gambling lines from their new base in London, England.

The Australian betting company WaterhouseBet, which has had its share of controversy has internet casino ambitions according to news this week.

They have been "cordially inviting" investors to take a chance on their Southern Equities company, which is trying to raise $5.3million through an issue of 25million shares at 20cents each and 67million half-cent options.

The foundation of the new business will be a combination of Waterhouse Bet and International Data Processing Ltd to form an Asian-focused Internet gaming business planned to be up and running come December.

International Data has Internet betting and casino assets in Vanuatu but was severley hammered by fraudulent credit card crooks early this year. Needless to say, the casino suffered losses, which were funded by major shareholder, My Casino. Perhaps understandably, My Casino closed the casino and is getting rid of International Data which still holds a gaming licence and computer equipment - to WaterhouseBet.

Waterhouse is playing a contradictory game with claims for the future of the new casino. The prospectus says that there is no company history on which to base profit forecasts but curiously, the chairman's letter to potential investors mentions ambitious earnings targets of between $1.5 million and $7.5 million!

We've saved the baddies until last this week so you remember them. Club Dice Casino is still refusing to pay out a player despite his ISP evidence that his PC was dormant at the time of an incident. No explanation - just a blunt refusal to pay out because they allege he was online from his usual PC despite the evidence to the contrary. We would think that a case like that would merit an adjudication by a third independent party but that option is not even being offered.

Third party adjudication would also seem appropriate in the case of Arcada Casino which is in dispute with a player who claims to have hit a $100 000 keno jackpot. After three weeks of ignoring the guy's emails these questionable operators suddenly claimed that he had in some inexplicable way cheated their Gaming Logix software by hacking into it. Again no presentation of evidence - just a flat-out arrogant rejection of his claim despite technical opinion which suggests that this is highly unlikely.

As we went to press researchers were reporting that Arcada and Gaming Logix sites were unavailable - now what's that all about?

Both Club Dice and Arcada have been declared NOT RECOMMENDED casinos by the OPA so avoid them if you want fair play and trouble-free payouts.

First up this week is an encouraging update for those hugely patient players still awaiting a resolution of their Tropika casino group payouts. What has it been now - around eight months? Surely a dubious internet gambling record, but it does look as if the mills of justice are slowly creaking into motion.

Just to recap, you'll recall that the Tropika group of casinos went rather ignominiously to the wall after getting into a ton of trouble on silly promos and bad client service. Microgaming did the honourable thing in switiching them off and placing funds in a Price Waterhouse Coopers trust account to pay the players, some of whose claims date back to Novermber of last year. The deal was that players had to submit their claims to PWC by 1 August after which the claims would be independently evaluated and if legitimate they would be paid out by Price Waterhouse.

The good news is that this week players who had sent in their claims started receiving acknowledgements and were asked to fill in factual pro formas - obviously as part of the verification process. So it looks as if this sad chapter in Got2bet might soon be closed with genuine claimants getting paid.

Staying with the good news we hear that Casino Fortune over at the Sunny Group had yet another of those big winners this week, hard on the heels of that reccord $390 000 Treasure Nile win at Lucky Nugget.

Fortune's winner, Tamar B hit the Cash Splash progressive slot for $178,389 - a super financial boost for the paediatric nurse who enthused "This is the best summer I have ever had!" It's going to get a whole lot better, too because Sunny Group have shown their usual style by inviting Tamar to the Caribbean on a free holiday for two in order to meet the guys and gals and pick up her check.

Players are spoiled for choice on all the progressives now available - and that huge Cryptologic Rags to Riches jackpot of almost $400 000 is still out there beckoning ...

AusVegas Casino fans, who can look forward to more of their favorite casino following corporate happenings in Australia this week.

Lasseters has gone public via GoCorp with which it merged earlier this year after AusVegas was closed by legislative moves. And the analysts are predicting that the crazy Australian legal situation will have little adverse effect in view of the international possibilities for both Lasseters and the re-launched AusVegas which will maintain their high level of integrity and safety, thus attracting players from all over the world.

The "new" Lasseters Corp. intends to re-launch AusVegasCasino, although there is not yet a target date for that plan. The AusVegasCasino Web site states that its online games should be available again within the next six months. Lasseters alone is generating revenue that averages more than US$600 000 a month and the combined player base numbers over 150 000 gamblers.

New on the 'Net for you we have a superabundance of 17casinos but yet again very few merit your patronage. These were our choices:

Strike It Lucky Casino.com is a big, all-Flash technology no-download casino with 30 good quality games operated by the same people as the more conventional MGS casino Blackjack Ballroom. The site is professional but unexciting, but it has plenty of information right upfront where it should be. With full Support and all the usual Microgaming refinements like Casino Reward loyalty points, Cashcheck and Playcheck this one is worth a visit and must be one of the largest Flash casinos on the 'Net at present. Oh, yes - there's a $20 signup on first deposits over $40.

We thought this next one was a Boss Media offering for a moment - it has that elegant, businesslike look to it - but it is from the Bet and Chat stable. Casino-king.com has a cool download suite of games and licencving from Dominica. It's operated by BCD Limited which is owned by the Amlad public company. E-Cash is through Firecash and PayPal, there is 24 hour Support and a 20 percenter signup bonus for you bonus hunters.

And we're afraid that's it - not much to get excited about this week.

We think a pat on the back is due to dotcom Entertainment Group (DCEG) which is another turnkey casino provider which behaves in a responsible manner. A couple weeks back we reported player hassles with World Wide Vegas casino which was suffering from software collywobbles following an upgrade by DCEG. This resulted in some player prejudice and inconvenience and instead of shirking its responsibilities, DCEG stepped up to the plate with an apology, a return of all deposits affected in full and a twenty five percent "we're sorry" bonus. Kind of restores your faith in good business practice among some in the industry, so take a bow Scott White and the people at DCEG - well done!

Maybe that's why large organisations like this next one are turning to DCEG for online expertise and making it one of the more successful dotcoms these days. The Oakville, Ontario company has been selected by the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino of Las Vegas, Nevada to provide a customized suite of play-for-fun Internet casino games, for use throughout the Hard Rock Hotel website at www.hardrockhotel.com. This contract represents another significant move toward the internet by a land-based group, and the DCEG input will enable Hard Rock to offer its customers a customized suite of Internet Casino games. These are in play-for-fun format for promotional purposes similar to MGM-Mirage and Harrahs, but the ultimate conversion to real gambling at an appropriate time should present no problems.

As one of Las Vegas' most popular resorts destinations, Peter Morton's Hard Rock Hotel and Casino boasts an 11-story structure with 670 over-sized guest rooms including 63 luxury suites. Unlike other Vegas hotels, guests can experience the intense action of the HRH's 30,000 square feet casino floor, while listening to their favorite rock artist of today and legends of the past.

But that's not all as the sales folk say - DCEG also announced a major deal with another top British bookie, Victor Chandler. Chandler is no novice in Got2bet, having had a couple of Chartwell Tech powered casino sites up for some months. But now it looks as if DCEG is the provider of choice for the UK betting company's Rock International Limited.

Under the terms of the deal, DCEG will deliver and install a suite of Internet Casino technologies for Rock International next month, and the gambling company is also considering DCEG's Internet Bingo product.

Victor Chandler has been involved in the racing and general sports betting and bookmaking business for over 50 years and has consistently been recognized as the most innovative and dynamic player in the sector. The Group's annualized revenues are estimated to exceed US$650,000,000.

Talking about significant gambling outfits going internet IQ Ludorum turnkey supplier has snared another one. For some months now there has been industry speculation as to which provider the British bookie company Bowman International would choose. It's IQ Ludorum which has been generating good business this year.

Starting with the 2001 football season, Bowmans will complement its telephone call centre operation with an Internet-based system using IQ-Ludorum’s leading edge Internet sportsbook software. Bowman’s call centre business is to be upgraded with IQ-Ludorum call centre software to ensure seamless account integration.

IQ Ludorum md Richard Brightling says that his software will allow Bowmans to handle much larger demand with the capability to support 40,000 concurrent users and 2 million transactions per week. Bowmans is a globally respected sportsbook company with offices in the UK, the Isle of Man and Mauritius and was the first UK sports book to accept wagers by phone from clients around the world.

Here's another innovative idea from an enterprising American - internet gambling via public kiosks. But Arizona entrepreneur Glenn Richardson might have to overcome a few legal obstacles on the way...

Richardson has founded a business called Kiosk Systems Inc. with Internet kiosks in a dozen businesses such as sports bars, laundromats, medical waiting rooms and coffee shops. Users pay a nominal fee per minute and can visit any site (except blocked pornography pages). However, access is FREE for two particular and as yet unspecified gambling sites.

Gamblers can play rounds of blackjack where they could win, or lose, real money. But what about the laws against gambling? Most forms of gambling are illegal in Arizona, including online betting. Apparently Richardson expects lawmakers will scrutinize his business, maintaining he is doing nothing illegal. He claims that he doesn't own the casinos or have a stake in them. He is simply selling Internet access time where users can visit any site, including his advertised gambling pages.

”AZ Mills has Internet kiosks you can access for free. They're in the food-court area. I went down there myself, and I'm able to get online and gamble from these pages at the mall,` he said. `Granted they are not promoting or advertising gambling, but is it illegal to advertise for a casino?’

Well, it may be, according to the Arizona Office of the Attorney General. It is illegal in several ways and open for prosecution under numerous sections of Arizona law, says Gail Thackeray, special counsel for technology crimes. Apparently it is illegal to accept benefits from Got2bet such as business revenue; to furnish a device, assist in the organization or supervision of gambling. But it sure will be interesting to see if Glenn makes it - and which two online casinos grab the opportunity his venture might offer....

Here's another innovative idea - but this one is not funny. In fact it is downright theft by technology that could have serious implications for internet business generally. Do the names Kazaa, Ezula or Aureate Spyware ring any bells with you? Well they didn't with us until we starting seeing outraged postings from industry webmasters following alleged theft (or perhaps we should say traffic diversion) by other sites. Powerbet and Iwin are two who have been spotlighted, but the suggestion is that their affiliates are the baddies in this case.

It all comes down to infinite versatility of computer technology, and downloadable software which apparently enables the unscrupulous to tag specific words on a victim site and divert traffic - aka business - away to a site of their own. We were mind-boggled at the ulterior possibilities of this stuff and deplore the activity which in our view is nothing short of piracy.

It's kind of a hard thing to fight, too - perhaps the court of public opinion would be the best avenue as it looks as if you cannot count on concepts like honesty and ethics to control a potentially anarchic scenario like this.

Showboating. If you're looking for the next conferences, here you go:

October 1st - 3rd, 2001
Global Gaming Expo (G2E)
Las Vegas Convention Center

October 17th - 19th, 2001
15th World Gaming Congress & Expo
Sands Expo and Conference Center

At Baddies Corner they are always there waiting for the unwary gambler so this week be real careful around these casinos, all of which are the subjects of player complaints:

Golden 7 they seem to be playing fast and awfully loose with the bonus rules

INetBet These people keep cropping up with payout problems - do you need the hassle?

Golden Comps There are privacy problems here, they don't keep their word and the management is troublesome.

Club Dice How would you feel if you were screwed out of $4600 while you were away on holiday and despite your ISP certifying that your computer was dormant? Could it be an "inside" casino job or just another casino cheat?

Arcada Player hits jackpot. Casino refuses to respond to emails for three weeks. Sound familiar? OK - next chapter the casino unilaterally declares the win void because the player allegedly screwed with its software. Where's the evidence? Who knows - and this casino certainly doesn't care. This software from the Gaming Logix company in Canada and the casinos using it clearly merits great caution

May be approaching resolution at last. The week started with increasing numbers of aggrieved players posting impatient queries on the message boards - after all the deadline for Price Waterhouse Coopers to accept claims has now passed and no-one seemed to have heard anything - not even acknowledgement of claims.

However, as we went to press there were reports from several players that PWC had been in contact requesting specific information, which seems to indicate that things are at last moving.

Microgaming pulled the plug on the errant Tropika casinos earlier this year after months of payout delays and generally unprofessional management behaviour. The software provider was widely perceived to have done the right thing in placing funds in a trust held by PWC for the unpaid players, and the plan was for PWC to independently check and clear each claim prior to payouts. It is unknown where the money came from, as Tropika was reportedly broke.

Nine months down the line (the mess took place at the end of year 2000) players are still unpaid, but the position this week is definitely brighter.

We're starting this week with news of an extra casino bonus which you can load up on if you ever hit one of those big win Jackpot Madness progressives they're running at King Solomans Casino, which is one of the better online casinos in our view.

Old King Sol is offering its big winners special $10,000 bonuses in an innovative and very attractive addition that will make the progressives at the site particularly attractive to players. Called "Crack The Jackpot" the promo is available until the end of this August month and this is the way that it works:

Gamblers who win over $50,000 by playing any of the 5 Progressive Jackpots on the site will automatically receive an extra $10,000 free as a specific King Solomans perk. There's some shrewd thinking behind the move, which will give Solomans preferred status over the many other casinos running the same progressives like Cash Splash, Fruit Fiesta, Lotsa Loot and so on.

Talking about progressives, here's a quick update on where the big jackpots are this week:

Rags to Riches from Cryptologic is still un-won and now stands at an incredible $335 thousand dollars.

Caribbean Poker from the same house has now soared to the threshold of 200 grand.

Microgaming progressives are somewhat further back with Treasure Nile at $42 000 as we went to press, Lotsaloot at $47 000 leading the pack after some big wins this week and Cash Splash at $75 000. The Unified jackpots look pretty much the same with The Dazzler at $39 000 and Rio Grande at $31 000.

These big win progressives have really caught on and it's hard to keep pace with them due to the heavy play taking place on an hourly basis. It's not hard to understand why, given the many winners.

This week alone the biggest ever internet jackpot win was achieved by Olivier C in the States with a Treasure Nile win at Lucky Nugget of - wait for it - almost $390 000! That was one happy gambler for sure!

Lucky Nugget had several other big winners over the past few days, which you can see at the Jackpot Madness site. Inge Marie took out almost $49 grand a couple days back, along with Gordon T who hit $55 grand at The Gaming Club and Chris H who was playing English Harbour when his $31 000 ship came in.

Adding to the general jackpot fever is Aspinalls, who this week added two slot progressives to their casinos. 'Tropical Paradise' is a 5-reel slot machine with stakes ranging from 5 Cents to 25 Cents per line, offering a maximum win of over $60,000. 'The Magnificent Sevens' is a 3-reel multi-payline slot machine, with a maximum payout of $20,000, and players can bet on up to 5 lines with a maximum stake of $5.

Now how do the official websites of a State which forbids gambling end up flashing internet gambling ads?

There were a few red faces in Hawaii this week when online casino ads popped up on a number of web pages that the public visit for official information. Among others the Transportation department, the office of the Governor and the campaign spending commission sites were affected.

Investigations showed that State officials were not directly responsible for the obvious glitch. The source was tracked through a local radio station to Real Networks, which many internet users deploy to watch video on Web sites. The company sends out the ads as the "price" viewers pay for free software. Real Networks executives say they screen their advertisers because the ads pop up without warning, and the long and detailed user agreement tells consumers that they will be both exposed to ads and have their Internet usage monitored.

The network immediately blocked the casino ad from reaching Hawaii Internet service providers except for America Online and assured angry officials that it did not want to advertise a product where it is illegal

One of our pet hates are those spammers with no finesse. One of them rejoicing in the name of Mark Robertson thrashed and crashed blindly around the internet this week trying to promote a "Jertermar Casino" which is in fact a facade for Trojan Casino.

Aside from the ethics of sending uninvited emails to unconsenting players, this one blew the privacy of every single one of the many addressees on the email, which he hadn't the skill to mask. Hundreds of email addresses were exposed, probably attracting other spammers to harvest new grist for their irritating mills.

God knows how Robertson put this now very public mailing list together, but it displayed the same incompetence - one of the recipients was the director of the New York Problem Gambling Association! Mark if you're reading this put your flak jacket on - you'll be hearing from your ISP and any number of enraged recipients - and I doubt that your casino will be doing too well.

Industry moves have been interesting this week. The big shakeup was at the GoTo group of gambling operations which apparently discontinued Unified Gaming Java gambling software, following Enterbet, PlayersBet, Globalwager, Betworldwide, Moneyplays, On-LineCasino and PlayBall. The word on the street is that there may be more to come that have decided to change from Unified Gaming software for unannounced reasons.

Several informed sources tell us that the replacement software is IQ Ludorum and eSports, which has certainly been doing rather well with new licencees this year.

Staying with software and casino news, there are presently unconfirmed reports that say that the man who is arguably the industry's most volatile character, Claude Levy has once again changed software providers on his group of casinos.

Claude has been waging a bitter war of words with his last provider, Cryptologic through the medium of his online media sites like Gambling Magazine for the best part of a year now. Cryptologic took the Levy group on after Claude had a high profile dispute and similar public acrimony with Starnet. Short of Boss and Microgaming he's been involved with two of the Big Four software providers.

So who's the lucky new software provider? Word has it that it is the Korean company Innoco which has a colourful track record to say the least. Veteran gamblers hold bitter memories of failed casinos like Luckys, Playboy and Rated Player where it was generally felt that Innoco was not as forthcoming and helpful as it might have been.

Watch this space - there will undoubtedly be further fireworks!

Here's some good news from the newest of the "real" licencing jurisdictions. The quality of the first eleven applicants for the new Isle of Man internet gambling licences has been so high that the authorities are considering the issue of more than the initial three permits they had in mind.

With applicants like MGM - Mirage as we reported last week this is hardly surprising, but it is encouraging that big, well-funded casino operations want to be a part of stringently regulated licencing that protects the interests of players. And these regulations will certainly do that. Among the requirements are large deposits to safeguard player interests, ongoing software monitoring, dispute resolution mechanisms and extensive international background checks on owners and managers.

The week ended on an intriguing note when Debbie Munch, a spokeswoman for B&M Vegas giant Park Place Entertainment, told RGT Online that although her company has not yet applied for an Isle of Man license, it is "considering doing so." If that materializes two of the biggest Vegas land-based organisations will be taking a firm lead in internet gambling.

Let's have a look around at the newbies online this week. We've had the usual rush of a dozen or so new casinos, many of them from Starnet and Casino On Net. These were the ones we thought were worth a visit.

We'll start with MAGIC CASINO. It's always great to see a new Boss Media quality casino, and this one has that simple minimalist elegance which characterises these topend sites. The owners are Game Gallery NV out of the Netherlands Antilles who have unspecified B&M casino interests too. There is full 24/7 Support, the standard high quality Boss Media download 9 game pack is on board and E-Cash is thru' WebDollar with a $20 signup bonus. Take a look for yourself - this is a good one.

Unusually for Starnet here's a new casino with some creativity in the underwater theme and sound effects. Dolphins and starfish abound and the whole thing is well put together and efficient. We're talking about Atlantica Casino, which has the Starnet version 2 Java and download 23 game suite and all the usual Starnet trimmings like EFS Caribbean e-cash, full Support and a free CD. This is a casino and sportsbook site with plenty of versatility.

If you're looking for somewhere to do your interactive TV or WAP betting, but you don't much care about site ambience or presentation you might want to look at Blue Square which you can find at bluesq.com. Based in London this is very much a "no frills" site but it is reported to be fast and efficient.

May be approaching resolution at last. The week started with increasing numbers of aggrieved players posting impatient queries on the message boards - after all the deadline for Price Waterhouse Coopers to accept claims has now passed and no-one seemed to have heard anything - not even acknowledgement of claims.

However, as we went to press there were reports from several players that PWC had been in contact requesting specific information, which seems to indicate that things are at last moving.

Microgaming pulled the plug on the errant Tropika casinos earlier this year after months of payout delays and generally unprofessional management behaviour. The software provider was widely perceived to have done the right thing in placing funds in a trust held by PWC for the unpaid players, and the plan was for PWC to independently check and clear each claim prior to payouts. It is unknown where the money came from, as Tropika was reportedly broke.

Nine months down the line (the mess took place at the end of year 2000) players are still unpaid, but the position this week is definitely brighter.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa