Issue #187
weekly
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the Amsterdam special edition. Yes, this is the tell all issue that describes the decadence, debauchery, and hedonistic experiences I had in Amsterdam; and then I left the conference room to get a breath of fresh air. Want more? Scroll down and let your eyes wander.
Tell-talingly yours,
Bryan
In this issue:
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Both Mito and Peralis from Reviewed Casinos hitched a ride from us. Amsterdam is quite close to Dusseldorf relatively speaking -- only about two hours. A nice drive except it's so damn flat! It was like driving I-95 between Georgia and Virginia, nothing but flatness, farms, and trees. It was a relief to arrive in the big city, except Dutch traffic signs are kind of hard to read.
No problem finding our hotels, and I was bit surprised how easy it was since we had no map of the city. Lesson learned: before going to a big city, buy a map. Jeeze, I thought that was a no-brainer.
Finally my wife and I checked into our room, and as I waited for her to change (we were to meet Kevin and all at the Krasnapolsky Hotel), I switched on the TV to check out what stations they had to offer. After about 45 seconds of channel surfing, I came across FREE PORN! Holy crap! I thought, what the hell is this? But after about thirty seconds of staged "ohh-baby" the TV screen prompted me to enter my room number. Damn, I thought - NOT free. And we discovered that every time we turned on the TV, the porn channel would reappear - and only for 30 seconds. But we didn't need any of that, we were in Amsterdam.
For those of you who have never been to Amsterdam, let me forewarn you. It is not a city for prudish uptight people. Pornography (I mean the raunchy stuff that your dad stashed in the wood shed) and sex toys are sold in the open. For instance, walking into a tourist souvenir shop you may be confronted with the "nasty" between the t-shirts and Coffee Cups from Holland. It was kind of funny watching how parents would shuffle their kids out. "Hey dad! Look at those funny looking candles!" Oops, gotta go.
Hemp, weed, marijuana, whatever you want to call it is sold in most coffee shops. Since the actual soliciting of weed is illegal, (like-wise is selling sex), you have to ask for a menu (or so I heard). Some of the coffee shops are called "smoking coffee shops" and you can always tell by the contact-high you get as you walk in. How long have the Dutch been doing this? Since 1554. Yes, that's right. Amsterdam has always been a world city and this caught on from visiting Hemp smokers from Asia.
And of course there is the infamous "Red Light District". This is where you can go "window" shopping so to speak. Need I say more? Well, maybe later.
But I was there for the Casino Affiliate Convention, and this year I think it went suprisingly well. There were some really good speakers and a lot of good information about the state of things for portal operators and casino operators in Europe. There was a relatively high turn out and if there were any crises, problems, or glitches, they remained well hidden. It seemed to be a stress free event.
The first day kicked off with "Advertising Law and Gaming Law in Europe: Where you can and can't advertise in Europe" presented by attorney Ewout Keuleers. His presentation really outlined how complex it is for any business to advertise online casinos in Europe, mainly from the complexities of many EU states. Each country has their own laws, but with online gaming there is the "cross-border" free trade issue. What is challenging for most companies is the justification of restrictions and how one can regulate the Internet. There is also the question that no one can seem to answer: where is the gaming transaction taking place? Is it on the players computer or is it where the server is located? His presentation left more questions open than giving answers, mainly because there are no clear-cut answers. Up to now, most of the laws that have been imposed are to protect the National Lotteries and have not much to do with online gaming. It's only now that some of these laws are being questioned.
He stated:
The EC Court has recognized the wide discretional power of Member States to adopt and enforce restrictive gaming measures, it should be emphasized that the concerned jurisprudence only relates to off line forms of gaming and not all sorts of e-gaming i.e., an informational society service.
Considering that e-gaming services are borderless, national authorities will have to become aware and recognize that a restrictive national regulation would be a moot issue if a citizen can log into a foreign gaming platform with the same conveniences he does with a national one.
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We had tickets for free drinks, but after about a half an hour, it didn't make any difference since they ran out of beer at 11 o'clock! So we left, but while leaving the club I took another peek into this room and now everyone was lying on the floor groping and kissing each other. Ah! An orgy room!! But we were in Amsterdam. eh!
The following day was another eventful one. I was scheduled to speak on "Ethical Concerns of Portal Operators" and the core idea was why and how to protect yourself from casino scams; mainly focusing on the why.
Here are a couple of points that I made: The bottom line for most people in this industry is to make money. But when failure or scandal occurs, it's usually the result of a profit driven philosophy. A prime example would be the Pirate and Hamptons casino, where the casino operator would rather lie and cheat a player than realize what a goldmine good public relations can be.
The bottom line should be the player, and to cater to the players' needs (safety, dependability, honesty, fairness). Without the player there is no industry. If the operator of Hamptons had subscribed to this train of thought, he would still be in business, RTG would have NOT gotten the black eye that it did, and the player would have been a much happier camper.
And for the affiliates: don’t let easy money cause you to betray your own ethical standards. 'nuf said.
The following day we drove straight home, back to Germany, back to the land of real Bier and home-cooked meals. The CAC 2004 Amsterdam was a really successful event; well coordinated, good turnout, informative, and I met a number of new faces and reacquainted myself with the old ones. If you are a portal webmaster or a casino operator, you really need to start coming to these events. It's the people in this industry who make this industry tick; come on out and meet them.
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3. This week's humor
From the Archives:
A hippie gets onto a bus and sits next to a nun in the front seat. The hippie looks over and asks the nun if she would have sex with him. The nun surprised by the question politely declines and gets off the bus at the next stop.
When the bus starts on it's way the driver says to the hippie, "I can tell you how you can get that nun to have sex with you". The hippie says that he'd love to know, so the bus driver tells him that every Tuesday evening at midnight the nun goes to the cemetery and prays to God. If you went dressed in a robe and glow in the dark paint mask she would think you are god and you could command her to have sex with you. The hippie decides this is a great idea, so on Tuesday he goes to the cemetery and waits for the nun to show up.
At midnight sure enough the nun showed up, while she was in the middle of praying the hippie jumped out from hiding and says. "I AM GOD" I have heard your prayers and I will answer them BUT ... first you must have sex with me. The nun agrees but asks for anal sex so she might keep her virginity because she is married to the church. The hippie agrees to this and has his way with the nun. After the hippie finishes he stands up and rips off the mask and shouts "Ha, Ha Ha I'm the hippie!!" Then the nun jumps up and shouts "Ha Ha Ha I'm the bus driver!!"
ha ha ha
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Complaints? Kudos? Please let me know.
Peace
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Bryan Bailey Webmeister Casinomeister |  |