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Special Announcement – 9 January 2007

Dear Reader,

Two announcements: one for the non-US players – a new Casinomeister Casino member Ladbrokes. And an announcement for everyone. Scroll down for info.

Ladbrokes Joins Casinomeister!!

Let’s give a warm welcome to Ladbrokes Casino – the newest member of the “Accredited Casino” section at Casinomeister!!

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CASINOMEISTER AWARDS 2007 ARE ON THEIR WAY!

I’m hoping to be done by the end of the week (or early next week) with the coveted Casinomeister Awards for the Year 2006. The awards will include:

Best Casino of 2006
Worst Casino of 2006
Best Casino Group
Worst Casino Group
Best New Casino of 2006
Best Player Experience
Worst Player Experience
Casinomeister Milestone Award
Best Software Supplier Award
Worst Software Supplier Award
Head in the Sand Award
Fall From Grace Award
Best Named Casino
Worst Named Casino
Biggest Disappointment of 2006
The Most Annoying Forum Member
The Stupidest Casino Trick
The Evil Player AwardAll this and much more. Stay tuned for the special announcement and webcast!!

Special Announcement – 17 January 2007

Dear Reader,

The Casinomeister Awards for 2006 have been announced!!!

Best Casino of 2006
Worst Casino of 2006
Best Casino Group of 2006
Worst Casino Group
Best New Casino of 2006
Worst Player Experience
Worst Player Experience (runner-up)
Worst Blundering Screw Up
Casinomeister Milestone Award
Best Software Supplier Award
Worst Software Supplier Award
Sitting on One’s Hands Award
Head in the Sand Award
Head in the Sand Award II
Fall From Grace Award 2006 I
Fall From Grace Award 2006 II
Fall From Grace Award 2006 III
Best Named Casino
Worst Named Casino
Stupidest Named Casino
Most Bizarre Press Release of 2006
Best Affiliate Program
Most Annoying Affiliate Program
Best Casino Manager of 2006
Worst Casino Manager of 2006
Biggest Disappointment of 2006
The Most Annoying Forum Member
The Stupidest Casino Trick
The Stupidest Casino Trick II
The Best Warning Robot
The Evil Player Award
Read all about it here:
Best and Worst of 2006
/bestworst2006.php

Listen to Vortran and I dish out the awards:
Awards Ceremony
/webcast/

See you there!!

7 February 2007

International Casino Exhibition and Casino Affiliate Program EURO Special Edition

Dear Reader,

Here we go with Casinomeister’s 7th annual London “Magical Mystery Tour.” If reading about the grooviness of London, mellow pubs, chillin’ restaurants, bitchin’ movies, and online gaming is your thing, then read on…

Reportingly yours,
Bryan

ICE 2007 London

Decadent chicken pieces please.

So where should I start? At the airport where I had the perfect flight? Non-stop from Nürnberg to London City Airport – or at the Hotel where it was discovered that Expedia had booked me for February 22 instead of January? Nope. I’ll start with the afternoon in Soho.

This was my seventh year in a row visiting London for the ICE. And each year, one of my main missions is to hit the movies. Where I live, all the movies are dubbed in German since most of the population is too lazy to read subtitles – I refuse to pay to watch dubbed movies no matter the language. So here I was in Leicester Square, checking out the movie times. I had a dinner date, so I couldn’t get out too early. It was already late afternoon and most of the films were in progress. But I finally found one that fit into my tight evening schedule.

After indulging in a bit of decadent behaviour – eating a moderate helping of Kentucky Fried Chicken (I eat mostly organic food via home cooked meals – KFC is verboten) I had a date with Smokin’ Aces. It’s a black comedy dealing with Mafia and Vegas stuff starring Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, and others. Sounds like a good flick. Yeah, that’s what I thought. What a dreadful movie. Towards the end I kept checking my watch wishing it was over. It was like sitting in the dentist chair with a hairy hand in my mouth, and you’re waiting for the drilling to stop. Black comedy? Sure, maybe I would have found this funny if I was fifteen.

The last 45 minutes struggled through a bunch of unrealistic shootouts and obligatory explosions that were both predictable and redundant. I left the theater feeling embarrassed for Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia. Not so much for Ben Affleck – it was par for the course for him.

Soho is one of my favorite haunts of London. The crowds are always so diverse. American college students, Japanese tourists, local party goers, old people going to the opera, junkies and punks. It’s never a dull moment to people watch. But I had no time to hang out and observe, I had a date with some important Meister members. Jetset, GreedyGirl, and Spearmaster were to meet me at The Floridita, a very cool Cuban restaurant. The band played the Rumba and the Samba while we ate, and I wished my dancing partner was there. Oh well, I just ordered another Mojito.

The evening ended pleasantly, and I had a good night’s sleep. My hotel was right by Trafalgar Square. Recently refurbished and renovated, the rooms were large by London standards. I could actually walk around my bed, and there was a desk and flat screen TV to boot. The best deal was wireless Internet connectivity for FREE. What a deal.

The next morning came pretty quick, but I was ready for the ICE. International Casino Exhibition (full Infopowa review here – a must read).

It was held in Earl’s Court 2, and this year’s turnout was impressive. For the past seven years, I’ve attended these events and have seen the Interactive gaming section evolve from a string of modest booths to a dominating presence. This year was by far one of the better attended years – of course this has to do with the US crackdown on online gaming. And it also is an indicator that operators have been European and Asian focused for the past several years.

My main purpose was to get a good sense on how people are dealing with the US situation – and to scope out any “problematic” operations.
…I finally made it upstairs to the calmer mellower section, the online casinos. What a relief; and what a shock. The first booth that was clearly visible, besides Boss Media’s, was GSS’s. I thought it was quite brave for them to show face after the incredible amount of exposure the Players Fortune fiasco has given them. I was amazed that they actually showed up, but what the hell, perhaps it was good that they did.

I talked to Mark Waters and wanted to hear his side of the story, and he stated that they had made mistakes and wish he could do it all over again. More power to 20/20 hindsight. I mentioned that one thing that has always concerned me besides providing honest and fair games, customer service, blah blah blah, is the appearance and presentation of the casinos. Unfortunately, there is no quality control when it comes to casinos that GSS licenses. Some of the GSS casinos look absolutely horrible; slapped together at the spur of the moment with misspellings to boot. Domain names that run just short of aminalfarmsexcasino.com don’t help much either. Piss poor quality gives the industry a bad name. I think Mark was listening and he agreed that there should be some quality control. I hope he took these thoughts home with him…I gave a heads up to the Kahnawakes (at the Kahnawake booth), that they have some serious problems with some of their operators. But this is something that was already being looked at – my points of contact at Kahnawake go beyond the booth personnel. But it was good to renew contact with what can seem an elusive entity.

I had a liquid lunch scheduled with Ed Ware – CEO of 32Red Casino proud recipient of Casinomeister’s Best Casino Award for four years standing. It was more or less an unspoken tradition that we meet at The Atlas Pub.
Suddenly, I bumped into Ed Ware the CEO of 32Red Casino, Casinomeister’s top rated casino for three years in a row. We were scheduled to have lunch, so we mosied out of the exhibition hall and down to The Atlas Pub. This was the place where I interviewed Ed two years ago. It’s amazing how some things just don’t change.

So we sat there – chatted and ate some bitchin’ food. And while we were finishing lunch, Ed spotted Paul Gascoigne who had just entered the pub and was ordering a meal at the bar. Being the displaced Yank that I am, I had no idea who he was referring to – so Ed explained to me that this was probably the most famous footballer in the UK. Well, he looked pretty normal to me. I guess I could be bumping into all sorts of celebrities here and not even know it.

As we left, Ed gave Paul a friendly wave and told him it was good to see him. Paul returned the wave and smiled. What a nice chap.This time, Ed and I met with Webzcas and his wife. It turned into a very pleasant afternoon.

Before the ICE closed for the evening, I made it back and met up with a few people – to include math wiz Grandmaster who has over-watched Casinomeister forum with gusto – nailing spammers with “report a post” message which are sent to me. He accounts for about 40% of the spam alerts alone. Gamemaster and I headed downtown where we met a number of others for chow. After hanging out at the Tottenham Pub for a couple of beers, we saundered to Chinatown for the rest of the evening…

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THE BEAT GOES ON…

Missed the bunnies…

Day two started off in a good way. A little over a year ago, the Fortune Lounge group – which had been listed in Casinomeister’s “Accredited” section for a number of years, to include “Best Casino Group 2003“, had fallen from grace during a spam episode that left a number of us bewildered. Like any crisis, it was amplified by miscommunications and some not-so-great decisions.

The VP of marketing and I sat down for a well-needed talk, and came to the agreement that everything should be cool at Casinomeister. I’m satisfied that safeguards against intrusive spam have been put into place, so I’m welcoming them back on board after a 16 month hiatus from Casinomeister – welcome back Fortune Lounge!

Another highlight that afternoon was the Meister Meeting back at the Atlas. Here a number of forum members met – some for the first time, and it was a true highlight of my London tour. Kasino King graced us with his presence. He had thoughtfully created bottle openers for many of us – with our little icons on one side and Kasino King on the other. If you missed meeting us there, you missed out on a pretty cool gathering – and keyring. Really an excellent gift – a big public thanks!

That evening, I was headed to Memories of China to meet up with some Microgaming folk, the operator of Trident Lounge, and the webmasters of OnlineCasinoFan.com, one of the leading Japanese portals that you ought to check out (if you read Japanese).

I took a taxi to get there – and this is one thing I need to mention – I’ve done a lot of traveling, and by far the London Taxi Cabs are the best. The cabbies are friendly, they speak English, and they know where they are going. This guy even chimed a jovial “Thanks, gov’na!” as I tipped him. Right out of Mary Poppins. I expected to see some chimney sweeps dancing down the alleyways clicking their heels.

And of course that evening was the Fire and Ice party held at Studio 54. I arrived pretty late – so I missed the Playboy Bunnies (they were supposedly in the VIP section), but I didn’t miss being packed in like a sardine waiting in line for a drink.

I met the designers for Wagerlogic’s slots – whom I praised for some of the best slots on the market, specifically Zone of the Zombies.

Intercasino
So we talked about this briefly, and it looks like there are even more interesting things in store – perhaps a customized Meister slot – I’ll keep you updated.

…That evening was the Fire and Ice party which turned out to be a very interesting engagement. I even ran into Brian Woods again, one of the operators for Black Widow casino. You may recall it was our chance meeting last year – or was it by chance – that gave impetus or the momentum to award Black Widow the worst casino of 2003 award. We chit chatted for a while, about how things were going, the usual banter. And then I asked him if he was pissed at me. He said “No, do I look pissed?” and I said no – he didn’t. So we spoke for a while longer, about the industry, about Europe, and about a number of trivial things. He then handed me a White Russian, and we lost ourselves in the crowd. In essence, I’m glad no one is pissed….Day three loomed ahead…it was truly memorable. Scroll down to find out what’s up with that…

WELCOME BACK FORTUNE LOUNGE

THEY’RE BACK!! (non – US)

After a sixteen month hiatus, Fortune Lounge is back at Casinomeister. They have some of the most solid Microgaming casinos on the net.
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TILA TEQUILA WHO?

The final day of the ICE was a good one. I met with Tex Reese – the player advocate of eCOGRA, and we discussed the good, bad, and ugly of assisting players who are in need of help. eCOGRA has a play-it-safe seal, and casinos that hold this seal are bound by Tex’s decisions. She has a tough job, and she’s damn good at it. She’s quick and effective when it comes to handling complaints mainly because she has a direct line to the persons in charge. It’s her job. Me, on the other hand, I have the “Pitch a Bitch” section (we agreed that this is a cool name) where I’ll take on anybody. A lot of the casinos I receive complaints on are no-name-clipshot-joint-casino.coms where it takes me an hour or so just to figure out who the hell the software provider is or where their main point of contact is listed. It’s time consuming and frustrating at times.

We talked about the eCOGRA survey (which you can download from their website) and it turns out that 40% or more of online players visit message boards – Casinomeister’s being one of the most popular. This is big news, since it was previously thought that only about 4-8% of players bother to check out what’s being said. But I always felt that most players are savvy and it’s only a minority that fail to protect themselves with good solid information. I’ve watched Casinomeister’s traffic increase over the years – all natural traffic that is, it’s not bought nor manufactured – and I can say that there is much more interaction going on now than there was, say five years ago.

But that interaction brings on adversaries, pseudo-advocates who try to harm eCOGRA’s or Casinomeister’s credibility by attacking our character or organization. It’s sad to see how some of these players have let their twisted personal agendas turn them into seriously dislikable people. Tex and I sort of laughed about how one individual was making the rounds at the ICE – taking himself too seriously. Too bad he makes an ass out of himself on the message boards – he could have done some good.

That evening I had dinner with the operator of Club World Casino (recipient of Best New Casino of 2006) and with GreedyGirl at Le Caprice, a modern eclectic restaurant that was mildly swanky. I always feel a bit odd when grown men pull my chair out for me and place napkins on my lap, but it’s cool. I can handle swank.

We spoke about the frustrations we’ve had with RTG’s duck-and-cover exercise which has left players of RTG casinos at the whim of management if and when trouble arises. There are a number of RTG casinos that still subscribe to the cowboy philosophy of player support. “If you don’t like the way a player plays – screw ’em. Or at least trip him up in some convoluted terms and conditions.” It’s a shame that players are the ones who make this industry tick, but they are the ones who are tread on first. When will the new and improved Player Dispute center arise? Who freakin’ knows. In the meantime, I would avoid all RTG casinos (besides the ones listed at Casinomeister and perhaps Bodog) until they get their act in gear.

At press time: (now) I was informed by RTG that the Hastings Disputes will be set up by next week.

But besides that, it was overall a great meal.

Onward to Playtech’s Tila Tequila’s party for the launching of Tila Tequilla poker site. The party was held at Embassy Club London which at first seemed small (another dreaded wait at the bar for drinks) but surprisingly, this place was huge. Plenty of room to move around and chat. It was one of the better parties I’ve been to on these London tours. Kudos for the organizers, and yes Tila Tequila and her friends are hot.

Wait a moment. Who is this Tila Tequila and why is she so “big?” I kept asking certain individuals – the name kept turning my tongue into a knot – and I kept getting the same answer “She’s hot!” “She has 1.6 million friends at Myspace.com – she’s way more popular than Paris Hilton.” “You’re too old to know these things. It’s not your generation.” Well, the guy telling me this tried to make me feel old – but sorry, I’m pretty hip on what’s up and what’s not. So I went on to ask a number of people “Who is she?” and most people shrugged. Nevertheless, it was nice to see someone on cloud nine. Because that’s where she was that night – on top of the world. It was a pleasantly vicarious experience.

The night wore on…and I slipped out into the darkness heading back to my room.
…London has a lot of magic for me; mainly from it’s history and it’s writers. Dickens was always one of my favorites, and what a delight it was to have a magnificent lunch with PartnerLogic just around the corner from one of Dickens’ homes. It was here that he wrote “A Christmas Carol”, the story of Eberneezer Scrooge’s Christmas ghosts. There is a graveyard across from the restaurant with headstones dating to the 18th century. Dickens probably saw these on his daily walks, and these stones perhaps found themselves intertwined in his stories. The restaurant was on Old Marleybone Road; Scrooge’s partner was Marley. Cool stuff. And I digress once more…..The last day approached…CAP Euro beckoned me…Scroll down to find out what’s up with that…

CAP EURO 2007

By now, I was pretty freaking tired and burned out. And I had yet to do any shopping for CDs, DVDs, or catching more than that crap movie I had wasted my money on. CAP EURO was unfortunately going to be a short one. Casino Affiliate Programs is one of the only professional organizations (aside form the GPWA) that is geared towards the online casino webmaster. If you are a webmaster, I would recommend moseying on over there to check them out.

This was the first year that CAP was in London, and it seemed like a fairly good turnout. Referback’s booth had a masseuse – and I was beat. J. Todd from APCWjived me saying he was going to put me on one of his videos – but no dice. I didn’t care anyway – the masseuse made me forget about the world for about 5 minutes.

Anyway – I had lunch with Simmo!, Casinomeister’s illustrious forum moderator and fellow webmaster. We joined the Referback crowd in their “VIP” lounge which was a really nice set-up.

After lunch, it was time to say my goodbyes and depart the massive swarm of affiliates, affiliate managers, and operators. It was time for me to play “loner-dude” and check out a movie or two.

So it was sushi for one at MamaYo Sushi on Mayfair street – and two films, “The Last King of Scotland” and a midnight showing of “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan .” Forest Whitaker is absolutely awesome (and convincing) as Idi Amin. Great movie. Borat? One of the best documentaries ever made. Sacha Cohen peels away at human perceptions and plays with their responses in a very subtle yet guerrilla-esque way. Ingenious.

And that was it; over and done with. But the memories linger – it was sad to think about how this industry is changing, and that by next year, there will be a number of faces absent from these conferences.

I’ve had a couple of weeks to contemplate my experiences of the International Casino Exhibition and would have to say it was overall a satisfying experience, but it was too small. It was great seeing the faces behind the websites and emails I’ve been in contact with over the past couple of years, but the ICE could have been bigger. There were perhaps only about twenty-five booths; that was it. I was also surprised by how many “newbies” were in the business, people who have never visited the forums of Casinomeister, Winneronline, Got2bet, or other quality gaming information sites. This was scary. It goes to show that many of these vendors have not done their homework when it comes to finding out what is “really” happening in the online gaming world. It was the “oldtimers”, people who have been in the business for a while, who knew about our sites, and consequently, understood the importance of sites like ours. This new budding industry has a lot to learn.

9 February 2007

Dear Reader,

Things are starting to slide back into normal mode here – so let me be brief.

Diligently yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Complaints in Casinomeisterland

Just a quick rundown on complaints submitted via Pitch a Bitch. January produced 58 PABs (January 2007)- the majority of which are Futurebet’s Pokespoker which has bilked players out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mind boggling, ain’t it? And it’s totally beyond me why players fail to protect themselves. And these players failed in droves – like lemmings off of a cliff.

Who is to blame here? Is it the webmasters who referred these players to the now defunct poker room? Is it the players’ fault to not Google the names of the poker room, or at least the name of the software provider (Futurebet)? Googling “Futurebet” brings Casinomeister’s rogue section as the number two listing. What the hell were these players thinking?

There were also a number of Crystal Palace Group complaints that will more or less go unanswered since they were re-rogued last month. As I mentioned in this week’s ICE special London report, Hastings disputes should be set up within a few days – all unanswered/unresolved RTG complaints that I have will be forwarded to them. I have also been assured that any unresolved old Montana complaints will be dealt with as well. There seems to be a baseless rumour going around that I’ve discarded these PABs. People ought to think twice when they read such mindless blatherings. If you have a question about this, please contact me.

NEW CASINOMEISTER CASINO MEMBER!

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US PLAYERS: TIRED OF GAMBLING?

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has thrown a major wrench into the gears of the payment processing for US players. Instead of trying to find a funkified method to throw your money at some Central American clip-shot-joint, why not take a break for a while? Here are some tips on how to chill away from the gambling scene. Click here and soak in some good ideas to scratch that itch in other ways that are less jeopardizing.

 

SUNDAY 11 FEBRUARY – 32Red MULTI-TABLE TOURNAMENT!!

32Red Poker is sponsoring a tourney this Sunday 11 February!! This is for Casinomeister Forum members with 40 reputation points or higher only! 

Tourney details

Start Time: Sunday, 11th February, 9pm GMT UK

Register up until that time
Name: Casinomeister Poker
Start Date & Time: Sunday, 11th February, 9pm GMT UK
Registration opens; Wednesday 7th February, 12pm GMT
Buy-in: $20 + $2 Freezeout
Where: Multi Table Tournaments > Special Folder
$500 Added to Pot
Password: contact me via PM

US PLAYERS: Is your cash tied up at Neteller?

Check out the poll in our forum that gives an indicator on what types of Neteller funds that have been frozen by the US feds. You can join the discussion here:

/forums/online-casinos/16474-poll-how-much-do-you-still-have-neteller-4.html

Other important Neteller links:

NETELLER SPEAKS ON U.S. FREEZE ON PLAYER PAYOUTS
NETELLER PAYOUTS BEING HELD UP BY U.S. AUTHORITIES
There are also a number of threads in our forum pertaining to the Neteller crisis.

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS

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And now for the humor…

Life is a computer program …

24 months ago, I upgraded to Girlfriend 1.0 from DrinkingMates 4.2, which I had used for years without any trouble. However, there are apparently conflicts between these two products and the only solution was to try and run Girlfriend 1.0 with the sound turned off.

To make matters worse, Girlfriend 1.0 is incompatible with several other applications, such as LadsNightOut 3.1, Football 4.5, and Playboy 6.9. Successive versions of GirlFriend proved no better.

I tried a shareware program, Slapper 2.1, but it had many bugs and left a virus in my system, forcing me to shut down completely for several weeks.

Eventually, I tried to run GirlFriend 1.2 and Girlfriend 1.0 at the same time, only to discover that when these two systems detected each other they caused severe damage to my hardware.

I eventually upgraded to Fianc�e 1.0, only to discover that this product soon had to be upgraded further to Wife 1.0. While Wife 1.0 tends to use up all my available resources, it does come bundled with FreeSexPlus and Cleanhouse2007.

Shortly after this upgrade, however, I found that Wife 1.0 could be very unstable and costly to run. Any mistakes I made were automatically stored in Wife 1.0’s memory and could not be deleted. They resurfaced months later when I had forgotten about them.

Wife 1.0 also has an automatic Diary, Explorer and E-mail filter, and can, without warning, launch TurboStrop and Whinge. These latter products have no Help files, and I have to try to guess what the problem is.

Additional problems are that Wife 1.0 needs updating regularly, requiring ShoeShop Browser for new attachments and Hairstyle Express which needs to be reinstalled every other week. Also, when Wife 1.0 attaches itself to my Saab 93 Convertible hard drive, it often crashes.

Wife 1.0 also comes with an irritating pop-up called MotherInLaw, which can’t be turned off. Recently I’ve been tempted to install Mistress 2003, but there could be problems. A friend of mine has alerted me to the fact that if Wife 1.0 detects Mistress 2003, it tends to delete all of your Money before uninstalling itself.

Ha ha ha!
Thanks Ian!

NETELLER’S ‘OPEN AND HONEST’ CONSPIRACY

Online gambling: a “vice that in this country has to rank up there with eating a second slice of Mom’s apple pie while listening to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Writer Jacob Sullum produced another sharp article on the US government’s attitude to selected aspects of online gambling this week in a piece titled ‘Neteller’s Open and Honest Conspiracy’ carried by the Washington publication “Human Events.”

Referring to the recent arrests of Neteller founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre, charged with money laundering, Sullum writes that there was nothing sneaky about their “conspiracy.” In 1999 the two Canadians co-founded Neteller, an online payment processing company, now based in the Isle of Man, which openly specialised in serving online gamblers.

“The FBI’s investigation of Lawrence and Lefebvre, who were arrested last month and face a preliminary hearing in New York on Feb. 14, consisted mainly of reading their public company statements and using Neteller to bet on a couple of football games – a vice that in this country has to rank up there with eating a second slice of Mom’s apple pie while listening to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Sullum opines.

“Yes, the feds really blew the lid off this publicly traded company that never made a secret of who its customers were or what it did for them.

“The impressive thing about the case, part of the Justice Department’s legally shaky crusade against online gambling, is not the evidence but the government’s sinister spin on it. The feds pretend they’re pursuing criminals while prosecuting honest businessmen for providing services Americans want.

“The money laundering charges against Lawrence and Lefebvre – which carry prison sentences of up to 20 years, 10 times the maximum penalty for the offense they supposedly facilitated – are based on the government’s claim that Neteller transferred money into and out of the United States ‘with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity.’

“According to Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the “unlawful activity” was taking online bets from Americans, which he describes as “a colossal criminal enterprise masquerading as legitimate business.”

“Others, including the millions of Americans who use the Internet to bet on sports or play games of chance, the companies that serve them and the foreign governments that license and regulate the companies, see things differently. They see a legitimate business that bluenoses with badges are determined to tar as a criminal enterprise because they can’t stand the idea that somebody in Westchester County might be playing poker in his pajamas,” says Sullum in an at times amusing but always thought provoking article.

The author goes on to explain the flaws in the Wire Act of 1961, which makes it a federal crime, punishable by up to two years in prison, to accept bets on “any sporting event or contest” via a “wire communication facility,” pointing out that this act does not make it illegal to place the bets, and it does not mention any other forms of gambling.

He writes that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which forbids processing payments for illegal online gambling but does not say which forms of online gambling are illegal, did not clarify matters. In any event, it did not exist when Lawrence and Lefebvre were involved with Neteller.

“Yet Garcia claims Lawrence and Lefebvre knew the betting Neteller abetted was illegal. As evidence, he cites the prospectus that was given to investors when Neteller went public in 2004, which notes the possibility of legal trouble in the United States.

“This attempt to use Lawrence and Lefebvre’s candour against them is pretty amusing, given that the same Justice Department has accused the Costa Rica-based BetOnSports of committing fraud by advertising itself as “legal and licensed.” As far as the federal government is concerned, no matter what people involved with online gambling say about the industry’s legal status, it proves they’re guilty.

“In any case, mentioning that anti-gambling crusaders might bend the law into a crowbar and wallop Neteller with it is not the same as believing such an assault is justified,” concludes Sullum.

“It is merely acknowledging that some people entrusted with government power may abuse it in a vain attempt to police the recreational choices of their fellow citizens.”

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

16 February 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s weird all over. It’s been reported that this winter has been 2 degrees warmer than usual. That’s a fact here since this is the first winter without snow in years. I mean nothin’. And the flowers are beginning to bloom! What the hell is up with that? We live in strange times, eh? Nevertheless, the strangeness of our days is not keeping me focused on what is important right now: this newsletter. So join me for the next few minutes and delve a bit into some good reading.

Convincingly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Is she singing yet?

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” is a good ole American saying (from obscure origins, possibly from an impatient church-goer in some Baptist church in the American deep south) which exemplifies American determination and the will to never give up during trying times.

These are trying times for US players – and I’m afraid that – that fine strong lady is starting to belt-out her aria in high soprano. In other words, it’s about over for the US player. Sure, there are still casinos that are willing to take on US players accepting their bets, but what we are seeing are most casino groups dropping out of the market. The casinos are leaving the market mainly because it’s become too difficult to pay US players when they (the players) win. There are very few payment options left. And it’s only a matter of time that it’s not worth bothering with anymore.

This brings on a new caveat – even if a reputable casino brings you (the US player) on with open arms, will they – can they pay you if you win? Perhaps everything is fine at the moment with your casino account, but things are changing and changing fast. I would caution players from making any more deposits for now – unless of course money doesn’t mean much to you, and you don’t mind playing a waiting game.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing some ingenious money exchanging ideas in the near future – again I caution you against participating in these schemes. Perhaps it’s time to take a break from online gaming for a while. Need ideas on what to do? Just ask me, I’ve got a bunch.

A couple of ideas: check out the cool Video Slots and Poker games at Leading Edge Designs and Videopoker.com. Dying to play some Texas Hold’em or Five Card Draw? Teach it to your friends or kids. I taught my boy poker last year (as illustrated in an article published in Bluff magazine). We used Legos for chips. I beat his pants off – unfortunately he went crying to his mom. Did you know that Hoyle’s official rule book on card games lists Blackjack and Poker as “Fun and Family” games? Food for thought.

Learn to throw darts. Hmm that don’t do it for ya? Buy a cheap acoustic guitar on eBay and learn some cool sing-along songs for a summer campfire. Chicks dig this (guys do too). Or how about taking up amateur astronomy as a hobby. Every week I’ll suggest new things to do with your free time. Woo-hoo!

But fear not US player, Casinomeister will remain viable for you (don’t you dare unsubscribe, you!). There will still be the Bierfest where you can win FREE BEER or CASH by answering cool trivia questions that are totally unrelated to gambling. I’ll send the cash to your Paypal account instead of Neteller, by the way. And of course, you can keep up-to-speed on the happenings within the US and abroad concerning your capabilities on playing. Casinomeister will still consider the US player an integral part of the gaming community.

FOR EVERYONE ELSE

Hang on – it’s going to be a wild ride for a couple of months as many of your favorite casinos “back-up and re-group” after getting nailed so badly by the big bad boogie man. Unless of course you patronize the casinos that never permitted US bets; they should be unscathed. But with most everyone else, there may be cash-flow problems that slow things down a bit. It’s a turbulent time – but in a few months everything should be cool…so stay mellow.

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And now for the humor…

HOW TO STAY MARRIED!

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box

In the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she said, “my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

“But what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”

Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”

ANOTHER HIATUS IN NETELLER SAGA

US Attorney’s office still undecided on whether to indict Isle of Man e-wallet founders.

If readers thought that the February 14 court date set in the case against Canadian Neteller founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre would produce new information they were disappointed. As USA Today reported, the waiting game for thousands of U.S. patrons with money tied up in the Isle of Man based online payment service currently under federal investigation just got longer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York extended the deadline until March 16 to decide whether to indict the co-founders of Neteller, an Internet money-transfer service popular among gamblers. Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre were arrested in January on a charge of conspiracy to transfer funds with the intent to promote illegal gambling

For U.S. customers of the site, it was another delay in their efforts to retrieve their money, which remains in Neteller segregated accounts until the legal issues are resolved.

Neteller says U.S. authorities have frozen access to about $55 million in U.S.-based accounts.

“As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures and related legal concerns, (Neteller) is unable to make payments to U.S. customers,” says a posting on the company’s website.

FBI agent Neil Donovan has said funds are being held in court as potential evidence. He did not provide a timetable on when customers may get their money back.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

22 February 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s a quick one – I’m on the move again.

Briefly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

US Players – Take Our Poll

I mentioned last week that it’s pretty much over for the US player – as in being able to safely play at an online casino for real money. In November, we conducted a poll in the forum to get sort of a feel on how the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) is affecting US players. November’s poll indicated that over 50% of US players were somewhat affected by the new law – 18% not at all. Well things have changed over the past 90 days. Our poll indicates that over 30% of US players have quit altogether. Another 30% are having definite problems. Only one US player has stated that he/she is not affected by the new bill. Eh?

If you haven’t taken the poll – please do. It’s located here:

/forums/online-casinos/16747-us-members-only-poll-ii-about-uigea-unlawful-internet-gambling-enforcement-act.html

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Pacific Congress on I-Gaming It’s being held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Macau 26-27 February. I heard that the catering is supposed to be pretty good, so I’m flying out there tomorrow to see if this is true. Actually, I’ll be in Hong Kong for a couple of days beforehand to get my sea-legs. And after the conference, I’ll be checking out the Playtech offices in Manila. So this means you, my dear ${token2}, can anticipate a bitchin’ report on Casinomeister’s Asian trek. Stay tuned for that one.

In the meantime, Vortran will be at the helm, so be prepared for that.

NEW WEBCAST IS UP!

What’s new in Casinomeisterland

Grab yo’ self a hot cup o’ java and listen to this:

*Where the online gaming industry is going
*The Virtual Casino Group
* Vortran007’s Casino Warning
Don’t have time to listen to this stuff while sitting in front of the computer? Hell – download it to your iPod (or other MP3 player), and you can listen to me and Vortran while at the gym, at church, or shopping at Walmart: MP3 File Download For your iPods and other MP3 players.
To download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

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And now for the humor…

From the Archives!
An American astronaut has an emergency during his re-entry into
earth’s atmosphere and his space craft crash-lands in the
Australian bush, way out in the middle of nowhere.

After what seems like an eternity, he wakes up in a bush
clinic, very rustic, dirty, with foul smells and he is bandaged
from head to foot. He sees a very large, somewhat gruff looking
nurse approaching him as he lies in his cot.

“Did I come here to die?” he says with a deep sense of
resignation and fear.

“No,” the Aussie nurse replies, “You came here yesterday.

Groan…ha ha ha!

IS THERE A MOVE AFOOT TO CHALLENGE THE UIGEA?

Talk on the London market boosts online gambling shares

Online gambling company shares listed on the London market received a brief fillip this week as talk circulated that a US Congressman could be about to challenge the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed in October last year. The Act targets for disruption any online gambling financial transactions and has had an adverse impact on the American online gambling market.

The rumour was that US Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the Financial Services Committee in Congress is preparing an attempt to have the legislation repealed, and on the strength of it Party Gaming shares surged by some 20 percent.

UK business media contacted the politician’s office in Washington, only to be told by a spokesman that although Frank was “not in favour” of the restrictions facing online gambling as a result of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Bill, there was ?nothing on the agenda right now? to reverse the bill.

He refused to say whether the Congressman was considering such a move.

Other possible explanations for the revitalised interest in online gambling stock then emerged, including a theory that the Party Gaming group may be a bid target for both online betting groups and real-world bookmakers, or manouvering ahead of PG’s results announcement scheduled for next month amid talk that the company is growing market share as regular players seek out the busiest online poker tables.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

12 March 2007

Casinomeister Asia Trek – Special Edition

Dear Reader,

A whirlwind trek it was…if tales of exotic Hong Kong markets, Macauan “Karaoke” bars, and Manila street traffic are your cup of tea…scroll on down.

Travel wearyingly yours,
Bryan

Casinomeister’s Asia Trek 2007

No SARS masks here.

A couple of weeks ago, I was making plans for my visit to Asia. The Pacific Congress of I-Gaming was being held at Macau, and I had an invite to check out the Playtech offices in Manila as well. So – it was a trip from Germany to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Macau, and then Macau to Manila and then home again. I’ve never been in Asia before, and I kept envisioning Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation” as a possible portrayal of what might be in store.

My wife and I flew Cathay Airlines, which was pretty decent, but the seats were way too small. The head rest in coach was positioned at my shoulder blades – I had to slide down in my seat in order to rest my head, and then my knees were up against my chin. At least we had a number of films to choose from: “Dear Departed” good, and “Marie Antoinette” – not so good. Besides the scrunched seat, it was a pleasant flight.

When the captain announced that we were descending to Hong Kong, one of the stewardesses donned a SARS mask and disappeared behind the galley-way curtain. My wife and I looked at each other in a dumbfounded manner; we had joked earlier if we should have packed SARS masks in our hand carry-ons. We were relieved to see the stewardess reappear with cleaning supplies. She was merely prepping to clean the rest room.

Traveler notes: Hong Kong airport. The strangest thing for me was that the airport utilized “scenting”. They seemed to be pumping in some sort of aroma to appease the public aesthetics. What was odd was that it had the same scent as a Vegas casino – they utilize this as well.Hong Kong: we had one full day to spend there before moving on to Macau. It was absolutely incredible. There were swarms of people wherever we went – not many tall white guys like me. It didn’t dawn on me how different it really was until we took a ride on the subway. Standing, I could look down through several cars and I was the tallest person for at least the length of two of them. There was another guy my height way up front. I almost waved to him in recognition, but I thought that would have been silly.

One way to immerse oneself in another’s culture is to take a local bus. My wife and I wanted to check out some of the shopping areas and it was recommended to check out Stanley Harbour which was on the south side of the island. So we jumped on a bus – without the proper change. “No change! No change!” shouted the driver pointing at the fare machine. Impatient, he closed the door behind us and took off. We staggered down the aisle and I sheepishly held a 20 dollar note to the other passengers who eyed these touristy looking folk. One nice young lady exchanged my bill so I could pay the fare. The driver came up to the next stop. “You pay now!” he shouted. We paid and scampered up the spiral staircase to the upper level and plopped down in the last row. Here we were able to get a real view of the Hong Kong island.

Photographic Proof Located Here! (pitcures to enhance your reading experience).

Hong Kong is intense if you are not used to seeing looming skyscrapers. Many parts of the city seem to be in perpetual shade from the cityscape. These were not just business offices, but where people lived. Rising into the sky, each floor seemed to be a clone of itself sometimes with laundry hanging out to dry or other nuances that would identify and differentiate each floor. Some buildings seemed better kept than others, and I’m sure there is a certain status given to which build one resides in. It must be odd to live in one of these apartments, and to visit another family in the same building – their apartment layout being the same as yours.

That evening we met up with Ted Loh aka Spearmaster – who had grown up in Hong Kong. He escorted us to Hong Kong at night where the lights and swarms of people were surreal.

And we ate, and ate and ate. Chinese food in China can’t be matched. It is one of the primary reasons to visit. I even ate a frog.

The next day was to prove to be eventful. One of my main missions was to attend the Pacific Congress on I-Gaming. This is the Asian version of the GIGSE which is held annually in Montreal. The European version is held in Barcelona; the Asian version is in Macau.

Macau is absolutely mind boggling. People call it the Las Vegas of the East, and this is no joke – it’s growing hand over fist. There are already a number of large casinos, but there are construction sites that are birthing a number of others. But don’t get me wrong here, even though it may seem a bit like Vegas, Chinese gambling and casinos are way different from their western counterparts.

We checked into the Wynn Hotel. That’s right – the Wynn. The hotel is a near carbon copy of the Vegas version, at least entering the lobby it seemed to be so. And our room was exactly like my room in Vegas from last year. Huge room, huge flat TV screen, huge bathroom, but downstairs was a different story altogether.

Those of you who have been in the Wynn in Vegas should be familiar with the layout. You walk into the hotel and the casino is situated somewhat in the middle. It’s encircled by restaurants, bars and hallways that lead off into malls, exhibition halls, restaurants and shows. It’s immense. The Wynn in Macau is a horse of a different color though. There are few restaurants, and there is one bar (the Tryst). The casino is nowhere in sight. One must walk down a hallway and enter through a doorway guarded by security personnel waiving metal detectors. Purses and bags are searched.

Entering the casino is a wake-up call that screams “this ain’t Vegas, baby!” No grannies churning out the slots. No whooping and hollerin’ cowboys at the crap tables. No cocktail waitresses taking orders for your “free” drinks. This was a totally completely different environment.

The place was dominated by table games and Chinese men. These were serious games with serious faces where the men were intending to beat the house. The casino layout was different than in Vegas. There were huge pillars that lined the walkway, and these pillars rose up to a low ceiling. The room seemed brighter than the one in Vegas. I didn’t notice any peculiar scent that Vegas casinos use – and the tables seemed intimidating. I had no intention on joining one.

Thirsty? There were bottles of water available, or one could choose tea. Yeah, let’s party!

Ted and I mosied to the Slot Machines, and there were just a handful – none that I recognized. I watched Ted feed a machine 20 dollars which it sucked like a Hoover Vaacuum cleaning. This in full few of my wife who promptly laid down the law for me: no slots. And in retrospect, that was probably a good thing.

The Food Court in the casino consisted of a Starbucks – that was it. We were hungry. That was one of the primary reasons that I was visiting Macau, Hong Kong, and the Philippines – to eat.

We went out that night with several Playtech executives and other interesting folk, and sat down for a meal that was a combination of Portuguese and Chinese food. Macau belonged to Portugal until the 1960s. The food was brilliant, but the service a bit lazy. You almost had to beg for a beer or for more Sangria.

The Chinese aren’t too much into partying – at least not on the surface. It doesn’t seem to be integrated into their culture as a common trait – partiness. But maybe this is a good thing as well.

After dinner, Ted, my wife and I decided to check out some of the other casinos. We ventured to the StarWorld Casino which is huge. Again, the main casino floor was dominated by table games. This casino actually had entertainment, and man – what a difference from Vegas. There was a group of six women on stage, each wearing (what could be considered by a westerner) a traditional Chinese dress. In the center was the singer who had a “big hair” hair-do straight out of the early seventies. They danced a very conservative choreographed dance with turns and dips while the big haired singer (the main center of attraction) lip synched to some Chinese pop song. This was light years away from the girlie dancers/cocktail waitresses at the Rio in Vegas.

We meandered past the trays of bottled water and headed upstairs to the slots. Lo and behold, we found Gems, a game developed by LED Gaming and distributed by IGT (which you can play for free here). This is a Vegas favorite which we were really stunned to find. Unfortunately it was dominated by two women who were spinning one coin at a penny a spin. It took forever for them to vacate the machine – which proved its “Hooverness” within minutes.

We finally left to get rested up for the next day – which was to prove itself to be amazing. For more, scroll on down…

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Day One of the Pacific Congress for I-Gaming 

Attendance at the PGIC was small, but it was quality not quantity that made this conference a success. Since the departure of the US market, many operators have turned towards Asia as a new place to venture into.

The opening remarks began with a nice (and much needed) overview of the I-gaming environment by Sue Schneider and Mark Balestra. They discussed a number of things to include how there are about 90 jurisdictions that host or regulate online gaming. These vary from jurisdictions like Costa Rica which has basically no regulatory authority whatsoever to jurisdictions that are very strict like in the UK or various states in Australia. Sometimes these regulation structures are extensions of the land based casinos and these organizations are run by the government. Up until October 2006, the US was 35-45% of the I-Gaming market. The attitude and approach to online gambling by the US and Canada is prohibition. Canada’s Federal law considers that all gambling is illegal except for what is explicitly exempted. Each province varies; some have Internet lotteries, some have Horse Racing, some ban dot.com advertising, and then there is the Kahnawake reservation. So Canada is a real mixed bag. It’ll be interesting in the next several months to see if they’ll go into a prohibition mode like the States.

Shailesh Naik from Cryptologic gave an excellent overview of the Asian markets. He shared with us a survey he had made with each major Asian jurisdiction with questions like “What is gaming? What is permitted/prohibited? Is Internet gambling likely to be regulated anytime soon?” Each country had differing answers. If you like to read more about this.

He had also surveyed players in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea on their gaming habits. One interesting point is that 45% of the Taiwan players sampled agreed with the statement “I play so I can dream about what I could do if I won big” compared to 10% of the Japanese and 13% of the Korean players. Just to show you that there are significant differences in player activity. For anyone who is interested, I would suggest downloading his presentation and have a look-see.

Traveler notes: Food is an extremely important factor when it comes to traveling, and the River City Group usually pays close attention to this because they know I’m coming and that I’ll write bad things about them if the food sucks. This trip, the lunch layout was exceptional with local dishes and additions to include Sushi and even fried chicken feet. Great stuff and kudos to anyone who had anything to do with the food layout.That afternoon I met with Mor Wiesner, Playtech’s CEO of marketing, who is the main point of contact for any casino/player related issue. I only need to get a hold of Mor when there has been a breakdown of communication between me and a Playtech casino operator. So far recently, Playtech casinos have generated far less complaints than they were a year ago. A lot of this has to do with pulling out of the US market. The US market is extremely problematic, especially with payment processing. It seems the most complaints are stemming from American players at the moment who have taken their business to RTG and Microgaming. Currently, there are a couple of outstanding issues with Brandy casino, and that’s about it.

Late that afternoon the cocktail party commenced in the exhibition hall. The exhibition Hall was small with only about ten exhibitors. I was surprised at the small amount, but some of the main players were there – MGS, Playtech, LVFH, etc. One thing I should mention, Playtech has some mind blowing slots that haven’t been released yet, and unfortunately I’m not at liberty to discuss them (yet) since it hasn’t been announced. So I guess my dear reader, you’ll just have to wait.

The cocktail party blurred in to the reception party held at the Tryst at the Wynn. Now for those of you who have been to the Tryst at the Wynn in Vegas, this one is about the 10th of the size. No underground dance floor. No waterfall. Not much, but it was modest and nice. I spoke with Calvin Ayre for a bit – I asked him how the battle of the bands was going, and it’s going great. He also told us the story of when his place was raided by the Costa Rican police which was covered by Gambling911 some time back. It’s worth a read since it’s quite funny.

As the evening grew late, I had an invite to a special “Karaoke” bar. I was warned that it might be a little risque, and that if I were to choose to come along with my wife, she might feel a little uncomfortable since there were a lot of girls who make themselves more or less available. Hey, no problem, my wife’s German and she can handle this stuff. So we teamed up into a couple of taxis and headed across the bridge to some casino hotel.

This was strange. A couple of the guys knew where this “bar” was, but it seemed to be hidden somewhere in the hotel. We took several twists and turns, asking for directions and finally were instructed to go to some hidden elevator. Up we went.

This was cool. We entered the nightclub – and yes, it was a Karaoke bar with some guy and a couple girls dancing on a stage and singing. Nothing risque about this. The eight of us were lead to a private room which had a huge couch, several coffee tables, throw pillows, and a couple of huge flatscreen televisions imbedded on the facing wall. It was brightly lit and quite nice. I was introduced to a young Chinese gent who was sitting next to me, and he was the owner of one of the top casinos in Macau. I don’t even want to think about how much he was worth, but I gave him one of my cards and told him to check my site out. I never miss an opportunity.

So we sat there, they brought in a tray of booze asking what we’d like to drink. Hell, I’ll just have a beer. A girl placed a glass on the table in from of me, got on her knees and poured the beer with both hands. What submission to the dominating sex! This was cool! Then one of the managers brought in the girls – this what I was forewarned about. He lined them up and said “Pick one!” I didn’t know what to think. My wife was sitting next to me and talking to the guy next to her. “Pick one!” I was told again. I didn’t want to be rude or ungracious, so I picked the one on the left; a cute Chinese girl who nodded her head – smiled – and sat down next to me between me and my wife. I tried to be polite, I introduced myself and her to my wife. I don’t think she understood any English whatsoever because she kept nodding her head and smiling. My wife wanted me to ask the manager if these women were kidnapped when they were younger, but I declined to ask.

The night wore on, and the Karaoke was pretty goofy – Elton John, U2. I got up to find the rest room – leaving the private room and going out into the main bar. My China girl followed me out there, and I tried to explain to her that I was looking for the latrine. I did not resort to sign language, but still no comprendo. I finally found it without her help.

And the night continued into a blur. My China girl ended up joining her friends, and I with my wife and we made it safely back to the Wynn.

Day Two of the Pacific Congress for I-Gaming 

Day two opened my eyes to MahJong. I need to learn this game. Sam Woelm, from ESL, gave an excellent presentation outlining the game, and discussing the challenges of bringing this online. It has somewhat of a poker “culture” off line with clubs, personalities, and traditions. And it has some of the same challenges that poker has online – software, collusion, localization. It’s truly an amazing game, and this is something both webmasters and players alike should get involved with.

Unfortunately I missed Tom Hall’s presentation since we had to go back to the Hotel to pack and check out.

The final panel discussion was good with Jason Chan from Macom, Ted Loh and a rep from Philippine eGaming Jurisdiction INC, and a rep from First Cagayan. Discussed were the grey areas of online gaming in Asia, the social awareness on differences between online and offline gaming, and the announcement that Macau might regulate online gaming. One thing became rather obvious – that in order to penetrate the Asian market, it is highly recommended to pursue a joint venture to do so. It’s far more complex than many people realize.

Onward to Manila. The trip’s not over, to find out what’s up there, scroll on down.

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The Philippines and beyond…

Manila International Airport = Saigon 1904. At least this is what we were warned about, that the airport is one of the worst. We stood by the rotating baggage claim belt watching the bags rise from the bowels of the airport. Some were wet, and it wasn’t even raining. One out of four bags were card board boxes wrapped in brown packaging paper and duct tape as if someone was moving their household goods here. I expected to see chickens running free. It reminded me a little of Tijuana.

We had a hotel car waiting for us at the airport. It was past midnight when we arrived at our hotel – the Shangri-La Makati in Manila. As we pulled up, security checked for bombs under the car with mirrors, checked the trunk and then waved us on. We passed through security at the front entrance as well. Dogs sniffed our bags – they checked my wife’s purse.

Hotel registration messed up somehow. The hotel rooms were never fully confirmed (hotel’s fault), and they didn’t have a non-smoking room for us which was what we had ordered. Ted got irate with the manager when she accused his staff of not following up on the rooms. My wife and I remained cool and we got upgraded to the executive suite with apologies.

One thing we learned in Manila, they have ’round the clock masseuses – and we needed one – each. They charge 250 Pesos which is about 5 Euro for one hour.

And these women are strictly for massages. On their brochure it reads: “Strictly massage – God is watching.” Well, that would immediately dampen any randiness a traveling businessman might entertain in his thoughts. We had our massages, and it was absolutle marvelous.

Traveler notes: Traffic in Manila. I thought the chaotic traffic in Florence, Italy was bad – but this was pretty wild. Everyone used their horns, honking at everything that moved. Lanes were only guidelines for which direction to travel in, people made U-turns from the far right lane, traffic lights seemed to be optional. Stop signs served their only purpose as roosting spots for birds. Amazingly enough, we witnessed no fender benders. The vehicles seemed to be able to dodge each other pretty well. It was like walking down a crowded city sidewalk without bumping into anyone.The following day I was given a tour of the Playtech “live games” office in Manila. A number of you readers may have played these games – playing Blackjack, Roulette, or Baccarat with a young attractive female dealer. These girls are positioned at each table with a camera recording their card action and wheel spinning. It’s one thing to see them in action online, but to actually be there behind the scenes was impressive. It’s very interactive with the girls being able to “chat” with their players (when traffic isn’t so heavy) and there is constant monitoring and supervision going on. I could see how this could be stressful for the girls; they have to smile all the time and look perky, so they are afforded frequent breaks. It must be a nice job though, since players are able to tip the dealers if and when they win. I’m sure this is most appreciated.

One nice touch that the company does to ensure that the players realize that the casino play is in real time, they have TV screens in several spots behind the girls facing the camera. These televisions are displaying CNN which gives the players further assurance that the casino play is happening in real time. Players could turn on their own TVs and watch the same show.

Ted and I also had lunch with one of the Philippine regulators from the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation. We had a good discussion on the climate of the industry, Cagayan’s regulated casinos, and how to deal with player issues. One interesting thing that was brought up: how is it that buildings in Manila can house companies that are regulated by a jurisdiction in another part of the country? The answer: there are a number of properties that are considered economic zonesand can actually fall under their own specific jurisdiction. This enables other jurisdictions to take advantage of advanced communications, technologies, employment, and other business friendly opportunities that are found in Manila.

Finally, it was time to go back home. This was truly an experience to remember and I learned a hell of a lot. Lasting impression: people were very friendly and polite (besides impatient busdrivers), and the food was incredible.

I also was made aware that Asia needs a Casinomeister. In the near future, Casinomeister Chinese will be launched, bringing most of the good pertinent information found at Casinomeister to the Chinese speaking audience. Casinomeister Japan and Korea are also on the horizon.

It’s great to be back.

Special Announcement – 20 March 2007

Dear Reader,

I’m just taking a quick break from the routine to share with you two announcements. Never fear, the normal regular newsletter is coming at ya on Thursday.

Cheerio!

Bryan

THE ESSENTIAL ONLINE FAQ!!

My webmaster buddy (and Casinomeister forum moderator) Simmo! has teamed up with Casinomeister to bring you – my dear reader – the “Essential Online Casino FAQ”. Information includes:

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23 March 2007

Dear Reader,

First day of Spring the other day – and it snows.

Confusingly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Fortune Lounge

So what the hell happened to Fortune Lounge? Well, they got nailed pretty hard by a bunch of bonus players who found that they could play certain games a certain way – and they made a killing.

Situation: Several groups of players – from Canada, the UK, and Western Europe – opened accounts at the Fortune Lounge casinos, deposited $50 and received a bonus up to $200. Then they would wager the $250 once on one bet on a low risk game such as Blackjack or Baccarat. Depending on the outcome of the game, they would then go on and wager on Roulette, Red or Black / Odds or Even in order to meet the wagering requirements until they cashed in.

The casino locked over 4000 accounts that exhibited this behaviour – and apparently there was some fraud involved. Actually I’m tending to believe that there was a LOT of fraud involved, and fraudulent players deserve to be tossed into the crapper. Fraudulent accounts = faked IDs, doctored utility bills, etc. And we’ve seen a case like this early last summer where several groups of players tried to pose as many players and tried to screw over the Bellerock casinos. Most of these fraudsters were busted out mainly because they made some stupid mistakes while forging their docs. Coincedently, these player groups were from Canada, the UK, and Western Europe. The MiniVegas group was also hit by groups of players from the same regions last fall.

Here we have what seems to be the same problem, but some of it has nothing to do with fraud – at least so far. The casino group has pegged most of these players as bonus abusers, and sent them emails stating so.

Many of these players have been told that it’s not the games they played, but how they played them that cost them their winnings. The only problem with that is that if the casino doesn’t outline in their terms and conditions that a player can’t make a single bet on BJ or baccarat, then this is irrelevant.

They have also told many of these players the following: Your game play was highly unnatural and improbable for any bona fide player with intent to play with us in future. Similarly, placing all your money on one single bet is also highly unlikely for any serious gambler.

Well, I have a problem with that – it’s too subjective. The casino looks at the player’s play activity as abuse – the player looks at this as beating the house. Don’t get me wrong, the casino has every right in the world to pick and chose who their customers are. But once the casino makes the offer, accepts the bet, and the player plays according to the terms and conditions meeting the wagering requirements, then the casino ought to honor the winnings. It’s the casino that is responsible for making the rules. If they make mistakes by forgetting to say that making a single bet on Blackjack is not allowed, then it’s allowed.

In my opinion, subjective language has no place in enforcing the rules. They can enforce policy by disallowing these players access to the casino or bonuses in the future. But it is unacceptable to enforce this after the fact.

We understand that the casino wishes to bring in new players who will remain loyal to a casino by offering bonuses. But the bottom line is that they write the terms; they are expected to abide by them.

It pains the hell out of me to remove Fortune Lounge from the “Accredited” section – we’ve had a relationship that goes back a number of years and there are some really good people working at FL. And I don’t like seeing this company getting drug through the mud either. But in the same breath, casinos listed on this site are expected to abide by their terms and conditions, and until this is cleared up I have no choice but to suspend their listing.

And what about player fraud – well I think there was a lot of it involved. I’m pretty good at getting a sense of the severity of issues by watching traffic in the forum for example. So far, I have received about seventeen complaints for the Fortune Lounge group – and I feel it’s safe to say eCOGRA has received about the same. So far out of the seventeen, four are deemed fraudulent = players connected by computer IDs, faked documents, or whatever.

Now several months ago, eCOGRA conducted a survey that indicated that about 40% of online gamblers visit message boards. I would feel safe to say that players who are bonus savvy frequent message boards more often. But let’s keep this figure at 40%. 40% of 4000 accounts is 1600. So realistically speaking, I should have a significant peak in traffic from these 1600 or more players coming to Casinomeister to bitch and moan. Looking over my stats for both the forum and the main site, it’s virtually unchanged. There is no indicator that activity has increased except for a slight increase of new forum members, many of whom began participating in a thread that is concerned with this issue.

In other words, it’s business as usual.

So where are the 4000 aggrieved players? They’re not here that’s for sure, and I don’t think they are complaining at eCOGRA either.

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NEW WEBCAST IS UP!

What’s new in Casinomeisterland?

Grab yo’ self a hot cup o’ java and listen to this:

*Asia
*What’s up with Fortune Lounge?
*What’s up with Virtual Casino Group?
*What’s up with RTG?
* Vortran007’s Casino Warning
Don’t have time to listen to this stuff while sitting in front of the computer? Hell – download it to your iPod (or other MP3 player), and you can listen to me and Vortran while at the gym, at church, or shopping at Walmart: MP3 File Download For your iPods and other MP3 players.
To download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

/webcast/

REALTIME GAMING LIST!

It’s been months since RTG promised to have their “Montana Disputes” replaced by “Hastings Disputes.” It’s still not up. There is a site, but it’s non-functional.

So in the meantime, I’ve set up a page that lists all RTG casinos, their status at Casinomeister, licensing jurisdiction, and points of contact (if any). Players can use this as a guide to choose which casinos they wish to patronize, and as a way to contact the casino if or when they have problems.

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And now for the humor…

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.
The boy asked,”What is this, Father?”
The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is.”
While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially.They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.
Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous, voluptuous 24-year-old blonde woman stepped out.
The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son, “Go get your mother.”

DISAPPOINTING NEWS FROM LONDON

Remote Gaming Tax rate announced by Chancellor Brown is discouraging

Wednesday’s budget speech by Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown has been initially met with disappointment by many online gambling companies expecting a better tax incentive for moving to Britain and seeking regulation under the new Gambling Act.

Speculation on what the British government would offer as an incentive for remote gambling companies to move to Britain ranged down as low as 2 percent, and the Chancellor’s announcement of a 15 percent rate of taxation is discouraging.

The Remote Gaming Association (RGA) was the first to express disappointment at the 15 percent rate for the new remote gaming tax, which has been set at the same rate as gross profits tax payable by UK-based bookmakers.

The chairman of trade association Remote Gaming Association, John Coates said the 15 percent rate means the UK government has ?effectively turned its back on the industry.

?Under this regime, with the additional VAT and corporation tax for most companies, it would be almost impossible for a UK-based operator to compete with offshore businesses, especially those located in other EU jurisdictions,? Coates opined.

His chief executive took a more lenient view, however. Clive Hawkswood said there was some good news for the industry from the budget. Contrary to some fears that the chancellor had plans to levy VAT on participation charges, such a measure was not introduced.

?The VAT issue was the scary one, but it has been put to bed for now,? said Hawkswood.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

30 March 2007

Dear Reader,

Well, it’s that time of year again; time for a Spring Break. I’ll be out for the next couple of weeks with the family checking out a few beaches in Spearmasterland. Wish me luck.

Totally yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Fortune Lounge

I’ve removed them from Casinomeister’s “Accredited” section a couple of weeks ago, and this week I have discontinued forwarding complaints to them. Please refer to eCOGRA if you have any grievance with this casino group.

We’re looking at the mother of all “fall from graces” here. I’m pretty much 100% completely frustrated with Fortune Lounge – they insist that there is such thing as “bonus abuse” and I insist that there are only poorly written terms and conditions.

The casino has every right in the world to pick and choose who their customers are. But once the casino makes the offer, accepts the bet, and the player plays according to the terms and conditions meeting the wagering requirements, then the casino ought to honor the winnings. It’s the casino that is responsible for making the rules. If they make mistakes by forgetting to say that making a single bet on Blackjack is not allowed, then it is allowed. It is not the responsibility of the player to try and guess what the casino considers “abuse”.

(I’ve said this before) subjective language has no place in enforcing rules. Casinos can enforce policies by disallowing these players access to the casino, or deny bonuses in the future, but it is unacceptable to garnish winnings after the player has met the wagering requirements of the bonus.

We understand that the casino wishes to bring in new players who will remain loyal by them offering bonuses. But the bottom line is that the casino writes the terms for these bonuses, the casino should be expected to write terms that protect it from players they don’t want.

I’m getting ready to go on a two week family vacation starting today, and this is the last thing that I want to be dealing with before taking off. I’m watching what was once a stellar operation pull a total roguish move that just makes your head spin.

They should have just admitted that they made a mistake, and went from there. If they didn’t want anyone to play French Roulette, they should have said so to begin with.

I’m hoping that they will reconsider their stance while I’m gone. It’s never too late to do the right thing.

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VIRTUAL CASINO PROBATION IS OVER!

And they failed with flying colors; they’re back in the pit. Read about it here.

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS

TRIDENT LOUNGE GROUP: Winner of the Best Casino Group of the Year 2005 and 2006 at Casinomeister – there are a number of good reasons why this holds true. Customer support and recurring player promotions are just two of them. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that they are a cut above many of their competitors.

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PITCH A BITCH SECTION TO REMAIN OPEN!

That’s right – it’ll be open while I’m gone. Greedygirl and Vortran007 will be manning that section. Got something to complain about? Bitch about it here

And now for the humor…

A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden.

He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was.

Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes.

Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention. He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating.

“Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?” she asked.

They’re mating,” her father replied.

What do you call the spider on top?” she asked.

That’s a Daddy Longlegs,” her father answered.

So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?” the little girl asked.

As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied “No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.”

The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment,then took her foot and stomped them flat, saying “Well, we’re not having any of that brokeback mountain shit in our garden.

Ha ha ha! Thanks BingoT!

GERMAN STATES TOLD TO SHAPE UP BY E.C.

Maintaining monopolies by banning online gambling operators could lead to legal consequences, Germans told

The European Commission has fired another broadside at EU member states that interfere with the free passage of goods and services from other member states to protect their gambling monopolies.

Reuters reports that as the week drew to a close German regions were told by the European Commission to rethink plans to ban online gambling or face possible legal action, an official at the EU’s executive arm said on Friday.

It is the latest clash between Brussels and European Union countries over the betting industry, which is restricted to state-owned monopolies in some EU member countries.

EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote to German regional state governments on Friday, giving them a month to change a draft treaty on the issue, the EU official said, confirming an earlier Reuters story.

“We asked Germany to reconsider the total ban on lottery and sports betting on the Internet. We think a proposed total ban is disproportionate and there are less restrictive measures, such as mandatory prior registration and strict guarantees on identification,” the Commission official said.

Britain and Austria, two countries with online gaming industries, have challenged the ban.

“We feel Germany has not provided sufficient data that justified the total ban,” the official said. “Germany has a month to reply. An infringement proceeding is one possibility.”

The official said the draft treaty was inconsistent by banning online lotteries, sports betting and casino games, but allowing horse racing.

The move is the latest in a series of increasingly tough warnings by the Commission against monopolistic and discriminatory practices by some member states against companies offering Internet gambling services from other member states (see previous InfoPowa reports)

The issue stems from a complaint by a private operator to the German constitutional court, which ruled the operator was unable to exercise its right to freedom of profession due to the country’s gambling monopoly.

The court gave Germany until the end of 2007 to resolve the situation, either by opening the market to full competition or maintaining a monopoly that does not promote itself with advertising.

The German states chose to continue with a monopoly and redrafted their gambling charter which seeks to stop gambling addiction

The charter restricts the games of chance on offer and seeks to “steer the natural gaming urges of the population along well-ordered and supervised paths”.

Games of chance would be organised or arranged with permission of the federal state, the charter said.

“The organising and arranging of public games of chance on the Internet is prohibited,” it added.

As the treaty impinged on other EU states by banning online gambling, the German states were obliged to notify the European Commission.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

16 April 2007

Dear Reader,

Just a real short one to let you know I’ve returned from my spring break in one piece.

Completely yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

I’m going to make this real quick since I have so much to tell. The regular newsletter will be with you on Thursday, and you’ll be able to read about the meister eating bugs on the streets of Bangkok, chillin’ in Buddhist temples, driving on the wrong side of the road like some Brit, and frying on the beaches of Phuket.

Yep, the meister’s Spring break is over. I’m back in the saddle again, and I’ll be giving you the run-down on this come Thursday. Until then, here are a few announcements that you might find of interest.

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DOYLES ROOM SWITCHES TO MICROGAMING ONLINE POKER NETWORK

The rumours were true after all – famous poker site announces its new destination

Speculation and rumour on where the famous Doyles Room.com online poker venue would relocate following the pull-out from the US of Tribeca-Tain-Playtech network came to an end this week with the announcement that the popular site has joined the expanding Microgaming Poker Network.

The move will allow Doyle’s Room to expand into European markets and is seen as evidence of the continued success of the rapidly growing Microgaming network, which now has over 40 sites operating.

Doyle’s Room launched in 2004 and since that time has established itself as one of the world’s most popular online poker sites. In addition to offering one of the largest tournament selections in the industry, Doyle’s also draws players to its extremely popular Bounty tournaments, a series of weekly events in which players vie to win prizes by knocking out the bounty players.

A spokesman said that players looking to sign up can expect to meet and play the likes of Mike Caro, Todd Brunson and the great poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson himself, as well as a host of other professional and celebrity faces.

Doyle Brunson is one of the world’s most celebrated poker players, accumulating a record ten World Series of Poker bracelets and winning back to back world championships during his career. He is widely acknowledged to be the game’s most recognisable face and he still plays at the highest limits in the biggest games in the world.

The move to the Microgaming Poker Network will provide Doyle’s Room with greater liquidity and access to one of the most aggressive tournament schedules on the web, offering players the chance to enter a wealth of satellites to some of the world’s biggest offline tournaments. In the last week of February alone $400 000 worth of buy-ins were won on the network.

Roger Raatgever, CEO Microgaming says, “It doesn’t get much bigger than this – signing up the ‘king’ of poker to the Microgaming Poker Network, so as you can imagine how we view this as a real coup. The Microgaming Poker Network has been enjoying a period of exceptional growth and deals like this only point to this trend continuing.”

A spokesperson for Doyle’s Room said, “We are delighted to be joining the Microgaming network. We reviewed many software providers in our search for a better gaming experience for our players and Microgaming met all of our requirements in terms of liquidity, tournaments and player features. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with them”

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

20 April 2007

Special Spring Break Issue

Dear Reader,

Well I’m back in the saddle again. Knee deep in grenade pins, and I’m making progress getting through my emails. While I’m at it, how about taking a break of your own and take a visceral “Spring Break” by scrolling down and reading about mine.

Pleasantly yours,

Bryan

SPRING BREAK 2007

Munching on the bugs in the streets of Bangkok

A couple of months ago, my wife and I were kicking around the idea to hit the beaches for Spring break – Easter vacation for the laymen – Spring Break for me. Last year (for those of you who keep track of these things) we went to Spain and dealt with a bunch of loud Spaniards. The beach was okay, but a bit windy. And if I remember correctly, the food sucked. So this time we decided to go extreme and head to Thailand for a couple of weeks.

Ted Loh AKA Spearmaster was our semi-guide. Being a resident of Bangkok and fellow travel mate, he organized part of the trip for us so that his family and ours could vacation at the same time at the same place – Phuket.

Our flight left Frankfurt in the evening and was going to take all night with a brief stopover in Abu Dhabi. We flew Etihad Airways. The nicest thing about the flight were the seats; they were quite comfortable since they could lean back nicely. But the food was nearly inedible, Beer and wine came only with dinner – (Arabs aren’t really into alcohol) – booze was not really a priority to them. The entertainment system was very good with movies on demand. At least it was good when it worked. During one of our flights, the system kept malfunctioning. That was annoying – especially to the kids who kept elbowing me to wake up and explain whatt was wrong with “Night at the Museum.”

During our brief stopover in Abu Dhabi, my little boy – mini-me – had to use the toilet. So I escorted him into what was the most filthiest airport men’s room I have ever seen. The urinals are too high for the little guy, so he needs to use the normal toilet to go pee. Entering the stall, it was flooded with an inch of toilet water. The poor boy was wearing sandals, so I had to lift him up while he whizzed away. Each stall was in this condition. The reason? No toilet paper, and you are expected to use a hose that’s conveniently attached to the toilet to hose yourself off.

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When we finally made it to the International Airport in Bangkok, I realized I didn’t have Spearmaster’s telephone number, and I had forgotten to make a plan on where exactly we should meet. We’re so used to emailing one another that we don’t have each other’s telephone number. Well, it’s a big airport, and after hanging around for about a half-hour, I was getting a little anxious thinking I needed to find an Internet connection somewhere – but he appeared, all happy to see us. And we took a cab ride to our hotel.

Bangkok is a trippy place. They drive on the wrong side of the road, and up to my recent travels to Asia, I was under the impression that only Brits, South Africans, Australians, Bahamians, and a couple of backward third world countries drive on the left. I guess I was mistaken; most of Asia drives this way.

The traffic in Bangkok is pretty intense. I would never want to drive there. I thought Florence was bad with its swarms of Mopeds, but it was nothing compared to Bangkok.

We stayed at a rather nice hotel on the eastern part of town. The kids loved it mainly because they had a TV in their bedroom – something that is unheard of back home. We were on the 12th floor, and the next morning my wife and I were woken up by the gleeful shouting of our kids excitedly telling us that they could see “big mice” from the balcony window. My wife freaked out “Big mice! Are they on the balcony?” I immediately investigated to find that the kids were right. You could see “big mice” from the balcony. These animals were 12 floors down in the adjacent alleyway, and the were big as cats scurrying about – non-stop. It was amazing.

We were to spend a couple of days in Bangkok before moving on to Phuket. Bangkok is huge, intense, crowded, dirty, and is chock full of consumerism. You can buy anything there for dirt cheap. And if you like to eat, you can chow down on just about anything as well.

We had dinner with Ted’s family in a Thai restaurant. The service was crap, but the food was great. As we walked back to the hotel, there was a street vendor pushing a cart that had stove frying up beetles and grasshoppers. “Hey, this I gotta try,” I thought. And I got a free sample of a fried grasshopper. The guy pulled the legs off, like you do shrimp, and handed it to me. I paused, showed it to the kids (who were totally freaked out) and chomped its head – then I ate the rest of the body. I suddenly realized that it wasn’t bad at all. It tasted a little like smoked shrimp. My kids were totally impressed. Ted mentioned that I now had something to write about for the newsletter.

The next day we did some more shopping, then visited the Jim Thompson’s House – an American who revitalized the textile industry in the 1950’s and 60’s. He mysteriously disappeared in the Malaysian jungles in 1967. His house, which is built entirely of teak, is absolutely amazing, and incredibly boring for a nine year old girl and six year old boy. We went back to the mall for smoothies after that.

The next day we visited the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaeo) and the Royal Palace. It was clear on the other side of town, which took about 45 minutes by cab – 100 Baht = €2.54 (I told you it was cheap). It was incredibly hot, and we read in the tour books that one must wear closed shoes and long pants in the temples, so I was frying in +30 heat with long pants and tennis shoes. Little did we know that the tour guide book was full of crapola. There were throngs of people there in shorts and sandals. In fact, you were expected to remove your shoes when entering the temple. This I liked. The marble floor was cool on the feet.

Photographic proof here.

We spent the rest of the day in a tuk-tuk (three wheeled motorcycle thingy that is sort of like a taxi) going from one temple to the next. Cost about 60 Baht = €1.30. We also visited the National Museum which was impressive with its panoramas of ancient Thailand.

That evening we ended up taking a real cab back to the hotel. At this time, I had decided that the Cabbies in Bangkok are the worst in the world. I have been to a lot of places, and I have ridden in a lot of cabs, and I can declare that Bangkok has the worst (London has the best). I was told to make sure that you have a business card from the hotel to show to the cab driver. This makes sense since Thai cab drivers don’t speak English. But this didn’t help too much because many of them can’t read in any language – period. We even had a map of the city that had the address and image of our hotel on it. Amazingly, the cabbie still got lost. You may be thinking he got lost on purpose, but I know a dumbfounded look when I see one. He was dumbfounded. Also, many of the taxis drivers don’t want to use their meters and will try to barter a price to go somewhere. Friggin’ ridiculous.

The last evening in Bangkok: as my family strolled down the street, passing the alley with the “big mice”, we chanced upon the “bug” vendor. Yum, scrumpdelicious! A couple of teenage girls were ordering a large plastic bowl of grasshoppers. The man sprinkled the stiff little creatures with some chili power and sprayed them with some liquid – I’m guessing water. My 9 year-old daughter was intrigued, and the man handed her one. I coaxed her into chowing it down, and to the delight of the teenage girls and her little brother, she gobbled the grasshopper down. “How was it?” I asked. “Good!” she smiled. Well, I was a proud pop. My daughter ate a bug on the streets of Bangkok without flinching. Only about a couple of minutes later she was complaining that the aftertaste sucked, and we didn’t have any water to wash it down. She then confessed that she regretted it. Oh well, so much for bug eating.

What I read on vacation: Mens Health Magazine – I’ve been a subscriber for years. Get your one year subscription here. And check out Balderdash and Piffle, a fascinating dive into the English language. A must read if you’re into the etymology of English words and phrases.Phuket: ten days at the Best Western Hotel on Phuket’s Bangtao Beach. Sounds nice? It was. The weather was great – hot and sunny, with the occasional downpour in the evening. The hotel was a four star family hotel set on Bangtoa beach which is a few kilometers away from the noisy party town Patong Beach. It was relatively quiet with not much surrounding the hotel except a few shops and restaurants. Two things that were less than satisfactory – our bathroom and the hotel food.

The problem with the bathroom was the bath/shower. For one thing, the water leaked all over the floor since the plastic curtain was a piece of crap. And there wasn’t a removable hand shower head to wash off sandy little kids. The toilets were not designed to accept toilet paper. You were expected to discard your used toilet paper in an adjacent garbage can. Intriguing. But other than that, the room was fine.

The hotel accomodations were very good with two pools (chock full of chemicals that nearly made your eyeballs bleed). Wireless Internet connectivity, a small gym, cheap massages, and plenty of lounge chairs.

Food: one of the main reasons to visit Thailand. Even though the hotel food sucked, there were a number of small restaurants located nearby. “Nok Joe’s Restaurant” – had a buffet that was simply fantastic. The owner is a friendly guy, a Canadian from Alberta, who had come to Phuket after the Tsunami to help out. He ended up falling in love with Phuket and its people, got married, and opened his restaurant. I highly recommend this place. Like many of the local eateries, they are open to the elements with large airy roofs to keep the rain out.

What to do in Phuket? You can be lazy and lie on the beach all day, or you can go snorkeling, ride an elephant, go shopping, cruise around on boats, go fishing and eat. We took a couple of inexpensive boat tours (everything there is inexpensive relatively speaking) and exposed the kids to some really great experiences. We snorkeled at Phi Phi island and saw little Nemo Clown fish in their natural environment. Checked out the beach where they filmed DiCaprio’s The Beach a few years ago. And we rented a car for a couple of days so I could get a taste of driving on the wrong side of the road – which wasn’t so bad once you get used to it.

So why am I telling you all this? Why should I tell you about my Spring break? Mainly to underscore the importance of getting away from it all and spending time with either yourself or your loved ones. It’s crucial to connect with “what is real”. It’s far too easy to indulge oneself in work, which at times can be like a black hole sucking in everything around you. Work may be real up to a point, but you and your family are two of the reasons why you work, right? Reconnecting with this reality is what living “is”. Hopefully, my sharing of this reality has been a visceral experience for you and given you a chance to step back for a few moments and reflect on what’s real within your personal sphere.

Reflections on my return: Thailand lives up to the name “Land of Smiles”. People are very friendly, and when they make eye contact – they smile. What a difference to living in Germany. When one smiles at strangers, it’s an indication that you feel sympathetic to their situation – in other words, you feel sorry for the recipient. Big difference. My boy noticed that most everyone in Thailand is shorter than the people in Germany. In Thailand, he was tall enough to use the urinals. He was overjoyed with this.

A big thanks to Ted Loh and his family who were very hospitable and fun to be with. Now to make a plan for the meister’s summer break. <insert smiley face here>.

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25 April 2007 – Special Announcement

Dear Reader,

Just a real short note to give you a special offers and to provide you with some news. The normal Newsletter will be with you tomorrow. Hang tight.

Succinctly yours,

Bryan

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PLAYERS URGED TO MOBILISE AGAINST UIGEA

Major gambling information portals and operators are urging the player community to voice their disapproval 

Following discussions at political and ownership levels, many online gambling operators and information portal owners are collaborating in trying to mobilise a major wave of player support for the efforts of Congressman Barney Frank to repeal the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The Act was passed in questionable circumstances late last year and seeks to prevent or disrupt financial transactions with online gambling sites, effectively preventing players from enjoying their pastime of choice without actually making it a crime.

Congressman Frank has said that he intends to introduce his proposal that the Act be repealed within the next two weeks, and he has indicated that a strong show of public abhorrence for the Act will be a deciding factor in how his initiative is received by Washington politicians. Although other politicians are intent on proposing an enquiry into online gambling, or exempting poker from its provisions Frank is going straight for the Act’s jugular with a repeal attempt.

Just one of several sites where players can voice their support for the repeal is the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/ .

The campaign has apparently struck a chord with US players; Congressman Frank has already acknowledged that players have been writing in, and he and his colleagues are pleased with progress thus far.

But it is early days, and to be effective a major and sustained effort to publicise the “Repeal the UIGEA” initiative is essential from online gambling portals and operators, who can assist to mobilise the extensive US player community by providing the contact details of individual political representatives and keeping players up to date on developments.

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More news here.

26 April 2007

Dear Reader,

Lots going on in this newsletter, Fortune Lounge dilemma, CAC Amsterdam, no-farting pictures, possible repeal of the UIGEA. All this and more…

Busily yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Fortune Lounge

As some of you remember, before I went away on Spring Break, I left you with some of my thoughts concerning the Fortune Lounge fiasco. I was hoping that during my absence the operators would have dealt with the aggrieved players fairly. I mentioned that there was large-scale fraud involved on the players’ part (virtually thousands of bogus accounts), but there were also a number of legitimate complaints; players who did not violate the posted terms and conditions yet they had their accounts locked and winnings confiscated.

As I mentioned in our forum, this whole episode has been a black mark on the industry. No reputable company should have made the statements that they did concerning abuse, nor should they have exposed themselves to unwanted play. Like many players and fellow webmasters, I looked at Fortune Lounge as one of the pioneering “premiere” MGS casino groups that set the standard. But over the past couple of years, they have had some serious setbacks. Two come to mind – the retroactive affiliate terms and the Spam-a-thon of 2005. It’s a real shame to see something like this happened again. It’s not good for anyone involved.

So far, I have been assured that all non-fraud player complaints will be paid. Well proof is in the pudding. I have 23 player complaints – six of these were fraudulent – and all but four are resolved. Concerning these four, I’m waiting for further clarifications on these.

I hope that most casino operators have followed me on this and understand my position clearly on bonus play and terms and conditions.

CAC AMSTERDAM 2007

Casino Affiliate Convention

Yeah, I’ll be there next week. I’m looking forward to getting together with some of my webmaster buddies and checking out the sights in this really cool city.

I’ll be giving a presentation at 9:15 on the first morning (Thursday). “Concerns of Portal Operators in a Tumultuous Business Environment” or how to cover your ass in an unregulated, dog-eat-dog, ever-changing industry. Topics include: legalities, business ethics, and spotting rogue casinos. I hope that you’ll be there to partake in the jovial jocularities that I will bestow. And maybe you’ll learn something.

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NETELLER ATM CARD NO MORE

Yep, you heard right. Neteller has discontinued its Neteller ATM Card effective immediately. Most players never received an email, and their website still offers the card, but it is a thing of the past. Another Neteller PR disaster in the making. Read about it here.

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If you haven’t checked out my Spring Break pictures from Thailand, do so now since I’ve uploaded an additional photo taken in a Bangkok Taxi. No farting allowed! Check it out here.

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And now for the humor…

Two guys are in heaven, sitting around playing their harps.
One asks the other, “So, how did you die?”
“I froze to death,” he said. “How did you die?”
“I died from happiness,” he replied. “For years I thought my wife was having an affair, and when I came home one day, I searched the house but could not find her lover. Thus I realized that she was my true love, and I had a heart attack and died.”
“You idiot!” the other said, “if you only looked in the freezer, we’d both be alive!”

ha ha ha

THURSDAY IS R-DAY

Congressman Frank plans to launch his proposal to repeal the UIGEA Thursday

Both international wire services and mainstream media are currently reporting widely on the first serious challenge to the U.S. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act – a repeal attempt that the Democrat chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Congressman Barney Frank will soon launch.

Frank said at a banking function that he will make his initial moves as early as Thursday, but he has emphasised that significant player support will improve the chances of getting the much criticised UIGEA off the books.

Speaking to a community bankers group, the Massachusetts Democrat called Internet gambling a “victimless crime.”

“Why anyone thinks it is any of my business why some adult wants to gamble is absolutely beyond me,” The Congressman said in his address. “I spend a lot of my time trying to protect people from other people who are going to treat them unfairly,” Frank said in a speech before the Independent Community Bankers of America. “I have no energy left for protecting people from themselves.”

After the speech, Frank, who took over as chairman of the influential House Financial Services Committee this year, declined to provide details of the planned legislation.

Andrew Parmentier, a senior policy analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey, said he believes the bill could make headway. “Absolutely there’s a chance” for reform of the law, he said in a telephone interview with Marketing Watch.

The estimated 12 million to 20 million online gamblers in the U.S. contribute more than half the industry’s estimated worldwide annual revenues, last conservatively estimated at $12 billion, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Centre.

Frank is expected to outline details of his bill at a press conference at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Thursday, a spokesman said.

In the meantime, players and industry folk alike are being urged to make their opposition to the UIGEA known. A list of contact numbers for political representatives in the USA is now available at /US_congress.php and several other sites, and a petition located here is reportedly attracting signatures at the estimated rate of over 100 an hour.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

9 May 2007 – Special Announcement

Dear Reader,

Just a real short note to announce a new Casinomeister Accredited Casino, and to give you some news. The normal Newsletter will be with you by the end of the week providing you CAC Amsterdam coverage and more. Hang tight.

Absolutely yours,

Bryan

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U.S.A. SEEKS TO REMOVE THE GOALPOSTS IN W.T.O. DISPUTE

Discriminatory online gambling legislation is here to stay

A spokesman for the United States Trade Representative argued Friday that it was not required to comply with a WTO ruling to open its borders to the Internet gambling industry because of an “oversight” in a decade-old trade agreement.

The major news wire services carried a report this week in which the United States said it will maintain a ban on Internet gambling services despite an adverse World Trade Organisation ruling.

Reuters opines that the move opens the door for other WTO members – ranging from tiny Antigua and Barbuda to the 27-nation European Union – to seek potential damages at the WTO.

However, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John Veroneau told reporters the United States did not believe there was any basis for other countries to receive compensation.

Veroneau argued that a case brought by Antigua and Barbuda several years ago took advantage of a “drafting error” made by the United States as part of its commitments in the early 1990s to open its recreational services market.

Even though U.S. law has banned interstate gambling for years, the United States had failed to make clear that its commitments “did not extend to gambling,” Veroneau said.

“Neither the United States nor other WTO members noticed this oversight in the drafting of U.S. commitments until Antigua and Barbuda initiated a WTO case ten years later,” Veroneau said. He added that it would be “….nonsensical for the U.S. to make a commitment to open up interstate gambling for foreign providers.”

The United States believes there is little, if any, basis for other countries to seek compensation because countries did not bargain for access to the U.S. gambling market as part of world trade talks in the early 1990s, Veroneau asserted.

The spokesman said that, having exhausted all its other options to fight the case, the United States will now seek to exercise a rarely used right under WTO rules to modify its services commitments and explicitly, albeit retrospectively exclude gambling from the agreement.

Explaining the WTO process (the USTR has submitted a WTO GATS Article XXI (Modification of Schedules) request) which the USA will now seek to deploy, Veroneau said it allows the U.S. to “clarify” its restrictions to “recreational services” offered internationally. A clarification undercuts WTO member claims for compensation in lost revenue as a result of the ban, he added.

Other countries will have 45 days to file a claim for compensation if they believe they are damaged economically by the U.S. move.

That would lead to a 3-month period for the WTO to decide on compensation, in the form of reduced U.S. market access in some services sector of the WTO member seeking damages, USTR officials said.

The Caribbean islands, which have built up a $130 million online gambling industry to make up for declining tourism revenues, argued that the U.S. measures hurt them while leaving some U.S. domestic operators free to use the Internet for gambling related activities.

Despite losing the case before the WTO disputes panel, the United States has argued at every step of the case that it never intended to open its gambling market. Last year, the U.S. Congress passed additional and selective legislation to ban online gambling financial transactions with online gambling companies.

In March this year, the WTO finally ruled that the United States had failed to comply with an April 2005 ruling against a portion of its ban having to do with online gambling exemptions for domestic horse racing.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act signed into law by President Bush late last year has exacerbated the WTO problem for the United States, say observers. Many companies say they were caught off-guard by the law, which stops U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.

The ban prompted major listed companies, such as Sportingbet PLC, Party Gaming plc, Playtech plc and Leisure & Gaming plc, to sell their U.S. operations or ban US players who constituted half the market, incurring substantial losses for investors in the $12 billion global online gambling industry.

The WTO panel ruling in March opened the door to commercial sanctions against the U.S., ruling that the new law unfairly targets offshore casinos. The twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, for example, argues that online gambling had been providing income for hundreds of its citizens.

Antigua and Barbuda wasted no time in reacting to the most recent US statement, urging America to reconsider its stance and indicating that it would pursue “full compensation for our citizens.”

Sallie James, a trade policy analyst with the Washington-based Cato Institutethink tank, said the U.S. “…is in the wrong and it knows it, but it doesn’t want to open up markets on gambling and betting services so it wants to change the law it has to abide by.”

Another Internet gaming specialist put it more succinctly: “Basically they are saying, ‘…we admit defeat and we are taking our ball and going home.’ Antigua kicked their ass so bad they are waiving their last appeal. This has huge international trade implications. [The US] knew very well what they were doing when they made their commitments. At the time they were the world’s largest exporter of gaming services. At the time 100 of the 150 countries opted out of it, but not them.

“Finally, know that despite what they imply, this will not be easy for them to just opt out. It could cost them billions, not just to Antigua, but any other country who wants to put in a claim.”

Public Citizen (www.citizen.org:80/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2429) commented: “The Bush administration�s unprecedented decision that it will withdraw the U.S. gambling service sector from World Trade Organization (WTO) jurisdiction is good news for U.S. sovereignty. But the fact that this action will trigger major demands by other countries for compensation under WTO rules also highlights how the fast track negotiating system has enabled a series of trade pacts that undermine the public interest.”

What “Modification of Schedules” entails, and the practical impact of WTO rulings:

Despite having one of the largest and most sophisticated negotiating teams, the United States could not avoid having WTO�s expansive rules limit U.S. domestic regulatory authority, says “Public Citizen”.

In 2005, 29 state attorneys general wrote the USTR seeking withdrawal of the gambling sector from WTO jurisdiction. Because of the WTO ruling against the United States, the USTR had three options: change domestic federal laws and pre-empt corresponding state laws; do nothing and face both trade sanctions and future challenges; or withdraw its commitments, negotiate compensation and avoid future cases that would expose state law to WTO challenge.

The WTO GATS agreement allows nations to �take back� service sectors from WTO jurisdiction, but only after compensating trading partners for lost business opportunities.

�What American industries will USTR be willing to trade to compensate for the withdrawal of the gambling industry from the WTO?� says Saerom Park, state and local program coordinator of Public Citizen�s Global Trade Watch division. �The USTR�s announcement unfortunately explained none of this.�

“The USTR�s decision, conveniently announced on a Friday afternoon to avoid press and public scrutiny, claims that it �intends to clarify its WTO commitments� and �correct its WTO schedule� with respect to Internet gambling services, rather than fessing up to how dramatic this move is and how costly it is to get out of WTO�s clutches,� said Park.

The USTR can not merely �clarify� or �correct� U.S. service sector commitments at the WTO � it can only withdraw them. Additionally, the USTR can not withdraw U.S. commitments without first compensating countries that feel they have lost out on their access to a substantial portion of a $12 billion online gambling market, making this potentially a very costly situation.

The United States finds itself in the position of either facing trade sanctions for failing to implement a WTO ruling ordering it to change its ban on Internet gambling or face costly demands for compensation from other WTO countries after requesting to remove the gambling sector from WTO jurisdiction.

Either way, the United States may be required to pay for the right to regulate gambling activities within the USA.

But, Public Citizen argues, the current choice of action is necessary to shut down future threatened additional WTO challenges by simply removing the sector from the sphere of authority of the WTO.

Beyond the narrow issues related to Internet gambling, the WTO Internet gambling ruling implicated large swathes of state and federal gambling law unrelated to online gaming as potential trade barriers.

The European Union has already threatened to bring an additional case. An array of common state gambling regulations such as gambling bans, state lotteries, sector carve-outs or exclusive Indian gaming rights, which have the effect of keeping out private European lotteries and casinos, were implicated as trade violations and jeopardised by the possibility of future challenges through the Internet gambling ruling.

The WTO ruled that the United States had to bring federal statutes into conformity with WTO rulings. In addition, a European Union official has already threatened a similar trade suit against the more recent Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed in 2006, which has been labeled as “protectionist”.

As at going to press, there was no WTO reaction to the US announcement.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

18 May 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s hard to believe that May is nearing its end, and June will be kicking-in here shortly. What’s that mean to you? It’s almost time for the annual Casinomeister Bierfest – so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, kick back, relax, and scroll on down…

Customarily yours,

Bryan

WORD FORM THE MEISTER

Fortune Lounge

From the 26 April newsletter concerning the Fortune Lounge fiasco:

So far, I have been assured that all non-fraud player complaints will be paid. Well proof is in the pudding. I have 23 player complaints – six of these were fraudulent – and all but four are resolved. Concerning these four, I’m waiting for further clarifications on these.Well it’s been a few weeks since then and little progress has been made. One of these complaints was from a fraudster – one was paid, and the two that are still pending concern Capital Casino. Capital Casino is one property of the Fortune Lounge group that is not covered by eCOGRA, which means players who have problems at Capital Casino are pretty much on their own. If you are an advantage player, I would heed the warnings that have been ringing loud and clear for the past couple of months.

The bottom line is – Fortune Lounge assured me that all non-fraud players would be paid. This did not happen, so it is unfortunate that they have entered Casinomeister’s coveted “Rogue Pit”. More details here.

Complaints Section

Effective immediately – only Fully Registered users and above may post complaints in our forum. In other words, newbies signing up will not be able to post their complaints until they reach a threshold of 100 posts or 50 reputation points and at least a 30 day membership. The reason for this is to cut down on the frivolous complaints. Many newbies post without reading the guidelines and rules for posting public grievances, and many of these complaints can be dealt with swiftly by contacting the casino representatives listed here or via PAB. If you are a newbie, and have already posted in the complaints section, and your complaint is still outstanding – never fear, just contact me and I’ll grant you access.

Overall, I think this will work out for the better. There is a thread dealing with this here.

CASINO SPLENDIDO’S 100% SIGNUP BONUS!!

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WHAT’S THE MOST ANNOYING MICROGAMING SLOTS?

Join the poll and let us know which slot bugs you the most – is it the smug-ass Harvey? Those damn Hillbillies? What about that stupid bonus round in “Pollen Nation” that always seems to hit “stop” within the first several choices. Let it be known here

/forums/online-casinos/17842-most-annoying-slot-award-goes.html

NEW CASINOMEISTER CASINO!

As most of you are aware, I do not bring on any casino property into Casinomeister’s Accredited Casino section until I actually sit down with their representatives and have a pow wow of sorts; this is one of the ways casinos are validated. The newest member of our Accredited section is Prime Casino: a fairly new Microgaming casino run by the folks at Prime Gaming. They are undergoing an eCOGRA review at the moment, which is very promising. These guys have damn good attitudes about this industry. Please support them by joining them today (sorry – no US).

SUPPORT THE 725TH!

Many of you are probably not aware of this, but my son-in-law is a paratrooper currently stationed in Iraq, and the folks back home (at Ft. Richardson, AK) are raising money by selling magnets. These magnets only cost $6 each, and the money that’s being raised is for a welcome home party the troops will receive when they finally come back home. Please check out the info here and buy a magnet. You can even use your Paypal account!

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And now for the humor…

From the archives:

Military retirement

The Pentagon recently found it had too many generals and
offered an early retirement bonus . They promised any general
who retired right away his full annual benefits plus $10,000
for every inch measured in a straight line between any two
points on the general’s body, with the general getting to
select any pair of points he wished.

The first man, an Air Force general, accepted. He asked the
pension man to measure from the top of his head to the tip
of his toes. Six feet. He walked out with a check of
$720,000.

The second man, an Army general, asked them to measure from
the tip of his outstretched hands to his toes. Eight feet.
He walked out with a check for $960,000.

When the third general, a grizzled old Marine, was asked
where to measure, he told the pension man the tip of my
penis to my testicles. The pension man suggested that
perhaps the marine might like to reconsider, pointing out
the nice checks the previous two generals had received.

The Marine insisted and the pension expert said that would
be fine, but that he’d better get the medical officer to do
the measuring. The medical officer attended and asked the
general to drop ’em. He did. The medical officer placed the
tape on the tip of the general’s penis an began to work
back.

My God! he said. Where are your testicles?

In Vietnam, the general replied.

ha ha ha

BIGGEST ONLINE GAMBLING WIN YET?

The Internet’s buzzing with reports that the biggest online jackpot yet may have been won

It started when online gamblers noticed that the jackpot for Cryptologic’s progressive slot Millionaire’s Club had been re-set this week, triggering speculation that the almost 6 million dollar, Euro or pounds sterling bonanza had finally been whacked after many months where players watched the biggest jackpot around escalating steadily.

Then Slotcharts.com showed a big win for Intercasino of $5 898 352.20, and Intercasino support staff confirmed that a really big win had been made. It seems the luckiest player on the Internet is named “obaesso” but this has yet to be confirmed with official news from the casino.

What currency the lucky winner was using, or where he or she is from is not presently known, but it appears certain that the biggest jackpot in the history of online gambling has just been won.

Curious players flocking to Intercasino to check the news out may be providing the casino with a bonanza of its own, staying to gamble on the re-set Millionaire’s Club, which is now showing a new jackpot of $1 988 759.30….and counting!

STOP PRESS:

Our initial report has been confirmed by Intercasino, with the announcement that player “Obaesso,” a factory worker, won the biggest online gambling jackpot yet on May 15. Without identifying his location, Intercasino revealed that the lucky player had never travelled further than 50 kilometres from his home town but is now gearing up for a trip to London to collect his winning cheque.

Along with his wife, the player gambled on the Millionaire’s Club slot for the first time and was so stunned at hitting the $6 million plus jackpot that he immediately called the casino to confirm what he was seeing on his computer screen.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

23 May 2007 – Special Announcement

Dear Reader,

Just a real short note to announce a new Casinomeister member that takes US players and is 100% legal in most of the fifty states. The normal Newsletter will be with you tomorrow. Hang tight.

Jovially yours,

Bryan

e-PokerUSA – Skill Game Poker from the USA

THAT’S RIGHT!! YOU CAN PLAY POKER LEGALLY AT
e-PokerUSA. Why? Because this site offers a unique way of playing the game. e-PokerUSA.com is a skill-based games website, not a gambling site.

Skill-based games can be played legally in most U.S. states. Please check their terms and conditions to see which states are excluded.

It’s a new twist on classic poker play. The object of the game is to beat your opponents at other tables with your same playing hand. This reduces the luck in the game and increases the skill in play.

Play in $25 Daily Step Up & Evening Freerolls! Make a first deposit and get free access to a $250 tournament!

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24 May 2007

Dear Reader,

I hope this newsletter finds you in good spirits and health. Lot’s going on in Casinomeisterland. Scroll on down to see what’s up.

Instructionarily yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Here for you my dear…

The GIGSE is coming up – the Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expowhich is held every year either in Toronto or Montreal. This will be my seventh annual meandering – and I intend to get a lot of work done. Why? Because most of the people I am in regular contact with aren’t going (for numerous excuses). Which is good for me since these people usually distract me with sushi or semi-private Bierfests. Now I can fully concentrate on catching up with elusive people, do some leg work and hopefully get some answers for you my dear ${token2}. Here are just a couple:

Kahnawake. What’s up with the torpid responses to player issues? Are they that busy, or are they that strapped for cash that they can’t afford to hire someone to manage player complaints center? Real Time Gaming: what’s up with their arbitration/resolution service – Hastings? This was supposed to have happened nearly a year ago and it’s been nothing but lip service and BS since then. What a shame to see a leading software provider scurry around as if they never read the writing on the wall – all at the player’s expense. If you have a problem with a Real Time Gaming casino, you’re pretty much on your own. (side note: please check out the list here on the Casinomeister status of most RTG casinos).

I’ll be also speaking about the myth of bonus “abuse” and how this is something the casino operators need to come to terms with. You make the offer, the player accepts and plays out the offer, you pay the player. To deviate from this simple bare-bones philosophy, one ventures into the dark side of online casino management. I hope I can educate a few people on this.

The bottom line – it’s not a good time for the player regardless of where he or she resides. Many casinos have cut back on staff, customer service reps, and many have had to deal with a myriad of payment processing problems. Sure, there are a handful of casinos that never dealt with US players, but all of the big dogs were hit pretty hard.

The face of the industry is changing, and I hope to be able to give you a good interpretation of what this face looks like by sharing stories from the trenches. If you plan to be in Montreal during the GIGSE, let me know. I should be easy to find. I’ll be the loner-dude in the Sushi bar downstairs.

FORUM UPDATE

Complaints Section

Last week, I mentioned that newbie posters would no longer be able to post in the complaints section in the forum. There were a number of reasons for this, one was to cut down on the frivolous complaints that newbies tend to post. Well, I thought about this over the past few days, and I decided to reset the permissions to what they were.

If I’m concerned about fraudsters making one-post commando raids, then they’ll just be outed. If newbies don’t follow the rules and guidelines posting their complaints, they’ll be given on-the-spot corrections by either me or some of the other members who share my concerns.

I shouldn’t have to explain how to post a tactful complaint to ensure its effectiveness. I expect members new and old to read and follow their intuition and common sense. I should not have to implement babysitting tactics in order to keep the machine running smoothly.

The bottom line is: you sleep in the bed you make. Simple as that. Post responsibly. Thanks!

There is a thread dealing with this here.

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WHAT’S THE MOST ANNOYING RTG SLOTS?

Join the poll and let us know what is the most annoying RTG “Real Series” video slot? – is it that stupid looking pirate Goldbeard? The sappy new age Enchanted Garden? Or is it the slow-ass Treasure Chamber? Let it be known here

Last week Microgaming’s Hitman and Cash and Curry tied for this coveted award here.

/forums/online-casinos/17881-most-annoying-real-time-gaming-slot-award-goes.html

NEW CASINOMEISTER CASINO!

As most of you are aware, I do not bring on any casino property into Casinomeister’s Accredited Casino section until I actually sit down with their representatives and have a pow wow of sorts; this is one of the ways casinos are validated. The newest member of our Accredited section is Prime Casino: a fairly new Microgaming casino run by the folks at Prime Gaming. They are undergoing an eCOGRA review at the moment, which is very promising. These guys have damn good attitudes about this industry. Please support them by joining them today (sorry – no US).

SUPPORT THE 725TH!!

Many of you are probably not aware of this, but my son-in-law is a paratrooper currently stationed in Iraq, and the folks back home (at Ft. Richardson, AK) are raising money by selling magnets. These magnets only cost $6 each, and the money that’s being raised is for a welcome home party the troops will receive when they finally come back home. Please check out the info here and buy a magnet. You can even use your Paypal account!

Buy $50, Get $200 FREE using a Non-Credit/Debit Card Deposit Option at Lucky Nugget Online Casino!Get $200 FREE when you make your first $50 deposit using several deposit options. Multiple currencies are supported. Please read their terms and conditions!
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And now for the humor…

Reasons not to mess with a child:

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah”. The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?” The little girl replied, “Then you ask him”.

---

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?”
Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”
The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, “Momma, how come ALL of grandma’s hairs are white?”ha ha ha

BWIN WINS ANOTHER ONLINE GAMBLING ISSUE

Austrian injunction set aside

Bwin has won another legal hand in an online gambling dispute in which Omnia Communication-Centers GmbH sought an injunction to curtail the betting group’s Austrian activities.

The Vienna Commercial Court this week rejected the injunction, which sought to prevent the bwin Group from offering games of chance ? and in particular poker and casino games ? on the Austrian market under its Gibraltarian licence. The court rejected the application on the grounds that there was no competition between the plaintiff and bwin.

“We welcome today?s decision by the court to reject this application for a preliminary injunction,”, commented Co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger on learning of the positive outcome of these proceedings.

“Legal action is not the right solution,”, added Co-CEO Manfred Bodner. “We are in favour of a constructive dialogue to regulate the gaming market not only in the best interests of the consumer, but also in conformity with EU legislation and taking into account the realities of the internet age.”

The Vienna listed gaming firm has had a busy week, obtaining shareholder permission for a capital rise of up to 16.3 million new shares in order to generate over Euro 500 million at its AGM. Boerse Express speculation is that the capital increase will be used to fund the purchase of UK-based competitor Sportingbet.

Earlier this week (see previous InfoPowa report) Bwin scored another online gambling victory when a Munich court threw out an attempt by the German state of Bavarian to prevent Bwin and other firms from marketing their services in competition with official state-supported outlets. The court found that it was not technically possible for Bwin and like online companies to screen out Bavarian gamblers.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

30 May 2007 – Special Announcement

CentreBet Joins Casinomeister!!

THAT’S RIGHT!!CentreBet is the newest member at Casinomeister! Powered by Orbis, you can play casino games, poker, racing, sports, live dealer games, just about everything under the sun. Check them out today – straight download here
Sign up now and receive a 100% up to $200!! Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep Centre-wise.

ARE YOU A U.S. PLAYER? TRY e-PokerUSA!!

THAT’S RIGHT!! YOU CAN PLAY POKER LEGALLY AT
e-PokerUSA. Why? Because this site offers a unique way of playing the game. e-PokerUSA.com is a skill-based games website, not a gambling site.

Skill-based games can be played legally in most U.S. states. Please check their terms and conditions to see which states are excluded.

It’s a new twist on classic poker play. The object of the game is to beat your opponents at other tables with your same playing hand. This reduces the luck in the game and increases the skill in play.

Play in $25 Daily Step Up & Evening Freerolls! Make a first deposit and get free access to a $250 tournament!

They accept Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx. Check them out today!!

1 June 2007

Dear Reader,

Lot’s going on in Casinomeisterland. Scroll on down to see what’s up.

Succinctly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Playboy is Porn?

It was brought to my attention this week that a online casino watchdog entity such as Casinomeister should not be promoting casinos linked to pornography; specifically Playboy Casino. This begs the question: Is Playboy Casino pornographic, or is it a solid brand that has a target audience – guys who like girls. If something as mild as Playboy Casino (we’re not talking about Playboy magazine – which is pretty tame considering what’s on the Internet) is offensive, what about Hitman slots that touts killing terrorists, or the Crypto Zombie Slots that display dismembered body parts and its hero blasts zombies with a shotgun in the bonus round (fantastic slot by the way). And what about gambling in general? Where does morals fall in line here? Investing in real estate is a form of gambling technically speaking isn’t it. What about state run lotteries? Church bingo?

Nevertheless, Playboy is a publicly listed company on the NY Stock Exchange. It’s been involved with entertainment since the early 60s with not only their magazine but also with international clubs and casinos in the UK. Playboy has a very long history in the gaming market, and it’s great that they’ve chosen Crypto as their gaming platform; Crypto being a publicly traded company as well.

This casino is run by the same folks at Intercasino who have over ten years experience of operating a very successful online casino. So this is about as solid as they come. And this I feel should be the main concern of a watchdog site. Is this a solid organization that is player focused and a safe place to play? Yes, by all means yes it is.

But this is my opinion. What about yours? Please join our Playboy Casino Pornography Reader’s Poll

---

NINE YEARS!!

Yep, Casinomeister is celebrating NINE YEARS ONLINE this month. And what better way to celebrate but with the CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Yes, that’s right! The Bierfest has officially started and will last until the end of the OKTOBERFEST (which is in September by the way). Throughout the summer months, you will be tasked to answer difficult questions. Some deal with music, some with film, some with bizarre trivia. And there will be a few casino contests along the way.

So, for our first quiz – it’s a name that tune sort of thing. Name the artist and the album/CD of the following tune:
click here
OR

MP3 File DownloadTo download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

The first person who contacts me with the correct answer will wins $50 in cash USD or $50 worth of beer – your choice.

Got it? Email me the answer: the band AND the name of the song to bierfest@casinomeister.com. First correct answer wins – and this is open to everyone 21 years or older. US members need to have a Paypal account to participate.

GROSVENOR CASINO JOINS CASINOMESTER!!

THAT’S RIGHT!!Grosvenor Casino is the newest member at Casinomeister! Powered by Playtech, licensed in Alderney, and run by Rank Interactive Gaming. Sign up today and get a 150% Match Bonus of ?75 on your first deposit.

This offer is available to new members on their first deposit only. Previous Hard Rock Casino customers that have already received this bonus with Hard Rock Casino are not eligible for this offer.

Check them out today!!

Sorry no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep RankInteractive.

NEW WEBCAST IS UP!

What’s new in Casinomeisterland?

Grab yo’ self a hot cup o’ java and listen to this:

• Porno and Online Casinos
• Casinomeister’s Bierfest
• Newest Rogues
• A gift from Vortran007

Don’t have time to listen to this stuff while sitting in front of the computer? Hell – download it to your iPod (or other MP3 player), and you can listen to me and Vortran while at the gym, at church, or while having sex (it is the porno edition y’know):
MP3 File Download For your iPods and other MP3 players.

To download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

/webcast/

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS

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And now for the humor…

A priest and a rabbi were sitting next to each other on an airplane. After a while, the priest turned to the rabbi and asked,

“Is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat pork? ”

The rabbi responded, “Yes, that is still one of our beliefs.”

The priest then asked, “Have you ever eaten pork?” To which the rabbi replied, “Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to temptation and tasted a ham sandwich.”

The priest nodded in understanding and went on with his reading.

A while later, the rabbi spoke up and asked the priest, “Father, is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?”

The priest replied, “Yes, that is still very much a part of our faith.”

The rabbi then asked him, “Father, have you ever fallen to the temptations of the flesh?”

The priest replied, “Yes, rabbi, on one occasion I was weak and broke with my faith.”

The rabbi nodded understandingly and remained silent, thinking, for about five minutes.

Finally, the rabbi said, “Beats a ham sandwich, doesn’t it?”

ha ha ha

DAY OR RECKONING NEARS FOR NETELLER

US online gamblers payday could be June 4

The 75 day period that Neteller said was necessary to organise the payout of US online gamblers ends on June 4, but there has still been no sign that the patience of American players is about to rewarded.

When Neteller pulled out of the American market in January of this year following the arrest of its founders Stephen Lawrence and John Lefevbre, the Isle of Man e-wallet suspended trading in its shares on the London stock exchange and froze the accounts of American players, claiming intervention by the US Department of Justice.

Later it announced that players funds would be returned, but that this could take up to 75 days to organise (see previous InfoPowa reports) Those 75 days are almost up, and US players are speculating on whether they are likely to be paid out on time.

In a press release dated March 21 the e-wallet informed that it was “….pleased to announce that on 20 March 2007, it signed agreements with the US Attorneys Office and Navigant which, among other things, outline terms and a timeline under which NETELLER will work toward the orderly distribution of funds to its US customers.

“Per the agreements, the Group anticipates that within the next 75 days it will announce a plan by which the funds will be distributed to US customers. Navigant will also provide a report to the USAO on the Group?s current financial condition.

?We continue to be committed to returning funds to our US customers and working with the US Attorney?s Office,? said Ron Martin, Group President and CEO. ?Progress, while not always visible to the outside observer, has been steady and these agreements mark a milestone in the process.?

Meanwhile, Lefebvre and Lawrence remain untried, and the Neteller shares are still suspended.

InfoPowa asked Neteller for a comment or progress report on the issues, but as at press time no response had been received.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

15 June 2007 – Special Announcement

Yes, the GIGSE Montreal Special Report is on its way. Watch your in-box for that one. In the meantime, here’s a new casino for ya.

BLUESQUARE CASINO JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!

THAT’S RIGHT!!BlueSquare Casino is the newest member at Casinomeister! Powered by WagerWorks, licensed in Alderney, and run by Rank Interactive Gaming. Check out their fantastic games!!

TEXAS HOLD’EM BONUS POKER
ENCHANTED UNICORN
WHEEL OF FORTUNE: TRIPLE ACTION FRENZY
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It couldn’t be simpler if you sign-up and deposit 75 and play for real at Blue Sq Casino they will add another 75 to your casino account. Or if you sign-up and deposit 10 and play for real at Blue Sq Casino they’ll add another 10 to your casino account.

Check them out today!!

Sorry no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep RankInteractive.

MEISTER MAIL – 15 June 2007

Special Edition
Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo 2007 – Montreal

Dear Reader,

And here we go with Casinomeister’s annual GIGSE special report. If reading about the tripiness of Montreal, freaky people, bitchin’ restaurants, no parties, and online gaming is your thing, then read on…

Reportingly yours,

Bryan

GIGSE 2007 Montreal

The Industry Turned Upside Down…

What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. I had a pretty good trip considering that the online casino industry has been pretty much wiped off the map in North America. The GIGSE is traditionally THE industry event that has been bringing together casino operators, software providers, marketers, licensing entities, entrepreneurs, innovators, crooks, media moguls, boozers, and all sorts of odds and ends for the past nine years. This year was different – guess why?

Well if you don’t know why, please let me welcome you to our planet Earth. It gets a little freaky at times, but never fear, she has ways of taking care of herself – she, like the people that inhabit her, are resilient. Our little microcosm of an online gaming world is a good analogy of this resiliency. After a catastrophic event, only the bare-bones protrude jaggingly from the surface waiting for new growth, which in time – comes.

Landing in Montreal, I was given a tease in the passport control section. The large flatscreen monitors give the weary traveler standing in line touristy glimpses of Quebec with a few ads sprinkled in. And suddenly Microgaming appears. “WTF?” I thought. “Microgaming has an ad in the airport? What a trip.” This gave one the presumption that a well attended function was in store. I mean, these ads cost money, and how many people really care about online gaming software, especially people who are coming through the airport.

I made it through customs without the usual harrassment (refer to past GIGSE newsletters on your lunch break), and I reflected on this during the cab ride to the hotel. It was warmer than I had expected, and we drove with the windows down.

Like last year, I stayed at the Hotel XIXe Siecle, which is impossible to say correctly in French (for me). It’s very conveniently located around the corner from the convention center – great price – and is easy on the eyes. It’s an old bank that’s been converted to a hotel, so it has this swanky old world look and feel to it. Very nice.

And like I predicted for this trip, I’d be the loner dude. Past years have provided many cool socializations with my comrades and the usual drinking buddies, but this time it was different. I mosied around by myself the first evening. Grabbed some Mexican take-out, and chilled out to the new “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I’m 100% sure that it’s rated G for general audiences. Man, how times have changed. The first scene is a mass execution with people being hanged, and there’s another scene not too far into the film that shows a woman being shot in the forehead – dead. C’mon, they promote this shit towards little kids? How am I supposed to bring my six-year-old little dude to see this? Thanks Disney, NOT.

Anyway, after dosing off a couple of times during too many sword fights, the film ended, and I meandered back towards my hotel. I was anticipative for the next day.

…Monday, the first day of the convention. Well, this is what I was there for and before it was to start, I was to meet with the venerable Julie Sidwell from Gambling Grumbles. We had lunch, along with her distinguished husband, in the hotel restaurant. It was very pleasant ordering everything in English. I was really enjoying the freedom that language gives you when you are completely and utterly fluent in the language. No butchering of grammar here. I digress.

As many of you know, I do somewhat what Julie does, helping players out when they have problems with online casinos. But of course, Julie does it on a much larger scale. So it is good for us to discuss current player attitudes, share informative tidbits concerning certain casinos and other aspects of watch dogging this unregulated industry. And we always like to gossip about the mundane American stuff that I have no connection to from Germany.

We parted, promising to see each other again, which we did several times, and made our way to the first of many informative presentations.RIP sweet Julie.

Day One GIGSE

Newbies Galore!

Day one began with an early wake-up call, a pleasant breakfast at Eggscentric, and I was then ready for the conference. In the past, the first morning is rather packed with not much peace at the registration booths; nearly everywhere I would look, there was someone to wave to, or someone to slink away from. This year was weird. There were people there, but except for the River City Group, not many that I recognized. So for the first time ever, I had nothing to do until the key note speaker was to begin. I had about fifteen minutes, so I wandered into the conference hall and grabbed a choice seat. There were about five people already seated. The main conference hall seats around 750 people.

So I busied myself, taking some notes about nothing in particular, read the GIGSE brochures and waited. Ho-hum. It was about five minutes to start-time, and now there were around fifteen people seated. “Oh, this sucks” I thought, but a couple of minutes before show time the doors opened and people started streaming in. Now the conference was looking promising.

Sue Snyder began with the traditional welcoming address and going over the agenda for the next couple of days. I would guess it was about two-thirds full – about 500 people. She asked to see a show of hands of how many people were there for the first time. About half the audience raised their hands.

Wow.

On the flipside, Frank Fahrenkopf spoke of the problems facing the US market stating that the biggest obstacle for legislation against online gaming is the 10th amendment which guarantees sovereign rights of the states. States are to be able to make their own choices without the US government stepping in. This is why the US has all but 2 states with some sort of regulated gaming (Utah and Hawaii have none). Even though there seems to be a strong push to ban online gaming, 80-85% of the American public don’t see a problem with it. 15% are opposed. Well who are these 15%? Well the lawmakers who are banding together are an odd sorts – it’s the far right who feel that gambling is morally wrong (yet their mothers probably play bingo online), and the far left who feel that people are too stupid to make decisions on their own. They need the government to protect them from themselves.
The keynote speaker, internationally renowned scholar and online gambling expert Professor I. Nelson Rose took the podium, and gave a very insightful presentation on the history and present state of legalities on gambling in the US. He discussed on how the laws have changed over the past three hundred years. Lotteries funded the colonies, and most of the states after the American Revolution, but it all came crashing down in the 1820’s when they were rife with scandal. Some guys decided to have lotteries without paying anyone. It was so bad, that the people said “We will never have lotteries again.” These prohibitions were placed in State constitutions, and as new states appeared, they copied these laws into them. In fact, Nevada still has a constitutional law against playing the lottery.

Most gambling was outlawed in the Western Frontier after the Reconstruction of the South in the 1880s, and by 1909, just about every form of gambling was illegal (even in Nevada) except racetracks in New York, Maryland, and Kentucky. Then came the other prohibition: the Volstead Act that banned the sales, manufacture, and possession of alcohol. Imagine living your life back then. <grin>

The depression had affected both of these prohibitions. The Volstead act was repealed and in 1931 Nevada opened its casinos back up. Each year since 1933 there has been an expansion of state run gambling, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the state lotteries came back.

Presently, nearly every state has some form of regulated gambling, so it’s really difficult for a state to claim that it has a public policy against gambling when it’s the state itself that’s running the gambling, and it’s often required by law to actively promote it.

He also covered the general attitudes concerning gambling. A couple of hundred years ago, gambling was considered (by most) a sin, it was totally outlawed and if you were a compulsive gambler, you were going to hell. Attitudes changed and then it was considered a vice. As a vice, gambling could be set up in deserts, on islands, or riverboats surrounded by holy water. If you were a compulsive gambler, it was your own damn fault. Then the general attitude changed – gambling is now a form of entertainment, and the entertainment factoris what is promoted. Now, if you are a compulsive gambler, it’s treated like a disease, and you don’t fault someone for being ill. These attitudes have produced the laws that US citizens must deal with. It was really a very interesting presentation.

One thing he touched on at the end, was that he predicted in two years, California will legalize online poker. It would be limited to licensed card clubs and Indian casinos located in California, and taxed at 25%. I emailed him later about this (there wasn’t much time for Q&A afterwards) and he said that the poker clubs have wanted this for years. “Now it seems clear under federal law that Internet gambling is legal, so long as it is legal under state law and kept 100% in-state.” The UIGEA does allow “intrastate” betting. The biggest problem will be working out the details on how this will come about.

Arnie – you da man! And he’s a Republican too!

Lastly, the situation between the US and the WTO is a Pandora’s box – as well as the muddled “poorly written – full of typos” UIGEA law that was passed without being read by most everyone involved.

For further information, please check out Professor Rose’s website. http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/ He also said that he had a newsletter and that he would subscribe people if you email him stating “put me on the list.”

That afternoon, I had Sushi with a newcomer in the market. He’s the operator of a skill based poker site that will be launched this fall. Yes, more poker that is LEGAL to play in the States – well, most states. There are a few states that prohibit skill games. Nevertheless, they have a new concept that you’ll see here at Casinomeister in a few months. It’s really very cool.

Finally the exhibition hall doors opened. It was somewhat surreal. The floor seemed about 1/3 full compared to past couple of years. No Microgaming stand, no RTG, no Playtech, no Partnerlogic, no Bodog, only a couple of “old timer” booths – Boss Media and Netgaming. The rest seemed to be dedicated to payment processors and a few live dealers. C’mon, how many live dealers do we really need?

And what was even more disappointing…no free beer. But there were free massages thanks to SafeCharge. And Rebecca from Casino City brought me three packages of organic Trader Joe O’s from the States (can’t get these in Deutschland). Thanks Rebecca!

Wagerworks was there – and the buzz at the moment is that “Elvis Multi-Strike Video Slots” is getting ready to be launched. If you are wondering what I’m talking about, check out the Play for Fun games here at Leading Edge Gaming. Casinomeister casino members Virgin Casino and BlueSquare Casino should both be receiving these games soon as well as all WagerWorks casinos.

Finally the exhibition hall doors opened. The usual familiar faces and a lot of new ones. I talked again to the guys at RTG and asked them about whether or not Cirrus Casinos belonged to the Virtual Casino group. They weren’t sure. I then asked them if they thought it was odd that Cirrus Casino traffic statistics were on the same account as the rest of the Virtual Casino casinos. They said it was kind of strange, that it probably belonged then. Anyway, it looks like there will be some more interesting developments concerning arbitration and RTG casinos. More details to come soon.That evening, there was free beer at the Reception Hall. Normally, this is pretty much a who’s who in online gambling, just about anyone you need to track down or avoid makes an appearance. Many new faces this time. I spent a lot of time just hanging out and chatting to some of the people I’ve known for a few years – and the topic of the evening? “What the hell? This industry has really changed” was the theme of most discussions.

I finalized the evening with Micki and guest at the Red Thai on Saint-Laurent Street. What a wonderful meal. Great food, great atmosphere, great company.

Day two coming up…

Day Two GIGSE

RTG’s flaccidness…
The presentation that morning dealt with the legalities in Europe – specifically Germany and Denmark. According to one of the leading German gaming lawyers, Wulf Hambach, the battle in Germany at the moment is the most agressive. And one thing I will give credit to the German politicians, is that they are honest. They admit they are trying to protect their monopolies while their US counterparts (the Bible thumping gang) are trying to prohibit online casinos on moralistic grounds. In Europe, the online casino landscape is still a but funkified, but hopefully there will be progressive movement in a few months.

Day Two kicked off for me in the exhibition hall. I was due to give a presentation “Online Casino Management 101: Letters from the Trenches. It was well attended – and yes, I had a lot to say. Most of the material I used was actually from this newsletter (aren’t you glad you subscribed?). Issues #263, 264, and 265. I covered “gaining player trust”, “maintaining player trust”, and wait to do (or what not to do) when you screw up. Using real live issues and correspondences from casinos and players, it went over rather well. Ted Loh was there, and he was wearing a suit. He’s finally been assimilated. The remainder of the morning was spent collecting information on legal stuff, until I took a beer break with one of the guys from Bodog. Good stuff down the road from them since they will be focusing on the European market. Have I mention that Bodog has applied for a license from the UK? They have, and I think we’ll be seeing some cool stuff from them as well.

Which brings me to Real Time Gaming. Man, what a mess. These guys were really caught with their pants down when the shit hit the fan last October, and they’ve been staggering around like a headless giant since then. I gave a cautionary a couple of months ago concerning playing at most RTG casinos. You are playing at your own risk since there is no player safety net installed. Here is a list of RTG casinos you should bookmark for reference. RTG is adamant that they can only act as the software provider now, and that they have to distance themselves from player issues. Any player problems need to go directly to the licensing agency. Um, well…many of their casinos operate without gaming licenses. And some of the ones that do – have absolutely horrible histories with players. The Crystal Palace group comes to mind – their servers are in Kahnawake.

I could say, ah – the hell with RTG. But they have some really good operators (and some great games), and it just wouldn’t be fair to associate the good with the bad. There are some downright bad operators in this group that should have never been allowed to operate a Taco stand much less an online casino. It’s amazing that they are still in business.

But then perhaps not so amazing. You will only profit if you consistently fleece your customers.

That evening, it was a night at the W Hotel – which is a trendy cool place to chill. Actually there were a number of people I knew who were hanging out there. So I stayed, but like Cinderella – I split at midnight. Tomorrow was to be a big day. I had a meeting scheduled with the Kahnawakes and a tour planned of their servers at the Kahnawake reservation.

Scroll down for more…

Greedy Girl was my date for the Second City Comedy Club. Thanks to RTG, it was a true highlight of the week. For those of you unfamiliar with Second City, Second City has produced many of the greatest comedians of our current time – John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Martin Short, John Candy, Michael Myers, Eugene Levy, etc. Well, I don’t think any of us laughed so hard in quite a while. Entitled “Invasion free since 1812” (alluding to the fact they share a border with the US, and the US hasn’t invaded since then), it was semi political – totally hilarious. I almost thought I saw a White Russian come out of Greedy Girl’s nose she was laughing so hard. It was far-freaking out.

Visiting Kahnawake

No TeePees here…

I was really looking forward to the final day of the GIGSE. I didn’t have a chance to make any of the presentations, but I did have a chance to meet with David Montour, one of the Commissioners of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. I made it clear that several years ago, Kahnawake licensing had a pretty good reputation. Most of their casinos operated effectively and fairly. It’s a bit different now; there are a number of rogue operations that continue to generate complaints making the KGC look like a rubber stamp. No one wants this, especially the Kahnawakes and the good operators that pay for their services. Mr. Montour admitted that they’ve been slow in recent months answering complaints, but they are determined to take care of all submitted player issues. I’ll be collecting the ones that I have that have hit a dead end; these will be forwarded. I hope that better communication will get the KGC back on its feet and renew the respect that they deserve.

Wednesday was another eventful day, the highlight was meeting Ronald Maginley, the Director of Offshore Gaming of St. John’s Antigua & Barbuda. He assured me that he would personally look into any complaint, minor or major, generated from a casino licensed in his jurisdiction. His authority has teeth, he explained. Not too long ago he had a sportsbook operator jailed for violations. This is good news for those of us who want to instill a sense of regulation into this industry.
From there, I met Micki at the Trident Lounge offices, and we drove out to Kahnawake to check out Mohawk Internet Technologies This is where the servers are located for all of the casinos that are licensed by Kahnawake.

The building was non-descript. And no, there weren’t any Teepees in sight – and no one was wearing moccasins or sporting Mohawks. From the outside, perhaps it looked like a warehouse that stores office furniture or running shoes, but entering the place, it was mighty impressive. The security is intense, and the rooms that store the servers are state-of-the-art. It was assuring that there are a number of backup safety features that guarantee 24/7 operation. They even have three massive 500kw generators on standby if there ever is a power outage. It was a really cool tour.

We headed back to Montreal and had lunch at Milos, one of the most fabulous places to each fish in all of Montreal. The grilled Octopus is something to die for. Topic of discussion: our frustration watching the US market being thrown to the wolves so to speak. And there isn’t much that can be done about it.

After stuffing ourselves, I was dropped off at the offices of Income Access, by far one of the most professionally run affiliate programs, and we had a nice long chat about certain directions Casinomeister is taking. It was very productive, and will only benefit you my dear reader.

Yes, there are a number of cool things in store for Casinomeister members and non-members alike. And it mostly has to do with providing you with information so that you can make intelligent decisions when it comes to playing online, webmastering, running a casino, organizing an affiliate program, or just trying to find a good restaurant to eat in whatever city I’m talking about. It’s all for you.

Returning home – I had a chance to reflect on my experiences. It was a real shame that the industry has gotten so paranoid (understandably so) that it affects conferences like this. Nevertheless, the River City Group did a bang up job as usual. We have them to thank in making these conferences as successful as they are, which in turn makes this industry a much better place for everyone involved – especially the player.

21 June 2007

Dear Reader,

Summer solstice! It’s the longest day of the year, so I can spend more time on this newsletter – NOT. The sun sets at around 9:30 tonight here in Bierland – too bad it’s raining. Appropriately though – the Bierfest is in full swing. Scroll down for details.

Jovially yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Forum Update

There are a large amount of bounced emails being generated by user accounts in the forum. Some of these accounts are dormant, some are active. If you have an account in our forum PLEASE UPDATE YOUR USER CONTROL PANEL – SPECIFICALLY YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. If the accounts that are generating these bouncing mails continue to do so, they will be deleted.

And if you are not a forum member, well why not? Here are some of the highlights this week:

Online Casinos
Intertops withdrawal terms
by Nifty29
Hey Gang

I made my first withdrawal yesterday at Intertops Casino, after all the good feedback they seem to get in regards to fast payouts etc. The cashier said Moneybookers payouts take up to 48 hours – cool!

My attention is then directed by the payouts team to the following rule:

3.9 As a new customer at Intertops.com, your very first withdrawal will be subject to a 14 day waiting period. This applies to customers once they have wagered. Customers may be asked to provide identification when requesting a payout.

Online Casinos
Meister Slots – Looking for bitchin’ ideas 
by SlotsJunkie
My ideal slot would be an amalgam of Thunderstruck, Tomb Raider, Harveys, Hitman, a couple RTG games and a B&M game, with the following features:

Scatters
The scatters must be true scatters – that is, none of this left-to-right or right-to-left crap: that defeats the purpose of the scatter.

2 scatters would pay 2x and trigger a respin � la RTG to see if you can get additional scatters (thereby triggering some real free spins).

Free Spins
I love the concept of a Mystery Multiplier which changes with each free spin, so…Come join our forum if you haven’t done so already.

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NINE YEARS!!

Yep, Casinomeister is celebrating NINE YEARS ONLINE this month. And what better way to celebrate but with the CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Yes, that’s right! The Bierfest has officially started and will last until the end of the OKTOBERFEST (which is in September by the way). Throughout the summer months, you will be tasked to answer difficult questions. Some deal with music, some with film, some with bizarre trivia. And there will be a few casino contests along the way.

So, for our second quiz – it’s a name that beer sort of thing. What famous beer is named after a part of the sun?

The first person who contacts me with the correct answer wins $50 in cash USDor $50 worth of beer – your choice.

Got it? Email me the answer to bierfest@casinomeister.com. First correct answer wins – and this is open to everyone 21 years or older. You must have a Paypal account to participate.

SKILLGAMES AT CASINOMEISTER!

Yep! Gotta have something for the US players to do while they watch the rest of the world enjoying BlackJack, Poker or Slots!

Skill gaming is it!! Their games are a blast to play, and they accept most credit cards or Paypal, no problem. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE LEGAL IN MOST STATES!! (check their terms and conditions please)

Skillground is the world’s first and most rewarding online PC gaming arena. People of all skill levels can participate in real video games in single player score-based games, head-to-head or in multiplayer events for cash prizes.

SkillGround gamers can download real video games, register, deposit and play in a secure, online environment with just a PC and a broadband connection. Players can challenge opponents to a wide range of contests AND win real cash prizes!

The SkillGround management team represents a unique combination of gaming success stories with gamer expertise and know-how. The company is chaired by Mark Rivkin, a founder of CryptoLogic. He is joined by former CryptoLogic executives Harvey Solursh, CFO, and Serge Bourenkov, CTO. The CEO of SkillGround is Jon Walsh, who together with Trevor Fencott, President, and Michael Haines, Managing Director, have almost 30 years experience in the video games business. The company is well capitalized and has raised over $31 million.

Check them out today!!

THAT’S RIGHT!! YOU CAN PLAY POKER LEGALLY AT
Duplicate Poker. Why? Because this site offers a unique way of playing the game. Duplicate Poker is a skill-based games website, not a gambling site.

Skill-based games can be played legally in most U.S. states. Please check their terms and conditions to see which states are excluded.

It’s a new twist on classic poker play. The object of the game is to beat your opponentsat other tables with your same playing hand. This reduces the luck in the game and increases the skill in play.

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And now for the humor…

The Smiths were dining out when his wife noticed a familiar face at the bar.

“Honey,” she said as she pointed the guy out, “that guy at the bar has been drinking like that since I left him seven years ago.”

Her husband said, “That’s silly, no one celebrates that much.”

---

A woman answered her front door and found two little boys holding a list.

“Lady,” one of them explained, “we’re on a scavenger hunt, and we still need three grains of wheat, a pork-chop bone and a piece of used carbon paper to earn a dollar.”

“Wow,” the woman replied. “Who sent you on such a challenging hunt?”

“Our baby-sitter’s boyfriend.”

ha ha ha

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA LODGE WTO COMPENSATION CLAIM

With the June 22 deadline looming, who else wants a piece of the USA?

Following hard on the heels of news earlier this week that the EU has claimed compensation from the United States over its decision to withdraw certain World Trade Organisation commitments, the Caribbean media report that Antigua and Barbuda has also submitted a claim.

The island nation started the furore when in 2003 it took the United States before the WTO disputes panel in a David and Goliath argument over American moves to ban online gambling despite carve-outs within its own laws for Internet gambling by the state lotteries and horse racing industries.

Antigua and Barbuda claimed that the actions of the United States prejudiced it and were not in compliance with US trade commitments made when it joined the WTO.

After a protracted struggle, the World Trade Organisation finally ruled against the United States, whereupon the US Trade Representative moved the goal posts through a decision to remove online gambling from the original trade commitment of the US. This unprecedented action invoked widespread criticism.

However, WTO policies require a member country taking this unusual course of action to be subject to claims for compensation from other WTO members prejudiced by the withdrawal of commitments. The deadline for this is June 22 and the European Union has served notice that it intends to claim, saying it would seek commitments in other trade sectors to replace losses incurred by operators who had to exit the US market after the Act.

Bloomberg’s news service indicates that Antigua will file its claim today (Wednesday) two days ahead of the deadline, and that up to $3.4 billion a year is the amount claimed, primarily through the suspension of global copyright and intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreements.

The Antigua and Barbuda minister of finance, Dr. Errol Cort, has been deeply involved in the dispute with the US from the outset and is quoted as saying: “We feel we have no other choice in the matter, we have fought long and hard for fair access to the U.S. market and have won at every stage of the WTO process.

“This industry has been and can be regulated,” he said, adding that the dispute isn’t a moral issue, as claimed by the U.S.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

28 June 2007

Dear Reader,

Crap weather! What the heck happened to our summer? Global warming? Well this week has been nothing but global dampening – at least in Casinomeisterland. So in other words, I’ve been inside diligently working. Scroll down to find out what’s kept me so busy.

Laboriously yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

DONATE NOW!!

There are a lot of really good players out there with really big hearts. You want to donate to Casinomeister to keep it going? This is how you do it – instead of blowing your winnings at the next casino that comes along, donate some of your winnings here.

This is how you keep Casinomeister going: By donating generously to a charity of your choice, you make this world a better place, and that motivates the hell out of me.

So keep me motivated!!

If you would like me to add a charity to this list, please contact me so I can get it up there. Thanks!

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CASINOMEISTER CHINESE

The Casinomeister’s Chinese site has finally been launched!! Now our Chinese speaking visitors can read about the Rogues, learn how to spot Rogues, read up on Simmos! Essential FAQ, and introduce themselves to Casinomeister Accredited casinos that are geared toward the Chinese player (fully localized). You can check it out here.

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ADD MYSPACE TO YOUR FORUM USER PROFILE

Yes, now you can link your forum user profile to your myspace space. The instructions on how to do so are here.

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CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Yep, Casinomeister is celebrating NINE YEARS ONLINE this month. And what better way to celebrate but with the CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Yes, that’s right! The Bierfest has been going strong for a few weeks and will last until the end of the OKTOBERFEST (which is in September by the way). THAT’S A LOT OF BEER!! Throughout the summer months, you will be tasked to answer difficult questions – or join contests ALL IN THE NAME OF BEER (or money).

Congrats to Andi B. from the US who answered last week’s question: What famous beer is named after a part of the sun?

Answer: Corona

That was waaaay easy. Andi B. answered it within THREE MINUTES of the newsletter being published beating the storm of answers that rushed in. She chose the $50 – said she wasn’t into beer – yet. Congrats on being the quickest at the draw.

This week’s contest is a bit tougher. Listen to this sound blurb and identify the following:

1. The name of the film.
2. The actor speaking.
3. The name of the song (not just the group) playing in the background.

The first person who contacts me and answers ALL THREE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY wins $50 in cash USD or $50 worth of beer – your choice!!

Got it? Email me the answer to bierfest@casinomeister.com. First correct answer wins – and this is open to everyone 21 years or older. You must have a Paypal account to participate.

You can also participate in the discussion here in our forum.

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And now for the humor…

Two 90 year old men, Moe and Joe, have been friends all of their lives.

When it’s clear that Joe is dying, Moe visits him every day. One day Moe says, “Joe, we both loved baseball all our lives, and we played minor league ball together for so many years. Please do me one favor, when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there’s baseball up there.”

Joe looks up at Moe from his death bed,” Moe, you’ve been my best friend for many years. If it’s at all possible, I’ll do this favor for you.

Shortly after that, Joe passes on.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Moe is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, “Moe–Moe.”

“Who is it?, asks Moe sitting up suddenly. “Who is it?”

“Moe–it’s me, Joe.”

“You’re not Joe. Joe just died.”

“I’m telling you, it’s me, Joe,” insists the voice.

“Joe! Where are you?”

“In heaven”, replies Joe. “I have some really good news and a little bad news.”

“Tell me the good news first,” says Moe.

“The good news,” Joe says,” is that there’s baseball in heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we’re all young again. Better still, it’s always spring time and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play baseball all we want, and we never get tired.”

“That’s fantastic,” says Moe. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams!

So what could possibly be the bad news?”

“You’re pitching Tuesday.”

ha ha ha

BAD NEWS FROM ISRAEL

District appeal court rules against online gambling

Reports from the Israeli news publication Haaretz indicate that a District Court in Tel Aviv has upheld a lower court finding that companies operating online gambling websites targeting Israelis are breaking the law, even if operated and registered abroad.

The issue before the court involved an appeal by British businessman Michael Carlton, who is Chief Executive Officer of the Victor Chandler casino website registered and licensed in Gibraltar. Carlton was questioned earlier this year whilst in Israel (see previous InfoPowa report) by the Bat Yam fraud squad on suspicion of illegally running gambling operations in Israel, along with investigations regarding sports betting involving events in which Israeli teams participated.

Carlton was ordered to undergo house arrest despite no charges filed, but was subsequently required to deposit over $70 000 in guarantees as a condition to leave the country, a stipulation that he appealed. The lower court ruled that the Victor Chandler site was violating Article 225 of the Criminal Code, leaving the District Court faced with an appeal and the decision as to whether online gambling by Israelis from Israel via an international site is a crime when the gambling provider is outside Israeli jurisdiction.

The superior court upheld the ruling of the lower court, declaring that, “…any company operating a gambling website that targets Israelis is breaking the law, no matter if the site is run from abroad and if the company is registered outside Israel.”

Victor Chandler is one of the most popular Internet gambling facilities in Israel with payouts to Israelis of over $16 million in winnings each year.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

4 July 2007 – Special Announcement

Jackpot Willi’s 6th Annual “Bierfest”!

Zum Wohl!! Und Willkommen to Casinomeister’s Bierfest!!! I am Jackpot Willi and I want to share with you my love for Jackpots and my love for Bavarian Bier! Please you must enter our contest and become a winner so I can send you American dollars worth that I hope you will buy Bavarian brewed Bier!!

BIERFEST RULES

The Bierfest commences on 4 July 2007 until midnight (EST) 18 July.

There are three prizes to be won at Grand Monaco Casino:

• $200 CASH First Prize
• $150 CASH Second Prize
• $100 CASH Third Prize

These are cash drawings to be awarded via a random drawing.

In order to enter the draw, Casinomeister users will simply have to open a Real Accountat Grand Monaco Casino and purchase a minimum of $50 to play on the new Hitman slots.

The players will also be required to wager through their initial purchase once (i.e. minimum $50), and will qualify for their current offer, which is a 100% Match up to $150 and up to 150 Free Spins and a Casino Kit, as well as being entered into the draw.

This draw will be open for players from Casinomeister who already have an accountopen with Grand Monaco as well, provided that they fulfill the purchasing and wagering requirements in the time frame allotted for the campaign. They will use their old/original account number as they will not be able to open a new one.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS OFFERS IS ONLY VALID FOR PLAYERS WHO DOWNLOAD FROM THESE LINKS IN THE NEWSLETTER OR AT CASINOMEISTER — COPYING AND PASTING THIS OFFER ELSEWHERE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN

5 July 2007

Dear Reader,

Still crap weather! So it makes me work harder.

Briefly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

FORUM UPDATES

Lots of new stuff going on in our forum. If you haven’t checked the forum out yet this week, you should do so. One thing that you’ll notice is the leader board. It gives you a snapshot of what is going on RIGHT NOW in the forum. It’s pretty cool.

Referring Members: Yes you can refer members to the forum, and this is being tracked on the leaderboard. It’s easy, the instructions to do so are here

You can refer people to our forum, and when they sign up – you get credit!! Why refer people to Casinomeister’s Forum? Well, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure that the more people participate, the more dynamic place this is. Take an active part in building YOUR community. Start referring new members today!

The top referrer at the moment is Pokeraddict with 8 referrals. So who is going to beat the guy? The member who has the most referred members at midnight (CET) 31 July will receive a $30 gift certificate at Amazon.com!! (or Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc.). Please read the referring guidelines and bring ’em on in!

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CASINOMEISTER CHINESE

The Casinomeister’s Chinese site has finally been launched!! Now our Chinese speaking visitors can read about the Rogues, learn how to spot Rogues, read up on Simmos! Essential FAQ, and introduce themselves to Casinomeister Accredited casinos that are geared toward the Chinese player (fully localized). You can check it out here.

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ADD MYSPACE TO YOUR FORUM USER PROFILE

Yes, now you can link your forum user profile to your myspace space. The instructions on how to do so are here.

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CASINOMEISTER JUNE WRAP-UP:
Losing sleep at night wondering what you’ve missed at Casinomeister in June? Never fear, the monthly wrap-up is here. Every month we will be publishing what went on while you were away here:

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CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Grand Monaco Casino is sponsoring the Bierfest until midnight 18 July.

Those who enter the contest will be eligible to win up to $200!!

• $200 CASH First Prize
• $150 CASH Second Prize
• $100 CASH Third Prize

These are cash drawings to be awarded via a random drawing.

In order to enter the draw, Casinomeister members will simply have to open a Real Account at Grand Monaco Casino and purchase a minimum of $50 to play on the new Hitman slots.

The contest instructions are . THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE – EXISTING PLAYERS AND THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SIGNED UP YET!! Good Luck!!

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Last week’s contest:
I thought it was pretty tough, but Zoozie proved me wrong. You were to listen to this sound blurb and identify the following:

1. The name of the film.
2. The actor speaking.
3. The name of the song (not just the group) playing in the background.

Well the answer was:
1. Desperado
2. Steve Buschemi
3. Dire Straits – Six Blade Knife

I thought that it was a challenge – especially the song, but Zoozie had it in about ten minutes of publishing the newsletter. So six liters of Franziskaner Weissbier are enroute to Denmark. Congrats Zoozie!!

PURPLE LOUNGE RELAUNCH!

Take your pick: Casino or Poker?. It’s all here at Purple Lounge! A fully downloadable Microgaming (or flash) casino and a Poker Room to boot. As a new player at the Purple Lounge Online Casino, you can claim an exclusive Welcome Bonus of up to $200 ABSOLUTELY FREE!

All you have to do is deposit $25 or more before midnight on Sunday 1st July 2007.

Check out their unique bonus programs.Funds are available for both poker play and casino action.Affiliated with Quintessentially: one of the world’s leading private members’ club and concierge service – VIP members take note!All this and more! Check them out here .

Read about their player review in our forum here:/forums/online-casinos/18349-purple-lounge-review.html 

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS

And now for the humor…

A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed. She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee.

What’s the matter, dear?” she whispers as she steps into the room, “Why are you down here at this time of night?”

The husband looks up from his coffee, “Do you remember 20 years ago when we were dating, and you were only 16?” he asks solemnly. The wife is touched thinking that her husband is so caring and sensitive.

“Yes, I do” she replies.

The husband paused. The words were not coming easily. “Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?” “Yes, I remember” said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him.

The husband continued. “Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, either you marry my daughter, or I will send you to jail for 20 years?” “I remember that, too,” she replied softly. He wiped another tear from his cheek and said, “I would have gotten out today.”

ha ha ha

WPT ONLINE POKER SITE IS BACK

Cryptologic powers a big, bold, new site

World Poker Tour’s undertaking that it would launch a bigger and better online poker site (see previous InfoPowa reports) was realised this week when the company re-launched on Cryptologic’s top quality poker software. The poker company initially tried developing a proprietary software for its online venture, but switched to Crypto in April 2007 as a precursor to the new site, which does not accept US players.

World Poker Tour.com comes up to expectation with a big, bold, professional design that is easy to use and is full of solid information, useful content and a quality range of games. At World Poker Tour?s online poker room, players will find a wide choice of online poker games to choose from, including Texas Hold?em, Omaha/Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, and Hold?em Blackjack.

These are supported by around-the-clock ring games, multi-table tournaments, and Sit and Go Tournaments, and backed by online satellite poker tournaments offering players the chance to enter one of the renowned WPT tournaments and perhaps win a seat at a WPT final table.

Site features include comprehensive hand history, detailed live statistics, the ability to personalise player avatars, and convenient multi-currency play.

The site is a member of the Cryptologic poker network, offering global action with thousands of players.

Steve Lipscomb, chief executive of WPT, said: ?The launch of WorldPokerTour.com allows us to strengthen our brand with the unveiling of a comprehensive and robust online gaming platform. Our strategic partnership with CryptoLogic offers our users a stable, secure and proven platform while the flexible infrastructure can meet the demands of our growing business.?

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

12 July 2007

Dear Reader,

What a great day! Lot’s of stuff to share, and I’m on schedule.

Judiciously yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

HOW TO BE LISTED AS A ROGUE CASINO IN SEVEN EASY STEPS

First of all, hire some web designers and instruct them to lift the artwork and ad copy from at least four well know casinos. Pick some casinos with the deepest pockets – ones that can afford scary lawyers; 888.com for instance.

Number two: Go to the zoo and find some monkeys that can program your casino software. Give them extra bananas if they can screw up the BlackJack game.

Step three: Create a “Player winnings” page listing all of your jackpot winners. Think of funny names to give these players so no one will suspect a thing.

Step four: If a player points out these irregularities on Casinomeister’s message board, threaten to sue him.

Step five: Send a shill to the same message board to say how great your casino is – ignoring all of the previously posted complaints. Preferably use one of the funny names you made up for your “winner jackpots”. This will give credence to your operation as a tightly run casino.

Step six: Be the empathetic and responsive peacemaker. Open an account in the forum posing as the casino manager. Make sure you do this on the same computer as your shill. This will add comedy to your cyber presence when you get “busted out” by the forum administrators.

Step seven: Voila! You are rogued!

So how simple was that? Want to see a textbook example? Check out Rocco Casino’s thread in our forum. Or you can just cut to the chase and read their page in the rogue section here.

/forums/online-casinos/18384-roccoscasino-com.html

REFER YOUR BUDDIES TO THE FORUM!

Yes you can refer members to the forum!! This is being tracked on the leaderboard!! The member who has the most referred members at midnight (CET) 31 July will receive a $30 gift certificate at Amazon.com!! (or Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc.). It’s easy!! It’s fun!! With this many exclamation points, it’s gotta be good!!!

Please read the referring guidelines and bring ’em on in! The instructions to do so are here

Simply put: you can refer people to our forum, and when they sign up – you get the credit!! Why refer people to Casinomeister’s Forum? Well, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure that the more people participate, the more dynamic place this is. Take an active part in building YOUR community. Start referring new members today!

The top referrer at the moment is Pokeraddict with 8 referrals. So who is going to beat the guy? You? Let’s get busy!

CASINOMEISTER’S BIERFEST!!

CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Grand Monaco Casino is sponsoring the Bierfest until midnight 18 July.

Those who enter the contest will be eligible to win up to $200!!

• $200 CASH First Prize
• $150 CASH Second Prize
• $100 CASH Third Prize

These are cash drawings to be awarded via a random drawing.

In order to enter the draw, Casinomeister members will simply have to open a Real Account at Grand Monaco Casino and purchase a minimum of $50 to play on the new Hitman slots.

The contest instructions are . THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE – EXISTING PLAYERS AND THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SIGNED UP YET!! Good Luck!!

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS

And now for the humor…

A woman was at her hairdresser’s getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:

” Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It’s crowded and dirty. You’re crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?”

“We’re taking Continental,” was the reply. “We got a great rate!”

“Continental?” exclaimed the hairdresser. “That’s a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they’re always late. So, where are you staying in Rome ?”

“We’ll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome ‘s Tiber River called Teste.”

“Don’t go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it’s gonna be something special and exclusive, but it’s really a dump, the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly, and they are overpriced. So, whatcha’ doing when you get there?”

“We’re going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope.”

“That’s rich,” laughed the hairdresser. “You and a million other people are trying to see him. He’ll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You’re going to need it.”

A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome.

“It was wonderful,” explained the woman,”Not only were we on time in one of Continental’s brand new planes, but it was over booked and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.

And the hotel was great! They’d just finished a $5 million remodelling job and now it’s a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too were over booked, so they apologized and gave us their owner’s suite at no extra charge!”

“Well,” muttered the hairdresser, “that’s all well and good, but I know you didn’t get to see the Pope.”

“Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I’d be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand, I knelt down, and he spoke a few words to me.”

“Oh, really! What’d he say?”

“The Pope said: “Where’d you get the shitty hairdo ?”
ha ha ha

iMEGA NUDGES U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL

Still awaiting official US response to suit filed a month ago

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) lawyers are apparently not about to let their litigation against the US Attorney General be stonewalled. Despite the passage of only a month since the suit was filed, lawyers for the pressure group have this week pressed the courts to expedite a response still awaited from the US Department of Justice.

iMEGA’s original suit filed in a New Jersey court (see previous InfoPowa reports) by spokesman Joe Brennan and lawyers attacked the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which it claims infringes upon basic constitutional rights and sets a dangerous precedent for I-commerce by criminalising the transmission of money where the end activity is illegal in an unspecified location.

If the court rules favourably on the litigation, iMEGA expects it to impact the enforcement of the UIGEA, which seeks to disrupt financial transactions with online gambling sites.

Coincidentally, the 270 days that Congress allowed for the promulgation of specific UIGEA regulations expires this week, with no regulations in sight yet. The US Treasury and the US Attorney General were tasked with designing the regulatory support for the UIGEA when it was rammed through Congress late last year.

iMEGA President Edward Leyden commented: “Two major benefits come immediately from U.S. recognition and regulation of Internet gaming; transparency and tax revenues.

?As with the U.S. financial markets, transparency assures that broad access to relevant data and the balancing forces of a free market all operate to maintain fairness and prevent corruption. Similarly, in this age of a yawning federal “tax gap,” U.S. taxation of Internet gaming transactions and companies could generate more than $20 billion during the next several years – all while saving federal law enforcement dollars for the fight against terrorism and other dire issues.?

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

17 July 2007 – LAST CHANCE TO WIN!!

You only have about 24hrs left to participate!! Contest closes midnight 18 July EST!!

CASNOMEISTER’S BIERFEST!!

CASINOMEISTER ANNUAL BIERFEST!!!

Grand Monaco Casino is sponsoring the Bierfest until midnight 18 July.

Those who enter the contest will be eligible to win up to $200!!

• $200 CASH First Prize
• $150 CASH Second Prize
• $100 CASH Third Prize

These are cash drawings to be awarded via a random drawing.

In order to enter the draw, Casinomeister members will simply have to open a Real Account at Grand Monaco Casino and purchase a minimum of $50 to play on the new Hitman slots.

The contest instructions are . THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE – EXISTING PLAYERS AND THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SIGNED UP YET!! Good Luck!

18 July 2007 – Special Announcement!!

Yeah, I know – another announcement. But I wouldn’t be announcing stuff if it wasn’t important. So pardon the intrusion, here’s an important announcement from Casinomeisterland!

WORLD POKER TOUR JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!

That’s right, World Poker Tour has joined Casinomeister!!

World Poker Tour�s newly launched, 2007 premiere online poker room provides unsurpassed quality poker play. Their goal is to provide an entertaining online poker room environment, and a safe, secure place to improve your poker knowledge and skills. World Poker Tour�s online poker room offers a wide selection of online poker games. They also provide 24/7 phone and email support.

World Poker Tour�s online poker room is the official gaming site of the renowned WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE). Founded in 2002, WPT Enterprises is known for its riveting televised tournament poker play, which is broadcasted to millions of viewers worldwide, in over 150 territories. Their online division brings the same excitement, energy, and knowledge of the World Poker Tour to their online gaming environment.

$1,500 sign up bonus!

They are offering an amazing $1,500 sign-up bonus in their “You Play, We Pay” program.

Their bonus program is open to all eligible new players at their online poker room. The minimum deposit required to start redeeming your sign-up bonus depends upon the payment method you choose. Deposit between July 16th (05:00 BST) and August 17th (04:59 BST) in order to start redeeming the bonus by 15:00 BST on August 17th. Players will have until November 17th to earn part of or the full bonus. More information on their promotions page.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact their forum representative here: WPT-Team.

Powered by Cryptologic. Sorry – no US.

JERRY YANG THE VICTOR IN 2007 WSOP MAIN EVENT (UPDATE)!!!

$8.25 million in cash, major respect and the top 2007 bracelet go to he player who has dominated this year’s final

Well after 4am Wednesday morning Vegas time this year’s 2007 World Series of Poker main event final table was finally decided at hand 205, and Jerry Yang who has held onto the chip lead throughout and eliminated all but one of the final tablers, is the man of the hour.

Over the last fifteen hands, his heads up opponent Tuan Lam finally made a stand after some tight play and moved all in a total of three times against Yang. He doubled through the chip leader and won three in a row at one point. Lam was finally able to get back all the chips he lost since they began heads up play. Out of the 31 hands of heads up play at that point, Yang had won 21, harvesting a total of 88 pots. At the 3.51 am mark Yang held 106.775 million chips – a new main event record, against Lam’s 20.8 million.

The denouement came at hand 205 after an exciting exchange that could have seen Lam prolong his stay in the game, but it was not to be as the hugely dominant chip leader received all the cards he needed to eliminate his gutsy opponent and take the bracelet, the watch and the $8.25 million main prize with a nine-high straight. Perhaps sensing that the end was in sight, the packed room was already on its feet and cheering. Mobbed by his supporters and family, Yang shook hands with Lam before taking a turn around the table and giving the dealer a big hug.

Lam tried hard and gets the second placing paycheck of $4 840 981 and respect for a well fought competition.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

19 July 2007

Dear Reader,

Summer is here, so where’s my beer? The wife is at the store. I fear – her shopping list is not clear – in fact, it is near – it’s not with her, my dear. But I shall persevere and be full of cheer while I hope that my beer will appear.

Poetically yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

This past week has been relatively busy – primarily behind the scenes – in our forum. My goal is to make this THE forum to become a member of – period. Whether you like casino games, poker, skill games, bingo, webmastering, collecting Depech Mode CDs or discussing crop circles, our forum is going to be it.

But it’s not me who is going to make it this way – I rely on you my dear ${token2} to make this happen. Once you become a member, you become an integral part – a voice – a shareholder of sorts of Casinomeister. And you ought to spread this joy by having your friends join us as well. I mentioned in last Thursday’s newsletter that I have a $30 Amazon.com (or .de.uk.ca etc) gift certificate for the member with the most referrals this month. Well since last week, we’ve had a little over 50 new members and only FOUR were referred.

Many of you are missing out. People are signing up and no one is getting credit for them. Here are the top referrers this week:
googledog 1 referral
RedArmy 1 referral
LadyHoldem 1 referral
KasinoKing 1 referral
Each one of these members referred one person, which is great, but let’s get crackin’. So far Pokeraddict is in the lead with 8 (check the Leader Board) and Dom is right there behind him with five.

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS AND POKER ROOMS

NEW THIS WEEK!!
GETMINTED CASINO JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!!

THAT’S RIGHT!! Get Minted is the newest member at Casinomeister! Powered by Wager Works, you can play some of your favorite IGT slots found in Vegas and elsewhere. Monopoly, The Price is Right, £50,000 Pyramid, Cleopatra and more.

Sign up today and get a 100% Bonus with your First Deposit!

Deposit �5 and we’ll give you another �5. Deposit �20 and we’ll give you another �20. Deposit �500 and we’ll give you a bonus of �250, You get the drift? Well now its time to get the bonus!

Sign-Up Bonus Scale:
�5 to 149 = 100% up to �50.

�150 to 499 = 50% up to �200.

�500 or more = 50% up to �500.

Sorry no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep Getminted Rep.

NEW THIS WEEK!!
WORLD POKER TOUR JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!!

THAT’S RIGHT!! World Poker Tour has joined Casinomeister!!

World Poker Tour�s newly launched, 2007 premiere online poker room provides unsurpassed quality poker play. Their goal is to provide an entertaining online poker room environment, and a safe, secure place to improve your poker knowledge and skills. World Poker Tour�s online poker room offers a wide selection of online poker games. They also provide 24/7 phone and email support.

World Poker Tour�s online poker room is the official gaming site of the renowned WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE). Founded in 2002, WPT Enterprises is known for its riveting televised tournament poker play, which is broadcasted to millions of viewers worldwide, in over 150 territories. Their online division brings the same excitement, energy, and knowledge of the World Poker Tour to their online gaming environment.

$1,500 sign up bonus!

They are offering an amazing $1,500 sign-up bonus in their “You Play, We Pay” program.

Their bonus program is open to all eligible new players at their online poker room. The minimum deposit required to start redeeming your sign-up bonus depends upon the payment method you choose. Deposit between July 16th (05:00 BST) and August 17th (04:59 BST) in order to start redeeming the bonus by 15:00 BST on August 17th. Players will have until November 17th to earn part of or the full bonus. More information on their promotions page.

Powered by Cryptologic. Sorry – no US.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact their forum representative here: WPT-Team.

BELLEROCK CASINOS!!
100% match Bonus up to €150 (offer also available in $, C$, £) at at The Gaming Club Online Casino!!

Buy $50, Get $200 FREE using a Non-Credit/Debit Card Deposit Option at Lucky Nugget Online Casino!Get $200 FREE when you make your first $50 deposit using several deposit options. Multiple currencies are supported. Please read their terms and conditions!
https://www.casinomeister.com

And now for the humor…

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired, “Where have you been?”

God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look, Michael. Look what I’ve made. ”

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put Life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a place to test Balance.”

“Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m still confused.”

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor.

Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a Continent of black people.

Balance in all things,” God continued pointing to different countries.

“This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”

The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”

“That’s Washington State , the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest,intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats, carriers of peace, and producers of software!.”

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance.”

God smiled, “There is another Washington. Wait till you see the idiots I put there.”

ha ha ha

ANTIGUAN LEGAL COUNSEL CRITICAL OF DOJ INVOLVEMENT IN WTO CASE

�What I have finally concluded is that this case is almost 100 per cent about the DoJ�

Antigua’s legal counsel during its online gambling dispute with the United States at the World Trade Organisation has been sharply critical of American motivations and Department of Justice involvement this week.

Mark Mendel from Texas-based solicitors Mendel-Blumenfeld told iGaming Business that outdated impressions of online gambling by some in the US Department of Justice (DoJ) are behind America�s stance, adding that the position taken by the DoJ has been detrimental to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

�What I have finally concluded is that this case is almost 100 percent about the DoJ,� said Mendel. �One or more DoJ members have been present at almost every meeting we have held with the United States over the past four years, at almost every WTO session – their footprint is big in this case.�

Mendel revealed that one DoJ representative in particular still speaks as if he is in a bad 1950s gangster film with mobsters ruling the world and buying politicians. “This may sound odd but I think that this issue, remote gambling, has been hijacked of sorts by a kind of dated old crowd in the DoJ who are still lost in the days of Bugsy Malone and smoky backrooms when gambling was run by the mob,� the lawyer said.

The Internet gambling case with the WTO had been damaging to the continued success of the organisation but that, with the European Union (EU) becoming involved, the United States will ultimately have no choice but to fold its hand.

“While Antigua is going to have to work hard and be creative to find ways to effectively retaliate against the United States, the EU won’t have any trouble at all,’ said Mendel. �The United States is literally facing multi-billions of trade retaliation from the EU in all sorts of trade completely unrelated to gambling. All of a sudden, for example, American exporters of auto parts, electric guitars or cotton sweaters to the EU are going to be shut or priced out of the market.

�All of those sectors stand to be sacrificed or at least severely compromised by the United States in this case. All so the United States can protect its domestic gambling industry or perhaps, even worse, to satisfy some dated little constituency in the DoJ. Simply boggles the mind.”

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

23 July 2007 – Special Announcement!!

TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS! One for our non-US players: a new Casinomeister Casino. And one for our US members – there is hope yet that politicians are getting involved to regulate online gaming in the US. Scroll on down for more.

BETFAIR JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!

That’s right, another highly reputable casino property joins Casinomeister!BetFair Casino is our newest member!! And to celebrate the newcoming they have a special offer for Casinomeister Members Only!!

$10 No Deposit Bonus for Casinomeister.com Users

Betfair Casino is pleased to announce its partnership with Casinomeister.com

We have teamed up to offer the first 300 users a no deposit bonus of $10. All you have to do is sign up for a new account using CASM10 promo code and register your credit/debit card. Thereafter, a $10 bonus will be credited to your account within 72 hours.

We hope the bonus will help our newest members experience Betfair Casino products.

The bonus will be valid for all the Casino Games, except for Roulette in the Zero Lounge Games.

Please read their terms and conditions – this offer only valid via these links in the newsletter or Casinomeister.

Betfair’s special bonus terms at Casinomeister

Check out their BEER FEST slots!!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact their forum representative here: Redarmy.

Powered by Chartwell. Sorry – no US.

FIVE MORE SPONSORS FOR ANTI-UIGEA BILL!

Support for Congressman Frank’s bid to regulate online gambling in the USA grows 

July has been a good month for Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the influential House Financial Services Committee and author of Bill HR 2046 the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act which proposes the regulation and taxation of Internet gambling in the United States instead of banning the pastime.

Five more Congressman have signed on to the Bill as sponsors, including Representatives Anthony D. Weiner (D-N.Y.) and Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) who attached their support to the bill July 10, and Representatives Steven R. Rothman (D-N.J.), Michael M. Honda (D-Calif.) and Albert Russell Wynn (D-Md.) who signed up late last week.

The addition of the latest representatives grows the current list of co-sponsors to 32, up from the bill’s original 11 when Frank first introduced the Act to the House in April.

The new sign-ups join the following politicians who have previously signed up to support the Frank bill, which calls for online gambling in the United States to be taxed and regulated by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Alcee L. Hastings
Don Young
Gary L. Ackerman
Howard L. Berman
James McGovern
Julia Carson
Joseph Crowley
Bob Filner
Luis V. Gutierrez
Peter T. King
Jim McDermott
James McGovern
Charlie Melancon
Ed Perlmutter
Linda T Sanchez
Melvin L. Watt
Shelly Berkley
Michael Capuano
Wm. Lacy Clay
Steve Israel
Carolyn McCarthy
Ron Paul
Ross Carnahan
Ciro D. Rodriguez
Edolphus Towns
Robert Wexler
Vito Fossella

Frank’s aides have repeatedly said that interested parties calling their political representatives with expressions of support for the Frank bill were having a positive effect in encouraging politicians to re-examine the implications of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the alternatives which HR 2046 presents.

If passed, Frank’s bill will neutralise the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, signed into law by U.S. president George Bush last October. The UIGEA prohibits financial transactions from banks and credit card companies to Internet casinos, poker rooms and sports betting sites, and has been described by Frank and other politicians as “preposterous,” “one of the stupidest laws ever passed by Congress” and as an invasion of American personal freedom.

Read the discussion here.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

9 August 2007

Dear Reader,

Sorry to be a bit out of step – but we’re in the middle of a move that will take a few more weeks. Nevertheless, we’re on schedule – that’s why you’re reading this Thursday newsletter on a Thursday.

Punctually yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

WHITE LABEL CASINOS

Sounds like a brand of hard alcohol, but it ain’t. A “white label” casino is an casino entity that has been with us for a long time. Simply put, it’s a casino that is more or less run by an affiliate webmaster. Gambling Federation and the Grand Virtual Group have been offering these casinos for years. Webmasters can create a domain name and have the casino website hosted from there. The casino support, payments and backend is controlled (in most cases) by the host casino. The marketing and advertising is controlled by the webmaster. It sounds like a pretty cool idea for a enterprising young webmaster – and it’s a way in which a casino can reach more players. But handled the wrong way, it can be a very bad thing – not just for players, but for the industry as a whole. Please let me explain.

Casino operators need to understand that they serve the player. Without players, there is no casino industry – period. Operators also need to understand that there is a limit to how many casinos this industry needs – it’s not meant for everyone. And there are still a lot of crappy sites out there. These are “trying times” for many people in the industry at the moment, and the last thing this industry needs is more crap sites.

Enter the “white label”. Why do we need these casinos? Well for one thing, a WL casino can be a great thing. It can serve our industry by filling a void where no casino has gone before. For instance, what if Belle Rock wanted to present one of their casinos to Mexican Ranch owners who frequent Las Vegas. A solution could be to offer one of their casinos as a “white label” to a Mexican portal master who could present a Belle Rock casino in a professional and legitimate way. Done right, this enhances our industry. It gives these people (the Mexican ranch owners) the opportunity to become acquainted with a really good group of casinos – and they should know exactly who they are dealing with.

Transparency. For casino operators, without reputation and trust – you have nothing. In order to gain reputation via trust, you must be transparent. Players need to know who they are dealing with and who to go to if they have problems. They deserve no less. And they do not need to be fed hyperbole on the “About Us” page about how xyz casino is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that the odds are better than in Vegas. The player deserves to be given specific information on the casino operation.

Operators need to ask themselves “why” a white label is important to their company, and “how” this white label will better our industry. White Labels need to be micro-managed and strict controls need to be in place. One thing for sure, the Internet has enough VegasOnlineGoldenCasinoPlayerClub.com’s. For a casino group to allow these sorts of clones loose in cyber-land is unwarranted and unacceptable. The online casino horizon is cluttered enough without more of this garbage. So you see, there is a right way to do this, and a wrong way.

Right way: Belle Rock has given a White Label casino to Lycos. Lycos has the opportunity to do some co-branding and incorporate some of their resources here. You’ll notice right at the top it says “Powered by Belle Rock”, and there are plenty of links for anyone to peruse in case they have a problem.

Wrong way: Playshare has a group of White Label casinos – one of which is Casino2See – which is one of the stupidest named casinos since “Joyland”. Please note that there is no indication on who is responsible for this casino, and it’s cheesy as hell. Up until yesterday, there were direct links to porn sites. This is a Microgaming casino – and I believe that something has fallen through the cracks. Take a look at the female 24 hour customer support person. She’s in a “doggie submission” position with a smile on her face. What a joke. What a laugh. And I am flabbergasted that anyone who works for a Microgaming casino can claim that “due diligence” and quality control is in effect.

This week, one of our more active forum members, Pinababy69 has brought this to our attention here. This thread is a must read for all – players, webmasters, affiliate managers and operators. What is surprising, is that Playshare is a really good casino group. Their flagship casino Grand Monaco Casino is a Casinomeister Accredited casino and they are very active and responsive to player issues both good and bad.

What needs to happen is a act of reigning in the horses – a complete review of their White Label policy is in order. In fact, I hope that all WL operators take a good look at what they are doing. They need to ask themselves how they are making our playing environment a better place. If the answer is a shallow one, they need to pull the plug on it.

/forums/casino-industry-discussion/19166-microgaming-white-label-issue.html

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

There were 246 new members in July – up from 161 new members in June. But the majority of these new members were not referred. Some of you guys are missing out. Many of the newbies signing up stated in the “How did you find Casinomeister?” field “through a friend”. Well, friend or no friend – if they don’t place your user name in the referral field, you can’t get credit.

In July – two winners: Pokeraddict who had a total of 8 referred members, and Asidea who referred 7 members. Both of these members have won a $30 Amazon.com/uk gift certificate. Watch your email.

CASINOMEISTER NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS AND POKER ROOMS

BETFAIR JOINS CASINOMEISTER!! That’s right, another highly reputable casino property joins Casinomeister! BetFair Casino is our newest member!! And to celebrate the newcoming they have a special offer for Casinomeister Members Only!!

$10 No Deposit Bonus for Casinomeister.com Users

Betfair Casino is pleased to announce its partnership with Casinomeister.com

We have teamed up to offer the first 300 users a no deposit bonus of $10. All you have to do is sign up for a new account using CASM10 promo code and register your credit/debit card. Thereafter, a $10 bonus will be credited to your account within 72 hours.

We hope the bonus will help our newest members experience Betfair Casino products.

The bonus will be valid for all the Casino Games, except for Roulette in the Zero Lounge Games.

Please read their terms and conditions – this offer only valid via these links in the newsletter or Casinomeister.

Betfair’s special bonus terms at Casinomeister

Check out their BEER FEST slots!!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact their forum representative here: Redarmy.

Powered by Chartwell. Sorry – no US.

And now for the humor…

From the archives:

After a day fishing in the ocean a fisherman is walking from the
pier carrying two lobsters in a bucket. He is approached by the
Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license.

Not having one the fisherman says to the warden, “I did not
catch these lobsters, they are my pets. Every day I come done
to the water and whistle and these lobsters jump out and I
take them for a walk only to return them at the end of the day.”

The warden, not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to
fish without a license.

The fisherman turns to the warden and says, “If you don’t
believe me then watch,” as he throws the lobsters back into the
water.

The warden says, “Now whistle to your lobsters and show me
that they will come out of the water.”

The fisherman turns to the warden and says, “What lobsters?”

ha ha ha

16 August 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s a quick one – and here it tis.

Succinctly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

PASSING THOUGHTS

Over the past few weeks I’ve been dealing with renovating a house – getting it ready to move into. Stripping off wall paper, tearing down walls, painting, laying cork floors, and doing a whole hell of a lot of other manly things that need to be done before our stuff arrives.

Needless to say (then why say it), this gives me ample time to reflect on what’s been going on in Casinomeisterland and beyond. I have time between letting a wall dry to tearing out an old carpet to catch up on my emails or to see what’s going on in the forum. One thing for sure, there was the huge issue about White Label Casinos that I spoke about last week. As soon as the newsletter went out, Max Wright the CEO of the Playshare group made several postings in the forum discussing the topic and their usage of the white label casino. It looks as though they have taken many of the outraged player comments to heart and are on the path of doing the right thing. But what still bothers me is why – why do we need more casinos? Aren’t there enough as it is?

I guess this is something I can look into while in Barcelona this coming October. Most of the people who have answers for this will be there at the EIG, and it should be a good time to express my thoughts on the subject.

While painting a ceiling, I dwelled upon the British government “white list”issued this past week. This pertains to which online casinos can be advertised for UK players in the UK. Well since my site is available in the UK – I should take this to heart. Only those companies licensed in jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man and Alderney and within the European Economic Community are acceptable as UK advertisers. Kahnawake is pending consideration at the moment – hope to hear about this soon.

Goes to show that it pays in the long run to secure a license in a highly regulated and controlled environment. Casino Darwinism I guess it is, survival of the fittest. The operators who have a wide horizon to look at and are looking at long term commitments will know what I mean. Affiliates and portal masters hopefully have the same thing in mind.

And what’s up with fraudsters? I busted out one Aussie from Oz who signed up two accounts in the forum using the same email address. He tried acting like two different players complaining about Casino Action and Mansion casinos…did he think I just jumped off of some boat from China? Fraudsters, I welcome you to post in our forum. Please post your complaints so we can have a laugh or two.

And while laying cork, I listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin – specifically Presence. Talk about some hellacious High School flashbacks. You’d have to have grown up in the SF Bay area in the 60’s and 70’s to know what I’m talking about…

…and painting the walls goes good together with a little Firehouse Rock by the Wailing Souls. You can’t go wrong with reggae.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

There were 97 new members who signed up since the last newsletter – and only three of these new members were referred by a current member. You guys are missing out. Many of these people could have signed up via your referral. All they have to do is to enter your user name in the box marked “referred by” and you get credit.

Do you want a $30 gift certificate from Amazon.com? Be the one who refers the most members this month and it’s yours.

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS AND POKER ROOMS

NEW THIS WEEK!!
GETMINTED CASINO JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!!

THAT’S RIGHT!! Get Minted is the newest member at Casinomeister! Powered by Wager Works, you can play some of your favorite IGT slots found in Vegas and elsewhere. Monopoly, The Price is Right, £50,000 Pyramid, Cleopatra and more.

Sign up today and get a 100% Bonus with your First Deposit!

Deposit ?5 and we’ll give you another ?5. Deposit ?20 and we’ll give you another ?20. Deposit ?500 and we’ll give you a bonus of ?250, You get the drift? Well now its time to get the bonus!

Sign-Up Bonus Scale:
?5 to 149 = 100% up to ?50.

?150 to 499 = 50% up to ?200.

?500 or more = 50% up to ?500.

Sorry no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep Getminted Rep.

BELLEROCK CASINOS!!
100% match Bonus up to €150 (offer also available in $, C$, £) at at The Gaming Club Online Casino!!

Buy $50, Get $200 FREE using a Non-Credit/Debit Card Deposit Option at Lucky Nugget Online Casino!Get $200 FREE when you make your first $50 deposit using several deposit options. Multiple currencies are supported. Please read their terms and conditions!
https://www.casinomeister.com 

Grand Monaco is now Grand Mondial Casino! Relaunched and refreshed, check out their one of the newest Casinomeister casino members (part of the Playshare Group). Opening Offer – $200 FREE and 200 FREE spins!!

Check them out Today!!

And now for the humor…

Two elderly friends, Bob and Jim, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems.

One day Bob didn’t show up. Jim didn’t think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold or something. But after Bob hadn’t shown up for a week or so, Jim really got worried. However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park, Jim didn’t know where Bob lived, so he was unable to find out what had happened to him

A month had passed, and Jim figured he had seen the last of Bob, but one day, Jim approached the park and — lo and behold!–there sat Bob! Jim was very excited and happy to see him and told him so.

Then he said, “For crying out loud Bob, what in the world happened to you?”

Bob replied, “I have been in jail.”

“Jail?” cried Jim. “What in the world for?”

“Well,” Bob said, “you know Sue, that cute little blonde waitress at the coffee shop where we sometimes go?”

“Yeah,” said Jim, “I remember her. What about her?”

“Well, one day she filed rape charges against me, and, at 89 years old, I was so proud that when I got into court, I pleaded guilty.

The judge gave me 30 days for perjury.”

ha ha ha

10 September 2007 – Special Announcement!!

Just a heads up that I’m back from holiday, and I have a lot of work to do. The “Pitch a Bitch” section is overflowing – I’ll be getting to these today. There are new rogues in the rogue section, the forum is teeming with new posts, and Vortran is still packed in a box from our big move. Should I let him out?

We’ll find out Thursday – meanwhile, scroll on down for some fantastic casino offers and interesting news.

BELLEROCK CASINOS!!

Here are four of the most rock solid casinos online. The Bellerock casinos are owned by the Carmen Media Group Limited, a company incorporated and based in Gibraltar. They are one of the very few operations granted licenses by the Government of Gibraltar which has recently been “whitelisted” by the UK Gambling Commission.

Here are some of their current promotions:

WSOP EUROPE POT LIMIT OMAHA CHAMPIONSHIP WON BY ITALIAN

Dario Alioto wins European record GBP 234,390 prize 

European players continued their dominance at the first annual World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com, as 23-year-old Dario Alioto of Palermo, Italy, won the Pot-Limit Omaha Championship title, GBP 234,390 in cash and the second WSOP gold bracelet ever awarded outside the United States.

Although an all-star contingent of poker professionals from the United States entered the GBP 5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event, only two � Andy Bloch and Ted Forrest � made the final two tables. The remaining players, all of whom cashed, continued the strong showing by Europe�s young lions that began with the first WSOP Europe event, a H.O.R.S.E. tournament won by Thomas Bihl of Germany just 24 hours earlier (see previous InfoPowa report).

�It�s as though we�ve picked up where we left off at the Final Table of the 2007 Main Event in Las Vegas,� said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. �That was the most international of tables and affirmed the global appeal of poker. Results here in London further suggest that the rest of the world has caught up to American poker professionals. This bodes well for the continued international growth of the game.�

Alioto won the final hand of the Pot-Limit Omaha championship at 4:50 am (GMT) today (Monday) at The Casino at The Empire in London from second-place finisher Istvan Novak of Hungary, who took home the consolation prize of GBP 137,280, or about $280,000.

Lithuanian native and current Australian resident Tony G finished third, winning GBP 94,380, following a seesaw battle for the chip lead with Alioto, and losing a couple of critical hands to the Italian player and to Novak.

Ireland�s David Callaghan finished fourth with GBP 65 520, Antoine Arnault of Paris wound up in fifth place with GBP 49,530, Afghani Sherkhan Farnood finished sixth for GBP 38 220, Helsinki�s Sampo Lopponen ended in seventh for GBP 30,420, multiple WSOP final-table player Andy Bloch of Las Vegas finished eighth for GBP 22,620 and Joseph Aval won GBP 16,380 for ninth place.

Roland de Wolfe, Jan Persson and Ted Lawson collected GBP 11 700 apiece for finishing 10th through 12, respectively; John Duthie, Andrew Hagen and Rupert Housden won GBP 10,140 each for finishing 13th through 15th, and Dan Bitsch Pedersen, Rafi Amit and Ted Forrest got GBP 8,580 each for their 16th to 18th place finishes.

A total of 156 of the world�s top poker players anted up GBP 5 000 each to play in this second WSOP Europe event, building a prize pool of GBP 780,000. Both the WSOP Europe HORSE and Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments established record prize purses.

On Monday September 10 the first round of the GBP 10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold�Em Main Event will get under way at three casinos operated by London Clubs International � Fifty on St. James Street, The Casino at the Empire on Leicester Square and The Sportsman at Marble Arch.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

12 September 2007 – Totally Tasteless?

Well, there is good and there is bad. Something tasteful – BetFred joins Casinomeister. Something tasteless? Well, scroll on down…

BETFRED JOINS CASINOMEISTER!!!

THAT’S RIGHT!!Betfred is the newest member of Casinomeister’s coveted “Accredited Casinos” section. It’s about time!! Licensed in a UK “White Listed” jurisdiction – Malta – and powered by Playtech, Dynamite Idea, Electracade Limited, and Finsoft Limited. They cover every sort of betting from casino games, to poker, bingo, and sports!! They are celebrating their 40TH anniversary this month, so join today and get in on some really good deals. Receive a 40% match on your first deposit of up to £80. For the month of September!

Check them out now!!

Sorry, absolutely no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

Any questions or concerns, please contact their casino rep here: Betfred.

Betfred, led by Chairman and founder Fred Done, are the world’s biggest independent bookmakers and the UK’s biggest independent high street retailer with over 670 shops, 5000 employees and a turnover in excess of �1.5 billion. Betfred are also the official bookmakers and gaming partner for Wembley Stadium and Manchester United.

TOTALLY TASTELESS

The Virtual online casino group shoots itself in the foot again

When it comes to reputation, few online casino groups are regarded by the player community in as bad a light as the RTG-powered and Costa Rican based Virtual group. Despite constant player complaints and reports of questionable behaviour, this group continues to apparently flourish, suggesting that many players do not research before handing their cash over.

This week the group reached an all-time low and was at the centre of criticism from outraged players across the planet. The cause? An ill-advised and totally insensitive attempt to launch a promotion based on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA, where thousands of innocent victims died.

“Danny Virtual” used an email to draw attention to the international tragedy with some emotive wording before inviting recipients to take advantage of his cynical “911% Twin Towering Total Bonus.”

Stunned players and industry observers were universal in condemning the attempt to exploit a human tragedy that is still a source of deep sadness and outrage, and a Dutch player probably summed it up in saying:

“This day is the day of mourning to remember the victims and their families. I think this casino is crossing the red line because it is not a day for enjoying games. It is the day to remember those who were gone and praying for them. God bless the victims.”

RealTime Gaming CEO Mike McMain, contacted on the issue said he would “look into it,” but Danny Virtual himself was unrepentant, claiming that this was his company’s way of ‘reminding’ people about the tragedy.

He wrote: “Every year, amongst other important subjects dear to my heart, I bring attention to 911” and “911 is dear to my heart and this is the only way I can shed light on it.” His rationalisation for an incredibly offensive promotion only added fuel to the fire as criticism continued.

One poster suggested that the Virtual action qualified as “Most tasteless promo of 2007,” which probably sums up this ill-advised blunder to perfection.

Read the postings and the actual ads here.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

14 September 2007

Dear Reader,

Things are just about in order now, and I’m able to focus totally on what’s happening in Casinomeisterland. Scroll on down to see what’s up.

Obviously yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

BACK IN THE SADDLE

I’m back. Since our last regular newsletter (about four weeks ago), I’ve been pretty much out of the loop. We’ve moved our office from the boonies to the city. Even though I can see cows grazing outside my office window, major commerce is nearby.

As many of you know, I’ve been doing a lot of renovations, and a little over a week ago, we said the heck with living without a kitchen and took off to the North Sea for a late summer break.

Cold and windy would be a good way to describe the beaches. But I’m an North Californian at heart, and sometimes I like beaches this way. Besides, sand being blasted into your face builds character.

While rubbing the sand out of my eyes, and walking barefoot in the muddy low tide wasteland, I followed my kids as they found numerous dead crabs, marine worm holes, and other objects of intrigue. And no, I wasn’t thinking of work. I rarely do that during moments like this.

But I thought about work – Casinomeister – during the drive on the way home. And yes my dear ${token2}, this is when I can be most productive – driving. I can go hours without saying a word (which drives my wife nuts). Ideas amok – there are some new things in store for Casinomeister in the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, let’s see what’s up now in Casinomeisterland.

Vortran’s still in the box. No I haven’t unpacked my little buddy yet, but I should get around to this sometime this next week. In lieu of my little mechanical man, I’ve been dealing with the Casino warnings. We’ve had a couple so far since our last newsletter; one for Hippojo Casino. I’m rather speechless on this one. I have no idea why this casino went pear-shaped. I was really happy when these guys came online, but now I am more than way disappointed and totally annoyed. Read the rogue section and you’ll see why.

Catching up with the “Pitch a Bitches”. I was up until 1 am last night trying to finish up August. I’m almost there – two days to go. You can check these out here.

Last month, there were a total of 34 complaints submitted at Casinomeister’s PAB section (27 up to the 29th of August). The vast majority of these complaints were made against unlicensed, unregulated, clip shot joints in Costa Rica. Many of these casinos have been listed in the rogue pit for a long time. I’m beginning to think that many of these players are idiots or just don’t care who they throw their money at. Before playing at ANY online casino, players need to read this: Spot the Rogue.

Some of casinos that appear in this month’s complaint section have Casinomeister’s Rogue section within the top five of its Google search results. Why some players don’t Google a casino name is beyond me. And many of these are careless bonus hunters who are taking chances with offers that are too good to be true…and you know how that goes.

Attention Bonus Hunters: Instead of throwing your hard earned cash at some unlicensed clip-shot joint, how about visiting Casinomeister’s Donation Sectionand do something useful with your money. Don’t be so damn greedy and help someone out instead. Doctors Without Borders, Make a Wish Foundation, Gamcare are just a few of the charities you can pick from. Do you have a charity you’d like to see listed? Please contact me and I’ll consider it.

CASINOMEISTER’S FORUM

We’ve added a new section for Land Based Casinos. Please check this out (especially US players who can’t do too much but play in “fun” mode). There are some really great reviews on land based casinos – US, Europe, and Asia. You can check this out here

Bye, bye Hotmail. For some bizarro reason, Casinomeister.com emails are disappearing at Hotmail, which means if you have a Hotmail or MSN email address registered in the forum, you are not receiving any notifications of Private Messages, or anything else for that matter. If you have a Hotmail or MSN email address listed in your user profile, you need to change this to something else.

What’s your favorite libation? Due to popular request, you can list your favorite drink in your user profile. Woo-hoo!

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS AND POKER ROOMS

NEW THIS WEEK!!
Betfred is the newest member of Casinomeister’s coveted “Accredited Casinos” section. Licensed in a UK “White Listed” jurisdiction – Malta – and powered by Playtech, Dynamite Idea, Electracade Limited, and Finsoft Limited. They cover every sort of betting from casino games, to poker, bingo, and sports!! They are celebrating their 40TH anniversary this month, so join today and get in on some really good deals. Receive a 40% match on your first deposit of up to £80. For the month of September!

Check them out now!!

Sorry, absolutely no US. Please read their terms and conditions.

PRIME CASINO
As a new player, Prime Casino will match your first deposit 100% up to ?100, doubling your bankroll immediately! You’ll see your bonus added to your account approximately 30-60 minutes after making your 1st deposit and filling out the claim form.

For example: Buy ?50 in casino chips – Play with ?100!
Buy ?100 in casino chips – Play with ?200!

Grand Monaco is now Grand Mondial Casino! Relaunched and refreshed, check out their opening Offer – $200 FREE and 200 FREE spins!!

Check them out Today!!

BETFAIR EXCLUSIVE CASINOMEISTER BONUS!!

Check out their exclusive bonus for Casinomeister Members here! $10 No Deposit Bonus for Casinomeister members!!!

And now for the humor…

A 5-year-old boy went to visit his grandmother one day. Playing with his toys in her bedroom while grandma was dusting, he looked up and said, “Grandma, how come you don’t have a boyfriend now that Grandpa went to heaven?”

Grandma replied, “Honey, my TV is my boyfriend. I can sit in my bedroom and watch it all day long. The religious programs make me feel good and the comedies make me laugh. I’m happy with my TV as my boyfriend.”

Grandma turned on the TV, and the reception was terrible. She started adjusting the knobs, trying to get the picture in focus. Frustrated, she started hitting the backside of the TV hoping to fix the problem. The little boy heard the doorbell ring, so he hurried to open the door and there stood Grandma’s minister. The minister said, “Hello son, is your Grandma home?” The little boy replied, “Yeah, she’s in the bedroom bangin’ her boyfriend.”

The minister fainted.

ha ha ha

Thanks Silkprint! You can post your jokes here!

FRANK BILL HOLDING FIRE

Proposal to regulate online gambling in the US needs far more supportDisappointing news for the online gambling industry came in an exclusive e-Review Journal interview with Congressman Barney Frank, the main mover behind the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, this week.

Frank told e-Review Journal writer Tony Batt that he acknowledged his bill to overturn an Internet gambling ban on financial transactions has stalled, although pressure from foreign countries could revive the legislation.

Congressman Frank revealed that no further action is planned this year, following hearings three months ago. He told Batt: “It’s not dead. It’s not very active. It depends on whether or not there’s support. I don’t think there’s support for it yet. It’s growing.”

Frank went on to discuss the World Trade Organisation pressure on the US government, in particular the European Union claims for compensation.

There are currently 36 political co-sponsors for Frank’s IGREA, falling well short of a significant movement to legalise and regulate online gambling in the United States. e-Review Journal reveals that a proposal by Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkely for a one year study by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (see previous InfoPowa reports) has now attracted 64 co-sponsors but it is unlikely that it has enough momentum to hold a hearing this year.

Berkley told the Journal that she is waiting on Representative John Conyers, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to introduce his own version of a bill to study Internet gambling, something he tried to do unsuccessfully in 2002 and 2003 (see previous InfoPowa reports). The Congresswoman also expressed confidence that if a study of online gambling passed through the House, Senate Majority Leader and fellow Nevada politician Harry Reid “….would be open to moving the legislation through the Senate.”

“I know Senator Reid is favorably inclined to let the study bill pass the Senate even though he is not as enthusiastic about Internet gaming as I am,” Berkley said.

Reverting to the issue of WTO compensation for Antigua and Barbuda, e-Review Journal spoke to the island government’s attorney Mark Mendel, who revealed that there would be a ruling this November on the extent of the compensation that the US would be required to pay to the Caribbean nation. This could be between $1 billion and $3.4 billion, he opined.

“I feel confident that what we will get will be a massive number – one of the two or three largest WTO rewards ever,” said Mendel in a phone interview from Ireland with the publication.

Mendel reiterated again that instead of damages, the islanders would prefer an agreement with the United States which would allow Americans to use the island’s gambling Web sites.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

21 September 2007

Dear Reader,

This is the last newsletter of the summer. Fall is but two days away and we’re going to be shifting into a “get down and get busy” work mode. So let’s go. Jammingly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

FALL CLEANUP

Autumnal Equinox signifies cleaning time. Yep, commencing next week – it’s time for fall cleanup. Every year at this time I clear out the cobwebs in the forum, rake the leaves in the rogue section and trim most of the branches away from the rest of the site. It’s a habit I have from my old Army days. During the first weeks of fall, we’d dispatch our privates to rake dirt and paint rocks throughout the entire Army post. It was cool because we could wear our PT (physical training) uniforms and get away from working on our tracks or cleaning weapons. Busy work.

But it was kind of a weird juxtaposition though; going from Central American jungle patrols or blowing up things in an Iraqi desert to painting rocks on some General’s front steps. But that’s life in the Army.

And this is Casinomeister; time to paint the rocks and pull the weeds. Rogue casinos get reviewed as well as the “accredited” ones. Sections in the forum are condensed or expanded, or perhaps removed. If you, my dear ${token2} have any suggestions on what you feel needs to be cleaned up, by all means post your ideas here:
/forums/forum-suggestions-feedback/

EIG 2007 AND CAP EURO

The European Interactive Gaming Congress kicks off in less than two weeks. If you have any interests in the industry at all, you need to be there. I’ll be moderating a speaker session on day two, and if you plan on being there – please attend this session. I’ll be floating around for the entire week in Barcelona, so if you’d like to meet up, please let me know. I’ll also be at the Casino Affiliate Programs Euro conference for Day One as well. So let’s grab a beer and share some jovial jocularities, eh?

ROGUE ANNOUNCEMENT

Atlantic Lounge Casino Another RTG bites the dust (seemingly so). The problem stems from customer support’s inability to contact the owner in order to make payments to players. This indicates a casino short on funds, a totally mismanaged casino, or a nickel and dime operation that should not be in the business at all. Take your pick.

More here.

And now for the humor…

A blind man walks into a store with his seeing eye dog. All of a sudden, he picks up the leash and begins swinging the dog over his head. The manager runs up to the man and asks, “What are you doing?!!” The blind man replies, “Just looking around.”

ha ha ha

UK PROBLEM GAMBLING HAS NOT INCREASED

Findings confound media speculation that study would show significant increases in problem gambling

It would appear that despite considerable growth in the UK gambling market, the mainstream media pundits on the pastime got it wrong in speculating that Wednesday’s report on the Prevalence of Gambling in the UK would show dramatic increases in problem gambling.

Advance copies of the report reaching the media show that the number of problem gamblers in the UK has not altered since the corresponding survey back in 1999. According to the study, commissioned by the UK Gambling Commission, 0.6 percent of the adults involved have a gambling problem.

Researchers questioned 9 003 people between September 2006 and March 2007 about 17 types of gambling – from scratch cards to casinos – and found that overall the number of people gambling fell from 72 percent of the population in 1999 to 68 percent in 2006.

The study showed that buying a ticket for the National Lottery was the most popular form of gambling, accounting for 57 percent of those questioned. Scratch cards amounted to 20 percent while having a flutter on a horse race accounted for 17 percent of all gambling in Britain.

National Lottery figures show that participation fell from 65 percent in 1999, to 57 percent in 2006, while gambling excluding the lottery had risen by two per cent to 48 percent.

The findings confound recent press speculation which suggested that the number of problem gamblers is close to the one million mark. Over the past few weeks mainstream media has been rife with supposedly reliable leaked statistics purporting to show that problem gambling, in line with the growth of the sector, had increased.

Peter Dean, the out-going Commission chairman, reflected on what many will view as an unexpected result. He said: ?The key message is that overall there has been surprisingly little change either in the number of gambling participants or to the number of problem gamblers since 1999.

“We remain concerned that there are still over a quarter of a million adults who are problem gamblers.

?The challenge, for us and for the industry, is to tackle this through the new licensing regime that has been put in place from September 1. British-based gambling operators must now comply with strict and detailed social responsibility obligations, and we will monitor how these requirements are met.?

Dean told the BBC in a post-publication interview that 99 percent of adults who gambled did so harmlessly but there were still an estimated 250 000 “problem gamblers” in Britain. He admitted to being pleasantly surprised as he had expected a big increase in the number of problem gamblers.

“It was something of a surprise, and a relief too,” he told the BBC. “There have been more forms of gambling available in the intervening years – fixed odds betting terminals in betting shops, online gambling and so forth and yet the overall figures for online gambling are not up.”

The next prevalence survey will be published in 2009. For a full copy of the 2007 study go to www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk

Among the first to respond to the findings was gambling charity GamCare. A spokesman said: ?We are delighted to see that the combined efforts of GamCare and the gaming industry, with its heightened commitment to the practices of social responsibility, has led to no increase in the number of problem gamblers in the UK.

“Operators have made, and have indicated that they will continue to make, concerted efforts to raise the awareness of the services provided by GamCare for those individuals who get into difficulty from gambling, including the decision to carry the GamCare HelpLine number in their advertising.

Spokesmen for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it was pleased with the findings, which show that Britain has one of the lowest rates of problem gambling anywhere in the world, and reiterated that government wants to protect children and vulnerable gamblers.

Junior culture minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: “While the results show that problem gambling still only affects a small minority of people, it remains a serious issue, and one which must be addressed.”

More detail on Gambling Prevalence study (this from the Gambling Commission site)

Two internationally recognised tools were used to measure problem gambling. The ?DSM IV? used in the 1999 survey provides comparative results, while the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a new and more sophisticated measure developed in Canada, replaces the South Oaks Gambling Screen. DSM IV stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders, 4th edition.

Comparisons to other jurisdictions show Britain has a higher gambling problem rate than Norway (0.2%), similar rate to Canada (0.5%), New Zealand (0.5%), Sweden (0.6%), Switzerland (0.8%), lower than Iceland (1.1%), South Africa (1.4%), USA (3.5%), Singapore (4.1%), Hong Kong (5.3%). (Comparisons should be treated with caution, as different methodologies have been used in different countries).

Problem gambling, measured as a percentage of adults shows that, with DSM IV, 0.6% of adults are problem gamblers ? the same as 1999. The prevalence of problem gambling among past year gamblers was 0.9% for the DSM IV (compared to 0.8% in 1999 this change is not statistically significant). With the PGSI measure, 0.5% of adults are problem gamblers and 0.8% of past-year gamblers have a problem. These figures include the National Lottery.

The new regime places social responsibility requirements on British-based gambling operators and the Commission will monitor how the industry meets these requirements. Operators will also be required to contribute to education and research about problem gambling, as well as to its treatment. Other requirements include:

* putting in place policies and procedures to discharge their social responsibility obligations;

* training staff to recognise and deal with problem gambling; prominently displaying where help can be found by those who need it; enabling players on the internet to keep control by setting limits on their stakes; and

* providing for self-exclusion from gambling premises for players who seek it.

* http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/ is a new gambling advice website set up by the Responsibility in Gambling Trust (RIGT). The site is featured on all gambling advertisements from companies regulated by the Commission as part of the industry led advertising code of practice.

The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the public interest. It does so by keeping crime out of gambling, by ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and by protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Commission also provides independent advice to government on gambling in Britain.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

27 September 2007 – Special Announcement!!

“The Osbournes” are here! Ozzy and family join the Microgaming platform as a 20 line slot machine. Scroll on down for more information and a review.

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‘THE OSBOURNES’ ENTER THE ONLINE GAMBLING WORLD

Zany television and rock star’s family featured in new slot 

The much anticipated new video slot ‘The Osbournes’ from games developer Microgaming has been launched. The cutting-edge game, starring Ozzy, Sharon, Jack, Kelly and even Minnie the dog, is the latest high profile offering from the online gambling development firm’s stable and follows in the footsteps of another blockbuster release earlier in the year branded Hitman.

The game � the product of an exclusive licensing agreement with the Osbourne family, will be available to all 120 online casinos powered by Microgaming gambling software and will soon be available in over 19 languages. It is expected to attract substantial worldwide interest from the playing community.

The Emmy Award-winning television reality series “The Osbournes” ran through to March 2005 and propelled the family into the global media limelight. Since then, all members have branched out into other successful careers, with Sharon currently fronting her fourth series of X Factor and Kelly starring in the West End musical, Chicago.

Sharon Osbourne says, �The developers at Microgaming have done a fantastic job at bringing all our family to life within the game and they�ve even managed to immortalise my beloved dog, Minnie! I�ll certainly have a little flutter.�

The Osbournes game is a 5 reel 20 pay-line slot jam packed with free spins, multiplier boosts and solid cash prizes. In the base game, players can win up to 75 000 and in Free Spins 150 000, whilst in the new Door Knocker bonus a further 50 000 is available and additional bonuses can bring in another 3 000.

In an industry first, the new game features an on-screen trail feature above the slots themselves, where Sharon�s dog, Minnie acts as both trigger and indicator. Get three, four or five Minnie symbols across the reels and ten Free Spins are triggered, together with a trail feature. Minnie will trot across the screen as free spins are achieved, moving across four levels – one each for Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly – with the goal of reaching Ozzy for the full reward – although each level carries a cash incentive if completed

Roger Raatgever, CEO, Microgaming, says, �This announcement isn�t just about one of the biggest game launches of the year, but one of the biggest game launches since this industry started – from any software provider. To be launching a video slot featuring one of the most famous entertainment families in the world just shows how far into the entertainment industry we�ve come and long may it continue. We set out to create a video slot that blends fantastic graphics and gameplay with striking new features and a touch of celebrity; and we believe we�ve achieved that. From the moment we announced this game was coming, we�ve had players from all over the world contacting our operators for the release date. Well, the wait is over. Enjoy!�

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

READ ZOOZIE’S SEPTEMBER SLOT REVIEWS HERE

28 September 2007

Dear Reader,

Time’s a flyin’, and so much to get done. Scroll on down to see what’s up in Casinomeisterland.

Speedily yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

THE TOPIC IS STUPID

What’s stupid? A few things cross my mind – casinos that throw millions of dollars at marketing firms to get players, only to alienate the same players with stupid bonus terms or bickering over $20 deposits. Stupid is not communicating with your players when something is obviously amiss at your poker room – like collusion. Stupid is spamming me at Casinomeister, and getting caught. Stupid are leaf blowers, slow drivers in the fast lane, non-alcoholic beers, Bible thumpers and dogs that poop in my yard.

You guessed it, “stupid” is this week’s theme on our webcast. You can listen to stupid stuff here: /webcast/

And Vortran007 is back – hear his casino warning on our webcast!

EIG 2007 AND CAP EURO

The European Interactive Gaming Congress kicks off in less than a few days. If you have any interests in the industry at all, you need to be there. I’ll be moderating a speaker session on day two, and if you plan on being there – please attend this session. I’ll be floating around for the entire week in Barcelona, so if you’d like to meet up, please let me know. I’ll also be at the Casino Affiliate Programs Euro conference for Day One as well. So let’s grab a beer and share some jovial jocularities, eh?

BELLEROCK CASINOS!!

Here are four of the most rock solid casinos online. The Bellerock casinos are owned by the Carmen Media Group Limited, a company incorporated and based in Gibraltar. They are one of the very few operations granted licenses by the Government of Gibraltar which has recently been “whitelisted” by the UK Gambling Commission.

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And now for the humor…

The Scotsman And The Englishman 

Try to settle the dispute
There was once a Scotsman and an Englishman who lived next door to each other. The Scotsman owned a hen and each morning would look in his garden and pick up one of his hen’s eggs for breakfast.

One day he looked outside and saw that the hen had laid an egg in the Englishman’s garden. He was about to go next door when he saw the Englishman pick up the egg. The Scotsman ran up to the Englishman and told him that the egg belonged to him because he owned the hen. The Englishman disagreed because the egg was laid on his property.

They argued for a while until finally the Scotsman said, “In my family we normally solve disputes by the following actions: I punch you in the nose and note how long it takes you to recover, then you punch me in the nose and note how long it takes for me to recover, whomever recovers quicker wins the egg.”

The Englishman agreed to this and so the Scotsman held the heaviest object he could find, took a few steps back, then ran toward the Englishman and punched him as hard as he could in the nose. The Englishman fell to the ground and was howling in agony and holding his nose for thirty minutes.

Eventually the Englishman stood up and said, “Now it’s my turn to punch you.”

The Scotsman said, “Keep the lousy egg.”

ha ha ha

And thanks lauriejim for posting this in our Jokes section.

WASHINGTON CONFERENCE FOR PPA

More aggressive campaign for poker to be classified as a game of skill

Under the new leadership of Washington-based John Pappas, the 760 000 member poker advocacy group Poker Players’ Alliance is stepping up the pressure on US politicians to classify poker as a game of skill, moving it out of the range of anti-gambling moves by the US government.

The PPA has arguably become the main lobbying group for the online poker industry in the United States, and it’s next major project is a policy conference, scheduled for Washington DC between October 22-24. In an email to members, the PPA says that this will be the most aggressive initiative yet by the organisation, and urges poker players everywhere to get involved in the action.

�You will have a chance to meet with Members of Congress who will vote on this important issue, and mingle with many of the best poker players and pros from across the United States,” the email informs. “In addition to a great conference, we will schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress and work with you to make sure they get the message that poker is a game of skill and that reasonable regulation is the best policy approach to Internet gaming.

“Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents. Without you, the poker prohibitionists will continue to make the rules. With you, we can protect games of skill from unfair government interference.�

The conference will be centred on the Omni Shoreham Hotel and transportation will be provided to Capitol Hill. The event kicks off with a welcome function at 6:00pm on Monday, October 22nd and participants are encouraged to plan flights home the night of the 23rd or the morning of the 24th.

Those who wish to attend are urged to send an e-mail to wash-fly-in@pokerplayersalliance.org in order to get a registration form. The event is not confined solely to PPA members, but is open to anyone who wants to add support to calls for legal poker.

The PPA reminds members that the new session of Congress convenes after the Labour Day holiday, again placing legislative proposals to regulate and license US online gambling centre stage. Congress has four online gambling bills in the works, such as the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and the Skill Game Protection Act, proposed by Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL). Other proposals deal with taxation issues and a move to initiate a proper and independent, bipartisan study of Internet gambling (see previous InfoPowa reports)

The legal action against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association will also be front-and-centre as the American political machine heads into the final quarter of the year.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

15 October 2007

Special Edition
European Interactive Gaming conference and CAP Euro 2007 – Barcelona

Dear Reader,

And here we go with Casinomeister’s annual EIG special report, and for the first time CAP Euro (Casino Affiliate Programs) conference. If reading about the tripiness of Barcelona, freaky people, go-go dancers, bitchin’ restaurants, and online gaming is your thing, then read on…

Reportingly yours,

Bryan

EIG 2007 Barcelona

I forgot my freaking aspirin…

I arrived the day before the conference was to begin – a non-eventful flight and easy cab ride to my hotel the Olivia Plaza. Situated on Las Ramblas, it’s a relatively modern looking hotel – very arty – overlooking the Placa Catalunya. And what an excellent view from the tenth floor, and I had free wireless Internet connectivity. That was a big plus since getting “connected” and the fees involved are always a hassle.

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities – especially the Gothic district – the streets are always flowing with people from all walks of life: students, tourists, musicians, immigrants, beggars, and loud drunken football fans. It doesn’t matter what the time is – 3pm or 3am, there are always people wandering about. It reminds me of London except for the lingo, and Barcelona is much sunnier.

The first evening began with meeting up with Brian Cullingworth from Infopowa News and GreedyGirl in front of the old Cathedral steps, the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. We meandered to Taller de Tapas, a place where I had a really fine dining experience last year. What joy – this time it was uncrowded – a table for three was easy to get. I reminisced about how last year we waited for a couple of hours to get a table, and after the waiter took our order, I was miffed that he journeyed to the next table to take their order without sending ours to the kitchen. Little did I know, he had a bluetooth gizmo that sent our order to the chefs while we thought he was collecting them from each table. Technology in a Tapas restaurant. Life is fascinating.

Well, after an evening of fried squid, artichoke hearts, baked fish, sauteed mushrooms, and free flowing Sangria, I awoke the next morning and dwelled upon a tough lesson learned. Do not – never ever leave one’s pain relievers at home when vivting Barcelona. There is something about those Sangrias that cause extreme pain to the brain.

But I was ready for the EIG.

The European Interactive Gaming was geared to be a big show. Last year, people were ready to slit their wrists over the passage of the UIGEA. It was a downer of a gathering. But this industry has had a full year to weather the storm, and it was apparent that many companies have weathered it well.

Before the conference kicked off in full gear, I met with the fellows from Grand Mondial Casino a Casinomeister “Accredited” casino which came under fire this past summer for not monitoring some of its White Label casinos. Admittingly, they learned something – that they should have been much more watchful over how the white label was managed. Quality control is much tighter now – and this is a good thing. I had discussed the policy of white label casinos with a few operators this trip. A general consensus was that these WL casinos would only be given to “super” companies (Yahoo, Dell, etc.,), any others would be closely monitored. Operators need to remember that players seek trustworthy sites; the key to trust is transparency.

Day One:
It kicked off with the venerable Sue Schneider giving us a run-down on where this industry has been and shared with us a letter from ex-CEO BetonSports David Carruthers. He is still under house arrest (over 15 months with no trial in sight), but he is upbeat concerning the allegations of “illegal gambling”. He is hanging tough and confided that although he is under house arrest, he’s in the best physical shape he’s ever been. Goes to show what good home cooked meals can do for you. He stated “I may be one year older, but I am ten years wiser.” He described the industry stuck in a “round-about” not knowing which direction to take. “At no time in the past has this industry needed strong leadership as it needs strong leadership today.” It needs a focused approach from all facets of the industry to make a positive difference. People need to come together and share resources to put this into action. He also stated that the industry needs to be focused on operating with integrity with customer service and customer protection in mind. David Carruthers is a good man. It’s a shame to see him still waiting for his day in court which may not be until this upcoming Spring.

Martin Owens, a leading gaming attorney from California, gave a very insightful presentation on the “state of the Union.” One interesting point he made (amongst many) was that even though an election year is coming up, for a politician to openly support online gaming it would be political suicide. So for those of you who are waiting for the laws to change there, you may have a while to wait. Nevertheless, the UIGEA has opened the door for the possibilities of Intrastate online gambling/poker. The next couple of years will be interesting.

I was looking forward to the opening of the exhibition hall. There were a number of booths I was looking forward to checking out, and this is always a good spot to catch up with people you need to catch up with. One of the more dominating (and impressive) stands was the Neteller booth. A tongue-in-cheek “Shaken, not Stirred” James Bond theme encased their open bar of Martinis. A spanish bartender was at hand, shaking up Martinis one after the other. The message: looks like Neteller wasn’t hit as badly as everyone thought.

I spoke with the CEO and several others – it was insightful, and I understand how difficult it was to be dealing with the massive problems they had this past year. They admit that not everything went as smoothly as it could have, but this was unprecedented – the freezing of accounts and subsequent payout. Players were paid – that’s what counts. And they seem to be well entrenched in their field. Apparently, they are still a solid viable company.

Fantastic news from WagerWorks – well we know that the Elvis slots are right around the corner. If you haven’t seen this game yet, and you like slots, it will blow you away. You can play them for free here at Ledgaming – this is the developer’s website – US and non-US are welcome to play until you can’t play no more.

Well, guess what – Texas Tea is being launched in the very near future as well as Texas Tina which will be coming out as well at a later date. I LOVE THESE GAMES!! And I am really excited that these are on the horizon. You can sign up at Virgin Casino and Get Minted in anticipation of these games (sorry, no US).

The cocktail party in the main conference hall soon commenced, and it was like a who’s who in online gaming: Neteller people were there, Boss Media, Net Entertainment, Partnerlogic, Click2Pay, and then there were many new faces – new enterprises – people with new ideas. What a great place to network and gather information! But then I was kidnapped by an odd consortium of industry folk, and we traveled via taxis to the waterfront where we dined on yummy Spanish food. But one thing I am unaccustomed to is waiting so friggin’ long for the food. I am one to sit down, order a beer – take five minutes to figure out what I want – order that, eat, converse in jocularities, then leave. This is usually done within an hour or so (depends how jocular we are). But in Spain, (and France for that matter as well), you end up in some weirdo time warp where restaurant meals take four hours to consume. I can’t complain though – the food was good, and the company was even better.

And a midnight, our group left the restaurant to the now empty street, and I figured I we were going to catch some cabs back to the hotel (I had no idea where we were). But no, we walked a block or so along the waterfront, and lo and behold up a deserted alley-way was a small little bar with disco lights reflecting off of the pavement. “Where were the cabs?” I thought, but alas like sheep we followed the lights and thumping techno-pop and entered a dark place.
That evening, Lyceum Publishing sponsored an awesome get together down at a small club by the harbor: Lekasbah. Free flowing Sangria and all the Paella you could eat. I don’t think I have ever had better – it was indescribably delicious. I was happy that I had skipped dinner. Subconsciously, I had saved myself for this.

Continuation as you scroll down…

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Day TWO EIG

Suits Galore!

Day two began with an early wake-up call, a pleasant answering of a number of emails on my FREE wireless connection, skipped breakfast (should have ordered room service), and a taxi ride to the conference center. I was scheduled to moderate a session: two speakers were there to discuss “How can you best adapt your affiliate marketing to changing market conditions” Brandon Berndt, Chan Poker, and Ebbe Groes, CEO of BetBrain shared their ideas, and it’s interesting to note how the web has developed over the past couple of years.

There is talk of Web 2.0 – the evolution of the web into a more interactive entity (Blogs, Youtube, Myspace, etc.). How is the industry utilizing these interactive capabilities. Both speakers had interesting ideas. Ebbe spoke about how his company has been using Google Widgets.

The technology is there; it’s a matter of being innovative and creative with a bit of foresight. Fascinating stuff.

Afterward, I was mobbed by Fortune Lounge and we journeyed downtown had a wonderful lunch of tapas – and we talked about a number of things (besides their Fall from Grace II this past Spring), and it seems that they are on the right track. In fact they have always been on the right track. They just screw up badly now and then.

When I returned to the conference, I noticed a few things. For one, the conference was touted as being at 1400 persons strong. There seemed to be quite a few people, but it just didn’t seem 1400 – I had a feeling that many of these people were networking. The conference hall was filled with suits and it was another indicator that this industry has really changed over the past couple of years. The “Golden Palace” days are gone. It is much more serious now, much more than it ever has been. I didn’t see too many familiar faces around the conference area; the familiar faces that I saw were in the exhibition hall.

But I think the most interesting encounter was with the folks from Malta. Malta offers licenses for all types of online gaming. Their regulator is the Lotteries and Gaming Authority which monitors and establishes their licensing conditions (personnel background checks, auditing, certification of the gaming system, etc.). What makes this so interesting is that Malta becomes part of the EU in May 2004. The casinos that are just signing up now have five year contracts from the government of Malta. So this means that next Spring the European Union will be licensing and have licensed online casinos. So far only territories and principalities within Europe are licensing casinos (Alderney, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Andorra). I believe the incorporation of Malta into the European Union will be a milestone in regulatory standards.
Funny thing, I met a guy who used to work at the rogued Virtual casino group. He said he has never seen a more miserable group of people in his entire life. He went on to say that the head honcho was a “real screamer”, that he would abuse his employees with name-calling screaming at the top of his lungs. Interestingly enough, I’ve been contacted by a number of ex-Virtual employees who have stated the same thing. And I’ve met “the screamer” a couple of times. And his General Manager is usually around – but I didn’t see hide or hair of either one of these guys this year. What a shame.

That evening I had the pleasure of dining with the folks from Club World Casino – people who I know well, and who are running one of the best casinos out there period. We dined at Comerç 24 – which was an experience in itself. It was like eating art – eating combinations of food that before then, I didn’t believe were possible. I had a tapas dish of fish, some crushed ice, topped with strawberry sorbet. Truly bizarre, but it was really good. I would recommend this place to anyone who is adventurous, and who has a lot of time. Dinner can last hours – and this one did.

Later, most of us ended up at the River City Group’s networking event at the Opium Cinema – Restaurant & Lounge Club. . It is a huge place, an old cinema converted into a club, and there were plenty of new faces there, and many old.

I finally ran into the RTG guys, and I was glad I did. There seems to be a number of RTG casinos that are pretty much doing whatever they want however they want to do it. I promised their bossman to forward any serious complaints that I receive, he also introduced me to the person who is heading the third party operation that will be resolving these complaints. Yes, it’s a slow process – it’s taken over a year to get things in motion. But that’s just the way it is. At least there is a means of communication, and I still am looking forward to when they get it together and give players what they deserve – a safe playing field.

I was also told that there were a total of seven players who were pending payouts from the recently rogued Atlantic Lounge casino. Two of these players were sent their funds – these should be in route. The other five are pending.

The operator of this casino had given his CSRs instructions not to make any payments without his okay…and then he had some personal crisis to deal with, nothing as dramatic as lying dead in some ditch in South Africa (like his support center implied). I have no idea why the customer support center would say something like that.

Day three coming up…

Day Three – EIG

Gyrating go-go girls…
Day three was rather non-eventful. The closing session was good with Mitch Garber, the CEO of party Gaming, making some rather interesting comments – he’s confident about the future. He feels that the developments in the States are paving the way for a legal solution within the next five years. More about his discussion here.

As the conference came to a close, it seemed to only be starting. CAP Euro was scheduled to begin the next day, and many people were staying over for that, including me.

My final observations of the conference was that the industry has evolved from a hearty party throw yer money around (pre 2006), to a bleak “slash your wrists” expect the worst (post UIGEA), to a more serious and dedicated group. I remember thinking how corporate this industry had become a couple of years back. It’s even more so now.

Party Poker’s CEO Richard Segal gave the keynote address, and he discussed the topic of going public. Pits and pratfalls that others may need to be aware of – he stated that early life as a public company was more exciting than expected. He went further to talk about the downside of public listing, and one thing is the transparency. Competitors will know information you may not want them to know, it will give them an edge they didn’t have beforehand. Also, public scrutiny is not always a welcome thing. He then showed some examples of how the UK press had goofed on him with a full page photo layout depicting him with a cowboy hat and munching on a fat stogie while playing poker. Ha ha, I chuckled to myself – thinking of the some of the colorful people I know who are going public and what they might have to put up with.

Richard Segal went on further talking about marketing and the importance of affiliate marketing. 30% of Party Poker’s players come through affiliates and he stressed their importance. There has been a bit of paranoia in the affiliate world. With mainstream media opening their advertising venues to online casinos, sportsbooks, and online poker rooms – many affiliates feel threatened as they would be turned into a cyber dinosaur. At the moment, affiliate marketing is still a crucial form of marketing.That evening I had pork chops at a quaint restaurant by the harbour; by this time I had enough tapas. The wine flowed freely, and the company was most enjoyable (more RTG people). 7 Portes was the venue, and I highly recommend getting there as soon as they open. We were lucky to get a table, and I don’t believe they take reservations.

We paid the bill and migrated to Joker Bar – CAPs opening event. The place was packed and the DJs were quite good. For anyone who has never been in Barcelona’s port, there is a string of nightclubs all with outrageously expensive drinks. It’s anywhere from 6 – 9 Euros for a bottle of ordinary beer. Compared to most civilized places where it is anywhere from 2 – 4 Euros for a half liter. Ridiculous prices, but this one was on CanAffco CAP’s sponsor for the Joker Bar party.

I ran into a number of acquaintances and good friends. It was a great party and kudos to the two go-go dancers who were really motivated by the vibe. They put on a lively show.

As soon as the bar tab ran out, and the 8 Euro beers commenced, I took this as a sign to call it a night.

CAP Day one right ahead…scroll on down…

CAP Day One

Tila is a short chick…

One thing about Barcelona cab divers, they are relatively pretty good. But for the most part, they need to bone up on where new hotels are located. CAP Euro was being held at The Hesperia Tower Hotel which I guess is relatively new. I handed the cab driver a slip of paper – hotel name and address – and he couldn’t find it. In fact, after about twenty minutes he got to the point where he waved his arms in the air “Nada m?s!” or something like that. Okay, I get it – end of the line. I wandered a bit and then flagged down another cab who found the place, no problem.

It was a well attended event, and it was good to meet up with webmasters and to see what they are up to. Simmo! and I had lunch together, and we talked about webmaster stuff (not about you my dear ${token2}), and it was a very relaxing day.

Some things that the conference brought forth:

Japanese Casinomeister members can look forward to Casinomeister being launched in Japanese in the near future. Casinomeister Japan will be fully translated (minus the forum) and will list only those accredited casinos that are fully localized in Japanese. Hang tight for that.

Intercasino is running some hilarious TV commercials in the UK starring midgets.

Some new Casinomeister casinos should be coming on board soon – stay tuned for those as well.

Had a nice dinner with Calvin Arye from Bodog fame at the Quo Vadis on Las Rambles. Again great food, and we had some good laughs. He is adamant that Bodog’s recent legal battle over its domain names will be over soon, in their favor. It was interesting to hear from the “dog’s” mouth what went down and how the company responded to the snatching of bodog.com domains.

From there, I headed to the Guru club – Club World Casino’s and Rushmore Casino’s joint sponsored event – a marvelous evening. I was even introduced to Tila Tequila Nguyen – model and figurehead for Tila Casino. She was much shorter than I expected. She had her entourage of “Tila” girls with her. It seemed like they didn’t know what to think of the party going on…

I met up with the operators of Rushmore casino – they are on the radar screen for coming on board. One of the guys showed me a fresh wound on his neck. Apparently some Spaniard didn’t like jews and tried to slash his neck. That wasn’t very nice.

Lots of cool people at the party. I even met another Californian who is living in Austria. It was a splendid event – except the go-go dancers looked bored. They just weren’t feeling the vibe.

Made my way back safely my hotel – hookers were coming out from every nook and cranny in the streets. It was actually a bit frightening. I almost wanted to give them money just to leave me alone…

“Breathe” was the name of the band, and they were doing covers of your typical indie rock and a few stray others. Brits I believe, and they had the crowd dancing on the tables. It reminded me of a German Bierfest, except these guys played much better than any German band I’ve seen.

And people were dancing the freedom dance. Even a few suits were getting into it. A girl I’ll name “Miss Boobs” for decency sake was doing her thang in front of the stage, gettin’ all wild, grabbing at guys (not me, thank you), pulling off their shirts and tweaking their nipples. And these guys were falling for it.

The band took a quick break and announced that women who would flash their boobs at the bar would get a free drink of Champagne. I thought it was a joke until I checked out the bar’s website the next day (you are reading this in HTML, aren’t you? for shame if you ain’t – you need to check out the online version NOW!) where they post the pictures of the winners of the free drinks. Check it out for any industry people you might know <grin>. I think I spotted one.
The following day came early, and it was time to check out and head home. Before leaving, I had to stop by the Hesperia Towers to pick up my “stuff”: a supply of Cheerios, Grapenuts, Tabasco Sauce and other homegrown items brought over from the Homeland by Greedygirl and sweet Rebecca from Casino City – thanks a million!

And here I am reflecting on “what a strange trip it’s been.” There are a lot of good people in this industry, and it pleases me to see them doing a job well done. Even though there is still a lot of room for improvement, I feel that most everyone is on the right track. It also amazes me how often I meet people who are just getting into the business. I hand them my card, and give them instructions on what to read on this site, and what to look for. Hopefully, they’ll become members of Casinomeisterland.

A final note: I made a comment in the last newsletter about what I thought was “stupid”. I had included “Bible Thumpers” which caused this reader to respond:

I have been a subscriber to Casinomeister for a few years, & have never written to you before, even when you put down President Bush ( who I do support), but this last email really was over the top when you included Bible thumpers in your” What is stupid “list.

As a Born Again Christian, that really offended me. I just don’t get Liberals. They are always supporting everyone’s rights, except Christians.

I think you owe us Christians an apology.Okay, I apologize. But I wasn’t throwing all Christians into the “Bible thumping” pit. When I mentioned “Bible thumpers”, I meant those who use religion as a way of threatening and manipulating those who aren’t of the same faith. It’s a form of extremism which I am not particularly fond of. The same goes for any religious extremism that condemns all those who are different. For the born again Christians, I didn’t mean you. You are good people, and I don’t think that is “stupid”.

By the way, to set the record straight, I am not a “liberal” – I am a webmaster.

18 October 2007

Dear Reader,

We’re starting to buckle down and get into the fall mode in Casinomeisterland. There is a lot of work to be done, so let’s get busy.

Sit back, relax and scroll on down…

Laboriously yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

ABSOLUTE POKER – A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT?

Or perhaps they’re a month late in having a third party investigate the allegations many players have been making since mid-September. If you have been living in some non-poker cyber-cave and don’t know what has been transpiring, Absolute Poker is in the crosshairs of a large group of players who claim they have evidence of cheats in the poker room. The allegations are that these cheats work there.

Absolute Poker is licensed in Kahnawake, which doesn’t have a stellar record of getting involved with player complaints, but it looks like the Mohawks are taking this one seriously. Here is a report from Infopowa news today:

KAHNAWAKE ENTERS ABSOLUTE ONLINE POKER DEBACLE (Update)

Licensing jurisdiction pledges an independent audit

The allegations of impropriety during an online poker tournament at Absolute Poker.com gathered further momentum as the week progressed, with the issue reaching the pages of the New York Times, and a statement from the website’s licensing jurisdiction pledging an independent investigation of the affair.

Kahnawake Gaming Commissioner David Montour announced that following the emergence of allegations concerning the propriety of Absolute Poker’s operations, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) intends to investigate the privately-held licensee.

In a written statement Montour indicated that the KGC will employ an independent third party, UK-based Gaming Associates, to conduct the audit. It is understood that Gaming Associates is an exclusive testing agency used by the KGC.

“This week’s allegations of impropriety have been brought to the attention of the [KGC],” said Montour. “We have appointed experts to conduct a thorough audit of all circumstances, provide findings and recommendations to the commission.

“The audit will not be restricted to examining theories circulating in Internet chat rooms and fora,” Montour added.

Among other allegations, GA will undoubtedly have to verifiy documents, and possibly explain how a tournament winner known as Potripper apparently obtained such extraordinarily good results – up to an incredible 15 standard deviations – in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the New York Times has again reported on the incident, this time in a fashion that suggests there is sufficient controversy to warrant an audit.

Author Stephen D. Levitt headlined his op-ed piece “The Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal Blown Wide Open” and noted that a combination of some incredible detective work by online poker players and an accidental (?) data leak by Absolute Poker have blown the scandal wide open.

Levitt goes on to explain that some opponents became suspicious of how a certain player [Potripper] was playing in an Absolute Poker tourney, seemingly aware of what his opponent’s hole cards were.

The suspicious players provided examples of these hands, which were so outrageous that virtually all serious poker players were convinced that cheating had occurred. One of the players who�d been cheated requested that Absolute Poker provide hand histories from the tournament, and instead of the usual specific hand history received (perhaps in error) a file that contained comprehensive private information that the poker site would never normally release.

The file contained every player�s hole cards, observations of the tables, and even the IP addresses of every person playing. Levitt comments that such a complete disclosure seems like too great a coincidence, and suggests that there may have been a whistle-blowing element involved instead of a mistaken document being despatched.

Poker players went to work analysing the data in the surprisingly comprehensive file � not only the hand histories themselves, but other, more subtle information contained in the file.

“What these players-turned-detectives noticed was that, starting with the third hand of the tournament, there was an observer who watched every subsequent hand played by the cheater,” writes Levitt.

“Interestingly, the cheater folded the first two hands before this observer showed up, then did not fold a single hand before the flop for the next 20 minutes, and then folded his hand pre-flop when another player had a pair of kings as hole cards! This sort of cheating went on throughout the tournament.”

So the poker detectives turned their attention to this observer, Levitt recounts. They tracked his or her IP address and account name to the same set of servers that host Absolute Poker, and also, apparently, to a particular individual named Scott Tom, who seems to be a part-owner of Absolute Poker!

Assuming that the file sent to the player is correct, Levitt opines “…..an insider at the Absolute website had real-time access to all of the hole cards (it is not hard to believe that this capability would exist) and was relaying this information to an outside accomplice.”

Levitt assumes that such conduct could result in prison time for those involved, and predicts that there could be commercial consequences for Absolute if it continues to blow off the allegations (something now corrected with the announcement of an independent audit).

Levitt correctly asserts that online poker is a game of trust � players send their money to a site believing that they will be playing a fair game, and trusting that the site will send them their winnings.

“If there is even a little bit of uncertainty about either one of those factors, there is no good reason for a player to choose that site over the many close substitutes that exist. If I ran Absolute Poker, I would take a lesson from past corporate attempts at cover ups, sacrifice the cheaters, and institute safeguards to prevent this ever happening again.

“The real lesson of this all, however, is probably the following: guys who aren�t that smart will figure out ways to cheat. And, with a little luck and the right data, folks who are a lot smarter will catch them doing it,” Levitt concludes.Here is a thread that gives a couple of good synopsis on what is going on:
Absolute Poker 

Now, these guys were through into the not recommended section of the rogue pit before my Barcelona trip. This was mainly due to the sloppy way this was being handled. That was a few weeks ago. Now it seems they are finally getting a third party involved. And by the statement from Kahnawake, it appears to be initiated by the Mohawks and not by the poker room. In my opinion, this poker room should have taken the bull by the horns as soon as the first complaint came in. I don’t think they had a clue to what was going on.

I met a representative from Chipleader two weeks ago in Barcelona. Chipleader is the affiliate/advertising program for Absolute Poker. He was not aware that Absolute Poker was in the rogue pit at Casinomeister, nor was he aware of the thunder and lightening going on in the fora.

So it’s now finally being addressed by both the licensing jurisdiction and by the mainstream media, but not without casualties of the most serious kind: player trust.

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And now for the humor…

Rick forgot his wedding anniversary.

His wife was really angry. She told him “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in less than 10 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!!

The next morning Rick got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, and brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Rick has been missing since Friday. Please pray for him.

ha ha ha

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CASINOMEISTER NEWS

HOW LONG HAS THE ABSOLUTE POKER SCAM BEEN OPERATING?
Sources claim cheating has been happening for 3 years, earning the culprits millions 

The gambling information portal Point-Spread.com made further serious revelations in the Absolute Poker scandal Monday, claiming that unidentified sources have revealed a greater web of deceit than just one tournament.

Webmaster Tommy Jensen quotes sources in Costa Rica who say that the cheating scam has been ongoing for the past three years and the actual amount that was skimmed from online poker players could be as much as $7 million. The actual amount is still unknown as an internal audit is underway, and high-limit players on other portals have contested this claim.

Jensen says a former employee of Absolute Poker confirmed to Point-Spreads.com that the security department at AP suspected something years ago but were told it was just the owners testing out the system and to forget about it. AJ Green (see previous InfoPowa reports) is alleged to have been involved in the scam and employees of Absolute Poker are prepared to implicate him.

Meanwhile, the 911 portal continued to publish what appear to be damage control reports from its sources, who claim that Absolute Poker takes in between $1.5 million and $2 million a day in gross revenues. “Absolute Poker will survive this (scandal),” the unnamed source predicted. “There are about a hundred investors in the company to ensure this happens.”

911 reports that, contrary to reports that a band of college fraternity brothers started Absolute Poker in 2003, it was in fact founded by a Las Vegas-resident college grad named Scott Tom with financing from his father. Tom subsequently brought other college friends into the business. Tom, who has since dropped out of sight, is believed to have resided in Panama City and Costa Rica.

“They (AJ Green and Scott Tom) are not talking to investors,” the source told 911. “But Absolute Poker does not need Scott Tom. There is a strong management team in place with hundreds of employees.” Other investors in the poker site include former employees of the Nine.com operation which now belongs to VIP.com.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

26 October 2007

Dear Reader,

Halloween is on it’s way, so it’s time to slow down and enjoy an autumn day…

…and scroll on down…

Relaxingly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

ABSOLUTE POKER – DON’T LIE TO US

Because you will get caught out. As you probably know by now, Absolute poker’s website was hacked into and someone was able to access a super user account which enabled him the privilege of “seeing” everyone else’s hands. This player had participated in a tournament where obviously he had won. The losing players – and a number of others who were concerned with this – had analyzed the tournament play and alerted Absolute Poker a little over a month ago.

Absolute Poker’s initial response was luke warm. It seemed as though they had no idea how serious an issue this was.

For over a month, the message boards were alive with numerous threads detailing the cheating episode. These players are not stupid. For some reason many poker rooms and casinos take it for granted that a large number of their player base are sheep lining up for the fleecing. This episode proves them wrong (if they had thought this). We have doctors, lawyers, accountants, college professors, retired CPAs and law enforcement officials, scientists and artists; these are your players.

Anyway, to make a long story short – Absolute Poker was busted out by everyone to include the Wizard of odds Michael Shackelford, MSNBC, New York Times, ABC News and a number of other main stream media reports.

Absolute Poker responded by opening themselves up to an investigation by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (this is where they are licensed) which employed Gaming Associates to do an audit of their activity.

Well that’s fine and dandy – actually that was great news since they finally admitted that there was something wrong.

But just yesterday, ABsolute Poker came out with this statement:

Upon learning of the incident, AP immediately contacted Gaming Associates, an independent worldwide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests and information security, to undertake an internal investigation. Immediately thereafter, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC), AP’s governing licensing authority, opened its own inquiry into the scheme. These investigations are active and on-going. AP is cooperating fully with the KGC investigation.”…Upon learning of the incident? What incident are they referring to? Clearly it is not the incident of being notified by alarmed players and myself in mid-September. They stated the following on 19 September:

“There are no “superuser” accounts that enable players to see other players’ hole cards.

Despite our confidence in the security of our systems, we researched hands involving accounts that were mentioned in the online forum posts over the weekend and did not find any incidence of cheating by the accounts in question. Results mentioned in the forums were over a small sample of hands, and we have researched these hands as well as numerous other hands involving these players and have found that the pattern of play of the players did not lend credibility to the claim that the players knew the cards of other players at the table.It was only about a month later when Michael Shackelford published his report here and this was picked up by the mainstream press.

That’s the incident we’re talkin’ about. To state publicly that the “Gaming Associates” were notified as soon as they learned of the incident is a load of hooey.

We depend on poker rooms and casinos to be fully honest with us; we deserve no less. To try and placate everyone with damage control PR statements don’t cut it. And believe me, there is a massive amount of damage control going on. There are rumors flying around about who might have done what to this and that. These are red herrings. And if you don’t know what a red herring is, look it up here. All these gossipy sidenotes are diverting our attention from the real incident: Players were cheated. For how long? Who knows. Can we trust this poker room ever again? That is for you to decide.

Absolute Poker has years of experience in this business and they should know what to expect from players and how to treat them.

NEW WEBCAST IS UP!

What’s new in Casinomeisterland

Grab yo’ self a hot cup o’ java and listen to this:

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* What’s new at Casinomeister
* Pitch a Bitches
*Vortran007’s casino warning
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To download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

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And now for the humor…

‘The Obedient Wife’

There was a man who had worked all his life, had saved all of his money, and was a real miser when it came to his money.

Just before he died, he said to his wife…’When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me.’

And so he got his wife to promise him, with all of her heart, that when he died, she would put all of the money into the casket with him.

Well, he died He was stretched out in the casket, his wi fe was sitting there – dressed in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When they finished the ceremony, and just! before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said,

‘Wait just a moment!’She had a small metal box with her; she came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down and they rolled it away. So her friend said,

‘Girl, I know you were not foolish enough to put all that money in there with your husband.’

The loyal wife replied, ‘Listen, I’m ! a Christian; I cannot go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money into the casket with him.’

You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!?!?!?’

‘I sure did,’ said the wife. ‘I got it all together, put it into my account, and wrote him a check…. If he can cash it, then he can spend it.’

ha ha ha

DAMAGE CONTROL UNDERWAY AT ONLINE POKER ROOM?

Absolute Poker pays players, floats theories

With a comprehensive official statement still awaited on its crisis of trust (see previous InfoPowa reports) the staff at Absolute Poker has gone from denial to admission and a furious blizzard of theories on its position, floated on gambling information portals.

As the week ended Absolute Poker players involved in the controversial cheating tournament that started the scandal were reportedly approached by the online poker room and given $500. The portal 4Flush revealed that this was apparently offered as compensation for their private information being revealed in the comprehensive .xls file sent to a player by a “lazy” Absolute Poker staffer, which contains much of the proof of cheating.

That was followed by a series of apparently ‘unofficial’ disclosures by Absolute Poker spokesmen to portals such as 911 which seemed to float a variety of operational scenarios. Included in the allegations was the astonishing statement that “hacking” by employees at Costa Rican based gambling sites is a not uncommon practice!

“Hacking is an all too common practice among skilled tech employees of Costa Rican online gambling establishments and rarely is it done to be malicious. This employee wanted to prove to us he could do this (see the hole cards),” a Senior Manager of Absolute Poker ‘conveyed’ to Gambling911.com.

There were also strong denials that Scott Tom, who was tracked by players investigating the debacle, was involved.

“Scott Tom is one of the original founders. He has played on the site but is no longer legally involved,” a spokesperson for Absolute Poker told Gambling911.com. “He was also never a CEO of Absolute as some have reported.”

The familiar if tenuous argument that a gambling operator makes too much money to be involved in cheating was also flown, a ‘representative’ of the firm allegedly claiming: “Absolute Poker takes in so much money, why would any of the owners risk damaging such a successful business by cheating?”

And the point was made that Absolute Poker was not having a “run on the bank” as a result of this crisis – on the contrary it is “…business as usual and payouts are not being delayed in the least.”

Over at eGaming Today the webmaster posted the following:

“Okay, I just got off the phone with someone who spoke to Russ Hamilton, former owner of UP [Ultimate Poker] .

“Two people will be implicated here, you can probably guess who. One is going to be removed from online poker forever and one is going be removed for a fair amount of time.

“I was asked not to post specifics and that AP’s statement is going to be detailed and is going to be released Sunday morning.

“UPDATE: Absolute Scapegoat? Absolute Poker claims rogue programmer framed owner/executive.”

With so many tempting tasters, and rumours rife the real, official and final position from Absolute Poker is eagerly anticipated by players and industry media alike.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

9 November 2007

Dear Reader,

Moving at lightening speed.

Briefly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

MEISTER BLATT

The first edition of the “Meister Blatt” just went out. This is a new newsletter strictly for affiliate managers, casino operators, software provider and developers, and anyone else that is involved in this industry AND involved with Casinomeister. If you would like to subscribe, you can do so now. This is for industry connected people only. Thanks!:

CASINOMEISTER’S FORUM

Forum Meltdown
A few days ago, there was a meltdown in the forum. It wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last. I’ve seen worse, but it was totally 100% unnecessary. I expect members to behave like adults and 95% of them do. Most of the juvenile activity has stemmed from the “Wild Cards” section.

The WC section was set up a few years ago primarily to move postings that didn’t pertain to any gambling or casino issue. In the past few months it attracted a bit of attention from a number of members, many of whom conducted themselves accordingly and treated each other with respect. But there have been a number of times when some people would behave badly. In recent months the Wild Cards section has become counter productive – it has drifted away from the “purpose and thrust” of Casinomeister. Casinomeister’s forum was established nearly a decade ago to inform and assist the online gambler:

Casinomeister is an online casino information website. It serves as a player and casino advocate and its main purpose is to provide both players and casino operators with information in order to make smart decisions. Casinomeister assists players in resolving disputes, and provides advice to industry representatives.
This forum is one of the tools that make this possible. This forum is a place to exchange balanced ONLINE GAMBLING information. Yeah, it can be a fun place to be, but when a section becomes a burden and not contributive to the overall mission, then it goes.

The Wild Cards section is closed until further notice. Thanks for your understanding.

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A word on PMs. PM stands for Private or Personal Messages. These are just that – personal and private. They are not meant for members to flaunt or abuse. If the shoe fits, wear it. If you are going to share personal messages – either do it with the sendee’s permission or use discretion.

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DO YOU PLAY LIVE DEALER GAMES?
That’s this week’s poll – yes or no? What games would you like to see offered by “Live Dealers”? Join our poll here:Do you play LIVE DEALER games?

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And now for the humor…

A cabbie picks up a Nun.

She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won’t stop staring at her.

She asks him why he is staring.

He replies: “I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.”

She answers, “My son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”

“Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”

She responds, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be Catholic.”

The cab driver is very excited and says, “Yes, I’m single and Catholic!”

“OK” the nun says. “Pull into the next alley.” The nun fulfils his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush.

But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.

“My dear child,” says the nun, “why are you crying?”

“Forgive me but I’ve sinned. I lied and I must confess, I’m married and I’m Jewish.”

The nun says, “That’s OK. My name is Kevin and I’m going to a Halloween party.”

ha ha ha

ABSOLUTE POKER CHEATS TOOK $800,000

Beleaguered online poker operator issues progress report

The Kahnawake registered company Tokwiro Enterprises, 100 percent owners of Absolute Poker.com issued a progress report as the week closed on its ongoing investigations into a cheating scandal that has seen the company widely condemned by the player community (see previous InfoPowa reports).

The report contains some interesting numbers, with Tokwiro claiming that the cheating “window” lasted for 40 days beginning August 14 and that some $800 000 was wrongfully won by the still unidentified company consultant, who was summarily dismissed – a point reiterated in the current report. Absolute Poker reimbursed players with twice that amount – $1.6 million – the progress report claims.

The company earlier revealed that the flaw allegedly exploited by the “consultant” to cheat Absolute Poker tournament players came about through a software upgrade, and that the breach has since been identified and sealed.

“The breach was exploitable only by an authorised AP person that manipulated the internal reporting software, together with the AP gaming software,” the report states. “The security breach was not, therefore, the result of an external action, and no individual outside AP could exploit the breach.”

The report goes on to claim that allegations of a super account are unfounded, and that that there is no capability on any Absolute account to see the hole cards of other players. But it does not explain how the cheat was able to achieve such impossible winning results.

The cheater/s used accounts with the handles Potripper, Graycat, Steamroller, Doubledrag, Payup, Supercard 55 and Romnaldo, Absolute Poker claims.

All hand histories of play were retained and are being thoroughly analysed by Gaming Associates, commissioned by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which licenses Absolute to audit the entire system. Absolute gives an assurance that any other prejudiced players who come to notice in the audit will be compensated.

The statement ends with an apology and the assurance that the site is safe and that the investigations will be reported in an open and forthright manner.

What the report does not disclose is the name of the perpetrator of the incident, arguably the worst cheating scandal in the short history of Internet poker. Nor does it reveal if his/her location is known, or whether a fraud complaint has been made to police authorities in Quebec or whether such a course of action is planned.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

13 November 2007 – Special Announcement!!

NEW CASINOMEISTER MEMBER!

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Sorry – No US

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to contact their Casino Representative here.

CASINOMEISTER NEWS

STEALTH CLAUSE ON INTERNET GAMBLING INCLUDES HEAVY FINES
Echoes of Washington State in proposed draconian penalties for Massachusetts online gambling 

If Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has his way, online gamblers in the state could face jail terms of up to two years and $25 000 fines, reports the Boston Globe, which has examined the governor’s latest legislative proposals in depth.

The Boston newspaper has carried incisive reportage on the bill, which seeks to expand land gambling in the state with new casinos, but includes a hypocrisy ridden and deeply buried clause that would ban online gambling and follow the Washington State example by making it a C class felony.

Patrick’s proposed legislation has evoked criticism from a number of other Massachusetts politicos, including fellow Democrat and high profile pro-online gambling champion Representative Barney Frank.

Frank, who has launched legislation to regulate and license online gambling in the United States as a means of better protecting players and giving them back their right of choice voiced his reservations about the governor’s bill this week when he said: “Why is gambling in a [land] casino OK and gambling on the Internet is not? He’s making a big mistake. He’s giving opponents an argument against him.”

Governor Patrick’s spokesmen have thus far failed to explain the governor’s rationale for including the provision in the proposed legislation. They also declined to respond to Frank’s comments.

But Kofi Jones, who spoke on behalf of the governor’s chief gambling adviser, said: “Several of the provisions of the governor’s proposed resort casinos bill seek to clarify the laws relating to gaming in Massachusetts, including online gaming.”

Others have suggested the provision was included to make casino licenses more lucrative by preventing competition from online operators, the newspaper reported.

“If you were cynical about it, you’d think that they’re trying to set up a monopoly for the casinos,” the report quoted David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Patrick’s bill will likely not be voted on until 2008.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Join the conversation here.

US voters can contact their representatives here.

16 November 2007 – Special Announcement!!

NEW CASINOMEISTER MEMBER!

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They have it all – bet on football (the European type :D), sports, racing, poker, casino games, and LIVE games!! Best all, they are licensed in the UK and are a member of the Independent Betting Arbitration Service (IBAS). IBAS is an authoritative, totally independent third party offering adjudication for customers who have an unresolved betting dispute with licensed Sportsbooks.

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Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here 

Sorry – No US

US players get to read the news instead

CASINOMEISTER NEWS

ONLINE POKER SITE EXPELLED FROM iPOKER NETWORK 
Rakeback violations cited for exclusion move 

When online poker provider Playtech recently warned its iPoker network sites against rakeback deals (see previous InfoPowa report) it meant business, it appears. This week the network announced the removal of Maestro Poker “….due to rakeback violations, which are against the iPoker network policy.”

Tain and iPoker, which now claim to be the largest European based poker network, said that the Maestro Poker skin was offering rakeback deals to affiliates and players in violation of the iPoker Network policy, and as a result a decision was made to remove the site from the iPoker Network.

“iPoker is making major efforts to fight rakeback on all its forms,” said a company spokesman. “The actions iPoker has recently taken in order to stop rakeback include multiple fines against violating card rooms as well as this recent termination of Maestro Poker. As a result of the many rakeback cases found in recent months, iPoker now has a “zero tolerance” towards rakeback and rooms violating the network policy may face significant fines as well as termination from the iPoker Network.”

The iPoker Network includes some of the most popular card rooms in Europe, such as Titan Poker, Bet365, Expekt, Paddy Power and others. According to www.pokersitescout.com iPoker currently averages over 4,300 real cash table players with daily peaks of well over 8,000 concurrent real cash table players, and is growing faster than any of the other leading card rooms.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Join the conversation here.

23 November 2007

Dear Reader,

Thanksgiving weekend already? Geeze, I always seem to miss it, living in Bierland and all.

Absentmindedly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Did the Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer?

Sounds ludicrous? Well, actually it’s true. Except that the pilgrims had a different definition of the word “beer.” For most of us, Beer is cold, wet, and good reason to continue living so we can continue to drink more of it. For many, it’s a necessity for a good life; for the pilgrims, it was a matter of life and death. You can read about how they had their priorities worked out at the “Straight Dope“. One of my favorite places to hang out (besides Casinomeister):

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051125.html
What’s new in the forum?
Lots of stuff going on this past week. Some players were still miffed that I closed down the Wild Cards section after it had a meltdown. Well, sorry ’bout that. But like I said, if you need a place to post pictures of your wife’s toenails or dog poop, there are plenty of forums that dig this sort of thing – please take these issues to those quality sites. I am adamant (not the 80’s punk guy) to maintain the forum’s position as one of the most informative and powerful message boards in the online casino industry.

One thing that changed this week is that postings made in the Jokes section will no longer count towards your overall post count. I hope this will give members more incentive to join the discussions in the more “meatier” sections.

So what’s up in Casinomeisterland? How do land based slots differ from online – how do they work? – get some enlightenment here.

/forums/online-casinos/21319-landbased-slots-versus-online.html
Virgin VIPs are up in arms for being pegged as bonus abusers. Are they really “abusing” the bonuses, or have they won too much? Check it out here.

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Sorry – No US – No Turkey – befitting for Thanksgiving, eh? 

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And now for the humor…

From the archives…

An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men, the boy didn’t really know what he wanted to do, and he didn’t seem too concerned about it.

One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy’s room and placed on his study table three objects:

a Bible,

a silver dollar, and

a bottle of whisky.

“I’ll just hide behind the door,” the old preacher said to himself, “and when he comes home from school this afternoon, I’ll see which object he picks up. If it’s the Bible, he’s going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he’s going to be a businessman, and that would be okay, too. But if he picks up the bottle, he’s going to be a no-good drunkard, and, Lord, what a shame that would be.”

The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son’s footsteps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. He tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them.

Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink.

“Lord have mercy,” the old preacher whispered, ” he’s gonna be a Congressman”.

ha ha ha ha ha ha

ONLINE GAMBLING REGULATORY BILL GETS CO-SPONSOR 41

Oregon Congressman joins the IGREA pro-regulation ranks

HR 2046, the Internet Regulation and Enforcement Bill legislative proposal initiated by Representative Barney Frank which seeks to regulate and license online gambling in the United States has another co-sponsor – the 41st American politician to register his support.

Oregan Representative Earl Blumenauer signed up to support the Bill this week. He has a highly credible career in politics going back to 1972 when he served his first term in the Oregon House of Representatives, and was admitted to the US House of Representatives in 1996.

Congressman Bluemenauer serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, the Budget Committee, and the new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Climate change, and is a staunch proponent of issues such as the environment, sustainable development and economic opportunity.

A lawyer by profession, the Representative holds law degrees from Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

The following is the current roll of political support for IGREA:

Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.)
Joe Baca (D-Calif.)
Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)
Howard Berman (D-Calif.)
Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)
Michael Capuano (D-Mass.)
Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.)
Julia Carson (D-Ind.)
William lacy Clay (D-Mo.)
Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.)
William Delahunt (D-Mass.)
Bob Filner (D-Calif.)
Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.)
Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)
Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.)
Michael Honda (D-Calif.)
Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
Peter King (R-N.Y.)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.)
Jim McDermott (D-Wash.)
James McGovern (D-Mass.)
Charlie Melancon (D-La.)
James Moran (D-Va.)
Ron Paul (R-Texas)
Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.)
Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas)
Steven Rothman (D-N.J.)
Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.)
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
Robert Scott (D-Va.)
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)
Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.)
Melvin Watt (D-N.C.)
Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)
Robert Wexler (D-Fla.)
Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.)
Albert Wynn (D-Md.)
Don Young (R-Alaska

US citizens: contact your Congressional representative here! .

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

30 November 2007

Dear Reader,

Lots goin’ on in Casinomeisterland – so scroll on down…

Unquestionably yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

WELCOME MAX DRAYMAN – NEW CASINOMEISTER MODERATOR

Max Drayman, the venerable moderator of Winneronline, has found a new home. He is the official moderator of the Casino Complaints section – and general moderator of all.

With nearly ten years under his belt of online casino forum administration, he is equipped with the knowingness to be a true asset to this forum. Many of you know the guy quite well, so let’s give him a warm welcome to Casinomeisterland.

He will also be taking over Casinomeister’s “Pitch a Bitches” beginning this next week, and will be the main point of contact for casino complaints.

Try not to keep him too busy, okay?

Hi, my name is Max Drayman. I’ve been in the online gaming scene since 1998 and have been a close observer and commentator on the industry since it’s early days. Some of you may recognize my name if you’ve been around the scene for a while.

It’s my great pleasure to join Bryan and the crew here at CasinoMeister. As I believe Bryan has mentioned I’ll be tackling the Pitch-A-Bitch and Complaints sections which will be a welcome challenge for me. After many years of seeing the biz from what might be called the “chateau” side of things it’ll be quite an experience to be in the trenches for a change.

I’m looking forward to meeting those challenges and contributing to CasinoMeister’s reputation for excellence. I’ve actually been an observer here for quite some time but for professional reasons have stayed in “observer” mode. That’s about to change is a big way! My handle on the boards is “maxd”.

In my capacity here you can of course hail me on the boards, or PM me if that’s more appropriate. You can also email me at max.drayman@casinomeister.com if that works better for you.

So, well met and see ya on the boards!

Max Drayman
Forum members can welcome him here: .

/forums/introduce-yourself-new-members/21471-not-exactly-new-here-but-lot-more-visible.html

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Join Canbet today and not only will you receive a 100% match bonus of up to �100 (�150) on your first deposit, but you will also be automatically entered into a Lucky Draw to earn your share of �3,500 (�5,000). Winners will be announced on Monday, December 10th.

PLEASE NOTE: THESE OFFERS ARE ONLY VALID FOR PLAYERS WHO DOWNLOAD FROM THESE LINKS AT CASINOMEISTER — COPYING AND PASTING THIS OFFER ELSEWHERE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN

Canbet is United Kingdom licensed and is wholly owned subsidiary of global Gaming and Wagering Company �International All Sports Limited� (IAS). IAS is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, is subject to independent audit, and is licensed in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Consequently Canbet offers a completely safe and secure environment for your deposits and winnings.

Sorry – No US – No Turkey 

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And now for the humor…

From the archives…

This guy goes into a doctor’s office. The doctor says, “Oh, Mr. Jones! We have the results of your test. Do you want the bad news first or the very bad news?”

The guy shrugs and says, “Well I guess I’ll have the bad news first.”
“Well the bad news is, you have 24 hours to live,” the doctor replies.
The man is distraught, “24 hours to live? That’s horrible! What could be worse than that? What’s the VERY bad news?”
The doctor folds his hands and sighs, “The very bad news is…I’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday.”

ha ha ha

ONLINE GAMBLING – ARE SKILL GAMES THE GERMAN ENTRE?

Seven German gambling cases now before the European Court of Justice

Skill games and entertainment portals could provide online operators looking to enter the German gaming market with viable opportunities according to leading German gaming lawyer Dr Wulf Hambach of Hambach & Hambach.

Speaking to conference organisers Bullet Business – who will soon host the Legal Gaming in Europe Summit – Hambach opined that Germany may be close to opening up the gaming market under pressure from the European Commission. However, he added that it was still important to note that due to the inconsistent and patchwork legal gambling system in Germany there remain liberal or non-regulated gambling sectors in the region such as skill games and other entertainment niches that do not fall under the scope of monopoly laws.

Dr Hambach went on to discuss the current situation with the German State Gambling Treaty 2008.

�The enforceability of the new State Gambling Treaty 2008 means that it is hard to predict what will happen in the German market over the next 12 months,” said the legal expert. “With the EC and several political groups such as the Liberals opposing the gambling monopoly approach, my guess is that the state monopoly will continue to fight against the private gambling industry in the short-term but will lose the monopoly vs. liberalisation battle in the long-term.”

Hambach proposed his own solution to speed up the transition, suggesting that the industry should be working on legal alternatives that are accepted not only by the national (German) courts but also by the EU-authorities. “In this regard, an EU cross border learning and working group should be founded with the help and integration of existing bodies such as the International Members of Gambling Law,� he said.

Dr Hambach will be covering German gaming law at the 2nd annual Legal Gaming in Europe Summit, speaking alongside expert European gaming lawyers, operators and industry leaders.

Martin Arendts from German law office Arendts Anwalte also highlighted the recent changes to gaming law in German on his blog site, writing:

�The Administrative Court of Giessen (Verwaltungsgericht Gie�en) has referred two more sports betting cases (interdiction orders against betting shops, transferring bets to private bookmarks licensed in another EU member state) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) according to Article 234 of the EC Treaty.

“Earlier this year, the court already referred a similar case to the ECJ (Markus Sto� v Wetteraukreis; Case C-316/07). The two new cases have been filed as Avalon Service-Online-Dienste GmbH v Wetteraukreis (Case C-409/07) and Olaf Amadeus Wilhelm Happel v Wetteraukreis (Case C-410/07).

“Seven German sports betting cases are now pending before the ECJ (one from Cologne, three each from Stuttgart and Giessen). As the Administrative Courts of Giessen and Stuttgart asked quite similar questions, it is quite likely that the ECJ will join these cases. A decision will probably be announced in two or three years.�

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

3 December 2007 – Special Announcement!!

NEW CASINOMEISTER MEMBER

Blackjackheaven has just come on board. And to celebrate, they are offering Casinomeister members an exclusive bonus ONLY FOR YOU!!

$100 Deposit Bonus for Casinomeister.com players

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Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here

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Sorry – No US

US players get to read the news instead

CASINOMEISTER NEWS

BIG HEARTED TONY
A cruel wit but a generous heart 

The ebullient international poker ace Tony Guoga, known for his cruel and voluble one-liners against poker opponents, has shown once again that he has a generous heart, donating his $205 000 winner’s cheque from the Moscow Millions to a Russian orphanage.

This is not the first time TonyG has made such a open hearted gift; he has previously donated significant Asian poker winnings to a similar cause.

Following sponsorship hassles, the entry field for the inaugural Moscow Millions (see previous InfoPowa reports) was on the small side, with 53 players finally seated and ready at the Kosmos Casino and Hotel for the ‘shuffle up and deal’ call. The incentive was a prize pool of over $500 000.

The $10 500 buy-in, two-day event had players starting with $25 000 in chips and 90 minute levels. Congratulating the Poker Professionals organisers, Guoga applauded the final table structure when he wrote on his blog:

“The structure was better than the WSOP main event. We had two dealers at the final table so that the next hand was shuffled and ready to go and we had tons of hands at the final table.

Guoga won a gold bracelet and the $205 000 for coming in first place, immediately returning the cash to tournament director Rhys Jones with the request that it go to a Russian orphanage. “I feel good just being in a position where I can give away money that I win in poker tourneys,” he said.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Join the conversation here.

7 December 2007

Dear Reader,

Christmas cheer is near, my dear, so better get motivated – don’t wait until the last minute go into the Xmas lull mode.

Scroll on down and start lulling.

Festively yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN…

Yep, it’s that time of year to open up your hearts and pocket books and make a donation at Casinomeister. Make a difference in someone’s life, even though it may seem just a little – every bit counts.Donate Now at Casinomeister! If there is a charity that you’d see listed, please let me know so I can consider it. Thanks!

For those of you who are considering patronizing a rogue casino operation (yeah, there are still Casinomeister members who do), please make a deposit at one of these charities instead.

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It’s also that time of year when I start gathering information for the Best and Worst of 2007. I’m looking for input – are there any new categories that you’d like to see? Any nominations? Best Casino? Worst Casino? Post your best and worst experiences here

/forums/online-casinos/21511-best-worst-2007-a.html

NEW CASINOMEISTER MEMBER’S EXCLUSIVE PROMO!

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Current promos for Canbet are here.

Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here 

Sorry – No US – No Turkey 

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Check out some of their current promotions!

And now for the humor…

Humor for cat lovers:

‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.

‘Cuzz the cat had pounced on him
And tore him apart –
Ate his mouse intestines
And chewed up his heart.

Kitty thought he heard sleighbells,
Which made him take pause –
He stopped daintily licking
The blood from his claws.

“Must be Santa,” thought Kitty
(That quite clever cat)
‘Cuz nobody else climbs down
The chimney like that.

Indeed it was ol’ Santa
So jolly and fat
With a huge load of presents
And all for the cat!

“Wow, the best Christmas ever!”
Kitty thought with a purr,
Then he coughed up a hairball
And shed some more fur!

ha ha ha

40,000 REASONS TO OPPOSE ONLINE GAMBLING?

Racing industry generous to anti-online gambling politician

One of online gambling’s most passionate detractors apparently enjoys almost $40 000 in encouragement and support from an industry that benefits increasingly from his attacks on Internet gambling.

According to an article on Gambling Web this week the wannabe nemesis of online gambling, Congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, has accepted almost $40 000 in campaign funds from the horse racing industry.

Goodlatte has consistently been an ardent supporter of anti-online gambling legislation that gives inequitable carve-outs for Internet betting through state lotteries, fantasy sports and, yes – horse racing in the United States. And the latter has in particular embraced the opportunity with expanded online betting activities (see recent InfoPowa reports)

Goodlatte has been frequently quoted as supporting the view that online gambling is immoral, somewhat out of balance with his support for the carve outs, which have contributed to the invidious (and potentially expensive) situation that the United Stated currently finds itself in vis-a-vis the World Trade Organisation; facing billions in claims from other nations.

Goodlatte has been vociferous in his efforts to get online gambling banned or hamstrung. Last month, he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on online gambling assembled by Congressman John Conyers, where he again insisted that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act – which seeks to prohibit financial transactions with online gambling companies – be enforced with criminal prosecutions.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

13 December 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s coming up fast – and before you know it, it will be panic-shopping time. So get busy now! Scroll on down and take of the ones you love.

Consumerously yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

THE ROLE OF THE CASINO: PLAYER SECURITY

It’s one of the best threads in a long time in Casinomeister’s forum. It begins with a disgruntled player who suspects that some prominent and well respected (and unrelated) casinos have been selling his personal information – specifically his email addresses. He uses a unique one at each casino (good idea). When he starts getting spammed from evil spammers using this address, he suspects the casinos have had a breach in security or a lapse of judgement by providing these spammers his email address.

I saw this as an opportunity for the I-Gaming representatives to inform players what was being done on their end to ensure that players’ private info remains private. If you have a few minutes, please check out the thread here

Some excerpts:

Betfred:
As with any reputable casino and sportsbook, the players� security is paramount. Here at Betfred access to the database is strictly limited to management. The support team do have access to personal details in order to assist players effectively but they are also monitored by the shift supervisor and would be unable to make any copy of said information without raising suspicion.

Banking details are kept on a separate database and even I as part of the casino management team would not be able to access such information without an extremely valid reason and then not without the most senior level approval.

Pat from 32Red:
We do not store credit card numbers or the 3 digit security code that is contained on the reverse of the card. We have the ability to access full card numbers and this access is strictly controlled and limited to senior members of staff. Those employees, who do have access, have been verified through a number of means which do include background checks with the police. The majority of our employees are only able to view the last four digits of a card number, with this being necessary to being able to perform certain financial transactions. The back office system that we use does not allow employees to see multiple instances of accounts, does not allow employees to export information into other files and prevents details from being printed. We run regular audits so as to ensure we know who is accessing what data and for what purpose.

BWin:
as a sportsbook and gaming operator licensed in Gibraltar, bwin is not only limited to it’s own restrictive policies, but also to regulatory rules. we assure the safety of customers data by splitting data into different subsystems, restricting access to the specific subsystems to authorized people only and by tracking and reviewing all accesses and changes constantly. it is in our own interest NOT to share customer data with anybody outside bwin at all – and within the company only the absolute necessary amount of personal data is shared among people who need it for their daily work (e.g. customer service) and these people and their system accesses are logged and reviewed constantly.And many more highly informative responses.

Another thing – passwords. No casino representative should have access to your password. They should only be able to reset it or give you a new one. If you want to see if they store it in the open, ask for it and see what they say.

Anyway – everyone should read this thread.

/forums/casino-complaints-non-bonus-issues/21560-account-security-concerns-multiple-casinos.html

ATTENTION – SCROOGES!

Tired of being accused of “Scroogeness” every Christmas? REDEEM YOURSELF AT MY WISHLIST!! Yes! Now is your chance to become a better person by buying me stuff at my Amazon.co.uk wishlist!! Just imagine experiencing the pleasure of giving, and giving generously.

Don’t be a Scrooge! C’mon! What are you waiting for!!!

HEADS UP IN THE FORUM FOR ALL AOL USERS!

Tomorrow is the deadline to switch out your AOL email address to something else. Like I have announced several times, due to the spam complaints from AOL members, I’m purging the system. IF YOU HAVE AN AOL EMAIL ADDRESS YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DEACTIVATED UNTIL THIS IS CHANGED!

Sorry, about that but AOL is pretty much a rogue outfit. Members who place Casinomeister email notifications into their trash or spam boxes cause these to be reported to our server.

So please, if you still have an AOL account listed as your primary email address in the forum switch it out with a Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or whatever email account. There is an active thread about the reasons behind this here.

NEWEST CASINOMEISTER MEMBER!!

Blackjackheaven has just come on board. And to celebrate, they are offering Casinomeister members an exclusive bonus ONLY FOR YOU!!

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Blackjack Heaven is offering all new customers from Casinomeister.com a 100% match bonus, up to a maximum of $100. The sign up bonus will be automatically credited into your pending bonus account when you deposit at least $20, and it can be used straight away! Ours is amongst the biggest and best online casino bonuses out there, and we have a great range of casino games you can try out using your free bonus cash.

Remember – all you have to do to claim your bonus is download the free Blackjack Heaven casino software, make a deposit of $20 or more and start playing the real money games. It’s never been easier to get free money!

Terms and conditions apply. Check them out here

Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here

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Sorry – No US

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For example: Buy �50 in casino chips – Play with �100!
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Check out some of their current promotions!

HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE MEISTER’S MALL?

Don’t be a dweeb and forget to get your Xmas shopping done on time. Meister’s Mall has been set up for our US members and those in the EU. There are a number of cool items you can get from Amazon – Casinomeister Picks, Poker paraphernalia, books on Vegas, casinos and slots. There are great DVDs to be had, and cool tunes some of which are featured on Casinomeister webcasts. Plus a whole mess of magazines subscriptions (US members) to choose from. Get that special poker buddy that special gift before you forget it’s almost Christmas.
You can check out the Meister Mall USA and Meister Mall EU.

And now for the humor…

LETTERS TO AND FROM THE JOLLY ELF

Dear Santa,
I wud like a kool toy space ranjur for Xmas. Iv ben a good boy all yeer.
YeR FReND, BiLLy

Dear Billy,
Nice spelling. You’re on your way to being a career lawn care specialist.
How ’bout I send you a book so you can learn to read and write? I’m giving
your older brother the space ranger, at least HE can spell!
Santa

Dear Santa,
I’ve written you for three years now asking for a fire truck.
Please, I really really want a fire truck this year!
Love, Joey

Dear Joey,
Let me make it up to you. While you sleep, I’m gonna torch your house.
You’ll have more fire trucks than you’ll know what to do with.
Santa

Dear Santa,
I left milk and cookies for you under the tree, and I left carrots for
your reindeer outside the backdoor.
Love, Susan

Dear Susan,
Milk gives me the craps and carrots make the deer fart in my face. You
want to be a kiss-ass? Leave me a glass of Chivas Regal and some
caviar.
Santa

Dear Santa,
What do you do the other 364 days of the year? Are you making toys?
Your friend, Thomas

Dear Thomas,
All toys get made in China. I have a condo in Vegas,
where I spend most my time squeezing cocktail waitresses asses,
and losing all my cash at the craps table. Hey, YOU wanted to know!
Santa

Dear Santa,
Do you see us when we’re sleeping, do you really know when we’re
awake, like in the song?
Love, Jessica

Dear Jessica,
You are that gullible? Good luck in whatever you do, I’m skipping your
house…
Santa

Dear Santa,
I really really want a puppy this year. Please please please PLEASE.
Timmy

Timmy,
That whiny begging stuff may work with your folks, but that crap don’t
work up here. You’re getting a sweater!
Santa

ho ho ho!

iMEGA Objects to Proposed UIGEA Regulations

Calls for Bipartisan Effort to Ensure �Digital Civil Rights�

(Washington, DC � December 13, 2007) � The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) announced today that it has filed its objections with the Department of Treasury over the agency�s proposed regulations regarding the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The new law, attached in the waning minutes of the 109th Congress to the unrelated Safe Ports Act with very little input from Members of Congress, is a misguided and potential harmful attempt to regulate Internet content.

iMEGA believes UIGEA and its proposed regulations establish a dangerous precedent for denying Americans� First Amendment rights; that it will stifle online innovation and commerce; that it will inadequately protect children by eliminating the established safeguards offered by banks and credit card companies; and that it will have a chilling effect on the privacy rights of Internet users. iMEGA has made asserting and safeguarding Americans� civil liberties in the online world part of their core mission.

�These proposed regulations will limit Americans� freedom to use the Internet as they see fit in the privacy of their own homes,� said Edward Leyden, President, iMEGA. �While UIGEA is intended to protect minors and problem gamblers, the law ironically makes these groups more vulnerable by targeting US banks and credit card companies, whose identity verification, fraud prevention and credit profiling systems protect online consumers every day.�

�How does this make children and problem gamblers safer?� Leyden asked. �The fact is, it does not, and is certainly not worth the trade-off in our First Amendment rights the law demands. This is a dangerous precedent that must be corrected to preserve our digital civil rights.�

iMEGA noted in its filing that it was alarmed by the agency�s refusal to define exactly what an �unlawful gambling transaction� is, and was equally alarmed that the required determination would be delegated on an ad hoc basis to the entity or person having a �customer relationship� with an Internet gaming concern.

In addition, the regulations would, if implemented, exert a chilling effect on Internet innovation by imposing unprecedented burdens on the financial system, and risk stifling the growth of electronic commerce.

�The Internet is indispensable to our economy and our freedom,� said Leyden. �We implore the Congress to join in a bipartisan effort to preserve Americans �Digital Civil Rights� and to enact legislation that will guaranty these rights and prevent future abuse.�

About iMEGA � The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA), a 501(c) 6 trade association, was founded in 2007 with the goal of working constructively and cooperatively with government at all levels, and other concerned citizens and corporations, to continue the remarkable growth of the Internet, and to promote innovation, openness and freedom as the path to even greater benefit of this medium for all. For more information, visit www.imega.org.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

18 December 2007 – Special Announcement!!

NEW CASINOMEISTER MEMBER!!

Bet365 has just come on board. Licensed in the United Kingdom – Casino Games – Poker & Sports!! 100% match bonus up to £100 FREE!!

Terms and conditions apply. Check them out here

Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here

Sorry – No US

US players get to read the news instead

CASINOMEISTER NEWS

WTO AGREEMENTS LATEST
Deal includes Canada and Japan, claims US Trade Representative; Costa Rica, India and Macau hang in 

Further news reports from Associated Press on the EU compensation deal with the United States over Internet gambling indicate that Canada and Japan have also folded their cards, although Costa Rica, Macau and India are holding on for a better deal. And there is still no news on the separate Antigua issue.

The United States Trade Representative spokesperson said Monday it has agreed to maintain concessions for companies from the European Union, Canada and Japan who want to do business in the U.S. so it can preserve its Internet gambling ban that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation.

The 27-nation EU said earlier in the day it had received trade concessions in mail services and warehousing as well as U.S. market opportunities for European companies offering testing and analysis services.

But the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the agreement did not open any new services to foreign competition.

“The agreement involves commitments to maintain our liberalized markets,” spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said, confirming the business sectors cited by Brussels.

EU officials had said the deal would affect how Germany’s DHL, the express and logistics division of Deutsche Post World Net AG, competes with U.S.-based companies FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc.

They said Washington also agreed to ease access to European providers of research and development in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and companies offering technical testing and analysis services.

A FedEx spokeswoman said it was unclear what the deal would mean to the Memphis-based courier. “We’re looking into this now,” said spokeswoman Sandra Munos.

In any case, the overall trade valuation of the package will fall far short of the $100 billion that European online gaming sites had claimed the United States owed. EU officials could not immediately say how much the deal was worth.

“This compensation cannot be quantified up to the euro,” the EU mission to the WTO said in an e-mailed statement. “Nonetheless, it is clear that new trade opportunities are created for EU service suppliers in important sectors in the U.S.”

Costa Rica, India and Macau are believed to be still holding out.

“We now enter a 45-day period in which the remaining claimants have a right to request arbitration,” Hamel said in an e-mailed statement. “We will continue to discuss this matter with the other claimants to explain how our proposal is consistent with our WTO obligations.”

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

Join the conversation here.

21 December 2007

Dear Reader,

It’s here – Xmas cheer!

Ho Ho Ho-ingly yours,

Bryan

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

XMAS CHEER

I just wanted to wish everyone a relaxing and cheerful holiday season. May the spirit be with you.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”
Ebenezer Scrooge
– A Christmas Carol, Charles DickensCheck out some of my favorite Christmas links:
Christmas SuperstitionsSnopes.com

We get nostalgic for Victorian Christmases. What did Victorians get nostalgic for? Find out at the Straight Dope 

Why do we celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25? Check it out here

Deck the halls with balls of fire: Why is it dangerous to burn wrapping paper?Check it out here

Merry Christmas, every one!”

ATTENTION – SCROOGES!

Tired of being accused of “Scroogeness” every Christmas? REDEEM YOURSELF AT MY WISHLIST!! Yes! Now is your chance to become a better person by buying me stuff at my Amazon.co.uk wishlist!! Just imagine experiencing the pleasure of giving, and giving generously.

Don’t be a Scrooge! C’mon! What are you waiting for!!!

NEW WEBCAST IS UP

Casinomeister’s Christmas special!

Grab yo’ self a hot cup o’ java and listen to this:

* Christmas Cheer!
Don’t have time to listen to this jovial jocularity while sitting in front of the computer? Hell – download it to your iPod (or other MP3 player), and you can listen to me and Vortran while at the mall: MP3 File Download For your iPods and other MP3 players.

To download the MP3 file: right click the link, then “save target as…”, then chose a place on your hard drive and save.

/webcast/

HEADS UP IN THE FORUM FOR AOL USERS!

If you are a forum member and still have an AOL email address, well – your account has been locked.

Please contact me to restore your account with a non-AOL email address. Thanks!

There is an active thread that suggests other free email addresses that are perfectly fine here.

NEWEST CASINOMEISTER MEMBER!!

Bet365 has just come on board. Licensed in the United Kingdom – Casino Games – Poker & Sports!! 100% match bonus up to £100 FREE!!

Terms and conditions apply. Check them out here

Any questions, be sure to PM their rep here

Sorry – No US

CASINOMEISTER ACCREDITED CASINOS AND POKER ROOMS

32Red Casino – clearly one of the best casinos ever – anywhere. If you’re not a member by now, now’s the time to join to see what you’ve been missing (of course unless you’re living in the US – sorry). Find out what the all the fuss is about here

Wild Jack Casino is offering an unbeatable 100-credit bonus with your first deposit! Plus, all players get 10% cash-back on deposits, for up to 250 bonus credits each month! Please read their terms and conditions

Lucky Nugget Online Casino! has an excellent promo – ?1000 FREE PLUS Buy ?50, Get ?50: Win as much as you can with a one hour, ?1000 FREE casino experience. PLUS get ?50 when you make a minimum deposit of ?50 (also available in $, C$, and ?). Check them out today here!
https://www.casinomeister.com 

DEAL OR NO DEAL – JACKPOTJOY IS HERE!! – NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO £100 FREE!

Jackpotjoy is offering a £100 Free! match bonus! If you are into Slots, Bingo, Chatrooms or Mobile Games, this is the place to be!!

Check out some of their current promotions!

HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE MEISTER’S MALL?

IT’S NOT TOO LATE!!!

Don’t be a dweeb and forget to get your Xmas shopping done on time. Meister’s Mall has been set up for our US members and those in the EU. There are a number of cool items you can get from Amazon – Casinomeister Picks, Poker paraphernalia, books on Vegas, casinos and slots. There are great DVDs to be had, and cool tunes some of which are featured on Casinomeister webcasts. Plus a whole mess of magazines subscriptions (US members) to choose from. Get that special poker buddy that special gift before you forget it’s almost Christmas.

And now for the humor…

7 Ways to be Annoying at Christmas

1. Sit in a corner in the fetal position rocking back and forth chanting, “Santa Claus is coming to town, Santa Claus is coming to town…”

2. Hang a stocking with your roommate’s name on it. Collect coal and sharp objects in it.

3. Paint your nose red and wear antlers. Constantly complain about how you never get to join in on the reindeer games.

4. Sing “All I want for Christmas is your two front teeth…”

5. Make anatomically correct gingerbread people and eat the best parts first.

6. Smoke mistletoe. Do what comes naturally.

7. Take some miniature marshmallows and put them in a little baggie. Attach a note to the bag that has a picture of a snow man and this poem:

‘You have been naughty, and here’s the scoop All you get is the snowman’s poop!’

Ho ho ho!