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Online bookmaker Bodog will be offering odds during East Enders’ live show when they reveal who killed Archie Mitchell. Currently Bodog has Sean as the 2-to-1 favorite but the website will continue to take bets on the outcome as the show progresses. This type of betting is becoming more and more popular in sports, but hasn’t yet been tested in the world of soap operas. Soap operas have long been followed by the adoring public and it only makes sense that they move into the world of gambling. Especially with shows like East Enders that are taking their performances live. In fact, East Enders are making the show live on Friday, February 19^th. The event makes it even more of an emotionally charged event when fans tune in to watch. They are going to hopefully be excited to invest not just emotionally, but monetarily, in the show.

Managing Director for Bodog Europe Keith McDonnell, said: “Betting is no longer just about football and horseracing with odds offered on Big Brother, the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent but to be betting live on a soap opera is taking it to a new level. Hat’s off to the producers of EastEnders – it is a huge undertaking to do a show like that live and we hope we will be adding some spice to it as the odds change on different characters while the plot thickens.”

This means that fans can have fun betting not only on the big question of “Who did it?” but also on the show as it progresses. Not only is that good news for bookmakers like Bodog, but also for TV shows who can lock in their viewers on an additional emotional edge. Along the lines of “American Idol” TV shows are trying to captivate their audiences with an emotional investment to bring them back to the show again and again. By coupling up with bookmakers, TV shows are building an additional draw. Because programming is so competitive these days, producers need as many advantages as they can get. The coupling should be a good one though for both bookmakers and TV.

Dealers at the Wynn Las Vegas have to wait a little longer before the official ruling on their tip-pooling is handed down. It won’t be until mid-May that the decision will be made as to whether or not the tip-pooling policy breaks state labor laws. Attorneys for the casino have asked the Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tancheck for more time to file briefs in the case. They are hoping that the additional briefs will delay Tancheck’s decision. A ruling was first planed for last January, but Tancheck pushed back the decision.

Back in December Tancheck decided that he needed more time to review the issue. Initially he was given 55 hours of testimony to base his decision on. He pushed the decision back to April because he was hoping to give himself enough time to hear the full argument and make an informed decision. Hearings on the Wynn tip-pooling policy began in July and concluded in October. Wynn dealers are asking Tanchek to find that the resort’s new tip policy violates state labor laws. They are asking him to award about 500 dealers $35 million in back pay and penalties.

Attorneys for Wynn have maintained that the tip policy complies with state laws. They said the resort’s tip-sharing policy allowing front-line resort employees to share dealers’ tips is comparable to a restaurant sharing tips between busboys, bartenders and waiters. Attorneys for both sides have said any decision by Tanchek will be appealed, probably to Clark County District Court, where dealers first challenged the policy in 2006. It is proving to be a long-standing battle and even if the casino gets their ruling, they most likely will still have to win other legal battles. The issue is akin to bartenders, busboys and waiters and their sharing in the tipping when it comes to restaurants. Legislators however are citing one difference: they aren’t at gambling facilities. That one distinction is putting many laws to the test—now is the time that all gambling laws and inner-workings are being gone over with a fine toothed comb.  The reason is because as a nation the US is coming quickly upon legalizing and regulating gambling

ESPN announced that it will be broadcasting 16 hours of the Poker Stars North American Poker Tour, or NAPT. The second leg of the series will be held at the Venetian in La Vegas from February 20^th through the 24^th. It is going to start the ESPN2’s taped coverage on April 19^th. The first leg is the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. That happened in January of this year and will be televised in May. The NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event will be held at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut from April the 7^th through the 11^th and ESPN will broadcast this event in May.

Danien Negreanu, spokesman for ESPN said, “Having the North American Poker Tour on ESPN2 is going to take poker on this continent to a different level.” Poker is a growing hobby for the American public. It started off at a much smaller popularity. The WSOP for example was a team of six people when it first began over 30 years ago. Over the years it has grown to a worldwide tournament where millions of players take their shot at winning big. The winner this year walked away with over $7 million in prizes. It’s a testament to how popular poker has grown in the gambling community. Not only have millions of people gathered to play but corporate sponsors have been jumped on its popularity. The WSOP sees hundreds of corporate sponsors these days and is broadcast as a main event by ESPN.

ESPN’s broadcast schedule for the event will be:

April 19: Venetian $25,000 high-roller bounty shootout (9-11 p.m. ET)
April 26: Venetian $25,000 high-roller bounty shootout (9 p.m. ET)
April 26: Venetian $5,000 main event (10 p.m. ET)
May 3: Mohegan Sun shootout (9-11 p.m. ET)
May 10: Mohegan Sun shootout (9 p.m. ET)
May 10: Mohegan Sun $5,000 main event (10 p.m. ET)
May 17: Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 high-roller (9-11 p.m. ET)

The event will be hosted by Joanna Krupa, model and actress. Overall poker enthusiasts are excited about the event and looking forward to bringing a new notoriety of the hobby to the masses. For anyone interested in poker, this is a great event to participate in and get accustomed to the tournament play with.

Kansas Entertainment, a joint venture of Penn National Gaming and Speedway Development Corporation, announced that it is ready to receive final approval under the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission to proceed in developing a Hollywood-based casino. The casino will be at Turn2 at Kansas Speedway. In 2009 the Unified Government of Kansas City and Wyandotte County approved the project and Kansas Entertainment, which successfully negotiated a management agreement with the Kansas Lottery Commission. That agreement was next approved by the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board. Kansas Entertainment plans to begin construction of the facility during the middle of 2010 with a planned opening in the first half of 2012.

Peter M. Carlino, Chief Executive Officer of Penn National said, “Today’s approval formally cements our role in the Wyandotte County community and we are excited to begin working alongside our partner, International Speedway Corporation, and with local businesses to construct a distinctive, first-class entertainment facility and destination resort. Kansas Entertainment is committed to the long-term economic growth of Wyandotte County and the state of Kansas and we believe the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway will be a growth engine bringing over 1,700 construction jobs, over 1,000 full time jobs and significant additional economic benefits to the Kansas City region. We are grateful to the Unified Government of Kansas City and Wyandotte County, the Kansas Lottery Commission, the Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board and the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, for their assistance and their support of our plans as we embark on the creation of Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway.”

The $386 million phase one development of Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway includes a 100,000-square-foot casino floor with capacity for 2,300 slot machines and 86 table games, a high-energy lounge and a variety of dining and entertainment options. Kansas Entertainment’s plans include additional phases, which include building a hotel, expanded gaming space, a spa, convention center and an entertainment retail district to Kansas Speedway, pending market demands. Pursuant to the terms of the joint venture, Kansas Speedway Development Corporation contributed 101 acres at Kansas Speedway for the development of the new facility. Penn National Gaming and International Speedway Corporation will equally share the full project development costs.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team held off a man suspected of robbing the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino. The many allegedly entered the casino last month with a gun and took thousands of dollars from a cashier near the casino’s poker room. It was January 29^th when the crime allegedly occurred in the early morning hours.  A spokesman for the Seminole Tribe said that surveillance video of the suspect was released to the Broward Crime Stoppers unit. The suspect was wearing a Hawaiian shirt under a black knit top.  The description was specific due to an intricate system of videotaping the casino has on its floor.

This was just one of the concerns casinos have these days. With the growing number of gamblers and places to gamble, inevitably there will be a rise in crime. Officials who are opposed to gambling are citing the potential growth in crime as a main concern when it comes to legalizing and regulating gambling—both in land-based casinos and online. It’s one of the main concerns of legislators. They believe that the rise in crime and corruption will bring problems to unsuspecting neighborhoods and without some safeguards to fight them, communities will be helpless to fight against the issues. It could move in on communities and bring move people into illegal activities. Legislators against gambling cite the young and the elderly as the main targets and the most vulnerable and need to be protected through legislation.

Along with the FBI and the US Secret Service, the Seminole police located the suspect’s house in the 5600 block of Northeast Second Terrace on Monday. The BSO Swat team surrounded the house and everyone was instructed to go outside the house. There were gunshots inside the home and the neighborhood was evacuated. The SWAT team used tear gas and various other tools to get the man to surrender. They included loudspeakers, and electronic devices. At 9:30pm, SWAT members confirmed that the man was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The investigation is still going to be reviewed but for most it is a complete issue because of the man’s admission of the crime.

Resorts World Sentosa is anticipating a dip in patronage coming after a big opening. The holiday is over this weekend after three long days of hard-partying and fun celebrating the Lunar New Year. Thus far, there have been over 40,000 people visiting the Sentosa casino and that was great news for businesses.  Throughout play, the most popular games were baccarat, roulette, pontoon and blackjack. Over 6,000 people tried their luck in the casino and walked away with varying degrees of success when it came to payouts. Overall it was a successful weekend of fun following the Lunar New Year. 

VP of Resorts World Sentosa Krist Boo said, “We had to turn away some of the customers on the first day because they came in slippers. So the dress code for the casino, as with a lot of world-class casinos, is no slippers, no signlets and no shorts.” There were initial problems with the opening and the rules had to be laid down clearly for patrons new to the casino world. Boo said that postings of rules will be more prominent in coming weeks of operations to avoid any further complications. She added, “So, we realized that some of the customers are not aware that the signs have been posted outside the casino. Yesterday, we started putting up more signage to inform the customers to come in proper attire.”

Said one visitor to the casino: “It’s very slow, I don’t see a lot of Singaporeans also. They are still at a learning stage and they made a number of mistakes.” Ms Boo added, “Mainly our croupiers are new to the industry. They started training as early as August last year so they have been training for quite a while. But nothing beats the real thing. So, when the casino opens, many are learning on the job.”
Resorts World Sentosa said it would take some time for the croupiers to gain experience and they are working hard educate and train their workers. It may take some time to bring them up to speed, but the casino operators are fully invested in bringing excellent gaming to their customers.

An interesting study showed some illogical results. Recently a study was done about addiction and it found that of all addictions, including heroin and crack, gambling is the one with the highest suicide rate among sufferers. Jane Eigner Mintz, an addiction therapist, said, “A gambling addict will create so much damage that they will figure their families will be better off with them dead. Death is the ultimate bailout.”

Much of the debate depends on the vote in November to decide what is going to happen. The study found that when Casino Windsor o9pened its location in 1994 and its Gambling Helpline announced a substantial increase in calls and people in crisis since that time. Denise Philips, therapist in the state, said, “By the time I meet with them, they have reached a state of desperation.”  It’s a difficult time for the market because many legislators need to use gambling as a means of bringing in added revenues. But, with the increase in addiction and problems otherwise accustomed to the game, it is going to be a difficult thing for the state to manage.

Critics of gambling say that it will inevitably bring in an increased number of addictions to deal with and without the necessary safeguards built into the system from teh ground up, it may be difficult to play catch-up later down the road. Now that there is some formal investigation into the issue and confirmation that an increase in gambling does increase addiction, some people may be more willing to at least explore the legalization process. Rather than looking at gambling as purely a money-making activity, legislators are hopefully looking at the issue. They want to know how prevalent addictions will get as the gambling industry is legalized and regulated and as more and more people start participating in them, how will the state legislators manage. This is a crucial question for people to ask. And a crucial question for legislators to consider before they immediately jump to legalize and regulate gambling online. It sounds like a lot of money to be had by the state, but they can’t be blindsided by it. They have to be aware of the ramifications of having gambling enter individual states.

Some interesting news in the world of gambling happened recently. Harrah’s Entertainment announced its approval to buy-out Planet Hollywood. The Gaming Control board announced their approval of the deal that calls for Harrah’s to acquire $306 million in debt at a discounted price of under $70 million and to assume the remaining $554 million debt to gain ownership of the hotel-casino. Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said that there are over 40 gaming companies in the state of Nevada that are currently seeking bankruptcy protection. He said that without Harrah’s it is possible that Planet Hollywood may have fallen into the same fate to survive the hard-hitting recession. He said, “The acquisition of Planet Hollywood makes a lot of sense for Harrah’s and it’s a benefit for the state.”

Marilyn Winn, president of Harrah’s, will also assume a management role at Planet Hollywood. She and Tom Jenkin, president of Harrah’s western division, outlined plans to increase revenues for the casinos. Jenkin said Harrah’s will assume the company will take over operation of restaurants, entertainment and nightclub at Planet Hollywood. He said the present entertainment group has not been able to provide quality entertainment. “We can do that.” So far, the Miss America Pageant was staged in January at Planet Hollywood and the Miss USA contest will be held in May. Harrah’s also will promote movie premiers at the hotel casino.

Along with the news there is some bad news too. During the announcement, the officials also said that they plan on cutting about 5% of the current workforce at Planet Hollywood. That’sbad news for the thousands who are currently employed there. There are approximately 2,300 people employed there now and cutting some of them is the worse news the economy could get right now. The unemployment rate is high—it’s at an average of 10% nationwide and much higher in some more depressed areas. Some jobs are never coming back and that could cause a problem for the huge amount of people looking for employment these days. Only time will tell what is going to happen with the jobless rate, jobs and how Harrah’s and Planet Hollywood are going to regroup for the future.

Opponents of gambling cite the rise in crime, corruption and addiction as the primary reasons why they are fighting against legalization and regulation of the hobby. They believe that if gambling is brought into pubs and local bars in neighborhood areas, inevitably it will bring crime with it. Recently there was an incident that confirmed their fears. At the Paris Las Vegas casino a man was accused of counting cards. Now, the man is banned from the casino but is taking officials to court to fight the ban.

In the lawsuit filed this week in Clark County District Court, Steven Silverstein claims Nevada law prevents Harrah’s from denying him access to the company’s casinos. The suit claims he was banned from Harrah’s western region casinos in September. On Sept. 6, 2009, four uniformed men approached Silverstein at the blackjack table where he was playing at Paris Las Vegas, according to the lawsuit. The men demanded Silverstein leave the blackjack table and follow them to the cashier’s cage, where he was told to cash in his gambling chips. Silverstein then was approached by the Paris casino manager, who told him “We don’t want you coming to our hotel or, for that matter, any of our hotels,” the lawsuit claims.

The casino manager then told Silverstein he would be arrested if he entered any Harrah’s-owned or -operated properties, and was physically escorted out of the casino, according to the suit. In a five-page letter to Harrah’s Chief Executive Gary Loveman on Sept. 22, 2009, Silverstein detailed his version of the incident and claims that it was a classic case of “mistaken identity.” Harrah’s Vice President for Legal Affairs Mark Dunn responded to the letter and informed Silverstein that he was indefinitely banned from 16 of Harrah’s western region casinos.

Now Silverstein is claiming discrimination and cites another group that was accused of counting cards, but still “has the right to go in and out of casinos as he pleases.” It is a difficult time and the man has a hefty battle in front of him if he is expecting to mak ethe move and defend himself from further problems.

One of the most fun games to find in any casino is blackjack. The game is sometimes called “Twenty-one” or “Pontoon.” The game is played with a standard American 52-deck card. The basic rules of the game involve adding the value of an initial two card hand in hopes of being dealt a value of twenty-one. If a value of less than twenty-one is dealt, the player may choose to be dealt single cards until they either reach a value of twenty one, reach a value they feel comfortable to play, or reach a value that exceeds twenty-one. The winner holds a hand with a value of, or nearest to, twenty-one without exceeding it. The game is played in many variations at casinos with different table rules.

Blackjack is one of the most popular games around and many people are eager to get into the world of online gambling. This is probably due to the fact that players can accumulate a very sizeable amount of money with relatively little gambling required. At bet365 casino it’s now becoming even easier! They are launching its popular Blackjack Bonanza on February 6th with a very generous prize pool of $5,000 awaiting players. That’s a great amount of money and can help any player to motivate themselves into playing to win. It’s a great bonus and even novice blackjack players should give it a shot

The great thing about the Bet365.com website’s blackjack game is that players up to the 200th position on the leaderboard still win. Plus, for every $10 that’s wagered you’ll receive a comp point. Whoever has the most comp points is the winner. You really should take a look at some online blackjack strategy page to make sure you have the upper hand on other players that are taking part. Bet365’s Casino offering really is great, it’s very clean cut and very well organised, running on Playtech’s software this site really can’t go wrong. There are several different variations of blackjack available to play. New members are entitled to a 100% first deposit match bonus worth up to $200. It’s a great bonus and a great website. If you are looking for a new online casino to take advantage of, then check out Bet365.com on your next gaming session. You’ll see for yourself how much this website has to offer.