Online Casinos Directory

One thing the recession did was it made it difficult to expand.  Many casinos were in the midst of expansions and development when the economy first began going sour back in 2008.  Casino organizers are still struggling under debt and lenders are still tight-fisted with underwriting dollars. This is making it difficult, if not impossible, for the casino organizations to restructure or expand on the schedule they had hoped. Analysts are projecting that lenders are not going to change their tunes anytime soon either. They believe that lenders will continue to press casinos into making difficult decisions.

One casino that has worked its way through the difficult time, however, is the Tropicana. CEO Scott Butera said, “You can have a viable business if you have the appropriate capital structure. Bankruptcy allows you to get a second chance. There’s a huge advantage in being able to reduce debt.” The casino recently went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy and emerged successful. Initially through bankruptcy protection the Tropicana was able to eliminate almost $3 billion in debt and set itself up for positive cash flow once again.

A gaming analyst, Eric Browndorf, a partner in the law firm Cooper Levenson, said the gaming market is “painfully aware” of the current economy and of operators becoming less hesitant to try to restructure their debts either in bankruptcy court or out of it. He stated, “Unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcy filings have increased exponentially. Casinos operating all over the country are experiencing restructuring and Chapter 11. With supply increasing and demand waning, positive cash flow has been difficult to maintain.”

Butera also cautioned however, that bankruptcy has its negative aspects. He stated that while some casino operators take advantage of other companies who file. They make stringent efforts to steal customers when the struggling casino is down. Because the casino filing bankruptcy has no promotional budget, there is little to nothing they can counteract with. Butera added that the key to a successful bankruptcy involves preparing properly for the filing. Communicating effectively with your employees and customers about what you’re doing and getting as many agreements with creditors as possible, are all key to a successful bankruptcy action.

Online gambling is a huge market these days and showing no signs of future slow-downs. The market has exploded and although the recession wreaked havoc on industries worldwide, the online gaming market never suffered. In fact, it kept going despite economic indicators and has grown to an all time high.  Some where within the past few years people have see the convenience of online gaming. While they used to have to travel to their favorite land-based casinos for gambling, now it’s as easy as sitting by a computer or laptop and logging in. no longer do you have to travel, fight crowds, or even wait at cash cages. Convenience has made gambling one of the easiest pastimes to maintain.

When you first start to play online casino you get to know the differences between online casino gambling and land-based casino gambling. Online casino games give you same atmosphere as offline casinos. There are different chat rooms and social groups you can join. Every game has its own chat rooms where you can make new friends and share online gambling tips. The rules and regulations governing both forms of gambling are same but online casinos are more easily accessible. The best thing about these online gambling websites is that they give you the feel of real casino by designing the website similar to offline casino clubs. They employ best designers to create interesting designs so that casino players can play their game with same enthusiasm and interest. Developers and programmers did their best to replicate the gambling experience and bring all the small nuances of the game to your computer screen. Thanks to technology, it worked. To make the game more interesting, the websites provide hourly or daily rewards. You can also take part in weekly and monthly rewards. The weekly and monthly rewards are often higher than the daily ones but of all jackpots pay you maximum money. The rewards are great and the investment is very little. You can initially play with very small amounts and as you gain confidence and acquire skills you can start betting for more and can make great extra money for yourself. It’s a great way to have fun and win extra cash.

Links Magazine recently named Barona Creek Gold Club at Barona Resort & Casino as one of the 10 Best Casino Golf Courses in the country. The magazine noted the best risk and reward holes of top drivable par 4s and reachable par 5s. Barona Creek’s 14th hole, a par 4 at 310-yards, was recognized among the top courses.  Don King, executive director of golf operations at the casino stated, “We are honored to be part of such an elite list of recognizable golf courses that are well-respected around the country. This ranking is a testament to the vision of the Barona Tribe and to each of our staff members that strive to deliver a unique Barona moment to every player on our golf course.”

One notable asset to Barona Creed is their 14^th hole. It’s known nationwide for its downwind play on a heavily bunkered green. This gives all players, even novices, the chance at a good par. Of the list on Link’s Top Ten other casino/golf courses that rated were:

• Atlantic City Country Club, Northfield, NJ
• Cascata, Boulder City, Nevada
• Circling Raven Golf Club, Worley, Idaho
• Fallen Oak Golf Club, Saucier, Mississippi
• Grand Bear Golf Course, Saucier, Mississippi
• Journey at Pechanga, Temecula, California
• Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nevada
• We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, Fort McDowell, Arizona
• Wilderness at Fortune Bay, Tower, Minnesota

Barona Resort and Casino made number one as a 7,400-yard par 72 golf course with a beautiful landscaped area. It offers multiple sets of tees for players of any experience level. The course has also been lauded for its “green” initiatives. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and San Diego Earthworks have both noted the casino golf course’s strides in the industry. In the past two years it has won the J.D. Power and Associates Award for the “Highest in Satisfaction in the Southern California Indian Casino Gaming Experience” in the J.D. Power and Associates Southern California Indian Gaming Casino Satisfaction Study. Barona Resort & Casino blends the best of San Diego’s most elegant resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. Barona is San Diego’s leading destination resort featuring 400 luxury guest rooms and suites, 11 award-winning dining options, the Ambience Day Spa, a full-service events center and the 18-hole championship Barona Creek Golf Club. The casino boasts over 1,000 slots and a wide variety of gambling fun for any gambler—novice or experienced.  Check out Barona Resort and Casino and see for yourself how much this location has to offer.

There really is not a way to shoot for any time frame sooner then 2012 experts concluded. Penn National will own and operate the two casinos for Toledo and Columbus and will put about $600 million into them. Developers are hoping for 2,000 to 5,000 slot machines and anywhere from 50 to 100 table games to be available in each facility. Gaming analyst David Katz said, “Although we expect legal challenges and market infrastructure to take 24 months, the development is bullish for Penn.” Penn National, a racetrack and regional casino giant, bankrolled the campaign in support of the referendum, along with Gilbert, who is the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans. They hoped for the move to help the company form its brand in the state via the new casino projects.

The state of Ohio is giving licenses to each facility at a price tag of $50 million and a minimum investment of $250 million per location. The tax rate on gaming revenues will be 33 percent. In spite of the huge license fees and investment requirements needed, many analysts believe that the resort-style casinos in Ohio are a sure fire hit. “The passage is a positive for Penn and for the equipment companies as it opens up a new market,” Susquehanna Financial Group gaming analyst Robert LaFleur said. Several analysts, including Katz and Janney Montgomery Scott’s Brian McGill, said the casinos’ opening could add up to $5 a share to Penn’s stock price and investors agree. Shares of Penn National have already went up as much as 10% on the NASDAQ and closed at $28.19, which is up 7.6% or just short of $2 per share.

Industry insiders are saying that Penn National could possibly be tasked with opening the two other facilities in Cincinnati and Cleveland also. Macquarie Securities gaming analysts Joel Simkins said, “Clearly, we believe this is a home run for Penn National, but we believe there could be even more incremental opportunities in a potential management contract with Gilbert’s properties, given his lack of experience in casino operations.”  If Penn National is called in to develop all four casinos this could be great news for the company and for the state of Ohio if it is successful.

Ohio voters have spoken and in a 53 to 47% vote they have decided to support the building of one casino in each of the state’s four largest cities—Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus. The vote that happened last week reversed over two decades of opposition to allowing legalized gambling in the state.  In fact, residents rejected the proposition of the four casinos on four different occasions in previous years. It was anyone’s guess if the referendum would go through this year and fortunately for casinos, it did.

Analysts believe that things are different this vote because people are seeing the economy and looking for things that could reinvigorate it. Namely, the casinos were presented to the public as a way to 1) bring more money into the economy due to tourism, 2) bring more tax revenue dollars to the state government and 3) create more jobs. One analyst Carl Petro of Baird and Warner, stated, “How can you not really weigh out the benefits of creating over 30,000 full and part-time jobs in an economy that is sorely lagging?” Petro is referring to heavy campaigning casino operators did prior to the referendum where “34,000 full and part-time jobs” was the key tagline. Whether voters saw advertisements in print, on billboards or on TV, the job prospects were number one in focus. Petro added, “The Ohio casino operators know that there is an unemployment rate upwards of 10% now and so does the voting public.”

The state of Ohio is facing a huge deficit and unemployment numbers that are among the highest in the nation. Referendum backer Dan Gilbert, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, said, “This is not going to be a savior by any means, but it’s another brick wall.” He was referring to the problems with construction. The set date for the four casinos to open is some time in 2012. That gives opponents of the casinos plenty of time to rile up their own forces and explore legal challenges or introduce additional referendums to replace part of the measure. Although the vote was in favor of casinos, like Petro stated, “It wasn’t a landslide, though. The vote was separated by a mere 6%.” 

Part two coming next.

Casinos in Ohio are hopeful that gamblers will continue to bring money into their operations. The state is going through a lot of changes as of late due to four casinos looking for the ok to begin operations. There are four major cities looking to build casinos and unfortunately the existing facilities are worried.

The Mountaineer is one facility that has bee in the area for a number of years now. It offers full service gaming including slots, poker, baccarat and various table games.  There is also the race track in the northern West Virginia panhandle that is just an hour from Ohio gambling.  Both are in precarious positions now because they are worried about the state of the gaming economy. Numbers have been down since the recession first began and they have yet to resume normal operations.  Richard O’Brien, patron of the casino stated, ”To a certain degree Mountaineer will lose. If the [new clientele] thinks the new casinos are comparable, they will stay.” O’Brien’s sentiment could be true. Unfortunately for the Mountaineer the new casinos are set to be top-notch in gaming and luxury.  The state is hoping to bring in much-needed revenue with premiere gaming facilities that serve gamers and offer them the casino-feel they want. 

On the other hand, some believe that the casinos will lose out on customers. Marty Deak another gamer who was within walking distance of the Mountaineer believes that the casino will suffer but only “in the beginning because everyone will be curious” about the casinos to be built in Ohio’s four largest cities after Tuesday’s passage of a constitutional amendment allowing gambling. Deak believes that patrons will go back to their own casino because it is what they are familiar with. He added, “Slots players know exactly where the slots they want are located. They don’t want to go back to searching and learning a new layout.”

Spokesperson for the Wheeling Island race track Kim Florence stated, “Overall, it’s too early to speculate on the market impact – based on the fact there is opposition and proposed amendments that could come into play. We do feel in Ohio it will take a couple of years to get up and running. During that time, we will continue to focus on our business plans and focus on the Ohio market – as we’ve always intended to do. Pennsylvania and Ohio are our core audiences, and we will take advantage of any time we might have as this unfolds. We will continue to monitor efforts to build casinos in Ohio. As this unfolds, we will plan accordingly.”

GoWild Casino originally launched last year. In a year the casino has become one of the leading online casinos due to their outstanding and unique gaming experience and singular approach to online gaming. James Lloyds, head of the accounting department of the company, stated, “We know that there are a lot of choices when it comes to online gambling so we’ve done everything we can to make sure our site is the best choice. Players can choose from more than 400 games, including cards, roulettes and slot machines where the prizes are sky high! Every new player is welcomed with our exclusive Wild Welcome Package, where players can enjoy a huge casino welcome bonus in addition to free spins on our spectacular  slot machine as well as an exclusive casino tournament invitation, for a chance to win over 5000 Euros.”

GoWild casino is just another example of how far online casinos have to go these days to set themselves apart from the masses. A few short years ago basic websites were enough. They had a few games and offered moderate payouts but still had customers clamoring for their services. In today’s market that is no longer the case.

Gaming online today is high quality. Technology has built itself to a point where outstanding gaming is needed to attract new customers and maintain old ones.  A website has to have a myriad of benefits. They include:

·         Excellent game variety including styles, denomination requirements, payouts, themes and overall look

·         Unique games that set it apart from competitors

·         Outstanding bonuses including welcome bonuses, loyalty bonuses, and referral bonuses

·         Large payout potential on all games—not just progressives

·         A full-service slots room with 3, 5 and 7-reel games that offer bonus games, free spins and specials

·         Easily-reachable customer service department that offer an 800 number, email support and live chat

·         Secure servers with encryption and an air-tight privacy policy

·         Interactive graphics, sound and animations

·         Progressive games with large payouts

·         Tournaments that involve all types of gaming

·         Bonuses throughout game play

Although this sounds like a lot, every good casino online will have something from each point to offer its customers. If the online casino you are gaming at doesn’t, search around. You are sure to find a few that offer all of these things and then some.