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Archive for July, 2011

Most Beautiful Casinos in the World

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

What makes a casino truly beautiful? After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and what appeals to one gambler may be a big yawn for the next. However, there are some casinos across the world that simply have that wow factor. Whether it’s the architecture of the casino, the thought put in to its building, the materials used or all of these together, somehow you just know that you’ve stepped into one of the world’s top casinos when you visit for the first time.

These are a couple of my favorites, in no particular order.

Sun City, South Africa

I don’t know whether it’s the exciting merger of ancient African tradition with the last word in gambling and entertainment, but South Africa’s Sun City just ‘does’ it for me. The resort, which boasts two amazing casinos , is not considered the gaming Mecca of Africa for nothing! Sun City is situated alongside a nature reserve where you can go out and see the Big Five when you feel like a gambling respite, while the casinos also feature no less than 35 restaurants – so that you’ll never go hungry!

The Venetian, Las Vegas, US

Yes, I know there are plenty of casinos in Las Vegas, but somehow I always go back to the Venetian, even if it’s just to visit on my frequent trips to Vegas. The stunning decor and the feeling that I’m walking down an Italian plaza whenever I step through the doors of this hotel-casino makes The Venetian one of the top gambling destinations in the world, and a firm favorite among top poker pros.

Casino Baden, Germany

If you want a gambling experience that’s steeped in history, with amazing architecture to match, then this stunning 250 year old casino is the place to play. The different gambling rooms are named after real people who featured in our history books, making the experience even more unique.

Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia

Daryl Jackson did an incredible job designing Australia’s most famous casino, and you’ll be blown away by the fountains, the atrium and the lighting – and that’s even before you discover the super casino floor with the last word in slot machines and table games!

Tags: Casinos, Las Vegas
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Fruit Machine Medley

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Fruit machines are another word for a variant of slot machines that are often found in amusement arcades, pubs and casinos , and are especially popular in the United Kingdom. While fruit machines first found their popularity at offline locations, it wasn’t very long that they migrated online and they are also an important part of any good online casino‘s repertoire of games today. Fruit machines are such a well known form of entertainment that they are very much part of mainstream society. This can clearly be seen in the mention of fruit machines in popular films, books and songs.

One of the best known gambling songs about fruit machines was sung by the Ting Tings, simply entitled Fruit Machine.

The lyrics are as follows – enjoy!

You keep playing me like a fruit mach-ine
Puttin’ in change systematically
Winning streak that you had over me
It’s turned into your broken tragedy

Turn your pockets out onto the street
Now you see you’ve spent it all on me!
You see my true colors out of sink
Now your skin is a pair of sympathies

You’ve hit the bottom one hundred times before
Now feel the fever as I leave you wanting more
You thought you could turn and walk away
Taking chances that weren’t yours to take

When I don’t think so my foolish boy
Watch the next one taking all the joy
Hold me, nudge me, spinning me around
Where’s the money?
Can’t hear the clicking!

Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching

You keep playing me like a fruit mach-ine
Overstretch your gen-er-o-si-ty
For our band, it’s leading you astray

The little we had…
You’ve thrown it all away!

Go! Go! Go! (Yeah you’re on a role)
Go! Go! Go! (Yeah you’re on a low)
Go! Go! Go!

You find it hard to stop it yeah
You’re running like a steam train
Oh I like the way that you do that
Where’s the money?
Can’t hear the clicking!

Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching

Go!

[Instrumental]

You-keep-play-ing-me-like-a-fruit-mach-ine
You-keep-play-ing-me-like-a-fruit-mach-ine
You-keep-play-ing-me-like-a-fruit-mach-ine
You-keep-play-ing-me-like-a-fruit-mach-ine

Ker-ching, Ker-ching, oh!
Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching

Oh, you find it hard to stop it yeah
You’re running like a steam train

Ker-ching, Ker-ching
Ker-ching, Ker-ching

You-keep-playing-me-like-a-fruit-mach-ine!

Tags: fruit machine, gambling song
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Bookie Found Alive 30 Years After Being Declared Dead

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

I had to share this story about a guy who was believed to be dead for over 30 years – only to resurface in Las Vegas working as a bookie under a false name. The story began in 1979 when Arthur Gerald Jones, a bookie by trade, got into financial difficulties and was even forced to sell his seat at the Board of Trade. This is some speculation that he got caught up with the Mob and had no choice but to disappear. On the day that he disappeared, he told his wife and three young kids that he was going out on an errand – and never returned. The police investigated the case for a while, but when no concrete evidence turned up after several years, he was declared dead by an Illinois court in 1986 so that his wife and family could receive some form of compensation.

It turns out that two weeks before his disappearance, Jone’s best friend arranged for him to receive false identity papers. He then used a number of aliases and identity documents while living in California, Florida and Nevada. Police believe that what prompted Jones to pull a disappearing act – besides his gambling debts and marital problems – is the fact that several weeks before he went undercover, his best friend was murdered, presumably by the mob, in his Inverness home. The fear that this might happen to him, and endanger his children, prompted Jones to make his final decision.

In the thirty odd years since his disappearance, Jones has made a fresh start relationship wise, and has been with the same partner for 22 years. Patricia Baal is supporting him, and it is still unclear whether she knew that he was hiding a murky past or not.

Last week, Jones was arrested after it was discovered that he was working as a bookie under a false name in Las Vegas. He now faces four felony counts related to identity theft and fraud. A plea deal has been offered that will allow him to stand trial for just one charge of ID theft, and he has already posted bail for $20,000.

Tags: bookie, Las Vegas
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The Highest Toilet in Vegas: The Stratosphere Casino!

Sunday, July 24th, 2011

If you’ve found yourself in the embarrassing situation of needing the bathroom, with no public cubicles in sight, you probably don’t care where you go. But if you’re planning a trip to Vegas, you may want to do the ultimate kitsch thing and make it a point of using the highest bathroom in Vegas – at the top of the Stratosphere Vegas Hotel and Casino.

First of all make sure that you actually don’t need the bathroom when you plan your visit, because getting to the top takes quite a bit of time! After parking your car, you’ll need to make your way to the center of the casino without being distracted by the loose slot machines and tempting table games along the way. You’ll then stand in line to purchase an admission ticket to make your way to the observation deck which, at 1149 feet, is the highest spot west of the Mississippi. After you’ve bought your admission ticket, you’re ready for a ride up in the world famous Stratosphere elevators – which are not for the fainthearted! However, even before getting to these elevators, you need to pass through a mall, where you’ll be tempted with typical Vegas souvenirs, lots of fast food options and more. Be ready to risk another 20 minutes of your time getting through the mall to the elevators.

Once you’ve passed through a security check point, the ride up to the top of the tower is indeed thrilling and although it only takes 30 seconds, you’ll be glad that you did it. Then you’re ready to step out onto the observation deck – a 360 degree mammoth, which provides an incredible view of Las Vegas and beyond the city in all their glory. By this time, you may have forgotten your objective – to use the highest bathrooms in Vegas. Between you and me, these bathrooms aren’t exactly the height of luxury – pun intended. They’re small and slightly run down, with no major wow factor that you’d expect from the highest toilets in Vegas. But don’t worry, because if you really need to use them by now, they’ll do just fine for the intended purpose!

Tags: Casino, stratosphere, vegas
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More Fun Facts about Gambling

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

OK, I’m on a roll! After bringing you some super interesting facts about Nevada recently, I thought I’d bring you part two – this time about gambling!

Did you know that….

Nearly forty million people visit Las Vegas every single year.
In Ancient Greece, winners of sporting contests were awarded celery as prizes. These were also carried by marathon runners to show their competence.
Also in Ancient Greece, dice were made out of materials such as sheep shoulder blades and ankle bones.
Football may be considered a reasonably high risk contact sport today, but it’s not as bad as it was back in 1905. In that year, no less than 19 players died in high school and college competitions.
The lights of Vegas are always a talking point and one must wonder how much electricity is spent by top hotels each month. One interesting point is that the marquees of fifty of the biggest casinos and hotels in Vegas use enough electricity to power one thousand average households in the United States!
The Las Vegas Strip is officially a scenic byway. According to the panel who gave the strip this title, the many interesting images along the way, such as the city’s glitzy lights, erupting volcanoes and pyramids make it a ‘culturally enriching’ view and therefore deserves to be called a scenic byway.
No patent has ever been taken out on a gambling machine in Nevada.
In 1973, the racehorse Secretariat made media history by appearing on the front cover of three prestigious magazines – Newsweek, Times and Sports Illustrated.
In 1966 , Howard Hughes, the erratic aviator and film director moved into the Desert Inn Hotel and began his infamous stay at the institution, until he was asked by management to leave two years later because of his weird behavior. Hughes decided that he would rather stay put than move and so he promptly bought up the hotel instead.
There are so many slot machines in Vegas that there are around eight or nine per inhabitant of the city.

If you have any interesting facts about gambling, I’d be happy to hear about them!

Tags: gambling facts
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Software Diversity at Online Casinos

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Many times, I’ve been so enamored by a certain online casino software group, that I will actively seek out other sites that are powered by that same software company. This is especially true for casinos that work off the Microgaming or Playtech platforms, for instance, because I know that I am getting my money’s worth when it comes to top games, tight security and great customer support.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed an interesting trend. Some online casinos aren’t sticking to the traditional ‘one casino – one software provider’ model. Instead, they offer games from a wide range of software giants, picking the best titles from each portfolio and making them available to their players. Virgin Casino, one of the best UK casinos, is a good example of an online casino that has opted to take the best titles from a number of software groups, ensuring that every single game is top notch and exactly what its players are expecting in terms of entertainment and rewards.

Other online casinos have stuck to their own software groups, but have been willing to add a select amount of titles from other groups. Microgaming’s QuickFire brand was launched especially to meet the needs of online casinos who didn’t want to do away altogether with their software providers, but also wanted to include some of Microgaming’s top titles in order to present their players with a wider range of games.

There are plenty of advantages to using software from different providers in order to build a games portfolio on the site. For one, like Virgin Casino aims to do, players are are being provided with the best games from each provider. Let’s face it, even Microgaming, with a games suite of over 500 titles, can’t get it right every time. By taking only the best offerings, casinos are able to ensure that their collection of games is truly the very best. It also allows casinos to customize their sites to suit their particular market of players – for example, games that are good for the Asian market, or games that are more appealing to women.

If you like the idea of diversity at an online casino, check out the different options available today.

Tags: microgaming, Online Casino
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Reaping the Rewards of Black Friday

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

April 2011 will go down in history as one of the darkest months for online poker in the United States, when the Department of Justice swooped down on some of the major sites and shut them down literally overnight. Sites such as Full Tilt Poker, UB.com and Poker Stars were flung from the top of the ladder and had to start dealing with the problem of paying out millions of dollars to their players. Poker Stars was able to start paying out almost immediately, and nobody can find fault with the way this site has honored all money due to its players. UB.com seems to be a lost cause and hasn’t even bothered making a statement regarding the money owed, while Full Tilt Poker is the site in the news most often these days, trying desperately to find investors so that players can be paid back the almost $1.5 million owed to them.

Nobody can argue that Black Friday threw the online poker world upside down, but, as my grandpa used to say “use the juice for lemonade and throw out the pips”. In other words, while Black Friday has been truly back for many players, there are some who have managed to find the good in this event. Take, for example, the fact that with so many players migrating from the top sites, other online poker rooms are offering some of the best offers seen in the industry in a very long time! From some of the best online bonuses, to excellent promotions that competitors simply cannot beat, players are absolutely spoiled for choice. Some sites, such as Party Poker decided to run a promotion where all entry fees into tournaments were abolished. Other sites have literally doubled their welcome bonuses so that players get more for their initial deposits. Some sites are even honoring the VIP status enjoyed by players at their former sites, and are matching those statuses at their own sites, with all the perks and unique bonuses that come with the territory. So while Black Friday was a black mark in online poker history, it has definitely triggered some excellent promos out there.

Tags: black friday, Online Poker
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Fun Gambling Trivia: Nevada

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

I’m one of those people who always loves reading the “Did you Know” type facts about anything that interests me. Yes, I was a kid who read the inside of gum wrappers, and yes, I still love reading trivia. Some of the most interesting facts actually came out of the gambling world, which has a long and fascinating history.

Here are a couple of them about the gambling state, Nevada:

Did you know that Bugsy Siegel, the famous gangster, called his casino, The Flamingo, in honor of his showgirl girlfriend, Virginia Hill’s long legs?
Did you know that the first casino to open on Highway 81 (later the Las Vegas Strip) was the Pair-O-Dice Club in 1931?
Did you know that Nevada’s Death Valley Kangaroo Rat can live its entire life without drinking a drop of liquid?
Did you know that the first recorded white men in the Elko region were fur trappers in 1828?
Did you know that Nevada’s official state fossil is the ichthyosaur?
Did you know that Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state in the US?
Did you know that Nevada is the biggest gold producing state in the US?
Did you know that Nevada is the only state in the US that has an entire museum dedicated to the life and career of flamboyant entertainer, Liberace?
Did you know that as late as 1870, camels were used as pack animals in Nevada?
Did you know that the Nevada Gambling Museum is housed in Virginia City?
Did you know that although most of the state of Nevada is desert, the Sierra Nevada mountain range has snow for over half the year?
Did you know that the oldest church in Austin, St. Augustine, has a bell that has to be rung by pulling a rope in the men’s room?
Did you know that Nevada borrows its name from the Spanish word which means snow-capped?
Did you know that Nevada has over 50,000 miles of paved roads, many of them used in movies such as Rainman and Lethal Weapon 4?

Tags: gambling trivia, nevada
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Beckham Baby Betting Hysteria

Monday, July 11th, 2011

What is it about celebrity babies that makes the general public follow the pregnancy from the time that it is a single cell to the moment it is born? We saw that type of hysteria with Angelina Jolie’s kids, with Tom Cruise’s daughter Suri and with numerous others, and no doubt, there will be mass hysteria if and when the Duchess of Cambridge announces her pregnancy in the coming months or years. Of course, together with the tabloid reports that scream headlines every time the embryo moves, comes an active online casino betting market on every birth. Odds are offered on practically every type of imaginable market. When will the child be born? What will they call it? What weight will it be born? What will it do for a living twenty years down the line?

And so we had it with the Beckham Baby. From the moment that David and his ex-Spice Girls wife Victoria, aka Posh, announced her pregnancy with baby number four, the press has been going gaga – and so too have the betting sites. First it was the gender of the child that punters were betting on. Then, when Becks announced that it was a little girl after three boys, punters turned their attention to a potential name for the child. A favorite was Sandra, after David’s mum, although none of us really believed that Posh would agree to such a …. plain…. name after calling her boys Cruz, Romeo and Brooklyn. Now that we know that the child has been named Harper Seven (!) Beckham, it’s time to turn start punting on the next popular markets.

For example, will the child have a UK number one single by the end of 2040? Odds of 16/1 that she will! That’s a safer bet than the odds on her having a US number one single, which carries odds by 33/1. You can also bet on Harper Seven’s chances of becoming a fashion designer (100/1), and her chances of playing for England Women’s Senior Football Team (also 100/1).

Whatever she does, we wish her well. Welcome to the world Baby Beckham!

Tags: beckham
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Bejeweled! Card Symbols and their Gem Connection

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Playing cards is a great pastime, but not many people stop to think about the symbols on these cards. Most people know the basics – that the four suits are clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades, however, the actual symbolism of these, and what they mean, isn’t something that most people are familiar with. Some gamblers have been known to have symbols tattooed on their bodies, while some wear special jewelry. I had a look for a some of the best jewels out there that represent gaming and card symbols, and came back with some interesting finds.

This pendant, for example, was found at http://wickedbodyjewelz.com and I thought the necklace and chain made a great gift. According to the site, the height of the pendant is 57 mm and represents all four poker icons – hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. The look is pure bling and makes for an amazing accessory at the casino. I went off and ordered one right away for my better half…

This beaut is a charm that can be worn on a bracelet, and is sterling silver. The charm depicts four playing cards, representing luck and the wearer’s love of gambling. The charm is covered in sparkling diamonds and – again – makes a super gambling gift for the right person!

How cool is this poker bracelet? The crystals caught my eye straight away, while the stainless steel watch band adds an element of sophistication to this piece of jewelry. According to the website, the bracelet features “stainless steel plated with .50 microns of silver, 156 embedded crystals, adjustable stainless steel watch band.”

And, finally, my favorite rings that are related to gambling. According to the website, the rings make a great charm ring and are a big hit among blackjack and poker players. They’re made from silver plated brass and are around 17 mm in size. These rings, say the site, “make a great rockabilly accessory”. Need any more convincing? Thought not!