Recently in Betting News Category

More Britons than ever are trying their hand at online gambling despite the worsening economic climate.

 

The results of an extensive survey by the UK Gambling Commission released this week shows that the quality of online gaming sites and the prizes on offer continue to attract players here.

 

Conducted by ICM Research the survey dealt with last year (including the final quarter of the year when recession loomed) and found an increase in the amount of people who say they'd used one remote form of gambling or another.

 

The news will come as a major boost to the online gambling sector here as it prepares for a testing year.

 

The Commission's study revealed that 9.7 percent of the 8,000 adults surveyed had gambled using a computer, mobile phone or interactive/digital television over the last month. This compares with 8.8 percent for 2007 and 7.2 percent for 2006.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has lost more than $16.6 billion in the last 7½ months thanks to investments in his own business, Las Vegas Sands Corp. The company owns the Venetian, the lavish Las Vegas hotel and casino known for its indoor recreation of the canal-lined neighborhoods of Venice, Italy, and is also developing casino resort properties in Macao, China.

1) William Hill 2240 shops

1) Betfair.com

1) Epsom Derby

So just where do online gamblig games get played out on a person's screen clearly but where is the screen information sent from.  Well the majority of online gambling sites are hosted offhsore for tax reasons.  We have done a quick rundown of the main locations or perhaps we should call them the most reputable locations.

Reading Igaming Business Market Place 2008/2009 they have been bold enough to name their view of the most influential online gaming companies.  I have made a summary of their findings for our readers.

What is The Poker Channel?

PokerChannel.com is the TV station / website for viewing online poker TV shows.

You can stream all the poker shows shown on the channel on demand. We also broadcast an alternative schedule of poker videos through our internet TV channel.

With over 500 hours of televised poker tournaments already filmed and new shows added regularly they have a comprehensive poker TV channel online and on the air.

A couple from Weston-super-Mare were sentenced yesterday for claiming thousands of pounds in benefit for 16 non existent children.

The Somerset pair exploited a loophole after realising they did not have to send children's birth certificates to tax officials to prove they existed.

The money was partly used by Danny Wilshaw and Nancy Stevenson (pictured left) for gambling. Its believed 58 year old Wilshaw would spend up to £600 a week to feed his betting habit while Stevenson admitted to drinking two bottles of brandy a day.

Wilshaw claimed more than £75,000 over four years and must serve half of a 20-month jail sentence.

Meanwile Stevenson was accused of claiming up to £11,000 in child tax credits over four years.

She was given a 12-month non-custodial order and must observe a strict curfew.

An Irishman who hadn't stepped inside a bingo hall for over 30 years has just landed £74,000 when his numbers came in.

Dublin born entrepreneur James Sheridan scooped the massive prize at the Mecca Bingo hall in Dagenham and afterwards admitted he had been coaxed into playing on a one off occasion by friends.

The 63-year-old - who moved to east London from his hometown in Dublin's Ballyfermot aged 13 - explained:

"I'm not a bingo player at all. The last time I was in one of those halls was 30 years ago.

"That night I dropped a friend to the hall and she coaxed me in for a game but she played my books for me as I didn't even have my glasses."

Spin3, the mobile gaming solutions provider powered by Microgaming, has launched 3 Card Poker for the mobile gaming market. 3 Card Poker is a popular game in traditional casinos worldwide and represents the thirteenth mobile game to be released by Spin3.

Mc Donalds Money Monopoly has embarked on some mobile ads mobile banners have been booked on high profile mobile sites for the coming four weeks. Visitors to the Money Monopoly site are presented with instructions on how to play the in-store game along with a list of possible prizes.

 

Oh how poker has changed over the years! Not so long ago it was mainly restricted to smokey back-rooms and played by over-sized sweaty men!

Now though playing poker is seen as a fashionable wild act with more and more stars flocking to join high profile championships.

With this in mind glamour model Abi Titmus (pictured left) signed up to this year's Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship. 

It's been revealed that  John Leslie's ex will be among the 50 female poker players taking part at the event next month.

Ladbrokes Poker spokesperson Samantha Alleyne has called the competition "the FA cup of the poker circuit", adding that it is "an unmissable tournament guaranteed to deliver a few shock results".

For many, the inclusion of Titmuss could be the biggest surprise of them all, but several women celebrities have gone on to succeed at the very highest levels of the sport in the past.

Shannon Elizabeth has finished third at a National Heads-Up Poker Championship, for example, while Soccer AM's Helen Chamberlain once came second at the Ladbrokes Poker Million.

The most impressive switch to poker playing, however, has perhaps come from Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly, who has won a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Auzzies $12 billion a year betting industry hit massive turbulance when their High Court overturned state based restrictions on internet betting.  Allowing Betfair a free run at their industry. 

Finland's state-owned Slot Machine Association, is considering proposals to make their games available online, with their Board of Administration expecting to announce during the second quarter of 2008 whether they will be able to do so. 

The National Lottery are still waiting for some winners to claim their prizes. Here is a list of the largest prizes that remain unclaimed. These need to be claimed within 180 days of the draw date, after which time the money will go to the Good Causes. If you think you're a winner, find out how to claim on The National Lottery site.

Below are the largest unclaimed prizes.

 

Mark Blandford the founder of sportingbet.com has emerged as a significant investor in the very latest mobile gambling software designed and built by Mfuse.  Mfuse has announced after the company announced a fund-raising exercise which saw a further £2.55m pumped into the firm.

Tennis which was hounded by bad press related to online betting and match-fixing following the investigation into world number four Nikolay Davydenko's defeat to lowly Martin Vassallo Arguello and the subsequent suspension of three Italian players for betting on other matches has again found itself in the spotlight afetr another gaming bust this time in the tennis arena itself.

2 Russians and 1 German attending Proximus Diamond Games women's tennis event outside Antwerp - were allegedly using the delay in the time it took for results to be posted on a gambling website in order to profit by using a clever system of wireless laptops to get their money on.

'Three spectators were removed," said Katia Stroobants, Spokeswoman for the Women's Tennis Association.

"The two Russians and one German were holding a laptop, logged on to a gambling website and were gambling on ongoing matches with live betting.

'The WTA takes a zero tolerance approach to this issue. The men were asked to leave or hand over their laptops and they decided to leave with their computers. Unfortunately, we do not have any other power to further investigate.'

I have to say surely the people at fault here are the dumb betting sites who seem to have left themselves open to abuse - next they will be banning people for using a blackberry whilst watching tennis.  if a bookmaker is stupid enough to offer a market via their website once the result has passed then they should expect to get raped by punters.