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These days, Cryptologic has been no stranger to the Asian facing online gambling industry. In fact, the company now has several investments in Asia, which according to the CEO and President, Brian Hadfield, our “exceeding expectations” for both Cryptologic and the Asian industry itself. One of these investments specifically targets the popular Asian game of Mahjong, and holds great potential for the company in the years to come.

Shortly following Cryptologic’s investment in the online mahjong software developer, Mahjong Time, the Asian-based group recently scored a licensing deal that will allow them to provide online mahjong betting solutions to half of the internet cafes proliferating China. This amounts to a presence in thirty provinces, 250 cities and partnerships with over 1,200 wholesale distributors.

With over 253 million internet users, China potentially represents the largest and fastest growing online gambling market in the world. Of course, regulations and red tape will play a part in that; However, the fact remains that the Chinese and all of Asia are no stranger to gambling, superstition and the notion of “good luck”. Mahjong itself is the most popular game in Asia and is estimated to be played by more than 600 million people worldwide.

Online mahjong is even catching on more in the U.S., although Cryptologic online casinos and licensees do not do business in the U.S. (If you are looking for a U.S. facing online mahjong room, try the Microgaming-powered Crazy Vegas Casino - 28Mahjong.com). The World Series of Mahjong, which is like the World Series of Poker for the rest of the world (and which Mahjong Time is an official partner of), is helping to popularize this domino-like “game of skill” even more.

You may have already heard that there’s a new kid on the block! Kiwi Casino has just launched a new game, Progressive Blackjack.

Progressive Blackjack has joined Gold Rally, Queen of the Pyramids, Fruitmania and many more online casino games at Kiwi Casino featuring huge progressive jackpot prizes.

This progressive jackpot prize starts at a massive $50,000 and will continue to grow as part of a network progressive jackpot, paid into by all players in the Playtech network!

Progressive Blackjack is played using the exact same set of rules as our standard 6 deck Online Blackjack Gambling. The game features a $1 progressive side bet placed in the dedicated “progressive side bet slot”.

Players choosing to place the progressive side bet will get a chance to win the progressive jackpot or one of the lower side bet prizes when being dealt a hand that falls into one of the progressive win combinations.

LONDON - Internet gaming group 888 posted a 16 percent increase in year pretax profit on Thursday, and said it was confident of the outlook for 2006.

Profit before tax was $50.2 million (28.7 million pounds) in 2005, compared to $43.1 million in 2004, it said.

“Trading is in line with management’s expectations, and we remain confident in the outlook for the rest of the year,” said Chief Executive John Anderson.

Casino players increased 28 percent to 4.1 million, while poker players more than doubled to 1.5 million.

888 diversified away from the United States, reducing the U.S. share of revenues to 55 percent from 58 percent in 2004. The share increased to 20 from 15 percent.

“To rely on one country too much is not good, and without reducing volumes, I`d like to get the percentage we`re taking from the U.S. down to 20-30 percent as soon as we can,” Anderson told.

He said he was still looking to buy a sports betting operation and had one particular acquisition in mind, although the two companies had not held any talks.

Group gaming revenues were up 52 percent in 2005 to $271 million.

Shares in 888 closed at 179-1/2 pence on Wednesday, valuing the group at slightly more than 600 million pounds.