Casino gambling - casino bonus

When it comes to earning comp points at online casinos, unless you are a high roller, the conversion rate is generally not worth a dime of salt. Goes to show what kind of players the casinos value the most, eh? No matter where you play the average comp point scheme will award 1 point for every $10 wagered, which doesn’t sound bad. But when you consider that it takes 100 points to convert into $1 of bonus cash, it has to make you wonder “why bother?” Let’s do the math, shall we?

If you indeed do the math (I think online casinos presume most players don’t bother to do the math or simply don’t know how), it would take $1,000 in bets to earn $1 in bonus cash. That’s 0.1% cash back. Again, you might ask why even bother offering comp points when you can just get cash back on all deposits and never-ending reload bonuses? The reason is because cash converted from comp points is not necessarily the same as a bonus (although you still have to meet a play-through requirement before cashing out, albeit much lower at around 5x). In fact, an increasing number of online casinos are now allowing players to redeem comp points in for merchandise and gift cards.

Recently helping give comp point loyalty programs a better name is 32Red Casino. This top-rated UK online gambling destination recently upgraded it’s “Red Rubies” and “Club Rouge” loyalty programs by increasing the number of games that contribute to comp points. Oh ya, did I mention that most loyalty programs only award comp points for wagers made on slots, keno and other games with high House Edges? But not anymore at 32Red.

Now available for comp points as part of “Red Ruby Rewards” (which all depositing players are signed up for) are wagers made at Baccarat, Roulette, Table Poker, War, Sic Bo, Red Dog, Blackjack and video poker, while 32Red’s Club Rouge program (invite only) is giving a 33% increase in comp points for slots wagers. For Red Ruby Rewards this amounts to 1 point for every 10 wagered on slots and keno, 20 wagered on Table Poker, War, Sic Bo and Roulette, and 50 wagered on Blackjack, Baccarat and Video Poker. Club Rouge conversion is much better at 1 point for every 10 wagered on Blackjack, Baccarat, Video Poker, Sic Bo, Roulette, War, Red Dog, Table Poker, Progressive Slots and even Craps, while 10 wagered at slots and keno earns 3 comp points.

And for double comp points, 32Red offers “Ruby Tuesday” (not to be confused with the restaurant chain) on select games each month. Currently, 32Red’s most recently launched online casino games, including “Kung Fu Monkey Goes to Chinatown”, “Wooly World”, “Pure Platinum” and “Quest for Beer” are all offering double comp points every Tuesday.

So, just when you thought online casino loyalty programs were just a way to make you think you’re earning some serious comps, some online casinos like 32Red are stepping up what it means to show loyalty to their players. It still isn’t a free hotel stay in Vegas, but at least it’s better than nothing.

Online slots tournaments are a pretty common find these days. In other words, it’s not difficult to join a slot tournament on the internet, for just about every online casino (at least the better one’s), offer a slots tournament schedule.

Now, if you’re happy playing small stakes games with small guaranteed jackpots, your options are much better in terms of which online casino(s) you can join. But, if you’re out for the big winnings - I’m talking hundreds of thousands of Euros - there are only a small handful of slots tournaments that will satisfy your winning potential. And, there’s just one online slots tournament that guarantees to turn the first place winner into millionaire (that is, of course, unless they are not already a millionaire to begin with!).

The slots tournament being referred to is none other than the Grand Slam of Slots - and it’s right around the corner. Scheduled for October 22nd through November 2, 2009, the nearly two week long slots tournament is the biggest held all year long. In essence, the tournament started early in the Summer when many of Microgaming’s online casino licensees began hosting qualifier satellite tournaments still taking place to this day.

All Slots Casino, for instance, is hosting daily feeder tournaments, several of which are free rolls. Euro Casino, Ladbrokes, is also hosting qualifiers and has 100 seats to the final which they are giving out by draw. Players need not even join a slot tournament to enter. Simply wager at least 10 pounds inside the online casino between tomorrow and October 20th, and you will be entered into the draw.

In total, 8,700 players will compete in the Grand Slam of Slots, with the top 450 finishers guaranteed cash winnings. That’s the top 5%, which is certainly achievable to a dedicated and smart slots player. Of course, luck always helps out too! As mentioned, the first place winner will take home 1 million Euros, second place nabs a hefty 50,000, second runner up gets 25,000, fourth place grabs 10,000 Euros, and the list goes on. The minimum cash prize is 100 Euros.

A total of 16 Indiana residents were apprehended on casino gambling charges when officials of the Indiana Gaming Control Division busted the Card Room in Richmond, Indiana this week.

The division spokesperson Larry Rollins informed the local media that the 16 players were gambling in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. “After receiving several grievances regarding illegitimate gambling taking place,” Rollins stated. “We carried out an investigation and confirmed there was actually and illegal gambling den operating at the establishment.”

Rollins intimated that at least two of the arrested persons are likely to face class D offence charges for operating the unlawful gambling business, whereas the gamblers themselves were likely to face class B charges of misconduct.

He also stated that they had received more corroborating information on two of the individuals that was likely to result in additional charges. He however could not name the said individuals without sub judice.

Indiana State Police issued those gambling citations for illegitimate gambling, a class B misdemeanor. “It was their (Gaming Control Division) warrants. We had a trooper to assist,” added Sgt. John Bowling.

At the beginning of August, we reported on the World Poker Tour’s proposed sale to investment group Gamynia Limited. In a surprise move, on Tuesday night WPTE CEO Steve Lipscomb announced that the brand would go instead to PartyGaming subsidiary Peerless Media.

Both offers represent a fraction of the WPT’s pre-recession value, but Peerless Media’s offer of $12.3 million plus 5% of future revenues (for a minimum of $3 million over the next three years) was obviously superior to Gamynia’s earlier bid of $9.075 million. While no one in the industry predicted the sudden switch, most gambling market analysts agree that the World Poker Tour will have more potential under the PartyGaming umbrella.

PartyGaming has been open about their plans for aggressive expansion in 2009, and the acquisition of the WPT was an obvious one since the company is already the Tour’s biggest supporter.

Top online gambling executives made some sobering comments in discussions at the Gaming Executive Summit in Madrid this week which examined the possibilities of a liberated American online gambling market.

888’s CEO Gigi Levy predicted that the US will remain protectionist and restrict Internet gambling licences to US companies in the event that the country changes course to a more enlightened and regulated online gambling policy.

“The US will be protectionist even if it regulates, and its withdrawal from its GATS (General Agreement of Trade and Services) commitments means it doesn’t have to conform to any World Trade Organisation regulation on internet gambling,” he opined.

Referring to moves at individual state level in the US aimed at liberating online poker, Levy added: “There are five other states we know of that are considering regulating online poker, and we know the licences will go to US companies,” without elaborating further.

Bwin co-chief executive Norbert Teufelberger, Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer and PartyGaming chief executive Jim Ryan all took part in a wide-ranging discussion that covered global issues impacting the online gambling industry.

Ryan predicted that regulated online gambling will see major media companies and state monopolies becoming a significant competitive threat in the industry, perhaps more so than traditional corporate rivals.

He said: “The world is changing as regulation takes different shape in different markets. But upcoming regulation means new entrants and competition in the market, and I worry less about direct competitors such as those sitting on this panel than I do about government-licensed operators and major media firms targeting their power markets in the future.”

That said, Ryan commented further on direct competitors in online poker, observing that those rivals who still accepted US business presented formidable competition as they ploughed back huge profits into marketing elsewhere in the world, and benefited from the significant player liquidity that the US market provided. He described this as a “humbling experience” for his company, but one which had motivated it to “improve our products and offers and to really up our game.”

The high-powered panel seemed to agree that the global Internet regulatory model in the industry has been supplanted by a more regional-national approach as individual nations, especially in Europe, draw up protectionist regulations aimed primarily at keeping their markets to themselves.

Playtech’s Mor Weizer said that this more restrictive and insular approach had enabled Playtech to become the number three poker network in Italy, filling the regulatory requirement for an Italians-only online venue.

Bwin co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger discussed the line between b2b and b2c models, emphasising Bwin’s commitment to the business-to-consumer approach.

“We believe the b2c model is what operators should be striving for,” he said. “We will only do b2b agreements with select partners, and we do this through our sports content, which is unrivalled in the industry.”