Victor Ramdin Crowned PokerStars Team Captain – Online Casino News

To settle the point of who shall be Team PokerStars captain, the 29 members of Team PokerStars did what they knew best – playing an epic eight-game tournament for the honour of captaincy (as well as $30,000 added by the site to be chopped between the top three players’ favourite charities).

This being a true pros’ match, the 8-game format was used, the rotation encompassing 2-7 triple draw, limit hold ‘em, Omaha hi/lo, razz, stud, stud hi/lo, no-limit hold ‘em and pot-limit Omaha.

The field shrunk to 14 after the second hour and only thirty minutes later we arrived at our six-handed final table after Daniel Negreanu eliminated Alex Kravchenko in 7th place on a pot-limit Omaha hand. At the final table were Bill Chen, Chad Brown, Chris Moneymaker, Victor Ramdin, Hevad Khan and Daniel Negreanu.

First to go was Bill Chen, eliminated by Chad Brown. Brown was then eliminated by Victor Ramdin who then went on to take out Hevad Khan, all in the first round of 2-7 Triple Draw.

Chris “Money800” Moneymaker was the next to depart, also at the hand of Ramdin when both players made top pair but Moneymaker had the poorer kicker and failed to improve.

Their final hand came in stud hi, where Ramdin started off with a pair of eights and improved to queens and eights after a raising war with Negreanu. Though Negreanu had made a pair of sevens on fifth street with running flush and straight possibilities as well, he couldn’t improve and Ramdin’s two pair held up to win him the Team PokerStars Pro Championship and $15,000 to his charity. For Negreanu’s as-always fantastic play he earned $10,000 for his charity.  

Online Casino Campaigns to Make Poker an Olympic Sport

Leading online casino CircusCasino.com has started a campaign on Facebook that would see the sport of poker become a demonstration event for the 2012 Olympic Games in London before being fully recognised for 2016.

The Alderney-licensed site is operated by Genting Stanley Alderney Limited, part of the UK’s largest casino operator, and is lobbying the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, it faces stiff competition from women's netball and Twenty20 cricket, both of which have launched online campaigns of their own.

CircusCasino.com stated that poker is thought to date back to 15th Century Germany and is now one of the fastest-growing games in the world after being officially recognised recently as a sport.

It revealed that the card game stands a better chance as it ticks more of the IOC's regulatory boxes. Unlike netball and cricket, for example, it is a cross-gender pastime that has a far wider international appeal and could become the first truly age and class-neutral Olympic event.
"Poker's appeal is global,” said Peter Nolan from CircusCasino.com.

“It transcends gender and age and is the fastest-growing sport in the world. It's ripe for Olympic recognition. Millions play every week, millions more watch it on television but perhaps more importantly, we've got some world-renowned British players.”

CircusCasino.com even released a list of eight professional poker players that it believes could take on and defeat the world as part of a British Olympic team. The selected players include Jon Kalmar from Chorley in Lancashire, Adrian Lambe from Abingdon in Oxford and Dave Colclough from Carmarthen in Wales. Also in the list is Dave Ulliott from Hull in East Yorkshire, Victoria Coren from London, Neil Channing from Reading in Berkshire, Lucy Rokach from Stoke-On-Trent in Staffordshire and Mark Goodwin from Birmingham in the West Midlands.

International: Kazakhstan doubles efforts to end gambling

Online news site Kazinform reported Wednesday that a bill to increase gambling regulation in Kazakhstan was passed in the nation’s senate during its first reading.

The bill, whose name roughly translates to “Amendments to Legislation Regulating Gambling Business in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” was introduced during a plenary session last week.

According to Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports Kairbek Uskenbayev, the bill is intended to close several loopholes in Kazakhstan’s existing legislation. It will also, he added, make the operation of gambling establishments illegal within the its borders.

As the New York Times reported, Kazakhstan began copying Russia’s anti-gambling policies in 2006 when it closed down gambling halls in all but two of its cities, Kapchagai and Shchuchinsk.

To date, Kazakh officials have released no further information on the new legislation.

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Million Dollar Prize At Online Casinos – Online Casino News

Online casino software developer RealTime Gaming has announced that the top prize for its Jackpot Pinatas progressive slot machine has topped one million dollars and could be making one lucky player very happy at Christmas.

Offered at leading online casinos such as Lucky18Casino.com, ClubWorldCasinos.com, SpinPalace.com and AllSlotsCasino.com, the current top prize for Jackpot Pinatas now stands at $1,055,411. It has been growing slowly for almost a year after surpassing the million milestone earlier this month.

Jackpot Pinata is a 21-line online slot with a Mexican theme featuring tacos, beautiful senoritas, fresh limes, roses and pinatas on its reels. It was launched a full year ago with a jackpot of $250,000 and was hit within weeks for $273,914. However, no player has since taken down the big prize, leaving it to grow slowly to well over one million dollars.

The slot features free spins, wild symbols, substitutes and a bonus game and players must get five Bull Pinata symbols on any one of the paylines in order to win the grand prize. Although players must wager 25 cents per payline, which works out to five dollars per spin, in order to take home the top prize.

In addition to the normal two and three-figure combinations, players can also trigger the bonus round by getting three Dog Pinatas symbols on the screen. Once in the bonus round, players choose two of the three pinatas in order to reveal what they have won.  

Business: Ross to retire from Ladbrokes

Ladbrokes PLC announced last week that corporate development director Alan Ross will not stand for re-election in May. He will instead retire from the company July 19, 2009.

Ross began his 37-year career at Ladbrokes in 1971 as part of its shop staff in Dundee, Scotland. He rose to become head of the company’s Ladbrokes Casinos and Ladbrokes International Betting operations and became its managing director of retail in 2000. In 2006, he joined Ladbroke’s board of directors after the company sold its hotel arm to Hilton Hotels. He relinquished control of the company’s U.K. sports-betting shops in 2007.

Ross is best known as one of the U.K. sports-betting giant’s toughest negotiators, once following a fellow negotiator into an elevator to broker a deal after the other man had called off talks.

"Alan has made an enormous contribution to Ladbrokes and the betting and gaming industry," Ladbrokes CEO Chris Bell said. "He played a major role in developing the business from the introduction of live pictures into betting shops through Silicon Integrated Systems in 1986, to the introduction of fixed-odds betting terminals in 1998. And he played a significant part in our major acquisitions and disposals across the globe."

Bell noted that Ross will continue working for Ladbrokes as a consultant, saying, "We are very pleased he will continue to provide his advice and wise counsel to us moving forward, and we are very grateful for his dedication."

According to the Northhampton Chronicle, Towcester Racecourse CEO Chris Palmer will replace Ross as corporate development director in February. Ladbrokes’ managing director of U.K. and Ireland retail, Richard Ames, will also join the company’s board of directors in January.

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Eight Wins Prestigious Award – Online Casino News

Online casino operator 888 Holdings has announced that its customer magazine, Eight, won the important Most Effective Membership prize at the recent Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) Effectiveness Awards 2008.

Eight is part of Gibraltar-based 888’s customer relationship management efforts at establishing an efficient and innovative communications channel with its members. It is mailed to all of the operator’s UK casino and poker members and is filled with lifestyle features and gaming content.

This year’s APA Effectiveness Awards, which are designed to recognise and reward the very best in editorialised branded content, were the biggest ever to be staged in its ten-year history. There were over 350 titles across a myriad of industries vying for just 18 individual awards with every category having an average of 20 entries.

‘For a publication to be awarded the APA’s Most Effective Membership title, it must be a fantastic demonstration of editorial creativity and be able to prove above all others that it is a sound part of a brand’s marketing mix, helping to position the value of the brand in the minds of the consumer,’ read an announcement from the APA.

The Award is considered as one of the most coveted distinctions an internal magazine can win and 888.com stated that is was rightly pleased at being singled out.

‘Eight magazine succeeds in not only being a shining example of this publishing maxim but also being an informative and entertaining read, whether you’re a committed online gambler or not,” said Matt Robinson, Vice-President of Brand marketing for 888.

“Whatever measure you look at, Eight is an amazingly effective magazine.

‘These Awards demonstrate how committed 888 is to ensuring we reach the highest performance levels in everything we do and to delivering on our other core values of innovation, caring, customer centricity, leading and collaboration.’  

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Business: GameLogic receives $3 million in financing

U.S. software developer GameLogic announced Wednesday that it received $3 million in debt financing from Velocity Financial Group.

Accoding to Velocity principal J.P. Marchette, the finance company has become exceedingly selective due to the “current economic environment.” But, he said, Velocity saw “a tremendous opportunity” in the case of GameLogic.

One of the principle reasons for Velocity’s confidence is the success of GameLogic’s “PlayAway” system. Under PlayAway, players can purchase “MoneyPlay” tickets from participating land-based casinos and redeem them for online play. Winnings are paid within the issuing casino upon the player’s next visit, thus avoiding online money transfers – which are forbidden in the U.S. under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or 2006.

To date, 21 brick-and-mortar casinos in 15 states participate in the program. On average, participants report a two-fold increase in patron interest, while the company says, the system increases active club-card membership by 2.5 percent.

"Our ability to proactively raise debt on favorable terms in these turbulent economic times is a testament to our solid business model and the tremendous opportunity to leverage the popularity of Internet games in the regulated U.S. gambling markets," GameLogic president and CEO John E. Taylor Jr. said. "We are pleased that Velocity engaged us and that we were able to form this mutually beneficial relationship.

"Casino marketers are experiencing unprecedented economic challenges that require a complete rethink of marketing to existing players and finding new ones. Our products provide a solution to this challenge: low cost, efficient and entertaining ways for casinos to boost their marketing efforts."

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Blotter: 13 Punjab bookies arrested

Saturday, police in Patiala, India arrested 13 people in connection with illegal bookmaking on the second India-England Test cricket match in Mohali.

According to Superintendent of Police Gurmit Singh Chauhan, the group was headed by a man identified as Satpal. Chauhan said that 10 of those arrested – identified as Rajesh, Mukesh, Pawan, Santosh Kumar, Rajpal, Narain Sharma, Rakesh Kumar Chinda, Amit, Hardeep Shrama and Bikram nad Ghanshyam – acted as Satpal’s accomplices.

The men were arrested during raids on three homes in the city’s Urban Estate neighborhood. Police reportedly recovered three recording sets, three laptop computers, 40 cell phones, six digital recorders, two satellite dishes, two TV sets, one printer and Rp430,000 ($9,139) in cash. The Rupee (Rp) is India’s national currency.

Police said that the accused where cooperating with illegal books in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. However, one of the accused maintained that, to his knowledge, there was no connection to either city.

“It has been 15-20 days since I have been involved in this,” said Rajpal. “Our network is in Bhatinda.”

Police have charged the men under sections 420, 406 and 120-b of the Indian Penal Code and section 13-3-17 of India’s Gambling Act.

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Party Poker Awarding Irish Poker Championship Seats – Online Casino News

The PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship is set to take place in Galway from January 2 to 5 and will feature some of the globe’s top players battling it out at the first major tournament of 2009.

Irish poker is in the ascendancy after the Emerald Isle’s domination of the recent Poker Million and the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship will take place at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway before being televised by broadcaster RTA and then distributed internationally.

Those who have already confirmed their presence include Poker Million winner Marty Smyth, Premier League II champion Andy Black and last year’s champion Jude Ainsworth from Galway. There will also be a big international contingent including Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Dave Ulliott, Benjamin Kang, Surinder Sunar, Mickey Wernick, Alan Vinson and 2008 Irish Open champion Neil Channing.

In addition to the Main Event, the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship will include a number of side events and satellites while there will be a special party on New Years Day featuring a full bar, food and entertainment. There will also be a special charity event, Poker For The Homeless, on January 4 with a percentage from each buy-in going to worthy causes in Dublin and Galway.

Last year’s winner took home $180,000 out of a prize pool worth $542,500 from the 298 competitors while the runner-up, Mike McCool from Nottingham, received a cheque for $100,000.

Online qualifiers for the Main Event have been running on PartyPoker.com since the first of the month and eleven players have already booked their spots. The package is worth $5,000 and includes the $2,800 buy-in, $1,000 in spending money and accommodation in a luxury hotel. Regular $275 Main Event online satellites are still happening every Sunday afternoon with a package awarded for every 20 players.