Group items tagged

Although online poker is a gold mine of data, until now nobody knows where the players and their money come from. It seems that the knowledge about the online poker market has not been able to keep up with the speed of its evolution in the past years. This paper is the first to shed light on this matter. We use data of 4,591,342 poker identities from the Online Poker Database of the University of Hamburg (OPD-UHH) collected over a six months period from 09/2009 to 03/2010. We find that the USA is still by far the biggest market with 1,428,823 active players and 650.5 million US$ net revenues in 2009. However, with regard to the number of internet users in a country Hungary is the biggest relative market: One out of 57 Hungarians with internet access plays online poker for real money. The two main drivers of the proportion of online poker players per internet users are GDP per capita and culture. Using the data from the OPD-UHH, future research will be able to break down the market also on a regional level within countries and to examine inter and intra country differences in the playing habits of online poker players.

The world's largest Internet poker company, PokerStars, is settling with the government to the tune of $731 million more than a year after a crackdown on online gambling. And, in possibly the best part of the deal, the company is also buying former competitor Full Tilt Poker and paying back its customers, who were left locked out of their accounts after the site's U.S. operations were shut down last April. In the agreement with the Manhattan branch of the Department of Justice, PokerStars will forfeit $547 million to the government over three years. The payment will settle civil charges that the company engaged in fraud to sidestep U.S. regulations on online gambling.

"Renowned online poker site PokerStars has just launched a new survey related to online casino gaming and sports betting. The survey might indicate the poker company's intention to expand into other areas of the online gambling market. Just recently, online poker site PokerStars has launched a new survey that was mailed to all of its online poker players. The survey asks poker players various questions related to online casino gaming and sports betting. One of the questions of the survey is whether or not the player in question was engaged in an online casino or online sports betting activity during the recent past. If the answer to this question was yes, then a list will appear from which the player will have to select the brands where he or she has been playing in the past. "

Thinking Machine 4 explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought. Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought process visible on the board before you.The artwork is an artificial intelligence program, ready to play chess with the viewer. If the viewer confronts the program, the computer's thought process is sketched on screen as it plays. A map is created from the traces of literally thousands of possible futures as the program tries to decide its best move. Those traces become a key to the invisible lines of force in the game as well as a window into the spirit of a thinking machine.

The slot machine is ubiquitous throughout the developed world, beloved of the Brits in their pubs and seaside resorts, the Americans in their bars and casinos, the Japanese in their pachinko parlours and game centres. Pokies - that's gamer slang for slots - have formed one of the staple parts of the gaming industry for over a century, offering that classic casino adrenaline rush, all over the world. If there is a sweeter feeling than watching those symbols lining up and hitting the jackpot, we have not felt it. 

Zynga has announced the release in early 2013 of its poker application that will involve real-money gaming. Over the past year, Zynga has struggled to keep its foothold in the mobile gaming market as new entrants have entered the industry. Zynga's solution: real-money poker, which is set to launch in the first half of 2013 in international markets. Zynga's latest quarterly earnings report - its sales of $332.5 million missed the $343.1 million mark that Bloomberg had forecasted - sent the company's stocks plummeting as low as $3.03 per share on Wednesday. At the end of today's trading Zynga's stock price sat at $3.17 per share, but has dropped even further in after-hours trading. During the earnings conference call, Zynga CEO, Mark Pincus blamed Zynga's second quarter shortcomings on Facebook. Changes to Facebook's algorithm apparently surfaces fewer games, thereby decreasing the frequency with which Facebook users discover Zynga games.

Related Articles Will Facebook and Zynga Embarrass Analysts? New Stock Coverage: Facebook Makes Enemies, Fair Weather Acquaintances, and Best Friends Forever Amarin Corporation and Ericsson Among Most Active Stocks in Pre-Market Today on the Nasdaq More by Inspin.com Winning More NFL Bets in 2012 Delaware Moving Closer to Legalized Online Gambling? 9 Basketball Betting Tips That Can Increase Your Winning Percentage 2-3% What's the Buzz? 30 top traders on these stocks and more      ZNGA   5.02  (+1.41%)       WYNN   96.75  (-3.87%)  With the legalization of online gambling activities quickly sweeping through the nation, some of the top sportsbooks and the leading play-for-free poker companies could be in positions to make a move into the real money sweepstakes. Zynga (ZNGA), which runs a very popular brand of free poker over social networks, has seen its poker brand grow by leaps and bounds over the last year. It's no coincidence that over that same time, various scandals surrounding UltimateBet and Full Tilt Poker have reduced the number of options for players to play paid poker. Many of those people have turned to Zynga to get their fix. Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/sports-business/articles/ZNGA-zynga-onling-gambling-social-media/7/12/2012/id/42334#ixzz20SepThWh

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: experience the newest entertainment-style video slot from Aristocrat - Mission: Impossible. Featuring a wide area progressive jackpot with a $250,000 top award, this is an operation rich with ways to win, including three local area progressive jackpots, and a low 150 max bet that encourages every agent to shoot for the big prize. Espionage meets excitement with six great bonus features and 1-cent 50-credit minimum bet, and the fact that it's a Reel Power™ base game (25+25 credit ante bet) makes Mission: Impossible a true high-value target. There's no way this one will stay covert on your slot floor. The premium packaging includes the VERVE hd™ cabinet, licensed game theme, overhead signage and an amazing surround sound chair. Here's the intel we can give you: 31.5" portrait monitor with the award winning Nteractiv™ LCD programmable buttons, high-def 1920x1080 graphics via the advanced GEN7X™ platform, interactive edge lighting, and 3D panoramic digital audio with player-adjustable sound. Durable, low-maintenance surfaces and sleek, stand-out design ensure mission success, and ergonomic seating and controls help keep your operatives in the game longer. This is an experience unlike any other - which means it won't stay top secret for long!

he Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) game is dedicated to a famous ancient Mexican holiday. Traditionally, this day is for remembering the dead and to visit their graves, and at the same time, enjoy life. This seemingly sad holiday is celebrated in a very special way in Mexico: skull and coffin-shaped cookies are baked, colorful costumes are worn, elegant skeleton figurines are created, houses are decorated, and even a Halloween-like carnival is organized. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. Even if you have never been to Mexico, you'll be able to feel the ambience of the original holiday playing the Día de los Muertos game. You will be accompanied by mystic heroes, ancient traditions and the joy of celebration. Apart from this, you will see colorful design, passionate Mexican characters, an extraordinary bonus game and surprise bonuses.

Gaming Club Claims Online Gaming is Next for the 3D Treatment Posted on July 2, 2012 The recent re-emergence of 3D has taken the entertainment industry by storm, transforming the film, television and gaming sectors, and 3D casinos are the next step, announce Gaming Club. With 3D technology costs falling, and consumer acceptance of the new medium growing, the industry hopes that a three-dimensional future could significantly boost revenues.

When California State Senator Roderick Wright attempted to legalize online poker with SB 1463, he sold it as a way to help patch up California's busted budget , which is indeed in dire trouble. Surprisingly, the strongest resistance came not from the ever-more-irrelevant anti-gambling moralists, but from powerful pro-gaming special interests clinging to lucrative state-granted privilege.   "There's no way that we can do something that might be the death knell for our industry," says David Quintana, lobbyist for the California Tribal Business Alliance, which opposes any form of online poker legalization on the grounds that it could negatively affect the economic activity of California's Indian tribes. 

"Boom… Prior to 2006, Internet-based gambling was effectively legal in the United States. Although the Federal Wire Act from 1961 prohibited transmission of sports betting information using telecommunications services, in 2002 a U.S. appeals court ruled that the sports-related provisions in the Wire Act did not preclude Internet gambling. Although some states and jurisdictions did have laws on the books specifically prohibiting online gambling, many did not - and so started a bit of an online gold rush as online gambling companies tried to capture chunks of the lucrative U.S. market."

Boosted by growth in the UK and other key markets, mobile gambling is going to devour a bigger slice of the gambling pie by 2017 According to a new report from Juniper Research the value of mobile gambling could reach $100 billion by 2017. Growth will largely be fuelled by an expansion in mobile lottery games in certain international markets and an increase in sports betting and social gaming in the UK. http://www.jackpotcity.co.uk/mobile-casino/ already offers a mobile site complete with all its casino games. It is looking to make its mobile play even more socially minded in the future as are other major players in the gaming industry. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/05/4884031/mobile-gambling-predicted-to-reach.html#storylink=cpy

888 Casino has recently celebrated great success with the launch of its roulette application for Android devices and is seeking to replicate this success with the release of its roulette application for the iPad. The launch of these two applications signifies the introduction of 888 into the mobile casino realm.

Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, said in a conference call with analysts today that the company will launch its first real-money online gambling poker game in the first half of 2013. The game will likely be launched outside the U.S., since real-money online gambling is still illegal in the vast majority of states. There are regulatory roadblocks in many countries, but Europe is pretty open. Pincus said the launch will be subject to online gambling regulatory reviews. Zynga's non-real-money poker game, Zynga Poker, accounted for 18 percent of revenue. In that game, users purchase poker chips with real money, but they cannot cash out any winnings

"The Coalition has released its policy "to help problem gamblers" under that very title. If the betting markets are any guide, the Coalition is poised to win government on September 7, so the likelihood is that this will be Australian government policy for some time to come. What does it promise?"

The answer to the question posed in the title of today's hearing - "Is There a Safe Bet?"- is a clear yes. That safe bet can be found in the licensing and regulation of online poker. The risky bet would be to leave unchanged current law that leaves consumers, minors and those with gambling problems vulnerable to unregulated offshore companies.

"I started playing at 6 p.m. on a Friday and found myself still going at 9 a.m. the next morning…But wait, I needed to get a job! Hold on I had just found one! The low buy-in tournament I entered with my promo money was coming to a close - and I was in second place! $1850! Not bad for a night's work. And so, that's how I entered the online poker world. Back in 2006 these sites had so much traffic and the U.S. market was so wide open that the sites would essentially just give players free money to get them to play on their site"

Let's start with the obvious: When it comes to the green stuff, no game company is, well, playing games. But Zynga is about to enter a whole new playing field. CEO and co-founder Mark Pincus recently announced that his social gaming giant will enter the real-money gaming (or online gambling) business outside the U.S. in 2013. In fact, Zynga already has products in the pipeline. "What we've said, and what we have to announce today, is that we have our first products in development and that we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing," Pincus said during an unfortunate analyst conference call, TechCrunch reports.

"A Fairfield hotel that doubles as crisis accommodation for vulnerable people has won its battle to install 50 pokie machines. The win has horrified anti-gambling advocates, who believe the highly visible Victorian-style hotel will attract problem gamblers. See your ad here The Grandview Hotel proprietor Daniel El Fahkri appealed to VCAT after Darebin City Council rejected his application last year, arguing that the only way he could afford to significantly renovate the deteriorating 19th century building was to fund it with pokie machine expenditure."