Go for a Spin on Habanero’s Four Divine Beasts

Premium casino games developer and supplier, Habanero, has presented what is probably their most visually wondrous and outstanding video slot to date. In Four Divine Beasts, we are taken into the mythical wilderness of China. The game's premise is based on an ancient tale and legend of four parts of the sky (north, east, west, south) being realms of dominion of a specific wild animal that are this slot's main protagonists: white tiger, black tiger, azure dragon and vermillion bird.

The three-row, five-reel, medium volatility game has been designed to cater for the needs of desktop and smartphone/tablet players alike. Stunning graphics are emphasized by some of the major aesthetical cues taken from old Chinese culture. Backdrops are set against the huge rainforest rock during the main game or inside a mystically lit ancient temple. The game's colors are subdued and not overly saturated for a classy look of the reels bearing standard A, J, K, Q symbols. A yin-yang symbol works as a scatter and will trigger a bonus round of extra spins when three or more land on the reels. Symbols featuring the aforementioned beasts serve as expanding wilds and will trigger all sorts of big wins and extras!

Four Divine Beasts comes right off the trail of the freshly-released 5 Mariachis and Santa's Village, making it a very busy but fruitful period for the brand.

Toni Karapetrov, Habanero's Head of Corporate Communications, comments on the company's newest release: “Four Divine Beasts is sure to appeal to those who are looking for something quite different, summoning beasts who used to rule the earth. Its mythical design is built to bring an authentic Asian feel to players whichever device they choose to play on.”

Enjoy the official preview of the game below!

What's your first impression of the game? Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments below...

Source:

“Habanero unveils Four Divine Beasts slot”, calvinayre.com, January 29, 2018.

Online Poker's 20th Anniversary

January 1, 2018 is the 20th anniversary of online poker, ever since Planet Poker became the very first virtual card room to host real-money games. Planet Poker ran online poker games at approximately nine months before the film Rounders launched in movie theaters. If you have played at Planet Poker in the past, you will surely feel those nostalgic, and for sure you have been one of those who patiently played online poker via dial-up modems! Planet Poker was the very first virtual card room to a[...]

Actor, Musician, and Entrepreneur Jared Leto Warns Against Gambling-Like Bitcoin Investing

An on-and-off Academy Award winning actor, frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, the band holding the Guinness record for the longest concert tour with 309 concerts, and a tech investor, Jared Leto also seems to have familiarized himself with the bitcoin craze as he has recently joined the growing debate over the nature of cryptocurrency investing.

In an interview with Australian radio station Nova, Leto presented his opinion on the matter, slamming bitcoin investing as gambling. The multi-faceted artist warned future investors against putting their money into bitcoin. He called cryptocurrency investing gambling and speculation, and went on to say that the activity is not something a person who could not afford to lose their money should delve into.

Leto’s comments come at a time when bitcoin and those investing in it are having a bit of a hard time. The virtual currency’s price reached an all-time high of $19,343.04 in mid-December, but growing regulatory pressure from different parts of the world and other factors resulted in its price dropping significantly overnight, spurring fears that any investor’s worst nightmare of a bubble burst could come true. At the time of writing, bitcoin’s price stands at $10,083.85, up slightly from earlier today when it tumbled to $9,748.53.

While we cannot say whether Leto’s knowledge is extensive enough, it should be noted that his opinion about the gambling-like nature of cryptocurrency investing is shared by many financial experts and analysts.

Regulators’ Stance on Cryptocurrency Investing

Due to the volatility of bitcoin and altcoins’ prices, investing in these has often been referred to as gambling. The Bank of Canada has recently become the latest financial institution to join the debate over the proper definition of cryptocurrency investing.

In an interview with business news outlet CNBC, Canada’s central bank governor said that bitcoin investing is gambling and not actual investing. The official further pointed out that the Bank of Canada will be working with regulators from different parts of the world for crafting regulations aimed to put limitations on certain aspects of cryptocurrency investing and trading.

While digital currencies and investing in those are considered a form of gambling by many, actual gambling regulators have pointed out that they have no authority over the regulation of the activity. The Netherlands Gaming Authority was one such regulatory body to comment on the matter. The regulator said in a statement that under the country’s current gambling regulations, cryptocurrency investing cannot be defined as any form of gambling and it thus does not fall under its purview.

The Actual Link between Cryptocurrencies and Gambling

The potential of digital currencies has been spotted by the global gambling industry. A number of online gambling operators have added cryptocurrency transactions to their lists of available payment options, and many more are expected to follow suit. Generally speaking, cryptocurrencies allow a relative anonymity, cutting out banks and other third-party financial institutions.

The UK Gambling Commission has been among the regulators to acknowledge the use of bitcoin and altcoins for gambling-related transactions, as long as these are conducted between UK gambling customers and UK-licensed operators. However, the regulator has warned of the risks of transactions of this type.

The post Actor, Musician, and Entrepreneur Jared Leto Warns Against Gambling-Like Bitcoin Investing appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Florida kicks off two months of gambling legislative squabbling

Call us crazy, but we think we’ve figured out a way to make Florida’s annual gambling legislation derby a whole lot more entertaining.

Two weeks ago, Florida’s state Senate introduced the 2018 version of its omnibus gambling legislation. Among other things, SB 840 would approve daily fantasy sports operations and allow greyhound- and horseracing tracks to decouple, aka abandon racing while keeping their more lucrative slots parlors and cardrooms.

The bill would also allow those cardrooms to continue to offer the controversial designated-player games that the state’s Seminole Tribe believes run contrary to the agreement they signed last July with Gov. Rick Scott.

As such, in order to get the tribe’s support, the legislature will likely have to sweeten the Seminoles’ pot, possibly by adding the exclusive right to offer roulette and craps at the tribe’s six gaming venues in the state, as was offered in the 2015 gaming compact the tribe inked with Scott but which was never ratified by the legislature.

Florida’s House of Representatives has traditionally been far less enthusiastic about gambling expansion, and Tuesday saw the House Tourism & Gaming Control Subcommittee approve PCB TGC 18-01, a new version of the bill it put forward last year.

As with last year’s (ultimately doomed) effort, this House bill would renew the Seminoles’ existing compact and extend it through 2038, while boosting the annual payment from tribe to state from $250m to at least $325m.

But the House bill would ban the cardrooms’ designated-player games and prohibit tracks and jai-alai frontons outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties from launching new slots operations, even if voters in these counties have already given these plans their approval.

This year’s abbreviated legislative session, which ends in March, is further complicated by the fact that the Disney-backed No Casinos group succeeded in getting an amendment onto this November’s ballot that could require any gambling expansion plan to secure approval of the state’s voters.

The idea that any plan enacted after November could be undone by voters may provide the necessary impetus for legislators to get something done this time around. That said, the House appears largely content to carbon freeze the current gambling landscape, so who knows?

Frankly, we think the state and the rest of us would be far better served if we could just get all the stakeholders and legislators in a room, dress them all up in giant rabbit costumes, lock the door, then threaten to unleash all those coked-up greyhounds into the room if they can’t reach consensus.

The post Florida kicks off two months of gambling legislative squabbling appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

888poker XL Blizzard Main Event won by �Pepepepepe.' for $183,867

From January 18 to 28, 888poker has presented their XL Blizzard Series, regarded to be one of their best online series to date. What makes the XL Blizzard Series a very nice one to go to is because it is nicely split between three various buy-in levels in order to give everyone a chance to play in a splendidly structured tournament and to compete for a massive first place reward. On the very last day of the 888poker XL Blizzard Series, there were four tournaments scheduled as the final ones to[...]

Casino Giants Register Interest in Cairns Global Tourism Hub Plan

Major casino companies have registered interest in participating in a project for the construction of a A$1-billion integrated resort in the city of Cairns, the Queensland government said earlier today.

The Global Tourism Hub scheme was introduced last fall. It involves the construction of a multi-purpose complex with a casino as well as a number of accommodation, food and beverage, retail, and entertainment facilities. Under the original proposal, the resort could be built on a four-hectare state-owned site at the city’s port. However, MPs said last year that it can technically be located anywhere within a 70-kilometer radius from Cairns.

The Queensland government opened a Registration of Interest process on October 30, 2017, and interested parties had up until January 23 to submit their responses.

It became known earlier today that over 12 registrations were submitted, and some of them came from several globally renowned casino operators. The government said that it would not reveal the applicants for commercial-in-confidence reasons. However, it pointed out that registrations included a mix of state, national, and foreign casino brands.

Local media reported that officials were encouraged by the overwhelming interest in the A$1-billion project, particularly given the fact that some of the world’s biggest casino companies have submitted their registration of interest responses. MPs told media that their exceeded expectations were a good indication that their choice of Queensland’s Tropical North as the preferred home to the future development was the right one.

The proposal for the development of the Global Tourism Hub came as part of the Queensland government’s efforts to further boost the state’s tourism industry, which is believed to be worth A$25 billion and to be employing 200,000 people.

Who Might Have Registered Interest?

While the Queensland government has decided against naming the operators that were interested in building a casino as part of the Global Tourism Hub, we believe that Las Vegas giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. may be one of these. Last spring, the company revealed plans for geographical expansion. It said that it would explore opportunities to enter new markets once its main operating unit emerged from bankruptcy.

What is more, reports emerged last June that Caesars was interested in entering the Queensland casino market through a partnership with Chinese-backed group of investors ASF Consortium, which was picked by the government to develop the A$3-billion Gold Coast Integrated Resort. Several months later, the government rejected the plan, citing environmental concerns and general discontent among Gold Coast residents.

Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp may be another operator to have registered interest in the Global Tourism Hub scheme. Casino News Daily reported last August that the company, which currently operates the NagaWorld Hotel & Entertainment Complex in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, had set eyes on Cairns as a potential destination for its international expansion.

With the conclusion of the Registration of Interest process, the Queensland government is set to launch an Expression of Interest process for interested parties. It is also important to note that the government also undertook a community consultation last year. Members of the public are able to voice their opinion on the Cairns project until February 11, 2018.

The post Casino Giants Register Interest in Cairns Global Tourism Hub Plan appeared first on Casino News Daily.

The Mystery of Rich Hill

From a distance the mountain is shaped like a saddle. It is located about 10 miles northeast of Wickenburg, AZ., nicknamed the 'Dude Ranch Capital of the World.'

The remains of two ghost towns, Stanton and Weaver, lie at the foot of the mountain. Parts of old buildings still exist, with the desert breezes blowing through the crumbling remains. In the distance a coyote howls. A Gila Monster sits on a rock sunning itself, its tongue darting out to catch flies. A sidewinder rattlesnake slithers off and disappears beneath a barrel cactus.

Rich Hill became famous in 1863 when a party of travelers camped at the foot of the mountain. The group was led by Pauline Weaver. When an animal escaped from the makeshift corral Weaver had set up, one of the members followed it to the top of the mountain. There his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

The mountain was covered with gold.

There were nuggets everywhere. In the stream running across the top of Rich Hill. In the boulders strewn across the mountain top. Some of the nuggets were as large as potatoes and that part of the mountain gained the nickname the 'Potato Patch.'

Within a short period of time when gold was selling for about $10 an ounce, the Weaver party extracted more than $100,000 in gold. The gold was so abundant they didn't even have to do much digging, removing most of it with shovels and knives.

The gold discovery occurred nearly 160 years ago. Since that date, an estimated $900 million in gold has been taken from the Rich Hill area. And the truly amazing part of the story is that, according to the prospectors who are working the area, the mother lode has not yet been discovered.

Joe Wilcox was a gold prospector who divided his time between Phoenix and his home in Sedona, AZ. where he and his family operated an Indian trading post. I met him in the early 1980s when I worked as a reporter for the Phoenix Gazette.

Joe was helping a friend promote a service station by setting up a sluice box and letting motorists pan for gold, using ore that Wilcox had transported in a pickup truck from Rich Hill. I stopped my car to fill it with gas and tried my luck at panning. I found a tiny gold nugget in my gold pan and became hooked.

The prospector and I became fast friends and he agreed to take me to Rich Hill the following Saturday. We made the 60-mile drive from Phoenix in Joe's pickup and spent the day panning for gold after a two-hour trek up a mountain trail that took us to the top of the mountain.

'Here is what is so amazing and mysterious about Rich Hill,' Wilcox said. 'Even after all the prospecting and mining over the past 160 years, the mountain is still loaded with gold. After a heavy rainstorm, it just pops out of the ground. Nobody can explain it. This is a phenomenon of nature.'

That day thanks to Joe's tutoring, I found a gold nugget big enough to make into a ring. Joe cracked open a boulder in the middle of the stream and discovered 13 tiny gold nuggets concealed in the clay inside the boulder.

Today there are a number of gold prospecting clubs that have staked claims on Rich Hill. There are 'No Trespassing' signs scattered across the mountain and gold seekers equipped with shovels, picks, crowbars, gold pans and sluice boxes can be spotted in the area seven days a week.

Joe was a poker player as were several of the prospectors I met in the Wickenburg area. They played in home games as well as at the American Legion Posts in Phoenix and Wickenburg.

One of the prospectors I met in the area was a retiree in his 70s. He lived in a camper that he parked near the foot of the mountain. He and Joe were old friends. Once he was convinced I was okay, he showed me some of his treasures. They contained two solid gold bars that he had melted down from the gold he had found in the stream at the foot of the mountain and on Rich Hill.

'This is part of my retirement package,' he joked. 'I just like to look at the gold and realize that I found it on my own with no help from the government.'

Another person I met on Rich Hill was a professor from Arizona State University. Along with his passion for prospecting for gold, he collected rattlesnake venom that the university used in an ongoing program to find a cure for cancer. His nickname was Rattlesnake Pete, he wore a beard and carried a machete, and he brewed a mean cup of cowboy coffee.

One prospector told me candidly that the story of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine could not compare to the mystery of Rich Hill.

'A lot of men have searched for the Lost Dutchman in the Superstition Mountains,' he said. 'All most of them have found is sunstroke, mosquito bites and fool's gold. Rich Hill is literally a mountain of gold and the mother lode is still out there waiting for somebody to discover it.'

At the Arrowhead Bar, a watering lounge located a few miles from Wickenburg, a grizzled prospector sipped his beer while he recounted his experiences looking for gold in the area.

'There's an old saying that a gold mine is a hole in the ground owned by a liar,' he said. 'While that's probably true, the people who have discovered gold on Rich Hill aren't liars. This is real gold country and they'll be finding gold on this mountain a hundred years from now.' He winked and finished his beer.

I have been to the top of Rich Hill half a dozen times over the past two decades. From the top of the mountain you can see for 75 miles in all directions. There are parts of old wheelbarrows on the mountain top and piles of rocks and boulders that have been moved over the years in the relentless search for gold. You can feel the history. It's alive.

On one of my trips to Rich Hill, an actor friend named Dick Alexander accompanied me. Dick was a friend of Nick Nolte, Wilford Brimley and Michael Landon, the star of 'Bonanza' and producer of the 'Little House On The Prairie' television series. Dick had played a recurring role as a Catholic Priest in the series.

As we stood on top of the mountain, Dick was impressed by the grandeur of the place.

'This is real Arizona,' he said. 'You can almost feel the presence of the pioneers who discovered the gold here. The place gives me the shivers.'

I agreed. The mystery of Rich Hill will do that to you.

Wynn Resorts shares down nearly one-fifth since Friday

Casino operator Wynn Resorts is finding no safe place to hide from the bombshell sexual harassment allegations leveled against boss Steve Wynn on Friday.

Wynn Resorts shares fell 9.3% on Monday, after shedding nearly 10% on Friday, the day the Wall Street Journal reported claims of decades’ worth of sexual impropriety by Steve Wynn against multiple female members of Wynn Resorts staff. Both Steve and the company have vehemently denied the allegations.

The carnage wasn’t confined to American markets, as the company’s Wynn Macau offshoot saw its Hong Kong-listed shares fall 6.5% on Monday, the first opportunity the Asian market had to react since the story broke.

Adding urgency to the situation, Wynn’s Macau casino concession expires in 2022, and Steve had expressed optimism just last week that preliminary discussions with Macau government officials gave the company “reason to have confidence that our businesses will continue after the initial concession expiration date.”

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) had discussed the sexual allegations with Wynn management. Should the furor over the allegations persist, Wynn investors’ calls for Steve’s ouster could grow louder.

Monday also brought word that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has scheduled a public hearing on the allegations for Wednesday at 2pm. Wynn Resorts is building the $2.4b Wynn Boston Harbor integrated resort and the MGC announced this weekend that it had questions regarding the “suitability” of its newest casino licensee.

Spokesperson Elaine Driscoll issued a statement saying the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau “immediately initiated a review of this matter to assess implications for ongoing suitability,” and the hearing will allow the Bureau to update the MGC on its progress. Driscoll said the MGC was “profoundly aware of the gravity of this matter and will proceed with the appropriate sense of urgency and rigor.”

Wynn is facing a similar investigation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, as well as an internal probe by independent members of Wynn’s board of directors.

On Saturday, Steve resigned as finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Steve has been among the GOP’s top financial donors – contributing $2.4m since 2013 – but the allegations have sparked bipartisan calls for the RNC to return Steve’s donations.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that Republican Senator Dean Heller from Wynn’s home state of Nevada plans to donate the $5,400 his re-election campaign received from Wynn last year to an unspecified charity. In Ohio, GOP Sen. Rob Portman is donating the $5,400 he received from Wynn to charities fighting human sex-trafficking.

The Republic Governors Association (RGA) announced Monday that it was returning $100k it had received from Wynn during the current election cycle. The RGA will also refuse future Wynn donations and is scuttling plans to hold a 2020 conference at Wynn Las Vegas.

Steve Wynn may yet survive this episode, but his bankroll has already taken a body blow. Steve holds 12.2m shares of Wynn Resorts, and the share price decline has reportedly cost him a paper loss of $462.5m since Friday. So much for that ‘happy ending,’ huh, Steve?

The post Wynn Resorts shares down nearly one-fifth since Friday appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

Philipp Gruissem Joins partypoker’s Cluster of Poker Celebrity Ambassadors

While PokerStars Team Pro seems to be thinning with each week passing, the case is exactly the opposite with its rival poker operator partypoker and its team of sponsored players. It was announced earlier today that German poker Philipp Gruissem has become the latter poker room’s newest brand ambassador.

The player is joining a growing team of sponsored players, which includes fellow countryman Fedor Holz, among a number of others.

With live tournament earnings of over $11 million, Gruissem is one of his homeland’s most successful poker professionals. And here it is important to note once again that over the past several years, Germany has turned into a superpower in the world of poker thanks to its players who have been dominating high roller fields for the past several years.

Gruissem, in particular, has been quite active on the high roller scene and has taken down an impressive amount of such tournaments, hence his bankroll. The player won his largest cash namely from a high roller event. Back in 2013, he topped the field of the WPT Alpha 8 London £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em, good for £862,400.

A year later, the German took down the EPT Season 10 Grand Final €25,500 High Roller 8-Max for another massive payout of €993,963. The player won the same event in 2017, this time for €485,135. Overall, he has cashed in 54 live tournaments over the course of his poker career, and as it can be seen some of his payouts have been quite impressive.

Gruissem has also been playing online for quite some time. In fact, the player has revealed that he won his first ever online tournament on partypoker under the ‘philbort’ screen name. He has also pointed out that it was this victory (which brought him $200) that encouraged him to learn more about the game and delve deeper into its particularities.

partypoker’s Expanding Team of Ambassadors

As mentioned earlier, the online poker room has expanded its Team partypoker significantly over the past two years, signing poker heavyweights such as Fedor Holz, Jason Koon, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and Kristen Bicknell, and now Gruissem.

On the other hand, PokerStars Team Pro, the team of sponsored players of partypoker’s rival online poker brand, has lost some of its big names. In fact, four players have parted ways with PokerStars since the beginning of the year, with those being Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Felipe Ramos, and most recently Bertrand Grospellier.

While the players have cited different reasons for their departure, it can be said that many of them have probably decided to end their contracts with the poker room, due to the wave of changes in its rewards program it has been rolling out for the past two years or so. Generally speaking, these changes are aimed at attracting recreational players while poker professionals consider them less friendly.

Isaac Haxton has been one of the most vocal critics of PokerStars’ new policies. The player was part of the poker brand’s Team Pro, but severed ties with it in early 2016, claiming that it had behaved “unethically”. It was announced last week that Haxton has too joined Team partypoker as ambassador for the poker operator.

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Philipp Gruissem joins partypoker

Philipp Gruissem, German professional poker player, began playing live poker 9 years ago and has been competing at the highest level ever since. Gruissem has won many high roller and super high roller titles including his biggest live tournament cash, the 2014 Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller event, where he took home $1,378,059. Phil also went on to win the same event in 2017 for almost $530,000. His live earnings now stand at over $11 million. Gruissem read his first poker book and sta[...]

China plans Year of the Dog gambling crackdown

China will welcome the Year of the Dog with a renewed assault on illegal gambling activity, as well as the support services that enable this activity to thrive.

On Monday, China’s official state media service Xinhua quoted Ministry of Public Security deputy minister Huang Ming telling attendees at a national video conference that the country faced a new front in its ongoing war against illegal gambling activity.

Huang claimed rural areas of the country were coming under fresh attack from illegal gambling operators, including from unauthorized online gambling sites. Huang ordered police to target the protective “umbrellas” behind such activities, including networks of underground banks that help Chinese gamblers fund their betting activity.

As if China’s population hadn’t already gotten the message, Huang claimed gambling was a social harm that posed a threat to national security, and warned individuals involved in illegal gambling and those who obstruct police probes into illicit activity that they will be “harshly punished.”

Since 2012, Chinese authorities have handled 1.74m cases of illegal gambling activity involving 5.93m suspects. Last October, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate reported that 710 individuals had been charged with online crimes – including ‘cyber gambling’ – in the first nine months of 2017, up 80.7% year-on-year.

Apart from the state-run sports and welfare lotteries, gambling is illegal on the Chinese mainland. Gamblers looking for casino and betting options must travel to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Earlier this month, Macau’s Institute for Tourism Studies published a study urging China to approve mainland casinos in order to address the “enormous demand for gambling” by mainland punters and to reduce the “mass exodus of capital” that currently goes to casinos in other Asia-Pacific nations.

Should this capital outflow continue, the study’s authors warn that this “loss of national wealth … will become a real threat” to the national wellbeing.

Rather than permitting casinos to pop up anywhere on the mainland, the study’s authors suggests a more targeted approach involving pilot projects in “certain special zones,” including the island of Hainan, where the government has flirted with approving casinos (and online gambling), only to back off when word leaked out.

The post China plans Year of the Dog gambling crackdown appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

Yggdrasil launches spellbinding Ozwin’s Jackpots slot

Yggdrasil Gaming launches its spellbinding new game, Ozwin’s Jackpots slot. The new five-reel, 20-payline Ozwin’s Jackpots slot sees Ozwin’s trusty apprentice weave spells in an attempt to turn the mighty magician into his human shape, all in exchange for big wins. During the gameplay, players collect crystals to restore the orbs of power and take a shot at five different ...

The post Yggdrasil launches spellbinding Ozwin’s Jackpots slot appeared first on Casino News Today.

Bitcoin Cash Games Launched

The world of cryptocurrencies just got another huge boost within the online gambling industry. Bitcoin.com, the number one info portal for all things Bitcoin, has had their own casino gaming platform called Bitcoin Games for a while now – it was launched in September 2017. Now, it's been significantly enhanced and broadened in that it also has a gaming portal that uses Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The sheer lightweight nature of BCH which makes transactions way faster and less expensive will make many players happy to hear this news.

BCH Games – much like its parent domain - requires no registration (so you can play anonymously if you prefer), has an expected RTP of 99%, provably fair games and instant payouts! Look forward to choosing between a hefty selection of games, too, as players are faced with a gaming catalogue containing video poker, Blackjack, Craps, Keno, Roulette, Dice and, of course, a slice of slot games for your spinning pleasure. Each game can yield instant high-stake jackpots, so it's not just fun and using revolutionary monetary technology – it can also get pretty fruitful.

Explaining the provability of their games, the portal states as follows: “The reason that we can guarantee provably fair gaming is that your web browser supplies a random number that we must incorporate into the random number generator in a provably consistent way (…) Our server first shuffles the deck, and your computer then gives us a random number that we must use to repeatedly cut the deck. Since our servers do not know what random number your computer will send, we have no way of knowing how the shuffle will look in the end.”

The games are open for players all around the world, “except for the US and few other destinations,” due to regulation restrictions. However, the portal goes on to explain that, “US residents can still play the games with test credit.”

Bitcoin Games, launched in fall of 2017, was envisioned as an, “ultimate destination for playing classic casino games with Bitcoin,” that harks back to the days of old and classic game consoles, which is somewhat stated with the very elemental looks of the website. You can easily switch between Bitcoin Games and BCH Games platforms with a clearly visible dropdown menu at the top-left side of the page.

What do you think of the new platform? Will you be using it or are you just glad that further recognition has been given throughout the gambling industry mechanisms? Shout it out in the comments below...

Source:

“Bitcoin Cash Games Arrives – Play Your Favorites Faster With BCH”, bitcoin.com, January 25, 2018.

Steve Wynn sexual allegations fallout widens

Sexual harassment allegations have prompted Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn to resign as the Republican party’s main money man.

On Saturday, Republic National Committee (RNC) chairperson Ronna Romney-McDaniel confirmed that she’d accepted Steve Wynn’s resignation as the RNC’s finance chair. The announcement came one day after media reports of multiple female staffers accusing Wynn of decades’ worth of sexual impropriety.

Wynn, who has been among the Republic party’s leading financial donors in recent years, was appointed to the RNC role in January 2017, shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in as the new President of the United States.

McDaniel’s statement made no mention of the allegations facing Wynn, but Steve issued a statement on Saturday saying “the work [the RNC] are doing to make America a better place is too important to be impaired by this distraction.” Steve’s statement on Friday called the allegations against him “preposterous.”

Wynn Resorts’ stock shed 10% of its value on Friday, and the expectation is that Wynn Macau shares will undergo significant downward pressure when the Hong Kong exchange opens on Monday. Such a dip would spoil the momentum sparked by the stellar Q4 and FY17 results the company reported last week.

The allegations against Steve have sparked concern that he could be forced to step down as Wynn Resorts boss. The company formed a committee headed by Patricia Mulroy, a member of Wynn’s corporate governance compliance committee, to investigate the allegations against Steve. The Nevada Gaming Control Board is also “reviewing” the situation.

Should Steve be forced to step down, Wynn is moving from the frying pan to the fire. Steve has no clear successor, in part due to what has been described as a weak board of directors allowing Steve to concentrate power in his hands.

The allegations could also spark fallout in Massachusetts, home of the in-development $2.4b Wynn Boston Harbor integrated resort project. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) issued a statement saying it was “now aware of and is taking very seriously the troubling allegations detailed in the Wall Street Journal article.”

The MGC’s decision to award Wynn the sole Boston-area casino license was controversial due to allegations of favoritism by MGC chairman Stephen Crosby. Rival Caesars Entertainment accused Crosby of making unfounded claims regarding Caesars’ regulatory unsuitability.

Crosby was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing but the issue of Wynn’s suitability is now on the table. The MGC’s weekend statement said assessing the suitability of its gaming licensees was “an active and ongoing process.”

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker added his voice to the growing controversy, saying he was “deeply disturbed by these allegations and expects them to be taken seriously.” Baker said his administration “has a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.”

The post Steve Wynn sexual allegations fallout widens appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

Ben Lamb Wins Aussie Millions A$25,000 Challenge

Ben Lamb, a two-time WSOP Main Event finalist, triumphed in the Aussie Millions A$25,000 Challenge in the first hours of Sunday to scoop a payout of A$647,114 and an ANTON Jewellery ring after dominating action on the event’s second day.

Lamb locked the victory after he agreed on a deal with Jan-Eric Schwippert before the beginning of heads-up. The two players shook hands on splitting what had remained of the prize pool based on their chip counts and flipping blind for the ring and the title. Schwippert, one of the members of Germany’s group of high roller elites, collected A$597,765 for his runner-up finish.

The event attracted a field of 114 entries, who created a prize pool of A$2,736,000. The second and final day of the A$25,000 buy-in tournament began with 19 players returning at the tables of Crown Casino in Melbourne. They were led by Taiwanese poker star Kitty Kuo. The female poker pro has performed quite well in Asian-Pacific tournaments over the past several years and was looking for a first major title from the Aussie Millions. The player actually came really close to winning one last night, but eventually finished fourth for one of her career’s best cashes of A$246,240.

As the day progressed, the Day 2 field of 19 players was reduced to the final seven who gathered around an unofficial final table. Schwippert was the chip leader at that point, followed by Lamb. It can be said that action during the final day of the event was marked by these two’s attempts to outrun each other.

Lamb’s Final Move to Victory

As mentioned above, Lamb and his German opponent were the last men standing in the field. Instead of engaging in what could have been a rather long heads-up duel, the two players agreed to split the remaining money and to flip blind for the title.

On the final hand in play, Lamb’s [Qc][Jc] faced Schwipper’s [10s][4h]. The board ran out [2c][9s][3c][3d][7h] to secure Lamb with the title and the champion’s ring.

In his post-victory interview, Lamb said that the six-handed format was his favorite, and he really enjoyed playing the A$25,000 Challenge. At this time of the year, the player usually participates actively in the PCA and skips the Aussie Millions. However, it was a bit different this year. Lamb decided to play in the PCA for just a week, and then he traveled to sunny Australia for Crown Melbourne’s big annual festival.

Including his latest live poker accomplishment, Lamb now has more than $8.8 million in tournament earnings. As mentioned earlier, the player played at the final table of the WSOP Main Event two times. In 2011, he finished third in the massive event, good for $4,021,138. Last summer, Lamb collected $1 million after took ninth place in the $10,000 Championship.

The post Ben Lamb Wins Aussie Millions A$25,000 Challenge appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Japan's bitFlyer Starts Operations In Europe

One of the leading exchange platforms for digital money in Japan, bitFlyer, has propelled on the old continent after receiving a license to work within the European Union. The trade presently supports BTC/EUR transactions, with an arrangement to include several different digital currencies by the end of the year. Earlier in November 2017, when Bitcoin skyrocketed to $6900+ for the first time, bitFlyer was among the busiest exchanges in the country.

Acquiring a permit to operate in the European Union has made the platform highly flexible, as it now successfully works on three different continents. The organization will be headquartered in Luxembourg as a daughter company, under the name of Bitflyer Europe S.A. Member state of the Benelux Union has issued a Payment Institution permit to the establishment via Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF).

The country’s Minister of Finance has proudly welcomed one of the Japan’s most successful startups, whose first transactions in the EU will not include any trading fees. The offer is valid throughout February and it is primarily targeted at high-volume traders.

Further development of the platform is scheduled later this year, when other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash will be integrated. Yuzo Kano, bitFlyer’s CEO and founder, said that the regulatory status of all digital assets is fundamental for future transactions and the industry.

As part of the most efficient and profitable exchanges in Japan, the organization currently counts over 1 million users and holds the Japanese Financial Services Agency license. Its operations are widely spread in the United States too, after obtaining permits from 41 states, along with New York. Additionally, BTC transactions via this platform are also available in Illinois, Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, and others.

Source:

“Bitflyer Launches in Europe – Now Licensed on Three Continents”, Helms Kevin, bitcoin.com, January 23, 2018.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Leaves PokerStars Team Pro

French poker pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has reportedly left PokerStars Team Pro, poker news outlet PokerFuse reported citing unnamed industry sources. The Frenchman thus became the fourth sponsored professional to leave the poker operator’s cluster of stars, who are promoting its brand globally, since the beginning of the year, with Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, and Felipe Ramos being the other three.

While PokerStars is yet to confirm Grospellier’s departure, PokerFuse has pointed out that his picture and bio had been removed from the online card room’s official website. It is also still unknown why ElkY has decided to leave PokerStars’ team of sponsored players, but many would suggest that this might have to do with the multiple tweaks the poker operator has introduced in its rewards program over the past several years.

Many players, who have been playing poker for years, have complained about PokerStars depriving them of privileges they have earned through countless hours of playing. Indeed, the poker room’s focus has recently shifted towards attracting more recreational players to its online poker premises.

Who Is ElkY?

Prior to rising to fame in the poker world, Grospellier had made a name for himself as one of the world’s top eSports players. He then focused his attention to building a poker career. With live tournament earnings of more than $13.5 million, ElkY is his home’s country’s most profitable player of all time.

What is more, the Frenchman is one of the very few players to have accomplished the Triple Crown in poker. To be more specific, he has a WPT, a WSOP, and an EPT title in his massive portfolio of poker accomplishments. In 2008, Grospellier won the $8,000 PCA Main Event for $2 million in prize money. It was also in 2008 when the player won his WPT title. He bested the $15,000 buy-in Festa al Lago for $1,411,015. He has a gold bracelet from a WSOP Seven Card Stud Championship event he won back in 2011.

It is also important to note that ElkY is one of the world’s most accomplished online poker players, playing both in cash games and tournament events. In fact, he was the first online player to reach PokerStars’ Supernova and Supernova Elite statuses.

As mentioned earlier, three other Team PokerStars Pros parted ways with the online poker room since the beginning of the year. In a comprehensive post on Facebook, Vanessa Selbst, the world’s most profitable female poker pro, announced that she was retiring from professional poker to pursue other career opportunities. She thus ended her contract with the card room.

Jason Mercier followed suit, announcing that he had not renewed his contract with PokerStars. The player explained that he plans to spend more time with his wife, Natasha Mercier, who is also a professional poker player, and their newborn son. Judging by his statement, Mercier had parted ways with the poker room quite amicably, pointing out that he had spend wonderful eight and a half years as a sponsored player.

However, Felipe Ramos did not seem to have ended his contract with PokerStars in friendly terms. In a series of tweets, the Brazilian player joined the wave of discontent towards the poker brand’s new priorities.

The post Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Leaves PokerStars Team Pro appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Biggest Aussie Millions Winners over the Years

The Aussie Millions Poker Championship is probably the biggest live festival to be taking place in the Southern Hemisphere on an annual basis. Over the years, the event has gained global popularity with the number and diversity of poker events it features and has attracted some of the world’s most popular and highly selective poker players.

This year the major poker series celebrates its 20th anniversary which will certainly elevate the spirits of both organizers and players who are planning to take part in the poker festivities at the host venue Crown Casino in Melbourne. To celebrate the recent start of the 2018 Aussie Millions, Casino News Daily has prepared a short list of some of the largest payouts awarded to players over the past two decades.

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey previously made history at the Aussie Millions. He became the only player to ever win three A$250,000 Challenges, an event that dropped from the 2018 schedule of the festival due to lack of interest last year.

Ivey won the tournament in 2012, 2014, and 2015, scooping a total of $8.205 million for his three triumphs. The 2012 edition of the event drew 16 entries, who created a prize pool of A$4 million. Ivey collected half of that amount.

In 2014, the popular poker pro took down the largest ever A$250,000 Challenge for A$4 million. The event had 30 entries and 16 re-entries. The massive interest generated a prize pool of A$11.27 million, which made the event the largest one to have taken place over the festival’s twenty years of running.

Erik Seidel

Seidel, yet another of poker’s heavyweights, is too part of the biggest Aussie Millions winners club. The player won the inaugural A$250,000 Challenge in 2011. He collected a nice payout of A$2.5 million for his efforts. It is also important to note that he beat a field of 20 entries.

The poker professional with live tournament earnings of more than $33.5 million also almost won an Aussie Millions Championship. The player finished second in the 2008 edition of the event. He was one of 780 entries to join the event’s field, and eventually made it to heads-up against Russia’s Alexander Kostritsyn. The Russian took down the Main Event, while Seidel scooped A$1 million for his deep run.

Sam Trickett

England’s most profitable poker player has too performed beautifully in several Aussie Millions tournaments over the years. He boasts a A$250,000 Challenge title as well as a A$100,000 Challenge one. Trickett captured his title from the A$100,000 event first.

He took down the high roller tournament back in 2011. The player collected the amount of A$1.525 million. That year’s edition of the A$100,000 Challenge attracted 38 entries for a prize pool of A$3.8 million. The Englishman was also the winner of the 2013 A$250,000 Challenge. The player emerged victorious from a field of 18 participants. His share of the prize pool totaled A$2 million.

Trickett’s current live poker bankroll exceeds $20.8 million. The player had his best cash ever back in 2012, when he finished runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for ONE DROP.

Biggest Aussie Millions Main Event Winners

Australian players Stewart Scott, Tyron Krost, and David Gorr (pictured) were the ones to collect the largest payouts for winning the Championship event. They took it in that order in three consecutive years, and all three received A$2 million for their accomplishments.

Scoot took down the A$10,000 buy-in tournament in 2010. The player was the last man standing from a field of 746 entries. Krost beat a field of 721 fellow participants the next year. Finally, Gorr took down the event in 2012, emerging the victor from 659 entries.

This year, the A$10,600 Main Event is slated to kick off on Sunday, January 28, with the first of three starting flights. The tournament will be completed on February 4, when the official final table will take place.

The post Biggest Aussie Millions Winners over the Years appeared first on Casino News Daily.

Macau’s casino junket operator ranks shrink for fifth straight year

The ranks of Macau’s licensed casino junket operators underwent further contraction last year, but analysts believe the numbers will stabilize in 2018.

Figures released this week by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) show the number of licensed gaming promoters fell to 109 – 99 companies and 10 individuals – this month, a 13.5% decline from the 126 approved junkets in operation during January 2017.

The current figure is further removed from the 141 licensed junkets on the DICJ’s approved list in 2016 and a 57% reduction from the 253 promoters who were plying their trade in Macau in January 2013.

The fifth straight year of junket shrinkage is partly due to the DICJ imposing tighter financial benchmarks on the sector. Also, some smaller junkets threw in the towel during Macau’s two-year-plus gaming revenue decline that ended in August 2016, or allowed their operations to be acquired by larger, more stable junkets.

However, with the VIP gambling sector having reestablished itself as the engine of the Macau’s market’s overall growth last year, analysts believe 2018 may snap the five-year streak of shrinking junket numbers.

Kwok Chi Chung, president of Macau’s Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters, told GGRAsia that the junket sector was unlikely to undergo a “big change” this year. If there is further downward pressure, “it will not be to a great extent” due to the consolidation push having “largely stabilized.”

Andrew Lo Kai Bong, chief investment officer of the market-leading SunCity Group junket, echoed this view, saying Macau’s VIP sector “has already grown to such a large scale that it is not easy for any new startups to enter it.”

Macau’s government plans to amend its gaming laws this year to further increase junket oversight, reportedly including greater disclosure on shareholder structure and boosting minimum capital requirements.

The post Macau’s casino junket operator ranks shrink for fifth straight year appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

Dan Iliovici and Alex Henderson: Responsible Gambling & Anti-money laundering

Responsible Gambling & Anti-money laundering with Dan Iliovici (Romanian National Office of Gambling) and Alex Henderson (The Ritz Hotel Casino London). The leading boutique style gaming conference in Prague has announced more speaker profiles and it looks like the event will cover all hot topics of the industry. Responsible Gambling is among the most searched topics of the online and ...

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The Big Game is Back with New Addition at partypoker MILLIONS Germany

Good news partypoker fans! partypoker is bringing back their highly popular televised high-stakes cash game, The Big Game, and this time with a new feature, the €50/€100 PLO edition, streamed live on February 10 to 12 at Rozvadov, Czech Republic. partypoker's The Big Game is considered as one of the most famous televised cash games in the world, and now it returns next month featuring its first ever Pot Limit Omaha edition. The eight-handed €50/€100 PLO game is schedul[...]