Thinking of all my hardworking ancestors toiling away on family farms, trying to provide enough food for their sprawling German- and Irish-Catholic families makes me wonder: What would they think of an immensely popular game about farming where players can risk virtual cows for cash? Zynga, the makers of popular online game FarmVille, is taking the next step in gaming by applying for a license to gamble in Nevada. [More]
gambling
Is This 9/11 Casino Promotion A Nice Tribute, Or Just Tacky?
By 9.10.12
Reader Bearcat44 spotted this ad in the Spokane, Wash. Spokesman-Review. It’s from an Idaho casino running a promotion tomorrow, September 11th. To honor the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, they’re offering special rates to law enforcement, medical personnel, and other first responders in order to honor “heroes who protect and serve our community.” [More]
New Branch Promotion Turns ATMs Into No-Lose Slot Machines
By 8.30.12
How can you spice up a routine visit to the ATM? Easthampton Savings Bank in Massachusetts is promoting a new branch by turning its ATM into a sort of no-lose slot machine. They call it the “ATM Gone Mad,” because sometimes it will dispense $50 bills in place of the normal $20 bills. Cute promo. One local blogger finds it amusing that this is going on around the same time that the nearby city of Springfield is considering a downtown casino proposal from MGM Grand. All of the fun of gambling, none of the risk of financial ruin. But what’s the fun if there’s no chance of destroying your family’s future? [More]
Casino Deals Unshuffled Cards, Wants Gamblers' Winnings Back
By 8.23.12
When the same sequence of cards was dealt at a mini-baccarat table at Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget casino twice in a row, was it just probability in action. Out of all the packs of shuffled cards in the world, the cards ending up in the same order happens now and then. Then the cards came up in the same sequence a third time. Fourth. Fifth. The players played forty-one hands where the cards came up in the same order, betting larger and larger amounts each hand. Wouldn’t you? They ultimately won more than $1.5 million. Casino security staff swarmed the table, trying to figure out how the fourteen players at the table were cheating. They weren’t. A vendor allegedly supplied the casino with packs of unshuffled cards, which were dealt as-is. Now the casino is suing the fourteen gamblers and the playing card company, and the gamblers are countersuing the casino. [More]
Maiming A Slot Machine Isn’t Going To Make Up For The Fact That You Lost
By 7.13.12
Listen, we know what it’s like to keep shoving money into a slot machine, mesmerized by the blinking lights and the possibility that this time will be different, this time will bring riches beyond imagining! But should you lose, don’t act like a mad baby and maim the casino’s machine. That’s just immature. [More]
PayPal Is No Friend To NCAA Pools, Restricts Accounts Used To Bet On March Madness
By 3.15.12
The fact that gambling is illegal does little to stop NCAA basketball fans from betting online or engaging in office pools. But PayPal is doing what it can to block users from getting in on the action. The service is restricting accounts it believes have been used for gambling. [More]
Legal Online Gambling May Be On The Way, Courtesy Of Justice Department
By 12.27.11
Online poker and other forms of non-sports internet gambling could become legal, thanks in part to a recently released U.S. Department of Justice opinion on a 50-year-old law. [More]
Poker Site Co-Founder Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy
By 12.21.11
A federal crackdown on online poker sites continues to rake in chips. In a reported plea agreement, a man who co-founded the gambling site Absolute Poker pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Federal regulators accused his organization of deceiving banks by masking customers’ gambling charges with names of online retailers. [More]
Pennsylvania Moves To Shut Down Gambling At "Internet Sweepstakes Cafes"
By 10.26.11
If you’ve never heard of an “Internet Sweepstakes Cafe,” or whatever other description the owners use, it’s basically a place where customers purchase pre-paid “phone cards” that they then use to buy time on a computer to play in various “sweepstakes” for which they can possibly win cash. How is this now gambling? Well, that’s the the question that the Pennsylvania state legislature is asking. [More]
Congress To Legalize Online Gambling?
By 8.17.11
Only months after the federal government shut down access to online poker sites come reports that Congress could soon consider a bill that would legalize online gambling. [More]
Chuck E. Cheese's Accused Of Turning Kids Into Gamblers
By 5.16.11
According to a potential class action suit filed by a San Diego mom, kiddie-themed pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese’s is a gambling parlor disguised as a venue for innocent entertainment. [More]
Government Re-Activates Online Poker Domains To Allow Refunds
By 4.21.11
Although the government brought the wrath of Olympus down upon law-averting offshore online poker palaces, it’s showing compassion for customers who had money locked up in gambling accounts. Authorities re-activated two previously closed domain names, allowing players to request refunds. [More]
Government Goes All-In Against Online Poker
By 4.18.11
If you were planning on making your fortune on your sofa, taking fools’ money in online poker, it’s probably time to think of a plan B. Feds are making like Eliot Ness in an effort to shut down offshore companies that let Americans subvert in the nation’s online gambling laws. G-men have filed an indictment against several individuals accused of operating illegal internet poker speakeasies. [More]
Tips To Stop Yourself From Gambling
By 4.2.11
No matter how successful they are at making money, compulsive gamblers can lose it all and more if they succumb to their addictions. HealthGuidance offers advice on how to curtail the impulse to risk it all. [More]
Allegiant: Let's Let Travelers Gamble On Airfare
By 3.14.11
Allegiant Air has come up with an idea for a new kind of airfare whose final price would rise or fall with the price of jet fuel. Passengers could choose between a traditional ticket, or one that has a discounted up-front cost, but whose final price is variable. If gas is cheaper the day you fly, you pay less. If higher, you pay more. It sounds a little crazy, until you realize where Allegiant is based out of: Las Vegas! [More]
Chase Declares New York State Lottery 'Illegal Internet Gambling'
By 9.2.10
Not everyone is fond of state lotteries, but you know what they’re not? Illegal. Still, Tim shared his experience with the New York State Lottery and his credit card company, Chase, where the bank chose to treat his lottery subscription payment as a cash advance, with the $10 fee and astronomical interest rate that goes along with it. [More]
Should There Be More Legalized Gambling?
By 8.11.10
Even though the American Gaming Association recently stated that gambling revenues were down 5.5% last year, a growing number of state and city governments are looking at casinos and gambling as a way to spur economic growth during this not exactly golden age. [More]
Recession Hits Casino Gambling For $1.8 Billion Loss
By 5.7.10
In the world of gambling, one axiom holds true — In the end, the casino always wins. But a new report from the American Gaming Association says that, due to the current not-so-great status of the economy, the casino isn’t winning as much as it was before. [More]
