EU to Challenge US Online Gambling Law

Good news for all of us online gamblers out there.

The European Union is threatening legal action against US legislation on online betting, describing it as “protectionist”.

According to Charlie McCreevy, the EU internal market commissioner, it is a restrictive practice and that the case could go to the WTO. He also suggested he would pursue the matter with his American counterparts on a visit to the US in March.

While McCreevy’s advisers believe the October 2006 law includes several “WTO incompatibilities”, the ex-treme sensitivity surrounding gambling policy may reduce the chances of the Commission bringing a case.

McCreevy stressed that there was no “major momentum” behind a new WTO complaint, and his officials pointed out that a final decision on such a move would in any case rest with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner.

However, Mr McCreevy’s intervention still marks a notable escalation in the Commission’s approach towards the US gambling crackdown. It also stands in contrast to the body’s silence on the arrests of the UK gambling executives in the US in July and September last year.

Source: Financial Times via Gambling911

States May Want to Regulate Online Gambling

But “things are going to get worse”

According to Michael Corfman of Casino City Press, State regulators have expressed interests in getting online gambling regulated.

Addressing attendees at CAP Euro, Corfman said that regulators from “significant states” were not happy with the new laws, and rather saw it as an opportunity to tax it, and legalize online gaming.

"These regulators are not happy with the new laws," Corfman stated.

Corfman has been sworn to secrecy not to discuss which states are considering regulation but that these are "significant states."

State law to determine if it's legal or illegal within each jurisdiction. Regulators may see this as an opportunity to tax it, and legalize online gaming.

Corfman discussed with the affiliates in attendance the transitions that will be taking place and how difficult things will be for affiliates during the short term.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg and I am afraid things are going to get worse," he said.

Gambling911.com

France Also On The Offensive Against Online Casinos

The French seem to be riding the wave of US online gambling offensive.

French authorities have announcement that a top online poker room is facing a ban on advertising.

According to UK Poker News, French club, Le Salon des Ambassadeurs, has banned all images from one of the Internet’s most well-known poker rooms, PokerStars.

It appears the French are also are stepping up the offensive on online poker and online gambling in general. In September 2006, executives of sports betting site BWIN were arrested in the South of France under a version of the American Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Online Casino News

Google & Yahoo To Stop Online Casino Ads

The US Justice Department has warned giant search engines, Google and Yahoo, for allowing online casino advertisements and promoting gambling indirectly to an underage audience through advertising pop-ups. As a result Google HQ has decided to impose a global ban on casino ads.

The voluntary decision applies only to the United States in the case of Yahoo!, where Justice officials have been exercising a major crackdown on all aspects of Internet gambling. However, Google plans to extend the ban globally.

The news follows reports that the US Justice Department is to order banks in the UK to hand over information concerning their dealings with several online poker sites. The DOJ seem to be targeting big online sites that trade their stock publicly on the London Stock Exchange, such as PartyGaming and 888 Holdings.

Casino News Online

Farmers post pics on milk cartons to find love

Lonely farmers in North Wales are to be pictured on milk cartons to help them find love.

Dairy co-operative Calon Wen is behind the 'Fancy a Farmer?' campaign, reports the Daily Post.

Stickers on Calon Wen's organic milk will feature three men and two women looking for a date.

Among them is 30-year-old Iwan Jones, of Groes Bach, Groes, near Denbigh, who dreamt up the idea.

He said: "It's a bit of a laugh really - but if I was approached by an attractive young lady I wouldn't turn her away."

Mr Jones is a director of Calon Wen, a co-operative of 20 Welsh organic dairy farmers, which has joined forces with a Welsh online dating agency.

By logging onto www.pishyn.com, shoppers can discover how to meet the farmer of their dreams.

Mr Jones said: "The Welsh countryside is a great place to live, with stunning scenery, but it can be a hard place to find a date as I'm finding out!"

Mr Jones admitted the two young women were recruited to the campaign "after a bit of arm-twisting".

"We didn't want to be accused of being sexist," he said.

Source: Ananova

Stallone knocked out sex to prep for film

Sylvester Stallone says he gave up sex while shooting “Rocky Balboa” because he needed to save his energy.

According to the 60-year-old actor you just don’t have as much energy at 60 as you had back when you were 30.

Besides, he says that giving up the deed isn’t really hard to do.

I know all about giving up the deed.

I gave it up for oh… roughly about 2 years, 3 weeks and 5 days (who’s counting, right?) not because I was training to become a well-oiled fighting fit machine, but because there wasn’t a damn man worth having sex with in all that time.

Luckily, Santa brought a long overdue present for old Marmalade this Christmas, and everyone entered the New Year smiling…

Read: Stallone knocked out sex to prep for film

Alternatives for online gambling withdrawals, deposits

Pokerlistings.com offers some great advice on where to go for your e-wallet requirements now that NETeller and Citadel have decided to throw in the towel.

It appears as if those payment mechanisms that do still allow you to make payments to a gambling site may not let you put money back on your cards from the same site if you want to withdraw your poker winnings.

That seems to be the area most affected by the pullout of NETeller and Citadel. It's still pretty easy to get money to a poker site, but not so easy to get it back.

Casinos like PokerStars.com, UltimateBet and Full Tilt Poker say that the only other regular cashout method available to U.S. customers is by sending them a check in the mail.

Which is hardly speedy or reliable.

Read more:

NETeller and Citadel may have tucked their tails between their legs and scurried away from the U.S. market's online gambling customers, but there are still several ways for customers to continue depositing and withdrawing money from their online poker accounts.

Aside from those two, popular sites, there are other e-wallet options for players. What your options are may depend on what poker sites you prefer to use, however.
For instance, UltimateBet works with Click2Pay and ePassporte. Both online money transfer companies still work with U.S. customers who want to transfer money to online gambling sites.

River Belle Online Casino is working with several transfer companies, including Click2Pay.

PokerStars.com is also working with ePassporte, and in their payment options, the poker site recommends using that service for deposits as it is a "reliable, safe and convenient way to transfer money to your account."

ePassporte works as a pre-paid and re-loadable Visa Virtual Account. The customer’s ePassporte account is first loaded with money from a Visa, MasterCard or bank account, and then the customer can use it to transfer money to their online gambling account.

Click2Pay works in a similar way.

There are some good, old-fashioned ways to make a deposit in your online gambling account as well. A wire transfer or a bank transfer is one secure way. Many poker sites supply an address as well for you to send a cashier's check or bank draft.

Amazingly, some poker sites will even accept a personal check for your deposits.
Credit cards are another option, but it depends on who has issued the cards. Many lenders in the United States have blocked the use of credit cards for online gambling sites.

Those that do still allow you to make payments to a gambling site may not let you put money back on your cards from the same site if you want to withdraw your poker winnings.

That seems to be the area most affected by the pullout of NETeller and Citadel. It's still pretty easy to get money to a poker site, but not so easy to get it back.
The most popular way to handle the matter right now is for poker sites to issue paper checks to customers who want to withdraw money from their accounts.

"At this time, the only other regular cashout method available to U.S. customers is by check," PokerStars.com said on their site. "The minimum cash out by check is currently $50. All checks over $1,000 are sent by courier; smaller checks are sent by regular mail, but can be sent by courier if you pay a $25 fee."

UltimateBet issued a similar statement on their site saying that along with PokerStars.com and Full Tilt Poker, they too were only able to send out paper checks for withdrawals at the moment.

"That may change (it's something we at UB are working on as I write) and we'll of course keep you posted as events warrant," a message on the UltimateBet site said.

What it comes down to is that U.S. poker players will still be able to play online and still get their money. Right now the only thing affected is how many options they have to do it and how fast those options are.

Source: PokerListings.com

Unease as Neteller, Citadel Shut Down Internet Gambling Transfer Service

There must be a more-than-mild panic in the Online Gambling industry following the withdrawal of Neteller and Citadel.

Neteller withdrew from the US market, effective immediately.

In a statement it said:

"Due to recent US legislative changes and events, effective immediately, US members are no longer able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling sites.

All US members will continue to be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet account to safely transfer funds to and from non-gambling merchants and are not required to close their account or withdraw their funds."

Earlier, Citadel announced that it has shut down Financial processing for non-domestic internet gaming merchants for USA consumers.

According to Gambling911.com, many online poker rooms and gambling sites in general have become increasingly dependent on third party payment processor, NETeller.

For instance, Full Tilt Poker was reportedly about 75% dependent on NETeller, while PokerStars’ dependency lies around 60%.

This could mean that these large online casino and poker sites are in danger of losing out to other venues less reliant on NETeller.

But only time will tell…

MySpace to offer parental notification software: report

MySpace reportedly plans to offer free parental notification software in a bid to appease government critics.

The Wall Street Journal reports that parents will be able to use the software, named "Zephyr," to find out what name, age and location their children use to represent themselves on MySpace.

It would not allow parents to read their children's e-mail or see their profile pages, and it would alert children that their information was being shared, the paper reported.

The news comes as a group of 33 state attorneys general considers whether to take action against MySpace if it does not raise the age limit to join the site to 16 from 14 and begin verifying members' ages, the paper said.

The site has had to deal with public criticism that some children who use it provide too much personal information, making them easy prey for sex offenders.

MySpace said in December that it would start offering technology to identify and block convicted sex offenders. The service would cover about 46 state sex offender registers.

MySpace also requires members over 18 years old to know the e-mail and first and last name of any 14- or 15-year-old members whom they want to contact.

Source: Reuters Canada

Woman dies after Wii competition

Radio show taken off air

The Sacramento radio show behind a water drinking competition which saw one of the contestants die from apparent water intoxication has been taken off air indefinitely.

"The Morning Rave" on local station KDND 107.9 "The End" held its "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest to win a videogames console on Friday. Runner-up and mother of three Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead at her home around five hours later. The coroner said preliminary results showed apparent water intoxication.

After competing, Strange rang her employers to tell them she would not be coming into work. The Sacramento Bee reports fellow contestant Elidia Campos said: "She looked pale, her eyes were super watery, and everyone was really nauseous."

Another competitor, Victoria Myers criticised the station. She said: "They were not concerned about our health or our risk."

Station general manager John Geary said: "The circumstances regarding this matter are being examined as thoroughly as possible. We are doing everything we can to deal with this difficult situation in a manner that is both respectful and responsible. In the interim, the Morning Rave is off the air indefinitely."

Strange drank 224 ounces (6.62 litres) of bottled water. Drinking more water than the kidneys can handle reduces the concentration of solutes in the blood, so water swells cells by osmosis and causes potentially lethal damage.

Source: The Register

Toilet-topper lets you flush with the fishes

Now you get to ‘go’ in a toilet that doubles as an aquarium.

The aptly named Fish 'n Flush is a see-through aquarium wrapping itself around a conventional toilet tank.

According to the creators, they "wanted to develop a product that had a dual purpose — to serve as a proper, fully functional toilet and also as a source of entertainment and conversation."

The aquarium toilet tank, which sells for $299, fits most commodes, with the 2.2-gallon aquarium piece able to be easily removed for cleaning. The toilet tank itself holds 2.5 gallons, which gives sufficient pressure for flushing.

He said the company, which specializes in water conservation equipment for homes, had worked with a marine biologist to design a tank that ensured the fish were not harmed when the toilet was flushed.

Source: MSNBC

Smallminded wife types - not extinct yet!

What a keeper!

Didn't know that people like this still exist...

This girl clearly needs to be bitch-slapped with some ambition. Although having this turd of an article published must demonstrate some hidden ambition to be recognised, depsite what the column suggests....

UK smoking bans force bingo players online

Bingo fans in England and Wales will be forced to abandon their Bingo game if they want to light up from mid 2007. Scotland’s smoking ban, put into place in March 2006, created a dire situation for the country's many bingo venues, dropping income by as much as 26% and causing many clubs to close.

It’s expected that, like in Scotland, many bingo players will now turn to Online Bingo as an alternative. As this is played at home, the smoking ban has no effect on it at all and players soon get used to the comfort of playing in their own house.

Playing online also allows quick access to other games like slots, poker, blackjack, craps and roulette.

Worth checking out. Click here for a taste of online bingo at River Belle.

Source: Casino City

Play slots, poker, blackjack, craps and roulette.

Finally: True insight into slots dynamics

Since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to become utterly, outrageously rich without actually doing much, or any, work, I guess I’d better start brushing up on my online gambling skills.

Since I’m an absolute slots whore, I was very interested to read International Game Technology's Introduction To Gaming article.

Written from a casino insider perspective, it gives outsiders a rare glimpse into slot dynamics as seen through the eyes of casino owners.

Insightful, and useful – I think! Now let the jackpots roll!

Beating the Post-holiday Blues

Now that the festivities of Christmas and New Year have come and gone, I can’t help to feel a little sad and let-down. Back to the boring day-to-day details, working, watching TV, cooking, exhaustion, boredom… And it doesn’t help that I seem to be coming down with flu.

Great.

At least I’m not alone in my deep dark despair…

By Peyton Mays

The halls are undecked, the last of the cookies disappeared days ago, the weather is miserable and you grimly note that the next official day off is May 29th.

Welcome to the post-holiday doldrums.

When you think about it, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Look at what you’ve just been through for the last month and a half. With everything else we pack into a typical week, we added the shopping, the baking, the wrapping and mailing and a social calendar to rival Madonna’s. No wonder downshifting into the new year makes us feel a bit winded, if not a little glum. If you can’t burn away the blahs with a boat drink on the beach, here are a few simple tips and shopping links to help you banish those blue meanies.

Get a little exercise. This has nothing to do with those New Year’s resolutions, noble as they may be. The important thing is to pry yourself off the couch and into some form of regular moderate exercise. Research has shown that a brisk walk of a couple of miles a day not only boosts your fitness level, but helps raise your metabolism and reduce stress. And it will get you out of the house. Take the dog along for company – it’ll do you both good. All you need is warm, comfortable clothes, a pair of walking shoes and a leash.

Not ready to strike out across the tundra? Think about incorporating a simple daily yoga or Pilates routine into your schedule. Not only will it help you work out those winter kinks, but both help lift your spirits. You can get the necessary equipment for either one without spending a fortune and you’ll begin to feel the benefits within the first couple of weeks.

Eat your vegetables. A healthy diet is not only great for your body – it’s important for your sense of well-being. Stress takes its toll on your natural reserve of vitamins and minerals, so it’s crucial to replenish them with nutritious meals. You don’t have to embrace a trendy diet or convert to tofu and sprouts. Just plan well-balanced meals and use the freshest ingredients you can find. This is a great time to go shopping for healthy cookbooks.

Don’t be a hermit. After the social whirl of the holidays, it’s easy to become a homebody. But while we all need a little time to recuperate, it’s important to plan something fun to look forward to. And without the heightened expectations that go along with holiday gatherings, it’s much easier to plan something informal. Invite a couple of the people you’re closest to over for a simple weekend meal or, if you’re not quite ready to dirty another pot, plan to meet at a favorite neighborhood restaurant. Bring the family together around the game board or in front of the TV for a weekend family film fest and order in. Visit your local museum, gallery, zoo or park and rediscover what you love about your hometown.

Follow your bliss. This is the perfect time of year to take advantage of the lull and devote time your favorite hobby or activity. The holiday hubbub makes it tough to find time to curl up with that book you’ve been looking forward to, tackling that home improvement project, catching up with your knitting or any number of things you enjoy. Give yourself at least one hour a day to spend doing something you love. It’s also the season when our nesting instincts are the strongest. Rearrange the furniture, buy something nice for the house or just treat yourself to a bouquet or two of fresh flowers.

Pamper yourself. A good friend of mine swears by the salubrious effects of retail therapy. When she feels down, she goes downtown and buys a new dress and a pair of shoes later, she’s back on top of her game. But, if like most of us, you capsized your credit card last month, look for luxury closer to home. The key is to visualize yourself enjoying your ultimate idyll, book the time, set the stage and make it happen. Whether your tastes run to a candlelight soak with Sinatra on the stereo, a relaxing massage or a cozy afternoon by the fire making a box of chocolates disappear, be sure it involves as much unstructured time as you can afford. And by all means take the phone off the hook. Even if you can only manage an hour here and there, ensure you’re truly free from all interruptions. The world can get along without you for awhile. Be creative. For the moment, it’s all about you.

Source: MSN Lifestyle

Festively Winning and Shoes That Vacuum As You Walk

As expected, I’m still suffering the ill effects of the festive season. Too much wine, too much food… too much of just about everything!

In between the madness I managed to hit the slots quite a bit. I actually put some money aside for my own special brand of holiday cheer (big up for planning!), so it was a thoroughly enjoyable, guilt-free period of unadulterated gambling. And I loved every second.

River Belle treated me very well and the payouts kept rolling in (festive season indeed!) and I ended up with quite a bit of very welcome extra cash.

So no complaints there!

Maybe I should use some of that cash to buy me one of these…..

A new pair of shoes have been invented that vacuum as you walk.

The Shoover - which makers Electrolux call the Dustmate - has a tiny rechargeable vacuum inside the base.

The shoes are made of green nylon with a flexible rubber sole and elastic sock to fit any foot making it comfortable to wear.

According to the Mirror a spokesman for Electrolux said: "We all have to vacuum our home - this product is designed for busy people who want to keep the housework down to a minimum. Dustmate provides a cleaning solution that doesn't take up any precious free time.

"As you walk, the base of the shoes collect dust on the floor without requiring any effort. It is a simple yet creative cleaning concept."

The designers came up with the invention after asking consumers what they wanted and finding that they were just too busy to spend lots of time doing housework.
Research found that only 28 per cent Hoover daily - down six per cent in the last two years.

Source: Ananova
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