Online Gambling News

Just like the Kindle has done away with the need for the paper-back novel (although books are still really nice, think of all the trees these devices save), dice and cards could also soon be a thing of the past. All you need to gamble online today is a mobile phone. Now iPhone together with Big Fish games, the very first virtual real money gambling games will soon be released on the i-operating system, and they are scheduled to be released in the UK.

We have all heard that Zynga is scheming its way into real money casino games online, but Big Fish has – believe it or not – beaten them at their own game. The UK debut will feature Self Aware Studio titles, powered by the Betable software engine. Big Fish acquired Self Aware in March of 2011, and also acquired one million (or thereabouts) active real money online gamblers.
The platform will be a first of its kind, features many familiar titles from Card Ace Casinos, and is slated to be available in the iTunes store, sometime in the next couple of weeks. Download the software and iOS devices will be able to give you Big Fish slots, Texas Hold ‘em, video poker, blackjack and roulette.

The company believes that being first in the market with their virtual product will give them the competitive edge. Betable have catered to the Europen market on mobile before, and this was a Betfair app. CEO of Betable – Christopher Griffin – said they couldn’t be happier with the Big Fish Casino app, but as well as these pay-for-play games, free version of Big Fish Casino will also be available for the non-gambling fraternity who like having a flutter without spending a penny. Also members outside of the UK will be able to play these games for free. It is available in 4 app stores including Amazon’s app store, Google Play, Facebook and Apple iTunes.

The online gambling marketplace is estimated to turnover approximately $32 Billion dollars, and is seriously growing. It is a massively lucrative market and more social gaming companies are looking into real money gambling. But by the same token, real money online gambling firms are taking a serious look at the social gaming marketplace.

Hasbro and Zynga have entered a partnership which sees the virtual and real world of gambling combine, and with this, the new Big Fish launch, we can only assume that Zynga will benefit from another company’s exploration of a newer and much wider horizon. Experts are of the opinion that social gaming companies should have explored this avenue far sooner. Zynga’s beleaguered share price might be indicative that the social gaming market could be bottoming out.

The bottom line at the end of this tale is that Big Fish is still a big fish, and if Zynga does not get something gainful going quite soon, they may well be left far behind.

In the world of online poker – there has been so much drama taking place ever since April 15th last year. That is 15th April 2011 – now more infamously known as Black Friday. We have all heard of Black Friday, but the biggest impact this day probably had was for Full Tilt Poker (FTP). This brand unfortunately had made some huge mistakes in their management of the site, and despite the fact that they had grown into the second biggest online poker operator still doling out services to the USA marketplace; they also crashed the hardest. Sometimes it is true what they say – "the bigger they are, the harder they fall".

Anyway, not to harp on what was a huge misfortune for the FTP brand and thousands, and thousands of members who could not withdraw their funds from the site.PokerStars also took a knock on black Friday, and unsurprisingly bounced right back. This was chiefly because PokerStars was positioned properly to hit the European market hard after the loss of their USA fan-bases, and because they had their fiduciary responsibilities taken care of.

Now after eighteen months and a whole lot of heartache for FTP fans, and owners; their biggest rival in the online poker industry has taken the steps to save their collective bacon. What this also means is that 600 Irish employees, might not all lose their jobs completely.
How is this relevant to two online poker sites?

Well, despite what the rest of the world might think, the world of online poker is no longer a niche product. It has grown into a mainstream industry, together with most forms of online gambling over the past decade and a half. Today more people gamble online than (we would hazard a guess), than gamble in live casinos.

This knowledge tells us that because it is such a huge industry, there must be people employed to help run it. The World Wide Web might be clever, but at this point in time, people still need to be employed to make sure that the job gets done. The Company that provided IT handling and software development for FTP is situated in Cherrywood, Co Dublin, they are called Pocket Kings, and FTP was probably one of their biggest clients. With 600 Irish employees on the job, while we are not sure who will be re-hired, or fired, but at least these jobs are no longer so much at risk. Obviously some staff has already been let go.

The Irish Times, and other Irish-based newspapers have been spreading the news, so, we believe that it is good news.

In another aside, while criminal charges were filed against owners of both Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars which caused Black Friday, and it is PokerStars that have done the deal with the DoJ, we would love to be privy to what the deal entails. However, we believe that it is highly unlikely that we will ever know what truly went on behind closed doors. PokerStars took a huge gamble, it’s bound to pay off, because gamble is what they do best.

While there has been no doubt about the fact that real money gambling online is here, and here to stay, and this is a well-entrenched industry in the UK; Facebook so far, has not wished to get in on the action. However, now there seems to be a reversal of roles, while this social media application with gaming capabilities wants in on the real money action; real money gambling sites want in on the social gaming aspect.

But that also having been said, Facebook have recently launched their first real money gambling app. They are betting on the British industry because it is more or less a sure thing, and they are hedging their bets even further, by putting their money on bingo.

Bingo has enjoyed massive popularity in Britain over time; first in the live gambling game, and more recently with online bingo. The new Facebook bingo is rather fetchingly called "Friendzy Bingo". Clever little play on words that!

This app allows users to bet on real money games, where obviously they win real money prizes. Although how good the prizes actually are remains to be seen as it is early days yet. Generally speaking the better liquidity (more money) a gambling game has poured into it, the better the prizes will be, and one thing Facebook has never had a problem with is raising a fan following. The more paying traffic there is, the better this bingo will be for all concerned.

CEO – Mark Zuckerberg is launching the product in the hopes that it will boost revenue – that much is obvious. So it is not like all the other virtual money apps, it is a true gambling app. Now UK Facebook users aged 18 to 80 and older can make gambling stakes in real British pounds, and expect to be paid winnings in these. According to the Financial Times the app was launched last Tuesday.
So far this global social networking giant has been precluded from the gambling sphere due to legal restrictions outside the UK. But this does not explain their slow up-take into the UK market. However, Clive Hawkswood of the Remote Gambling Association explains the move as being an obvious match for Facebook. This is chiefly because bingo is of the ‘soft gambling’ ilk, and has always had the reputation of working hand-in-hand with chat forums. Many people are driven to play online bingo by the fact that it is such a social game.

Slots will be coming to Bingo Friendzy in the not too distant future – one assumes they will see how Facebook fans take to the bingo games first. One of the biggest things going for it is the fact that the software platform is powered by Gamesys, an exclusive software brand which powers only a very few sites. Their biggest claim to fame being Jackpot Joy, and Sun Bingo, two of the biggest online bingo brands in the land.

William Hill could be taking a BIG gamble by taking on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service, but then again taking BIG gambles is their business! The British Bingo industry has done this and won when Mecca went to European Union Supreme courts to support their contention that they were being over-taxed on ‘interval’ bingo games. It was worth the fight for Mecca (the Rank Group); we can’t remember the exact figure, but at the end of the day HMRS had to pay back over £36 million. This sum made a very nice difference to their bottom line in the year it was paid.

William Hill wants to challenge the Tax on "online" gambling profits – they are moaning about 15% – but we think they should count themselves lucky, this is what land operators have to pay out, and land bingo operators are required to pay out even more. 15% is the proposed tax level for online gambling businesses, and quite honestly, as they have had to pay no tax at all for more than ten years in the biz, what the heck is their problem?

We’ll tell you what their problem is – In the 2012 half year report, William Hill profits reached a whopping £68.9 million just for their online business. Who wants to pay out 15% of money like that, when they have previously needed to pay nothing at all? Taxation for this industry in the UK is only planned to fall due from the end of 2014, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer wants to raise approximately £200 million from online betting. We would assume that this amount also includes revenues from other forms of Internet gambling enterprises.

Virtually all of the large bookmaking and other gambling firms in the UK, which offer online services have moved operations to offshore sites such as Malta, Gibraltar, Alderney and Isle of Mann, in order to escape UK taxes. But if we think about it logically, while they are offering services to a UK audience and earning profits from this, surely they should be subject to some sort of taxation. We have to remember that there are only two sure things in life – one is death, the other is taxes, and there is no escaping the facts.

The company has already briefed their lawyers to build a case against the proposed taxation, which will be a "point of consumption tax". Lawyers that specialize in gambling law have warned that under European Law it is illegal to restrict free movement of goods or services for tax purposes, but this has not stopped countries such as Belgium and other European countries from jealously guarding their online gambling borders. Whether William Hill will be successful or not, based on these precedents and what has become tacit, remains to be seen. But whatever happens in the end, it seems that William Hill is taking no chances, and just like Baden Powell taught the Scouts – we should always be prepared.

There has plenty of interest been happening again in the world of the online gambling industry. First off, after reading that a Full Tilt\PokerStars deal was complete speculation and was not going to happen; rumour is rife again in the news that PokerStars is going to pull the beleaguered brand out of the dung-heap they have found themselves in. It seems that for Full Tilt Poker; they are still deep in the you know what, but it’s only the depth that varies. I think we need to stop speculating and let’s wait to see what happens in real time. Only when PokerStars confirms that the rumours are true, will we be prepared to believe it. In recent reports from Gaming Intelligence, this deal is now for real.

More rumours were rife last year over whether Zynga poker were going to monetize their poker game, and get into gambling online. This seems to have now been confirmed and Mark Pincus says they will foray into real-money gambling online in 2013. As CEO of this billion dollar company, he has recently also lost Billionaire status when the stocks of Zynga took a nose-dive and dropped 40% in value. It looks like he is going to have to do something drastic to get share prices up again. Interestingly enough, purely online gambling concerns are looking at getting into social gambling now too.

Brent Buckley from Absolute poker was in the news again. He is part of the “Black Friday Eleven” who were indicted for conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud. Buckley is the former payment processor for Absolute Poker. Sentence was passed for fourteen months in prison, but then he did admit guilt in December. Ira Rubin got a three year sentence and was labelled a “con man and fraudster.” Rubin was also accused of illegally processing payments for Absolute Poker, PokerStars and FullTilt.

There has been some good news in online gambling too, as a couple of Playtech jackpots were landed. One – the ‘Holy Grail Jackpot’ from the Spamalot slot which is based on the Monty Python series. This lucky winner landed a mahoosive £692,209.05 prize. The other big winner was playing the Iron Man video slot and landed an impressive £558,306.01. Playtech is understandably proud to have been able to deliver these wins.

Look out for some great Olympic-themed promotions now that the summer games have started, and we are not only referring to sports-betting online. Online Bingo clubs are gamely going along with the flow, and British-based bingo sites are the place to look out for these offers.

We checked out William Hill where the Olympics aren’t really mentioned, but they are celebrating Glorious Goodwood, and we also checked out Costa Bingo where they are running a Track and Field event. Wink, Posh, Red Bus, Bingo Street, 88 Ladies and Tasty Bingo have a £10K Bingo for Gold event running as well as a £10K free summer Joy Pot, so, if you get tired of watching equestrian events, gymnastics, football and swimming, you can always get active too and play online bingo.