Loto-Quebec has chosen the date of the national holiday to open the doors of its newest casino Mont-Tremblant. The big opening took place on 24th of June, 13 years after the inauguration of the Lac-Leamy casino. The opening of this fourth casino in the province was welcomed by some, but there are also people claiming that there was no need for a new casino in Quebec.

If we look on the positive side, the new casino of Loto-Quebec could contribute to the economic development of the region. It can accommodate up to 1600 guests and create over 200 new jobs. 400 slot machines and 25 gaming tables are available on three floors.

The architectural design and the materials used meet the standards of sustainable development. From the outside, the building looks like a cottage and harmonizes with the wonderful background of Mont-Tremblant. The State company rejects the accusation that it increases the supply of gambling in Quebec. It indicates that the slot machines in Mont Tremblant are not added to those already installed in other casinos. These come from the gambling establishments in Montreal and Lac-Leamy where they were withdrawn from.

Moreover, the CEO of Mont-Tremblant Casino, Alain Bissonnette, said his institution would comply with responsible gaming policies.

On the other hand, the gambling expert Alain Dubois is concerned about gambling addiction and considers that the casino is a danger for the gamblers. According to the latest annual report of Loto-Quebec, the turnover of Loto Quebec increased by 2.3% over the last year.

Alain Dubois stresses that the target for the slot machines of the establishment is not represented by wealthy clients. Or, Loto-Quebec draws 90% of its revenues from slots.

In response, the company says that customers of the new casino will be different: 65% of visitors comes from outside Quebec. Moreover, the casino has an area dedicated entirely to high rollers, a room situated upstairs.

Loto-Quebec invested $ 66 million in the construction of the casino and hopes it would recover the investment after the first year of gaming operation.

After being awarded two Oscars that have crowned his legendary success in Titanic and The Departed, the American actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio will star in a movie about the online casinos. The idea of the movie was inspired by the success of international tournaments such as World Series of Poker or European Poker Tour and the growing attendance on the online casinos and poker rooms. The project was proposed to Paramount Studios and the filming will be made in Costa Rica.

Icing on the cake, the scenario of this new movie was entrusted to the well-known writers, Brian Koppelman and David Levien. The duo have already written the scenario for “Ocean’s Thriteen” and for the mythical “Rounders”, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. This time, the principal character will be embodied by the handsome hero of Titanic, also big fan of poker. Such a role in the world of games is familiar to the actor. In the “Rounders”, launched in 1998, DiCaprio has already played a passionate of poker in land casinos.

As in USA online poker sites are still illegal and forbidden, the action will be set in Costa Rica, a harbour for many online gambling operators. As for the plot and the title of the movie, the star of “Departed” hasn’t disclosed any information.

With his participation at the WSOP beside his friend Tobey Maguire, he earned the respect of the best poker payers in the world. Not long ago, we could see him at a Lakers match, wearing a hat branded “Doyle’s Room”. DiCaprio and Doyle Brunson co-produced “The 11th Hour”, a documentary about the state of the environment and what we have to do to restore the ecosystem.

The U.S. government has asked several banks to block transactions between online poker rooms and American players. $ 33 million were frozen, preventing nearly 24,000 players to collect their earnings from major poker sites like PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker. This aggressive initiative represents the most disturbing offensive in the “war” between the federal government and online poker rooms.

Under the UIGEA, which prohibits Americans from playing poker online, prosecutors of the Department of Justice have ordered several banks, including Citibank and Wells Fargo, to freeze all transactions between the operators and their clients. The interdiction concerns all the clients having requested the receipt of their earnings.

In a letter sent to banks, prosecutors have called the money duly earned by players as “property involved in transactions of money laundering and crimes of illegal gambling”.

According to several sources, the Court of the Southern District of New York has asked several banks to freeze the equivalent of $ 19 million. Wells Fargo received an order for seizure of $ 14 million, identified as coming from online gambling operators. The sources confirm that the decision affected 24.000 accounts and blocked $ 33 million altogether.

For now, the banks have obeyed the prosecutors’ injunction, but many legal gaps could create a complicated situation for the government. Indeed, several legal consultants intend to call on that the online poker operators are only the depositories of this money that don’t belong to them. Unlike sports betting, online poker is a transaction between two people on the principle of “peer-to-peer”. This argument is quite valid for cash games, but it couldn’t withstand as to poker tournaments. In all cases, it is impossible for banks to make such a subtle difference. And this can turn against US justice. Moreover, one thing is certain: if the government wants to mobilize the poker players, it just has to attack them where it hurts: in their wallets!

According to John Pappas, CEO of Poker Player Alliance (PPA), whose mission is to defend the poker players’ rights, the injunction to the banks is an “unprecedented action”. Pappas promises the organization he is leading will use all legal means for protecting the players’ accounts and their right to play online.

City of Dreams, an astonishing new resort developed on Cotai Strip in Macau, opened its doors on 1st June. It was a day of feast for Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., its powerful owner.

The new resort - a $2.1 billion project - aims to become the first gambling destination on the Cotai Strip, surpassing Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian Macau, the first entertainment center in Macau, owned by the billionaire Sheldon Anderson.

 City of Dreams brings together famous brands including Hard Rock, Grand Hyatt and Crown, in order to deliver exceptional entertainment and hotels of the highest quality. As co-chairman Lawrence Ho stated in a declaration, the City Center project is “crucial” to ensuring the progress of the strip. Ho claims that his entertainment center will cater to a community unhappy with the offer of Venetian resort: “If you are a younger, hipper, cooler crowd and you like to party or you like music, then the Hard Rock is our solution” Ho said, referring to the state-of-the-art hotel.

Nevertheless, the main attraction of the resort will be a casino measuring 420.000 square-feet and featuring approximately 520 gambling tables and 1.350 gaming machines.

“Our dream for a new standard of entertainment in Macau has become a reality,” added Lawrence Ho, proud of the company’s great deed. In his statement, he made allusion at theirs competitors, “who have a very stretched balance sheet”, unlike Melco Crown Entertainment managers, who “have always managed the balance sheet very carefully.”

However, “City of Dreams” is likely to confront tough problems. The gambling market in Macau have been hit not only by the financial crisis, but also by the tight legal restrictions on Chinese visitors adopted last year. Gaming revenues have been falling since the beginning of the year and they are expected to fall over again.

The new President of the USA Barack Obama has promised to listen to his compatriots. Therefore, the White House has been attentively considering the ways to let Americans speak, an endeavor carried out by a pool on a website. Regarding poker, the citizens have given a very plain response, listing the legalization of online poker as one of their main concerns.

Under the leadership of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the U.S. poker players, many of which are deprived of the game because of the UIGEA, got organised to coordinate their votes on one proposal.

Thus the proposal “to boost U.S. economy with legal online poker” found itself at the forefront of technological concerns listed in the “Citizens Briefing Book”, on a new site dedicated to the claims of American citizens.

This website, set up in the early days of Obama administration, has allowed 125,000 users to vote for 44,000 ideas suggested by the President and his team. The pool collected 1,400,000 votes, each vote matching 10 points. The proposal on legalization of online poker has collected 46,000 points, a total which is the 11th largest overall.

A surprising result after all, but not for John Pappas, the Executive Director of the PPA: “Poker players from all over the country have spoken with one voice to protect the game they love, and the White House has heard this message. We hope that the Administration will listen and act in response to this clear message sent through the Citizen’s Briefing Book: legalize online poker through a suitable regulation”.

The content of the proposal includes plain and unequivocal specifications. Most of the Americans who responded to this survey demand the right to legally play, without fear of prosecution; a reform of the law to exempt poker - a game of skill - from UIGEA. They have also spoken out for a law meant to “boost the economy by allowing American companies and American players earn money and pay taxes instead of sending the business offshore”.

A recent study by the lobbying group American Gaming Association has revealed that 2% of adults surveyed were playing online. These results are consistent with estimates of the PPA that between 10 and 15 million Americans regularly play on the internet. Still according to the PPA, the legalization of online poker could bring 3 billion dollars annually to the Administration.

Most of the online players have at least once asked the big question: against who are they really playing at online casinos? Against a machine, a human being or both of them?

It is true that some software offer unimaginable opportunities in regard to new technologies. In particular, the opportunity of interacting with live dealers when gambling online! This is the latest achievement of Playtech, a software company that has developed a revolutionary system for its casinos: live dealers, all filmed by web cams! Shortly, there are real dealers who manage some games on Casino Tropez - a casino run by Playetch. Beyond the mere technical performance, we must recognize that live dealers on Casino Tropez can reproduce almost identically the sensations that one can live in a land casino.

Casino Tropez is not the only operator having introduced this system. Using web cams and technology in “real time”, many operators employ professional dealers to run the game while playing online. Thus, depending on the game you have chosen, you can receive your cards directly from the dealer’s hand rather than seeing them on the screen. Obviously, the game is much more interactive!

In fact, it is not very difficult to develop such a system. But the difference is that the dealer is really part of the game and he is at your disposals.

Of course, games of this type are much slower than those managed entirely by the computer. But games with live dealers offer an attractive alternative for many players: they are now part of the options offered by a growing number of online casinos. As technology develops and improves constantly, we can even expect to see more, so that casinos increase the choice of games available on their sites.

After throwing a glance at Valencia and Dubai, the developers who intend to bring the Las Vegas in Europe, have finally made their choice in the desert of Los Monegros - the place selected for becoming home of Gran Scala City. Gran Scala, an extremely ambitious project, is at the moment only a glittering appearance in the northern Spain, but in the future it is announced as the greatest leisure resort in Europe, including a peerless gambling center, theme parks, a racecourse and many others leisure activities.

The Gran Scala project has made good progress today, but there are still challenges to take up. At this moment, when the boom of the gambling world is more than a story, even if affected by the global crisis, who could properly foresee the future of this Las Vegas or Macau clone in the European version? According to the initial proposal, this complex could be born in France, in Valencia or on the shores of the Persian Gulf in Dubai. Once the decision on the location had been taken, its promoters, members of the ILD consortium, in partnership with independent government of Aragon,  announced the effective implementation in 2012.

At the announcement moment, back in 2007, Sebastien Tranchant, the general manager of the ILD Consortium, also owner of the eponymous French society, advertised that this great leisure complex would consist of 32 casinos, 70 hotels, 232 restaurants, 500 shops, a racecourse, a golf course, 5 theme parks, museums and a convention center. In other words, a city in the city! Given the almost ideal weather and perfect location in the county of Aragon, “Gran Scala” hopes to attract at least 25 millions of tourists.

However, its location in the desert and its volume raises water and energy  issues. In addition, some residents of surrounding communities have expressed their concerns about the environmental and social impact of a project of this size and the Government of Aragon announced that a development plan would be map out and emphasis would be placed in the environmental field. Moreover, Gran Scala will create over 65.000 jobs in the region and this should, in essence, dispel people’s doubts.

Nevertheless, given the social responsibilities that this type of project requires, the 32 casinos in the Center will be under the rigorous rule of the Government of Aragon, having to obey a specific legal system. This will govern gambling matters and will define the type of games allowed.

In the poker world, things move fast. After the grand final of the European Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, another big marathon is expected to attract in Europe the best poker players around the world. This prestigious event is the WSOP Europe, a tournament scheduled for the end of September. The third season of the WSOP Europe will take place in England and will be hosted by the famous “Casino at the Empire”. The program and the official dates of the event has just been announced.

The much awaited tournament series run between September 17 and October 1st, the day of the Main Event finals. As for the location where the event is intended to take place, Casino at the empire was considered to be a perfect choice for gambling: “The Casino at the Empire soon became the reference point for poker in the United Kingdom. We look forward to attracting the best players in the world at the event this fall and by then we will continue to offer them the best playing conditions”, Michael Silberling, General Manager of the London Clubs International said.

There are four bracelet tournaments scheduled for the 2009 WSOPE and the contest is expected to be tight, as the race for a WSOP bracelet will draw once again some of the big names in the field. A mixed tournament, combining Pot Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha was added, which will make an even more thrilling action. This event is planned for September 21. The addition of a 4th event at the WSOP Europe was hailed by Jeffrey Pollack, the Vice president of Sports and Entertainment Marketing at Harrah’s Casino and Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, who commented: “Winning a bracelet is recognized as the supreme title and we are very excited to crown new champions at Casino Empire this year.”

Pre-registration for WSOPE is already available at the London Clubs International institutions, in London, or in Las Vegas, at the Rio casinos. It is also possible to register for this event during the WSOP, which will kick off this month, in Las Vegas.

The gambling establishments, from Las Vegas to Macau, are investing their money in the electronic chips that control the tables, in the poker chips, but also in the players. The suppliers are overcasting their sales to explode.
Two of the largest suppliers of equipment and tokens for US casinos, GPI and IOGC revealed their income for 2008. It generated the opportunity to observe a growing success for RFID solutions right in the middle of these institutions. There are already known the chips embedded in the chips given to the players, or the adoption of certain systems to monitor the abuse of the bartenders a little too generous who serve some doses of alcohol non regulatory, and are waiting to be rewarded with big tips. It seems that RFID (or Radio Frequency Identification, which is the technology that permits the identification of an object by means of a special label emitting some radio waves, attached or incorporated inside the object) takes more and more part of the investments the casinos make. Thus, the company GPI reveals that 40 percent of its revenue (about 9 million $) is from the sale of such chips to casinos worldwide. Half of its sales are still aimed at US facilities, and 40 percent reserved for the Macau market, the new Eldorado of games.
with significant growth figures, while these products accounted for less than 4 percents of the company’s sales in 2004, they now account for nearly one third of its commerce. “This force adoption of RFID products is a direct consequence of the increase in supply, its diversity, and offers more and more customized to ensure the security establishments of customers,”said Bodo Ischebeck, vice president of IOGC. The latter notes that customers are increasingly familiar with these technologies and now require real solutions for automated management of their game tables. It must be said that such systems greatly simplify the work of casino owners.
The electronic processors, installed on each table, are indeed able to read and recognize up to thousand RFID chips per second. This provides a visibility almost in real time of the situation at the game tables and of the players’ results. And, of course, the system can effectively fight against counterfeit or stolen chips. RFID allows indeed, among other things, the checking of tokens rather than one by one, in mass, through an analysis and automatic authentication. In addition, no need to manually count the earnings of players: their results are recorded automatically.

The capital of bluff moved it quarters to Enghien-les-Bains. “The first poker tournament in Enghien, the first in Ille-de-France outside Paris, opened its gates this year in pergola baths. But before the main tournament with a minimum jackpot of 100.000 Euro, three satellites tournaments for qualification took place, attended by over four hundred players.
The departure was set from 100 to 150 Euro minimum in order to participate in these tournaments,” said Gregory Chochon, the poker marketing manager of Barriere group. This allows people who have a little less financial means, to participate and have a chance to enter he big tournament, where the “cellar” is of 1100 Euro.” Not to mention that the minimum jackpot is of 100.000 Euro.
The most chosen option was Texas Hold’em, currently the most played and most known, popularized by many television and Internet means. And the number 1 casino in France has made rather good things in the vast reception room of the spa, overlooking the lake by a large bay window. “It’s class, elegance!”, exclaims Franck Paris, the manager of a small transport company in the capital and still in contention after having had a nice “American airlines”, ie the strongest hand with two Ace. “This is not the same attendance as in Parisian circle games. There is really a mixture. There are all the social classes and all ages.”. just as the tournament started, the success was immediately there. The casino has proven to be full even from the first sessions. “The main tournament hosts 150 people in only one afternoon, including a fifty qualified through satellites,” said Mr Poker of Barierre Group. The hundred other players are the ones who can afford to invest directly 1100 Euro.
“After this unprecedented operation, the casino plans to organize three or four tournaments a year, not counting the six tables opened every day since last May.