Sep 23, 2015 | Article
Well, DTD? Those not so familiar with the poker series may not have an idea what DTD is – it stands for Dusk to Dawn. And that is not only because there are games going on at night, but that is actually the name of the venue. DTD is an old poker club that also serves as a casino. It was actually the first of its kind from those based in Midland to be legalized in the UK. Its volume of activities can, in fact, give online poker a run for its money. This October, world class poker players from the UK, neighbouring Ireland and even further away, meet at DTD to test their edge.
What Makes DTD Suitable For a Poker Function of World Standards?
First of all, not only are many poker players familiar with the venue, the casino also engages professionals. As such, it is a place that is credible and a place where anyone will be comfortable making a bet. Besides, the question of UK state laws does not arise as the place has been in operation for decades. It is also reassuring to note that the competition was successfully held at the same place last year.
As to the question of capacity, though it cannot be equated by the capacity that online gambling sites offer, when it comes to brick and mortar casinos, this venue is competitive. Its sitting capacity is 450 poker players at one go and comfortably occupying 45 tables.
How Long Is The Competition?
Anyone interested in poker should be ready to enjoy a whole sixteen days during which 19 events in total will take place. The entire period of poker and fun will begin on Saturday, the 24th of October and carry on up to the last day, which is scheduled to be Sunday, the 8th of November 2015.
And as for entrants, the guaranteed pool of winnings is mouth watering, being to the tune of £2.5 million! With this kind of money, the tournament cannot but attract the cream in the game of poker.
What goes on at DTD when this popular casino is not hosting World Class tournaments?
There is actually a wide range of betting activities taking place at DTD on ordinary days. It is a place where even people used to online gambling can come and feel at home as the charges cater for even players of low stakes.
Although there is room for VIP gambling where players access the cash room only by invite, many patrons have a wide range of stakes to choose from, including some worth a pound, five pounds, ten pounds and so on. In short, gaming at DTD is not just for the affluent. There is room for all cadres of players. The games here also come in varieties. There is Hold’em, for example, Omaha, Black Jack and even the Dealer’s Choice. This club also gives patrons opportunity to partake in electronic gaming the way they would online gambling, something that is convenient for activities at the casino. Gaming at the slot machines and roulette also keep patrons busy and entertained.
How is the Poker Law in the UK?
For starters, casinos have no problem conducting business as they are easily licensed by the country’s Gambling Commission. And when it comes to online poker, UK state laws are not restrictive even in the amounts a person can spend. Then there are the ordinary folk who would like to play poker in their local pub. Such pubs can offer gaming facilities but only after acquiring specific licenses for that purpose. The regulation for gaming in such places puts a limit as to how much a person can spend on poker and a ceiling to the prize.
Sep 23, 2015 | News
Borgata Poker Open is one of the tournaments within the World Poker Tour (WPT) this year. It is being hosted in the state of New Jersey, a state where poker and other betting games are played in a very conducive environment. WPT, a series that is well within the US poker laws comes on the heels of the just completed World Series of Poker.
Many poker enthusiasts expect Borgata Poker Open to book a place in the poker record books this year. The World Poker Tournament held in Atlanta last year attracted entries to the tune of 2215 – of course that including those for the Borgata Winter Poker Open. And the preceding two years were even better as far as the number of entries was concerned. Borgata is a hotel casino that also has a spa and so poker lovers can enjoy some holidaying even as they enjoy the world class poker competition. The icing on the cake is that there is room for many people to spend their time enjoying online gambling from the same venue at The Borgata.
How does the hotel benefit from hosting the WPT?
For starters, all eyes are on the state of New Jersey for the days of the tournament and have been for the days just preceding it. Many poker fans want to spend a lot of their time at the hotel during the tournament, something that is a clear financial boost to all business aspects of The Borgata. After all, the New Jersey state laws do not prohibit visitors from other states from doing any betting or even engaging in online gambling right from New Jersey.
Of course, business is not just positively impacted at the hotel but also in surrounding areas of New Jersey. US poker laws do not generally interfere with the local laws in matters of gambling, and as long as the New Jersey state laws continue to be friendly to the poker fraternity, WPT at The Borgata is likely to continue attracting throngs of poker fans. According to Poker News, The Borgata has contributed $3.5 million to the tournament to reciprocate the generosity of the poker fraternity. To have an idea what the impact of that figure is to the tournament, all you need to do is equate that to 1,000 tournament entries, which is what it would have taken to consolidate this massive amount of money. The hotel’s operations’ Vice President, Joe Lupo, has expressed his jubilation at having The Borgata host the WPT another time.
The Line Up of the WPT Series in 2015
Gladly, US poker laws are lenient enough to accommodate a poker tournament of this magnitude, and whoever comes to play in the tournament in New Jersey is bound to experience the freedom of online gambling; online poker; and other betting games allowed by the state laws of New Jersey.
Already four tournaments in the WPT series have taken place since it began in May this year and six more are yet to take place, ending this December. The tournaments that have already taken place include The Canadian Spring Championship (WPT); WPT Amsterdam; WPT Choctaw; and Legends of Poker (WPT); while, of course, Borgata Poker Open is ongoing right now. Those that are yet to take place include WPT Maryland Live; Emperor’s Palace Poker; Bestbet Fall Series (WPT); WPT Montreal; WPT Prague; and Five Diamond Classic (WPT). And at the end of the World Poker Tour, the popularity of poker, both the online poker and that played physically within brick and mortar, will have soared to a new level.
Sep 22, 2015 | US States
As at now, 2015, the position of state laws that regulate online gambling or any other form of gambling in Arkansas is somewhat confusing. However, there are state laws which, through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), have prohibited banks from making any transactions that have anything to do with gambling payments or proceeds.
The History of Gambling In Arkansas
Online poker and other forms of gambling may not be explicitly allowed in the state of Arkansas today, but during the time of the settlers, gambling was the order of the day. In fact, when the US civil war ended, gambling became all the more entrenched into the Arkansas society so that nobody raised the question of gambling illegality. Hot Springs, one of Arkansas’ cities, was at some point the gambling hotbed. And there was disorder too as two affluent families, the Flynns and the Dolans, fought for domination. Apparently, there were no gambling state laws to speak about those days, and those who ran casinos exercised their muscle the best way they knew how.
Frank Flynn was the guy who, for many years, dominated the gambling arena with his gambling houses without the inhibitions of state laws. However, when an ex-army major, Alexander Dolan brought in competition in 1884, all hell broke loose. Instead of the show being confined to the betting tables, the dirty part of it extended beyond the gambling arena and even involved different law enforcement departments fighting on opposite sides in support of the different families. There were no US poker laws or any other state laws that could be invoked to bring the Flynn/Dolan rivalry to an end. So the gambling related feud only came to a natural halt when Dolan was murdered.
So did the feud catalyze the enactment of stringent gambling state laws?
Incidentally, there is no sign that state laws were put in place to avoid future catastrophes. Nevertheless, gambling continued unabated with Hot Springs becoming the most dominant gambling centre within the US. But come 1967 and any poker that residents may have enjoyed came to an end plus all other gambling activities. The many casinos that existed were burnt down together with their equipment from the instigation of the Republican Governor of the time. No gambling venue was left in operation.
What is the position of gambling in Arkansas today?
Today, there are state laws that say something about betting and other gambling activities within the state of Arkansas. However, the reality is that these laws have confusing clauses that leave gambling enthusiasts using their discretion to choose the gaming activities to partake in as they hope that the law does not prove to be against them. As for availability of gaming venues, the ones of brick and mortar are only two. But you can find websites for online gambling in excess of two.
At a glance, someone reading the statute in Arkansas will find anything to do with betting for money or property outright outlawed – until you read the exceptions. The state laws lift restrictions for social betting as well as private betting, the assumption being that no profit is to be earned by the host. Charitable bingo is also excused just as are raffle games; and even pari-mutuel betting. That portrays a rather conservative state government.
However, gamblers still log onto the web and play online poker even if it means playing on sites that are hosted in other states. The bright side is that there are no conspicuous cases of people being fined or incarcerated for engaging in online gambling within the state of Arkansas.
Sep 22, 2015 | US States
The legality of online poker has been unclear in Alabama over the years, and even today, nobody can really tell where the state laws stand with it. For one, nobody will drag you to prison even if you play online poker as long as you do not speak of real money in the game. Again, the code should not give any indication that what you were doing is anything to do with online gambling. Seems like the case of an uncaught thief, so to speak. What is explicitly illegal, however, is the case of a company or an individual offering real money to anyone for a gambling activity. Generally speaking, outright gambling, whether it is within a brick and mortar environment or it is online gambling is outlawed in the state of Alabama – at least on paper.
So, where do online poker players stand with the state laws?
The true position is that no poker player has ever been charged in a court of law in Alabama for engaging in online poker. So although poker falls under gambling related activities and it is illegal to pay for gambling, online poker continues to be played in Alabama without the authorities seeming to be perturbed.
Any idea about the history of gambling in Alabama…?
The Alabama state laws have undergone ups and downs in the past century. They have been made and unmade; passed, repealed and overturned; until nobody is sure any more what the next set of legislators is going to do about regulation of gambling within the state.
After the civil war, for instance, the state of Alabama was fast in legalizing various versions of gambling. That included lotteries. In those days, unlike today when online gambling is the in-thing, competitive gambling amongst different states was the order of the day. However, soon a whimsical decision was made which made a good number of gambling activities, including the lottery, illegal, simply because the state of Alabama happened to have been on a losing streak. Come 1901 and the whole gambling business and any other game of chance were criminalized.
And the roller coaster ride continued. Within the 1930s, gambling was again legalized in Phoenix, one of the cities in Alabama, just so that the city could charge a fee for every gambling license issued and raise revenues to run the city that had gone bankrupt. Unfortunately, as the state laws loosened up, incidence of organized crime seemed to rise; and for the many years that state laws continued to allow gambling, crime became the order of the day. Not surprisingly, the gambling freedom came to an end when a relatively more conservative Attorney General (AG) took office in 1954. But with the organized criminal rings well established, the Attorney General did not last long – he was, sadly, assassinated.
Following the death of the AG, the city mayor, who obviously valued the revenues the city was gaining from gambling, overturned the state laws against gambling and poker and other gambling activities resumed without ruffling any feathers. With this kind of history, it is understandable why in Alabama the topic of gambling is sensitive in a kind of sour way; the reason gambling takes place but is not enthusiastically discussed.
What is the position of gambling state laws in Alabama today?
There seems to be a glimmer of hope for gamblers in Alabama as sometime this year the relevant committee passed a bill proposing legalizing of casinos on race tracks and also proposing the launch of a state lottery. The gambling fraternity is actually hopeful that the senate will pass the bill as well and the state laws will from then on continue to give way to gambling.
Sep 22, 2015 | Article
As you will learn from Poker News and such other news platforms, betting has become an occupation for a significant part of the world population. Only the magnitude of the activity varies from one region to another. Of course, whether a country has a big proportion of its population playing poker or engaged in online gambling may just be a factor of its state laws. All in all, the fact of the matter is that gambling and betting in general is a thriving occupation and many governments that have traditionally wanted nothing to do with it are taking notice and wanting to have a piece of the pie.
The Hottest Betting Topic Today Is Not Poker
So what is the hottest betting topic today if not the all-popular poker? Well, it is Rugby World Cup, 2015. That may be surprising to some people considering that many countries do not even have a professional rugby team. Still, there are many countries where rugby is still alien being seen as elitist or foreign, but these ones also have rugby enthusiasts especially among the youth. These ones would not mind taking a bet on the performance of various rugby teams if their state laws are not a hindrance.
Where Will The Next Rugby World Cup Tournament Be Held?
Well, 2015 World Rugby Tournament is set to be held in cities that do not have as many casinos as Las Vegas, but within a country whose state laws have been conducive to betting. The country is England and the cities set to host the series of games include Birmingham; Brighton & Hove; Cardiff; Exeter; Gloucester; Leeds; Leicester; London – within Brent, Newham and Richmond; Manchester; Milton Keynes; Newcastle and Rugby.
What Are The Teams Likely To Rake In High Revenues In Bets?
For rugby enthusiasts who are already familiar with online gambling, they are likely to make numerous bets even if they may not necessarily be high stakes. But that counts for something considering that betting is spread even in areas of low income earners. And considering that the host country is usually seen as having some added advantage, and that the English rugby team has always been formidable against world giants, the team is likely to attract many bets and bring in massive revenues particularly through online gambling.
Other teams that rugby fans are likely to stake their money on include Australia and New Zealand. Of course, anyone who is not just keen on gambling but is also keen on sports will know they cannot afford to ignore Ireland while doing their sports betting. Whether through online gambling or otherwise, the probability of one team beating another is usually based on recent performances and Ireland has done well in the recent past within Europe.
The Convenience of Online Sport Betting
Betting in sports has joined mainstream online gambling in taking advantage of credible payment methods. PayPal; Skrill; Visa; MasterCard and others have partnered with sites facilitating online poker, sports betting and other forms of online gambling, to make it convenient for fans to pay to have fun and professional gamblers to try and make an income.
In fact, some of these betting sites are so user friendly that even fans new to web transactions but would like to bet on a sport like this year’s rugby world cup tournament would not find it difficult. Once you log onto the site, there is a button to show you where to click and register for online gambling; another one to show you where to click and make your betting deposit; and another one to click and place your bet.
