All Sports Records,ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Schedule, Live Scores, Latest Cricket News: S4sports world

US Federal Online Gambling in 2011

There has been a lot of action in the field of online gambling legislation and the enforcement thereof in the United States in 2011. The swings in the hopes and expectations have been volatile and the year end is a good time to take stock of things.

The event with the greatest impact was Black Friday. On Friday April 14 the Department of Justice (DoJ) acted against three of the biggest online poker sites in the United States. These were Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker. The bank accounts and American domain names of these poker sites were seized making it impossible for American players to access them. The owners of these sites were charged with financial irregularities, mainly processing funds for online gambling by giving wrong declarations to banks so as to avoid detection under the UIGEA.

It was known since some time in 2010 that the authorities were keeping a tab on these online poker rooms and preparing a dossier on them, but yet the online poker fraternity was caught by surprise when this happened. As is usual in these circumstances, conspiracy theories began to do the rounds. The big land casino operators had begun to realize that they needed to go online in order to survive. However because of the massive brand equity of these three online poker rooms they would not get much of market share in a legalized online poker environment. Also it was claimed that those who were currently operating "illegally", while the others followed the law and stayed away from online gambling, had no place in a legalized regime. However, this could have been achieved by simply refusing to license existing players and therefore the conspiracy theory did not get much support.

But the fact remains that even after Black Friday the big online and land based gambling operators began to execute strategies that indicated their belief that legalization of online gambling was around the corner. These strategies mainly revolved around acquisitions, mergers and partnerships made to strengthen brand equity and capabilities in a legalized and regulated online gambling regime. Though fresh attempts were made to bring in legislation allowing online gambling, they were not pursued with vigor.

Then another announcement was made by the DoJ, again on a Friday. But this one, issued on December 23, was seen in the nature of a Christmas present. The DoJ reinterpreted the Wire Act as applying only to sports betting and not to other forms of online gambling. Even though the Black Friday cases were not under the Wire Act several earlier high profile prosecutions had been made under the Wire Act. The DoJ also averred that individual states could take a call on the legalization of all forms of online gambling except sports betting. The DoJ statement was silent on the current legality of online gambling at the federal level.

The question is whether this announcement is a first step in the direction of a federal legal structure to regulate online gambling or is it an expression of the intent of the authorities that each state should have its own regulatory mechanism. Given the nature of Internet gambling both operators and players would prefer federal regulation where a player from New Jersey can wager at a site hosted in Nevada. But many states have also made significant progress in passing legislation on intrastate gambling and this statement from the DoJ will definitely give them a boost.

Online Mini Roulette

The popular variants of roulette at online casinos are American Roulette, European Roulette and French Roulette. Some online casinos offer a version titled Mini Roulette as well. It is called Mini Roulette because the number spread is one third. The normal roulette variants have numbers from 1 to 36 on the wheel and the layout. Mini Roulette has numbers from 1 to 12 on the wheel and the layout. These numbers are laid out in three columns and four rows on the layout. The single zero is also present. This reduction in numbers has an adverse effect on the house edge and this is the reason for the unpopularity of Mini Roulette. This article first explains the mechanics and the bets available and then demonstrates how the house edge changes for the worse.
Mini Roulette is actually available as a compact home game with the wheel and the layout on one platform and this is replicated on the screen in the online version. The same bets are available but the odds are different because of the changed configuration. The Straight Up bet covers single numbers from 1 to 12 and 0. The odds are 11 to 1. $1 wagered on this bet will pay $11 if the bet wins and the original wager of $1 will also be returned to the player. The Split bet covers two numbers, horizontally or vertically, and the odds are 5 to 1. The Street bet covers three numbers in a horizontal row and the odds are 3 to 1. The Corner bet covers four numbers in a square format and the odds are 2 to 1. Another bet that covers four numbers is the column bet. Players can wager on any of the columns and each offers odds of 2 to 1.

There are a number of bets that cover six numbers, which is half the layout. Each of these bets offer odds of 1 to 1. These bets are somewhat different from the normal online roulette bets. In normal roulette layouts the red numbers can be even or odd, and similarly the black numbers. But in Mini Roulette the red numbers are all odd and the black numbers are all even. Even though the layout has different areas for bets on red numbers and odd numbers, these two bets cover the same set of numbers. The top half bet covers numbers 1 to 6 and the bottom half bet covers numbers 7 to 12. In Mini Roulette there is also a middle half bet that covers numbers from 4 to 9.

A comparison of the house edges of European Roulette and Mini Roulette are possible because both have a single zero. In European Roulette a 1 unit single number bet will win 1 out of 37 times and pay out winnings of 35 units. It will lose 36 out of 37 times and result in the loss of 1 unit to the player. The house edge calculation is as follows:

−1 × (36/37) + 35 × (1/37) = −0.0270 (2.70% house edge)

In Mini Roulette a 1 unit single number bet will win 1 out of 13 times and pay out winnings of 11 units. It will lose 12 out of 13 times and result in the loss of 1 unit to the player. The house edge calculation is as follows:

−1 × (12/13) + 11 × (1/13) = −0.0769 (7.69% house edge)

The house edge for Mini Roulette is almost three times that for European Roulette and there are no compensating advantages. It is for this reason very few online casinos offer this game. If players do come across Mini Roulette they should give it a wide berth.

Microgaming Jackpot Pool

The Microgaming jackpot pool neither has the most number of online casino games nor is the largest jackpot pool, but is the most popular pool. At the time of writing, there are 26 online casino games in the Microgaming jackpot pool, 19 of which are slots games, 5 are table games and 2 are video poker games. The online slots are the most popular. The flagship of the Microgaming jackpot pool has been the Mega Moolah network, since the release of Mega Moolah in November 2006. Previously this position was held by the Major Millions network.

One of the unique features of the slots games in the Microgaming jackpot pool are the three reel and five reel pairs. The same title in a classic three reel format and a video slot five reel format are attached to the same progressive jackpot. This jackpot can be hit from either game and is reset to the base level in both games after being hit. The pairs are Cash Splash, Fruit Fiesta, LotsaLoot and Wow Pot. In order to be eligible for the jackpot the bets are equated. For example, in Wow Pot three reel the player has to wager 3 coins amounting to 1.50 credits in total. In Wow Pot five reel the player has to wager 15 coins amounting to 1.50 credits in total. In the five reel version, the jackpot is hit when five Wow Pot logos appear on the 15th payline. In the three reel version, the jackpot is hit when three Wow Pot logos on the single payline. The other pairs work in a similar way.

Major Millions has become a part of history by being the first progressive jackpot to pay over a million credits in a single hit in 2002. As in the paired progressive slots in the Microgaming jackpot pool, Major Millions is offered as a three reel and a five reel slot game. But it is also offered in a third format, which is connected to the same progressive jackpot pool. This is Major Millions Mega Spin. It contains six independent three reel Major Millions slot games, which can be spun simultaneously and the progressive jackpot can be hit on any of them.

Mega Moolah was released in 2006 as a stand alone slot game with an African Safari theme. It had several firsts as far as Microgaming progressive jackpots were concerned. It was the first multi level progressive jackpots. There were four levels – Mini, Minor, Major and Mega. The largest level Mega Moolah rest to a million credits, which was another first. Every time Mega Moolah is hit some online casino player becomes a millionaire. Another first time feature in the Microgaming jackpot pool was that the progressive jackpots were hit through a randomly triggered bonus game and not through alignment of symbols on the reels. Later three other Mega Moolah games were added to the network, these being 5 Reel Drive, Isis and Summertime. In 2011 a revamped The Lord of the Rings was also attached to this network but was not branded as a Mega Moolah slot in order to keep alive its own brand equity.

The other progressive jackpot online slots in the Microgaming jackpot pool are King Cashalot, Treasure Nile and Tunzamunni. The table game progressives in the Microgaming jackpot pool are Poker Ride (Let 'Em Ride), Cyberstud Poker (Caribbean Stud), Caribbean Draw Poker and Triple Sevens (blackjack). In addition Microgaming offers the only progressive jackpot roulette game Roulette Royale. The video poker progressive games are Jackpot Deuces and Supajax. All the progressive games in the Microgaming jackpot pool can be played at online casinos like Platinum Play, Golden Riviera and Ruby Fortune.

Friends

Thursday, January 7, 2010

S4sports world

US Federal Online Gambling in 2011

There has been a lot of action in the field of online gambling legislation and the enforcement thereof in the United States in 2011. The swings in the hopes and expectations have been volatile and the year end is a good time to take stock of things.

Online Mini Roulette

Microgaming Jackpot Pool

Friends

No response to “S4sports world”

Leave a Reply

Followers

About Me

Blog Archive

ICC ODI and Test Cricket Rankings

live cricket score

Live Treffic