The Province of British Colombia in Canada has an interesting agreement with its casinos. The casino industry in British Colombia is thriving and doing well. Their casinos are uniquely designed, fun, exciting, and attract both domestic and international visitors. Not only are they operating with a decent profit margin, but they are able to receive funds from the British Colombia Lottery Corporation. The BCLC pays the area’s casinos what is called facility development commissions, or FDC’s. Since 1997 British Colombia casinos have received more than $400 million from the BCLC. Of course, the casinos feel that they have earned it. The BCLC is the provinces state run lottery corporation. They are, obviously, responsible for the lottery as well as the provinces online gambling site which opened last year.

The FDC’s are the government’s way of enticing the province’s seventeen casinos to keep up the good work and recoup capital costs. The payments come as a three percent payment of the casino’s net win. A net win is what the casino earns after all the prizes have been paid out. The money is meant to encourage the casinos to build and maintain high quality facilities. A better facility means more customers. More customers mean more profits. More profits mean more taxes paid back to the government. It seems to be working out.

Some wonder why the FDC’s were started. President and CEO of the BCLC, Michael Graydon, explained, “In 1997 the provincial government included Facility Development Commission as part of the compensation in the request for proposals for new casinos.” Mr. Graydon continued, “The purpose was to build incentive for quality facilities into the compensation model, rather than, for instance, a higher straight commission structure.”

Still, there are detractors. “This is a lucrative subsidy to the gambling industry by the government,” stated gaming critic, Shane Simpson. “A subsidy that has been done in secret and, arguably, at the expense of other programs service that benefit the general public.” It’s an interesting relationship, and is worthy of debate.

The end of the calendar year is always fun. It all starts with Thanksgiving. Family, feasting, and football. The Christmas season begins with Thanksgiving, and everyone just seems to be in a better mood. Of course Christmas parties, the big day itself, and New Year’s Eve celebrations are always the capper. The end of the year are just as fun for casinos and online casinos. This is one of the biggest times for promotions and bonuses. The end of 2010 has been very kind for both land based and online casino goers. There have been many reports of big jackpot wins for the end of the year. The wins came just in time to award some extra Christmas money or the ability to start the new year off on a good note. Some of the wins came out to thousands even millions of pounds or dollars.

One of the biggest win came at a land based casino. The Twin Pine Casino and Hotel is located in California’s beautiful wine country. The casino offers great gambling action, of course, but there is so much more. The property has two fine dining restaurants, and plenty of entertainment. The Twin PIne Casino is now also the home of an $8 million-plus winner. A retired fire-fighter will have a very good new year after hitting a progressive jackpot worth $8,430,301.

“I’m glad I hit the jackpot, but I’m really glad it happened here,” said Dale Valentine of his favorite casino. Mr. Valentine and his wife enjoy vacationing in this part of the state. They have made regular stops at the Twin Pine Casino for the past fifteen years.. They have even managed to win a couple of small jackpots. Of course, nothing compares to $8 million. They plan to spend the winnings on renovating their home, plenty of charity donations to Hospice and others and learning how to ride a Harley.

In what could be described as a scene from the old west, a man walked into a casino late at night, pulled a gun, and made out with a large sum of casino chips. It all happened at the Bellagio Casino and Resort on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. The bandit was wearing a jumpsuit and a motorcycle helmet. Las Vegas Police Lieutenant, Clinton Nichols, said the robbery happened, “about as quick as you can do it.” The robbery happened at about 3:50 in the morning. The arm culprit brandished a hand gun at a craps table inside the casino and was able to make off with casino ships from the dealers and the patrons who were up for the early morning games.

Police were able to release an eleven second video of the man running out of the casino after his robbery. He had a gun in his right hand. The video shows him turning and pointing the firearm behind him. His helmet appears to have twin white stripes that run from front to back. Police are speculating that the culprit could be the same man who robbed the Las Vegas Suncoast Hotel and Casino. The robbery on December 9 took place in the casino’s poker room. The robbery was said to amount to close to $20,000 from a poker room cashier. Police have also released photos from the earlier robbery.

The Robbery at the Bellagio casino was in gambling chips. It is not certain what the culprit plans to do with the chips. Typically, casino chips can only be redeemed at their specific casinos. However, Nevada does have a law that stipulates casino chains can opt to use chips in multiple casinos. It is thought that the robber made out with about $1.5 million in chips, but estimates could be as high as $2 million. Some chips are coded with radio frequencies, but Bellagio officials aren’t commenting in the specifics.

Online bingo is now a full fledged member of the online casino and gambling community. It has grown from the other thing online gamblers do to an entire community. Community is one of the aspects bingo players love about their game. For decades bingo has been played where people meet in places like church and community recreation halls, cruise ships, and bingo parlors. The move to online bingo didn’t offer such a tight knit group at first, but online bingo providers were quick to develop ways to bring their players together. Advancements in technology lead to online bingo chat rooms, where players could talk to each other in the form of instant messages. Then came live bingo calling. Now one online bingo site is taking it to the next level and offering something no other online bingo site has offered before.

Online bingo and gambling provider, Dazzletag Entertainment operates the upcoming British site BingoCams. This online bingo site will put faces to names. They want their players to hook up their webcams and enjoy playing online bingo face to face with other online bingo players. Online bingo games at BingoCams will be hosted by a live caller who enjoying seeing the players as much as they are enjoying seeing the caller. Now, everyone will be able to see the excitement of a win, and join in the fun.

Winning, at this online bingo site, could lead to more winning. To celebrate the launch of the new style of online bingo BingoCams will be holding a promotion. Players are expected to be excited when they win. Every month, those who get the most excited and show the funniest or most innovative winning celebration will be rewarded with an extra £1,000. Two runners up win earn £500. The welcome bonuses are out, so hook up the web cam and enjoy online bingo the way it was meant to be played. With a group of friends you can hear and see.

The online poker site PKR.com is one of the most popular online poker sites in the world. It offers a unique way of playing the game. Most online poker site only give the players to see the cards and how much is bet. PKR.com allows the player to bring personality to the game. Players create their own avatar. Dress them, style them, and give them a personality of their choosing. Now, players can see who they are playing against whether it be real or not. The online poker site also offers some of the best in tournaments, and bonuses. Right off the bat PKR.com offers a 100 percent match bonus on a player’s first deposit up to $800. They also advertise that everyone wins a prize just for downloading the free software. Yes, online the online poker site PKR.com is one of the most popular in the world.

Now, they can back it up. A recent press release from the online poker site stated that PKR.com registered its four-millionth customer. That is quite a milestone indeed. “This is a great accomplishment for us and a real achievement considering we don’t take players from America,” stated PKR.com Marketing Director, Simon Prodger. This bears repeating. Online gambling is illegal in the United States, one of the largest gambling countries in the world. PKR.com does not accept any players from the US. “This year has been great for PKR.com and we look forward to many more milestones in the future,” continued Mr. Prodger. Clearly that is an understatement.

In only four years the online poker site has revolutionized the industry. Their commitment to the latest technology, constant advancement, and play fun has kept them so successful. It’s not just a matter of opinion. Four-million players is a lot. There are not many online gambling sites that can boast that. Congratulations to PKR.com.

Those who go to either brick and mortar or online casinos enjoy the entertainment. Everyone knows the odds are always in favor of the casino, but as long as one has fun everything is all right. Of course, everyone who goes to a casino does have winning in the back of their mind. It could be a modest winning, a major jackpot, or even breaking even. It may sound odd but casinos actually like it when players win. It brings excitement into the casino and its a great marketing tool. Most want to win a huge chunk of cash, but there are often other prizes that can be even more exciting and luxurious.

One of the most fun prizes given away by online casinos and poker are entries into land based tournaments and events. Online poker sites are especially good at this. They usually have some kind of a tie in with the major poker tours and events and they want their players to represent them at the table. These prize packages typically include the buy in, transportation, hotel stays, and some spending cash. The online poker site, TitanPoker, is getting in on the action and offering their players the chance at two DeepStack tournament events.

TitanPoker is holding qualifying satellite events for the DeepStack Open Vienna to be held at the Montesino Casino in Austria from October 14 to 17 and a similar event in Morocco at the Casino De Marrakech from November 20 to 22. Both events will have 50,000 in starting chips and one hour levels. The nicest part is players can enter for as low as €0.24. Qualifying events will be stage-three sit and go’s. There will also be a Super Satellite tournament every Tuesday. Winners will obviously have their seats at the DeepStack events, but that’s not all. The package, which is valued at €13,00, includes the buy in, a four night stay in a Es Saadi hotel, and money for the flights.

Casino resort empire builder Steve Wynn has long been one of the most wealthiest people in the United States and the world. He has pretty much reserved a spot for himself on Forbes Magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. However, this year he isn’t the only Wynn to take a well earned spot on the list. Mr. Wynn’s ex-wife, Elaine Wynn, has made the cut and Forbes Magazine ranked her as the 382nd wealthiest American. Most of this move is the direct result of a divorce settlement that was finalized earlier this year. (For the record, Steve Wynn came in 205th. It was a slight drop, again, due to the divorce.) Steve and Elaine have been married, and now divorced, twice starting in 1963.

However, don’t let the wealth status due to divorce lead you to believe that Elaine isn’t worthy of her wealth. “Considered in context, pointing out somebody is rich is just frivolous, unless it is also put it into context with achievement,” she commented. Elaine was present in Steve’s life when both of his casino resort empires, Mirage (later sold to MGM) and Wynn Resorts, were founded. She has had an active part on both boards of directors, as well as in the Nevada community. She actually preceded her ex-husband as an inductee to the Gaming Hall of Fame.

Ms. Wynn has also served an active part in helping out the community and away from Mr. Wynn’s limelight. She is a founding member of the Communities-in-Schools of Nevada, and served as its chair. She is now the chair for the national organization. She has stated that being on the Forbes list doesn’t change anything. “What is meaningful is that if you are successful, what is it that you intend to do with it.” Her philanthropic leadership has landed her an appointment by President Obama to the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Online casino gambling has become a very popular hobby amongst many people throughout the world. As it continues to gain popularity patrons are looking for new ways to engage in the hobby both while at home and away. Land-based casinos are now taking a backseat to the future as devices such as computers, phones with data plans and the invention of the iPad jumping to the forefront. These days people want technology and they want it fast. Along with the efficiency of an online device, people are also looking for something manageable that they can throw their pocket.

Enter the world of cell phones. One of the fastest ways to be able to obtain data and transfer data while on the go. Now cell phones and smart phones have the ability to act as many computers, therefore bringing all the technology of the world to one’s fingertips. Mobile gambling system creation of the iPhone has become quite a popular event throughout many different countries. The ability to open an app and access all your favorite casinos has been a huge bonus for many companies, casinos and patrons alike.

Recent studies have just shown that mobile gambling can not only be a profitable business but is expected to hit the $48 billion mark by the year 2015. This study conducted by Juniper research based out of England chose to plan growth for mobile devices as well as online gambling in the future. Currently Japan is leading the way with mobile technology gambling by having the highest number of transactions for casinos. England comes in a close second which is on to the fact that it has the largest amount of online casinos out of any portion of the world. As with everything China is still a major contender and looks to be expanding its mobile gambling market in the near future, as well as adding on mobile lotteries to provide a wide range of gambling games for their patrons.

The news from the casinos and casino resorts in Atlantic City has not been great. The gambling industry there has been in decline for a number of years and the weak economy in the United States has made matters even worse. But let’s not deal with that right now. Instead let’s focus on the fun. Atlantic City still has much to offer the casino lover. For example, one of the most popular casino resorts, aptly named Resorts Casino Hotel, has just added new slot games to its casino floor. The new games come from casino game developer Konami Gaming. Resorts Casino Hotel is now the debut host for ‘Advantage Revolution.’ The new slot games can be found at the Boardwalk Entrance of the casino resort.

The new casino games are three reel, penny slots with a maximum bet of $2.60. The slot games are tied to a progressive jackpot that has four levels, Mini, Major, Mega, and Maxi. Each theme in Advantage Revolution also offers a second chance feature. It is randomly triggered at the end of each primary game. The second chance offers players various bonus rounds depending on which theme they are playing. This bonus is what gives the game its name. A reel that pivots and revolves gives players their bonus chances.

There are four bonus themes available on the casino slot game. They are Atlantic Adventure, Diamond Safari, Dragon Hurricane, and Heat Engine. Atlantic Adventure gives players three progressive levels during the Prime Cash bonus round which features Prime Cash, Treasure Map Wheel, or Voyage Reels. Nine diamond icons on the Diamond Safari bonus can send players to the Grand Cash, Ruins Wheel or Jungle Wheel. Dragon Hurricane has a Big Money, Thunder Wheel or a Lightning Wheel. Heat Engine also has a Big Money feature and a Fire Wheel and a Blazing Wheel. All of the revolution bonuses have the opportunity for casino goers to walk out with a padded pocket.