According to a press release from Stockholm Sweden, Jadestone Networks announced that their backgammon network and a soon-to-be launched will allow their partners the first crack at it.

Jadestone Networks is a multiplayer gaming network that is known for GamArena and DiceArena, as well as their partnerships with bwin, NordicBet and Paf. These three partners will benefit by being the first to access the newly created backgammon network. These three networks had only been in partnership with Jadestone networks since November and December of 2008.

Jadestone continues to be in the news as it recently launched its newest game DiceArena. DiceArena will feature many dice games including a dice game poker players known as dice hold ‘em. Although this game may be challenging to new players they also offer easier and still entertaining alternatives such as Shoot-the-Moons.

Based on the success of DiceArena, the multiplayer game network is set to launch backgammon later in the spring. This game promises to be full-featured and allow many tournaments as well as heads up games.

Tobias Nissen, Business Development Director at Jadestone stated: “It’s our ambition to serve our partners with high quality content in a timely manner. Our new DiceArena platform lets us do that in a very cost-efficient and robust way. Backgammon is the first new game we deploy for our existing partners with a substantially reduced integration effort. It’s a win-win situation that also players will benefit from since they can keep their avatars and names across more games.”

By creating new games and new features yet allowing players to carry over their avatars, Jadestone has created an all-in-one entertainment to boost popularity in online casinos.

With support in over 25 languages the Backgammon Network will be familiar to many players that uses standard competition rules and common anti-fraud systems as other games on the network.

As end of the year financial statements are being released we are seeing a drop in many online casinos, and land-based casino networks. Chartwell Technology Incorporated has recently revealed a 21% drop in revenues down to $4.6 million.

In comparison with last year’s reports revenues dropped $1.2 million from the previous year’s $5.8 million. The reason stated for the decline of this Canadian-based company was that the competition continued to expand thus causing a decline in revenues which has seen both in the casinos and at the poker tables.

In attempt to keep pace with the competition Chartwell technology began to focus their expenses on software development and support. Along the same lines they had to increase their administrative and general charges in order to maintain its growing online gaming content.

On three separate levels Chartwell reported losses of significant dollar amount. Their net loss was $700,000 for the first quarter alone. This is staggering standing next to a $900,000 profit for the same exact period last year. Their pretax earnings taken a hit as it came in at a negative $400,000 in comparison with a positive $1.8 million last year. Lastly, cash flow slid from $1.4 million to a meager $100,000.

Chartwell continues to upgrade versions of their software. The recently released 7.0 version of the software allow them the ability to add new games as well as signing a deal with Paramount Digital entertainment international for a multi-title licensing agreement.

“The company started this fiscal year with challenges to revenue growth as a few of our clients introduced additional gaming products from other suppliers,” said Alan Richter, Chief Financial Officer for Chartwell.

“The increased competition intensifies our resolve to focus on the depth and breadth of our product and services offerings. We have increased our investment in product and service delivery and we are confident that our unique capabilities in these areas as well as our new sales opportunities should return the company to profitable growth in the near future.”

It is no surprise that mobile interactive games continue to lead the way as the demand for such games grows. Online players are cockily looking for a new entertainment game that simulates real-life games. Such is the case with Managed Gaming Solutions (MGS).

Managed gaming solutions PLC is based at the United Kingdom and is known for their mobile and interactive television gaming. They have many interactive gaming platforms, managed gaming solutions offers SMS television games, and many other lottery style games. Its subsidiary, JetBet Oy, currently holds the position of marketing mobile gaming solutions in Nordic countries.

Now, MGS has launched an interactive mobile lottery that is causing quite a buzz. The launch of this game has opened up the Caribbean market by setting up its base in Curacao.

This mobile lottery will be handled by a local licensed lottery provider, Sure Lottery, but is in fact a product of MGS Caribbean NV. “We are very pleased to announce another country launch in this exciting region and are confident of achieving soon similar user acceptance as in Surinam where, shortly after the roll-out, a large percentage of the whole population were playing our games,” said Tero Turunen, Chairman for MGS.

“We are now in a very good position for future business growth in this emerging market and are convinced that we are on the right track to becoming the fastest growing lottery related gaming provider in this region.”

As the number of mobile subscribers continues to grow the Caribbean claims to currently provide around 16 million. This number is expected to increase to 19 million by the year 2011.

With the expansion of mobile subscribers comes the expansion of mobile online gamblers. The draw of online gaming while on the go continues to be a trend not only in the Caribbean, but around the world.

Many of the drawbacks of online gambling in today’s world deals with the idea of different countries using different currencies. Some pay houses are developing ways and systems to accommodate players from foreign countries.

In an attempt to keep with the times many software providers are learning about the need for multicurrency solutions. One of these companies is Virtue Fusion Limited.

Recently Virtue Fusion has launched a version of bingo that will accommodate a variety of different currencies, expanding throughout Europe and many other countries. The benefit of this multicurrency system will allow players from different countries to engage in casino games, and to make available the same prices.

According to the plan of Virtue Fusion they will be able to incorporate the different currencies into the selected sites based upon the native language.

“This puts Virtue Fusion’s client base in good stead to compete with established bingo sites in countries like Spain, Sweden and Denmark,” said Bob McCulloch, Chief Executive Officer of Virtue Fusion.

“We don’t need to build a customer base from scratch as we are able to show large player numbers and prize pools from launch also eliminating the need to expose ourselves to large marketing liabilities.”

Virtue Fusion has already begun to put this system in place and draw in the Sterling and the Euro as well as the Swedish and Danish Krona. Previous methods Virtue Fusion will be able to share liquidity across currencies from various countries.

With this new system will also offer the opportunity for operators to link into the system creating a larger prize similar to that of the EuroMillions. This will enable players across Europe compete for the same jackpot.

Virtue Fusion is continuing to expand to existing online gaming operators, bookmakers, land-based operators and media companies therefore increasing their market for online casino gambling.

The dealers at the Las Vegas, Wynn Casino are in negotiations and are bringing to the table just cause and discussion of employees being fired.

Attorney Greg Kamer, who represents the Wynn Las Vegas stated: “When it comes to a gaming employee at a high-end property who is making decisions and actions potentially at $300,000 a hand, if the decision is wrong, is the dealer making a mistake or are they in cahoots with the player,” Kamer said. “We have a pretty good sense of when people are making mistakes, or when they are acting improperly.”

The union that represents the dealers is fighting the idea of “just cause”and saying that the casino is using it as a tactic to slow down negotiations.

The director for the Union, Joseph Carbon replied: “Just cause doesn’t mean we support people stealing. If you can prove that somebody’s doing something of that nature then you prove it and it will stick. The way they want to operate is they want to have complete control over their employees.”

The idea of “just cause”centers around a disciplinary action, including the right to fire an employee, to be reviewed by an impartial third party. These clauses are not uncommon when dealing with unions. In fact according to associate professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Jeff Waddoups, this is a standard practice in the United States when dealing with labor agreements.

“That is a huge benefit for most workers,” Waddoups said. “If you don’t have a just-cause agreement in your contract, then you’re essentially an at-will employee, so you can be fired for anything.”

In a response surrounding this ordeal, senior vice president of communication and government relations, Jan Jones stated: “We’ve been meeting with [the unions] regularly. In any negotiation there will be areas you need to iron out. That is the art of negotiation.”

The Norwich bulletin, in Hartford Connecticut, recently revealed: “The state House Public Health Committee released a bill Monday that would ban smoking in the state’s two American Indian-owned casinos by 2011. The process is in its infancy, but with a full Senate approval last year, advocates are hopeful of its passage and implementation.”

In accordance with this bill, these two casinos will begin to fall under the same category as many casinos around the United States. Although there are many patrons who are advocates of the ban, there are many players who currently engaged in the activity of smoking and may seek out other casinos.

With the implementation of this plan as well as other rules and regulations that are currently governing casinos in the United States today, many casino players are beginning to look towards other avenues of casino play. One of these avenues is finding a way to succeed in gambling in online casinos.

Although some patrons would like to see smoking or main legal in the casinos, they taste great opposition in going against the American Cancer Society. The Connecticut director of government relations and advocacy for the American Cancer Society, Bryte Johnson, spoke out against smoking and casinos. “We’d love to have it banned immediately. This is a workers health issue and a customer health issue. But given the current economic environment, we can support 2011,” said Johnson.
The two casinos in question are the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino. The owners of both of these resort casinos are outspokenly opposed to the ban.

“On behalf of the Mohegan Tribal Nation, I am truly disappointed to see that the Public Health committee is moving forward with a bill that infringes on our sovereign rights,” said Bruce ‘Two Dogs’ Bozsum, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council. “Our objection is not about issues related to secondhand smoke. We are proud of the steps we have taken to mitigate smoke on reservation lands.”

As Spain and France are beginning to expand into the online casino market there are many nuances that they need to learn to compete with the other markets. One of these nuances is the ability to understand the local market and tailor these online experiences to the needs of such a market.

This is how one Casino manager for QueBingo.com has decided to run his business. Juan DePedro, a speaker for the online bingo Summit plans to show Spanish market how to achieve such goals. The summit will take place at the Millennium Gloucester hotel in London on June 16 and 17th.
“Most of the early pioneer sites in the Spanish markets were just translations of the UK/US sites, sometimes very bad translations,” said De Pedro.
It appears as though the Spanish market continues to grow and with that growth come the needs of the individual players within its local region.

“However, since then, some of the new ones are specifically designed for the Spanish market. From my point of view, it is absolutely fundamental to localise your new sites. You must be able to provide transactions in the local currency, you must have everything including copy, banners, chat room and terms and conditions in the local language, not just translations, and you must have a native writing all the copy for you. You must also have chat hosts chatting in chat rooms in the local language,” said DePedro

“Some of the sites that appeared last year in the Spanish market are already doing these things, so clearly they have more quality. If you look at them from a Spanish player point of view, they are clearly superior to the ‘translated’ sites.”

“If you only offer them a big prize but they don’t get the feeling of having a good time, they won’t stay long at your site and they won’t come back to play on it,” said De Pedro.

The growing need for online banking has been treated by the online casino market. Many companies in the past few months including one popular method PayPal, beginning to emerge and service the gambling market.

These competitors are working hard to acquire as many customers as possible, however the need right now seems to be catering to the European market. Once the bans on online casino gambling begin to be loosened in the United States, these companies will already have a strong force in the online casino industry.

NETELLER is one of the new companies catering to online gamblers. Its suite of services includes functionality for international payments, and eWallet, and Net+™ cards.

With these features merchants will be able to accept both credit card and non-credit card payments. In order to best provide for the customers many options will be available such as contact centers, mail order and automated phone systems.

The most beneficial feature of this week for the online gambler is the NETELLER e-wallet. This feature also is based in Europe is open to a variety of countries and is authorized and regulated by the FSA. Currently it is acquiring new members from Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and will soon be available to those in Bulgaria and Romania.

As countries develop new currencies, such as the case for Hungary and Poland there is also a need for a proper foreign exchange rate. Due to this new system e-wallet allows for accounts in EUR, SEK, GBP, NOK, HUF, PLN, and DKK foreign currencies.

Ever since the Danish Krone (DKK) and Norwegian Krone (NOK) have been added 60 to 70% of new customers switched to their local currencies versus euros or US dollars.

“I am very pleased with our continued and rapid expansion of services to our customers in line with the Group’s strategy,” said David Gagie, President of NETELLER’s Member Services Division. “With these latest changes we believe we have the best solution for both merchants and consumers across Europe.”

Changes are happening with the MGM Mirage and Phil Ruffin appears to be behind it. As of Thursday Ruffin is taking over the casino Treasure Island from the MGM Mirage. This small acquisition totaled $100 million.

The plan of attack for Ruffin is that he will pay $775 million price for the treasure Island Casino. However, instead of putting up 500 million up front to attend to pay a total of 600 million and then find the other $175 million.

The Treasure Island hotel and casino originally was created and operated by Steve Wynn, and Ruffin has set a goal to complete this transaction by the end of the month, therefore being the new owner operator.

Ruffin is no stranger to owning casinos as he was the former owner of New Frontier Casino which was sold and demolished in 2007.
“I wanted to accommodate (MGM Mirage) and we’re getting in at a good time,” Ruffin said. “The (NCAA) basketball tournament is going on, which is very good, and it will be good to get that summer business.”

Ruffin said: “They could use the cash, and we are happy to take over sooner.” Ruffin at 73 took a 20 month hiatus from the industry before returning to take over the treasure Island Casino.
“This is a breath of fresh air what you’re doing here,” commission member Dr. Tony Alamo Jr. told Ruffin.

Currently the MGM Mirage is facing debt trouble as are many Las Vegas casinos. Although the deal appears to be moving swiftly MGM may still face bankruptcy suit. “The Treasure Island is a positive development on two fronts,” said MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Murren. “Closing the sale sooner causes less disruption to our employees and we can get the cash quicker.”

Ruffin appears excited about the new takeover and becoming president: “We’ve had an office there for a while and we’re ready to go.”

With the economy in complete disarray, companies have been forced to lay off employees. This trickle-down effect has hurt many industries both in the United States and around the world.

Factories have closed, plants have stopped production at many companies are doing their best to keep their heads above the water. As we have seen recently, casinos are not immune to this type of treatment. The famous Harrah’s casino is currently fighting a battle of over $23 billion of debt, and it doesn’t look conceivable that they will pull out anytime within the next two years.

Some states however, as well as the government can benefit by the opening of casinos both land-based and online. One casino based out of Fort McDowell, Arizona has created a wealth of jobs for the community and is heavily advertising in order to fill empty holes within its company.
According to The Arizona Republic: “The Fort McDowell Casino east of Fountain Hills has openings for 50 part-time and eight full-time jobs.”
Michele Genetos, human-resources director, said that “the jobs were just posted and that the casino began taking applications Monday.”

“Full-time jobs are for security and drop crews, which involve transporting money or gambling chips. Part-time jobs include bingo floor clerks, poker dealers, servers, shuttle drivers, valets, slot floor people, bartenders, cooks, and food and beverage cashiers.”

“Applications are being taken from 7 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. through Thursday in the human-resources office on the second floor of the casino. The casino is at 10424 N. Fort McDowell Road. Genetos said many employees live in Mesa, Phoenix and Fountain Hills…”
This announcement comes at a much-needed time, where people who dislike their jobs are being forced to stay in order to maintain some sort of salary. Now there will be other options available to those seeking employment.