In case you haven’t heard the story that is all over Yahoo News, the Washington, D.C. District Council has repealed online gambling regulation. On Tuesday, the District Council voted by a 10-2 margin to repeal the law, brining regulation in the American capitol to an end.

Last year, the District Council passed the first law in the United States to regulate online gambling. The law would have created a regulatory system where the D.C. Lottery runs online gambling sites and oversees them to ensure safety and adherence to regulations. Players would have initially been able to only gamble at certain online hubs, but eventually it would have been allowed anywhere within the district. The law was passed after it was slipped into a supplemental budget bill by Councilman Michael Brown. The online gambling regulation was never debated by the council.

When news broke that while passing an uncontroversial budget bill, the council had unknowingly voted to regulate online gambling, some were unhappy. There was public outcry from anti-gambling groups. Some questioned Brown’s ethics, saying that he had a conflict of interest, having previously worked for an online gambling company. The council decided to hold public hearings to get some feedback on the issue, and the feedback from the public was decidedly mixed. One councilmember proposed repealing the law and introduced legislation to do that. In all this time, the regulation was never implemented. The government seemed to realize that there was a good chance the law wouldn’t last, so they decide to wait it out. On Tuesday, the council made their decision, with all but two council members (one being Brown) voting to repeal the online gambling law but keep the rest of the budget bill. Online casino sites are still legal in Washington, D.C., but none are regulated or approved by the government.

The number one determinant in the safety and quality of an online casino is its software. Most online casinos don’t use their own software. Instead, they use licensed software from their parties. One of the best casino software developers in the industry is Playtech.

Playtech was one of the first online casino software developers to emerge, launching back in 1999. In many ways, Playtech helped develop the standard for casino software in terms of safety, player fairness, game quality and more. According to http://www.on-linecasino.eu/playtech.html, Playtech is certified by TST, BMM International, and other regulators who ensure that casino software is safe for players.

Playtech software is available as a download or in a no-download streaming version. Playtech offers some of the best games in online slots, blackjack, poker and a variety of table games and specialty games. The downside to Playtech is that, for the time being at least, they do not accept players from the United States. The company is worried about legal action from the U.S. Department of Justice, who has gone after other software companies and online casinos.

When it comes to the frills, bells and whistles of games, Playtech does it the best. Playtech’s games are thought by most to have the best graphics, sound, and animations. They have online slots with some of the hottest brands available, making the games more exciting and in demand. Playtech also has a good number of progressive slots with high jackpots and offer good tournament play. When looking for casinos, finding  one that uses Playtech is a good start.

At the brick and mortar casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and elsewhere, the most popular games are slots and blackjack. Though not one of the biggest games, craps is an essential and iconic part of the casino experience.

Craps is the loudest and most high-energy game on the casino floor. With the winnings of everyone at the table reliant on what the shooter does, it’s the ultimate interactive experience, with everyone rooting for a good roll and yelling in excitement when it happens. Though it is hard to transfer that level of excitement online, games may find that online craps is also a fun casino experience.

When online casinos first started offering craps games, they were low on energy and excitement. You played either by yourself or with the avatars of people you never interacted with. Winning money was fun, but there was never that level of excitement like in a land casino. With new technology, though, things have changed. Thanks to chat and instant message technology, webcams, audio interfaces and more, the online craps games have become more and more interactive. Players can now get the feeling like they are playing at a full table.

Online craps tournaments bring a whole new level of excitement, due to the extra competitive nature of tournament play. Online the game may still not hold up to the excitement that can be found at a craps table in a Las Vegas casino, but the online gambling sites are coming closer to making that a reality. Soon, playing craps online may be just as much fun.

If you were following the news, you probably saw on cnn.com that the U.S. Department of Justice has changed is opinion regarding online gambling and the Wire Act. Previously the Justice Department had operated under the opinion that the Wire Act outlawed all forms of online gambling in America, regardless of the location of the company offering the games. However, on Friday, the department released a letter stating that they agree with a 2002 court ruling that the Wire Act does not prohibit non-sports betting.

The Wire Act was passed in 1961 in response to a growing trend of people placing bets with sportsbooks over the phone. The Internet did not exist yet and aside from visiting the bookie in person, this was the only way to conduct the transaction. The Wire Act states that it is illegal to bet on sports through electronic means. Because of the wording of the law, it also applies to the Internet, even though that form of electronic communication did not exist when the law was written.

The Wire Act does not apply to online casino games, online lotteries or online poker. That means each of those gambling activities are legal in the United States unless banned by some local law. For example, Washington state bans online gambling and the state of Utah bans all forms of gambling, even charitable gambling. If your local government does not have a law banning online gambling, it, with the exception of sports betting, is legal. That has always been the case, but the Department of Justice has finally admitted it.

Online casinos love to offer different bonuses to get you to sign up or to encourage you to continue playing with them if you are an existing member. But are online casino bonuses free? They are, sort of. A lot of them are great deals; some are not. Sometimes it is actually better to decline the bonus, depending on the terms and your situation.

All casino bonuses come with terms and conditions. The most common condition that seems to be included with any casino bonus is a wagering requirement. The casino states that your deposit and bonus must be wagered a certain number of times before you can cash out. If you wager a lot of money and play a lot of games, it might not matter, but if you are an infrequent player with a small bankroll, you may not want to wager that much money before you can make a withdrawal.

A free online casino bonus might say that you have to wager the deposit and bonus 20 times, for example. Let’s look at a 100% match bonus where you deposited $100. That means the casino gave you another $100 upon you making the deposit, giving you $200 with which to play. If the rules say you must wager them 20 times, that means you must wager a total of $4,000 before you can withdraw any money. If you have a big payout after wagering only $1,000, you can’t cash out. Instead, you have to keep wagering the money, which gives the casino a chance to win it back. While that deal is fine for most players, if you don’t spend a lot of money at the casino it might be a better idea to decline the bonus so you can cash out any time you want.

If you listen to the arguments for and against online gambling regulation, you hear a lot about “unregulated online casinos.” Proponents of regulation say that the government needs to regulate the industry to protect citizens from unlicensed online casinos. Opponents say that the reason the industry needs to be banned is to protect citizens from unregulated online casinos. So what is the truth?

Are there unregulated online casinos? Of course there are. There are a lot of them out there. Like any online business, starting an online casino is not difficult, so there are a lot of small, unknown casinos that are not licensed and regulated. We at OnlineCasinos advise that you do not play at any of those casinos. What about others, though?

There are many places that do not regulate online gambling, such as the United States, Australia and the UK. That does not mean that their citizens cannot play at regulated online casinos, though. Governments in places like Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Alderney, Curacao, Costa Rica and more license and regulate online casinos, as do independent regulators such as eCOGRA. The biggest and most prestigious online casinos are licensed and regulated and are determined by trusted agencies to be safe and fair.

In the UK, the government even allows casinos approved by accepted regulators to operate in their jurisdiction, using the White List system. That is not the case in the United States, Australia, China, and other places that refuse regulation, but players can still access online casinos that are safe because they are regulated elsewhere.

If you listen to the mainstream media, including the NY Times, tell the story, all online casinos are dangerous rogue websites that can’t be trusted. The brick and mortar casinos in Las Vegas, though, are perfectly safe because they are tightly regulated by our government.

That’s ridiculous, of course, because every good online casino is tightly regulated by a government. It also overlooks the fact that there are a lot of advantages to gambling online. One such advantage is the free stuff.

Brick and mortar casinos aren’t going to give you free money. They might give you some comps, such as free drinks, free buffet food or even a free room (if you’re a high roller), but they won’t give you spending money. Online casinos will. Most online casinos will offer you match bonuses where they match your deposit and give you extra money with which to wager.

That’s just your average online casinos, though. The online casinos with best bonuses offer a wide variety of bonuses, such as match bonuses, free-spin bonuses, reload bonuses, cash back bonuses (for when you lose money) and more.

Whenever you see a bonus that you want, though, you should always read the fine print before accepting it. All bonuses are subject to the casino’s terms and conditions. Those terms often require wagering requirements. Often they are not a problem but in some cases, the terms make it a better idea to decline the free money (such as if accepting it would prevent you from withdrawing money). In any case, before accepting any bonuses from a casino, know what you’re getting and what is expected of you.

Casino games have a house edge, which means the odds are set so that in the long run the casino will make money off of each game. The casinos make much more money than what the house edge would produce, though. That is because so many customers enter the casino, not knowing how to play, and lose lots of money using bad strategies or no strategy at all.

The casinos can get away with offering games with low house edges like blackjack because enough people will lose money by not using the right strategy. Using the right strategy is the best way to make money or at least reduce the amount of money lost at a casino.

Every casino game has its own rules and strategies that work best. If you don’t know the rules and options available to you, you should at least read up on the game using a source like this website or Wikipedia.

The most accepted strategy for blackjack is simply called “blackjack basic strategy.” Following the strategy, which has a separate move for every situation, you can reduce the house edge to only 0.5%. If you don’t follow any strategy, you could lose just as much money as playing an online slot or other game of chance.

Speaking of games of chance, even in games like roulette and craps, there is a strategy to the betting. There are a number of bets you can make at the table. The safer bets will pay out more often but have lower payouts. The riskier bets are less likely to pay out but pay more when they do. A wise strategy is to take all of that into consideration when placing bets. A top online casino will list all of the rules for any game that you play, but many of them won’t include strategy. That’s something you have to learn on your own.

If you were to go to http://www.cnn.com/ right now, you might think that the only things going on in the world at the moment involve Steve Jobs and presidential campaigning. Those are certainly the hot topics of the moment, but you should not let the current hot topic distract you from other topics that may not be as hot but are just as important.

As the United States searches for its next president, people will have to ask themselves what they feel is most important. What qualities do they look for in the government? One thing that most people should be against is the government controlling what they can and cannot do. Such is the battle being fought over online gambling.

In the United States, there is no federal law banning online gambling, with the exception of sports betting. However, that hasn’t stopped the Justice Department from acting as though the activity is illegal. As such, Black Friday and other events have made the industry and the players nervous. People want to log onto an online casino without fear, either of the government or of the casino not being able to pay them.

The topic has been covered by authoritative gambling sources like gamblingreviews.com for some time, but recently even the mainstream media has picked up on the issue. Even Steve Jobs probably would have taken up the cause if you asked him, since he was all for using technology to do the things you want to do.

No online gambling bill will pass this year. That much is certain. However, there is hope that legislation to regulate the industry will be voted on in 2012. Though it’s a controversial issue on an election year, it is also one that could create jobs and some see the recent DOJ crackdown as a sign that the government will soon regulate the industry. Time will tell.

Antigua is not just a popular tourist paradise. It is also one of the top online gambling hubs in the world. Antigua was one of the first nations to legalize and regulate online gambling. As such, it is the location of a large number of online casino operators and the government licenses some of the top gambling websites.

If you’re not familiar with Antigua, a quick visit to their wiki page should clue you in. It is an island in the West Indies that is part of the dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. It has a population of approximately 87,000 and its main industry is tourism. Now back to that gambling stuff.

Antigua’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission has a Directorate of Offshore Gaming that is responsible for overseeing and regulating the offshore gambling industry. They award separate licenses for sports betting and for all other gambling (poker, casino games, etc.).

There are six brick and mortar casinos located in Antigua and they are open to citizens and tourists. Their main gambling market, though, is online. There are about 170 online casinos and online betting sites located in Antigua. Among them are some of the top sites in the industry, including Bodog. The Directorate of Offshore Gambling not only licenses the online gambling sites, but also regulates the industry to ensure that it is fair to players. The regulators also monitor for crimes like money laundering and other issues.

One of the reasons so many online gambling operators are located in Antigua is that it is a good business environment for them. Sportsbooks pay a simple $50,000 licensing fee while online casinos pay $75,000. After that, the operators pay a 3% tax rate, one of the lowest in the world for the gambling industry.