The former cast of Happy Days apparently isn’t too happy with CBS right now. It seems that one of them found out about a slot machine in a Vegas casino with a Happy Days theme without ever having been consulted or paid for the product. Now they are suing CBS for a violation of their contracts.

The slot machine in question features the images of the characters in the iconic 70’s television show. Licensed games like that are very common, but in this case, according to the lawsuit, their images were used without their consent and without sharing any of the profits with the actors. The actors are now suing CBS for $40 million for money they are owed from merchandising.

Plaintiffs in the case are Anson Williams (Potsie), Don Most (Ralph), Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham), Erin Moran (Joanie) and the estate of Tom Bosley (Mr. Cunningham). The two biggest names from the show, Ron Howard (Richie) and Henry Winkler (Fonzie) are not named as plaintiffs, so it seems that they are not involved in the lawsuit.

I don’t know what the contracts of those actors are like and if they have a case, but it seems likely that their images couldn’t be used without either permission or payment. That is, of course, unless they signed horrible contracts. Whenever rights are not obtained, the slot manufacturers often use something generic that seems like the licensed property, but is not exactly the same. That’s how you end up with games like a Wheel of Chance slot rather than Wheel of Fortune. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Starting Tuesday, a new rule takes effect that allows Atlantic City casinos to terminate progressive slots and keep the money accrued. The rule, which was part of a law signed earlier this year by Governor Chris Christie, will allow the casinos to have more flexibility to remove unpopular and under-performing slots. It will also help the casino make more money because they won’t have to put the accrued money from terminated slots in other games. Instead, they can keep the money.

Under the new rule, if the casino decides that a certain progressive slot is underperforming and is not worth carrying, they can terminate the slot. First they have to give the public a 30-day notice. If no one wins the jackpot in that time, they can cancel the accrued jackpot and keep the money. The game would then be removed from the floor.

Josh Lichtblau, director of the Division of the Gaming Enforcement, said that casinos won’t be able to use a “bait and switch” technique of allowing progressive slot jackpots to build up, cancel them and then bring the slot game back a short time later with a smaller jackpot. Under the rule, if a slot machine is canceled and removed, that slot theme cannot be reintroduced on the casino floor.

For that reason, the change should not impact players at all. It will only give the casino more flexibility to remove slots that aren’t making enough money and by keeping the money instead of spreading it around among the other games on the floor, the casinos will be able to increase the odds of hitting the progressive jackpot. The new rule only applies to progressive slots within a single casino. Those that are linked between more than one casino are not impacted by the change.

How can you not have fun playing an online slot called Party Island? Well, I guess if you lose lots of money it won’t be fun, but hopefully that won’t happen. Party Island is an online slot with a theme that makes you think of that exciting exotic vacation you took, or at least that one you watched on the Travel Channel and dreamed about taking. It takes place on some fancy beach, possibly in the Caribbean or possibly in South Beach – I guess it doesn’t really matter where.

The game is designed by Microgaming and can be found at River Belle Casino. It features symbols of hot women lounging in the sand, women dancing at nightclubs, DJ’s playing music at the club, summer cocktails, a beautiful tropical sunset and more. Some of the symbols become animated when used in winning combinations, such as the spinning of a disco ball, flashing of lights and the DJ spinning a record. It is a 5-reel slot with up to nine paylines and a jackpot of 10,000 coins (that can mean up to $50,000).

The Party Island slot has some good bonuses, such as up to 15 free spins. During the free spins, all payouts are tripled. It also has a gamble feature, where you can go for double or nothing or quadruple or nothing by choosing either the color or suit of a card.

This is the type of online slot that is all about the atmosphere. With its beach and party atmosphere, it’s the kind of game you should play while jamming out to Michael Franti, or if you’re in college, Bob Marley (or if you’re not cool, Jimmy Buffett). With spring hopefully being around the corner (if this winter ever ends), it’s the perfect game to get you into the mood for your vacation. Just try not to lose that vacation money.

When you hear about a casino making changes to the games offered on their floor, it’s usually an expansion. When you hear of them requesting permission from regulators, it’s usually asking permission to add more games. In some cases, though, casinos feel a need to downsize. Yesterday a Pennsylvania casino got permission to do just that.

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board granted the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs permission to remove 134 slot machines. That will bring the slot machine total at the casino down to 2,332. According to the Mohegan Sun, those slot machines were unprofitable since they were at a location that is not easily accessed by customers. Robert Soper, CEO of the Mohegan Sun, says that by removing the unprofitable machines, they will save money on repair costs and routine maintenance and inspection.

With those costs removed, the casino should be more profitable in the future. Soper said that the reduction in machines will not result in a reduction of the workforce. No layoffs are expected. In case you’re wondering, this is not a ploy to make room in the casino and then add some table games later. Under state law, such a tactic is illegal, and Soper testified before the regulators that he had no plans to add table games in place of the removed slots.

This is the second Pennsylvania casino to reduce its slot selection in recent months. In December, the PA Gaming Control Board approved of Mount Airy Casino Report reducing their slot selection by 150 machines.

With the weekend right around the corner, I hope you have big plans, whether it’s a hot date, a night out on the town with friends, a party or however you celebrate your time off. If you’re obsessed with online slots and playing casino games, you might want to take part in a slot tournament. To some people, that might not be exciting, but at least you’re not at work!

This weekend, like usual, Millionaire Casino is running the Weekender tournament. The tournament begins today, January 21, and runs through Sunday, January 23. Players can join the tournament for a buy-in of only $5, which is about the price of a Big Mack nowadays (I believe). The prize pool for the slot tournament is made up of the pot, which means that the more people join and pay the entry fee, the more money there is to win.

The Weekender tournament is played on the Black Magic slot this week, which is an online slot with a dark, sinister theme. It features witches, a full moon, a skull, headstones and other ominous symbols. It is a five-reel slot that has 25 paylines. The game has a 6,000 coin jackpot and multiple bonuses, such as free spins, multipliers and a second-screen mini bonus game.

In addition to the Weekender tournament, Millionaire Casino is still running the Frozen Assets tournament, which began on January 1^st and doesn’t end until January 31. That tournament is played on the Beat the Bank slot, which has a bank heist theme, and has a $10 entry fee and $25,000 prize pool in guaranteed money.

To take part in the weekend slot tournament action, visit Millionaire Casino.

This is a good time for sports, with the Super Bowl a few weeks away, the Australian Open under way, and countless other sports in various countries in the meat of their season. For that reason, Casino Tropez is holding a sports-based promotion that highlights the sport-related games in their catalogue.

Every so often, the online casino highlights certain games and right now it is for sports. Players who wager on the sport games can receive a deposit match bonus of 30% up until January 23. There are six different sport-related online slots being featured, including Football Rules, Golden Games, Top Trumps, Golden Tour, Rocky and Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven.

Football Rules is an online slot with a football (and by that, I mean soccer) theme. Most of the symbols are of jerseys and players, with the occasional hooligan thrown in. There is also a fun bonus game where you take a penalty shot on goal and are rewarded if you score.

Golden Games is an online slot with an Olympic theme. It features symbols of gold medals, track events, swimming, boxing, weightlifting and more. In a unique touch, all of the athletes are depicted as golden stick figures. Don’t let the stop watches on the reels fool you, though, because there is no time limit for this game. Play as long and as slow as you want.

Top Trumps is another slot game with a football (or soccer) theme that was released to go along with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It features real photos of various World Cup stars as the symbols. They look like trading cards, if such a thing exists for soccer (does it?).

If football (can I call it soccer, please?) isn’t your thing, there is also the Golden Tour slot. This game is based on golf (named after the PGA Tour) and has symbols of golf balls, bags, flags, shoes, carts and more. If you think golf is boring then you will feel the same way about this game. The background is a beautifully sculpted grass golf course, though, so at least that’s something.

Rocky is an online slot based on the Sylvester Stallone boxing movie of the same name. It features photos of Rocky, Adrian, his trainer (forget his name), Apollo Creed, that Russian guy played by Dolph Lundgren and more. If you love bad-acting Italians getting punched in the face, this is the online slot for you!

Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven is an online slot based on horse racing. Specifically, it is based on a day in September of 1996 when Dettori achieved the remarkable feat of winning all seven races held during that day. This slot, which features symbols of Dettori on his horse, the track, that target thingy that the horses chase and more, is a good game for fans of horse racing.

All of those games and more can be found at Casino Tropez. If you’re a sports fan and want to play an online slot with a  sporting theme, those six featured games are a good place to start.

Christmas isn’t here yet, but that didn’t stop Rival Gaming from looking ahead to the next holiday. They are looking past the eggnog-drinking holiday and have released an online slot for the champagne-drinking holiday. Yes, I’m talking about New Year’s Eve.

Rival Gaming has released a new slot called Reel Party Platinum. It is an updated version of a previous game, simply called Reel Party. This updated version is more modern and has slicker graphics and displays.

Reel Party Platinum is a 5-reel slot that allows you to play up to 15 paylines. Players can wager from $0.01 to $1 per line. The online slot features symbols that you expect to go along with a New Year’s party. There is a drunk girl, a drunk guy, champagne, cocktails, fireworks, and even a taxi (that’s your friendly reminder to drink responsibly).

The online slot has a good number of bonuses. Getting the correct symbols on the reels can unlock 10, 20 or 100 free spins. If getting 100 free spins excites you – and it should, this will make it even more exciting: During free spins, all winnings are tripled. The game also offers various multiplier bonuses, which are triggered by the bonus symbols appearing on the reels.

The most interesting part of an online slot is usually the bonus mini-game. Here that game involves replenishing the liquor. When the party runs out of champagne, you are sent to the liquor cabinet to get some more. Of the various bottles, you must find the one that pops open to reveal a bonus. I guess the other bottles are bad champagne that should be thrown away or something.

If you celebrate Christmas, you probably won’t be playing this game until after you’re done playing Christmas-themed games. After you’re done with that, though, this could be a good way to get a heard start on your “I can’t believe this stupid year is finally over” party.

When going through the gambling news, I couldn’t help but notice that there are two new online slots with pyramid themes. That seems like an odd coincidence, since there hasn’t exactly been anything new in the pyramid world in quite some time. To be fair, one is just based on a game show with “pyramid” in the name, but still…

The first game is called 100,000 Pyramid, which is based on the popular classic TV game show that ran from 1973 to 2004. The game show, which started as the $20,000 Pyramid and ended as the $100,000 Pyramid (possibly due to inflation), had a number of famous hosts, including Dick Clark and Donny Osmond. It was a trivia game show where one player gives hints to try to get their partner to guess a certain word or phrase.

The 100,000 Pyramid slot is based on that game and has 5 reels and 15 paylines. The top jackpot for this online slot is 100,000 coins, which is quite appropriate. The online slot game has the game show’s trademark pyramid scoreboard. Players can climb their way up the pyramid by receiving three or more Winner’s Circle symbols on the reels. Each spot they advance on the pyramid scoreboard has some type of bonus, such as a free spin or multiplier.

The other game is called Crocodopolis and it is a slot with an ancient Egyptian theme. For those not in the know, Crocodilopolis (also called Krokodilopolis or Κροκοδείλων πόλις) was an ancient city in Egypt. It got that name because the city was devoted to the deity Sobek (also called Sebek, Sochet, Sobk, Sobki, Soknopais or Σοῦχος). Sobek was a crocodile god who had the body of a man and the head of a crocodile.

Anyway, the Crocodopolis slot is a play on that city and that crocodile god. It features a crocodilian god or pharaoh, Egyptian pyramids and more. The game is a 5-reel, 25-payline online slot. Among the cool features of this game is a unique feature called Slide a Wild, which allows players to move the Wild symbol to any reel they want.

So whether you want to play an online slot based on a pyramid trivia game show or one based on an Egyptian god that protected Nile travelers from crocodile attacks, in either case you are covered by a new game.

Leading gaming software developer Playtech has launched a new online slot as part of their partnership with Virtue Fusion. The new game is called Zodiac Supernova. The game is available at various Playtech online casinos and it provides a good break from all of the Christmas-themed slots I’m sure you’ve been playing.

Zodiac Supernova has a horoscope theme, as the title suggests. The online slot has imagery recalling the wonders of the cosmos, including zodiac signs (the constellations that line the ecliptic) and symbols relating to a supernova, which is the explosion of a star. Combine the two and you get a slot based on the stars that is somehow still action-packed, since the stars sometimes explode on the reels.

Zodiac Supernova is a 5-reel slot game that offers up to 25 paylines. Players can bet anywhere from $0.01 to $125 per spin and take a shot at a maximum jackpot of $25,000. Whenever there is a winning combination, the stars on the reels explode in a fantastic supernova, which should make winning money more exciting. Playing the game might also help you predict your future, if you believe in that kind of thing. If you do, your lucky numbers are 7 23 19 54 and 68. Write that down.

The new Playtech online slot launched on Tuesday, December 7 and is now available for play. Though Playtech has been designing casino games since 2000, they only partnered with Virtue Fusion earlier this year. Virtue Fusion is best known for their bingo games.

I will admit that I’m not up on horse racing. I’ve never watched a race, not even the Kentucky Derby. They say it is the most exciting two minutes in sports, but I think a quarterback running a two-minute drill in football is significantly more exciting. Actually, any two-minute segment of football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, skiing, rodeo, snowboarding, track and field, gymnastics or lacrosse would be more exciting. In fact, I think only a two-minute segment of soccer would be less exciting. Still, some people love horse racing and Playtech has a new online slot celebrating one of the “famous” jockeys.

The game is called Frankie Dettori’s Magic Sevens. Apparently, Frankie Dettori is an Italian jockey that won an incredible seven races in a single day back in 1996. At least I think that’s incredible. How many races do they normally have in a day? I don’t know. In any case, isn’t the horse more responsible for the win than the jockey? I mean, the horse is doing the running. All the jockey is doing is sitting on the horse and adding extra weight. Come to think of it, I guess the horse would be faster with no jockey (dogs seem to manage without them).

Anyway, Frankie Dettori’s Magic Sevens is an online slot based on the “famous” jockey and his big day in 1996. It is a 5-reel, 25-payline slot that features symbols of Dettori riding his horse as well as other horse race-related symbols. One really cool thing about the slot is the bonus game, where you pick one of the horses, watch a race, and then earn bonus points based on how well your horse did. There are other cool features as well. When you get a winning combination using the trophy symbol, the game shows a video of Dettori and his horse winning one of his races.

The Frankie Dettori’s Magic Sevens slot game can be found at a number of Playtech-licensed online casinos.