Ladbrokes To Appeal Ban Of TV Adverts – 01-11-09

January 11 – Having had two new TV ads for LadbrokesCasino.comm banned by the Committee of Advertising Practice, Ladbrokes have argued that the ruling involved an incorrect application of the Advertising Standards Code, and in effect rule out the use of humor in gambling ads.

“Ladbrokes fully supports the code of practice relating to gambling advertising but this ruling is an example of political correctness going too far,” said John O’Reilly, Managing Director for Ladbrokes Remote Betting and Gaming.

“We believe the ads are compliant as they are humorous and show people in fantastical situations to which no one would aspire. Consumers know that you cannot jump from a plane using a 30 gram pack of crisps as a parachute.”

Advertising Agency M&C Saatchi produced the ads. The agency was a recent finalist at the Cannes International Advertising Awards and also won the Silver Award at the London International Awards.

British bookmakers and online casinos spend a lot of time and money on ensuring compliance of their advertisements. The appeals is set to go before and independent review committee.

In the meantime, Ladbrokes have responded with a tongue in cheek advert in two London newspapers, which mocked the person who complained about the TV ads. The ad showed an unhappy looking clown with a caption that read “Missing – a funny bone”.

“We are currently trying to find the one (yes, one) person who took offence, complained and subsequently got the LadbrokesCasino.com TV campaign banned,” read the adverts.

“We bear them no ill will, we just want to give them a big bunch of flowers and a hug to say sorry.”

Read our Ladbrokes.com Casino Review.

Ontario Lottery settles with punter over scratchcard misprints

The story of the Canadian steelworker who thought he had won $135,000 on four $3 scratchcards, but lost out due to misprints had a happier ending later in the week as Ontario lottery officials relented and paid him an undisclosed settlement.

The National Post reported that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation had reached a financial settlement with Thomas Noftall, following a media storm over the misprinted scratchcards, which the OLG only realised were faulty when “winners” started claiming their prizes.

After meeting with OLG representatives at their North York headquarters this afternoon, Noftall expressed satisfaction with the result.

“I feel a lot better than when I came in,” he told a large crowd of reporters and cameras. “I can already feel my blood pressure is going down.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the amount involved will not be disclosed – and Noftall had to acknowledge that his ticket was not a winner.

Misprints on the latex film that players scratch off led Noftall to believe he had won a total of $135,000 from four “Fruit Smash” tickets. A printing error meant the image on the latex did not match the cardboard below. The barcode on the card, which OLG rules state is definitive, indicated it had not won.

However, when he called the OLG after buying the ticket, to ask if they would honour his ticket despite the error, an employee told Noftall he would be paid.

An embarrassed Kelly McDoughald, the OLG’s CEO, explained that miscommunication prompted the payout. “We have a record of misinforming him,” she said. “In recognition of the grief that that caused him over the last few days, we have now reached a settlement.”

The National Post reports that since Noftall’s case came to light this week in media reports, 15 more people have contacted the OLG with similar stories. Ms. McDoughald urged anybody with concerns to come forward, but suggested they will not receive similar settlements.

“This is a unique situation … a review of all the other calls that have come in have suggested there has been no other miscommunication,” she said. “It’s always very difficult to tell somebody who believes they are a winner that they haven’t got a winning ticket, but I don’t think the public wants us to pay for non-winning tickets.”

The printing error, which affected between 50 and 150 tickets, has prompted the OLG to recall all unsold tickets.

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Online Casino Offers New Three Kings Promotion – Online Casino News

Europa Casino, Europe’s most popular online casino, is running a special promotion on January 6th in honour of the Three Kings festival, celebrated in Spain.

Los Reyes Magos, as it is known in Spain, takes place on January 6 which is the date the Biblical Magi were said to have visited the newborn Jesus Christ. On January 5th the Spanish hold elaborate processions and children receive more presents on top of their Christmas haul.

The Spanish generosity of this date is apparent with Europa Casino’s new promotion. For every 200 comp points (the loyalty points of Europa Casino) earned, players will win £20. This is up to a maximum of three games and £60 (approx $100USD).

In total Europa Casino offers many games for you to try your luck on including 54 slot machines as well as 13 different video poker games and several blackjack varieties. In addition they have a $2,400 welcome bonus.  

American Idol Preview: Fans And Gamblers Eagerly Await New Season

American Idol has taken on a life of its own in the US. While the show has continued to change since season one, the thing that has virtually stayed the same is the amount of people who watch the show.

This year plans to be no different. If anything, the economy may create an even stronger television base for what already is America’s most watched show. People do not have as much money to go out, so more people in the US are staying at home in the evening.

Fans of past years’ shows are eagerly awaiting the new season which kicks off next Tuesday. Since they have crowned their last champion in David Cook, all that has been on television by the show has been reruns.

“I can’t believe there is less than a week left before Idol starts again. I am counting the days and this year, with a fourth judge, the show will be even better than before,” said Brittney Sheforn, a fan of the show since season two.

The fourth judge that Sheforn was talking about is Kara DioGuardi. She was added to the already popular judges cast of Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell. It is an attempt to keep the show fresh.

Last year, Idol producers allowed musical instruments to be played by contestants. This year, it is the new judge that has been added. The first month of the show will air the auditions.

On February 11th the top thirty six will be revealed. The following week, live voting begins. March 10th is when the competition will really heat up. That is when the top twelve will begin their quest to become the next American Idol.

Online Poker Founder One Of The Biggest Billionaire Blowups – 01-04-09

January 4 – In March 2008 his net worth was $1.6 billion. Nine months later it was $1 billion. We’re talking about Party Gaming founder and billionaire Anurag Dikshit. According the Forbes Magazine he is likely to plunge below the billion dollar mark.

Dikshit is the man who designed the software that powers Party Poker, once the largest online poker site in the world. In 2006, Dikshit left the company and was reported to have sold a big amount of shares. The Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act soon came into effect in the US and Party decided to leave the US market. They lost an estimated 80% of their revenue overnight.

In December 2008, Dikshit recently pleaded guilty in a US court for being in violation of. gaming laws and astonishingly agreed to pay a fine of  $300 million. He may also end up in jail for two years when sentence is handed down in  2010. Dikshit has already paid $100 million.

Dikshit is ranked 3rd among the top billionaire blowups of 2008.

Dikshit’s looks like small fry when compared to the biggest loser in 2008, Anil Ambani, who was the fastest growing millionaire by March 2008, and has since lost $30 billion in the past nine months. He largely has his estranged brother to blame who scuttled a deal with African telecom MTN.

Another interesting blowup has been West Ham football team owner, Bjorgflur Gudmundsson, ranked just below Dikshit. The collapse of the Icelandic economy saw him lose $1.1 billion of his fortune.

Ten million dollar lottery gift from the grave

The weekend reportage of WFSB TV in the United States featured a tragic but at the same time uplifting story of a $10 million lottery gift from the grave.

Back in November a Danbury, Connecticut 59-year-old man bought his wife, Charlotte Peters, a lottery ticket. It was one of the last things he did in this life, expiring the same day after a heart attack.

The ticket won $10 million for his widow, providing for her security, but reminding her of his sense of humour – he had often joked that he would be incensed if, having bought a winning ticket, he died and left a large sum of cash on the table without enjoying any of it.

Charlotte and her husband were lottery fans: “[For] at least 20 years we’d buy in 10 weeks at a stretch,” she recalled this week. “He’d pick his numbers and I’d pick mine. I just like odd numbers, so I’d pick odd numbers.”

With her husband’s death, she said, the tickets were no longer a priority. In fact, she said she’d almost tossed the winning ticket in the trash.

“I was in the grocery store and I had it checked and they told me I was a winner,” Charlotte said. “I had no idea how much it was.”

She said more surprises came when she claimed her winnings last Friday. Originally thinking she’d won $6 million, she was surprised to learn when she showed up to claim her prize that she’d won $10 million.

And what does Charlotte plan to do with her winnings?

“I’ve always wanted a Corvette, but I don’t think I’ll buy one,” Charlotte said. “I’ll stick to a small car. I might go to the Mohegan Sun. I’m going to go home and sit and think.”

Table Mountain Player Strikes Huge Jackpot on New Years Eve

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Johnny and his family were thrilled when they learned Johnny was ringing in the New Year with these Massive Cash winnings. A long time loyal Table Mountain Club Player, Johnny enthusiastically emphasized that Table Mountain Casino is "the only place he would gamble!"

Voted The People’s Choice Best Local Casino, Table Mountain Casino prides itself on consistently providing the best customer service in the friendliest atmosphere. Mayeweski added, "From the time our greeters open the doors to fun and winnings for our guests, our top priority is making sure that we provide the ultimate gaming and entertainment experience for all who come to Table Mountain Casino."

Located just 15 minutes north of Fresno, players are coming from near and far to try their luck at these random Mega Mountain Jackpots. Luck and their Club Card inserted in their favorite slot machine are all it takes for this chance to win big and win fast with Massive Cash and Rapid Bonus. The Mega Mountain Jackpots are available on all of Table Mountain’s 2000 slot machines, from pennies to high limit dollars! Regardless of how many coins are played, these rewards are totally random and can happen at any time on any machine to any Club member playing with their Club Card inserted. It’s no wonder that Table Mountain players agree that this Club Card is the "Card you have to have!" Joining The Club is free. For more information on all the benefits of The Club or Table Mountain Casino, please visit http://www.tmcasino.com.

Could Legalizing Online Gambling Help The US Economy?

Now that the outgoing administration has put their stamp on the Internet gambling issue in the US, the new administration will be asked to not only overturn that decision, but also to regulate the industry.

There are several observers who believe that legalizing online gambling would give a boost to the economy. The ideas of financial analyst Brian Wilkman are centered on the advertising money that could be generated from online casinos.

“Las Vegas casinos already spend millions of dollars on advertising. If they could spend money to have their brand name seen online, they would so immediately,” said Wilkman.

He believes that the advertising that would be done by Las Vegas casinos would be different from the current system where affiliates are trying to get players to sign up with the casinos.

“If a brand such as MGM or Wynn was able to simply have their names seen on other sites with massive traffic, they would not care about the sign ups. It would all be about branding,” stated Wilkman.

Wilkman has been spending most of his days of late working to find the best way for the US to turn around the economy. He claims that in his analysis, online gambling advertising would be among the most profitable for all parties involved.

Currently, small bloggers online have big followings but can not drum up enough advertising dollars to make a full living from their blogs. Wilkman believes that if they could advertise on sites with a lot of traffic, that the casinos would pay big money to be on them.

That money would then be pumped back into the community by the bloggers. With the amount of people that now run blogs, the money that would be generated could start the economic change that many people in the US are looking for.

Las Vegas is struggling, but even insiders know that change is coming. Several casino owners in Sin City that had been against legalizing online gambling are now considering the idea as a strong replacement for some of the business they have lost.

In addition to the bloggers, the big online sites would also command millions of dollars in advertising deals from casinos. Sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo, and Google would become prime targets that could demand big money.

Casino Promotions Developed for the Millions of MySpace Members

SomethingGAMING Partners, LLC, has entered into an exclusive agreement with the social networking giant MySpace to create marketing promotions designed to increase the customer databases and house revenues of their US gaming resort clients.

“It is incredibly exciting to have the enormous membership strength of MySpace behind us as we develop innovative and entertaining methods to attract first-time and perennial gamers to our casino resorts,” said Jake Kahle, Principal, SomethingGAMING Partners. “In addition, MySpace will allow us to provide an additional layer of branding for the resorts, tailored to the sought-after 20s-30s demographic.”

Due to MySpace’s potential for detailed target marketing, SomethingGAMING Partners will be able to create exclusive promotions that pinpoint exact segments of the casino gaming market. For example, for the casinos in Illinois and Colorado, which have seen their attendance numbers decline due to the public smoking bans in those states, a casino promotion has been created that will be advertised to the thousands of MySpace members (age 21 and older) in Illinois, Colorado and their feeder markets, who have identified themselves as “non-smokers” in their MySpace profiles.

“Database marketing is paramount for the casino industry. And for us to literally be able to drive hundreds of thousands of like-minded gamers to our US casino clients, based on their MySpace preferences, will be an unrivaled ‘across-the-reels’ win,” said Kahle.

About MySpace
MySpace is the premier social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos. Their broad-stroke demographics include:

72 million unique monthly users
37.3% reach of US online population
60% of Social Networking Market Share
41.8% reach of all adults aged 18-49

About SomethingGAMING Partners
SomethingGAMING Partners is a Las Vegas-based marketing company specializing in creating marketing partnerships in the gaming, state lottery and hospitality/travel industries. Their client credo is, “Each makes the other better.” Current clients include Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino, JetBlue Airways and Dunkin’ Donuts. The company is also developing an Apple iPhone tourism-based game application, which will be debuted in early 2009.

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