Casino News

Perhaps you have forgotten the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that occurred last year when Paypal, one of the biggest and best-known online payment processors, reversed its policy on online gambling and ceased to accept transactions from internet casinos.

The company’s decision shocked players and service providers alike but, considering the volatility and uncertainty surrounding the industry at that time, it was perhaps understandable that Paypal chose to remove itself from any possible firing line.

News broke on Saturday last that the payment facilitator has, once more, reversed its policy towards internet punters. A statement from the company revealed that it intends to reinstate its support for online gambling sites and that it will re-introduce its services on a phased basis, tackling one online venue at a time.

The first operation to have re-opened its Paypal facility was the popular UK site, Ladbrokes and it did so on the very day of the announcement. It appears that their lead was noted by another highly-respected venue, 32Red who have also added Paypal to their list of secure online transaction services. It is interesting that these two early adopters were also the two online casinos that received some of the highest accolades at the recent industry awards ceremony.

Considering the reputations of these two, their expression of continued confidence in Paypal seems certain to open the floodgates for other online casinos to follow suit and, likewise, see the company reclaiming its former position of prominence as the most popular and trusted provider of online transaction processing to the internet gaming industry.

A number of competitors have attempted to emulate the Paypal operation but none has really succeeded in equalling their performance. Simplicity, security and reliability have always been the three main pillars of the Paypal business, making it the first choice for most online merchants,z` shoppers and players alike.

What prompted the about-face by the online payment giant? It seems likely that the growing trend towards legalization and regulation of online casinos and poker rooms in Europe and, more recently, in Canada is just the thin end of the wedge and that many more nations, cash-strapped from the recent global recession, are starting to see the potential for financial salvation that lies in the revenues that governments can expect from a licensed industry with a customer base of millions.

Italy was first to adopt the new open-minded view of internet gambling and has achieved dramatic results in record time, while France and Canada have followed hot on its heels. It certainly looks as if Paypal’s strategic re-entry into the market was every bit as well-timed as its strategic withdrawal.

It seems to have been quite some time since we last heard any news of a big online jackpot win, which seems to imply that there simply has to be a whole torrent of them just around the corner. Whether that is actually the case or not, it seems possible that the first trickle of that torrent may have been seen earlier this week at the Royal Vegas Online Casino.

The ever-popular progressive 5-reel video slot game, “Cash Splash” lived up to its name and showered one very fortunate French player with Euros. The beneficiary of this bonanza bonus prefers to remain anonymous and can be identified only as Joelle C. The lucky lady walked away with a very substantial 30 801 Euros for her efforts.

It seems the week has been very generous to the regulars at Royal Vegas and Joelle was not the only punter to score big in the recent flurry of slots payouts. Just five players between them managed to capture a further $130 000 to gain their places on the site’s “wall of winners”. Of the five, the biggest return went to a second French player, Jean-Pierre M, who found fortune playing the “Arctic Fortune Bonus Slot” in each of two consecutive days on the site. His total haul for the 48-hours in question was an extremely healthy $40 000.

The  Royal Vegas Online Casino is a member of the prestigious Fortune Lounge Group. The group’s policy of introducing brand new games each month has created many new winning opportunities at all of its member casinos for its highly delighted customer base.

The month of July alone has already seen the launch of three highly successful new video slot games in the form of the popular golfing spectacular “Argyle Open”, an exciting offering with a mysterious far eastern theme, “Dragon Lady” and a further release in the African safari genre with a light-hearted theme, “Lion’s Pride”. The older favourites such as “Ladies Night”, “Avalon” and “Soccer Safari” continue to attract players in substantial numbers, both among the established and newer members, and they continue to produce winners.

Royal Vegas Casino offers both a software download and instant play version of its games lobby and, right now, newcomers to their site can look forward to a very generous signup bonus of up to 1 200 Euros that is paid out in six steps. As a member of the Fortune Lounge Group, all bonuses extended on the group’s other sites are automatically available to players at  Royal Vegas.

It could be just the place and just the time to make a splash and earn some cash of your own.

After years of living in an online gambling desert, the Canadian province of British Columbia launched its first government-sanctioned online casino earlier this week. It is well known as the normal practice, especially among startup operations, for internet gaming sites to extend generous bonuses to their newly registered players. However, the level of the generosity extended to players at PlayNow.com surprised not only the punters but the operators as well!

In the first few hours of operation, players at the newly launched casino enjoyed free play, not as a result of bonuses from the operators but, thanks to an inexplicable software glitch, as a result of gaining access to the cash in some of the other player’s accounts!

It is not at all clear how this unfortunate incident could have occurred and, at this stage, it appears that it’s not yet certain how many punters may have benefitted from this unplanned windfall and, conversely, how many may have lost by it.

To give them their due, the British Columbia Lottery Commission (BCLC) stepped in promptly and suspended operations as soon as they became aware of the problem and the site remains closed while the software developers attempt to determine exactly what went wrong and rectify it. Although, at first, they believed that an overload of gamblers may have caused the anomaly, it has since been attributed to “data crossover” during which players login credentials directed them to the wrong accounts. The glitch meant that some players were able to view the sensitive personal and financial details of others as well as utilizing the cash in their online accounts.

Despite the potentially serious repercussions of this somewhat unique technical problem, it seems that only around $8 000 was involved and that the said amount was quickly re-distributed. Nevertheless, the incident seems bound to have an adverse effect on the confidence of Canada’s gamblers as well as, perhaps, re-mobilising some of those who rigorously opposed the legalization of online gaming.

As the only legal online gambling operation on the continent of North America, there is a lot at stake and the success or failure of this first internet casino could determine the future of an entire new industry, at least, in Canada.

In the meantime, and amidst rumours of possible 6-figure fines to be levied by the Federal Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) for improper reporting, the BCLC has made clear its intention to re-open the site but has also given firm assurances that it will not do so until thoroughly convinced that this type of security breach could never recur in the future.

A recent announcement by South Africa’s biggest online gambling portal, GamblingSA, has revealed that a local lady has recently gained the distinction of becoming one of the country’s biggest online casino winners to date.

The punter in question is known only as E.M and was evidently in the mood for some online slots action when she chose to pop into one of the several SA-Friendly internet casinos for a flutter or two.  After making her initial deposit of R3 500 at the Play United Casino she went on to try her luck at some of the venue’s favoured slots games.

Her choice of games, ‘Alien Hunter’, ‘Lotto Madness’ and ‘Thrill Seekers’ proved to be not only highly entertaining but also exceptionally lucrative and she recorded substantial wins on all three of them. When the time came to tally up her spoils Ms E.M. had accumulated a massive R 527 000 tax free.

Her incredible run of luck makes her one of a very small group of South Africans to achieve a half a million Rand or more in online winnings and, perhaps, her success should serve as a prompt to the department of trade and industry to get its act together so that local coffers can start benefitting from legal and regulated online gambling rather than allowing the profits to be lost offshore.

Play United Casino operates on the Playtech platform and offers a wide selection of online gaming entertainments from its games lobby. It is one of a number of internet casinos that can be accessed via the GamblingSA portal that includes Ruby Royal, City Club, Las Vegas Red and Jackpot Cash.

The lucky winner plans to spend some of her windfall on a return visit to the French capital of Paris that she last saw ten years ago and will also be assisting some of the people close to her who, it seems, may not have fared quite as well financially as she has.

E.M occupies her working hours operating as a self-employed business consultant and says that she is only a very occasional gambler. She was evidently in the company of a close friend and client at the time when she elected to log on to the internet and give lady luck a whirl. It seems that her move was not too bad as business decisions go, even if she did have any financial forecasts to guide her.

For those who are looking for the next big jackpot that’s way overdue, why not try your luck playing “Jackpot Darts” at the William Hill Online Casino. It’s currently bursting at the seams with a jackpot of over £257K. That’s more than R3.0 million at today’s exchange rate!