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Yet Another Reason to Play Online Casinos in Spain

January 7th, 2011

If you’re a smoker and enjoy playing casino games, you know that it’s rather uncomfortable when you enter a land-based casino and smoking is prohibited. Folks in Spain are about to experience this first hand. Casino lovers in Spain will now have to visit the sidewalk whenever they feel like smoking, even if its right in the middle of a hand of poker or a game at a craps table. Of course, players can always opt to play their favorite game at an online casino, whether it’s a free slot machine or a game of blackjack.

On January 3rd, 2011 the Spanish government passed a new anti-smoking law that aims to make smoking illegal in non-residential buildings including restaurants, bars, workplaces, casinos and more. The new law even bans smoking in some outdoor locations, such as locations in close proximity to playgrounds, schools or hospitals. In 2006, Spain was successful in passing a law that banned smoking in the workplace. However, this law excluded owners of bars and restaurants and left it to their personal opinion on banning smoking or not from their establishments. The vast majority of owners chose to allow smoking and the Spanish government considered this to be a problem. Seeing that smoking is frowned upon a great deal of law makers and high-brow people in this country, the law will now try to ban this activity for good

Land-based casinos are the next to be affected by this ban. The government seeks to protect people from something that it’s not only a personal choice, but a right. However, the Spanish government has blamed all of those smoking-related deaths as the main reason for passing the strict anti-smoking law. Soon there after, alcohol and fatty food could be banned as well and then casino games lovers would really have no other choice than to stay home and play their free slot games from their very own couch.

North Carolina to Legalize Online Gaming

December 27th, 2010

The year 2010 has been a big one for online gaming everywhere. It feels as though every day a new fantastic slot game was released. The possibilities for online casino players to try out games for free increased with the many new and competitive online casinos that were created. However, most importantly, it seems as though the discussion on the legalization of online gaming was stronger and louder than ever before. Many politicians and different media sources have talked about this in different outlets and have stressed the many benefits of legalized online gambling and the potential revenue a country can receive from the gambling tax.

In the United States, the last state to consider the legalization of the online casino industry is North Carolina. This has been great news for a state that has deeply suffered with the recession and that has turned to the possibility of legalizing and regulating internet casino gambling. According to the state’s Governor Bev Perdue, “If you’re going to have it, it has to be controlled. It has to be, I believe, regulated. There has to be a revenue stream that we can look at, there has to be guarantees that people who are risking their money are at least having an opportunity of reward, just like a lottery.” She was strong in her choice of words and wanted to make clear that her personal thoughts are not against gambling as she took the decisive vote that created the state lottery in North Carolina. Governor Perdue is still weighing her options as to what is the next step for North Carolina regarding online casinos.

Perdue recently stated that she is not fond with video poker parlors, but has however considered the possibility of making these legal. Other legislators in the state have tried to ban the game unsuccessfully for many years now and with the budget as it is in present times, she believes that it’s not smart to exclude a potential source of income. With these news about North Carolina, California and New Jersey are no longer the only states to consider the legalization of online casino gambling.

Online Casinos Legislation in Denmark Suffers Delay

December 10th, 2010

In the first quarter of 2010 Denmark submitted its draft online gambling law to the European Commission (EC). This executive body was supposed to clear the proposal as late as October and issue the respective online casino licenses by the end of the year. The full regulated regime was to go into effect the first day of the 2011 year and therefore online casino players who enjoy free slot games and others could start the new year playing their favorite games.

However, things didn’t go quite this way and the schedule is once again delayed due to several complaints regarding proposed tax rates. These complaints were filed with the European Commission by the Danish slot machine association and land-based casinos. Now, online casino and gambling operators who had everything ready to enter Denmark’s market in 2011 have no idea what and when things will start moving again. What they have heard from the Danish government is very little and suggests that they would try to enact the regime and make it effective before next summer.

The major problem seems to be that the proposed tax rate for online gambling operators including casinos and sportsbooks, has been announced as a 20% on gross win; on the other hand, land based gambling operators pay 41%, which is clearly more than double. Brick and mortar casinos have stated that this difference in figures is unfair competition which will be a tough job for the EC to resolve. Even when the European Union Member States have the discretion to decide taxes and tax rates within their countries, these specific tax rates point towards preferential treatment is given to one segment of the industry then the “State aid” comes into the picture, which is illegal if implemented without the Commission’s prior approval. As of now, the Danish government will not move forward with the implementation of the new online gambling regulatory mechanism until the EC has made it clear whether or not the online gambling tax rate is a form of State aid.

Free Oktoberfest Themed Online Slot

November 12th, 2010

Don’t you just love it when a new free online slot comes along? I’m always looking for the release of a new slot game as I love to experience fresh games and basically test them out. Not all slot games out there are worthy of your time, but the ones that Rival Gaming puts out are certainly some of my favorite to try out. These Rival slots are pretty unique with cartoon-style graphics, awesome sound effects and cool animations. One their newest creations is called “Roll Out the Barrels”; a 5-reel and 20 payline game Oktoberfest-video slot armed with all the fun features like free spins, an expanding wild symbol and an interactive bonus round.

Even with the real Oktoberfest in Munich already come and gone, Roll Out the Barrels aims to transport the player to that very special festival with a bunch of evoking symbols, background sounds and graphic animations. Of course all of these are top quality so you end up feeling in a good party vibe during your stay in the game. The five reels are packed with Oktoberfest icons such as sausages, lovely looking barmaids, barrels and big jars of beer, accordions and much more. The expanding wild feature is activated by landing 3 or more barrel symbols and once its active a vivid animation of the reel being filled up like a glass of fresh beer.

The interactive bonus round is called “Barmaid Bonus Round” and really lets the player become part of the game. This round will take place when you get three or more of the Barmaid icons on the reels. In this particular bonus round, players have to serve the party-goers fresh jars of beer. In order to do so, you must pick from four different kegs. The keg you choose will ultimately determine your winnings.

Youth in America Loving Online Casino Games

October 29th, 2010

If a person wants to play free slot games online he or she has to be 18 or 21 years old depending on the location. There’s no way around it for minors. Some minors do like to play these games for free and that represents no problem since it can be done via the free play offered by most online casino site. However, the situation gets complicated when underage folks try to open an account and deposit real money using a credit card; most of the times they will try to use false personal information or phony card details.

When trying to deposit with a credit card, or another method in which the card is involved, such as electronic wallets, the details will be automatically checked with the bank. Banks in the United States are forbidden to process online casino transactions if these are not 100% legit. The situation will extend as far as claiming payouts as the casino will ask for extensive proof of identity before any payments can be awarded. All of this represents a problem for the growing community of online casino slot players that do not fall under the right age category in the country.

This newer generation is more and more familiarized with the online world and it may come as a surprise for many that not every teenager is solely about socializing, online communities and silly videos, but also into online gambling in the United States. According to a research done by the National Annenberg Survey of Youth, 16 percent of college-aged (18 to 22 years old) males used online gambling sites in the year 2009. On the other hand, in 2008 only 4.4 percent of college males – 12 percent less — used online casinos or other internet betting services. As for high school aged (14 to 17 years old) males, there was also an increment of online casino visits from 2.7 percent to 6.2 percent.