90 Ball Bingo: Where and how it started

Most people nowadays know 90 ball bingo only as an online casino game, but actually has a long and colorful history offline. To start off, 90 ball bingo was not intended for gambling or casino.

This bingo variation originated in the United Kingdom way back in the 16th century. It was introduced then as a state-run lottery game and was more of a community activity event. Then this lottery game spread throughout Europe. By the 18^th century, it had evolved and developed into a bingo type of game.

In those times, the game wasn’t yet called Bingo; although games like lottery, tombola, housey-housey (famous in military camps), and beanie (famous in carnivals) have already come out and were played pretty much like how 90 ball bingo is played today.

Then in 1929, Edwin Lowe, the acknowledged inventor of 75 ball bingo, named the game as bingo. He happened to stop by a carnival wherein people where playing beano and someone (who had the number of his cards completely marked) shouted ‘bingo’ instead of beano. Lowe then went home and, as a happy camper, commercialized the game, sold it as a toy set, and called it bingo.

Later in the century, the game’s popularity rose and moved outside the United Kingdom. It eventually reached the United States and captivated American audiences.

Nowadays, thanks to technology, 90 ball bingo has become more known, and has even captivated players from Asian and Latin American countries. In fact, 90 ball online bingo is now one of the most popular online casino games offered by top casino portals.

Indeed, bingo has come a long way. Yet from the early paper cards to the latest virtual cards, virtual callers, and virtual payouts, the game and its enjoyment factor is still the same. And however it basically still ends with that awesome resounding shout: BINGO!

Are your credit cards still safe?

There were a couple of posts on the web regarding the use of credit cards and other debit cards when making a deposit in online poker rooms. Most of them are warnings on when, where, how to use these cards in utmost safety that they wouldn’t fall in the hands of fraud… or even in the hands of the law.

Gambling online is an enough risk. You are already risking the money that your are betting whether you would gain something from it or you would lost it entirely. The risk of disclosing important personal information to a website that you don’t know who’s running is also a huge risk. You don’t know if confidential information are safe enough that it would not be used for scams and other fraudulent activities that some crooks could think of.

The danger of the use of credit cards is no news and is really one of the main concerns of online gaming and online gambling. These cards can easily be used and manipulated once it get in the wrong hands. Even though the information you give would be something that people could not do anything to go over your account, but people who are wise enough to know how to connect the dots would easily penetrate into that teeny-weeny security that lies between you and the bank.

Basically, your credit cards are safe if they are in the safe hands and if the confidential information is indeed kept confidential, then there is nothing or just less to worry about.

Easy Online Casino Signup through your mobile phone

2009 could be called the Rise of the Smart phones. Undeniably, smart phones have been in anybody’s hand. People walk around the street with that little device in their hand – little device but with big (overly huge) possibilities of doing everything and anything. That’s smart phone for you.

If you’re into online gambling and would love to bring your online casino everywhere you go, with technology these days that’s nowhere near impossible.
Smart phones plus online casinos – an equation made possible by software companies who has been working on smart solutions to enable users to bring their online casino experience with them wherever they go. They do this minus the great risks of privacy and security invasion.

Thanks to Microgaming software, it is now easy to sign up in an online casino through your smart phone with high security. Plus, it’s easy. All you need is to register your phone number or email address and country number, receive an email with your activation code, activate your account, and you’re good to go.

Easy. Simple. Secure. That has been the thing for online casinos nowadays. Maybe in the near future, more and more software companies and online gambling operators would cater into these new technology of online casino gaming.

Celebrate Christmas in Online Casinos

No, no, no. I don’t mean spend your holidays facing the computer and play online poker and the likes. I don’t think your family would like that thought (they might hunt me down if I’ll say so!). What I meant is just probably feeling the spirit of Christmas when you log in to your favorite online casinos.

If people are jumping up and down in decorating their homes, offices, vehicles, and even their gadgets, then why can’t online games software developers and online casino operators have the same Christmassy look and feel in gaming?

Probably by now, an online casino or two is designing their sites to make their constant gamers feel that it is Christmas. Poker tables, online slots, and other online games can be designed as such to give a little scent of Christmas in their scene.

It’s not much on sensationalizing Christmas. It’s more on giving people a tinge of the Christmas season so that win or lose, they would still leave the online casino happy and satisfied.

Online gaming issues: Are we losing culture and ethics?

The virtual world – a little haven for people who are sort-of anti-social, and probably their preferable place to socialize instead of doing such in the real world; and in this kind of world where you communicate to someone quite anonymous with only a pseudonym and/or picture as identity, it is easier to make enemies and more difficult to make friends.

Zooming in, online gaming comprises more slice of the pie in the virtual world. People would love to have a few games at hand, wanting to excel on it compared to millions of people who want to do just the same. And in the virtual gaming world, can we still think of proper attitude, culture, and gaming ethics? First things first, are there such thing?

There may not be any but common sense would tell us that there is. Where are all the manners that our parents teach us while we were kids? In online gaming, they are forgotten.

China aired out on the goal of most online games: killing monsters and even human characters. They see this as something that would influence the physical activities and mental thinking of minors. True enough, most online games (especially RPG) are violent and full of gore. But there is more to violence than what people see on the game. Outside that is something more dangerous.

In an article found through the net entitled Online Gaming’s Dirty Little Secret, it stated:

Fast-forward to the current generation of games, and hearing racial epithets like the "n word" or homophobic slang like the "f word" shouted online is more commonplace than you might want to believe. Meanwhile, women who play in the male-dominated world of online gaming sometimes find themselves the victims of sexually suggestive comments and gender-based taunting.

We rant about these but, who should take action? There are not much regulations with regards to online violence. Some countries have, some countries don’t. Measures should be taken but if it’s online, it is quite inevitable.

Game developers should take the first step with regards to this matter since they’re the ones who are feeding the people with violence. With their games, it is like telling the people that violence is fun. It may not be their main goal in making such games but, have they thought about it when they made such games? Maybe no. Or maybe yes – but maybe they just disregarded ethics over marketability.

Social Media on online poker? Possible.

Online poker software has become plain and too simple. It has stayed that way for quite a long time that most players are used to the boring facade they see while they play. The usual interface, the usual actions - entirely the usual gaming. It stayed long that way because it's what's working for everybody. Players of all ages, novice or veteran, or those who are used to playing online or those who play traditional finds the online poker software working for them. They could play any game and at any table that they want, and they could make use of that old platform, use it as an advantage and earn like there's no tomorrow.

But what if an online poker software company would include social media to online poker? It is highly possible.

A lot of gaming companies are now including social media in their gaming. Some would acquire existing social gaming platforms while some do a little gamble and try something new and place their games on social networking sites. Slowly but surely, it is working for them, and it is working for the gamers. How much more in poker?

Online poker is widely played. With proper control over the money at stake and with enticing game bonuses, this online game has been known worldwide and even invading reality television. It's popularity is undeniable. And so does social networking. With these two combined, it would be a winning platform already.

Imagine players getting so excited to play and would really try their best so that they can brag themselves on Facebook! Or probably players can invite other players to join in their table, or even encourage them to get into online poker. It's hitting two birds with one stone.

So probably in the coming days, we would expect that kind of online poker platform to come to surface.

How can online gaming rise from the fall

The sudden recession and emergence of the global economic crisis has brought different industries into a decline of sales and revenues. A lot of companies have suffered losses, and left them to the choice of manpower-cutting increasing the unemployment rate.

Rising from the sudden fall is a big challenge for every affected company and one industry that has been greatly affected is online gaming. Sales have been low on software and consoles, not all patrons of their products still have the purchasing power and demands are getting low. What marketing strategy should they do? Should they decrease price and production and increase promotion? Would there be a win-win solution?

For online gaming, it has been and would be a great struggle to keep players on playing and purchasing their products. One thing that they could do is make a better version, improving the development of online games that they make. Once players would see a great improvement that they could take advantage of from the game, they would surely purchase the product to enjoy online gaming further.

Or they could take the risk of making new games from fresh ideas and the likes. They could probably take the advices or requests from avid gamers who purchase and use their products in a maximum level. From this, they could make a little transition of releasing a new game for a cheaper price before they sell the usual top-selling online games on its usual price.

Another challenge on the online gaming industry is how to lessen the cases of piracy. Piracy has brought a great impact in the loss of sales of these online games developers. Since people have lesser purchasing power, they would prefer cheaper software although it is pirated. Once piracy would lessen, online gaming companies can bounce back from the recession.There are many possible ways to rise online gaming from the economic fall. It would all depend on implementation and promotion, and who is willing to take the risk for change.

On Ireland’s Online Gambling Industry

With the rise of online gambling, probably every corner of the world has been venturing in the said industry, and many more are making their moves to legalize online gambling in their respective places. As much as the government would push the disadvantages of online gambling – like gambling addiction and probable frauds – it is still undeniable that this said industry could possibly bring great revenues to a country. That has been the hold of online gamblers in what seems to be a very long debate on online gambling’s legalization.

However, in Ireland, their country’s online gambling industry is way far behind and probably, you could say, is living in the past. Their gambling industry remains regulated by the Betting Act of 1931, “an act to make provision for the better regulation and control of persons engaged in the business of bookmaking, and for that and other purposes to amend the law relating to betting and betting-houses”; and the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956, “an act to amend the law relating to gaming and lotteries”. These laws barred Ireland to make online gambling possible within Ireland, making it quite a waste for Ireland’s big contribution in the online gambling industry.

According to the co-director of Gaming and Leisure Association, David Hickson, Ireland has “a great opportunity to expand into the online casino sector”. This means that Ireland is a potential country to operate online casinos but are just really prohibited to be so because of their online gambling laws.

If only Ireland would make a move, like the US, to legalize online gambling in their country, they could possibly provide approximately 5,000 new jobs and can give their employees a worthy salary for them to enjoy. Also, this could be a good avenue, like other countries, for Ireland to get good revenues by placing the right percentage of tax on the possible online casinos that they could produce.

And if Ireland would make a move, they should move now or they might lose a big opportunity in online gambling now that every country is starting to, also, make a move about it.

Online Poker once again hits the TV screens

It’s one reality show after the other for online poker. After the launching of G4’s “2 Months, $2 Millions”, another poker reality TV show is set to hit the airwaves soon.

Rounders House is a new reality TV show that, like the rest of online poker reality shows, will feature poker players playing poker inside a house surrounded by camera 24/7. The concept is more of online poker playing and Big Brother in one. The show is set to be filmed in Las Vegas this autumn.

Rounders House contestants should compete and win in various online poker tournaments to qualify for the show. What’s at stake is a 4-days stay in Vegas – airfare, food, and lodging provided, play poker and receive instructions from the pool of poker pros, live tournaments, and of course, money and fame.

Every day, the qualified contestants will be faced with challenges, play poker, and win some cash for themselves and (here’s the twist!) for their chosen charity.

Online poker doing publicity to hopefully gain attention is probably one of their ways to promote online poker for officials to consider the game as “acceptable”. This might be the most credible evidence they could hand on the table to prove that there is nothing illegal with online poker gambling.However, the contestants being set to play in the show should also show the earnestness towards this goal and be responsible in the kind of gaming that they would put up in playing online poker in the show – and they should try to see what the show’s goal is. They should know that this show is for not just for the money, but also for the future of online poker in United States – even if they’ll just play pretend, it would be the least that they could do.

Online gaming laws in Italy changes

Being a worldwide concern, a big change in Italy’s online gaming laws would seem like a big leap to people’s plea on legalizing online poker.

Brought about by recent events, Italy’s online gaming regulator Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) would be allowing operators to offer poker cash games, casino games and new forms of betting by the end of the year. Due to the earthquake that happened last April, and the failure of Italy’s ISP blocking system, the future legal changes of the country’s egaming is closely possible to fully legalizing online gambling in the country which most of the involved parties are delighted about.

According to Carlo Gualandri, chief executive of Italian poker site Gioco Digitale, in his Right to Reply written last month that this move of Italy’s online gaming regulator has come to no surprise. What they’re more concerned about is to how and when this implementation and legalization would happen. All that they need to do is “to provide a complete portfolio of online products defined in a legal and regulated form”.

These legal regulations on online gaming set by Italy would soon be copied and followed by France, but having this situation however, would not really assure an effective egaming regulation in different parts of the European market.

This issue on legalizing online gaming and gambling isn’t just an issue in Italy or in the United States, and it is not merely an issue of the government holding tight on their present laws or the people pushing their plight to change it. This is more of freedom, what people would want and knowing that there are limitations in what they are asking for. As of now, people could just settle on this stage of pushing and fighting the tug-of-war of online gaming legalization.