The past day, the research and development team for Loto-Québec, Ingenio, announced a partnership with IntuiCode Gaming Corporation (IGC) of Florida to pursue the development and marketing of new casino products.

Also, both will engage in the creation and development of non-exclusive and new multi-player casino games.

With this partnership, IGC will take charge and distribute on a worldwide scale any new multi-player platform games developed and created by Ingenio.

“The combination of Ingenio’s creative expertise with all the flexibility offered by the open architecture of IGC’s platform will generate original games for the casino industry” explains Nathalie Rajotte, Director General of Ingenio.

Jeremy Stein, Chief Executive Officer of IGC adds: “Leveraging one another’s expertise will enable us to provide feature rich and engaging content; bringing new, profit yielding games to the market quickly.” IGC has over 30 years experience in the the casino technology industry.

We can expect the first multi-player casino game to come from that partnership to be released the first quarter on 2010.

Ingenio was created in 1998 and it focuses on the development of new gaming products, besides delivery channels for both the local, and international markets.

In the part years, Ingenio released several multimedia games used by Loto-Quebec. They are found in the gaming sector of lotteries, casinos, bingo operations and video terminals.

In the lottery area, Ingenio is known for developing multimedia instant lotteries of different durations. It did develop too Game Depot: it is a software architecture solution for multimedia lotteries hosting. Ingenio created many multi-platform lottery games, including random and probability lottery games.

In the casino area, Ingenio is known to create new contents for slot machines with interactive bonus modes. Examples done are: Hatch for the Cash, Groovy Machine, Dog Show, Cash Meteor and many more.

Ingenio is also active in the bingo industry. Working together with the Société des bingos du Québec (SBQ), Ingenio developed an original on line promotional game that was met with tremendous success in 2006. It was known as « Le Tour 2e Chance ». The game enables bingo hall players in possession of non-winning bingo card to participate free of charge in a second bingo draw for a change to win some promotional prizes on the SBQ’s web site.

Also, upon request from the Fondation Mise sur Toi, an organization affiliated with Loto-Québec and dedicated to the prevention of excessive gaming, Ingenio contributed to the development of an innovative sensitization tool.

Developed in collaboration with specialists, the 8/8 The Winning Combination questionnaire is made up of eight self-evaluation questions designed to help players maintain and adopt healthy gaming habits This multi-platform questionnaire is using Flash technology and is offered on the Internet and via consoles located in public areas of various casinos.

Posted by George in Casino News, New Games | No Comments » December 14th, 2009

This coming weekend, the Hillcrest Sports Center will host some of the top women’s curling teams in Saskatchewan for the Casino Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Women’s Curling Tour Cash Bonspiel.

Fourteen teams will play against each others for a total of CAD8,500$. The event will start Friday evening. The tournament will go on all the day on Saturday and the final will be at 3pm on Sunday.

The tournament favorite will be six-time former provincial champion Michell Englot of Regina besides Cindy Simmons. Former provincial senior champion and long time Moose Jaw curler Roberta Fonger will take to the ice with Regina’s Linda Kloschinsky.

The Casino Moose Jaw is located in the heart of Moose Jaw’s downtown, Saskatchewan. It has over 200 slot machines and many table games. All of them are surrounded by 20 very nice murals inspired by the art-deco look of the Roaring Twenties. Each mural is depicting a moment in Moose Jaw’s past.

The slot machines include traditional spinning reels, video keno and poker to sophisticated multi-line games. Players can choose to play from 1¢, 2¢, 5¢, 25¢ and $1 denominations as well as multi-denomination machines. In July 2008, Casino Moose Jaw paid out nearly $878,000 in slot jackpots.

Players will also find lots of game tables. Including blackjack, double zero roulette and three card poker.

The casino has for entertainment the The Mae Wilson Theater.

The upcoming promotion at the casino is starting November 30th. It is called Yuletide Treasures. Players have to swipe their Players Club Card every day at the Casino Guest Services Desk to be entered to win one of four amazing weekly gifts. It includes: an exotic cruise for two, an ultimate entertainment package, a home improvement package or even $10,000 cash.

Tourism packages for the casino are available and starts for as low as $99. It might include being able to relax at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa (mineral thermal pools). Or visiting the Tunnels of Moose Jaw (historic live action tour). Or receiving a voucher for the casino.

Every bus tour going for the casino offers bus tours discounts, offers and mystery prizes, including:

* a “Pay and Play Double” coupon per day – purchase $15, $20 or $25 in slot or table play and receive an equal amount in free slot or table play;
* a $5 food and beverage coupon per day; and
* a buy one, get one free coupon for a Casino Moose Jaw-presented performance at the Mae Wilson Theater

There are bus operators leaving from all over Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. Cities like Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Winnipeg, Portage La Prairie have all operators going for the casino.

The casino is open 7 days a week. Sunday to Thursday from 9 am to 2 am and Friday to Saturday from 9 am to 3 am.

Posted by George in Bonuses and Promotions, Casino News, Poker | No Comments » November 28th, 2009

Sometimes ago, we all heard about the UltimateBet Scandal. Finally, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) issued an 11-page report documenting the findings of their extensive investigation into the cheating that took place on the on line poker room UltimateBet.

The report found out what many people already believed to be true and also offered some new information about how many people and screen names were involved in the scandal and how much money was stolen from UltimateBet customers.

UltimateBet has been around since 1999. Recently they merged with Absolute Poker to form the Cereus Network. All new graphics, bigger tournaments, better cash game table selection, and improved security has players coming back to UltimateBet to check out this overhauled poker room.

Their famous 111% deposit bonus is still part of their room.

So what happened with the scandal ?

Mostly, many people found out through the end of 2007 and the first part of 2008, players had noticed certain user names winning improbable hands to the point of several statistical deviations. The cheating ran from June 2003 until December 2007 and involved 3 accounts and 117 different user names used both for playing poker with illicit hole card information and transferring money.

Keeping track of hands that seemed suspicious eventually led to the exposure of a software glitch that allowed certain players the ability to see all cards dealt at a table.

The owner of the Ultimate Bet site, Tokowiro Enterprises, was fined $1.5 million, as well as forced to pay restitution of over $22 million to players whose poker outcomes were determined to be involved in compromised hands.

The report pointed out the individual who ultimately bears responsibility for that cheating is 1994 WSOP Main Event winner Russ Hamilton. The available evidence shows that Russell Hamilton, an individual previously associated with the eWorid Holdings Group, was primarily responsible for and benefited from the multiple cheating incidences. The vast majority of the computer devices and IP addresses used by the cheating accounts were directly associated with Russell Hamilton. The vast majority of the cheating accounts transferred money through Russell Hamiltons player accounts.

They, Tokwiro Enterprises, has reportedly refunded the $22 million cheated from players, and Paul Leggett, the Chief Operating Officer, stated, ‘A lot of our players have been patiently awaiting the release of the full list of user names involved in the cheating incidences, and we can now answer any of their outstanding inquiries related to their refunds’.

A lot of the frustration amongst others players is directed at Kahnawake’s refusal to submit the other 31 names involved in the scandal, and why if Russ Hamilton can be named and shamed, the others can’t.

Although not publicly disclosed, the KGC says it has provided extensive information to law enforcement authorities, including the names of those 31 individuals who were associated, to varying degrees, with Russell Hamilton, the cheating accounts and/or transactions related to the cheating accounts.

Posted by George in Casino News | No Comments » October 9th, 2009

Since a while, many operators have been targeting specific people and offering them rides (bus tours) to some local casino.

The concept is not new of course. Be it for gambling or simply going to some local attraction, lots of bus operators are being hired to promote such tours.

For senior people, finding a ride to play to some casino is not always easy. So the idea kicked in to offer them discounted tour.

Example: some tours are offered going from Ontario to the Casino du Lac-Rhemy.

This casino is located near Ottawa but on the Quebec side. It includes poker, keno, slot machines, game tables, It is deserved by at least five restaurants and three bars.

Daily and entertaining shows and events are part of the complex. There is a Hilton hotel for nearby accomodation.

So seniors people can get a round-trip with up to 5 hours of gambling for only 15 Canadian dollars.

Once at the casino, the usual steps are taken: people are greeted by Casino staff and theirs player’s cards are swipped. Such cards are tracking the spending of players.

Such trips are very common throughout all Canada and one can count 100 of them daily. They are on their peak when casinos are going slower.

The Quebec government pays some of the highest bus subsidies of any province : more than $3.2-million over the past two fiscal years to transport patrons to its casinos.

Although such bus tours were long thought to be benign ( retirement homes routinely shuttle residents to casinos or others attractions as part of their entertainment ) researchers now question whether these trips potentially set seniors up for future gambling problems.

Another example is the one for the Casino of Charlevoix (very nice casino located remotely from the city). At first, tours were at 200 trips a year and now one can count over 3400 trips a year.

Casinos are using player’s card to offer better tours, accomodations and similar stuffs to some groups. A group spending more money than another will be offered more consideration in order for that group to come back.

Others trips, from Ontario, are going to the Montreal casino. The trip costs only 40 Canadian dollars (round-trip) including a 10 dollars meal voucher and a 10 dollars coupon for the slots.

Most people agree that seniors going to Casinos are doing it out of boredom. People at the casinos are kind, greeting the seniors and taking care of them…. the whole time they are playing at the resort.

At the end of the day, few will come back with some earnings though some will board another ride some days later. Those buses being usually full at the end of the month when the social security cheque arrives.

Posted by George in Casino News | No Comments » October 9th, 2009

We all know that gambling means lots of money for the government. While for problems gamblers, it means losing, health and work and family problems.

In its defense against a gambler, who recently sued the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation after losing almost $500,000 Canadian dollars, the corporation holds that casino gambling is a form of entertainment and that patrons pay for casino “entertainment” through wagering “just as theater patrons pay for a ticket to a play or sports fans pay for a ticket to a game.”

A research from Statistics Canada shows that net revenue from Canadian government-run lotteries, video lottery terminals, casinos and slot machines (not in casinos) rose steadily from $2.73 billion in 1992, to $13.67 billion in 2008.

It means the average gambling revenue per person 18 years old and over in 2008, were from $114 in the three territories to $825 in Saskatchewan, with a Canadian average of $528.20.

Ontario Lottery and the Gaming Corp. stats show that the revenue generated from legalized gambling in Ontario alone was $6.4 billion in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, compared to $6.2 billion during for 2007-2008.

Big gamblers are losing more than $1-million a year apiece and others are dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars at some Canadian casinos, according to documents that reveal for the first time the magnitude of gamblers’ betting habits.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation show the top gamblers in British Columbia and Ontario are losing as much as $1.8-million and $701,000, respectively, while many others are blowing sums in the low six figures. Loto-Québec refused to provide similar data, saying it constitutes commercial information that is competitively sensitive, and that even unnamed players could possibly be identified.

Research has established that about one-third of government gambling revenue comes from problem gamblers. Data found on player’s cards is not used to help potential problem gamblers, but often to reward them – and to keep them coming back for more. Player’s cards resemble hotel keys and are inserted into slot machines or handed over to dealers by the gamblers themselves to collect various rewards (like free hotel rooms, dinner, merchandise, cash back and so on).

Here are some points to consider whether you have gambling problems or not:

* Constantly thinking or talking about gambling.
* Spending more time or money on gambling than you can afford.
* Finding it difficult to control, stop, or even cut down gambling.
* Gambling more in order to win back losses or getting out of financial trouble.
* Thinking that your gambling will get under control as soon you have a “big” win.
* Borrowing money, selling things, or committing criminal acts in order to get money for gambling.
* Gambling until all of your money is gone.
* Gambling to escape personal problems or to relieve feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, or other negative emotions.
* Having arguments with friends or family about money and gambling.
* Gambling instead of attend family or other social functions.
* Neglecting work or school because of gambling.

Posted by George in Casino Tips & Strategies, Poker | No Comments » October 5th, 2009