December 14th, 2009
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.
October 9th, 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.
September 7th, 2009
Bodog is finally opening a Canadian website (www.bodog.ca) for their Canadian, and others, customers. The Bodog brand is one of the leading brands for US players and soon to be Canadians featuring an online casino, poker room, sportsbook and race book.
Founded in 1994, Bodog has its head office, and is licensed in, the Caribbean nation of Antigua.
For Canadians, they will need to go to Bodog Canada (visit Bodog.ca) to open an account. The Bodog.com main website will not accept Canadian-based players. The payment methods available for Bodog Canadian players will include credit cards and UsemyBank (www.usemybank.com). Both of which are extremely easy to use. The minimum deposit for Canadian Bodog players is set at $20 Canadian.
The Bodog Poker room uses proprietary software created exclusively for Bodog Poker and is known for their incredibly sick overlays while the casino is powered by Real Time Gaming and features 80 different slot machines along with side games.
One of the most recognized entertainment brands on Earth, a host of world-class entertainment services operate and have operated worldwide under the Bodog banner, including online gaming, which continues to grow at an impressive rate; an international record label; a publishing enterprise (with an online magazine, Bodog Nation, and blog, Bodog Beat); and an international television production company (Bodog TV), which has produced reality television series such as Bodog Fight and Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker.
Bodog offers its players a simple, feature-rich sports betting product, offering a vast selection of sports betting opportunities across all major leagues, tournaments and events around the world.
Bodog’s exciting and fast-growing multi-player online poker community features Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo and 5-Card Stud.
Bodog has several branches covering the international market, the European one, the Chinese one besides the Canadian one with Bodog.ca .
Bodog does not offer online gaming services within the United States of America. Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG), located in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and led by Olympic gold medalist and First Nations leader Alwyn Morris, is the exclusive licensee of the Bodog brand for online gaming services in that jurisdiction.
BodogBrand.com, created in 2005, is an entirely new model of venture partner: one that takes the vast, contained energy of a globally-recognized brand from one sector, couples it with deep branding expertise and financial depth, and unleashes it to propel new ventures to prominence in complementary industries. A model that respects the entrepreneur and understands that “ventures synergies” is not some marketing buzzword, but has the potential to be the foundation of an entirely new way of doing business.
BodogBrand.com holds the global rights to license the Bodog brand across all sectors and its mandate is to partner with carefully-selected licensees to license the brand to accelerate partner growth, while extending the BodogBrand.com into new and vibrant markets.
So fellow Canadian players, be sure to check the Bodog.ca website !
July 16th, 2008
June Cotte, a marketing associate professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario has called for the legalization of online gambling to allow for better regulation and to potentially reduce harmful effects.
“One potential solution is to allow legitimate corporate sponsors, like the corporations that run the major casinos in Las Vegas or the government sponsors in Canada, to enter into a newly regulated market for online gambling,” opined the academician. “Just as legalised commercial gambling in casinos allows governments to regulate it, so, too, could the legalisation of online gambling
allow for better regulation and attempts to reduce the growth of problem gamblers.”
CNW reports that Cotte and colleague Kathryn A. Latour from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, carried out a study, “Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling,” which is to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research in the winter of 2009.
The duo interviewed 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers using pictures as stimuli to learn what gambling feels like and how it is perceived. Results show online gamblers gamble more frequently and aggressively, and the indications are that this is because [land] casino gambling, which requires travel to an outside location, is more difficult to hide.
In contrast, access to online gambling is easily integrated into daily home routines, meaning more time can be spent on gambling. Online gambling lacks social interaction so participants are involved for the game, rather than other aspects, which may appeal to gamblers’ competitive streak.
“The unregulated online environment results in a more chaotic environment with no clear social norms and rules,” said Cotte. “The meaning of gambling changes, moving from a shared conviviality available in the casino to a no-holds-barred battle online. It brings out the gamblers’ more competitive side.”
Cotte observes that although online gambling is illegal or in a legal grey area in Canada and the U.S., except when initiated by Canada’s provincial lottery corporations, it is still easily accessible through Internet companies located offshore. According
to the study, more than $10 billion annually is spent worldwide by consumers on online gambling.
In contrast, casino gambling, which is now legal in all but two U.S. states, is highly regulated and scrutinised. Cotte and Latour suggest that legalizing and regulating online gambling, similar to the way casino gambling is regulated, may help reduce the incidences of problem gambling.
The academicians suggest that the following elements could be tied into online gambling regulations:
* Better use of age checks when signing up for an online account;
* Cross-checking new users with lists of pathological gamblers;
* Setting financial limits on gambling and having the site communicate to gamblers spending long hours and excessive money;
* Making information available about problem gambling treatments via pop-ups on instant messages;
* Having an online gambling counselor available online;
* Mandatory “cooling-off periods,” which force online gamblers to stop gambling for a pre-set amount of time before they are allowed to wager money from their accounts;
* Making tabulations of wins and losses more central and larger on the computer screen to increase the players’ awareness of where they stand.
The study also recommends that online gambling casinos minimise the use of bold, flashing graphics to signal wins in order to moderate the ‘emotional experience’ for gamblers.
May 6th, 2008
In Canada, a national survey has found that young adults are more interested in ‘technology driven’ options such as online gambling than are their older counterparts.
According to a piece in the Montreal Gazette, pollster Allan Gregg told the 2008 Canadian Gaming Summit that one-third of Canadians said that they are gambling less than they did three years ago while those under 35 are more likely to be gambling more.
He told about 200 Summit participants that online sportsbetting and web-based poker games were considered acceptable forms of gambling by 56 per cent of those aged 18 to 34, according to a recent survey of 3,047 Canadians.
But, the same survey found that only 20 per cent of those over 55 and just 35 percent of those over 35 favoured online sports wagering. He stated that younger people were also more supportive of interactive online lottery games, buying lottery tickets through a mobile device or playing casino games for money via in-home televisions.
Paul Burns, Vice-President of the Canadian Gaming Association, told the newspaper that, although current laws prohibit most forms of electronic or online gambling in Canada, citizens spend up to $400 million a year over the Internet by accessing computer servers based in foreign jurisdictions or on the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake.
Find here a list of the best canadian online casinos.
April 9th, 2008
Canadian Gaming Association claims gambling is “Canada’s largest and most financially significant entertainment industry.”
Gambling is Canadian’s favorite entertainment, according to a report by the Canadian Gaming Association released this week which claims that the pastime is: “Canada’s largest and most financially significant entertainment industry.” It accounts for 267 000 full-time jobs and contributes Cdn$15.3-billion a year to the economy.
The industry group’s latest report is based on 2006 data and reveals that 57 percent of gambling revenue - Cdn$8.7-billion - supports government services and charities. The other $6.6-billion “…was spent to sustain operations, paid out as salaries, and used to purchase goods and services.”
Canadian Press says that the gaming association’s research, described as the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the economic impact of gaming in Canada, found 135 000 people are directly employed in the industry, and indirect gambling-related employment such as food and entertainment services swells the total to 267 000 full-time jobs. For 2006, this translated into Cdn$11.6-billion in labor income, the association says.
“Gaming has grown significantly over the past decade to become an essential pillar of the entertainment industry in Canada,” association president Bill Rutsey said. “It is now demonstrably clear how the majority of spending in the industry goes directly back to Canadians in the form of paycheques, construction in communities, and revenues for the programs and services and charities that we value.”
Technorati : canada, entertainment, online gambling
Del.icio.us : canada, entertainment, online gambling
Zooomr : canada, entertainment, online gambling
Flickr : canada, entertainment, online gambling
