Online Gambling

As reported in yesterday’s The Wall Street Journal, the House Financial Services Committee voted 41-22 to approve legislation that would regulate many forms of online gambling, including poker and bingo, while specifically banning betting on major US sports leagues like the MLB, NFL, NBA, and others.

Other news articles point out that the legislation also would deny licenses to any online site that has allowed, or currently does allow, US players to gamble online. Looking ahead, this would appear to effect PokerStars, FullTilt, and other online poker rooms that have continued to serve US players despite the UIGEA of 2006.

Other key elements of the legislation include player loss limits, rigorous age verification systems and frequent testing thereof, and allowing states to opt out of this legislation and ban its citizens from online gambling.

And the legislation that was passed does not cover how the industry is to be taxed — that’s covered in a separate bill that hasn’t made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee.

It is unlikely that this legislation will be voted on before the current Congressional Session expires in September. The scheduling is simply too tight. If it is not voted on, the process will need to start again next session. Perhaps it will be attached to some other legislation, as was the UIGEA of 2006. Even so, if the legislation is approved, it still would need to be signed by Obama.

We are still years away from any comprehensive online gambling policy in the United States. Need proof? The UIGEA of 2006 took nearly 4 years before it actually went into effect this past June 1 — and there are still plenty of loopholes in that legislation that allow US players to fund and withdraw money from their online gambling accounts… or so I’ve heard.

Sloto’Cash Casino is a safe, reliable Rival-Powered online casino that has been around for over a year. They have recently enabled many of their online slot machines to be played in a browser with a minimal flash download, no credit card needed, and no registration required.

Two of my favorites are Scary Rich and Scary Rich 2, both of which are sinister-themed slots with a variety of special features.

You can find more Rival-Powered online slot machines to play from my online slot machine page.

Casino Titan has one of the snazziest websites around. The graphics are sleek, stylish, and modern. I also like that visitors can play some of the table games (like blackjack) right in their web browser without registering.

Here’s what they have to say about their online casino.

“Casino Titan is well known in the online casino industry and offers top notch service in a sophisticated manner. We accept all U.S. and Canadian players and strive to build a trustful relationship with all our online casino gambling players. Our mission is to provide a fantastic, secure and fair online casino gambling experience.

With over 100 traditional casino games including over 80 exciting slot machines games, playing at Casino Titan gets you better odds than at a land based casino. Massive Jackpots and bonus are offered at winning various progressive games.

Casino Titan provides exciting online promotions and casino bonus offers for its wide variety of games, ranging from slot machine games, to video poker, high rollers, baccarat, European roulette and 12 progressive jackpots. The amazing promotions includes: a Free Signup Bonus, a Welcome Package, Highrollers Bonus, a VIP club, Free Cash just by playing and 10% Cashback.

At Casino Titan, you’ll find the most advanced security measures available in any online casinos and we are continually auditing our games and processes to ensure a totally safe and fair online casino gambling experience to our customers. At Casino Titan, you will find everything that you have been looking for in an online casino.

Casino Titan is powered by Real Time Gaming (RTG) and offers some of the best casino games in the industry. We have a great customer support team available 24/7 to help casino players.”

If you like the Rival Casino software — especially their innovative i-Slots and other video slots — then head on over to the newest Rival operator on the block, Spintime Casino.

New slot players at Spintime Casino will enjoy 543 in free credits, and 15 minutes to win up to 100 credits, claimable after an initial deposit of 25. Even if you don’t win, you can still claim a generous 100% bonus on your first deposit of between 25 and 777!

Please note that these bonuses do carry playthrough requirement that depends on the games that you decide to play. In general, all slots play counts 100% toward the playthrough requirement, while other games count only a fraction toward meeting the playthrough requirement.

Several Rival Gaming online casinos are offering free cash to try the latest online video slot machine called Best of Luck.

Featuring lucky symbols from around the world, such as horseshoes, lucky pennies, wishbones and rabbit’s feet, this slot embodies the essence of good fortune. But, it does much more than that. Best of Luck introduces a new feature which has the potential for some incredibly huge wins. Rather than awarding plain old free spins, Best of Luck awards one of 6 different bonus rounds on each free spin. Win the same bonus round 3 times during a set of free spins and you’ll be awarded an additional 3 free spins. Hit 4 or 5 triggering icons to increase the multiplier and number of free spins, for even bigger payouts and a greater chance of winning more spins.

The recommended sites for Best of Luck are listed below.

Slots of Fortune Casino $15 FREE + 700% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $111! No-download version available! Can you hear the reels spinning, jackpot bells hitting, coins spilling? Join Slots of Fortune today and we will double your first three deposits for a total of 777 in bonuses! Please note that this is a “SLOTS ONLY” bonus and can only be used for wagering on Slots, Keno and Scratch card games only. Languages:  Currencies:

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Vegas Sky Casino $38 FREE + 150% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $135! There are over 70 games at Vegas Sky Online Casino! Our iSlots are one of a kind that can’t be found at any other casino. Enjoy playing our Video and Three Reel Slots, Table games like BlackJack, Craps, Roulette and even a large selection of Video Poker games like Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild. Languages:  Currencies:

Simon Says Casino $20 FREE + 100% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $100! You can try all the games at Simon Says absolutely free. Try our table games, 3-reel slots, video slots and the animated adventure of i-Slots all in one easy, safe and free download. Languages:  Currencies:

As if weekends weren’t fun enough, Online Vegas will be featuring Free Entry Slot Tournaments every weekend in June. Beginning Saturdays at 9AM (ET) and ending Sundays at 10PM (ET), play for free in the $2,500 Bonus Buck Weekend Freeroll Slot Tournament.

You have a chance to take home the Top Prize of $350, and there are prizes paid all the way to 500^th Place! And to celebrate Father’s Day, the Prize Pool for the third Free Weekend Tournament in June has been DOUBLED to a huge $5000.

In order to play, all you need is a real money account (no need to make a deposit).

Click here to download the software and get into the games.

Through December 2009, new players that sign up at Slot’o'Cash Casino will get $10 FREE to try out their games. This exclusive free cash has a 17x wagering requirement, a $150 maximum cashout, and excludes progressives, card games, and video poker.

Slot’o'Cash Casino is Rival-powered, and has some of the most exciting slots in the industry. Their i-Slots are quite different from the normal slots found at other online casinos.

US-Blackjack.com is one of my favorite online casinos. They are rated as a 5 star online casino at The Online Casino Gambling Directory, and have made three recent announcements.

1. US-Blackjack.com runs Top Game software, and Top Game has now received the fair gaming certification from Technical Systems Testing (TST). This is great news, and provides players with an additional level of confidence in their online casino.
2. They recently launched a fun new 20-reel video slot called Reel Gangsters boasting a top payout of 10K coins.
3. They’ve increased the top amount of their 100% initial deposit bonus for new players from $100 to $500.

US-Blackjack.com accepts players from all US states, as well as from most other countries in the world. Give US-Blackjack.com a try and let me know what you think!

(Note: The information present on this blog is intended for entertainment purposes only. Please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online. If your local laws prohibit online gambling then we recommend you consider an alternative form of entertainment.)

Intertops recently added a Realtime Gaming (RTG) online casino to their stable of online gambling products (which include a Microgaming (MG) casino and poker room for non-US players, as well as a skill games area and sportsbook open to all players). They call their new RTG online casino Intertops RED.

In the past days, five new online slot machines have been released in the Intertops RED client.

• London Inspector
• Loose Caboose
• Mystic Dragon
• Sea Captain
• Texas Tycoon

I’ve long been a fan of Intertops.com — I used to play at their MG casino until it began barring US players a few months ago. I still play regularly at their sportsbook, and I started playing at their new RTG online casino a few weeks ago. These guys are some of the best in the industry in terms of customer service.

New players at Intertops RED are treated to a generous 100% match on their first deposit up to $100!

Declare your independence from land-based casinos at Online Vegas! Starting tomorrow, why not take part in their 4th of July online slots tournament for just $0.44?

• The buy-in is only 44¢.
• Independence Day is the featured Slot Machine for this Tournament.
• Total prize is over $144,444.
• Tournament starts on Friday July 3rd and runs for 2 weeks until Friday July 17th 2009.
• 1st Place takes home an impressive $64,444 and there are generous prizes all the way to 500th.

Online Vegas accepts US players from all states except KY, MO, OR. They offer a generous sign-up bonus of 100% on initial deposits of between $25 and $500.