Blackjack Cheating on the Rise in Pennsylvania
August 4th, 2010 by Site Admin
The state of Pennsylvania appears to behaving a lot of problem with cheating at its newly opened blackjack tables. Reports of cheaters at the tables surfaced soon after Pennsylvania had legalized its blackjack table games and launched a new set of them in state owned casinos.
So far, three incidents have been noted, but it is possible that there have been several more blackjack cheaters who may have managed to pass undetected. The Hollywood Casino appears to be a favorite among cheaters and has recorded two separate occurrences of blackjack players trying to trick the system in two of its branch casinos.
A blackjack dealer at the Hollywood Casino based at the Penn National Race Course intercepted Thomas Albright, a young player who had tried to pull away one the chips from his wager after he had lost a bet. Since his offense was not severe, he was juts banned fro the casino in a slap on the wrist gesture.
Things got more serious at the Grantville Hollywood Casino, when security intercepted Claudie Kenion repeatedly changing bets and moving his chips. The Mount Pocono casino on the other hand, caught a man passing off fake ships at the tables.
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Blackjack Players Very Disappointed with Canada’s First Online Casino
August 2nd, 2010 by Site Admin
Many online blackjack players have been complaining about the PlayNow online casino, which went offline a few weeks after it was launched. Initially, a technical glitch caused by the rapid influx of player traffic was cited as the reason for it going off the internet and players had a nasty surprise when they tried to log into the site but found they could not.
However, now the truth has come to light that it was not technical glitch that shut down the site but a breach in security that allowed other players to access each others accounts. This error caused over 200 player accounts along with their personal and financial data to be compromised. The site is currently down until the problem is fully fixed while the BCLC claims that it is carefully monitoring funds in their player accounts. John, one of the blackjack players who had registered with PlayNow claims that the site has not yet started monitoring the accounts event though it has been weeks since the site went down. “The fact that it’s taken this long somewhat defeats the point. If information were to be exploited by a third party with malicious intentions, it would have happened fairly quickly,” he stated.
Another blackjack player Mike Reid, had $100 disappear out of his account, but had it refunded by the BCLC after he went to the press with his story.
PlayNow was the first online casino to be officially launched in Canada and is run by the British Columbia Lottery Commission or the BCLC .
Blackjack Player “Robin Hood” Gives Away £1 Million to Poor.doc
August 1st, 2010 by Site Admin
A mysterious but extremely noble blackjack player who goes by the name “Robin Hood” has been helping the needy by giving away his winnings. Unlike the legendary Robin Hood of yore, this gambler does not steal from the rich, but gives away money from his own winnings. So far, he has given away £1 Million to charity and families in need.
The Blackjack “Robin Hood” who is dating a Brazilian model has kept his identity a secret from the media but did comment about his love for the character. “I always loved the film Robin Hood. I thought if Robin could do that all those years ago I could do something similar.”
So far all we know about this big hearted gamer is that he is a 44 year old American who is quite skilled in blackjack. This modern day “Robin Hood” likes to play blackjack in Las Vegas and has a website where he encourages people in need to contact him. “I have done very well from gambling over the years and wanted to give something back to people who are less fortunate,” he added.
Some of the contributions that he has made include £35,000 to help a family pay for cancer treatment for their daughter, £20,000 to a family in debt who had used the funds to pay for medical treatment for their toddler who had a brain tumor.
New Blackjack and Poker School to Be Launched By Luzerne County Community College
July 31st, 2010 by Site Admin
The Luzerne County Community College also known as the LCCC, recently announced that it had plans to launch a dealer school for gamers, featuring poker and blackjack courses. The LCCC has tied up with World Wide Gaming Consultants, a consulting company from New York in an effort to push this venture forward and aims to offer a 120 hour course for students looking to become blackjack dealers and a 100 hour course for students looking to learn poker games.
The LCCC’s education department plans to start these courses towards the end of September and have plans to hold an open house in august on the 16th and 17th on campus. The course will begin in September and end a month later on October 28th and fees can be expected to be in the range of a $1,000.
Christine Donnolo, who works as an associate dean at the LCCC, stated that the college was looking to educate the community. “We know there’s a demand. We know there’s quality jobs. I think there’s opportunity for people.”
Cardinale, CEO of the World Wide Gaming Consultants, appears to believe strongly in the project and is currently working out the kinks in the venture. Cardinale also claimed that gambling was spreading across the states in areas like Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia. He also quoted the fee stating it was a good amount for qualifying for a job in a casino any where in the world.
Steve Dahle, VP of marketing at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Plains Township, commented on the process of securing dealers and claimed that the casino would definitely entertain applications from students from an approved dealer school.
Blackjack Player’s Winnings Disappear As Govt Owned Site Goes Offline
July 30th, 2010 by Site Admin
Mike Reid, a retired banker and blackjack player, did not know that when he logged into PlayNow.com a few weeks ago and began playing blackjack online that the bran new site would soon go offline and take all his winnings with it.
PlayNow.com first went online on July 15th of this month and recorded a good number of players at the site. PlayNow.com which is run by the B.C. Lottery Corporation then went offline a few days later on a Monday on account of a security issue. The gaming company now has to face a series of questions on where all the money that has entered its portals since it first went online has gone.
Mike Reid is one of these unfortunate players who has to see his funds stuck at PlayNow.com. However, Reed, who had won a few hundreds while playing blackjack at the site, fortunately managed to transfer $100 to his account before the site went offline.
When PlayNow.com went offline, Reed immediately checked his bank account for his funds but found that they had not been transferred. “I don’t know where my $100 is,” said Reed.
Reed then proceeded to call customer service and try to ascertain where his money was, or if the site would come back again and was told that the site was in limbo, much to his surprise.
“They actually said it’s in limbo, and that’s a scary thing for me. What does limbo mean? It means they don’t know where it is,” stated Reed who took his story to CTV.
Meanwhile, representatives from the B.C. Lottery Corporation claimed that all transaction histories would be up as soon as the site was reinstated. However, perhaps the media attention may have been a little too much for the BCLC and so they offered to pay Reed his $100 via check.
Tamburin Discusses Casino Strategies to Attract Blackjack Players
July 29th, 2010 by Site Admin
Henry Tamburin, author of the book Blackjack: Take the Money and Run, recently commented on what he believed would draw more player traffic to casino blackjack tables. Tamburin who had derived this information from a survey that he had made among a group of blackjack players noted that casinos needed to encourage beginners if they wanted strong player traffic at their table games.
Tamburin had collected tips from a group of 100 blackjack players on how casinos could be made more appealing to them, and it was noted that most of his tips centered on improving the gaming experience of players – beginners in particular. Some of the strategies that casinos could implement to increase their blackjack player traffic included supplying blackjack lessons at peak hours and providing a table especially for learner’s with a slow game pace and a dealer who also functions as an instructor. In addition to this, players had mentioned a desire to have some blackjack tables that were beginner friendly using low limits and patient dealers.
It is believed that should the casinos implement any or all of these suggestions, they would be able to draw new players to their table games and cash in on the beginner player traffic.
Blackjack Player Caught Cheating At Hollywood Casino
July 28th, 2010 by Site Admin
Claudie Kenion was recently apprehended at the blackjack tables in the Hollywood Casino for cheating. Kenion who hails from Harrisburg claimed that he was just going with the flow and was doing what everyone else was doing. He also did not expect to be arrested for cheating at a gaming table.
“Other people was cheating, I just followed suit to be honest. A lot of people were doing it. I did it. I didn’t think nothing of it. I didn’t think it would be no formal charges pressed or nothing,” Kenion stated. This disturbing statement makes one wonder just how many players are cheating at blackjack and getting away with it in other casinos.
Cheating at a blackjack table was recognized as a title 4 violation and charged under Prohibited Acts. Kenion stands to receive a maximum of five years imprisonment as his statement if he is found guilty in a court of law. This sentence is only for a first time offender and second time offenders get a harder deal. Cheating at a blackjack table in casino also carries a fine of $75,000 to $150,000.
Kenion appears to be a bit dumbstruck by his arrest and the charges he no faces and thought the maximum he would face was being asked to leave the casino.
CryptoLogic Says Blackjack Player Traffic Has Caused Low Revenues
July 27th, 2010 by Site Admin
CryptoLogic Limited, the popular online gaming software provider recently announced that the sum of its revenues for the second quarter of the year did not look very promising. In comparison to the first quarter of the year, CryptoLogic’s revenues for 2010 will be lesser and the company claims that blackjack players have caused the drop in revenue.
Officials from CryptoLogic stated, “Despite the World Cup, casino revenue showed a modest gain quarter-on-quarter but was lower than anticipated due to a substantial swing in player preferences for Blackjack and Roulette.”
Whether this means that players have forsaken slots games for the blackjack tables making the CryptoLogic casinos lose out on their revenue or if it refers to players who have left the online blackjack and roulette tables in favor of other games is not yet certain. However, it is clear that blackjack players have had an impact on CryptoLogic Limited quarterly revenue. The online gaming community has been growing in strength and has increased the number of sites offering blackjack games on the web. Players from CryptoLogic may have left these tables to participate in the games hosted at newer sites. Also, since Cryptologic delayed its launch of Betsafe’s games it also lost out on revenue here.
Bet365 Casino Launches $10k Blackjack Bonanza
July 26th, 2010 by Site Admin
Bet365 Casino, a popular haven for online blackjack players, recently announced that it was ramping up its blackjack offerings by releasing its special blackjack promotion. Bet365’s Blackjack Bonanza is a generous $10,000 gaming event that will begin on the 17th of July, 2010 and continue on until the end of the month.
The $10,000 Blackjack Bonanza is a very popular blackjack tournament that is offered periodically by the site. The idea of this event is to encourage players to wager at the site, by rewarding them with points for every bet they make. These points give players access to about 200 cash prizes. Blackjack players interested in being a part of this tournament will have to be registered with the site as real players.
Blackjack players at Bet365 Casino will earn one Comp Point for each £10 that they bet at the site’s blackjack table games. Players will be ranked on a Leaderboard as to the amount of points they have scored and the first 200 players will be awarded with cash prizes. The player with the highest amount of points will get $1,000, while the second place winner will get $700 and the third place winner receives $600. The fourth place and fifth place winners will get $500 and $400 respectively
Vegas Blackjack Players move to Online Blackjack
July 8th, 2010 by Site Admin
The spread of Blackjack games with 6-5 odds in Las Vegas casinos has left gamers dissatisfied with the kind of payoffs they are receiving from these blackjack tables. And, in an effort to get more for their money’s worth, players are turning toward online blackjack sites and casinos to avail of special blackjack bonuses and blackjack games with better blackjack odds & payoffs.
Ideally, the best payout is 3:2 which should occur naturally in a blackjack game held at a land based casino. However, the Las Vegas casinos appear to be replacing the much wanted 3-2 tables with 6-5 tables giving the players very low payoffs. So far, reports estimate that over 25% of the blackjack tables on the Vegas Strip have been replaced with 6-5 blackjack tables. Although some may argue that this is a smart move on the part of Vegas casinos who have improved their house edge, the steady file of blackjack players slowly exiting these casinos in favor of online blackjack proves otherwise.
Players are calling these 6-5 blackjack tables “sucker tables”, as it is only the inexperienced blackjack players who will wager at them since they do not understand that the payoff is not in their favor.
