Thirty Six year old Bryan Taylor suspected foal play when three of his opponents at an internet poker site were winning consistently.

Taylor started playing professional poker in 2008, suspected he was playing against computers. In particular bots or short for robots programmed to play poker and to beat the odds. His suspicions turned out to be right. He immediately launched an investigation against PokerStars and found out that his “opponents” were computers masked as humans and closed them down.

Poker bots are rather common but they aren’t that good. Humans are better at playing poker, for instance at bluffing and could beat machines regularly. However, artificial intelligence (AI) improved significantly the last couple of years, so good in fact that poker bots can now win thousands of dollars at premier poker sites.

The bots identified by Taylor in July on PokerStars were shut down. In October, one more poker site, Full Tilt …

Playtech just purchased founder Teddy Sagi’s PT Turnkey Services (PTTS), the holding company for Europartners, arguably one of the premier affiliate programmes in the internet casino business today, the software business disclosed in its yearly results.

In a recent statement to the stock exchange, Playtech confirmed the purchase of PTTS, including Europartners with its 50,000 registered players for the amount of €140m (£120m). This purchase price could increase to as much as €280m by 2014 all depending on the performance of PTTS.

In a recent interview with Cassaon-casino just after Playtech’s annual results presentation, Mor Weizer chief executive said this business venture enables Playtech “direct contact with internet casinos and its players for the first time”. On the flip side, Weizer denied that today’s acquisition would propel the business into a higher tax bracket in different markets.

PTTS yielded profits in excess of €90m in 2010 with more than 50,000 …

In the United States Caesars Entertainment led from the front when it came to internet gambling. An amalgamation with giant 888 Holdings confirmed that the company is preparing for U.S regulations. The business partnership’s received the thumbs up from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Caesars amalgamated with Fordart Ltd. and Cassava Enterprises Ltd. These operators are subsidiaries of 888 Holdings, will aid Caesars to expand their World Series of Poker brand and will also enable Caesars to operate within the United Kingdom.

However, the amalgamation did not come as a surprise to one Gaming Control Board member, after the three person board suggested approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission.

“Basically this joint venture will permit Caesars to offer internet gambling in the UK,” said Board member A.G. Burnett. “The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is ambiguous to say the least and it compelled 888 Holdings in 2006 to exit the …

Singapore’s gaming proceeds from its two casinos might outpace the Las Vegas Strip casinos in terms of revenue within the next two years. However, experts believe that these newcomers might face some stern competition from other major players within the region.

Gaming proceeds from Singapore increased to approximately US$4 billion (S$5.07 billion) in 2010 and will in all likelihood hit the US$5 billion in the next year or two, according to analysts. A total of US$6 billion in revenue by casinos situated on the Las Vegas was yielded last year.

One of the main reasons why Asian casinos are experiencing such a surge in its profits is because of the budding wealth of the Asian middle-class. Some market analysts even predict a top-line growth of 25 per cent in Singapore before this year is out. On the opposite of end of the spectrum are the U.S casinos where growth is …

It is allowed in Atlantic City to wager at a land-based casinos but not at online venues. In Florida, patrons can play blackjack at a casino, except craps and roulette which could not be played. Kentucky permits horse race betting, but disallows casinos. We’ve only named some of the double standards that exist nowadays whilst dealing with gambling issues.

Cyprus is on the verge of joining other duplicitous jurisdictions that offer some variants of gambling but not others. Deputy Government Spokesman, Christos Christofides recently announced a new piece of legislation that will outlaw gambling online, whilst sports betting and lottery gambling will stay legal under the new law.

“The above is yet another example on how governments take common sense out of the gambling issue,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. “Virtually every government strives to distinguish between the various forms of gambling. In reality gambling is gambling and no format …

The latest internet casino to leave the United Kingdom because of its exorbitant 15% gross profit tax rate is Betfair. It has decided to move offshore and will save approximately £20m per annum, during its third quarter result this morning its chief executive made this announcement.

As of tomorrow Betfair will be operating under a Gibraltar gaming licence following in its rivals’ footsteps the likes of Ladbrokes and William Hill. Both these gambling operators recently publicized by exiting the UK market a few years ago they saved millions of pounds.

David Yu who is the CEO of Betfair made no secret to move Betfair’s operation abroad. It opened in October last year a new Dublin office to house its data centre and telebetting internet casinos. Back then it already warned the UK government to lower its tax rates on horseracing and various other internet casinos. The UK government is busy scrutinising its current tax …

The UK government proposed in January 2011 that foreign operators, even from white listed jurisdictions must obtain a British and pay tax. Changes pertaining to the above might be imposed as early as March 2011. From the time when the publication first hit the press the government hired various consultants to investigate the matter. The findings will be released middle March.

The journal “This Is Money” issued a detailed discussion on the matter. It indicates that British online casinos which moved their offices abroad and are currently paying a 1% tax would be affected the worst if they would pay a 15% tax rate according to British Law. These online casinos are SportingBet, PartyGaming, 888, William Hill and Ladbrokes.

Despite the fact that they save significantly in taxes, they spent millions of pounds advertising their product verticals like sports books, casinos and poker rooms to gamblers from the United Kingdom. They …

The sad news for internet gamblers is that Governor Chris Christie has vetoed the New Jersey gambling bill.

To be honest we are not surprised in the least, since many experts within the industry have predicted this. To add insult to injury, Christie has further political aspirations by running for presidential candidate in the next U.S election. The net result is, he does not want to tarnish his reputation with voters at this point in time.

Initially Governor Christie praised the bill’s intent-at the end it was all a smoke screen although he said that he supported the New Jersey gambling bill. The reason why he vetoed the bill is that the New Jersey’s constitution dictates that operators must be restricted to the territorial limits of Atlantic City.

The internet gambling bill S490 aimed to permit all residents of New Jersey to gamble online. The S490 requires that the servers of …

The future of internet gambling is to be decided in the state of New Jersey on Thursday. Whatever the outcome may be and if Governor Chris Christie does not sign, other states in America are lining up to legalize and regulate it. Florida might impose legislation that will to a degree permit internet gambling, while Virginia will outlaw it entirely.

Florida has been eyeing internet poker for a while now. According to the Daytona Beach News Journal intrastate internet poker may well be legalized on the 1st of July 1, 2011. Given the current state of the economy in the U.S legislators aim to raise taxes from internet casinos to plug the budget deficit of $4 billion.

The bill has already been proposed by the state Representative Democrat who hails from Washington, Joseph Abruzzo. Abruzzo informed the Daytona Beach News Journal, “Our aim is to regulate and to legalize it …

Governor Chris Christie has been the recipient of flack recently when it comes to the proposed online gambling bill. This coming Thursday Christie will make his decision on it. As a result millions of people in favour of gambling over the internet will be holding their breath.

Internet gambling’s future, if permitted in the State of New Jersey will soon catch on and might spread to the rest of the United States. That’s if Christie agrees to sign the bill. Many states in the U.S are already following suit and once New Jersey finalizes their laws, potentially it might cause a wave of internet gambling legislation across the country.

“The moment the first state regulates online gambling, it will spread like wild fire all over the nation much like what happened with the land-based casinos during the past ten years,” Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz, said. “It stands to reason that …