The Winning Room
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With more than a trillion dollars changing hands around the world on online casinos alone, sooner rather than later legislation will step in to exercise some form of control in the casino industry. Those measures to control casinos and gambling during the early years worked as the casino had a physical location. Today however casinos have moved online with no real physical location. The question arises how legal are these online casinos?

Gambling legislation has not changed much since Congress passed the Wire Act in 1961. The Wire Act states that “Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” This however only covered sports betting and not casinos. There was also no Internet or Internet casinos during that time.

During 1998 both MasterCard and Visa sued Cynthia Haines for money she lost while gambling on an online casino. She had lost more than US$70,000 to an online casino and could not settle her account with the plaintiffs. She filed a counterclaim well within the state laws of California which prohibited credit card loans for gambling be it online casinos or bricks and mortar casinos. That case was settled out of court. Many states have now enacted their own legislation however casinos have moved their gambling operations off shore to casino friendly countries.

Gambling has increased drastically with the advent of the Internet and online casinos. With huge profits and vested interest in casinos there are also very strong lobbyists in government to keep gambling unimpeded. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act which was defeated in 2000 shows how much vested interest there is in the casino and gaming industry. Cyberspace is the last frontier when it comes to laws governing casinos. Only time will tell how legislation will catch-up with online casinos and gambling websites.

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The Object Of The Game

The goal for the player in the game of online casino blackjack or 21 (twenty one), as it is sometimes called, is to beat the dealer. There are 2 ways to achieve this. The first is when the player has a higher total than the dealer without going over 21. The second is when the dealer’s total exceeds 21 while the player is still alive or has not exceeded 21. When playing online casino blackjack, if both the player and the dealer have 21 or the same total less than 21, the hand is called a ‘push’ and nobody wins.

Cards And Their Values

In the game of online casino blackjack, cards are counted at face value. In other words the 2 or deuce is worth 2 points, the 3 is worth 3 points and so on. The face cards, Jack, Queen, King are all counted as 10 points while the Ace can be counted as 1 or eleven, which ever benefits the players point total the most. Its the players choice as to how he wants to count the Ace. When the Ace is counted as 11 points the hand is called ’soft’. For example, Ace, 7 is called a soft 18. All other totals, including hands where the Ace is counted as 1, are considered ‘hard’, as in 10,6,Ace equals a hard 17. The dealer must count his Ace as 11 if his hand total falls between 17 and 21. Otherwise he must count the Ace as 1 point. In some casinos, the rules specify that the dealer must draw on soft 17. In these casinos the dealer’s Ace will count as 1 point when combined with cards totalling 6 points, and the dealer will have to draw until he has a hand total of at least hard 17.

Busting or Breaking

Initially, 2 cards are dealt to each player. If drawing additional cards by a particular player, results in a point total exceeding 21, then the hand is busted. Busted hands are turned up immediately as a breaking hand is considered ‘lost’. Even if the dealer busts, all remaining players would beat the dealer and automatically win their bets.

Getting Blackjack

When a player is dealt their original 2 cards and the hand includes an Ace and any 10 or face card such as a queen, jack or king, the hand is called ‘blackjack’ and is an automatic winner for that player and they are paid their bet at a 3 to 2 ratio. If the dealer gets blackjack, all players lose their bets. The dealer wins only the players bet, not the 3 to 2 payoff the player receives for the blackjack. If the dealer and the player both have blackjack, the hand becomes a ‘push’. Blackjacks should be turned up immediatley.

Payoffs – Getting Paid

When a player wins the hand they are paid off at even money. In other words if you were to bet $10 and you win the hand, the dealer or house would pay you $10. However, if the player has blackjack, which is a 3 to 2 payoff, you would then be paid $15. If a player chooses to double their bet the payoff would be equal to the new doubled bet. In this case, if the bet was doubled from $10 to $20, the win would be $20. Winning is just the beginning of the excitement in online casino blackjack.

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The Internet is not simply a place for big businesses to get bigger or for new ideas to be rewarded with huge bonuses. There are numerous ways in which the everyday person can get in on the act and make their own small business. One of the most tried and tested ideas on the net, in terms of creating your own business is that of affiliate marketing. Thousands around the world have or still are taking advantage of this hugely lucrative market. But do not be put off by the number of opposing sites, the market is not built like so many on creating a market share and then capitalising on it. Personal website owners can earn some extra revenue just by simply hosting affiliate-advertising banners. The more business orientated and larger affiliate sites can go much further creating an entire business from the industry. It may sound a little far fetched, but when you consider that thousands of people are earning substantial amounts of cash from this simple program, it is actually a hugely effective a profitable business model.

New affiliates can choose almost any online industry to represent, most offer bonuses and free start-ups for their new partners. However few of these industries can rival the financial muscle and the astonishing growth of the sports betting business. With an industry that generates such a huge turnover each and every year, you know you are essentially representing one of the market giants. Similarly the sports betting industry is constantly growing with hundreds of people looking to join each day, which in turn means more potential custom for them and the affiliates. The sports betting affiliate program gives new affiliates the chance to experience some of the earning power of the online bookmakers. Without having to risk a penny, affiliate marketers can earn up to 35% of a player’s money generated for their entire lifetime on the site, just by recommending them.

Affiliate programs don’t cost a penny to join so there is no financial risk to be considered. The sports betting sites will provide their new affiliates with all the banners and links that they need to direct people to their site. This means that even the advertising is sewn up, leaving the affiliate the relatively easy task of choosing the content and advertising of their site. The affiliates are essentially self employed and working wholly for themselves, they have no bosses and no one to produce results for except themselves. Therefore they are free to experiment with site content as much as they wish, producing anything that they really want. Similarly the way in which an affiliate markets their own site is completely up to them. The Internet is swarming with excellent marketing tools, but depending on an affiliates budget some may be easier than others. The main problem an affiliate faces, as it is for every site, is the initial challenge of bringing people into their own site. The affiliate faces a secondary problem, which is persuading their visitors to follow links to a secondary site and join up. There is no easy solution for either of these problems, but there are plenty of options available to overcome them.

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