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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