The unidentified punter, who had only been with Bet365 about six months, could not believe his luck when the nine lucky symbols dropped into place.

In a telephone call shortly afterwards, the Greek player told Bet365 staff that the enormity of the win had not really sunk in yet. It all happened so fast that he did not at first realise he had achieved a life-changing win. But he did say that for him, his wife and children (three and one on the way) it would make a big difference in that he would be able to pay off his mortgage and put some of the win away for the kids.

Survey results released this week and published by Techfieber.de show that some 2 million German adults use the Internet for some form of betting, whether it be for lotteries, sports bets or poker and roulette strategy. In a similar study last year, the number was 2.2 million.

Breaking the numbers down by gender, slightly more than 1.7 million German men, and 300 000 women, gambled online during the year under review.

Lottery wagering was the most popular form of gambling, played by 59 percent of Internet punters, with poker second at 22 percent and sportsbetting third at 18 percent. The figures are relatively unchanged from last year, when 700 000 wagered on the lotteries, 430 000 favoured online poker and online casino games, and 500 000 bet online on sports events, with 96 percent of those betting on Bundesliga matches and every sixth punter gambling on large football events.

Women mainly favoured the lotteries, with 64 percent of female gamblers making up this segment, compared with only 57 percent of men.

Across the 1 000 strong sample, Euro 20 a month was the dominant betting budget, claimed by two thirds of respondents, whilst the remaining third spent more than this.

Bitkom executive Achim Berg said the study again confirms the popularity of online gambling in Germany, and called upon the German states to consider a modernisation of the country’s gambling laws at their next meeting in March 2010.

“The current betting scandal in football has clearly demonstrated [that] the German ban only paves the way for a thriving black market,” said Berg, calling for a state licensing regime embracing Internet gambling providers. “We must ensure that the same high standards apply for both public and private providers,” he concluded.

The latest Research and Markets study of the German market predicts that it will grow from the current Euro 2.2 billion a year to approaching Euro 5 billion a year by 2010.

With more Ivy League Colleges recognizing poker as a game of skill and adopting poker strategy as a subject of study, the leading online poker site’s College Challenge is proving a solid stomping ground for the growing number of students looking to try their hand at putting textbook theory into real world practice.

The prestigious Harvard Law School is one of the most recent supporters of poker as an excellent teaching tool at the academic level. While politicians ponder the future of gaming in the States, maverick Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson has brought Texas Hold ‘em into the classroom and is leading the pack when it comes to defending online poker as much more than just a casino slot machines.

“It is one of the best ways to teach how to conduct negotiations, how to assess risks, how to develop strategic thinking and other skills essential to succeed in life,” said Nesson during a University lecture.(1)

“Nesson’s concept that playing poker teaches students other life skills is on the money. Poker has taught me how to deal with a lot of different aspects of my life from business to my personal relationships. My life is where it is today due to learning what it takes to be a professional poker player,” said Absolute Poker Pro and APCC consultant, Matt Vengrin.

Rising numbers of College students are participating in the APCC this fall. They’re passionate about the poker and the competition as an alternative way to pay for tuition, while some even look to walk a mile in Vengrin’s shoes in the future. Recent research reveals that students’ professional dreams are changing(2) and ‘poker professional’ as long-term career goal is gaining ground on College campuses across the country.

The APCC dedicated poker tournament series includes a string of daily qualifiers, from freerolls to $0.25 and $5 buy-ins, and a Weekly Main Event Qualifier on Sundays at 21:00ET that feeds the top nine players to the APCC Main Event, scheduled for Monday, November 30th at 20:30ET.

The ‘Player of the Year’ competition will see the top 6 students from the Main Event vie for honors in a final table filmed live in L.A. and streamed online at Bluff. This semester’s Absolute Poker College Challenge is awarding the ‘Player of the Year’ a grand prize of $10,000 in free tuition, a custom-made APCC championship ring, and the chance to capture 15 minutes of fame via Bluff magazine.

The award-winning gaming operator was delighted to hear the gambling news from eGaming Review. Company CEO, Ed Ware, highlighted that this nomination was further vindication for the online casinos long-held philosophy that the player experience, transparency and support come first.

“We launched 32Red in 2002 and immediately set about changing preconceptions of the online gaming industry, setting up a framework where players enjoy top casino games, bonuses and a fair and honest playing environment. Our nomination demonstrates the importance of these qualities to the gaming industry and these are elements we plan to build on indefinitely”

32Red’s candidacy follows a year of flux in the industry caused by the global economy, with 32Red adapting to the changing times positively through an extensive and ongoing television advertising campaign, as well as sponsoring the CocaCola Football League Championship side, Swansea City AFC. The result has been elevated recruitment figures (as released in Q1 results for 2009), lending Ware to add, “More and more players are enjoying what 32Red has to offer and we’re positive, that come the year end of year, we’ll be in a stronger position than ever”.

32Red Online Casino is a certified member of eCOGRA - gaming industry watchdog - which monitors payout percentages and the entire casino operation to ensure a fair experience for players. Additionally, 32Red are based and licensed in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar - a widely respected gaming jurisdiction. Although UK facing, the online casino has an international player base, with multi-lingual and currency support available.

Following the success of the original UKCasinoClub, this week sees the relaunch of a newly designed, slick and striking homepage, backed up with an enormous sign up bonus of EURGBP$700 free, no doubt the best UK deposit bonus available online.

The gentlemen at the suave and sophisticated UKCasinoClub are so confident that new players will enjoy their exciting range of 340+ Las Vegas style card, table and slot games that they are willing to give all new players 5 free match bonuses, totalling EURGBP$700. This ensures that for each of the first 5 deposits made at the online casino, the player is rewarded according to a generous payback system - the player receives a 100% matching bonus (up to EURGBP$100 free) on their first deposit, and similar amounts for each subsequent 4 deposits.

The Casino Rewards group has become synonymous with high quality Microgaming games, fast and secure payouts, 24/7 multilingual customer support and a payout rate greater than that of any land based UK casino. In addition, by registering for free with any CasinoRewards.com online casino, players can expect at least EURGBP$10,000 in free bonuses, via weekly promotions, newsletters and giveaways… within the first 12 months!

UKCasinoClub.com with its stylish new look and glossy flash animation brings welcomed depth to the online casino experience, and backed up by the trusted and respected Casino Rewards name and its EURGBP$700 free sign up offer, it looks like online gambling has found an elegant new home.

The proposed 800 acre “Tipperary Venue” is being pioneered by a local businessman Richard Quirke, who made his online gambling money in Dublin property and was praised today for his “vision” during tough economic times, the newspaper detailed.

While no state money was required for the venture, the development relies on the government passing legislation to allow the opening of online casinos, The Irish Times reported.

“The shares will be sold through an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors, Crystal Ventures said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire.

“PartyGaming, the owner of the Party Poker online gambling brand, was founded in 1997 by a group including Dikshit, who created its internet casinos software platform. The company’s 2005 initial public offering made him the world’s 207th-richest person the following year, according to Forbes magazine. Dikshit holds 113.8 million PartyGaming shares, or 27.9 percent of the company, according to Bloomberg data.

“In December 2008, Dikshit pleaded guilty to illegal Internet gambling in the U.S. and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in its probe of the company. He is scheduled to be sentenced next year…”

Former Disney executive Peter E. Murphy is joining the online gambling operator’s senior management team as president of strategy and development, Harrah’s announced Monday.

He had been serving as adviser to private equity firm Apollo Management, which co-owns Harrah’s.

Murphy will focus on new domestic and international development, mergers and acquisitions, and the expansion of relationships with other online casinos and companies in various industries including entertainment, retail, airline and hospitality.

The hire comes amid a flurry of activity by Harrah’s, including the purchase of part of Planet Hollywood’s debt in what analysts surmise could be a future acquisition, the announcement last week of the company’s involvement in a project in Slovakia, and an agreement to purchase a horse-racetrack in Cleveland.

“Peter is an accomplished, thoughtful and rigorous executive who will help us significantly as we continue to identify areas for future growth and to explore opportunities created by current economic conditions,” Loveman said.

Murphy joined Disney in 1988, rising to various executive roles including chief strategic officer, senior adviser to the CEO and senior executive vice president between 1998 until 2005. He was involved in Disney’s acquisition of the Miramax Film Corp., Capital Cities/ABC, Fox Family Worldwide, 40 percent of E! Entertainment Television, Baby Einstein and the Muppets franchise.

Murphy, who was called Michael “Eisner’s top cop,” by Businessweek, was reassigned when Bob Iger took over day-to-day operations in 2005, and soon left the company.

In a Vanity Fair profile of Murphy months before he left Disney, he was called “a brilliant strategist and tough deal maker,” who Eisner relied on “to reinforce his decisions”

The article added: “When Eisner changes his mind … it is Murphy who goes into battle with the proposed revisions” to division heads, business units or in negotiations for acquisition.

Murphy graduated in 1988 from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

The system is designed to replicate the actual game of poker that a player experiences in a casino, home game or land based tournament, including the provision of a “cut function” and deployment of “burn cards”, something that GGioia claims no other online poker site currently provides.

Gioia’s patented Cut ‘N Shuffle system is a fully automated, real card dealing system that scrambles, shuffles and deals real decks of cards, digitises the results and then translates them to its online poker table games. Gioia has also designed and built the first system capable of producing post-game audit results, Game Check.

Extensive research conducted through an independent research company, together with feedback from players both professional and amateur showed market demand for an online poker site that deals actual cards instead of via an RNG. Gene Gioia, the founder of Real Deal Poker.com devoted over four years of development to reach this point in the company’s development.

The agreement between Gioia International Limited and Red Planet Gaming Inc sees Gioia acquiring software to provide an exceptional poker playing experience at Real Deal Poker.com, which will launch in February 2010 once integration and testing are complete.

Gioia commented: “In addition to assembling a first rate management team, we have found in Red Planet Gaming Inc a partner who shares our passion for bringing a truly fair game of poker to players around the world and changing the face of poker online as we know it today.”

Vahe Baloulian, CEO of Red Planet Gaming Inc added: “I have never seen someone as committed as Gene Gioia to bringing a truly remarkable product to the market. His passion and understanding of what poker is about has resulted in a product that will make the poker world sit up and take note. I am delighted that Red Planet Gaming is partnering Gioia International Limited in this unique venture.”

Virtue Fusion developed this new Snakes and Ladders game and it allows fantastic new opportunities for the online casino gamblers to win more cash than is normal at other bingo gaming sites. The 1 To Go feature of the game kicks in when gamblers miss the money by just one number – they are given another chance by moving on to the bonus round of the game where there are many more prizes available to win.

The new features and game will only be available on the Mecca Bingo site for the time being. In the future other online casinos will offer the game but not at this time. Virtue Fusion is a leader in the alternative gaming market, offering some of the hugely popular smaller sites the opportunity to offer branded and highly innovative bingo and casino games.