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clubtokyo-casino.com
Well presented online casino site powered by Playtech and about to launch with a comprehensive gambling suite. Full 24/7 support and a good range of payment options. First Cagayan licensing through Rio Entertainment Inc, although the ownership is Bendice Solutions Ltd in Belgium. One to anticipate.
dorothyspalace.com
Gay oriented site of average quality on what appears to be Be The Dealer white label software thru' Cyberluck Curacao - CVonNet NV - Casiopea group. Full Support and a gambling suite that includes 12 slots, 6 progressives, 1 VP and 6 table games. Limited financial options. The site claims that 10 percent of profits go to AIDS charities.
rummyroyal.com
Professional looking site offering skill gaming in the form of multiplayer gin rummy variants Gin, Rummy, Kaluki and Oklahoma. Limited support, a loyalty program via Royal Stars Club and play for fun or money facilities. Ownership is Gibbhill Properties Ltd out of Nicosia, Cyprus. A matchplay signup bonus maxed at $200 is offered.
dublinbet.com
Unremarkable live dealer site with the usual services. The software driving this one is from VueTec.
ironduke.com
New poker room on the Merge Gaming software and network, which logged up to 500 players over peak period when we checked it out on several occasions recently. The owner is Royal Profits.com which has two other gambling sites - Royal Card Club and Royal Card Room. The site offers Support, good financial choices, a Kahnawake license and multiplayer poker, casino, sportsbook and backgammon action. A 30 percent rakeback for players is promised, together with 100 percent signups maxed at $200. The site is of average quality. Carbon Poker is on the same network.
casino770.com
Powered by FastCPU, it is understood that this online casino operation belongs to the Interactive division of French land casino group Partouche and that Fat CPU is their prop software. For poker, the site uses Playtech software and network. Well presented site with all the usual services.
staronlinegaming.com
Typical low budget Futurebet powered online casino and poker site. Weak presentation and very little upfront information. It does have UK and US toll free support contact, however.
doingpoker.com and doingpokeronlinecasino.com
DG Holdings poker software (probably the first from this company which recently recruited the former Harrah's WSOP director) Nicely executed site in five languages - English, Korean, French, Swedish and Spanish. The site blurb claims up to 15 000 players at peak times, but this is felt unlikely. Hold'Em, Omaha Hi Lo and 7 Card Stud Hi Lo are offered, with a good range of multi-table, single and sit 'n go tournaments. Players can customise the venue and their avatars. 10 percent deposit bonus available.
carlosplace.com
No download Net Entertainment gambling suite with 50 or more good quality games power this professionally presented site which is registered under a Costa Rican "license" to Mantaray SA, a subsidiary of the London-based Parabol UK Ltd. Poker and casino action is offered with a "mob" gangster theme. Full services and 15 language variants. A 44 percent signup is offered with a D+B x 10 WT requirement)
earthscasino.com
Aesthetically pleasing, 120 game online casino powered by RTG through the Play United franchise. Full services and a wide range of Europe-oriented toll free Support contact numbers. Wide choice of financial vehicles, and a Kahnawake license.
paxpoker.com
New addition to the Microgaming Poker Network. Professional looking site with full services and excellent financial vehicles. The ownership is Bravo Poker Limited out of Malta, a company founded by the former founders of the successful PokerArena.com headed by Einar Bolsted.
olympiancasino.com
This domain used to belong to an old Starnet site but seems to have been bought and redeployed to a site that is short on information regarding licensing, software etc. However, a little digging reveals that the software is Russian, from the Tomsk-based Connective Games company, and the "license" is from Costa Rica. The site offers online casino, poker and backgammon and is a sister to Olympian Poker.com. Basic services and financial instruments are available. The gaming suite consists of 6 card games, 2 VP and 2 Slots of average quality. A low value private lottery is running onsite. Signups are offered a matchplay bonus maxed at a generous $600 but the WT is not clear. The site sponsors a forum titled "Angry Jacks" and has been spamming google groups and other message boards relentlessly.
miamipokercasino.com
An online casino with a Curacao license and Futurebet software through Game Cities. Unremarkable presentation and little upfront information.
acesstarcasino.com
This is a clone or affiliate that re-routes to Lucky 7 Casino Online, a Grand Virtual powered standard template online casino and sportsbook. 50 games, 14 languages and a bland design that has aged over the years. Whoever is behind Aces Star has been carrying out spamming runs all over the Internet.
roccoscasino.com
An interesting site which at first glance appears to be a well put together 888.com/Cassava operation in design, colours and graphics. Owned by Roccos Entertainment Group, which claims it is a UK facing subsidiary of Global Intersafe (a reversed 888.com brand) It is suspected that the tendency to confuse this with the reputable 888.com group out of Gibraltar is intentional. The software is listed as "Casino Corporation" which is something of a mystery, and the "license" is Costa Rican. Financial processing is via Meta Charge Merchant Services.
skillground.com
Real video games for free play or for cash prizes
Toronto-based Groove Media Inc. is perhaps better known for a range of quality "shoot 'em up" video games but with the launch of its new SkillGround.com subsidiary it has entered the competitive arena of skill gaming this week, offering a range of games for free download and competitive play in pursuit of cash prizes.
There are currently four retail-quality titles to choose from - LA Street Racer, Kung Fu: Deadly Arts, tactical military shooter Close Quarters Conflict and sci-fi themed FPS WarPath. A fifth title - Ultimate Tour Golf - will be released later this year.
SkillGround MD Michael Haines says that each game has a tutorial and practice mode to ease players into competition through single player score based games before going into head-to-head and multiplayer competitions for hard cash.
SkillGround is aimed at PC gamers of all skill levels and uses a proprietary skill ranking and leaderboard system designed to ensure players are fairly matched in terms of skill levels and have an equitable chance of winning. Game play is available in several modes besides tutorial and practice: one-on-one, single player, deathmatch Teamplay for up to eight players, score-based games and progressive tournaments.
Beta testing on the software has been extensive, with some 15 000 players putting the games through the wringer over 200 000 or more gaming sessions.
The skill-matching system makes score-based games fun and fair for veteran gamers and beginners alike, says Jon Walsh, CEO of Groove Media. “It's never been easier to play video games online for cash prizes. Our unique score-based game system allows players to log onto SkillGround.com anytime day or night and try to post a high score in a variety of different tournaments or events.”
The SkillGround management team represents a unique combination of gaming success stories with gamer expertise and know-how. The company is chaired by Mark Rivkin, a co-founder of CryptoLogic. He is joined by former CryptoLogic executives Harvey Solursh, CFO, and Serge Bourenkov, CTO. The CEO of SkillGround is Jon Walsh, who together with Trevor Fencott, President, and Michael Haines, Managing Director, have almost 30 years experience in the video games business.
The company is well capitalised and has raised over $31 million.
Established in 2001 and headquartered in Toronto with offices in Dublin, Ireland, Groove is a global publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software that has published more than 20 retail game titles on the PC, Xbox and PlayStation2 platforms.
Miscellaneous information:
UK Bookie Stan James.com has been busy, adding a bingo site from Parlay Entertainment and signing a deal for skill games from GameAccount.
Casino Nordica.com, owned by the respected Casinocontanter group in Denmark is to close at the end of the year. New signups are being turned away and existing players have 6 months before the final shutdown. Casino spokesmen have said that the company intends to focus on its Casino.dk, mobile and NordicaPoker operations. Casino.dk recently announced its mobile partnership with Spin3, and Nordica Poker is using the Merge Gaming poker software and network.
The Get21.com joint venture between Golden Palace and RNG Gaming to offer online blackjack tournament action has run aground it appears and closes July 15. RNG Gaming is a subsidiary of Gaming Ventures, an Isle of Man company set up by technology provider Zone4Play. It is understood that Golden Palace will offer the tournaments on its own.
777Mobile.com has switched from Probability Gaming software to Microgaming-Spin3 power.
Apuestas.com has switched to the Microgaming Poker Network from Spin Games Poker Network.
Purple Lounge has expanded into online casino action, signing up with Microgaming, which powers the successful site's poker offering. PL claims a player base of 30 000 and wagerthru' worth around GBP 190 million in June 2007.
CelebPoker.com launched a Gibraltar-licensed and Swedish targeted poker site mid-June.
5dimescasino has carried out a revamp and upgrade on its mixed DGS-XTech-Gametime softwares.
Playtech has clinched a Shufflemaster games sub-license from Guardian Games in Malta.
Full Contact Poker (DGN software) has merged with Pokerstars and will be integrated into its software and operational framework. No details on the deal are known. It is believed that the Poker Stars player base is now approaching 9 million players.
Dream Poker exited the USA at the end of May.
Score Poker.com, a real money, Cyberarts powered poker site owned by Score Media Ventures (a Canadian sports information firm) is offering play-for-free with sports results and interstitial ads on the site from AGN Partners, in which former Tribeca Tables MD Todd Waldeman is believed to be involved.
Unibet has signed up for skill games from GamArena AB, which is now owned by the Swedish Jadestone AB group and the Finnish PAF group.
Virgin Games and Betfair are partnering in a white label fun and novelty bets venture launched in May.
Centrebet has switched to Orbis Openbet software.
Backroom Gaming.com's site is progressing well. With a launch scheduled for September this year, the well put together site will be offering a range of casino, poker, sportsbook, mobile (currently on beta test) skill games and fun games (from Arcade Town) and is signing up players now. |
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