Nigeria Casinos

Nigeria is a country in Africa that has legalized gambling in casinos. The first and the largest of the two Nigeria casinos is in the NICON Hilton Abuja, located in the center of the business area of the capital city and known as the city’s top hotel, especially due to its spectacular city views. Executive guests have their own VIP room and the hotel provides a free continental breakfast.

For business people, the Hilton Abuja has twenty-three meeting rooms within its business center, which are all equipped with wireless Internet connections, as well as a conference hall that will seat up to 1,200. The Hilton Abuja also houses a swimming pool, three squash courts, and a fitness center with massage facilities and a sauna. During the weekends, guests can enjoy live entertainment and the carnival-like atmosphere of the country.

The Hilton Abuja boasts numerous dining facilities. There is a café for quick meals and a restaurant that provides Oriental cuisine and Mongolian fare, all with an a la carte menu and themed buffets. There is also a piano room with live music that you can enjoy, along with the available snacks. Then, there is the Zuma Restaurant which offers romantic dining overlooking the hotel’s central courtyard and water fountain. In addition, there is the Capital Bar offering various snacks and live music. The hotel offers a lot of amenities including a barbershop, a beauty salon, gift shop, florist, playground, children’s menus, and a large variety of children’s activities.

The Le Meridien Eko Hotel and Casino is the second of the Tunisia casinos and is open daily from 10 am to 6 am. It has fifteen gaming tables including blackjack, roulette, and poker. The hotel also has 605 rooms including five suites, all with their own Internet Broadband access. The casino has a casual dress code and is English speaking. Fortunately, this casino is conveniently located only 20 miles from the airport, providing its guests easy access.

The Le Meridien Eko Hotel and Casino is situated in Lagos in the city’s most important business district. The hotel overlooks Kuramo Lake and the Atlantic Ocean, offering stunning views for its guests. The hotel offers many amenities including a baby sitting service, a business center, gift shop, barbershop, health club, swimming pool, and tennis court, to name but a few. There are also three restaurants, all serving international cuisine, and bars onsite for the convenience of the hotel guests.

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 Gambling 6 Comments

Casino Games History or How People Have Learnt to Count Cards; Part 2

Thorp’s Era.

If you don't know, now we are living in 43th year of Thorp's era. This person had such a great influence on the blackjack and all the gambling industry, that I seriously consider that he is worth of setting up a monument while alive, by the way at the casino's expense.

Being a young scientist, Edward O. Thorp regularly read mathematic journals. When he was a student, he was pressed for money. The idea of outplaying the casino on the basis of calculations appealed to Thorp and he decided to check the results of the "excellent four" and see what will come out of it. The result of his activity was a phenomenal book Beat The Dealer, now its sales are approaching million of samples.

Thorp chose the other way – he did not make analytical calculations, but with powerful at that time computer IBM (they were also called mainframe) he wrote several programs on Fortran, creating quite original methods for 60s. By the way, Thorp together with his research instructor Claude Elwood Shannon, a great scientist, were also involved in solving the problem ″how to outplay the roulette?″

From his calculations Thorp understood that dead cards had a considerable affect on the gambler's chances this or that way. His main idea was about memorizing the dead cards in somewhat simplified way and when the situation is beneficial for the player, make high stakes. By the way, this system still remains the basis of any methods and counting systems of blackjack.

The counting system introduced by Thorp, was rather complicated for usage in real casinos, required great concentration and large amount of mentally arithmetic actions. However with good training there was nothing impossible in its application.

Thorp's book immediately became a success and bestseller. Everyone understood that with quite simple actions you can get an advantage. Every reader dreamt of enormous prizes. However, the casinos also knew the score.

Panic seized them. And in 1962 after Thorp's book, all Las Vegas Casinos without exception changed their rules being afraid of mass influx of ″system players″. The quality of the rules worsened terribly and no counting system could ever help you to win. Though the effect for casino turned out to be quite unpredictable and reverse - people stopped playing blackjack. And during several months, all the casinos had to return to the former rules for their own survival.

Another interesting effect caused by Thorp's book- incredible popularity of blackjack outrunning the favorite American craps. A lot of people, after reading the book considered themselves potential winners and rushed to the blackjack tables. However, most of them had a bad understanding of the mathematical principles of the game did not become winners but quite vice versa. Therefore, casino got more clients and moreover losing clients. Since then their number is only increasing.

The system presented in the first edition of Thorp's book was quite difficult even for professionals and only the few could apply it under the conditions of a real game. Something should be simplified.

The power behind the throne.

Julian Braun is quite a unique personality. He had hardly ever played a deal in real blackjack. But he played millions and maybe even billions of deals on the computer. Braun was a good mathematician and programmer and he got interested in Thorp’s idea and offered him cooperation in the sphere of calculations and programming.

Braun became the person who first invented the counting system Hi-Lo. He was behind the development of all modern systems the authorship of which belongs to Revere, Humble, Wong and Uston. He wrote the only book How to Play Winning Blackjack, but what a book!

Braun upgraded Thorp's system on FORTRAN and made considerable changes and the second edition of Thorp's book also contained Hi-Lo system in its modern form. It was quite a revolution in gambling world. Braun worked in IBM corporation and had access to probably most powerful computers of that time. This fact helped to build simple and efficient tool in struggle with casino.

Using Braun's calculations the gambler mostly known as Lawrence Revere developed his own counting system and presented his results in the form of convenient tables which are applied in most counters of the world. Lance Humble based his HiOpt systems on Braun's experience. Regardless the fact that Julian most probably had never been to the casino, he became a power behind the throne of the blackjack and all the mathematical modeling of the game fell on him.

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Monday, April 27th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

Safe Port Act - How It Affects Live Casino Play

Will the recent US legislation, as part of the Safe Port Act on Internet Gambling for Americans, reduce the growth of Vegas poker players?

The legislation prohibits banks from processing deposits for online for American online gambling. Many major online casinos have decided to preclude players residing in the United States from playing anymore. With these larger online poker sites, like Party Poker, which is a publicly held company, the decision usually stems from having the best interest of their stock holders in mind.

Two Las Vegas Companies, MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment will most likely be greatly affected by the Safe Port Act on Internet Gambling for Americans because they have hosted many of the tournaments for the large World Poker Tours which gain many entrants through the internet.

As many as 50% of the entrants in the tournaments come from entries into the Poker Tournaments through these major online poker sites. With the previous easy accessibility to poker gambling through the internet, the increase in live casino poker players to Las Vegas had increased. Now with the bill being approved, the number of Americans playing online may significantly diminish and as a result a potential decrease in new live casino players.

However, we think poker playing online for Americans will not die as there are still plenty of reputable online casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks, both large and small, where it is business as usual and that are still accepting US Players.

Sunday, April 26th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

History of Online Casino

Online casino is a derivation of the land-based traditional casino, also known as virtual casinos or gambling sites and providing diverse games or a single one depending on the website operation, franchise, etc. The online casino offers generally better odds than land-based casinos for games such as slot machines where the chances of winning are regulated by the house, the so-called house advantage.

On August 18, 1995 the world’s first online casino debuted, Internet Casinos, Inc. (ICI) operating with 18 different casino games and for the first time offering also online access to the National Indian Lottery. However, since the early days ICI operates out of the Turks and Caicos Islands, outside the United States to avoid government prosecution.

Also, in the mid 90’s, two other online casino's made their debut claiming to be the first; The Gaming Club and Intertops casino and sports book, which in fact launched the first online sports book before Internet Casinos, Inc.. Building a reputable service with reliable payouts, high security, efficient customer support, and serving a large number of customers excited with this new gambling modality, the online casino succeeded.

The spring of 1996 brought into the gambling scene a second sports book planning to launch an online casino as they did. The Interactive Gaming & Communications Corp. (SBET), soon becoming a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ. The financial success of this online casino is not only the internet, but also the acceptance of bettors’ sports wagers via telephone calls to Antigua on a toll free line via satellite.

Due the American gambling laws of regulations, the online casino industry has been developed mainly from the Caribbean Islands nations, as well as from Asian and European countries where even governments have also entered the business holding their own gambling sites, like Liechtenstein’s government operating an online international lottery, not only in German but in six different languages to drive international traffic.

Atlantis, was the first online casino based in Great Britain and licensed by the Isle of Man, an inspirational fact that made Sol Kerzner, its owner, develop a new concept in online gambling; the thematic online casino.

Today, this online casino has become one of a kind offering from five-figure slots payouts and progressives, offering free trips to Atlantis, the Paradise Island in Bahamas, and property of Mr. Kerzner. Atlantis was also the first casino recognizing the importance of players introducing the VIP program, exclusive for London Club's Members.

According to Rolling Good Times Online, a popular gambling magazine, currently there are 452 gambling-related sites on the internet with thousands of subsidiaries, affiliates, franchises and co-branded sites, and the overall market for online gambling is estimated at approximately $49 billion worldwide on average.

Sunday, April 26th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

Oklahoma Casinos

The state of Oklahoma is widely known for the outdoor recreation and recreational activities it can offer residents and visitors. The state boasts beautiful lakes, mountains and camping areas as well as first-class museums and cultural events. Oklahoma is rich with culture, too. With several Native American reservations, the State of Oklahoma is a true cultural experience. It is within these reservations that Oklahoma casinos thrive.

The work ″Oklahoma″ is from the Choctaw Indian word ″okla humma″, which means the ″land of the red people″. Oklahoma is located in the western south-central United States. Kansas, Colorado and Missouri border the state to the north, Texas to the south, New Mexico to the west, and Arkansas to the east. The capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City, which is the center point of the state and the most heavily populated city within the state. Oklahoma ranks 28th in population in the United States and about 3.4 million people reside there.

Oklahoma offers both residents and visitors a wide range of recreational activities. The state boasts more man-made lakes than any other state in the United States. This makes outdoor sports such as boating and fishing very popular. In addition, the Arbuckle Mountains and many state parks draw visitors to outdoor activities such as camping and hiking.

In addition to the outdoor recreation that the state offers, Oklahoma is well known for its casinos. Oklahoma casinos can be found on Indian reservations across the state. While gambling is not legal outside of the reservations, the casinos within the reservations draw a large amount of tourists. With a change in gambling laws in the state, the Indian casinos are booming, since they are now able to offer gamblers Blackjack, Poker and Las Vegas-style slot machines. Craps and Roulette are still not allowed in Oklahoma casinos, but that could change.

Many of the visitors to Oklahoma casinos are Texans. Gambling is not legal in Texas and the other closest casinos are located in Shreveport, Louisiana where the drive is much longer. The two largest and most popular Oklahoma casinos are the Choctaw Casino and the WinStar Casino. The Chickasaw Nation, which is just north of the north Texas Metroplex area, operates both of these casinos, Oklahoma casinos are located throughout the state and are expected to raise billions for the state. Oklahoma casinos offer easy gambling access to visitors that live near the state.

Friday, April 24th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

The Healthy Gambler

In our day and age gambling is very popular. The problem is that many still see it as being wrong. Let's face it, the utmost human instinct is searching and wanting the easy potential gain. Rare are those who will refuse the luck of winning extra cash. No effort, easy money!!!

So what exactly is wrong with gambling? Well, the problem is that some people gamble irresponsibly. Meaning they wager money they just don't have. The potential gain takes control of their fragile intelligence. They lose control, and even sanity. This is unfortunate, because gambling is really fun and entertaining.

I personally like to gamble. If I have extra money, sometimes I go see a movie, a theatre show, play golf, go carting, go to theme parks, or anywhere else where I can have fun and decompress. The casino is no different than any other activity I just motioned. Why? Because in every case, I pay an entry fee and have fun. The healthy gambler should too be responsible enough to limit himself to a fixed entry fee depending on his or her financial status.

So my advice to every gambler in the world, Fix yourself an entry fee. If by chance or skill you win money, consider it a bonus. When your entry fee has been lost, be responsible enough to go home with the satisfaction of having played a good game. Be content and entertained. Go home with your chin up, love your spouse and spend time your family.

And remember, gambling is just an entertainment.

Someone who gives a dam, Joe Bourdages Trois9trois@hotmail.com http://www.393casino.com

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 Gambling No Comments

Do Sports Betting Systems Really Help You Win?

Everyone who is involved in any kind of gaming, gambling, or betting as heard the stories of legendary people who have supposedly created the next foolproof betting system and have used the system themselves to help them to avoid losing and get higher profits over the long haul. The fact is that there is not a system in existence that can guarantee you that you will definitely be successful and never lose.

Still, there are tons of bettors looking through rose colored glasses for the holy grail of betting systems that will let them make money without risking any. Well, there is a way to do that and it is called work! Gambling is called gambling for a reason, it's risky. Let's take a look at some sports betting systems.

The Parlay System is one of the most famous of betting systems that are commonly used in horse racing. Many have said that contrary to other sports betting systems, the Parlay System has a pyramiding effect on your profit which means your winnings are played on successive wagers.

Following the philosophy of pyramiding, what happens in this system is that you place a bet and if you come out a winner you re-invest the winnings on the next wager. So in horse racing, for example, you simply let it ride. Also, unlike the other betting systems, the Parlay System offers a lower amount of risk of all bettors for because they only need be concerned with a win, place or show selection or a combination thereof.

The Martingale System is probably the most famous sports betting system on the planet and actually has nothing to do with choosing the winner of an event but is more concerned with the right odds and money lines. It seems that the gist of the system is that it looks at the statistical probabilities of how many times in a row one may lose and is put into action by placing a bet and then betting again if you win.

On the other hand if you were to lose then you would wager twice what your original bet was. According to proponents of the system, this strategy will eventually enable you to win the bets you place and when you win you would recover all your lost bets plus one unit profit against your initial wager.

The Paroli System, of all the famed sports betting systems, is thought to be opposite that of Martingale. Where the difference lies is on the scheme that with the Paroli System, you start with one wager and then up the wager when you win rather than with a loss. This system lets the profit run and cut short the losses, which makes it appealing due to the fact that you don't have to have a lot of money to be able to use it effectively.

Monday, April 20th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

The Legalities of Online Poker

Although gambling is decidedly legal in the United States, not all websites that offer online gambling have legal permits. Besides, gambling especially casinos are strictly regulated in the US, perhaps even more so than in other countries in the world.

The same cannot be said of online gambling. Unlike countries in Europe and in the United Kingdom, online gambling in the United States has not merited any attention yet. In fact, there is no particular law regulating the online gambling process.

This can be quite confusing for online gamblers. While they won't get into too much trouble because as mentioned, states are just starting to develop regulations for online gambling, gamblers are of course still reluctant to participate if there are potential legal issues.

Potential risks

Basically, only operators of online gambling sites can get into trouble if they don't have licenses. Players are not actually prohibited to participate in online gambling games although of course there will be risks to their money if they choose to play on sites that don't have permits.

Another risk that players on online gambling sites that do not have permits is the fact that their personal information will be an open book to the operators of the site. If the site turns out to be bogus, this will pose a great risk on the player… that is if he has not already lost his privacy to online hackers which can easily hack the information.

Only operators

Most states are already quite eager to legalize online gambling. However, the government is very cautious on the subject because online gambling sites can be used by money launderers for their illegal operations.

So far, there is no single law in the Unites States that deems playing in online casinos illegal. However, the Wire Act, which is often used or cited in reference to illegal online gambling has a section which says that people who are engaged in the business of online gambling can be fined or imprisoned but the act of course only covers the individual who presides over the business.

This however was cleared up when the US Supreme Court refused to review the case of Jay Cohen. The Wire Act, it seems, does not prohibit Internet gambling. This decision was upheld by the US Fifth Circuit Federal Appeals Court, which stated that "the Wire Act concerns gambling on sporting events or contests…"

One of the bills that are filed in Iowa by James Leach, inhibits people to gamble online although there is nothing in the bill that criminalizes the act. Several bills have in fact been proposed, targeting online wagers and online gambling. There are however no bills that have so far targeted the players. It seems that although some would like to discourage the proliferation of gambling sites and the participation of people in online gambling, no one wants to make it a criminal act.

For some states, online gambling per se is illegal but the letter of the law does not penalize the players but the perpetrators. A long as players remain only players in the game and do not act as a bookie, an agent, or an owner, then there will be no problem with the existing law. This is of course true with all online games including online poker.

Sunday, April 19th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

How to Avoid Being Ripped Off by Online Sportsbooks

To say that online sportsbooks are convenient is the understatement of the century. There are people in Las Vegas who use online sportsbooks to place their sports wagers, because it’s quicker than getting in the car and driving five minutes to the nearest sportsbook.

It seems like online sportsbooks are popping up everyday now. I remember when there were just a handful of online sportsbooks. Today, there are hundreds of them. With the onslaught of choices, it’s important to protect yourself from making a bad one. As I’m sure you know, not all online sportsbooks are operating on the up and up.

So, what can you do to avoid being the next helpless victim of online sportsbook fraud? Today, I want to present you with a challenge. Meet this challenge and your chances of being ripped off by an online sportsbook will decrease substantially. The challenge involves collecting bits of information on the online sportsbook before placing a wager.

Here are the pieces of information you should know before you deposit one penny into any online sportsbook. First, find the name of the company that owns the online sportsbook. Once you have this information, find out whether they have a physical address.

See where this company is located and do a search to see what else they are associated withâ€"such as more gambling properties, something shady or whatever. You definitely don’t want to give your sports betting business to any company that’s not highly visible. If you can’t find information about the company without hiring a private investigator, you need to move on.

Here’s another idea. Email the online sportsbook and ask them for their company information and see what comes back. You also want to know how long their company has been in business and how long the online sportsbook has been in operation. Be cautious of any online sportsbook that you can’t verify all this information.

Once you’ve moved past this point, it’s time to do some searching. The first thing I would do is click over to a couple of search engines, type in the company name and see what comes up. I’d also do the name of the sportsbook and the domain name.

It’s your hard earned money at stake. You can never been too cautious or too diligent in your research. Do business with highly visible companies with a proven track record and you’ll have a great shot of living a happy online sports betting life. Good luck!

Saturday, April 18th, 2009 Gambling No Comments

Top 5 Pro Roulette Tips

A certain part of every gambling aficionado's brain is devoted to the fantasy of being a really accomplished roulette player. It's a sexy mental image to cling to: strutting confidently into some swank casino on the French Riviera, placing obscenely dangerous bets on the spin of the wheel and coming up winners time and again. Who wouldn't want to live out that kind of scenario?

Sadly, those scenarios are more often found in James Bond films than in real life. Roulette is a tricky and often tremendously punishing game of chance. Yet it continues to cast a powerful spell, as it always has. Derived from the French word for ″small wheel," roulette has a rich history and the style of game play has undergone remarkably few changes since its invention.

A croupier spins a wheel that has 37 or 38 separately numbered pockets where the ball must land. The main pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 and alternate between red and black, with number 1 being red. There is a green pocket numbered 0. Roulette wheels in the United States contain an additional compartment marked 00, also green. Whoever added the double-zero slot much have figured the French are just wimps.

If a player bets on a single number and wins, the payout is 35 to 1. The bet itself is returned, so in total it is multiplied by 36. A player has the freedom to bet on numbers, combinations, ranges, odds/evens and colors.

American roulette uses so-called "non-value" chips, meaning that all chips belonging to the same player are of the same value determined at the time of the purchase and the player cashes in the chips at the roulette table. European roulette uses standard casino chips of differing values as bets, which can make the game more confusing for both the croupier and the players. That's the old world for you.

As you embark on your secret mission toward success in the cruel world of the spinning roulette wheel, you may want to keep in mind the following tips:

1.) The house average or house edge is the amount the player loses relative to a bet, on average. If a player bets on a single number there is a probability of 1/38 that the player receives 36 times the bet (35 times the bet plus the return of the bet itself), so the player ends up, on average, losing 5.26% on each bet

2.) The hold is the total amount that the house wins from a player. While the house might have an edge of 5.26%, if a player keeps playing until his or her bankroll is exhausted, the house will enjoy a hold of 100%.

3.) Tiers (French for "the third") refers to the numbers which lie on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33, including 27 and 33 themselves

4.) Voisins (which means "Neighbors") is a name for the numbers which lie between 22 and 25 on the wheel, including 22 and 25 themselves.

5.) Orphelins (yup, "Orphans") are numbers make up the two areas of the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins. They contain a total of eight numbers, the Orphans comprising 17, 34, 6 and the Orphelins being 1, 20, 14, 31, 9.

Saturday, April 18th, 2009 Gambling No Comments