BetJamaica’s General Manager Scotty Johnson, strangely enough does NOT sport dreadlocks. That’s a good thing too as Joe has little patience for white non-Jamaican dudes that try to cop the whole rasta vibe. And, as much as we really like the man, Scotty in dreads would look about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. But, we digress.

So, Scotty takes us on the grand tour and it is evident at first glance that BetJamaica has continued to grow and strengthen since our last trip down. There are new offices being built out to host additional customer service and support personnel. We see a number of additional stations going in to seat more betting clerks. More and faster servers as well as the latest in updated internet security hardware are being installed. All in all, it’s evident that business is booming down here on the island. And, it’s clear that the guys at BetJamaica are not resting on their laurels. They’re doing whatever it takes to continue improving their already stellar sports betting services.

That level of commitment to providing the best for their players is one of the main reasons that BetJamaica is considered by sports bettors around the world to be one of only a few elite online sportsbook operations. They are fast on posting their lines, quick to grade wagers and even faster to resolve any rare problems that may arise. And, in terms of deposits and withdrawals, not many online gaming operations come close to BetJam’s banking. Lightning fast payouts, free sportsbook-to-sportsbook transfers, and multiple easy deposit methods are BetJamaica hallmarks.

If you’re looking for a place to bet on sports of any kind; and, if you’re not allergic to professional, personalized service and attention, then you really need to give BetJamaica a closer look. And, when you sign up, be sure to tell ‘em we sent you … there’s some free deposit bonus money waiting for you!

Lesseters has a brilliant account setup process, which any player can learn and use. The first step is to download the software and install it on your computer.  Next, players sign up for membership and become acquainted with the deposit systems. As per Lasseters rules, 100% match bonuses are deposited into members accounts as soon as they are registered.

Bonus wagering requirements are at 10x the deposit plus bonus, and are applicable to several games such as Slots, Video Poker, and Scratch Cards. Blackjack is applicable to meeting the wager requirement, but requires 20x play rather than 10x.

The game platform uses its own self-contained browser window, which makes you feel as if you are playing right in the casino. It also offers shockwave and java version software, but with fewer capabilities and options than the downloadable version. One of the many pleasant options available with Lasseter’s games is one that allows you to add your favorite game to your “My Games” list.

Among the selection of 40+ online casino games, the slot machines are the most popular at Lasseters. Table games such as Roulette, Sic Bo, Blackjack and Baccarat are also offered.

The way the online roulette wheel spins at Lasseter’s is one of excellent design. Usually, in online roulette games, you practically have to use a magnifying glass to see where the ball lands. However, at Lasseters the roulette wheel has large numbered slots that show up nicely.

Lasseters also has a grand selection of scratch-and-win cards, which normally isn’t the case at an online casino.  It will be a refreshing experience for you at Lasseters – You can chat live with a customer service representative who will be more than willing to give helpful advice on how to get started playing, troubleshooting, and/or resolving deposit issues if they so happen to come up.

The announcement came amidst a storm of displeasure from several Aussie racing tracks and bookies who must now compete with one of the world’s best land based and online betting exchanges, something that will no doubt cut into their profit margins thanks to the fact that it is so popular.  Now, gamblers can bet on both winners and losers in a game – something which BetFair has been ever so successful at exploiting, as a unique selling point which other bookies are just not offering to their customers.

Further fuelling the fear for thier competitors is BetFair’s outstanding track record of being a socially minded betting operator.  They are not at all like those online casinos who would gladly steal a penny when someone’s back is turned, and this means that they have a good, strong reputation with no need to worry about safety or reliability for any players who come to their site. In many industries brand really is everything, and that is something that is also true for the online casino and betting side of things. You can be sure of getting an online casino bonus or two with them as well!

The Tasmanian government, however, luckily sees the productivity and potential of allowing BetFair to operate from their area.  Not only is the government working on an interactive gambling package for cable television (with PBL, who is partnering with BetFair on this deal), they also stand to receive 35% of the profit that BetFair generates. This will go towards bettering local areas and improving services such as schools, hospitals, police and fire services, and other key parts of the community which could certainly help the locals and give them a better quality of life overall.

It looks like a case of online casino games for the reality TV star and singer for the duration of her stay in the city, as a security guard named Sam refused to accept her ID as proof of age. Despite the fact that she is in fact twenty eight years old –a full ten over the minimum Australian gambling age of eighteen – she was not granted access to the venue and was turned away, though it remains to be seen whether her ID was actually one that should have got her in or not.

”In disbelief at how rude the security guard ‘Sam’ at the Star casino AU was to me & my friends for NO reason he is a first class tw*t!” Osbourne tweeted after the event, during part of a trip to Australia in which she has given a host of interviews and taken part in a glamorous photo shoot. ”All I did was show him my ID to get into the casino he called me a liar & treated me like i was a criminal! (sic)”

It has been all go for the Osbourne family in general of late: with Ozzy falling off the wagon and starting to use drink and drugs again, he and wife Sharon have been living apart for a few months now – and their beloved family pet Maggie, a Japanese Chen dog who starred along with them in the television show which brought them firmly into the public eye, recently died, leaving all of them reportedly devastated. Of course, with the Osbournes you are never quite sure what is real and what is just a new gimmick to launch one or the other of thems’ newest television show or other venture!

With the majority of Australian adults already taking part in online casino games, it is possible to see that there is room for competition in the country in the land based stakes, as the monopoly which Echo Entertainment holds for their Star Casino in Sydney means that residents have one choice and one choice only. Now they have used the route of filing a plan through the unsolicited proposal regime for projects of state significance, which is exactly the same route that Crown went for in order to propose the $1 billion hotel and casino resort in Bangaroo. Premier Barry O’Farrell has acknowledged that only one of the two plans would be able to proceed to the third stage of the approval process, because the Crown plan relies heavily on being able to end the exclusivity agreement when the original terms expire.

Echo chief executive John Redmond said yesterday: “Echo looks forward to the opportunity to work collaboratively with the NSW government to develop a compelling proposal that could result in major additional investment in tourism infrastructure in the heart of Sydney’s tourism precinct of Darling Harbour and Pyrmont.”

Crown did not issue a comment, but we know that both of the proposals are now going to be looked at by the Future Fund chairman, David Murray, and we await his word; it seems that his report will now be delayed until the end of May, which is two months later than it was originally planned to be released. Opposition leader John Robertson has said that the O’Farrell government “dropped the ball when it comes to due process” and give his opinion that “what Sydney doesn’t need is another poker machine museum”. We will need to follow this closely as it unfolds to see what direction the decision will go in.

Packer met with ministers in Sri Lanka this week in order to discuss the kinds of hotel and entertainment investment options that might be on offer, according to officials in the country. “They have not finalised the area and the amount they are going to invest. The government has asked them to come up with a proposal,” Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Investment Promotion, said on Wednesday. “The government proposed [for] them to invest in a large city hotel in Colombo and go to Trincomalee to look into possible investment opportunities.”

Some have been surprised by this move; many analysts had thought that Packer would be looking more towards Southeast Asia and the investment opportunities that lie there, but it may be that he is trying to get the jump on an area that has not yet been targeted by other investors. “It’s probably not a bad move in some ways,” said Akshay Chopra, a portfolio manager with Karara Capital who was able to visit the country in December. “The Sri Lankan government is making a lot of changes, you’ve got China investing a lot of money in Sri Lanka, building a lot of infrastructure and you’re close to India and a big gaming market there.”

For the third richest man in Australia, it may well be that the world is his oyster, and so choosing somewhere a little unexpected is the kind of risk that he can afford to take. After all, somewhere like Sri Lanka can have a lot to offer: even the very best online casino cannot replicate the scenery or the shores that will await guests in that country, so it will have a real appeal for those who love to gamble on holiday.

It seems that there is a real appeal to online casino games as opposed to the alternative, judging by the figures which have been recorded. Since September 2010 the total amount bet on all forms of gambling by players from Australia has been falling; while $20 billion was spent in that year, up to September, the same period for the year 2012 showed just $16.9 billion being spent. In the past year alone that accounts for a drop of more than $1.6 billion.

However, that is the gambling market as a whole, and when you look at online casinos instead on their own the picture is a much brighter one. In 2010, online betting made up just $928 million of the nationwide market; by September of 2012, that figure had already surpassed the $1.2 billion mark, a huge increase which shows a lot of promise for the industry as a whole. We can also see that the bulk of gaming revenue still comes from the pokies, with $10.2 billion of the overall figure coming from these games, which makes the switch to online gaming revenues even more understandable: there is a huge draw behind the online versions of these games, which are so much more accessible and come in a wider range of themes, set ups, special features, and of course jackpots, allowing players to get more out of them than they would in the average land based casino – though you can also find them in bars, hotels, and clubs throughout Australia due to their overwhelming popularity. This has certainly translated to the online side of things too, with many online casinos reporting that they see most business in this area.

It looks as though the casino, once it does go ahead, will be run under the same regulatory agreements as the current situation with Echo Entertainment’s Star complex, and it will be built at the Barangaroo development site to the west of Sydney’s central business complex. “Any new VIP-only facility will not be operational before the existing exclusivity agreement expires on 14 November 2019,” read an email statement sent from O’Farrell’s spokesperson, Cameron Hamilton. The rival casinos will therefore face one another over the Sydney Harbour.

It seems like a big risk to take, making plans this far ahead; there are already problems across the world for land based casinos, with online casino games rightfully becoming much more popular and stealing a huge chunk of the market from the land based casinos to cause failure in some cases. Echo Entertainment paid one hundred million Australian dollars for the twelve year license that they currently still hold back in 2007, and the terms of the agreement then stated that they would have the only casino in Sydney during that time, a promise that is going to be upheld. However, after that time it seems as though all bets will be off, and the Crown complex may well be followed by a string of other casinos if the government can make the proposition attractive enough in terms of license fees and tax rates. If gambling rates fall enough by that time, however, we may end up not seeing a Crown Casino in Sydney at all – and many analysts believe that they will indeed fall whilst rising in the online sector.

While you can count on Australian online casinos to be better than the real thing in most cases, this is perhaps one area in which they might find themselves defeated. The ship is going to cost as much as £400 million to build, and while that may not seem like much in terms of the costs of modern casinos in most parts of the world these days, it is certainly a huge amount for a cruise liner. There has been a lot of speculation of whether the project can really go ahead, but Palmer dismissed all doubts with a single word at the conference: “Bull***.”

The magnate is still insistent that the replica ship will be ready to set sail in 2016, reassuring those who questioned him that it is going to go ahead no matter what. ‘This is not a fantasy, this is not a movie. This is going to happen,’ he added. It may well sound like something out of a movie – especially when you have the straight talking and just occasionally crazy sounding Palmer as the spokesperson – but if the project does go ahead, you can be sure that the casino area is going to be absolutely spectacular.

The details of the original ship are going to be copied right down to fine details: there will be a working gymnasium equipped with only Edwardian exercise machines, with all of the famous rooms put together to capture their former glory – and there will even be period costumers available for passengers.

One of the great things about Australian online casinos is that you do not have to claim your winnings or physically take them out of the casino with you, as if you do not use them up or withdraw them they will simply sit in your account for the duration of the life of the casino site until such a time as you remember to go and use them again. It is not the case in land based casinos, as this teenager found – and she thought that when a customer did not take their winnings with them nor return to claim them, they were supposed to be shared out between the staff. When a customer left $24 behind, Jamie Gwen Hammond, eighteen years old, split the money between herself and another worker and considered her job done.

Why would she think such a thing, when the law actually requires the money to be paid into the Pub Charity Trust’s bank account? Well, it seems that on a prior occasion her former manager had shared out $320 in unclaimed winnings amongst her staff as bonus money, which she should not have done – and so it was Hammond’s training which was to blame for the mix up rather than any bad intentions. She was fired for taking the money, and David Appleton from the New Zealand’s Employment Relations Authority decided to take up here case. He said: “That… should have convinced a fair and reasonable employer not to have dismissed Ms Hammond, but rather to have instituted training for the staff if the approach Ms Hammond had learned from Ms X was viewed as wrong.”