Let your mouth speak archive

We’ve all been too busy trying to keep up with Charlie Sheen’s antics to find out if the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men will continue without him and it looks like the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, has his eye on Rob Lowe as a possible replacement and according to People Magazine he also got the green light from Charlie Sheen.

Can Two and a Half Men go on without Charlie? Well, currently, that’s the plan according to the show’s creator Chuck Lorre who apparently has been considering both Lowe and John Stamos for the role. It looks like he’s not going to give up on his cash cow that easily.

Rumors about Stamos joining the show turned out to be just that and since he’s no longer in the running, Rob Lowe is now seriously being considered. It could be a good fit since he’s been showing off his comedic chops on Parks and Recreation and who could forget his role on Austin Powers.

Lowe and Sheen are friends it seems and according to a recent radio broadcast Sheen told K-Earth 101, “He’s a buddy of mine, he’s a beautiful man, a brilliant actor and I hope he does it and kicks its ass because I still get paid.”

Entertainment Weekly explained how Sheen’s contract is believed to include payment for any unproduced episodes remaining from this season as well as next season, meaning that he’ll still get the $1.2 million per episode.

Currently Lowe is tied into a contract with NBC’s Parks & Recreation and is also part of Californication on Showtime. Will he let it all go for a shot at Two and a Half Men?

Clearly, the UK leads all European countries in legalizing, regulating, and bringing respectability to online gambling. Italy, in taking careful yet determined steps towards legalizing its own online gambling industry, is a close second.

Three years since setting on liberalizing its policy towards online cash games, a landmark day has arrived. Although most news from Italy seem to involve Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - "scandal", "women" and the 18-year old Karima El Mahroug, aka "Ruby" are tied to web searches for Berlusconi - March is when online casino and poker cash games are actually legal in the country.
The Law

The relevant legal decree was published in February 2011, but will be applicable only now. The first sites to offer cash games are made available these days.

Online poker, the first to be allowed for cash online, is limited with two major provisions:

* Online poker satellite and tournaments are allowed up to €250, and
* At least 90% of the amount collected from players must be paid back.


Italy's government charges a 20% tax on gross gaming receipts.
The European Market

Italy is prepared to tap into the European online gambling industry, estimated at $12.5 billion.

Other countries likely to liberalize their laws and join in on the fun are Germany, Spain and Switzerland, among others.

South African citizens have been waiting for months to find out the ruling on the legality of online gambling in their country.While this recommendation was being considered, the South African Government had banned online gambling totally starting with the case where Piggs Peak Casino was offering online gaming to SA residents and were shut out which prompted them to take the case to the High Court. The High Court decided against the Swaziland based Casino group, Piggs Peak and ruled that ALL online gaming was now banned in South Africa.

Now, according to alleged sources in the Gambling Review Commission, which is headed up by Ms. Astrid Ludin and a few others, who have had this piece of legislation on their desk for months now, and decided back in August to delay their decision has finally sent their recommendations to the South African Government. Their final decision will include all aspects of online gambling including, casinos, land based and online horseracing. Once the announcement is made, we will report their findings and any feedback that comes from Piggs Peak or any other gambling entity including SA residents.

Mel Gibson is probably pretty happy with Charlie Sheen right now. Sheen has been the center of a celebrity media frenzy that has taken focus off of Mel Gibson's criminal case. It is being reported that Gibson will plead no contest to simple battery against his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

Although Gibson has always claimed he never struck Grigorieva, there is audio tape of him telling her that she "deserved it."

After the release of the audio tapes via Radaronline, the LAPD launched a domestic violence investigation.

Grigorieva is heard on one of the tapes asking what kind of man could hit a woman who is holding a baby.

"You know what?" Mel tells Oksana. "You ************************ing deserved it."

Other damning tapes revealed Gibson yelling racist and sexist remarks at Grigorieva at one point, yelling, "I will bury you in the rose garden."

Mel's camp is claiming that by pleading no contest in the case, Mel is not admitting guilt, but sparing his family the media circus that would surely ensue if the case went to trial. The 55-year-old actor was expected to be formerly charged with misdemeanor battery at some point this week. A trial most likely would have dragged on for over a year and the plea deal involves no jail time.

Mel's lawyer Blair Berk says, "I know from almost 20 years as a criminal defense lawyer that sometimes justice can come for a client at too high a personal price. That is particularly so for Mel, whose right to due process can only be exercised in this case with an enormous media circus attached… Mel's priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter Lucia and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made. It is with only that in mind that he asked me to approach the District Attorney with a proposal that would bring all of this to an immediate end."

Gibson alleges that 40-year-old Grigorieva tried to extort him and the Los Angeles district's attorney office has not yet revealed as to whether or not she'll be charged.

What do you think? Should Gibson get off the hook without jail time? Sound off in our comments section! Meanwhile, Bodog has all your celebrity and television betting. Who will win Dancing with the Stars and American Idol? Get all your odds in the Bodog Sportsbook today.

Gambling opponents for years have been coming up with reasons why gambling expansion would be bad for their state. Florida, however, has over one billion reasons to be thankful that lawmakers in their state were progressive thinkers towards the gaming industry.

The Florida Lottery has been down for the past couple of years due to the economic recession, and a recent report indicated that the Lottery's profits dropped by $41 million in the last fiscal year. Despite that bad news, it was also reported that the Lottery transferred over $1 billion to the state educational fund.

"Even at a time when the lottery in Florida is struggling, it is still providing over a billion dollars to education," said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. "That, in itself is amazing, and then you throw in the fact that legalized casino gambling has contributed millions more, and it is easy to see why gambling expansion has become so popular in the US."

Lottery officials in Florida are blaming the economy for the drop in sales, but competition has become a greater contributor to declining revenue as well in recent years. Last year, the state completed an agreement with the Seminoles Indians that allowed the tribe to offer blackjack at five of their seven casinos in the Sunshine State.

Pari-mutuels also received some benefits from that compact, with legislators crafting new laws regarding wager limits and hours of operation for the pari-mutuel facilities. The tax rate on the revenue was also lowered as part of that new law.

In 2011, lawmakers are looking to take it one step further. A proposal has been offered that would authorize five new casino resorts in Florida. The resorts would be allowed to have no less than 1,000 hotel rooms, and would provide meeting space for the state to attract large conferences.

A devastated-looking Ashthon Jones was given the boot after earning so-so reviews on her performance of Diana Ross’ “When You Tell Me That You Love Me" – a song that judge Jennifer Lopez said that not too many people knew. Although the coveted "judges save" was in play, everyone knows they ain't gonna use it on the first ousted contestant.

"Ok. Thank you," Jones said after Lopez broke the news that they had unanimously decided not to use the save on her.

"You know I was rooting for you, baby," Lopez said.

So alas, the 24-year-old who currently resides in Nashville, TN, who has a confidence judges had applauded on the performance episode, was sent packing. Joining her in the bottom three were 21-year-old Karen Rodriguez, from New York, NY, and 20-year-old Haley Reinhart, from Wheeling, IL.

Meanwhile, Ryan Seacrest announced that Bodog's 9/2 American Idol favorite Casey Abrams had been hospitalized, but didn't specify what his condition was.

"You'll notice that Casey is missing from the group. He is unfortunately sick and in the hospital right now," Seacrest said. "Wave to him. We know you're watching buddy, feel better — shout-out to the nurses. Get back here soon, OK?"

However, it is being reported that Abrams suffers from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory condition that affects the lining of the large intestine and underwent blood transfusions.

After the show, Abrams tweeted, "Hey guys, thanks for the well wishes, I got some nice fresh blood in me and feeling better. People at Idol & Cedars are treatin me real good."

Early this morning, an earthquake registered at 8.9 on the Richter scale hit north-eastern Japan causing a tsunami with 10 meter waves to hit the coast. So far, hundreds of deaths have been reported and there are many more missing.

If you live on the west coast of North America, there is currently a tsunami warning in place with fears of disastrous waves making their way to the coast. Travelers are being urged to stay away from Japan as they deal with the remains of the disaster.

According to BBC, this earthquake was the fifth largest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Japanese coast has completely been demolished and from watching one of the many videos online, you can see people on roof tops asking for assistance as their homes have been completely flooded or torn to pieces.

One of the many concerns was the power plant and any leakage of radiation but according to experts, there is no reason to be concerned at the moment.

The CBC reported that the massive waves hit Japan at around 2:46 p.m. local time and struck at a depth of 24 kilometers. The entire north eastern coast of Japan is under water and has been declared a disaster area.

For those needing to get in touch with loved ones in the area can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs but those lines will probably be saturated and on the off chance that your loved ones will have access to a computer, Google has set up a People Finder page which will help locate people in Japan as well as to help provide information of someone you or they may know.

If you're interested in making a donation you can access go to : American Red Cross

The West Virginia Senate closed their legislative session on Saturday by passing a gambling bill aimed at helping race tracks in the state compete with neighboring casinos. The legislation will allow the tracks to upgrade their current slot machines.

The four tracks in the state that have slot machines have been concerned about their ability to compete with casinos in neighboring states due to the age of the slot machines in use. Technology has changed over the past decade, and the tracks were seeking assistance from the government to help pay to upgrade the machines.

The Senate passed the measure Saturday, and now up to $10 million annually can be used from the taxes the casinos pay the state. The money comes as a welcomed relief for the tracks, and state lawmakers are hoping that the new machines will mean an increase in gaming revenue at the tracks.

West Virginia has been one of the dozens of states that have expanded their gaming industries in the past couple of years. The Greenbrier, one of the most famous destinations in the US, added an underground casino last year. Additionally, the betting laws have been loosened to give the gaming facilities more leeway to expand their operations.

Older casinos have been having a hard time competing with the new resorts that are being built across the country. In Las Vegas, the Sahara Hotel and Casino announced this week that they will be closing their doors for good in May. Newer casinos such as the Cosmopolitan and CityCenter have made it difficult for casinos such as the Sahara to attract customers.

The West Virginia law that was passed by the Senate Saturday will now make its way to the Governor, Earl Ray Tomblin. The governor has the power to veto the legislation, but there is no indication that Tomblin will do so.

It’s fairly obvious that if you don’t sleep well at night, you tend to lack of concentration skills the next day, leading you to make lousy decisions. But now a group of scientists have come out to prove this fact by linking gambling and sleep deprivation.

The researchers took 29 healthy adults and deprived them of sleep in a laboratory environment. They then used MRI scans to measure brain activity when they gambled in a bid to see the outcome of their decisions. It was found that sleeplessness affects the brain’s assessment of monetary gains and losses, therefore affecting their ability to make wise judgments about their gambling habits.

The study showed that when the participants were asked to make decisions about money in their gambling activities after a sleepless night, they tried to maximize their winnings and focused less on protecting their potential losses.

“While well rested participants sought to minimize the effect of the worst loss, sleep deprivation caused the same individuals to be less concerned abut losses and to shift to a a strategy that improved the magnitude of the best gain,” said the authors of the study.

Naturally, casinos have known this all along without the need to prove the facts scientifically. It is for that reason that many casinos don’t have windows and instead flood their floors with bright lights to trick your brains into thinking it’s day.

One of the authors of the study, Vinod Venkatraman said: “Late-night gamblers are fighting more than just the unfavorable odds of gambling machines; they are fighting a sleep-deprived brain’s tendency to implicitly seek gains while discounting the impact of potential losses.”

In the Fall, casino executives rejoice at the idea of daylight savings time. When the clocks are set back an hour, it gives gamblers extra time to stay around their favorite casinos. Unfortunately for casinos, that theory runs opposite in the Spring.

On Sunday morning, time will jump forward an hour, causing many gamblers to leave casinos in the US an hour earlier than usual. The change will not affect the younger gamblers, but the seniors who do not want to be out all night.

"I usually stay at the casino on Saturday night's until around midnight," said Stan Nesbert. "This Saturday I'll probably leave around eleven, because I don't want to lose that hour of sleep if I stayed to my usual time. Next week, I'll be back to my normal leaving time."

Many casinos in the country are open twenty-four hours, so the time change does not affect what time they will close. That is not the case with bars. In some jurisdictions, bars must close by 2AM, the official time that the clocks change. That will mean a late night for workers who normally get off their shift and go to the casino.

I go to the casino after work every Saturday," said Jillian Davis, a waitress at a popular South Florida restaurant. "I get to the casino around 2:30, and I stay until four or five. I would imagine I'll do the same this week, but it just means I'll be getting home closer to five or six in the morning."

Casinos cannot afford to lose the extra hour of gambling this year. Hundreds of casinos are still feeling the effects of the economic recession, with revenue figures in decline. Although there has been a slight improvement over the past couple of years, revenue figures around the US still have not returned to the pre-recession levels.

There are not many jurisdictions around the world where the casino gambling issue is not on the front of lawmaker minds. Saipan will become the latest area later this year to have voters decide the gambling issue.

Lawmakers have twice before attempted to have casino gambling legalized through a popular vote, and both times the proposals were rejected. Representative Stanley Torres is leading a charge to see if the third time will be a charm/

Torres is working on an initiative that would authorize casinos on Saipan, and he was set to release the proposal as a bill, but lawmakers urged Torres to seek an initiative instead, and let the voters decide the issue.

Saipan only has twenty-nine representatives, so it made more sense for legislators to allow voters to decide whether they wanted the gaming establishments. Several lawmakers claimed they would not have supported the measure had it come up as a bill instead of an initiative.

Casino gambling has been the key to financial success for many countries in the past decade. Macau became the biggest gambling destination in the world when they opened up their gaming industry to foreign operators. The industry grew at such a pace that the government had to stop any future casino resort construction plans that were not already in the works.

Saipan lawmakers have been trying for several years to bring the casinos to Saipan. The tax revenue that would be created will go towards securing the budget. Those lawmakers still opposed to the plan are concerned about foreign companies coming in to operate the casinos.

A woman has won a High Court appeal after £40,000 in cash, most of it apparently linked to gambling, was seized from her at Gatwick Airport under "proceeds of crime" legislation.

In a ruling which could curb similar seizures in the future, two judges ruled the type of crime suspected of generating the money had not been sufficiently specified so as to justify its forfeiture.

Carol Angus, from Hong Kong, was stopped at the airport in December 2006, and a customs officer found the money in her handbag. It was in 13 bundles, wrapped in a dust cover - £25,000 in Aspinalls Casino wrappings, £5,000 in Gala Casino wrappings and £10,000 unwrapped.

Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex dismissed an appeal by Ms Angus against a magistrates' court order that the cash should be forfeited under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act.

Ms Angus, who has been living in the UK for a number of years, said at the airport the money was the repayment of a loan her property-owning mother had made to an uncle to open a restaurant in the UK.

But later her solicitor said in a letter that £30,000 of the money was repayment of a loan made by Ms Angus to Malaysian national Richard Yong, a keen gambler and frequent visitor to gambling clubs, including Aspinalls.

Upholding the forfeiture order, the crown court said Ms Angus's lies at the airport were "persistent and detailed", and the accounts later given of the origins of the cash by witnesses including Mr Yeung were not credible.

The court concluded there was "an irresistible inference" that the cash was "property obtained through unlawful conduct".

But High Court judges Lord Justice Thomas and Mrs Justice Nicola Davies allowed Ms Angus's renewed appeal.

Ruling the cash forfeiture order under the 2002 Act was flawed, the judge said it was not sufficient for a customs officer to point to criminal conduct of an unspecified kind. The judges will decide on what orders should be made in the light of their ruling at a later date.

From one veteran actor the another, Alec Baldwin is offering some sound advice to actor Charlie Sheen who has been exhibiting some seriously out of control behavior. He wants Charlie to know that he needs to get it together and even beg for his job back if he needs to because he’s not going to win this battle.

Charlie may certainly disagree with Baldwin because whatever is motivating him to campaign against his boss and the world doesn’t seem to be fading away anytime soon. Baldwin’s advice to Charlie according to People Magazine is to, “Take a nap. Get a shower….And then beg for your job back. Your fans demand it. Two and a Half Men is better than none.”

Baldwin also went on to explain how Charlie won’t win this fight and that studio executives feel that there is no actor that is greater than the show which means that the odds of him being asked back to Two and a Half Men are slim, especially after suing the show’s creator for $100 million.

His last piece of advice to the troubled star is to, “Go on Letterman and make an apology.” He feels it’s not too late for him to turn it all around.

Can Charlie pull it together after alienating his co-stars, attacking his boss and losing his family? We certainly hope so and just maybe he can keep the tiger blood and Adonis DNA comments to a minimum.

Whether or not Charlie Sheen's show My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option will be anything like the cluster************************ his webcast was, remains to be seen, but apparently, people are really wanting to see Sheen on stage. I don't want to make assumptions, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that during his show, he'll use the word "winning" at least 500 times. "Warlock" will come in at around 300 times.

Sheen made the announcement on his official website, "I gave you my word. This Warlock bats 1000%… if you're winning, you're there. Trolls need not apply."

And people seem to love Sheen's winning/warlock/"duh" rants as the mini tour broke Ticketmaster records when it sold out in just 18 minutes. On the upside, Sheen is donating $1 of every ticket sold to the earthquake relief efforts in Japan.

Sheen bragged via Twitter: "Fastball; Detroit/Chicago sold out in minutes… Thanks to Sheen's Cadre..! #WINNING c"

For those winners who didn't get a chance to score tickets, Sheen will add more dates in the near future. Currently, Sheen is sitting pretty with almost 2.7 million followers. Get your Charlie Sheen twitter odds in the Bodog Sportsbook today. If you need an account, Join Bodog today!

The state of Kentucky and Governor Steve Beshear have gone aggressively after online gambling sites over the past year. Beshear has attempted to seize the domain names of 141 online sites, in an effort to rid the state of Internet betting.

One of the biggest culprits, however, in the online gambling industry in Kentucky is Churchill Downs. The company, which acquired Youbet.com last June. Youbet eventually was integrated into Twinspires.com, an online site where gamblers could make deposits and bets on simulcast horse races.

Churchill President and CEO Robert L. Evans was quick to point out that the online market drove the revenue for Churchill in 2010. For a company that was built on the strength of live racing, Churchill has started to rely more and more on slot and online gambling for their revenue.

"We still face a number of challenges as we work to improve the results of our racing operations," said Evans. "including nationwide declines in handle and intense competition for racehorses with tracks that are able to subsidize their purses with alternative gaming revenues."

Kentucky lawmakers have attempted to help Churchill's main track, legendary Churchill Downs, by creating a new law that would have allowed slot machines at the facility. The legislators, however, did not pass the law, and the track has continued to struggle financially.

The major races at Churchill Downs are still bringing in racing fans, and Evans believes that racing can still be a major part of the company's operation moving forward. Evans also claims that seat sales for 2011 are ahead of last year's pace. Despite that assertion, online gambling continues to grow as gamblers start to realize they can still bet on the races from the comfort of their own homes.

While many states are looking to expand gambling to the online world, other states are simply looking to introduce gambling in any form as a way to help bridge budget deficits. Such is the case in South Carolina, where two lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow casinos and other wagering in the state for the first time.

Such proposals are controversial in South Carolina, which is known for being rather conservative and has not looked to gambling as a budget solution in the past. However, Representative Bakari Sellers sees it as a natural direction for the state to take.

"Boyd Brown and I don't look at it as being bold or something that's outrageous," he said, referring to himself and the other Representative involved in pushing the legislation. "I look at it as taking a progressive step forward in the state."

But the legislation faces an uphill battle in a state that isn’t known for easily taking such “progressive” steps. According to a report at WISTV.com, many South Carolinians, such as non-profit worker Oran Smith, oppose the measure because it doesn’t fit into their view of how their state should be run.

"Gambling tends to harm families because it takes away income we used to feed a family, going to gambling, going to casinos," said Smith. "It causes government expenses to rise to take care of people who have problems with gambling."

If the bill were to become law, it would become legal to establish gambling sites throughout the entire state. However, individual counties would have to go to the polls and approve any gambling projects before they could begin operation.

According to Brown, while South Carolina would see the benefits of gambling, he believes that his plan would attract gamblers from outside the state, not simply take money from the pockets of local residents.

"What we want are destination casinos, destination horse tracks that bring money into the state,” he said.

So there was a guy who claims he hacked into the mega screens at Times Square in New York City with a run of the mill iPhone, a homemade transmitter, video repeater and a balloon to help carry the device in close proximity of the screens. There’s a You Tube video to prove it but many skeptics are doubting the guy’s hacking abilities, is it for real?

As someone with non-hacking abilities, the feat seems pretty damn amazing but others with talents in this field are doubting the guy claiming it’s all a big hoax. The guy who put together the video explained the process step by step and not that we condone hacking here at Bodog but it’s actually a pretty cool video to watch and seems way too easy.

So here is how the guy pulls it off according to NBC New York:

You plug in your transmitter into your iPhone and play back any video clip. You can play it through the iPod feature or through the camera roll. The Transmitter instantly sends the video signal to the video repeater and the video repeater overrides any video screen that it’s being held next to.

If you watch the video, you’ll see how he ties the video repeater to the balloon which helps it travel closer and closer to the Times Square screen and work its magic.

Many feel this is all fake, do any experts want to chime in?

Usher and former wife Tameka Raymond (formerly Foster) are the stars of a tape being shopped around by an unknown person. The footage and two photo stills was sent to TMZ who confirm that the people in the tape are indeed Usher and his former wife.

"The video and photos are clear – it's Usher and Tameka," TMZ writes.

No one knows the person behind the attempted sex tape peddling, but back in 2009, Usher reported more than $1,000,000 worth of jewelry as well as two laptop computers, were stolen from his car.

Usher and Foster, his former stylist who is nine years his senior, were married in the offices of Usher's lawyer in Atlanta back in 2007. The couple had canceled a lavish ceremony due to a pregnancy scare. The couple have two children, Naviyd and Usher Raymond V, and were divorced in 2009. Usher and Tameka say they are friends and work together to make good decisions for their kids. Foster has an additional three children from previous relationships.

Usher has yet to comment on the situation, but Foster released the statement to YBF-com, "Would I sanction a sextape being out? Absolutely not. I am a mother and entrepreneur. Sex tapes or pornography would not be my lane. I have no desire to be seen in that way."

Will Charlie Sheen be the center of the next sex tape scandal? We have no idea but you can get your Charlie Sheen twitter odds in the Bodog Sportsbook today. If you need an account, Join Bodog.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that staffers for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader, are circulating a draft bill on Capitol Hill that would legalize Internet poker in the United States, with certain restrictions.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, as Reid has not been a supporter of online gambling in the past. But he was recently re-elected by a narrow margin with the help of financial support from major casino interests and from the Poker Players Alliance. Lately, casinos have seen their business decline or stay flat, and some of them are hoping to expand into the Internet gaming arena to increase their profits.

Lawmakers in South Carolina are considering legislation that would expand gambling in the state. With the bill not yet passed, video gambling is still illegal in the state, and this week law enforcement officials continued their crackdown on the illegal operations.

Convenience stores have become a popular landing place for video poker machines, and residents in Lancaster County had a convenience store that was doubling as a casino, according to authorities. Seven people were arrested when undercover SLED agents raided three different locations.

The machines in question are video poker machines and officials maintain that it is illegal not only to use these machines, but also to possess them. Several of the accused have already admitted to paying out cash on the machines, claiming they did not know the activity was illegal.

"Law enforcement officials have been consistent throughout the US when it comes to video gambling machines," said Gaming Analyst Brad Dawkins. "The machines are illegal in most states, and with gambling expansion taking place at such a rapid rate, authorities want to ensure that all gambling money in the state is going to casinos that are taxed."

The gaming machines that were found during this raid have all been confiscated, in addition to other potential evidence in the case. Authorities stressed that this would not be the last of the raids and that they would continue until businesses got the idea that the video gambling would not be tolerated.

South Carolina lawmakers have turned up the heat on gambling expansion this year. Many lawmakers have seen how much gambling tax revenue can help a state budget, and those legislators are pushing to bring some of that revenue to the South Carolina budget in the near future.