Let your mouth speak archive

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a Reno rally four days ago that small businesses will be at the center of his plan for economic recovery.

Reno’s small-business leaders have predicted that if Romney is elected president, business owners would be more inclined to reinvest in their businesses and expand the workforce.

But supporters of President Barack Obama say that gain would be made in job training and education if he is re-elected.

With the election nine days away, backers of both candidates paint better futures for Nevadans.

“The fact that Mitt Romney has been an employer, has created jobs, will give businesses a sense of ease,” said Tray Abney, director of government relations for The Chamber of Reno, Sparks and Northern Nevada. “So you will have a president that knows how tax rates affect job growth. You’ll have a president that knows we pay the highest corporate income taxes in the industrialized world.”

Added conservative lobbyist Robert Uithoven: “If Romney is elected, there will be an immediate sense of relief in the private sector.”

Some education leaders, however, said that if Obama is re-elected, Nevada can look forward to further retooling the community college system to match job training to jobs that will be available in the 21st century economy.

Obama gave many the hope of expanding the community college system specifically at a speech he gave in Reno during the summer at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.

“The president, more than any other national leader I’ve heard, recognizes the tremendous importance of community college education,” Nevada University Chancellor Dan Klaich said. “He (Obama) understands — and Gov. Sandoval has expressed the same idea — that we need to have a skilled workforce trained to attract the kind of businesses that we want to come here to Nevada.”

Romney has also vowed to dismantle as much as the Affordable Care Act, “on the first day” of his new administration.

If Obama is re-elected, there would be an immediate sense of relief in some sectors because health insurance coverage would be available to Nevada’s most venerable citizens.


Read More: www-rgj-com/article/20121028/NEWS19/310280057/How-can-Barack-Obama-Mitt-Romney-help-Nevada-

Madonna drew boos and triggered a walkout by several concertgoers after she touted President Barack Obama on her "MDNA Tour" in New Orleans.

The Material Girl asked during Saturday night's performance: "Who's registered to vote?" She added: "I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote for Obama."

Drawing boos in touting Obama over Republican Mitt Romney, Madonna followed: "Seriously, I don't care who you vote for ... Do not take this privilege for granted. Go vote."

Madonna is often outspoken. Some Colorado fans, mindful of a mass shooting there, complained she used a fake gun to shoot a masked gunman in a recent concert act in Denver. A Madonna concert in Paris in July drew ire when a video showed a swastika on a politician's forehead.



Madonna booed after praising Obama at New Orleans concert - NBC News Entertainment

There is a bingo hall in my area (in Bryan). It organizes various charity bingo games for people of all ages. Safe environment, good crowd, beautiful interiors, refreshments available and all that you can image! I visit the hall every weekend along with my friends.. and luckily we often win the prizes too 😁 Amongst all other bingo halls and casinos I have visited till now, this one is the best I would say. The name is Texas Charity Bingo. Has anyone of you been there?

Big Fish Games has launched its first casino game in the United Kingdom that enables real-money online gambling.

The new Big Fish Casino UK app allows players to choose whether they want to play for fun or if they want to make a real-money wager in the slot machine title.

The game uses technology from Betable, which hopes to enable online gambling as an option for all sorts of social mobile games. Betable does the hard work of verifying who a user is and determining if that player is old enough to make real-money bets in a game. It also checks to see if the player is in the right location for legal gambling and it executes the round of gambling to determine whether a player won or lost a bet.

The game is the first in a series of Betable-enabled games that Big Fish will launch. The title is available in the Apple App Store in the United Kingdom and it runs on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

“Real-******money betting is just one more way we are enhancing the Big Fish Casino gameplay experience,” said Carey DiJulio, general manager of Big Fish Casino. “With the launch of Big Fish Casino UK, real‐money players in the United Kingdom can join our other Big Fish Casino players in the social aspects and thrill of casino gaming from their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch anywhere they happen to be.”

Seattle-based Big Fish said Big Fish Casino is one of the top-grossing mobile games with more than 1 million monthly active players worldwide. Betable’s servers for handling the processing are based in the U.K., but Betable contends that its technology could be used by developers anywhere in the world except in countries that explicitly forbid online gambling like the U.S.
Read more at Big Fish Games launches first real-money gambling game in the UK via Betable alliance | VentureBeat

The long arm of American law has extended itself once again in the war on internet wagering by now arresting software developers who are accused of promoting illegal online gambling in the good old USA. An Arizona based firm has been shut down after the District Attorney for New York County indicted the principals with promoting illegal online gambling.

Robert Stuart, Susanne Stuart, and Patrick Read are operators of the software firm, Extension Software Inc, which has been creating sports betting software that is being used by as many as thirteen sports book operators. The problem seems to be related to the fact that some of these American facing internet sports books offer real money wagering on sports events.

Extension Software Inc. has developed a product known as Action Sportsbook International which as a sports betting platform has the capabilities of offering real money wagering by the sports book operator. The software developers claim they are not and never were involved in any illegal offerings of real money sports betting in the USA and only sold their product to licensed offshore online gambling firms. Some reports suggest the operators are actually in the US domain.

This is a bit of a stretch in terms of proving guilt as the software company did not promote internet wagering in any way. Yet the indictment stands and the District Attorney for New York County contends that licensing a betting software solution to an offshore online gambling operator that accepts players located in the USA is in violation of laws currently in place that prohibits the promotion of illegal online sports betting. The outcome of these indictments could be catastrophic for software developers in the States and affiliate marketers.

A serious precedent could be set should the efforts of the District Attorney’s office prove fruitful and all sorts of businesses including online gambling portals that promote offshore online gaming sites accepting players from the United States may very well be next on their hit list.


Software Firm in USA Indicted For Illegal Promotion of Online Gambling

EC introduces new online gambling directive to regulate the EUR 10 billion per year market.

A recent report by the European Commission puts online gambling growth in the EU to 15 percent next year. That is an amazing increase. Why is that?

Poker is becoming increasingly popular in Europe, the card game is played everywhere, in the backroom of village pubs and on internet sites. Online blackjack is gaining popularity and internet betting has seen record numbers in three consecutive years.

There are hundreds of internet sites dedicated to teaching poker and blackjack strategies, giving out tips and insights for sports betting.

And on top of these, mobile gambling is on the steep rise. Every day, millions of Euros are being wagered on sport events, played in mobile blackjack applications, put on the roulette wheel and changed hands at poker tables via smartphones and tablets.

However, according to EU reports, there are about 15,000 unregulated websites available for European citizens. No matter how hard the gambling authorities try to enforce individual national regulations, someway and somehow illegal operations don’t cease to exist.

The European Commission released a new action plan for the regulation of the online gambling industry last week.

It definitely seems that the European Commission seeks a compromise between the gambling operators and its member states. It is highly unlikely that the European Commission will try to introduce a homogeneous EU legislation, but instead every member states is to keep its own gambling regulation according to the EC guidelines.
European online gambling reached almost EUR 10 billion in 2011

In 2011, the annual online gaming revenues in the EU were about Euro 9.3 billion. In Spain alone, online gambling transactions were over EUR 350 million. In Germany, online sportsbooks generated over EUR 300 million, online casinos a further EUR 210 million, while German online poker was responsible for not less than EUR 340 million revenue in just one year.

Lisa Metzler knows more about online casino games than she ever cared to learn. She's in therapy now. She had been shut in her Apollo Beach home since last spring, hooked on Internet card games.

She was blowing more than $20,000 a month.

"I would sleep for an hour," she explained. "Yes, that's how addicted I got to it."

She eventually overdosed to try to stop the pain.

"I was hooked up to monitors, Baker-Acted next day," she recalled. "After I got out of rehab, I started right up again with sweepstakes and the casinos."

Metzler is sharing her meltdown to warn state lawmakers of what she says could happen if they license online card games.

"I feel like there's going to be many more cases like mine," she said.

In Florida, House conservatives, who are morally opposed to betting, stalled Internet gaming bills in the past. But the U.S. Justice Department ruled betting on online card games does not violate the Wire Act.

That put offshore web casinos back in business.

Delaware and Nevada just licensed online gaming in their states. And several others are moving in that direction to rake in big tax dollars.

Florida is under growing pressure to join in, or lose out.

"It's going to be spent anyway. So if it's going to be spent, let's get our piece that should be coming to us as a state," said state Rep. Rick Kriseman (D, St. Petersburg).

Florida considered regulating -- and taxing -- online poker last year. A state analysis showed it could have pumped more than $10-million into the state budget in its first year.

"I think intra-state poker can produce a lot more than $10-million," observed state Sen. Dennis Jones (R, Pinellas).

Jones chaired the Committee on Regulated Industries. And he says Florida has a big opportunity to cash in.

"We could actually be the center for several states," he continued.

Jones says Florida will embrace online poker and possibly much more. The question is: When?

"One way or other, I think it will pass."

The poker lobby wants Florida to tax online poker winnings, because it wants state oversight.

"Our money is not protected," lamented online poker advocate Donna Blevins. "We have no ability to make sure games are fair. Our minors are not protected.

But opponents say there are too many stories like Lisa Metzler's. And many others who don't want us to show their faces lost much more than she did.

"I would say a half-million dollars," said one man, who now counsels others who he says would self-destruct. "People who have an addictive personality are just a click away from financial devastation."

Supporters of online gaming say we already have that problem. They say regulation could help address it.

"People are playing poker today -- unregulated -- as much as they want to," Blevins pointed out.

There should be some cases of addiction, but that's true of anything -- drugs, candy, hot dogs, or poker," Jones added.

The Legislature must also decide whether to allow mega resort casinos in South Florida.

House and Senate leaders say they will review all of our gaming laws. But, based on prior votes, they could also stall or reject any expansion of gaming next year.


Florida may gamble on online gaming

Video gamers in the Northeast angling to be among the first to play the highly anticipated "Assassin's Creed III" will have to wait a little longer—even if they have power.

Area GameStop stores cancelled their midnight launches of Ubisoft's historical action sequel as Superstorm Sandy continued to disrupt the New York entertainment scene, including Broadway, talk shows, concerts and the premiere of "Anna Karenina."

New York City officials said that all film permits for Monday and Tuesday were revoked because of the storm and associated safety precautions.

"There will be no city authorized outdoor filming within the five boroughs," read a statement Monday from the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.

Production was affected on several TV shows, including "Gossip Girl," "Person of Interest," "Smash," "666 Park Avenue" and "Elementary." "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" also took Monday night off, and all 40 Broadway theaters will be dark through Tuesday.

The storm halted production on a few films as well, including Akiva Goldsman's "Winter's Tale" and Darren Aronofsky's "Noah."

"I take it that the irony of a massive storm holding up the production of 'Noah' is not lost," tweeted actress Emma Watson.

The storm forced Focus Features to postpone the Manhattan premiere of "Anna Karenina," which was set for Tuesday.

Jimmy Kimmel canceled his late night ABC talk show Monday. He was scheduled to host his Hollywood-based "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" all week from Brooklyn, where he was born. ABC said the network was hopeful Kimmel's show would return Tuesday with guests Howard Stern, Tracy Morgan, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon taped their talk shows without audiences.

"Theater owners here in New York had to cancel all the Broadway shows today," Fallon said in his opening monologue Monday. "Many performers were having trouble making it in to the city, and you could tell by that one show, 'Blue Man Guy.'"

Some network schedules were shaken up by the widespread power outages cutting into the available TV audience in the East.

CBS aired repeats instead of new episodes Monday night of "How I Met Your Mother," "Partners," "2 Broke Girls" and "Mike & Molly." A CBS News special on Sandy pre-empted "Hawaii Five-O."

The CW opted to air repeats of "90210" and "Gossip Girl."

ABC stuck to its schedule of new episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" and "Castle." Fox broadcast a previously scheduled rerun of "The X Factor," which had been planned if the San Francisco-Detroit World Series ended, as it did, in four games.

NBC aired fresh installments of "The Voice" and "Revolution."

Several stations interrupted network broadcasts with live news coverage of the storm.

ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning" were expected to air live as usual Tuesday with extensive storm coverage. The daytime talk show "Live! With Kelly and Michael" planned to air a rerun Tuesday.

Sandy took a toll on the movie box office even before it made landfall. Ticket sales were down more than 11 percent compared to the same weekend last year, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood-com. This weekend's top film, "Argo," collected $12.1 million. The top film during the same weekend in 2011, "Puss in Boots," earned $34 million.

Several movie theaters remained closed Money night.

Concerts planned for New York and New Jersey were canceled or postponed, including performances by Journey, comedian Louis C.K., and the "Freedom to Love Now" show featuring Rufus Wainwright and fun., which is now set for spring of 2013.

Radio City Music Hall was shuttered until Wednesday. Carnegie Hall postponed concerts planned for Tuesday. Off-Broadway shows and even national tours of Broadway shows like "Anything Goes," currently in Wilmington, Del., closed their doors.

It was the most detrimental storm for the theater community since the threat of Hurricane Irene in late August 2011 prompted producers to cancel matinee and evening performances on both a Saturday and Sunday.

East Coast charity galas were also canceled, and fashion designer Prabal Gurung postponed the unveiling of his anticipated collection for Target until next week.



Superstorm Sandy rattles entertainment industry - San Jose Mercury News

In efforts to secure online gambling regulation in the Netherlands, the new coalition government is seeking to issue egaming licenses before the end of its current term explains Prime Minister Mark Rutte and labor leader Diederik Samsom.

According to Dutch news reports, gambling sites such as Unibet, Bwin and Ladbrokes are closing down their Dutch language sites in the hope of becoming legal when the sector is liberalized.

The sites hope that by sticking to the rules and not targeting Dutch gamblers, they will be able to benefit when the Dutch state monopoly is lifted, according to the Volkskrant.

The coalition pledge is set to privatize the country’s gaming monopoly Holland Casinos Group as previously reported last year by eGR and a gaming tax on land-based lottery & online gambling is set for implementation.

Between 500,000 and 800,000 Dutch nationals are thought to gamble on Dutch-language sites operated by foreign companies.

Netherlands’ planned “modernisation” of its gambling policy will entail regulation of internet gambling, sports betting & poker sectors.



Dutch Coalition on Moving Forward to Regulate Online Gambling | CS Report

It’s difficult to go anywhere these days without coming across an advert for some form of mobile gambling. Television adverts, sponsorships, magazines, newspapers, billboards. They adverts are literally everywhere. Needless to say, online casinos and bingo are becoming huge business as they grow in popularity, so it really is of no surprise that the industry is expected to top $100 billion within the space of the next five years.

Making Gambling “mobile” is probably one of the smartest moves any casino could make. Why? Because absolutely everyone has a mobile phone and practically every one of those people takes their phone everywhere with them. People use their phones in bed, in the bathroom, on the daily commute, whilst watching television. They use them to chat with friends, to keep up on their emails, to call people and generally interact. But most importantly, people use their phones for general entertainment. Indeed, it is suggested that almost half of all mobile phone users, in the UK, have a Smartphone that they use on a regular basis to connect to the internet, something that was virtually unheard of only a few years ago.

The real appeal with having apps on mobile phones is that these days they can be setup to allow players to win actual money, rather than pretend money. This is appealing for a number of reasons: Firstly, because everyone likes winning money - who doesn’t? In the current climate, when most people are struggling financially, the notion of being able to win real money has great appeal. On the other hand, gambling apps, such as Gala’s Online Casino, on mobile phones are incredibly accessible. Individuals can use them absolutely anywhere, unlike a PC which has limited localities.

Above all else, being able to gamble through your mobile device is plain and simply convenient.

Many people are also unable to visit the bright lights known as casinos, because many cities, especially in the UK do not have them. Traditionally, casinos are associated with America and crucially Las Vegas, whilst the UK is more commonly known for its Bingo Halls, which aren’t necessarily as appealing to a younger clientele as the alluring appeal of Las Vegas. So, if they cannot visit a casino - in real life - they can easily quench their thirst for gambling in the comfort of their own home.


Promotional feature: Mobile Gambling to Reach $100 Billion in 5 Years | bit-tech-net

Obama, Romney or online casinos? If you answered online casinos, you win $4 billion! Thanks to new laws in Nevada and New Jersey, online gambling is coming to a state near you.

Other states are expected to follow suit. If experts are right, online casinos could spend more than General Motors spent on advertising in 2011.

Simon Holliday, director of H2 Gambling Capital, “somewhere between $3.5 and $4 billion could be spent by the internet-gaming sector” on marketing and advertising over the next 5 years. If it keeps up with demand, online gambling could be spending as much as insurance companies on advertising by 2017.

In a tight economy, every dollar spent counts.

Not surprisingly, Nevada was the first state to take the plunge and “re-legalize” online gambling.

Online gambling should get going there in January. 10 more states are expected to pass laws in the next year that will legalize and regulate various forms of online gambling. With its huge budget deficit, California is expected to join the online gambling club.

If you ask Americans, “Tax, cut or legalize online gambling”, many will prefer the latter. In some states, only online poker will be legalized. In other states, there will be less regulation.

One thing is certain – the bigger the states’ deficits, the better the odds they will legalize online gambling.


US States Choose Online Gambling over

While the idea of internet security is not on everyone’s mind all the time except of course if you’re in the game of keeping the hackers at bay it comes as a surprise when a company the size of Zynga falls prey to such things.

Hacking is big business these days with information that could be potentially worth a great deal of money and time for those that are affected by these malicious programmers. “Anonymous” a loosely associated hacktivist group has claimed they have hacked the Zynga web site and posted false information. Anonymous also says that it will take down the Facebook web site and free all of Zynga’s games to the public domain as of November 5th.

Anonymous is a decentralized association which organizes political protests and has been officially and unofficially linked with less peaceful activities like DDOS attacks and other hacking. Why Zynga? one may ask with some concern that Zynga recently has announced it will partner with Bwin.party digital entertainment to offer real money gambling to those in the United Kingdom. The idea of security definitely pops up when gambling for real cash through the internet comes into play. These so called cyber attacks influence the business world and a threat is threat rumoured or not the security of online gambling web sites is paramount for the continued success of the industry.

There have been some arrests made such as the one in December of 2010, when the Dutch police arrested a 16-year old for cyberattacks against Visa, MasterCard and PayPal in conjunction with Anonymous' DDoS attacks against companies opposing Wikileaks. Regarding the seriousness of this group Canadian Member of Parliamant Marc Garneau said in 2012, “First, who is this group called Anonymous? Put simply, it is an international cabal of criminal hackers dating back to 2003, who have shut down the websites of the U.S. Department of Justice and the F.B.I. They have hacked into the phone lines of Scotland Yard. They are responsible for attacks against MasterCard, Visa, Sony and the Governments of the U.S., U.K., Turkey, Australia, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand.”


Zynga Threatened By Online Vigilante Hackers 'Anonymous'

Okay, we have to admit that we are really surprised that actually the same internet is available in France as in the rest of the world, not just some French-developed incompatible thing. However, there certainly seems to be a lack of skilled people capable of running a high profile online gambling site.

Casino gambling news report that Euromillions, the French online lottery site, was hacked on Sunday. Hackers replaced its homepage with a passage from the Koran condemning drinking and gambling.

A group calling themselves “Moroccanghosts” undersigned the hacking. Nothing is known about the group, authorities suspect that they are some script kiddies.

The company which runs Euromillions, the Francaise des Jeux (FDJ), also operates online scratch cards and internet bingo. They also announced their intentions to introduce blackjack themes for their online games.

The FDJ informed that no other games but Euromillions was targeted by the hackers, adding that none of the games themselves nor the player data was compromised in the attack.
Online lottery site still inaccessible after two days of hacking

By Sunday evening, the Koranic verses disappeared from Euromillions, but the web page was inaccessible with a “Service unavailable” message. The FDJ site was also reported to be down with the same erro message on Sunday, but the company denies any attack by hackers on its corporate web presence.

The FDJ claims that they are “in the process” of repairing things, and the site “being put back up”, the Euromillions site simply seems to redirect to the FDJ. Elegant.

FDJ games are available in nine EU countries, but the site is only in French. Did you know that they did translate the word ‘online’ into French (“en ligne”) and that’s how it’s being used? It is a small wonder they didn’t use blackjack as Jacques Noir or something…


Euromillions Online Lottery Hacked by Muslim Script Kiddies | | Blackjack ChampBlackjack Champ

Broadway, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center all remained dark Tuesday as superstorm Sandy left the New York entertainment industry fighting to go on with the show — even if it meant performing for empty studios.

That was how David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon taped their late shows Monday night, leading to some remarkably quiet monologues. Letterman repeated the feat Tuesday, though Fallon brought in a usual crowd to his "Late Night" taping. The shows have been cautious about luring audience members out on stormy streets where many are still without power and the subway system remains down.

"Just like every night, we pretend the audience isn't here," Letterman explained to band leader Paul Schafer on Tuesday's "Late Show" before an empty Ed Sullivan Theater.

The talk show host ran through his monologue from his desk, not bothering to pause for laughs that wouldn't come: "I had to come in. I used up all my sick days," he said, adding: "That's a joke there."

After a Monday night of awkwardness — which guest Seth Meyers compared to watching Charlie Rose "if he had a band and everybody was a little high" — Fallon happily welcomed back a live audience.

"First off, thanks to our great audience for making it out to the show tonight," Fallon began his monologue Tuesday. "I'm so glad you're here because last night's audience was the worst."

Jimmy Kimmel, who brought his Los Angeles-based "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to Brooklyn for a week's worth of shows, was to host the ABC program live from the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Tuesday night after canceling Monday's show.

Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" both canceled Tuesday night's tapings.

Fallon said Tuesday that after Monday's show, "I realized how much I missed the sound of laughter and applause. I haven't heard that much silence since Kim Kardashian was asked to say something off camera."

As the city took account of the damage wrought by the storm, the aftermath of Sandy continued to cause the cancellations of film premieres, film and TV production and even that most unshakable performer: Bruce Springsteen.

The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the Rochester Blue Cross Arena in upstate New York was postponed until Wednesday because of flight cancellations for the band and ticket holders.

The city revoked film permits for a second day Tuesday. The sets of "Smash," ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," ''30 Rock," ''Deception" and "Do No Harm" were closed, NBC said, and "SVU" won't tape Wednesday. Other series temporarily knocked out of production included "666 Park," ''Gossip Girl" and "Person of Interest."

Films forced to stop shooting include Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Akiva Goldsman's "Winter's Tale," and the Tuesday premiere of Joe Wright's Tolstoy adaptation "Anna Karenina" was canceled.

ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning" aired live Tuesday with extensive storm coverage, though "GMA" was forced to cancel its planned Wednesday Halloween special.

Daytime shows were less successful, with production called off for "Live! With Kelly and Michael," ''Katie," ''The View" and "The Chew." ABC said work on all the programs would resume Wednesday.

All 40 Broadway theaters were closed, and while most hoped to open Wednesday, both "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins" announced that Wednesday's shows would also be canceled.

The thriving downtown off-Broadway community was still assessing the damage and likely facing a longer time off. The superstorm forced the well-respected Vineyard Theatre in Union Square to cancel performances of its world-premiere production of "Checkers," which was to open Wednesday. And the staff of the SoHo Rep, just a few blocks south of Canal Street, was dealing with no power and some flooding in the basement, on a day that was supposed to be the first technical rehearsal of a play about African genocide by Jackie Sibblies Drury.

"You obviously can't do tech without electricity," said artistic director Sarah Benson, who added that the tight-knit community was helping each other.

"I've already been in contact with other theaters who are offering help and the community is pulling together," she said. "Everyone is going to support one another as best we can."

Two Broadway shows were even offering a special discount — if you could walk to their theaters. Tickets to the Roundabout Theatre Company's productions of both "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" were going for $20 for Wednesday's matinee and evening shows to customers who show their MetroCards, made useless by the storm.

Many of the cultural institutions of New York remained shuttered. Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center canceled performances and the Metropolitan Opera and Radio City Music Hall were also closed. The 57th Street entrance to Carnegie Hall — which also canceled Wednesday concerts — was blocked by a street closure because of a dangling crane. The Metropolitan Opera said Tuesday that it planned to go ahead with its Wednesday evening performance of Thomas Ades' "The Tempest."

The Apollo Theater was forced to postpone its signature show, the Amateur Night finale, from Wednesday night to Nov. 14. Apollo president and CEO Jonelle Procope said finalists weren't able to travel to the event.

The financial hit for touring musicians will depend in part on how long it takes transit and other infrastructure to return to normal, said Gary Bongiovanni of Pollstar, the trade publication that tracks the concert industry. Atlantic City, where a lot of acts perform, was particularly hard hit. New York concert cancellations included those for Journey at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn and a Beacon Theater benefit concert for marriage equality that was to feature Rufus Wainwright, the National and They Might Be Giants.

"Everyone knows there is no shows in New York tonight, but what about Wednesday o

New gambling action plan to protect consumers, crack down on irresponsible advertising and tackle betting-related match-fixing.

Online gambling is growing. Games such as poker – along with casinos, sports-betting and lotteries – are big business: 6.8 million Europeans placed an online bet in 2011, generating revenues of €9.3 billion for online gambling companies. That figure is expected to grow to €13 billion by 2015.

Many EU countries have introduced rules to keep gamblers safe, but each country’s system is different:

Germany and the Netherlands have prohibited certain types of online betting games.

In Finland, Portugal and Sweden, online gambling services are run by a sole operator.

Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy and Spain have introduced licences so that more than one company can provide online gambling.

Each system is designed to shield consumers from fraud, and protect vulnerable groups such as children.

But the online nature of gambling means that individuals are not necessarily protected by their own country’s laws. Someone in Germany may choose to place a bet via a website set up in the UK, for example.

The action plan aims to tackle this legal uncertainty and encourage regulating authorities to cooperate with one another. This will increase protection for individuals and help authorities to tackle unregulated gambling websites, which are often established outside the EU.

The action plan will also make sure that national laws comply with EU laws, designed to ensure that a company in one EU country can trade freely in all others. The European Commission has received a number of complaints about restrictions on cross-border gambling and has launched legal proceeding against some national governments.

Lastly, the European Commission will make a series of recommendations to EU countries to tackle betting-related match-fixing. Proposals will cover sharing information, follow-up of suspicious activities, setting up conflict-of-interest provisions and setting up hotlines for reporting suspect behaviour.

Action plan initiatives will be introduced from 2013.


New EU online gambling action plan to protect consumers - Gozo News.Com

MGM Resorts International Ltd's CEO expects his company to obtain an online gaming license from Nevada regulators this week, and said states are talking with each other to forge alliances to create a viable interactive gambling market.

Obtaining the Nevada license would move MGM one step closer to entering the online field, which is expected to reach $10 billion a year nationwide by 2017. The sector is seen attracting younger players and offering a new avenue for growth to traditional casino operators whose growth has been stagnating.

Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey are among the states that have moved or are moving toward interactive gaming after the U.S. Justice Department last year declared that only online betting on sporting contests was unlawful, allowing states to legalize some forms of online gambling, from lotteries to poker.

According to the American Gaming Association, about 85 countries have legalized online gambling and an estimated $35 billion is being bet worldwide online each year, including by millions of people in the United States.

"We are encouraged to know that states are talking to one another. They are crafting their own legislation and legal frameworks but are talking with other states in anticipation of compacting with multiple states," MGM CEO Jim Murren said in an interview.

An interstate compact is an agreement between two or more states for the purpose of improving some shared resource, and generally requires the consent of Congress.

To be sure, Murren and other industry leaders favor federal legislation because it would provide a larger, more uniform market. Conversely, state-by-state legislation could lead to a patchwork of regulations and different tax rates and inadequate liquidity in some states.

But the likelihood of federal legislation passing this year is decreasing with each day. A proposed federal online gaming measure backed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, would require quick action during the post-election congressional session to pass.

Read More: MGM expects online gaming license, state compacts - chicagotribune-com

Betable Ltd., the venture capital backed online-gambling startup, reached agreements with three social-gaming companies that will use its platform to expand into real-money betting in competition with Zynga Inc.

Slingo Inc., a maker of virtual-wagering slots and bingo titles with 54 million monthly users worldwide, will use Betable’s U.K. gambling license and technology, according to a statement today from London-based Betable. Digital Chocolate Inc., started by Electronic Arts Inc. founder Trip Hawkins, and Murka Ltd., the maker of “Slots Journey,” also signed on.

Game makers are racing to established themselves in the developing market for online gambling in the U.K. and other countries where it is legal. Zynga, seeking to reignite growth, formed an online-betting partnership last week with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc. Betable says it can streamline the licensing and offer developers a technology framework they can plug in to and quickly get started.

“This is not going to lead to an incremental shift in the market,” Betable Chief Executive Officer Chris Griffin said in an interview. “This is really a tectonic change.”

Online gambling isn’t legal in the U.S. Until recently, when some countries began allowing real-money Internet wagering, online gamers could put money in to purchase virtual currency and gamble, but couldn’t cash out their winnings.

Mobile gambling will grow to US$100-billion worldwide by 2017, driven by surge in social gambling and legalization in key U.S. states, Juniper Research estimated in May.


Read More: Betable recruits three Zynga competitors amid online gambling race | Post Arcade | FP Tech Desk | Financial Post

Massachusetts' state treasurer on Wednesday blasted an online-gambling bill backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying the proposed federal law threatened the Massachusetts lottery that last year yielded nearly $1 billion in profits.

Steven Grossman, who is also chair of his state's Lottery Commission, said in a letter to Reid and co-sponsor Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona that the bill sharply limits states' abilities to regulate online gambling inside their borders. The bill, which would bar most types of Internet gambling but not off-track horse wagers and licensed online poker, would also give an unfair edge to gambling companies in Nevada, Reid's home state.

"The proposed act would effectively limit participation in the online gaming marketplace to gaming operations with a presence in Nevada and sharply constrain the ability of state lotteries to offer online products," Grossman said.

Reid has said the bill, if passed, would create a needed regulatory framework that would protect minors and others and make online poker operators accountable.

Lottery officials in Massachusetts are studying selling tickets online and have yet to make a decision for the state operation, which last year had $4.7 billion in revenue and profit of $982 million that was largely turned over to the state's cities and towns.

But, Grossman said, the Reid-Kyl bill would forbid online sales of instant scratch and Keno chances "that are responsible for more than 85 percent of the Lottery's sales."

Grossman, a Democrat like Reid, said the bill's limits served no business purpose.

"Accordingly, we can only assume that the act is a blatant, unwarranted and inappropriate attempt to secure first-mover advantage in the online gaming space for Nevada," Grossman said.

State governors, through a letter from the National Governors Association, last week criticized the Reid-Kyl bill.


Massachusetts treasurer blasts federal online-gambling bill - chicagotribune-com

Actress Evan Rachel Wood is a married woman after exchanging vows with Jamie Bell on Tuesday.

The screen stars wed in an intimate California ceremony, just one day after they sparked rumours they had secretly become man and wife by sporting matching wedding bands in Los Angeles.

A representatiave for Wood tells JustJared.com, "Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell were married on Oct. 30 in California. The bride wore a custom dress by Carolina Herrera. It was a small ceremony with close family and friends."

Wood took to Twitter.com on Wednesday to express her delight, writing, "Words cannot describe the happiness i am feeling. Overwhelming."

She met the Billy Elliot star in 2005 while they filmed a music video for Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends.

The economic losses from Hurricane Sandy are projected to be enormous. And with theater closings, cancellations, and production schedule interruptions, the entertainment industry is being hit hard.

The overall estimate from IHS Global Insight puts total losses to the U.S. economy at between $30 billion and $50 billion and The Hollywood Reporter is reporting the entertainment industry alone is set to see losses in the millions.

"With showbiz people, it's always where there's a will, there's a way," Michael Pressman, executive producer of "Blue Bloods" said in an interview with THR. But "once they pulled the permits and closed the bridges and tunnels, we couldn't get actors to the set."

With movie theaters shuttered across the Northeast, ticket sales brought in $6 million on Monday, 40 percent lower than sales for the same Monday in 2011. Multiple concerts from big names such as The xx and Ghostface Killah were cancelled, meaning acts must either reschedule or face the cost of refunding ticket-holders. Television and movie companies are facing major production delays due to derailed of shooting schedules and damaged sets.

Recent years have shown an uptick in entertainment business in New York City, raising from $4.2 billion in 2002 to $7.1 billion in 2011. With more activity in the city, more companies were vulnerable to Hurricane Sandy losses.

The impact doesn't end with financial losses, however. “Nothing can cover the loss of momentum, and that is what is especially damaging to smaller films like ours,” Anthony Mastromauro, producer of the indie film "After the Fall," said in an interview with THR.



Hurricane Sandy's Cost To The Entertainment Industry