The online gambling industry in conjunction with associations like the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) and GamCare had decided to designate and celebrate October 19, 2009 as Responsible Gambling Awareness Day. The online gambling industry and its administrators are aware of the need to disseminate information on responsible gambling. Yesterday several of the leading organizations took significant steps in this regard.

The RGA unveiled a video in London demonstrating how the online gambling industry exhibits and promotes responsible gambling. The video showed how online casinos use technology to protect sensitive consumer information, help players to identify problem gambling symptoms and prevent underage customers from wagering at the casinos. At the release of the video Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the RGA, said “We hope our five minute tutorial will provide (lawmakers) with a quick insight into how operators ensure that for the vast majority, gambling remains a safe and harmless leisure activity.” The RGA also donated $16,000 to Gambling Therapy, which is an international online help service for problem gamblers.

GamCare held its annual conference to coincide with the Responsible Gambling Awareness Day. In a new initiative GamCare announced that the world boxing champion Chris Eubank will be its brand ambassador. Eubank was present at the conference and said that before accepting this role he had acquainted himself with the work that GamCare does. He added, “I am delighted to add punch to GamCare’s excellent work with problem gamblers and their families. I know from my own experience how easy it can be to be sucked into the gambling habit – and also how difficult it is to admit you have a problem and ask for help.” He pledged his total support to the cause.

The industry leaders were also in the forefront at GamCare’s conference. Betfair was one of the sponsors. Betfair Managing Director Mark Davies pointed out that the online gambling operators are concerned with responsible gambling not only on special occasions like this one but all 365 days of the year. He said, “For the small minority of people who may need to seek help at any point in their lives we make sure that they have the tools, advice and support they need to overcome a problem gambling issue.”

Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport in the United Kingdom, commended the online gaming industry for holding a Responsible Gambling Awareness Day. He complimented the industry’s initiative to promote responsible gambling and stressed the importance of funding the research and treatment of problem gambling. Sutcliffe was hopeful that the initiative would reach out to both consumers and operators and he expected that the Responsible Gambling Awareness Day would become an annual feature.

The leading online gambling software provider, Vegas Technology, has released two new online slot games. Though similar in structure these two slot games have completely different themes and will cater to different groups of slots players. Both online slot games have 5 reels and 25 paylines.

The first of the online slot games is called Bangkok Nights. It promises a peep into the famous nightlife of Bangkok city. The main symbols are the Girl, which is the wild symbol, and the Club, which is the scatter symbol. When participating in winning combinations the Girl breaks into an Oriental dance and the Club opens its doors to reveal performers dancing on the stage. The other symbols are Mask, Hat, Pendants and Tickets for the dance show. The Girl offers a massive payout of 10,000 coins when five of them align an enabled payline. Bangkok Nights offers two bonus games. The Free Spins feature is activated when three or more scatter symbols appear left to right. 12 free spins are awarded at tripled payouts. The free spins can be retriggered. When the Girl symbol appears simultaneously on reels 1 and 5 the Pick and Win feature is activated. The player can pick any one of the Girl symbols to reveal bonus credits. The player can then either accept this prize or forfeit it and pick the second Girl symbol. If he makes a second choice he has to accept the second prize offered.
The second slot game is called Love Bugs. It has all the symbols of love that include Ring, Violin, Perfume, Necklace, Champagne, Flowers, Chocolates and Love Letter. All these symbols can occur left to right or right to left on enabled paylines in order to pay out. The Venice Canal symbol offers a payout of 5000 coins when five of these symbols appear in an active payline. The Love Bug and the Lady Bug are the wild symbols. When the Lady Bug or the Love Bug makes up winning paylines they blow lots of hearts. The Heart is the scatter symbol. When the Lady Bug appears on reel 1 and the Love Bug appears on reel 5 the bonus game is triggered. The Bugs float along Venice canal and choose from the prizes on the four bridges. If they catch the Ring then all prizes won are tripled. If they catch the Necklace then the players get 15 free spins.

Online casino is hosting an online leader board tournament in table games and video poker. This tournament has been given the name Head of the Table Playoff. The tournament has commenced on October 19 and will run till October 26. In order to participate in this tournament players at All Slots online casino have to deposit and wager at least 50 credits. The games on which the wagering has to be done include all variants of video poker and power poker offered at the casino and also casino poker games, red dog, casino war and variants of blackjack. Wagering on table games like baccarat, craps, roulette and sic bo will not count. Also wagering on live blackjack tournaments will not count.

As players wager on the eligible games they will earn points which will enable them to rise up the leader board. Players will get one point for every 50 credits wagered during the promotion period. They will also get one point for every 50 credits won during the day and one point for every 50 credits lost during the day. Wins and losses are defined as the positive and negative differences between the amount wagered and the amount paid out. The leader board will be updated every 30 minutes for the points earned through the wagering. The points earned through wins and losses will be updated once a day. However, since players have a fair idea of how much they have won or lost they can factor in those many points in their own calculations. At the end of the promotion period the designated number of players heading the leader board will share the prize pool of 10,000 credits. The player on top of the leader board will win the top prize of 1,000 credits. In the event of a tie based on the number of points, the player with the higher wagering will be placed higher on the leader board. The accounts of the winners will be credited within 24 hours of the completion of the online tournament. The prizes will be treated as bonuses and will have a wagering requirement of 15 times. This requirement has to be met within 30 days of the account being credited. If the wagering requirement is not met within 30 days the prize will deemed to have expired and will be withdrawn.

All Slots online casino is a leading brand of the Jackpot Factory group. The other brands of this group include All Jackpots Casino, First Web Casino, Wild Jack Casino and the VIP Lounge Casino. The Head of the Table Playoff online tournament is being held at all the online casinos of the Jackpot Factory group. These online casinos are powered by software from Microgaming.

Forbes magazine carried an interesting feature this week on the 43-year-old Internet entrepreneur behind some of the social networking scene’s most successful applications – Mark Pincus, a man who has made a fortune from giving networkers something to do.

Pincus, who named his games provider company Zynga after a pet bulldog, explained the fundamental base for his success with online casino games like the 300 million member Facebook, telling Forbes: “You have this cocktail party – you’ve brought everyone together. But there’s nothing to do.”

His answer? Games played with friends to fill users’ time.

In early 2007 Pincus learned Facebook would soon open its site to software developers such as gamemakers. He and a small team quickly got to work on a Facebook card game that would eventually become Texas Hold’Em Poker.

It was the first Facebook poker game that people could play with their online friends; gamblers could even see their friends’ pictures as they played hands. Players spend real money to buy chips–it costs $5 for $75 000 in chips and $50 for $5 million worth – but they can never cash out.

Zynga also gave players another way to stay in the game: Instead of using a credit card to buy chips, gamblers could accept some sort of offer from a marketer. They might install an application on their computer from TripAdvisor, or sign up for Netflix, for example. Zynga gets paid an undisclosed bounty every time one of its customers accepts an offer. Such offers are now a big chunk of Zynga’s business, though Pincus says that sales of cybergoods make up the biggest portion of its revenue.

Following the runaway success of Texas Hold’Em Zynga developed other games which could be monetised by selling the users enhancement features to the base game, which Pinkus dubs “golden mechanics.”

In ‘FarmVille’ players run a farm, checking on their crops periodically as they grow and then returning for the harvest. That means more opportunities to spend real money in the game, purchasing things like distintive barns, virtual sheep or scarecrows.

In ‘Café World’, aspiring restaurateurs run their own virtual eateries, with plenty of kitchen pressure as plates of food have to reach diners before the contents spoil.

Users like ‘Mafia Wars’, too – it provides a fantasy outlet for buying guns and ordering hits on enemies.

In picking new gaming applications Pincus always insists on having the last word despite a staff of several hundred. He recently killed a sword fighting game despite $2 million already spent on development costs.

Zynga’s size and its breadth of games also creates a classic network effect, helping it to better market new titles. Novice users of Café World might see a teaser for Mafia Wars when they first log in, inviting them to try the mob game. Zynga also ploughs profits back into advertising on Facebook. Zynga gamers often broadcast their exploits to their Facebook friends; friends might receive a notice when someone starts playing FarmVille or moves to a new level on Mafia Wars.

Zynga should rack up revenues this year of at least $100 million, says Pincus, though he won’t disclose how much. The San Francisco company, founded in 2007, employs 530 people, including contractors.

The company’s social games have by far the largest number of active users according to independent surveys, ahead of competitors like Playfish and SlashKey. It has raised $39 million from investors such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Union Square Ventures and Foundry Group and could be a candidate to go public next year.