Saturday, May 9, 2009

Betting Sports Tip: Ping Pong will gain popularity quickly in U.S.

Betting Sports Tip: Ping Pong will gain popularity quickly in U.S.
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Walled Street Journal

A group of sports and entertainment marketers is betting ping pong will be the next game to sweep the nation, and Anheuser-Busch InBev's U.S. unit is getting into the action.
Anheuser-Busch, one of the biggest advertisers in the U.S., has signed on as the lead sponsor of the Bud Light Hard Bat Ping Pong Tournament, which started last month.
The big brewer is backing Robert Friedman, president of media and entertainment for New York commercial-production company Radical Media, and several major partners, who think ping pong could be the next Texas Hold 'Em, the card game featured in the highly successful World Series of Poker.
The nostalgia factor, made keener by the recession, is one reason they are confident of ping pong's appeal. "This is about the residual goodwill we all feel for the better times we grew up with," says Mr. Friedman. "This conjures up family."
As the idea for the new tourney began to jell, Anheuser-Busch was re-evaluating, and even shedding, several longtime deals with athletes and major sports teams. It removed the familiar Budweiser sign from atop Chicago's Wrigley Field and ended a 30-year relationship with drag-racing legend Kenny Bernstein.

In came ping pong. With exclusive sponsorships for mainstream teams and sports becoming ever more expensive, Anheuser-Busch needed to strike a balance. Keith Levy, the brewer's vice president of marketing, says his company has to do big, brand-building campaigns attached to major events and teams, but also reach beer drinkers at the grass-roots level.
"Bud Light has always been a fun brand," Mr. Levy says. "This fits in with what we've done with it in the past."
More is at stake than fun, however. The brains and the money behind the tournament come not just from Anheuser-Busch and Radical Media but also from Mark Gordon Co., which produces "Grey's Anatomy" and other hits, and FremantleMedia Enterprises, producer of "American Idol," which see it as a potentially major moneymaker.
"Table tennis is ripe for reinvention," says Keith Hindle, executive vice president of London-based Fremantle, who foresees a variety of revenue streams from live ping-pong events, branded merchandise, sponsorships and league memberships.
The organizers know they have to come up with an innovative approach to televising a game that in the past has been hard to follow because of the speed and the size of the ball. Even if they can, could this really be the next poker?
Poker already had a long-established mystique, built on images of high rollers in deluxe Las Vegas hotel suites, before Internet gambling and the World Series of Poker inspired a wider appreciation of the mental calculations taking place around the table behind low-brimmed caps and sunglasses.
Ping pong, by contrast, is more closely associated with suburban basements and harsh fluorescent lights. Even so, the International Olympic Committee says table tennis is the world's leading participation sport, with 40 million competitive players world-wide and tens of millions more playing for fun.
Hard-bat ping pong is played with old-style wooden paddles covered with dimpled rubber that produce an unmistakable knocking sound. They also make for a slower game with longer rallies than the foam or sponge paddles that yield the fast-paced, spin-crazy brand of table tennis in which most points end within a few shots. Using the hard-bat paddles levels the playing field, giving a standout barroom player a chance to topple a pro, especially with the handicap system the Bud Light tournament will use.
Competition started in March, with local Anheuser-Busch distributors supplying Bud Light-branded ping pong tables to some 4,600 bars where regional competitions are under way. Winners can land an invitation to the tournament finals and play for the $100,000 prize in Las Vegas in late June. K-Swiss, the tennis outfitter, has agreed to be the official clothing and footwear supplier for the event.
That event, which will also include professionals, will be the focus of a two-hour television special that the organizers plan to air on Walt Disney's ESPN in September.
Mr. Friedman and Jordan Wynn, executive of Mark Gordon Co., say they noticed ping pong re-emerging in popular culture over the past year. The posse on the HBO series "Entourage" played during an episode, for example, and hip-hop star 50 Cent had a ping-pong theme at his birthday party.
"The question was could we take this game out of the basement and the cluttered garages," says Mr. Friedman. "We think the timing is just right."
Mr. Wynn goes so far as to suggest ping pong has sex appeal. "It's taking on this cool cultural space of short-shorts and retro headbands, and it's kind of goofy, but it's also got people who take it very seriously," Mr. Wynn says. "It's poker eight years ago."


Betting Sports Tip: Ping Pong will gain popularity quickly in U.S.

Online Betting Sports Now Family Entertainment

Online Betting Sports Now Family Entertainment
To win over the odds, using only your intelligence and basic instincts…To live on intuition, it's a process that gets the blood flowing and a sense of wonder when you finally beat that downward trend. To start this experience you can open an online-betting account, and start betting immediately on just about anything. If you start winning, you can withdraw your winnings instantly to your credit card by pressing a button.
Things have come a long way since the days when you actually had to go to a bit of trouble to get to some side-street bookie's office, and hand over real money to make your bet. There was nothing that might encourage you to linger or to have a pleasant experience. This was generally the domain of men, the days are gone when it took a fair amount of guts to go downtown and find a card game in a smoked filled, cigar chewing, whiskey drinking sort of place. Now the online gaming experience can take the form of a well lit living room with your cup of tea next to you and a firm grip on the mouse.
The urge to gamble is being facilitated at every turn by the interplay between sports, television, and online betting, a devastatingly powerful combination. Many sports are now sponsored by betting corporations, and are televised almost entirely for betting purposes.
Mother can now play a friendly game of bingo, Dad can bet on his favourite sports team and the kids can learn how to be a poker champions before puberty wears off. It sounds like family entertainment to most of us. A sage with some obvious wisdom once said, 'The subject of gambling is all-encompassing. It combines man's natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future.'


Online Betting Sports Now Family Entertainment

Betting Sports Tip: List of U.S. friendly casinos online

Betting Sports Tip: List of U.S. friendly casinos online
There is no denying it. It's getting harder to find quality U.S. friendly online casinos these days. Due to the many hurdles stemming from various laws, lack of regulations and the fact that the U.S. states are left with the role to find creative and Chinese-like ways to ban their residents from gambling online, there have been no new online casinos coming out lately that could be deemed U.S.-friendly. But if you are new to the whole online gambling thing, you still have plenty of options. Depending on what you are looking for in an U.S.-friendly online casino, whether it's the bonus, fast payouts or easy deposits, we have created this quick guide to getting the job done. This guide to finding U.S. friendly online casino is for informational purpose only, always check your laws before gambling on the internet.
Bodog Casino - best overall U.S.-friendly online casino: The Bodog Casino comes atop our rank list of US friendly online casinos for many reasons. It's still the online casino with the highest success of credit card deposits, Bodog has the decade+ experience in the online gambling scene and it offers a nice package of gambling services, including sports betting and poker room. It offers 10% bonus on every deposit the player makes in his or her casino account and various ongoing bonuses and specials are also posted every week. The casino looks great, the graphics are lively and as real as it gets, depositing is easy and withdrawals have been coming like clockwork since 1997. This U.S. friendly online casino is also home of the Cleopatra's Gold popular slot machine, which has made many of players rich. This is a quality online gambling company, although foreign players should be aware that residents from Canada and Turkey are not allowed to gamble here.
And if the bonus is what you are looking for, Golden Casino got you covered. This U.S. friendly online casino offers a whopping $555 match-up bonus on your first deposit, but the bonus train doesn't stop here. Extra free money will be disbursed for using various ewallets, although credit card payments are also an option, the casino has a comprehensive loyalty program which helps generate comp points and then turn them into real money, weekly out-of-the-blue bonuses and more. The Golden Casino remains honest and secure, with customer service on top of its game 24/7 via phone, email or chat sessions. What the Golden Casino is most famous for is the many slots tournaments it runs every week. A large number of those slots tourneys are free to enter, while winners get real money as a prize. Those that require buy-ins on the other side give the players chance to win large amount of cash, some slots tournaments with purses of over $100K.
Las Vegas USA Casino - and if you are looking for the best RTG software U.S. friendly online casino, Las Vegas USA is the first stop one should make. The RealTime Gaming (RTG) software is boosting over 100 different games, large number of slots, all casino table games and video poker machines you would find at a B&M Las Vegas casino, hence the name. This is the online casino that will get you as close to the Vegas-style gambling on the Internet as it's possible with the current technology. Well worth downloading all the games.
These are the current best U.S.-friendly online casinos. Of course, if you need to see a larger number of online casino websites friendly to U.S. players, you can always visit our list of online casinos for US players here. All the casinos listed there are of great quality and any country restrictions are noted for each casino. You can also read reviews of the internet casinos, see the current bonus offers and more.



Betting Sports Tip: List of U.S. friendly casinos online

Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker

Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker
By Joseph Ewens
Permalink

One of poker world’s most high profile pressure groups has committed itself to a multimillion dollar lobbying campaign over the next 6-8 months. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has told the Associated Press that they have a war-chest of $3 million to utilize during this Congressional session.
The PPA’s one million members have done their part raising the money, although much of the fund arrived courtesy of industry group The Interactive Gaming Council. This session of Congress began in January and concludes on October 30th for the winter adjournment. The vast majority will be spent trying to convince Washington politicians to repeal the UIGEA. The bill, which came into effect in 2006, effectively bans all forms of online gambling, forcing many lucrative businesses to move off-shore.
Although $3 million sounds like an excessive sum, PPA coffers may be stretched to their limits as they fight off opposition from America’s major sporting leagues. The NFL in particular was instrumental in attaching the UIGEA to the unrelated Safe Port Act in 2006. Last year it stepped up its anti-gambling activities, hiring a full time activist called Jeff Miller to represent its interests in Washington. These organizations claim that online sports betting threatens the integrity of their games and have vowed to oppose any efforts to see the ban repealed. The Christian Coalition also has a history of taking political action to further the cause of the UIGEA.
The timing of this announcement may well be timed to coincide with the activities of House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank. During the last two years he has introduced a number of bills designed to re-legalize online gambling. His latest attempt, slated to appear before the end of April, will seek to reintroduce online gambling to legality along with legislation and taxation. Assuring a fair and even industry that contributes to the national economy is seen as a key part in its reintroduction.


Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker

Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife

Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife
Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.
The National Football League may have a policy to oppose all sports gambling, and even online casinos which do not handle sports betting, but one prominent player is richer, due to his wife's wagering on sports. Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.

The Metropolitan Post says Mrs. Brady is a fan of Italian championship team Internazionale Milano, and has already pocketed $1 million in winnings if Inter continues its winning ways. Gisele apparently has future bets placed on Inter repeating as winners of the Scudetto, the "little shield" that signifies the champion of Serie A, Italy's premier soccer league.

Bundchen, according to the Post, is placing weekly bets on Inter, and will collect if the team wins the Scudetto, a likelihood as it enjoys a comfortable lead.

The NFL contends any gambling at all, let alone sports betting, creates corruption and a loss of integrity for its games. Yet soccer suffers no loss in public confidence or prestige by sports gambling, even though Bundchen has a connection to Inter Milan.

Before marrying Brady, Bundchen dated former Inter player Fancesco Coco. She also professes complete faith in coach Jose Mourinho, another personal acquaintance.

No comment has yet been released from the offices of the NFL about the sports gaming habits of the wife of Brady, one of the best-known players in the league. The New England Patriots quarterback is not alleged to have placed bets of his own.

One wit suggests that the NFL might want to lock up Gisele in the same cell as Janet Jones-Gretzky, also noted for her looks and gambling hobby. "Then," the wag said, "we could experience one of those women-behind-bars movies come to life."


Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife

Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate

Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate
By Christopher Nole
General Online Casino News

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! In this supposedly enlightened age, many US citizens still claim their right to believe articles of faith, even when all scientific investigation and existing facts prove otherwise. The argument over legalized online gambling falls in the center of this phenomenon, as baseless assertions are refuted by scientific study, yet many continue to spread the falsehoods as beliefs beyond impeachment.

"It [Internet gambling] is so seductively habit-forming that individuals can in short order lose their homes and jobs and, indeed, their families and futures. And the effects on individuals rebound into society," says Former US Representative Jim Leach.

But objective scientific study finds otherwise.

“On a theoretical level, online gaming’s increased accessibility should make it more dangerous than traditional gaming. But... it does not seem to be the reality,” says Professor Dan Ross, director of research at the National Responsible Gambling Program in South Africa.

"The very first thing we learned (studying Internet gambling patterns), which we didn't expect, was that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of gamblers online gamble in a very moderate and mild way," says Dr. Howard Shaffer after conducting a two-year study as director of the Division of Addictions at Harvard Medical School.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "However, we can exercise our right to oppose Internet betting on our games. ... Gambling on our games -- online or off line -- threatens the integrity of our games and all the values they represent."

But years of legal Las Vegas sports gambling have not hurt the NFL, and European sports leagues have found cooperation with online casinos essential to prevent corruption and undue influence.

Professor Earl Grinois of the Baptist school Baylor University says social ills of casino gambling do more damage than the revenue produced offsets. Grinois says introducing a casino into a neighborhood causes crime to increase five to eight percent, with the primary jump in violent crime like burglary and murder.

But actual facts show otherwise. Casinos were brought to Bossier City, Louisiana, fifteen years ago. "There were fears, even from all of us, about the crime," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. "But, so far, crime (in Bossier City) has actually dropped."

In the meantime, Bossier City has beautified itself, redone infrastructure, funded social aid programs, seen decreased unemployment, and created a trust fund with over $30 million for future civic needs.

In Florida, Hallandale Representative Joe Gibbons testified in front of Grinois that casinos had come to his district two years earlier. `And in those last two years, our crime rate has gone down.''

Grinois responded that crime rates go up starting in the third year.One witness guessed if Gibbons had said four years, Grinois would have said five is the measure.

Michelle Combs of the Christian Coalition lobbies for the UIGEA, saying, "We’re not saying people shouldn’t go to Las Vegas. But when it’s in your home, it’s too easy. It breaks up families.”

Yet every bit of evidence is that this is not so. Dr. Shaffer's and Dr. Ross's research shows play at online gambling sites to be controlled and budgeted by the overwhelming majority of patrons. Religious groups like to relate horrible anecdotal stories of a single incident, disregarding the statistical insignificance of the occurrence. According to statistician Frederick Felson, "Saying Internet gambling caused one horror story and is therefore evil and must be barred is the equivalent of banning cell phones because one person was beaten with a cell phone."

US Representative Spencer Bachus tried to use scientific proof to back up his belief that Internet gaming leads to mental issues by asserting a survey proved that one in four teenagers who gambled online attempted suicide. Unfortunately for Bachus, the author of the study denounced his interpretation, saying he had totally misrepresented the facts. That seems to be a common position for religious right-wingers opposing online gambling.


Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate

New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting

New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting
The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.
A new survey of public thinking has found that residents of the state of New Jersey favor legalizing sports gambling by a decisive margin. The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.

Sixty-three percent of residents says sports books should be legal at AC casinos. The same number supported allowing horse tracks to take sports bets, while opposition fell even lower, from thirty-two to thirty percent.

The numbers fell to roughly even as to whether to permit sports betting at off-track betting venues. Forty-eight percent said yes, while forty-three percent said no, just outside the poll's four percent margin of error.

New Jersey state Senator Ray Lesniak and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice, alleging that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutionally treats four states differently than the rest in outlawing sports gambling in most of the US.

"Here is an issue in which the voice of the public has clearly spoken. Any politician who votes against his constituents must surely be seen as serving special interests, any claim to the contrary notwithstanding,“ says legislative observer Thomas Riordan.


New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting