Just like the rest of the Mississippi coast, there are improvements coming to each and every one of the casinos in Biloxi throughout 2014. The great news for those who are fans of these casinos is that they are getting upgrades, renovations, or new extensions built, which means that you can expect a much higher quality of gaming and a much better gaming experience in a setting which is more suited to the modern style of gambling. We are going to highlight a few of the changes which are being made here, so that you can look forward to them opening very soon. The Beau Rivage is one of the casinos which is going to be putting together improvements, but the public relations director Mary Cracchiolo-Spain says that customers might not notice them all straight away. 85,000 ft.² of carpeting in the casino is being replaced, all of the guest room door locks are being changed, new air walls are being installed in the convention centre, and new piers and catwalks are going in under the barge. This is all the kind of upkeep that a large casino resort needs to take care of, and though it is mostly a thankless task which no one will comment on, the improvements that will be made are real. The Boomtown Biloxi is going to be putting on new promotions in the coming year which have never been seen before, including a Mustang being given away to celebrate Chinese New Year, so make sure you keep an eye out on the official casino website or in the venue itself to see what is coming up around the corner. Meanwhile, the Golden Nugget Biloxi will open their fourth new restaurant in the spring, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It will overlook the new tropical swimming pool which is scheduled to open in March, with Landry’s spending $100 million to acquire and renovate the resort and completing the improvements in phases. Recently added were a complete makeover of the buffet and a corridor of new stores, as well as a remodelling of all the hotel rooms. By spring all of the suites will be done and new meeting rooms will be added to complete the transformation. “It’s been challenging but rewarding,” said Brad Rhines, vice president of marketing. “Customers can see things are changing for the better.” The Grand Biloxi is going to be renamed as the Harrah’s Golf Coast later this year after the completion of a myriad range of improvements, such as creating a restaurant with famed chef Kelly English, creating a fast casual restaurant of the casino, and a lobby lounge which will serve the pool area with new seating and landscaping. All 500 guestrooms are going to be updated, and an entertainment launch and boardwalk will replace the unfinished casino, which is going to be demolished. The Hard Rock Biloxi will be debuting venue Platinum Towers soon at a party before the new hotel officially opens.

We often hear stories from our readers, or information from other sources, about some of the beliefs which people tend to hold about gambling. The problem is that most of these beliefs tend to be fallacious, and if you are going to do well when you are playing at casinos in New Orleans then you need to bring your top game to the table. This means knowing exactly which myths to believe and which myths to avoid, so we are going to debunk a few things here today to help you win casino money on a more regular basis. First off we are going to talk about roulette bias, as this is something that everyone is or was looking for but not many people actually understand. Some players say that if they find a hot number – in other words a number which has come up on the board three or four times in recent spins – they will stick to it, and this is a tactic which makes sense because it means that if there is a bias on the wheel towards that particular number you are going to get the chance to win big. However, some players will also say that they like to go for numbers which are around the similar position on the wheel – for example, if seventeen seems to be lucky, they might place bets on sixteen and eighteen as well. The problem with this is that the way the numbers are laid out on the betting table is not the way that they are laid out on the actual wheel – and in fact seventeen and eighteen are almost directly opposite each other when you are looking at an American roulette wheel. Our tip in this case is to look at the wheel not the table felt when you are placing bets, because if there is a bias this is the best way to exploit it. Here is another example of a situation in which you might not be getting the best advice from other players. When you are sitting at a blackjack table, if you double down in the last position before the dealer, or if you take another card, then you might find that some of the other players around the table feel a bit angry with you. They might even accuse you of not being a team player, and if they want to be really extreme about it in my leave the table. Why is this? Well, some blackjack players seem to have a suspicion or superstition that taking the last card before the dealer means that he will not go bust as he should have and everyone at the table will lose as a result of your play. The fact is, unless somebody else is funding your bets, there is no need for you to make a bad play just because somebody else wants you to. You should always make the play which is best for your hand.

When we talk about huge jackpots being paid out through International Game Technology slot machine games, normally you would think that we are talking about casinos in Reno rather than other venues within the city. In this case, however, it seems that one lucky patron was playing at the Reno Tahoe International Airport when they saw the symbols on the reels lining up to give them the win of a lifetime, as they found a huge jackpot just before Christmas Eve. The lucky player was enjoying the Wheel of Fortune Spinning Reel Double 3X4X5X Times Pay game when they saw the payout flashing up on the screen: an amazing $533,828.85. Nevada is known as being the state in which most of the big jackpots are one, and the figures certainly reflect that: out of the $6 billion which have been awarded nationwide since 1986, $2.353 billion of those have been awarded in the state. That is really an amazing figure, particularly when you consider that there are other big casino areas in the US, such as Atlantic City, New Orleans, and a large resorts such as Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun. The game was one of the machines which is part of the MegaJackpots series created by International Game Technology, and it certainly lives up to its name in this example, which has provided one lucky person with the kind of win that would make anyone’s Christmas. It is not known who the lucky player was, where they are from more where they are going, or what they are going to do with the cash, but in a way that is even more exciting because it means that we can spend our time daydreaming about who they might have been and what kind of magical Christmas they might have created with the money. You can find out more information about the MegaJackpots series of slot machine games on the official International Game Technology website, as they are always keen to show the latest news about which games they have released recently and which players are getting really big wins on them. With payouts of this size, it is easy to see why they feel that they have something to brag about. The Wheel of Fortune games are very popular series because of their resemblance to the incredible popular television show, which is still running in some countries around the world and has been doing so for many years now. If you are looking to get the chance to enjoy some of that Wheel of Fortune play yourself but cannot get to a venue which has the slot machine games or live too far away from Reno, you can always find them online as there are plenty of different versions which have been created by online slot game developers. These include a couple of official games which use the proper logo and create the right atmosphere which you would have expected from the game show itself.

There is more bad news for the casinos of New Jersey, after the revenue gained by all of the casinos in Atlantic City fell below the 3 billion mark in 2013 for the first time in twenty-two years. As increasing competition in the north-eastern US states continues to drink the market, figures released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement showed that the casinos in the city only managed to take $2.86 billion in 2013, which is down from just over $3 billion in 2012, marking the seventh straight year of plunging revenue figures for the city. Looking back to the past, we can see a huge contrast, as the city’s casinos won $5.2 billion in 2006 – the year that the first of what eventually became twelve casinos in Pennsylvania opened. This quickly began to cut very deeply into a market that the New Jersey resort town once dominated, and it is thought that the first victim of that saturation was the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, which shut down early in 2014. This left Atlantic city with just eleven casinos, which means that the revenue figures are likely to continue declining as there are less venues now to bring in the cash. However, there is now a new source from which the revenue might come, and this could be the saving grace for the revenue figures overall when you look at the gambling industry as a whole rather than focusing on the land-based industry. “Obviously it’s disappointing to see another year where it’s a decline,” said Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort, and head of the Casino Association of New Jersey. “But hopefully with the addition of Internet gambling, I think you’re going to see an increase in 2014.” This is the hope that many casino operators are holding on to, as many of them already have their own online casino sites up and running or have them planned to be launched soon. The revenue figures which we have from just the first couple of months of online gambling in New Jersey show the fledgling Internet gambling industry being dominated by two main players – the Borgata, which with its partners Party Poker, took in more than $3.7 million since 21 November, and Caesars interactive, which also took in $2.4 million. This is a huge percentage put together of the eight-point forming dollars in total which was taken in by the Internet gambling sites in New Jersey over the last five weeks of 2013. “Our network has attracted the largest pool of players in the New Jersey online market, allowing us to offer our customers a wide selection of games and table stakes at all times,” said Keith Smith, president of Boyd Gaming, which owns half of the Borgata. “This gives our network a significant competitive advantage and positions us for further success.” It was also important to look at whether online gambling would cannibalise land-based gambling, and it seems from the figures already that this is not the case.

In an industry which is always changing, one of the things which we are always reporting about is the closure or reopening or rebranding of different casinos in Las Vegas. It seems that every single week there is an announcement of another one making a change, but while the rest of the industry might be all about changing as fast as possible, one casino in Las Vegas is celebrating a family-owned tradition this week. Jerry’s Nugget Casino is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, having opened back in 1964 at a time when gambling was a very different matter to the way that it is today. The Mayor of North Las Vegas, John Lee, has proclaimed the 15th of January to be Jerry’s Nugget Day, to commemorate the way that the casino has remained strong in a family-owned way ever since it was first opened. Five decades after it came into being, it is still running exactly the same way by the original Stamis family who opened it. There are dozens of employees who have worked at the Nugget for many years and have no plan to leave any time soon. Longtime bartender Tony Costanza has been serving the same locals who come in on a regular basis for the last thirteen years. “The people are great.The clientele are great. We know them by their first name. they’ll come over. We’ll talk. We’ll talk about the family,” Costanza said. The casino was begun by Jerry Stamis, the father of the current casino president in the 60s along with a few other family members, and it is clearly the dedication of the family to the running of the business in a traditional and no-nonsense way that is kept in business for so very long without any trials and tribulations. Today, it is run by the president Jeremy Stamis, and you can see exactly what we are talking about in terms of tradition and family values when you realise that he still walks the floor most mornings. One of their main attractions is the Royal Street Theatre, which provides live stage entertainment with state-of-the-art sound, including an intimate dance floor and a full-service bar, every Friday and Saturday nights. They tend to go for local talents, so whether that means Latin music or Motown beats, there is always something going on which the locals can enjoy. The casino is situated 1 mile north of downtown Las Vegas, and has two casual restaurants, a great range of slot machine games and video poker machines, live table action, a race and sports book, a keno lounge, and a 150 seat bingo Hall in addition to the attractions we have already mentioned. They have a reputation which focuses on consistent quality, great service, and good value – and they pride themselves as being, in the words of their byline, “your kind of place”. It certainly seems as though it is worth playing at a venue like this.

If you were able to step inside some land-based casinos in Wyoming, what would you expect to see? Many people would hack back to the images from famous films of a group of men stood around the poker table or during the craps dice, smoking cigars, and drinking the finest possible scotch. However, stereotypes are not always correct, and a recent infographic released by Jackpot247 suggests that the idea of gambling being something that is predominantly reserved for men is completely and utterly wrong these days. The study was carried out in the UK which shows the gender split for gambling is a lot more even than we would have thought. Throughout the UK, it is thought that there are approximately 21,442,000 women gamblers, while there are 21,450,000 men who partake in the same hobby. This means that there are only 8000 more men who gamble in the colour of the country than women, so it is clear that gambling is no longer just a men’s game and is something that everyone can enjoy – particularly since online gambling means that it can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home. Of course, everyone has their own preferences the games, but is there any bias as to a particular type of game based on your gender? There is a range of choice on offer, but the most popular game of all is the lottery, with 56% of women and 61% of men trying their luck in that area. Then next up to scratch cards, with 25% of women trying it out and 23% of men – showing that more women like to do the scratches in this case. We can perhaps guess that the reason for the popularity of both these games amongst both sexes is due to their convenience, as it is always easier to grab a lottery ticket during your weekly food shop or at the local newsagents on your way to work than it is to actually go to a casino and play. One thing that we could perhaps have predicted is that bingo is much more popular among women than it is among men – 12% of women play the game, what it is just 6% for the men. Bingo has certainly enjoyed a surge in popularity recently that has become more of a social occasion. This element of it certainly appeals to women much more than anyone else, and to increase this effect most of the online bingo sites are done out in pink and purple colours to try and attract female players. However, perhaps those casino statistics that we were talking about before not quite so far off the mark with their stereotypical views – as it turns out that 9% of men play casino games, while only 2% of women get involved with that type of gambling. It is not clear exactly why this is, but the traditional view of men standing around and gambling without women will certainly help.

Legislators are calling on Governor Scott Walker to make the decision to approve the advent of casinos in Wisconsin, after a report which showed that the Kenosha and Racine counties are lagging behind in terms of construction jobs. The idea is that the casino could bring in a huge amount of new construction jobs to those areas, as well as allowing for more permanent jobs after the casino was completed, solving a problem for the people of the areas who are struggling to find work and need a new way to support their families. Several area Democratic legislators have sent letters, as well as representatives calling upon him directly to make up his mind. “The 1,400 family-supporting jobs that this project would create, as well as the thousands of other direct and indirect jobs, would significantly enhance our local and state economies,” according to a joint statement issued Thursday by state Sens. Bob Wirch and John Lehman and state Reps. Cory Mason, Peter Barca, Tod Ohnstad, Samantha Kerkman and Thomas Weatherston.“We can’t wait. Approve this project, and let’s get people working again.” The report from the Associated General Contractors of America showed that the construction jobs in Kenosha County have fallen by 1% between November 2012 and the same month in 2013, while Racine has remained stagnant at a 0% growth rate. However, the report also showed that several other areas in the state have made significant gains, the biggest of them being in Eau Claire County where there was a 27% increase in construction jobs. The picture is very clear: in order to stimulate growth in the two counties which need it the most and bring those jobs back to the people who need them, something big has to be done – and a new casino project would certainly require the construction workers in question. “This report confirms something that we already knew – we need jobs,” the group said. “Racine and Kenosha are hurting for jobs.” The project which is under discussion was proposed by the Menomonee Nation in partnership with the Hard Rock brand, and would create 1400 construction jobs, 3300 direct permanent jobs, and 1800 indirect jobs on the former Dairyland Greyhound Park site, according to what the legislators said in a news release. Tribal leaders have already made a promise to officials from Racine County that at least 15% of the casino workers would be taken from that region, with the rest of them being split between Kenosha itself and the tribal members who would wish to work there. The final decision rests with Governor Walker, as the project has already won federal approval last year. Walker has intimated that the decision may be several months away, insisting that the project needs to enjoy community support, result in no new net gaming, and have the backing of all eleven of Wisconsin’s tribes. This last point is the problem at the moment, as the Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk tribes are opposing the project thanks to their own casinos.

The casino technology company GameAccount Work has recently formed a strategic partnership with the Japanese arcade gaming giant Konami which will benefit both sides. Rather than looking at the debate over casinos in West Virginia, those who are interested in the future of online casino gambling should turn towards this kind of deal, which brings online and land-based operators together in order to create something that can be used by both. Not only will GameAccount be bringing Konami’s games to the online platform, but they will also be deploying the existing land-based games which the company owns to operators using the Konami Synkros gaming enterprise management system. The casino slot games will be locally deployed from within the GameAccount Internet gaming system, which will join them with those which are currently available from Ainsworth, Incredible Technologies, Scientific Games, Real Time Gaming, GamoMAT, and Multimedia Games. “Working in close collaboration with Konami to bring their games online in regulated internet gaming markets is a unique privilege,” said Michael Smurfit, the owner of GameAccount. “Our mobile technology and experience in rendering compelling Class III gaming experiences online secured this long-term strategic relationship with a market-leading provider of land-based gaming content worldwide.” The GameAccount GameSTACK technology is compatible with the regulatory regimes of New Jersey, Spain, Italy, and the UK, which will no doubt be very assuring indeed to those who are thinking about playing the games and want to know that they will be safe and in compliance with gaming regulations for the whole time that they are taking part in the games. The GameAccount Network is backed by Michael Smurfit and Dermot Desmond, and recently closed an institutional placing of its shares on the AIM in London and the ESM in Dublin, managing to raise £22.2 million in funding. Last year, they struck other significant deals in the US casino market of which this is just the most recent, including a deal to develop play for fun games on the Internet for the owners and operators of Foxwoods Resorts Casino, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. It seems as though partnerships like this and the work that they have done in the past have really gain them a lot of respect within the industry, leading to their ability to attract big name brands when it comes to collaborations such as this which will benefit not just them but also the customers that they are working with. “It was critical for us to find a partner who could deliver our game content online in a manner designed to help our casino customers grow their revenues and expand their businesses,” said Steve Sutherland, chief operating officer of Konami, explaining why they chose GameAccount rather than any of the other companies out there who are currently available on the market for this kind of partnership. We are sure to see more from both of these developers in the future, as they are both very competitive right now and are trying to enter the market more strongly.

As the plans proceed for a new Ferris wheel to be built overlooking the Potomac River from the four billion-dollar area known as National Harbor, many are questioning as to whether the time really is right to add huge fairground attractions and casinos in Washington. The $15 million, 175 foot tall Ferris wheel will be opened in April, allowing visitors to take 12 to 15 minute rides overlooking the whole area, which is a huge contrast to the city which is known for a monumental skyline made of granite and cast-iron. It will be a real contrast to what people normally expect, but for the developers behind the project, that is the whole point. “When you have a place like National Harbor or Washington, you need new things, iconic things. Not piddly things. When you do something like this wheel, you are going to get people from Richmond driving here, people from Philadelphia driving here,” said Milt Peterson, the real estate magnate behind National Harbor. He says that he sees the attraction becoming an iconic part of the region’s skyline, just like the Washington Monument or the US Capitol. The wheel will have a diameter of 165 feet, and will weigh 280,300 lbs; there will be eight passengers per gondola and forty-two gondolas around the whole wheel, meaning that a huge number of people can ride it at any one time. All of this means that it is going to be a huge attraction with a difference, which will be visible from flights which are arriving at or departing from the Reagan National Airport. It can also be seen from Old Town Alexandria and some other spots throughout the city, which is not something that all residents are able to embrace – some believe that it is not fitting given the traditional aspect of Washington and the image which it wishes to portray to the rest of the world. Whatever they things, it is not going to be alone for very long. Due to open in May 2016 will be the addition of a $925 million resort and casino built by MGM. This is sure to be a very exciting abutment indeed, which will bring one of the biggest casino brands in the world to Washington with all of the expertise and high-quality that they command. “When people fly into National, they are going to be saying: ‘Holy cow. Look at that. I want to go there,’ ” said Jon Peterson, Milt’s son and the principal of the family’s real estate empire, the Peterson Cos. “This will just solidify that we will be the place to be in the Washington area. This just adds another item to our bag of tricks.” It will cost fifteen dollars per person to take two revolutions on the Ferris wheel, and Peterson expects between 600,000 and 800,000 to take a ride on the Capital Wheel during the first year in which it is open in the city.

It looks as though 2018 might just be the year that we at last see legislation allowing for the construction of casinos in Virginia. This year, there is a bill going for the house of assembly which will ask for permission to allow gambling of a casino nature in Hampton Roads. As one of only twenty states that does not yet have any casinos within its borders, and with many of those other states already considering casino builds as well, this could bring Virginia right up to date with the state of the industry elsewhere, as well as allowing for bigger revenue boosts in terms of taxes and local economy. There has been plenty of discussion already in many of the states which do not yet allow casino gambling as to whether or not it should be added to the lineup. The important things to consider are issues such as whether casinos would be placed, what kind of effect they would have a local economy, what jobs they would bring to the area, and how the taxes would be dealt with – as well as who it would be that would build and operate the casinos. All of these issues are going to come up on the discussion in Virginia, which is a very important bill and one that could change the fortunes of the state for the better on a permanent basis. Many other states which have recently introduced casino gambling have profited very well indeed, with added extra taxes as well as tourism boosts helping them to stay afloat at a time when the economy is very difficult indeed. Of course, there are plenty of other states which are currently seeing the idea of adding more casinos to what they already have, or opening for the very first time if they do not yet have any at all. Florida, for example, will be seeing a bill come to fruition in March which would allow the state to open up a Las Vegas style casino resorts. They have to weigh up whether or not opening up new casinos is worth losing the exclusivity deal which they currently have with the Seminole tribe, which is worth $1 billion over five years. If they introduce more casinos, then the tribe will be able to stop paying. In New York, there is also the discussion around an amendment which the New Yorkers already voted for in November, which will allow seven Las Vegas style casinos to operate. Somewhere between one and three of those will be operating in New York City, but it could take up to 7 years for those casinos to become operational. Operators are going to have to have their bids in by June, and then the gaming board will have to decide which of the deal is to go for, after which construction will be able to begin. This will add to the eighteen casinos already available in the state, most of which are run by Native American tribes.