The English Poker Open takes place from September 15-17 at Nottingham’s, Dusk Til Dawn club. The Main Event is a spectacular structure, with a $5,300 buy-in and an hour-long clock.

Of course, most people don’t have $5,300 to chuck at a poker tournament. With that in mind, the thoughtful folks at not only Full Tilt Poker but also the Cake Poker network, Littlewoods, William Hill and InterPoker have set up some satellites.

At Full Tilt they are hosting $200 + $16 tournaments every Sunday until the event kicks off, with feeder tournaments into those if you can’t stump up the $216. Cake Poker offer a series of steps tournaments in the form of rebuy events beginning from as little as $3, and Littlewoods are offering $12 feeders into weekly $220 finals each Saturday.

In addition to the Main Event, the EPO kicks off with a welcome party and the last day sees a £500 + £60 side event. Event 3 is a slightly more affordable £250 event, both NLHE freezeouts.

Online casinos licensed by Microgaming have four new Internet slots to offer players. Wealth Spa, Get Rocked, Silver Fang, and Mega Moolah Isis will give online casino patrons an assortment of different games to chalenge them.

Wealth Spa features 20 paylines on five reels, and uses an upscale spa as its theme. This slot is packed with bonus games, available on five different reward levels. Gold tokens won through wilds and scatters can be saved until the player accumulates enough to aspire to higher prizes, or used immediately to strive for quick cash.,

Silver Fang features a battle against wolves in high mountains. The game boasts an amazing 50 paylines on five reels, and offers free games and a gamble option on top of the regular wilds and scatters.

Get Rocked is, obviously, a rock-n-roll game with several multiplier features. Five reels hold 30 paylines. The lead singer icon can trigger an interactive bonus game, and free spins get triple multiplied.

The Isis game not only sports an ancient Egyptian theme, but carries the Mega Moolah bonus, putting millions potentially in the hands of players. The game is five reels, with 25 paylines, and can award as many as 30 free games with a multiplier times six by hitting the hawk icon on three or more reels.

Unfortunately, US players are not accepted at Microgaming online casinos. Players who wish for the freedom to play these and other exciting games should contact their Congressional representatives and let them know to support Barney Frank’s bill regulating online gambling.

ATS Consultants, Inc., a privately held sports investment firm specializing in football, basketball, baseball, hockey and horse racing, announced today the launch of their 2009-2010 ATS Sports Betting Guide. New for 2009, the ATS Sports Betting Guide offers expert handicapping advice on Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey.

Widely known in the industry as one of the top sports information firms with an extensive line of products and services, ATS created the Sports Betting Guide with the serious investor in mind. “We are pleased with the development of this new client offering,” said Bob Chase, President and CEO of ATS. “Our current team of over 50 veteran scouts and consultants work at 110% to ensure that our clients get the highest quality information. The new betting guide is a direct result of their extraordinary and unfaltering efforts.”

Containing over 40 pages of information vital to any sports investor, featured articles include stories such as “Maximizing Your Edge in Betting Basketball,” “How to Run an NFL offense,” and “The 10 Best Teams That Didn’t Win the Super Bowl.” Other great topics include doing the necessary research before paying for advice and what the pros know about smart money.

Being offered for a limited time at no cost to the requestor (a $49 value), the ATS Betting Guide is available by calling 1-800-772-1287 or by visiting the ATS web site at atssportsline.com.

Its becoming a bit of a pattern with online bingo sites, but offering bingo players the opportunity to win a luxury cruise in some hot climate, all the while staying in a VIP cabin seems to be a popular one with bingo players.

You’ll be happy to hear then that the poshest site of them all is now offering its lucky players the opportunity to take part in their Poshlicious bingo game which will give one lucky winner (+1 of course!) a first class cabin on board a luxury liner which will sail around the stunning Canary Islands in late October. As Posh Bingo rightly state, you’ll be sailing against the dramatic landscapes of rugged volcanones; black and white sands and enchanting white washed villages. Of course, along with the spectacular scenery will be extremely nice weather to match, and for the lucky winner will be a great prize, so if you have a loved one that you’d like to spoil and spend some quality, romantic time with, this is the promotion not to miss!

The game will be held on Sunday 20th September at 8pm in the Poshlicious bingo room, but of course like any big promotional game you don’t have to wait until then as you can pre-purchase the tickets now so you needn’t miss out or forget.

Tickets to the game cost £1 each, or you can earn ‘Poshlicious Points’ where each 500 points will get you a ticket to the big game. Details on how to earn these points can be found on the Posh Bingo website.

Further expanding the company’s casino offering, Sweden’s Entraction said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Evolution Gaming, specialists in live dealer platforms, to launch baccarat, blackjack and roulette games as part of the company’s new live casino offering.

Set for launch during the second quarter of 2010, the live casino product will be offered in addition to Entraction’s casino products already available as part of the company’s turnkey offering.

Evolution Gaming provides for an interactive televised experience which personalises, entertains and captures the social elements of a visit to a real casino.

“We see strong growth in casino and Live Casino completes our strong casino offering,” said Peter Åström, CEO of Entraction.

“Our approach to always put the partner first, alongside our complete portfolio of products and services for online gaming makes us an attractive partner for established gaming operators, media companies and other companies with strong brands that want to offer their customers online games.”

Evolution Gaming now licenses hard-table live casino games to over twenty operators including the likes of PartyGaming, Blue Square, William Hill, Expekt, Sportingbet, and Victor Chandler.

The Crown corporation that regulates gambling in British Columbia is raising the weekly limit on its online gaming website from $120 to nearly $10,000.

The B.C. Lottery Corp. sets limits on users’ weekly spending for its Play Now website. The corporation’s president, Michael Graydon, said it wants to give players the opportunity to set limits based on their own economic situation.

The move prompted criticism from the New Democrats, who say groups concerned about problem gambling should have been consulted.

Chris Moneymaker was the big story going into the final day of the World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi. The 2003 World Champion held a massive chip lead at the start of final table play but in the end the Team Poker Stars pro could only manage third place.

After surrendering his early advantage Moneymaker was left crippled after his AQ ran into eventual winner Jeremy Gaubert’s AK. The former World Champ doubled up holding aces but his comeback was short lived, busting out on the very next hand after seeing his top pair overtaken by Gaubert’s river flush.

The 25-year-old from Los Angeles took that momentum into heads up play against Steve Harmontree, sealing the victory in style holding pocket aces. Interestingly, last year’s winner Clonie Gowan was also holding pocket aces when she claimed the title. Gaubert collected a first prize of $192,953, his best cash in a live event.

The final table positions and payouts were as follows:

1st – Jeremy Gaubert – $192,953
2nd – Steve Hamontree – $109,400
3rd – Chris Moneymaker – $60,110
4th – Chad Brown – $48,088
5th – Thomas Creel – $36,066
6th – Gil George – $30,055
7th – Tommy Vedes – $24,044
8th – Jerry Milanos – $18,033
9th – Parris Heard – $12,022

A popular and much loved bingo employee at the Ritz bingo club in Castleford is celebrating her 25^th year of working at the club. Ellen Riding has spent the whole duration working at the Castleford bingo club and still to this day enjoys it as much as her first day. The well respected bingo employee also had another big celebration of celebrating her 60^th birthday last Sunday where she had a surprise birthday party which was organised by her daughter that all her close friends and family attended.

Ellen who is mother to 3 children and 5 grandchildren works very hard at the Ritz bingo club and enjoys every minute of it, she is a great friend to all the staff, and has a very close relationship with all the regulars who she has seen on a regular basis throughout her 25 years work.

Even though she celebrated her 60^th birthday last week Ellen said “I have enjoyed my time here and I love what I do, I must love what I do or I wouldn’t still be here” Ellen also commented how she is very proud to have been here for 25 years but says there is still plenty of years of work left in her yet and she isn’t going anywhere, when Ellen isn’t working, she spends all of her spare time with her husband and beautiful grandchildren and enjoys her life been busy and doing the things she loves.

Foxy is certainly a colourful environment, with a friendly pink design for the site and bingo interface, it’s bound to put a smile on even the most glum of faces within seconds of the site loading…

And not only is that bound to put a smile on your face, but with 100% cashback up to £150 on your first deposit, you’re bound to be in a great mood even before you start to play!

You can play either 75 or 90 ball bingo, and the site always has other offers available to you, ranging from free electrical equipment to holiday prize draws!

The Foxy chat rooms are full of people eager to make some money, and they’re all so friendly you just won’t want to leave!

The site is ideal for novices and experienced online bingo players alike, with huge jackpots and plenty of help on offer for those that are not fully clued up on the rules.

There’s a whole range of extra promotions and special benefits for VIR’s (Very important Roomie’s), which will make you want to stay long after getting your initial deposit bonus!

Economic and regulatory concerns in core Eastern European markets have caused first-half earnings at Estonia-based Olympic Entertainment to slide by more than 90 percent.

The Estonian Stock Exchange-listed casino operator said that total consolidated revenues for the first-half of 2009 fell 31 percent to €61.7m, with EBITDA falling sharper still, down 91 percent to just €1.53m from €17.25m in 2008.

Olympic Entertainment operates almost 90 casino venues across eight Eastern European countries, but has been hard hit by the parlous economic situation in key Baltic markets, as well as the suspension of all casino and slot machine operations in Ukraine under new legislation rushed through the country’s parliament in May and June.

The company said revenues fell sharpest in its domestic market, Estonia, down 56 percent, but casino operations in Latvia and Lithuania also reported sharp declines for the first six months of the year of 40 percent and 38 percent respectively. The revenue declines plunged the company to a consolidated loss of €22.5m for the period, down from a €6.4m profit in the prior year.

Olympic said it closed a total of 27 loss-making casino venues over the first six months of 2009 – 13 of which were in Estonia and seven in Latvia – to add to the ten the group had already shuttered in 2008. The number of staff was also cut by 616, or 16 percent, Olympic told investors in a stock exchange filing last week.

The global downturn has led to grave concerns being voiced over the short-term economic future of Eastern Europe as a whole. Several countries – including Latvia and Hungary – have already turned to the IMF for help, while analysts believe others – such as Lithuania – could follow later in the year.

GDP fell by record levels of around 20 percent in both Latvia and Lithuania in the second-quarter and the region’s economic growth of recent years has become but a distant memory since the global economic situation worsened towards the backend of last year.

Nonetheless, certain economists consider Eastern Europe’s crisis to have essentially ‘bottomed out’ in the earlier months of 2009, with the threat of mass sovereign defaults having now rescinded.

Such a view was backed up by Olympic’s figures. The company said revenues from continuing operations were up very marginally (0.7 percent) in the second quarter from the first. “In spite of negative developments on markets, in the second quarter of the year the level of consolidated revenues has stabilised after significant decline during the first two months of this year,” the group said.

Olympic said that the month-long shutdown of all gambling venues in Ukraine in May and June, imposed by the government following a tragic fire at a slot hall in Dneprepetovsk, had cost the firm a total of €1.2m in lost revenues.

Olympic liquidated its three Ukrainian subsidiaries after that original month-long ban became more permanent when a controversial new gambling law was approved by President Viktor Yuschenko as the quarter drew to a close.

The legislation bans all gambling businesses in Ukraine only until new rules are drafted to establish Russian-style gaming zones in more remote parts of the country, although most commentators consider the ban likely to be in force for an indefinite period of time.

Olympic estimates its impairment losses as a result of Ukraine’s legal changes to be in the region of €12m, but reiterated its intention to pursue compensation from the country’s government over the cancellation of its gambling licences. The company confirmed that the process to pursue redress under bilateral trade agreements signed between Estonian and Ukrainian governments had already begun.

Publication of Olympic’s first-half results came just over a week after ratings agency Moody’s confirmed fellow Eastern European gaming operator Ritzio Entertainment had entered restructuring talks with creditors following the adverse regulatory changes in Ukraine that saw the company default on a coupon payment due July 27.

Ritzio has also been negatively affected by the shutdown of casinos and slot machine parlours in neighbouring Russia – whose own gambling ban took formal effect on July 1 of this year.

The gambling blackout in the region’s two largest countries has seen Eastern Europe’s gambling map radically redrawn this summer.

With the Russian and Ukrainian markets now off-limits to operators, several nearby countries – including Latvia, Belarus and Bulgaria – have already floated plans to liberalise their gaming sectors in order to attract visitors from Russia and Ukraine. However, local observers remain cautious that any plans to attract investment will remain contingent on the broader economic situation in individual Eastern European countries.

By contrast to the turbulent situations in the three Baltic states, Olympic said it had seen first-half gaming revenues grow in Slovakia, Romania and Belarus, while revenues from Poland witnessed a more modest single-digit drop.