The New York Times has a piece up on Representative Frank's newest bill, H.R. 2267, which is designed to regulate the online gambling industry. The bill, if it becomes law, would give people the opportunity to decide for themselves on this issue and provide the government with a new source of revenue.

It makes both the people and government happy, but a few special interest groups led by social conservatives have so far put up strong resistance to allowing any form of online gambling.

At a news conference announcing the legislation, Mr. Frank, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, pointed out that the federal government could collect increased tax revenues if Internet gambling was regulated. But he said online gambling should be legal as a matter of personal liberty, calling it an activity the government should neither encourage nor prohibit.

[...]

"Congress kind of sneaked up on the American people," Mr. Frank said of the online gambling ban. "The people woke up."

Good luck to Rep. Frank and common sense.

Fans of online slots rejoice, there's a new featured slot machine at Golden Casino called Cherry Blossoms. This slot comes with 25 paylines, 5 reels, and a Japanese theme. Choose the number of paylines to compete on, the size of your bet, and then watch the reels spin or simply set the autoplay feature.

Golden Casino has a large stable of games and it's nice to see that they aren't going to sit back and become complacent. Regularly adding new games, such as the Cherry Blossoms slot machine, means that Golden Casino will maintain it's reputation as a highly respectable online casino for a long time to come.

And keep an eye open for the welcome bonus when you create an account at Golden Casino.

Golden Casino - Cherry Blossoms 5-Reel, 25-Payline Slot Machine

Full Tilt has an interesting new promotion starting which could prove to be really popular. They're letting players pick fantasy poker teams, just like what's been going on for years with Baseball, Football, and other sports. Pick a team of professionals to go far in individual 2009 World Series of Poker events, and if your team does indeed do well then you will win prizes ranging from Full Tilt gear to a seat in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.

To access the fantasy poker promotion, simply click the Cashier button in the Full Tilt software and then click My Promotions. A browser window will open up and there in the bottom right is the Fantasy Poker section, just pick your teams and hope they don't get sucked out on.

Full Tilt Poker - Pick Your Fantasy Poker Team

Everyone who joins Vic's Bingo not only gets $5 completely free in order to play a few games of Bingo and really get a good feel for how the bingo hall works, but there are loads more promotions on top of that. The biggest and earliest will be the 150% bonus tied to a player's first two real money deposits. And since Bingo is hardly a game that sees players blowing their entire bankroll on one game, these are two promotions that will have a positive affect for weeks.

After a player collects those two bonuses, the promotions keep coming with daily specials and special events. On Friday, every deposit a player makes above $125 will see a 250% bonus, meaning if someone deposits $200 they will have $700 in their account after the $500 bonus is added. That's a huge amount of money on the house, take advantage of it at Vic's Bingo.

Online Vegas has a huge $150,000 freeroll slots tournament happening right now, the last day to play is Tuesday the 19th. $150,000 is the total guaranteed prize money, with first place winning $65,000, and 500 people in total winning cash prizes. The original starting tournament chip stack (the freeroll entry) is $125, but everyone can rebuy for $20 and get an extra $25 in tournament chips, rebuy as many times as you want.

The tournaments just keep coming at Online Vegas, this is a continuation of a new monthly theme, last month was the April Fool's tournament. The big ones always offer initial registration for free, which are sure to attract lots of new players. And the more active players there are, the bigger the prizes will get in the future.

Online Vegas - Enter the May Flowers Freeroll Tournament

Things are definitely looking good when it comes to Rome Casino as they have recently improved their welcome bonus, offering more bonus chips to new players. It's now possible for gamers to receive up to $5,000 on the house after making an equivalent deposit.

But it's not all based on a single deposit, which I generally don't approve of, the bonus is actually split into 5 separate deposits. Rome does it the proper way and lets people receive $1,000 bonuses 5 different times and this means gamblers who are more comfortable making $50 or $100 deposits at a time will see that money matched 5 times, unlike some casinos that only offer a bonus on the very first deposit, in which it's either make a huge deposit all at once or miss out on most of the benefit. Major credit cards are accepted.

Rome Casino - $5,000 in Possible Welcome Bonus Chips
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In Full Tilt news, poker players will be seeing a new name in red, actor, human rights activist, and poker player Don Cheadle. Although he hasn't yet won a major tournament Mr. Cheadle has done reasonably well as an amateur player. Because of this he won't be listed as a pro, but rather as a 'Friend of Full Tilt'. Cheadle started the Ante up for Africa events along with Annie Duke and Norman Epstein.

The FTOPS continues, and the good news for players is that a few of the tournaments have been short on players. The reason this is good news is because the tournaments guarantee prize money, and there's always a magic number that, once hit, starts raising the prizes. If that magic number isn't hit then the prizes for a guarantee tournament are much more lucrative for every player in the game because Full Tilt itself is required to fulfill the guarantee, which hasn't been met by tournament fees. There are 14 more events left, take a look at the schedule and either sign up or start playing satellites.

Play at Full Tilt Poker and get a 100% welcome bonus good for up to $600

There's a new i-Slot that's just been released at Sloto'Cash Casino called Rock On. This is a five reel, twenty payline interactive slot machine with fun symbols, music playing, and crowds cheering for you while the reels spin. Elvis symbols, green guitars, and red guitars are the big three icons to shoot for.

Getting three or more Elvis symbols triggers the bonus round where big money can be made. The game gives instructions beforehand, but it's pretty easy to win big as long as you have good control of your mouse.

Sloto'Cash Casino - Play the Rock On Slot Machine

The NHL playoffs are down to eight teams, with two games scheduled for tonight, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins are going at it the same time that the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes are playing. The Capitals and Hurricanes are both leading in their series and are both favored to win the games tonight.

Tomorrow the Penguins and Capitals are going at it again and later in the night the Chicago Blackhawks face the Vancouver Canucks. The Blackhawks and Canucks are tied in the series 2-2, and Bodog hasn't yet posted their odds on who is favored.

Place all your NHL bets at Bodog Sportsbook. There's information on the teams and several fun betting options if you choose to bet Live, that is bet on the action as the game is happening.

Bodog Sportsbook - Bet on the NHL Playoffs

Three events down in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series, three big winners. The first event was on Wednesday night and pulled in a huge 4,445 entrants, upping the first place prize to $191,200 which was won by player URBEHIND. Omaha Hi/Lo came next and player masp797 won $55,000 after beating out 1,217 other players. Nypitbull24 won the third event, a shootout style NL Hold 'em tournament, and took the prize of $76,545. In the MiniFTOPS events, a staggering 14,059 players entered the first event, in the end LHBrazilll was the last one standing and won $42,177. StefanSchmitz and Rounder63 won the second and third events for $15,036 and $7,654.50.

Coming up for this weekend there will be a Stud Hi/Lo tournament on Friday night, it's $216 to enter (the MiniFTOPS costs $22). Saturday has both PL Omaha and NL Hold 'em Rebuy tournaments, and on Sunday there are three events. First up is a NL Hold 'em Knockout, then a NL Hold 'em Heads Up event (I'll be playing in this one), and finally Erik Seidel will be hosting a classic super stack NL Hold 'em tournament. Download the free software and look through the FTOPS tab in the tournaments section of Full Tilt's program to see more details and join the tournament you're interested in.

Full Tilt Poker - Play in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series

The biggest progressive jackpot online just keeps getting bigger and bigger, reaching $6.35 Million this week. Mega Moolah is a five reel, twenty-five payline slot machine with a history of paying out huge to some very lucky gamblers.

Mega Moolah manages to get so big because it's attached to dozens of online casinos, racking up the jackpot every time players put in money at each of these individual casinos. Captain Cooks and Golden Reef are two of these casinos, and two of the best, both have been taking bets for years and have a clean record when it comes to paying out players in full and on time.

Captain Cooks Casino - Spin the Mega Moolah Reels
Golden Reef Casino - Go for $6.35 Million
Captain Cooks and Golden Reef do not accept American players at this time.

Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced two new bills on Wednesday designed to stop the implementation of the UIGEA and establish a framework for gambling operators to obtain federal licenses and take bets from Americans.

The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework under which Internet gambling operators could obtain licenses authorizing them to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S., on the condition that they maintain effective protections against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering and fraud, and enforce prohibitions or restrictions on types of gambling prohibited by states, and Indian Tribes.

Click the link to read Frank's full press release.

The 2009 NBA Playoffs are already underway, and anyone looking to make bets should head over to Bodog Sportsbook. Bodog has full betting lines on all of the games, including the Bodog Live feature which allows bets to be placed in real time, during the game.

The first round is already over, but there are still lots of games left and the Finals will take place some time during June. Accounts themselves are free and to place bets Bodog accepts VISA, MasterCard, and American Express.

Bodog Sportsbook - NBA Playoffs

I've been busy reviewing new gambling sites and casino games for everyone to get a better idea of what to expect when joining a new casino or bingo hall. Lucky 18 offers a very well rounded casino gaming experience, and Vic's Bingo is a great place to have fun and make some money while in a community setting. Also, Face Up 21 hosted over at Lucky 18 is a fun variation on classic Blackjack, and Jackpot Piñatas at Rushmore Casino is a great 5 reel slot machine with a huge progressive jackpot involved.

If you'd like to stay on top of the latest news in a certain area, just come back to OGP and view the category that interests you, Poker, Casino Games, Bonuses, or anything else. E-mail me if there's something you want to know more about or a particular issue you want me to talk about.

Tonight is the big night, the first event in Full Tilt's Online Poker Series is being hosted by Erick Lindgren and will feature no limit Texas Hold 'em at 6 person tables with super stacks, meaning the starting chip count is 5,000. It's 2:15 in the afternoon where I am and there are already 1,381 people registered in the event, with 6,536 registered in the mini-event. The MiniFTOPS event has a buy-in of just $22, compared to the regular FTOPS event's buy-in of $216. $200,000 is guaranteed in prize money for the MiniFTOPS, and the FTOPS will see $1,000,000 in guaranteed prize money, but with the popularity of these events and the number of people who will most likely join expect these prizes to get even higher.

Satellites are going on pretty much non-stop up until the tournaments themselves start, just find the actual tournaments in the FTOPS tab in the Full Tilt software and after opening the tournament window you can see a full list of the satellites in the bottom right. For the FTOPS there are even a few satellites to the actual satellites.

Full Tilt Poker - Play in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series

Face Up 21 is a Blackjack variant hosted at Lucky 18 Casino with a few twists on classic Blackjack including the obvious rule that all cards are dealt face up. Lucky 18 has seven Blackjack variations, but Face Up 21 is more fun than most. There are hands that will just fly by because the dealer was dealt 17-20 and doubling the bet is only allowed on hard 9, 10, or 11; remember doubling after a split is also allowed. Other times it can get very interesting because, for example, the dealer might have drawn a 19 and it's up to the player with a hard 10 or 11 to decide whether or not to double down.

In this variation, the player wins a Blackjack tie but the dealer wins all other ties. Hitting Blackjack also pays even money. This is a single hand only game, but the house take bets up to $250 per hand. Blackjack fans should give this game a shot at Lucky 18 Casino.

Lucky 18 Casino - Face Up 21