The old Indian card game 'Teen Patti' is gaining new popularity in a new world, the internet. Online audiences across India are turning to the old game for fun and entertainment in droves. The social network portal Ibibo in India has been promoting a movie starring Ben Kingsley, using the card game as a hook. A version has been introduced that caters to a large and diverse audience that spans many demographic sectors, while keeping the integrity of the game in tack. Ibibo CEO Ashish Kashyap, says the game is immensely popular among thousands of youthful players while they interact socially at the same time they play. Kashyap commented that, "The game is built with the vision of getting people connected and network via this live multiplayer gaming format. The uniqueness of this game is that it is social. Rather than being one-player platform, Teen Patti allows six players to play live simultaneously on a virtual table while sitting anywhere in India," he added, "Since then the game has seen a phenomenal response across different genres of players and is growing by 200 per cent per month on month active users," India is considered a new and open market opportunity that may be able to return huge profits to those companies entering the industry there. India has recently opened up to online gambling licenses available for the Internet and has some top international operators trying to secure India's first online gambling license. The popularity of online gambling in India is obvious with the value of the market reported to be $5 billion and the overall betting market at as much as $40 billion. Other media companies are cashing in on the trend with Nazara Technologies a mobile entertainment company planning a version of 'Teen Patti', said, CEO, Nitish Mittersain. Take a movie, a popular old card game, and a few entrepreneurs and your sure to find a success story.

Microgaming is growing it's poker network once again.

In most online gambling sectors last year revenues were not at an all time high. Consistent with the trend Cryptologic one of the original software providers for the online gambling industry made less money. This actuality was caused by and large by lower wagering activity across the boards, adverse currency fluctuations and a reduced contribution from one of Cryptologic's major licensees. The company has undergone growth potential adjustments and has been responsible in reducing it's base fixed yearly operating costs by $20.6 million. Prepared now for increased revenues, the company has signed deals with DC Comics to develop wagering games featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman; and with Paramount Digital Entertainment for more games based on 20 movies including Braveheart, Forrest Gump and Ghost. Cryptologic has expanded it's licensee portfolio by 20 to more than 30 Internet gaming operators including, Betfair, Sportingbet, Totesport and Virgin Games. These are some big players in the online wagering world and are sure to prove profitable for Cryptologic. The company's investment in a major rebranding of the software a new look and more targeted advertising are positive steps to stimulate larger revenues. Brian Hadfield, Chief Executive Officer, of the firm said, "2009 was a tough year as a number of adverse factors including a global economic downturn overshadowed the company's progress in implementing its innovative new strategy to reduce costs and return to growth." Adding, "We have entered 2010 in better shape with a substantially reduced cost base that will continue to be managed tightly. At the same time, new business momentum remains encouraging as branded games continue to roll out and hosted casino licensees implement new initiatives. With new licensing activity staying strong and the overall online casino/gaming market showing some improvement, we look to the year with cautious optimism." Ever popular branded game development for BetClic, Rank Interactive and UniBet will also push Cryptologic's growth in the 2010.

Canada or rather some provinces in that vast dominion are set to make legal playing poker for money online. It has been reported recently how the Atlantic, Quebec, British Columbia and now even Ontario provincial governments are set to legalize online gambling. This action has a few other provinces looking at their current approach to the issue. Alberta in the west seems to have invested a great deal of thought into not allowing Native bands to operate the way Quebec has allowed.

In America the ban on online gambling is enforced by making it a federal offence to process the financial transactions of online gambling activities. Recent announcements by Visa and Mastercard that they will no longer be processing online gambling receipts or deposits comes as no surprise to anyone watching how things are working in the USA. Now it has been reported that a German national Mr.Michael Olaf Schuett who is twenty nine has allegedly transferred over $70 million in online poker winnings to 23,000 mostly American citizens, within the last few years. Authorities were alerted by banking staff that became suspicious after customers cashed large cheques issued by Schuett’s firm MCM Capital Management. When questioned by bank staff as to the origin of the money customers proudly said the payments were from their online poker winnings. Employees at the FedEx delivery company became suspicious after noticing an abnormally high number of packages being shipped from Schuett’s home address. It was noted by a federal agent that, “Federal Express employees became suspicious of Schuett’s activity when Schuett began mailing over 150 parcels per week. FedEx employees opened several of the parcels and determined that each contained a check.” The ensuing investigation revealed that Schuett had been using at least 40 accounts he had opened at the Bank of America, as well as numerous other accounts with Wachovia, Shamrock, CNL, Fifth Third and Northern Trust Bank of Miami to receive wire transfers and transfer funds. Schuett was also the registered agent of a network of 424 businesses throughout Naples, Tampa and Bradenton State, including MCM Capital Management Corp, MI Global Inc, South Naples Escrow Co, Southwest Florida Payroll Co, Woodhouse Systems, Mathew’s Trade Corp and Internet Payment Services Group Inc. all within Florida. Schuett tried to pass himself off as a real estate investor when questioned by banking officials. Schuett is now in a Lee County jail being held without bond while federal agents search for more evidence and seize his assets allegedly purchased by his alledged illegal money processing activities.

China is a massive country with a huge population that is rapidly becoming prosperous and sophisticated. With all the new wealth being made in China the population wants desperately to be free of political influences on their lives. Unfortunately for some the gap between the rich and the poor seems to be getting wider by the day. The Chinese government officials decided recently that they would make China a better place if they could stop people from gambling on the internet. Chinese law forbids online gambling that is allegedly moving massive amounts of money out of the country.

Investigations by various police forces in China have revealed that almost all of the big international gambling operations have websites offering Chinese translations that effectively targets Chinese gamblers, and some have gone so far as to send their agents into China, to recruit new business. Officials in the country have announced that their efforts to crack down on online gambling are yielding results already with police breaking two hundred and ten online gambling cases and have arrested 918 suspects. Eight ruling Party departments, government ministries and financial regulatory bodies are part of the seven month push to stamp out online gambling. The government of China's cyber security bureau has warned that more arrests are coming with the intent of making online gambling a thing of the past. This is a really tall order for the police when one looks at the large number of gambling site available to the public via the internet. Vice director in the Ministry of Public Security, Gu Jian, indicated the government will increase the pressure on what he referred to as illegal Internet gambling entities from offshore locations. The Xinghua news agency reported that online gambling is present in all of the territories, municipalities and autonomous regions to "varying degrees." Jian pointed out that the Pearl and Yangtze river delta area which is China's industrial heartland plus the border areas of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province were areas of concern for the investigators.

The 2010 Olympic winter games is very well watched in more ways than one. The International Olympic Committee is watching closely for any signs of match fixing in these games. It may seem like something that these athletes would never dream of doing but it has been known to happen and it is possible it could happen again. Doping and cheating is something that the International Olympic Committee is constantly on the look out for. They have exposed teams and individuals that are so keen to win they break the rules for an advantage. In today's world where big money can be had by endorsements and from wagering on a 'sure' thing, the IOC has it's work cut out for them. The IOC has installed a unique system that will monitor betting patterns throughout the games, similar to the system used during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing China.

The Swiss based International Sports Monitoring Group will collect betting data from over 400 sports betting outlets and report any irregularities to the International Olympic Committee. Jacques Rogge, the IOC, President, said, "Illegal betting is as serious a threat as doping," adding, "It's a very serious concern for the future. Sooner or later it will happen during the games."

Dick Pound, the Canadian representative with the IOC, commented, "As leaders of the Olympic movement, we should recognize and take on the board the fact that betting and match fixing and other forms of corruption rank equally with doping in the sense of destroying or having the potential to destroy the fundamental integrity of sport," adding, "It is a very real and growing problem that can affect the future of sport." It is interesting to note that no unusual betting action took place on the 2008 Beijing Games, and so far everything is on the up and up with regards to these 2010 Olympic competitions. When things are fair things are right for everyone playing.

The respected quality control organization for the online gambling industry eCOGRA has offered to step in to the fray concerning an old battle with online gambling affiliates and the now defunct, Grand Prive Affiliate Program. Back in 2008 the group's affiliate program closure caused allegations by affiliates that they were not being paid. The dispute went no where for a time and then eCOGRA became involved when it offered to deploy its professional accountants in an impartial investigation into the closed Grand Prive Affiliate Program as a free "service to the industry." Andrew Beveridge, chief executive officer of eCOGRA stated at that time that there would be total cooperation from GrandPrive and restitution and a resolution would be forthcoming. Fifty eight claims were submitted by affiliates seeking an adjustment to their claims. eCOGRA made public it's report on the issue, in early February detailing its methods and findings, which included compensation. Grand Prive began making the eCOGRA recommended payouts,to twenty six of the claimants. Affiliates immediately indicated that there was widespread discontent and serious reservations regarding the accuracy of the payments. Questions raised concerns for eCOGRA as to the quality of information it received from Grand Prive. With information from the affiliates Mr. Beveridge initiated another more in depth look at the Grand Prive issue. At this point Grand Prive is refusing to cooperate further. This has led to even more speculation by various groups that perhaps Grand Prive has orchestrated this outcome by giving eCOGRA selective information thus skewing the resulting eCOGRA report. The company has made it clear it will not let the investigation go any farther. This puts the efficacy of eCOGRA in jeopardy and shines a poor light on the Grand Prive Group's honesty. Affiliates from the program are again furious and very disappointed that the resolution was not fair. Who will they turn to next is anybody's bet.

BalkanBet.com is a sports book that is now using Microgaming, Orbis and WagerWorks software to support and run the site. It is owned by Eurofootball Limited and is a online bookmaker incorporated and licensed in the jurisdiction of Malta established in 2006. Eurofootball Limited (Balkanbet Group) is a company with a lot of experience in the land based casino industry providing land based betting operations in the Europe since 1990. The Microgaming Prima Poker Network will now be available through the BalkanBet site joining other Microgaming sites like 32Red Poker, SpinPalacePoker, and other notable poker rooms. Poker is growing fast in the Balkan region and this offering by a respected and large software provider like Microgaming is bound to make a lot of players feel secure and excited.

Eurofootball Limited offers a wide range of possibilities for sports event betting, massive coverage of all major football leagues, competitions and international sports events, comprised of over 1500 events per week. Commenting on the new deal with BalkanBet, the Microgaming Poker Network said that the move would “serve to expand its online offering and capitalise further on the significant growth potential of the Balkan gaming market”. In 2003, Eurofootball Limited introduced a new centralized computer system for on-line betting, a big leap in the development of the company. The investments related to this introduction amounted to approximately 10,000,000 euros . The newly introduced system significantly raised the attractiveness of the games, the reliability of betting and the possibilities for players to win.

Martin Simeonov, chief executive officer, of Eurofootball Limited said “The development of our online offering is a key part of our growth strategy. With Microgaming on board, we are able to deliver a market-leading product to our sportsbook players. This partnership will enable us to cement our position as a key player in the Balkan online gaming market”.

Sports betting online has never been more exciting than right now. The world is watching the 2010 Olympic Winter Games being held in Vancouver Canada with all kinds of sports to place your bets on although there is one that is by far more popular than all of the rest. Ice hockey is called a Canadian sport but it is played in every corner of the globe. The Olympic hockey teams are made up of the best and strongest players from the leagues in the competing countries. During the tournament for the Gold Medal the teams have battled for supremacy with a pride that shows in spades.