Here’s a photo of the new VIP lounge at the new Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland. Bullz-Eye.com has a review of the new Cleveland casino that is located in the heart of downtown. There are plenty of perks for high rollers, so if you’re in Cleveland make sure to check it out!

One of the best things in Las Vegas has to be the sportsbooks. During football season you can sit there all say, betting on games and thinking up wild parlay bets. Frankly it never gets old for me, as long as the waitresses keep bring me my drinks! But for every football fan, the best event during the offseason has to be the NFL Draft. This year offered plenty of drama with all the wild trades in the first round of the draft. After last year when we had the long lockout and all that uncertainty, this year a ton of energy was unleashed as teams and fans were all in with the draft, and the rookie salary scale made it easy for teams to want to trade into the top ten.

All of this will have huge repercussions for the 2012 NFL season. Teams like the Cleveland Browns got started on completely changing their offense. The New England Patriots traded up for a change and got two studs to help their lame defense. When the handicappers on the sports betting sites set the lines for week one, all of these personal moves will have a huge impact on perceptions. Some teams like the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers got much-need help when Nick Perry and David DeCastro fell to them respectively. The Packers really needed to improve their defense, and the Steelers had to get help protecting Big Ben.

But, don’t draw too many conclusions just from the draft. Remember the Cincinnati Bengals last season? Many thought they would be the worst team in the NFL and yet they made the playoffs. They drafted Andy Dalton and many handicappers were concerned about them starting a rookie quarterback, but Dalton played well, A.J. Green was a stud as expected and the Cincy defense was as good as many believed it could be. Now, who knows if Dalton can keep this up in 2012, but remember that there are always surprises. The NFL is very unpredictable, so always consider going against the grain in the early weeks of the NFL season.

Here’s one of the newest hot spots for high rollers in Vegas. The Bungalow Suites go for $10,000 per night, though high rollers can obviously get taken care of!

Social issues have returned for Republicans as they start talking about how they want to run your private lives. Now they’re going after Internet gambling.

National Review’s Jim Geraghty wonders whether there might be a business-related reason behind casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s reported opposition to Rick Santorum. Take a look at what the former Pennsylvania senator had to say about gambling during a recent interview with Jon Ralston:

I’m someone who takes the opinion that gaming is not something that is beneficial, particularly having that access on the Internet. Just as we’ve seen from a lot of other things that are vices on the Internet, they end to grow exponentially as a result of that. It’s one thing to come to Las Vegas and do gaming and participate in the shows and that kind of thing as entertainment, it’s another thing to sit in your home and have access to that it. I think it would be dangerous to our country to have that type of access to gaming on the Internet.

Freedom’s not absolute. What rights in the Constitution are absolute? There is no right to absolute freedom. There are limitations. You might want to say the same thing about a whole variety of other things that are on the Internet — “let everybody have it, let everybody do it.” No. There are certain things that actually do cost people a lot of money, cost them their lives, cost them their fortunes that we shouldn’t have and make available, to make it that easy to do.

People who like gambling need to recognize that one party wants to tell you how to live your life.

The Obama Justice Department has upended the entire online poker debate with a recent opinion that basically limited the scope of federal laws. Now the question is whether Congress will get involved, or whether it will let the states move forward.

The gambling lobby has a message for Congress as states line up to cash in on a White House ruling that in-state online lotteries and poker won’t violate a federal Internet betting ban: Deal now or get stuck with a bad hand.

A Justice Department opinion issued before Christmas has created a now-or-never dynamic on the Hill for lawmakers and lobbyists pushing for a federal Internet poker law as state and regional officials move ahead with online gambling plans.

Come April, D.C. plans to offer online poker and blackjack. Illinois intends to be selling lottery tickets on the Web by then, too.
****
“The writing is on the wall. The states are going to do this,” John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, told POLITICO. “The first three or four months of the year is going to be pretty important for Congress to act.”
All bets are on some key lawmakers — some backed by Las Vegas casinos — trying to do an end-run around the DOJ opinion by pre-empting it with a federal law. That could set up a showdown pitting states vs. the feds.

Supporters of a federal bill say states aren’t equipped to handle the complexities of Internet gambling, and Congress needs to step in.

State officials say that’s hogwash, and the Obama administration has already taken the wind out of the sails of a federal Internet poker bill by clearing the way for states to start setting up their own systems.

The DOJ opinion dealt states already pushing in the direction of legalization — like California and New Jersey — a couple of aces by saying a ban on intrastate Internet gambling only applies to sports betting.

That frees up those states and several others — including Iowa and Connecticut — to follow Illinois and D.C. in the coming months by passing online gambling laws during state legislative sessions. Passage in each Legislature will be complex, but state lawmakers are extra motivated in tight budget times to find new revenue streams.

Regardless of what happens, it looks like momentum is heading in the right direction. Poker is clearly a game of skill, so policy makers need to concede that point and come up with a logical system.

The amount of losses is in the billions!

If you’re a high roller, now is a great time to get incredible service in Vegas! They’re desperate!

One of the great dynamics regarding online blackjack is that many of the newer players to the game get caught up in its speed and begin to make bets with strategies that simply defy the laws of mathematics. Many new players get cleaned out fast with blackjack and it is important to remember that blackjack, whether it be online or in person at a Las Vegas Strip casino, has the same odds and mathematical physics that will never change. The fact that playing blackjack online is a much faster pace makes respecting the odds and math even more critical in importance.

For the smart player, blackjack is an open invitation to the best and fairest odds that can be found in a casino. In fact many players admit that if the casino businesses were starting from scratch today, blackjack would not be offered because sharp players can whittle the odds down to near virtually even with the house, taking away almost all of the edge.

Where casinos make money on blackjack is with the ignorant, the sloppy, and the players that play with wild intuition rather than with respect for the odds and math. To make matters even better for the casinos and worse for such players, these action addicts that seem to be ramped up on an overdose of caffeine, go wild and binge on blackjack by playing multiple hands at the same time. So not only do you have a virtually insane group of action addicts that are playing multiple hands and multiple tables, you have a group of wild players that are not playing smart. And the casinos know there are far more of these types of players than the smart ones, thus their willingness to offer up blackjack despite the fair odds.

For the smart player, online blackjack remains a game of “three yards and a cloud of dust.” It is a basic game that should be played with a basic strategy rather than with grand designs that do not overcome the math of the game. Superstitions, feelings, and intuition have no place at the blackjack table. Solid math, great money management skills, and respect for the game and odds are what will make for the most successful blackjack players.

There has never been a better time to get involved in online blackjack as sign up and play bonuses are higher than ever and the games themselves have never had more appeal.

One of the new dynamics of online casino games is the entertainment rather than the gambling factor. Make no mistake about it, the games are still about wagering and winning big money but there is now an added factor that enhances the overall gaming experience and that is the personality of games based on themes.

Many online slot games are now based on movies, television shows, comic strips, and sports. For many gamblers it is as important to play a game based on a certain specific theme that the player will enjoy as it is to play a game solely for the purpose of wagering for money itself. A great example of this new phenomenon is the Marvel Comic Strip slots that are based on the various comic book heroes. It is now possible to win a jackpot as you watch Spiderman’s heroics.

The same holds true for movie fans as you can play slots based on “The Godfather,” “Gone With The Wind,” and “Batman.” Online casinos love to offer such games as they will attract new players and keep them playing just for the entertainment factor alone. To put it another way, there are gamers playing just for the entertainment itself rather than the shot at winning money.

The stunning graphics of this new generation of games is also remarkable. With brilliant visuals and dynamic sound, today’s online casino games are vastly superior to their traditional in person on site games and this is helping an already exploding industry grow even faster.

Along those same lines, online casinos are offering bonus incentives to players who play these new theme based games. Bonuses tied into movies or famous singers make for a more enjoyable online wagering experience. The bonus structures at online casinos are at a peak at the present time and there has never been a better time to sign up and take advantage of “free money” just to start. The additional bonuses for referrals of friends and family as well as for loyalty and playing time make everyone a winner before they make their first bet.

Many players are now also finding friends at such games as online casinos are holding slots tournaments for fans of different themes that are enjoyable and offer people with the same interests a chance to interact.

With bonuses, awesome themes, and unsurpassed quality, this is the best time to take part in online casino games.

Regardless of the idiotic arguments advanced by the US Justice Department, everyone knows that poker is a game of skill, not a game of chance. Nevertheless, the government is pursuing their ridiculous crackdown on online poker:

For years a massive Internet poker industry operated in the U.S., arguing that facilitating for-money online poker play did not violate any U.S. law. The U.S. Justice Department, however, did not agree with that position and on Friday federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed the most detailed defense of their view that Internet poker is just plain illegal, invoking country music and suggesting that La Cosa Nostra had infiltrated the online poker business.

The 51-page document was filed by the government in response to the pre-trial motions of an indicted banker and payment processor, who both became unlikely warriors in the long legal battle over online poker in America when they filed legal papers in October arguing that online poker companies like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were not gambling businesses. John Campos, a former vice-chairman of a Utah bank, and Chad Elie, who ran a payment processing business, are the only two individuals who have directly stood up to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s April crackdown on the online poker industry in the U.S., which included the indictment of 11 individuals. It is because of Campos and Elie that the government is being forced to litigate its case against online poker for the first time.

In asking a federal judge not to grant motions to dismiss filed by Campos and Elie, federal prosecutors claim “the conduct alleged in the Indictment – a scheme through which the charged defendants abused the U.S. financial system in order to fund their illegal operations – amounts to clear violations of the statutes charged.” The federal prosecutors also claim that Campos, Elie and the rest of the U.S. online poker industry, are wrong to argue that poker is a game of skill and not chance–and thus cannot be treated as illegal gambling.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how the courts decide here. I want to see the testimony of professional poker players and their powerful argument that this is a game of skill. With that, the online poker bans might actually go away.

There are so many online casinos and online casino games that it can be intimidating at first glance not just for a new player but also for a seasoned veteran. But there are some basic key fundamentals to employ that will help anyone get off to the best possible start.

The Golden Rule of online casino gambling is to do your homework. Carefully read the house rules and check out the layout of any prospective online casino gambling website that you are interested in. It would amaze you to know how many people blindly jump right in and then discover rules or policies that they were unaware of. Just a little bit of preparation will set you apart from the crowd and enhance your overall gaming experience.

Next be sure to take advantage of any and all offers that are part of the norm for today’s highly competitive online casino experience. You will get bonuses just for signing up and can receive additional rewards for referrals of friends and relatives and for loyalty play that will make you a winner.

The second Golden Rule is to manage your money wisely. There are many experts at the various games offered by websites that are clueless about money management and as a result they waste their expertise on the games that they play because they have no concept of bankroll management. A gamer with basic knowledge of a particular game that has expertise on money management and discipline will outperform the “expert” that cannot manage his money every time.

Knowledge is power and those who become “students of the game” and seek to arm themselves with knowledge will have the best chance of success at online casino gambling. The better you know the websites you play at, the better you know the nuances of the games, and the better you manage your money, the more likely you are to succeed.

Beyond the technical importance of arming yourself with knowledge you will find that you enjoy your gaming experience far more when you believe that you know what you are doing Confidence is contagious and you will play better when confident and be confident when you are armed with the facts and expertise at what you are doing.

Most important of all, have fun. Online gaming is meant to be enjoyed. By preparing well you will have an easy time at having fun!