PartyGaming’s recent year-end results showed a dramatic shift in fortunes away from poker to the casino vertical.

Even though the business was founded on its poker client and high end US marketing effort, it looks like the PartyGaming group is ready to focus squarely on the sector that is currently generating the higher volumes of revenue: the online casino.

A new three part strategy is in place that will consist of targeting pure play casino players, rather than persuading poker players to shift platforms and try their luck at blackjack, roulette, or the slots.

Pure play casino players stay with the casino for twice as long as players who gamble elsewhere.

Jim Ryan said: “Here is why this is important. Historically, we have acquired all of our casino players from our poker database. That's been great, because our cost of acquisitions hasn't been particularly high, but it hasn't been particularly good for our poker liquidity in a challenged competitive environment where we need to grow that liquidity.

“What we have now started to do is go and acquire pure-play casino players. The magic of a pure-play casino player is that their lifetime value is twice that of a poker consumer who moves over to casino. So our casino offering will grow in 2010 and beyond.”

Ryan was speaking yesterday following the release of PartyGaming’s 2009 year-end results, in which the company revealed 12% year-on-year growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in casino, in contrast to a fall-off in poker EBITDA of 44%.

To achieve this goal, PartyCasino will continue to add more and more branded casino content and offer players ‘life-changing’ jackpots. Ryan said: "We will have 50 new games this year. The content will be exciting… branded content.

“The second aspect of the strategy is focused on having life-changing events. It's a jackpot-based strategy. Today we have the largest reset value in our Melon Madness Jackpot [which] starts at US$1.5m. Nobody else can match that in the sector. So we will continue to bring those life-changing events to the consumer.”

In April, PartyGaming reached a deal with the US authorities for its business in the US before the UIGEA, a indication that it hopes to re-enter the US market with a licence should any regulatory system for online poker such as those proposed by Congressman Barney Frank or senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Judd Gregg be approved by lawmakers.

Aces & Faces is an online casino game variant of bonus poker that loves all aces and faces cards.  The game is new to the Winaday Online Casino, part of the Microgaming online casino platform.

Aces & Faces is based on 8/5 Jacks or Better with an increased payout for 4 of a kind with Aces & Face cards. The only difference between standard bonus poker is the increased payouts for 4 of a Kind with J-K are swapped with 2-4.

Winaday features the game on its instant flash online casino platform.

Tips for the Aces & Faces online casino game include:

*Do not break up wining combinations with the exception of needing one more card to create the royal flush. 

*Hold hands such as a Jack or better, three or four cards to a Royal Flush, four cards to an outside Straight, three or four cards to a Straight Flush, any pair, two suited cards and high suited cards such as a 10/J or 10/Q and two unsuited cards.

In addition Winaday offers a progressive online jackpot and a 200% signup bonus.

*US citizens prohibited from playing at Winaday.com.

Best Supporting Actress Oscar 2010 odds were available at BetUS.com.

This one appeared to be yet another lock, this time for Monique in Precious, but it will cost you.  In fact, you’ll need to bet $200 just to win $10 at BetUS.com.

That online gambling website has more competitive odds in other categories such as Best Actress and Best Picture, where Avatar and The Hurt Locker were neck and neck at around even odds.

These were your Best Supporting Actress Oscar 2010 odds:

Best Supporting Actress

Moneyline

1031

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)    

+800

1032

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)    

+2500

1033

Monique (Precious)    

-2000

1034

Penelope Cruz (Nine)    

+1400

1035

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)    

+2000

BetUS.com offers an incredible selection of betting events and propositions mostly catering to the recreational sports bettor.  Get a FREE $75 in CASH when you open an online betting account with $200.  Mention bonus code GAMBLING911.  The industry leader since 1994.

Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com 

Best Supporting Actor 2010 Oscars odds were a bit difficult to comprehend. Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) was the …. brace yourselves please  …. -3500 favorite to win Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Oscars ceremony. 

Why not just present Waltz with the Oscar now?

These odds were available at SBG Global

"Essentially, Waltz is a ‘lock’ to win," explains Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.  "You don’t get odds like these and lose.  It’s like the New York Yankees playing the Bad News Bears."

So what exactly does -3500 entail?

One must bet a whopping $350 just to win $10!!!  A $700 bet pays out $20!!!

Most online sportsbooks only accept a few hundred dollars max on Oscars bets.

SBG Global was offering plenty of other odds on the 2010 Oscars so even if you want to pass on Best Supporting Actor, there is some value to be had in other Oscars bets.

Waltz is not very well known in the US but worldwide he is very accomplished.  The Austrian actor has agreed to star alongside Stephen Fry in Guy Sharpe’s eagerly anticipated TV detective series The Marvellous Manatee and the Crafty Crow.

All Best Supporting Actor 2010 Oscars odds appear below.

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

-3500

Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)

+2200  

Matt Damon (Invictus)

+2500 

Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

+1200 

Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

+1000

Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com 

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Sin City this weekend for the Shelby American race.

betED.com has NASCAR Betting Odds for all the top drivers for Sunday’s race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3 pm ET, FOX).

Jimmie Johnson, who got off to a rough start this season with a 35th-place showing in the Daytona 500, is favored to win the Shelby American, at +450.

Johnson, the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion, moved up to 12th in the Sprint Cup Standings after winning the Auto Club 500 at California last week.

Johnson won three-straight races at the 1.5-mile oval LVMS from 2005 to 2007, including the first race at the track after it underwent a major renovation in 2006, which included increasing banking in the turns from 12 degrees to 20.

Kyle Busch, who won the race last year, is next at +650 in Auto Racing Betting at betED.com. Busch, a Las Vegas native who is right behind Johnson in 13th place, was able to get past Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton in a three-lap shootout for his first win at his home track last year.

Mark Martin, who is 6th in the standings, 34 points behind leader Kevin Harvick, is next at +700

Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin round out the top five favorites to win the Shelby American, at +1000.

Burton has had a lot of success at Las Vegas, but is far back among the favorites at +1500. He finished second in the first Las Vegas race in 1998, and then came back with consecutive wins at LVMS in 1999 and 2000. He finished third in last year’s race.

Check out Racing Odds at betED.com for a full list of drivers.

Online gambling software developer Microgaming has released a further five titles in its online bingo side games series, designed to keep players interested and entertained on MGS-powered bingo sites.

The latest games package includes a combination of casino, table and pub-style fruit machine games, each carried by quality graphics, and new and fresh content to provide player communities with absorbing outer-screen action.

HELLBOY features big heroes, big monsters and even bigger rewards. This 5 reel, 20 payline video slot is the latest example of the top quality branded content that has become so popular with Internet players. Based on the popular comic book hero, the game features five high paying symbols depicted by other amazing characters.

Hellboy also features the popular SuperMode Bonus, with up to three held wilds, which are randomly triggered. Three or more scatter symbols landing anywhere on the reels triggers a generous four level bonus feature, where the player chooses a tunnel to gain bonus rewards and advance to the next level. The player however, must avoid collapsing tunnels as this will end the bonus.

Players may further double or quadruple their winnings by predicting the right colour and suit in a gamble feature.

AGE OF DISCOVERY is a 5 reel, 25 payline video slot featuring wild and scatter symbols, along with a bonus feature. The themes of exploration, adventure and mystery pervade the game-play, as players are transported back in time to join explorers who sailed across the uncharted oceans, using only the stars and rudimentary maps as their guide.

This holds generous treasures for intrepid players; find three, four or five scattered symbols and the adventure really begins in the form of a bonus game. To top off this maritime mayhem, there is even more treasure in the form of a wild feature bound to a player’s collection of coins.

DOGFATHER is a 5 reel video slot with a mean Mafia dog theme. The game comprises two scatters and a wild symbol, which substitutes for all others except the scatters. A range of tough hounds feature as the symbols, along with hydrants, fleas and mutt mafia memorabilia.

Three or more flea symbols scattered on the reels will trigger 13 re-triggering free spins, during which all wins are tripled. Three, four or five hydrants scattered on any reel in any position will trigger the Mark your Territory Bonus, where you can pick four fire hydrants to reveal awesome prizes. Find out which hydrants will be lucky for you and win big with this fun packed canine caper.

THOR BLIMEY! is a 3 reel, 5 win-line fruit pub style machine with all the features, fun and payouts a player could want, as well as a turbo gamble option. The theme is based around burly bearded vikings and the symbols feature thunderous hammers, Nordic maidens, longboats and flagons of ale. The game also features the well known nudge variants of gamble and repeat and nudge bank holds.

PREMIER BLACKJACK offers players a choice of tables, rules, cards and play speeds that puts them in total control, and also comes with AutoPlay and configurable strategy tips.

With eight different table colours available and four rule sets, there are a total of 32 tables to choose from. Players can play the way they’re used to on the multi hand blackjack tables, place bonus bets on the multi hand bonus blackjack tables, go for multiple wins on the high streak tables or bet high or low on the Hi-Lo blackjack tables.

Neill Whyte, head of bingo activities at Microgaming said: “It’s not only ‘eyes down’ in the world of Bingo, but increasingly ‘eyes to the side’, with bingo side games fast becoming an integral part of UK online bingo sites.

“Players within our operator network relish the playability and winnability of the sophisticated side games that we provide, rendering their favourite bingo sites complete one stop shops for fun, entertainment and reward.”

Women players now constitute a significant proportion of the Connecticut gambling population if an extrapolation from the state’s problem gambling statistics is made. Martin Steinberg, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, told the Norwich Bulletin newspaper this week that the problem gambling gap between men and women is closing rapidly, with the latest figures to hand – from 2008 – showing that 44% of troubled punters are females.

Giving historical background, Steinberg revealed that in 1999, women made up a third of the problem gamblers who called the council help line. By 2004, the percentage had grown to 38%, and by 2008, 44% of calls came from women.

Online gambling and casinos are leveling the playing field, Steinberg said, revealing that women often have issues with slot machines and bingo, where they are almost three times more likely to have a problem with than men.

Imagine the scene: you think you have just won the biggest lottery prize yet in your country, changing forever the difficult life you and your family endure. It lasts for just long enough for you to take it all onboard….and then you are told that you were not the winner after all.

That’s the acute disappointment which deaf mute cleaner Stanley Philander (52) was crushed by this week as Gidani lottery officials in South Africa battled to understand how the screw-up occurred on a massive Rands 91 million ($12 million) Powerball set of numbers.

Philander initially thought he had won the record-breaking jackpot, but lottery bosses said his ticket was not for the correct draw. He apparently played the winning numbers from Friday the following morning.

The real winner, a 43-year-old wife and mother of two also from the Western Cape who chose to remain anonymous, had the millions handed over to her on Tuesday.

Gidani CEO Bongani Khumalo said Philander failed to approach their offices even after Sunday’s media reports of his huge win.

“We would have advised him to wait for the ticket on Saturday night, because that was what his ticket was valid for,” he said.

Earlier, South African newspapers reporting on Philander’s ‘win’ revealed that after being besieged by crowds seeking charity, Philander and his family had been moved from their home in a poor Cape Town neighbourhood to an undisclosed location. It was initially thought that this had been at the behest of lottery officials, but this is now unclear, and the family’s whereabouts were still not known as InfoPowa went to press.

South Africa’s lottery launched in October last year, and produced four multi-millionaires in its first month. Last Friday’s record prize money was the result of 22 previous “roll-over” draws.

Century Casinos Century Casinos is not usually the first company that comes to mind when a strong day on the stock market is had by US-based gaming stocks. Century, however, led the way on Tuesday with an increase of over seven percent.

With all of the gaming stocks struggling over the past couple of years, Century had fallen under $2.50 a share. On Tuesday the stock rebounded with an increase of 7.02%, or $.17. The closing price was $2.59.

They were not the only company to experience an increase on Tuesday. Melco Crown Entertainment went with the trend of the other gaming stocks, increasing to $3.94 a share. That represented an increase of 5.35%.

MGM Mirage was one of the companies that had fallen hard in recent days, and they too recovered in the early part of the trading week. MGM stock was up to $11.59, increasing 5.08%, or $.56.

Pinnacle Entertainment had one of the few decreases in stock price on the day. Pinnacle stock dropped 4.34%, finishing the day at $7.27. Las Vegas Sands was up 4.46%, at $17.56, and Wynn Resorts remained strong at $64.91. Wynn stock increased by 2.97%.

With the Pacquiao-Clottey fight just one month away, oddsmakers continue to readjust the line in favor of Pacquiao in a very big way.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey odds were as follows based on Gambling911.com’s latest monitoring:

Manny Pacquiao -500 vs. Joshua Clottey +350 at Sportsbetting.com.

Pacquiao -440 vs. Clottey +350 at Bookmaker.com

Pacquiao -556 vs. Clottey +300 at SportsInteraction.com

This is widely anticipated to be a very lopsided affair, especially in view of Clottey not being able to make full use of his training regimen.

What’s worse?  The snow storm that’s kept him indoors or a trainer that can’t get into the country?

Rene Bonsubre Jr., Cebu Daily News

"Clottey is based in New York which was smothered with 10 to 16 inches (25 to 40 centimeters) of snow a couple of days ago. This obviously will make the challenger stay indoors and unable to do roadwork. To add insult to injury, his trainer of choice, Godwin Dzainie Kotey has yet to be granted an American visa and still cannot join the former world champion in training."

"While Pacquiao seems like a ‘lock’, it’s tough to pay such a steep price," Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com suggests.

The best odds on Pacquiao were at Bookmaker.com where one would have to wager a whopping $880 just to win $200.

"It might be worth it," Shapiro adds.

And the price, it may go up further, especially if Clottey’s trainer’s woes continue and more snow hits the big Apple.

Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com