By Jerry Whittaker

Just about anything you would like to take a bet on, can be found in gambling online; there are slots, blackjack, roulette, live dealer gambling games, bingo, baccarat, poker, sports-betting, scratch cards, pull-tabs, mobile gambling, gin rummy, and a whole host of poker themed casino games. You will even find video poker, Asian and skill games where money can be won, and lottery tickets can also be bought online. Bearing all of this in mind and the fact that so many thousands of sites offer, or purport to offer these services; if you are going to gamble online, the best friend you could possibly have is a good online gambling guide.

 It is not so much that an online gambling guide will help you to win; no matter how many hot winning tips they apparently give away, these don’t necessarily help. But, the one very important role a guide site plays is to help you not to lose. So, basically what a good guide will do is take you through the paces of the industry, and ensure that you know how to choose a great site. They will recommend the best sites, or the online casinos they have found to be best, and will also let you know which websites have been blacklisted. But what is casino blacklisting?

 This is basically the same as any black-listing, when an online casino has been naughty and customers complain; a good online gambling guide will list their name in the ‘naughty’ section at their site.  

 A blacklisting is not a formal structure; the formal regulatory and legal matters are taken care of by a licensing jurisdiction. However, when a licensing jurisdiction is not that great, a casino, poker, sports-betting or bingo website does not have to be that great either. It is better not to play at these websites. For example – any website licensed in Alderney, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malta and a couple of other places are really safe to play. But, and this is a very BIG BUT, we even came across one casino just a few weeks ago that was operating online and had no license. When we requested that they give us their licensing details – we were told the company was registered and licensed in the British Virgin Islands – BVI is not a licensing jurisdiction….big surprise?!

 Basically your guide will keep you on the straight and narrow, make sure you are warned against sites of this nature, teach you what to look out for when gambling online, and make sure you get off to a good start. They generally focus on the best, and this certainly increases your odds of winning, or if you prefer, lessens your chances of losing your shirt.

By Jerry Whittaker

New iPad Apps are being launched right left and centre, many for Internet Casinos on mobile gambling operations too, and the Betfair Plc. latest release is about to significantly improve the players’ experience. According to representatives from this popular betting exchange which only operates online, the new application is the first dedicated iPad app to come from their new development office in San Francisco.

Even though there is no regulated online gambling allowed in the USA as yet, the company’s mobile division was recently relocated to be placed in the care of Raj Vemulapalli. This man’s leadership skills come from much previous experience with Yahoo. He is now VP of Mobile Engineering and Head of Mobile Technologies at Betfair.

Remember the days when we all thought a ‘tablet’ was something we swallowed to clear up a Strep throat? My… how times have changed!

The new application from Betfair offers the full-functionality of website-based gambling, together with the convenience of getting your gambling on the go. More and more online casino and other gaming for money operators are making sure they get into the mobile race; this race has been punted to be the next big wave in online gambling growth.  So, Betfair has tailored the app to cater to the specific requirements of a tablet device, and of course tablet device users.

Players can make deposits and withdrawals from anywhere inside the app; it offers an intuitive landing page, where the user can have easy access to live scores and popular events.  It offers content analysis from the Betfair team, convenient and easy access to placing bets, and as far as Raj Vemulapalli is concerned; “this app is a game changer”!

It offers a seamless wagering experience to online betting fans, while still replicating “fixed-web”., which is brilliant for the quality of the game, and of course there are many great features which are also unique to the iPad.

Tablets are not only game changers for mobile gambling concerns. I mean just the other day, while we were all clicking away our cameras at the magnificent site of Tana Mahuta (a giant tree in New Zealand – 2000 years old) one forward-thinker was clicking his iPad. So, ostensibly this user has his camera, internet casinos and more all rolled into one compact, seamless package that he can use while he is travelling. Me?… on the other hand, has to lug around camera equipment and a laptop. It is timeto change my thinking about the tablet too…methinks. But let’s get back to Betfair.

The launch of this mobile app has worked wonders for the bottom line of an already very successful Internet casinos company. They have seen a dramatic increase in revenues and attribute most of this to their mobile gambling division, so, whatever they are doing must be working. During the past year; round about  40% of Betfair customers placed bets on a mobile device, and that is a rather large share of their business.