U.K. Player Wins Largest Internet Jackpot Ever “Situs Judi Bola”

 

from Golden Palace – John A. of the United Kingdom now holds the record for winning the largest-ever online jackpot, with an unprecedented windfall of $339,300.19 while gambling at Golden Palace Online Casino. Since the introduction of Golden Palace’s Progressive Caribbean Poker several months ago, the game’s popularity has grown steadily, propelling the jackpot upward until it was finally won with a Royal Flush.

The phenomenal jackpot win has both the casino and the player equally excited. Golden Palace received an elated message from John A. shortly afterwards, where he stated, “I am still coming to terms with a fantastic experience, and still find it hard to believe that I have won that amount of money.”

The progressive-jackpot Caribbean Poker is only 1 of 40 Situs Judi Bola games that the casino offers, including 6 progressive slot machine games, and a wide variety of traditional casino table games. The software includes a “play for fun” mode that allows users to test drive their software before playing for real money. Gamers can download this software from the Internet for free, 24 hours a day.

Online gambling is experiencing a huge surge in popularity, with projected revenues worldwide in the billions. The new trend in wagering is not only a benefit to casino owners, but players such as John A. who are now walking away with increasingly sizable winnings.

After netting his huge win, he was quick to thank the casino himself, saying “This win just proves I made the right choice.”

Free Internet Gambling is Still Gambling

Nevada is the only state in the United States, and probably the only government in the world, to conclude that players are making wagers — when they are not making wagers.

Everyone knows what gambling is. Judges and lawyers may use words such as prize, chance and consideration. But you do not have to have studied gaming law to know that gambling occurs when players risk something of value, with the understanding that they will be paid if they are correct in predicting the outcome of an uncertain event.

If one of those three elements — prize, chance and consideration — is missing, it simply is not gambling.

If there is nothing to win, how can it be gambling?

There are some old statutes and even older cases in a few states which held that amusement games could be gambling, even if the prize is simply more time at the game. Slick operators would set up gambling games, even video poker machines, and say that players could only win free replays.

Pity the poor winner of a video game jackpot in a bar, when a cop is standing nearby. He cannot cash in the credits with the bartender, as he normally would have done. Instead, he has to stand there, probably quietly weeping, watching his jackpot shrink away as he is forced to play game after game.

If you eliminate the next element, chance, how can it be gambling? People bet on horse races, not on taped replays of races that have just been run.

We have names for individuals who know what will happen when opposing bettors do not. “Cheat” is the nicest term for someone who rigs a game.

Of course, the game could be a legal game of skill. There still is a risk of losing. Even chess tournaments cannot be predicted with 100 percent certainty. But the law recognizes that if chance is not the predominant factor, the game is not gambling.

The third element, consideration, is the most difficult for non-lawyers to understand. In gaming law, consideration means risking something of value, usually money. But there are old cases, usually involving promotional sweepstakes, where courts have found consideration when players have had to expend time and effort to enter. There are even older cases where courts have decided consideration was present because the game promoter got more customers by running the free sweepstakes.

Today, consideration for gambling almost always means betting money. This is particularly true when it comes to Internet gambling. Even if players have to spend time at a web page and effort in filling out a form or playing a game, and the web site operator gets more eyeballs looking at its banner ads, there is no consideration. If participants get prizes based on chance, but they do not risk any money, it is not gambling.

The Attorney General of Nevada agrees. But, she has also declared that betting nothing for something still can be an illegal wager.

The issue arose when the State Gaming Control Board asked for advice on Internet promotional games proposed by MGM Mirage (“MGM”) for its web sites. Attorneys from the Board and Attorney General’s office had meetings and conference calls with representatives of MGM and the game designers, Silicon Gaming and its subsidiary, WagerWorks. Frankie Sue Del Papa, as Attorney General, issued the formal Opinion, although it was actually written by Jeffrey R. Rodefer, Senior Deputy Attorney General, Gaming Division.

The A.G. Opinion explicitly held that “instant incentives,” which entitle web site patrons to receive randomly awarded prizes or sweepstakes tickets, are not gambling. MGM can also offer redeemable “casino points,” based on time spent at the site.

But the Opinion declares that it is “a wagering activity” if prizes are given to winners of free, “for-fun” casino games online, like “virtual blackjack, roulette or some other traditional casino game.”

Here is how the Attorney General justified the rather startling idea that a player can be making a wager without the possibility of losing anything.

In 1997, in response to some tax and bankruptcy cases, the Nevada Legislature amended the definition of “wager.” A “wager” now includes risking not only money, but also a “representative of value.” A “representative of value” was defined to mean “any instrumentality used by a patron in a game whether or not the instrumentality may be redeemed for cash.” Sounds like a gaming chip to me.

The Legislature and casino lobbyists were probably thinking of chips that were redeemable for merchandise, but not for cash. Also, the change enabled casinos to deduct jackpots awarded on free-play slot promotions as losses when they calculated gross gaming revenue for taxes. And it helped to ensure that casinos would not have to pay back money they had received from a person who then declares bankruptcy.

Of course, it is also possible that the Nevada Legislature intended, in 1997, to prohibit free casino games on the Internet, while allowing free online lotteries.