Saturday, February 4, 2012

news.casinolife

news.casinolife

Spectacular beginning of R. FRANCO at ICE, where the Spanish manufacturer starts an expansive year full of solutions for operators

Posted: 03 Feb 2012 10:30 AM PST

Few manufacturers in the world are able like R. FRANCO to offer solutions tailored to THE specific needs of operators and, furthermore, in different markets. Present at ICE Totally Gaming, R. FRANCO incarnates this philosophy BY offering profitable models and EMPATHY with its customers, a relationship of mutual cooperation which has settled down in more than 40 years of indissoluble link.

But the London trade show has also meant a determined step forward, a positive attitude and an evident thrust for R. FRANCO to provide realistic contributions for situations where customers, in many cases, claim support and affection as well as attractive products, like those prepared by this company as a result of the enormous level of Research and Development it amasses.

At the level of tangible reality, R. FRANCO has entered into a major agreement with the renowned English company WORLD BINGO TECH LIMITED, intended to operate the most successful R. Franco models in their casino and bingo versions, and models specially designed for amusement with prize machine arcades with attractive prizes of £500, interactive and community games. We could highlight the Bombo Roulette model, an innovative and exciting way of playing bingo.

The company chaired by Jesús Franco, accompanied by the vice-president María José Gallardo, has thrown itself into the first annual trade show, and its wonderful stand has been a meeting point for all Spanish professionals and foreign operators eager to find solutions and new offers with which to compete in such uncertain times. Summing up, London is the first stage for a promising year, and R. FRANCO has proven its spectacular beginning with an extensive range for the European market, which will be followed with the Fer-Interazar by the end of March in Madrid, and thereafter in different trade shows and exhibitions organised for the Latin American market.

Passion Tour 2012 With this motto as starting point, a sentence that in marketing summarises the supporting ideas as manufacturer, R. FRANCO exhibited its essence. We should highlight the machines proposed for the British market, which offer prizes up to 500 pounds sterling for users of models like Treasure Hunt, Africa, Jazz & Blues or SANTA FE GOLD.

A striking and innovative solution, R. FRANCO has tailored the electronic bingo to the taste and regulations of the United Kingdom. If a few weeks ago R. FRANCO presented to Madrid associations its innovative electronic bingo, with the 90-number and balls card game, London was the showcase for the transformation of this bingo into roulette, with 36 numbers and a striking game the precedent of which can be found in the well known "Bingo Bombo", but applied to the red and black, even and odd rules, more in keeping with this casino game installed in a set of table terminals.

The wide but exclusive R. FRANCO portfolio is expanded with the Mystery Bombo game for the Jazz & Blues, Santa Fe Gold and Africa models of the Constelation series including, as an innovation, the Sherezade and Polar World machines. With these products, we should also highlight the electronic bingo models in slant top cabinets catalogued, as a whole, under the epigraph of an attractive community game: Catch the mole!, an exceptional set for models such as Time Machine, Conecte Bingo, 10 Times Bingo, Happy Hour, Bincolor and Bingo Caramelo.

To sum up, an spectacular and comforting beginning for R. FRANCO in 2012, breaking moulds, fine-tuning supply and extending the range of products for markets where it retains a consolidated presence based on two of its main features: the quality and profitability of its machines and closeness to customers and friends.

Unnecessary Delay for California Online Poker

Posted: 03 Feb 2012 12:22 AM PST

On August 22, 2011, California State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Sen. Roderick D. Wright, Chair of the Governmental Organization Committee, sent a "Dear Stakeholder" letter, announcing that the bills to legalize intra-state Internet poker would not be voted on last year.

Why the delay?  After admitting that the issue has been studied for the past three years, including "numerous hearings" and "hours of testimony over the last several months," Senators Steinberg and Wright declare:

"Despite these efforts, significant, unresolved issues remain, including tribal exclusivity and waiver of sovereign immunity, the types of games that would be authorized, who would be eligible to apply for gaming site licenses and potential federal constitutional questions."

A non-lawyer would take about three seconds to read that sentence.  I took more than two hours to analyze it and write this response.

It is always risky to give excuses.  First, these have to be the only important problems remaining; if there were others, they would have been mentioned.  Second, we can treat this as a list, a list with short answers:

1) Tribal exclusivity.  A few tribes assert that their compacts with the state, giving them the exclusive right to have slot machines in return for revenue sharing, mean no one else can operate Internet poker.  They argue that a home personal computer becomes a slot machine if used for online betting.  If that were true, the state would already be in breach for having authorized at-home wagering on horse races.  Also, this is probably an argument most tribes would not want to win.  If California were to no longer receive a share of tribal gaming revenue, the state would authorize highly-taxed, privately-owned landbased casinos in its major cities.

2) Waiver of sovereign immunity.  The state has signed dozens of compacts with tribes for both casinos and off-track betting.  Waivers for online poker would be no different.

3) The types of games.  Sports betting is prohibited by federal law.  Remote betting on horse racing is already legal.  No one is going to compete against the California State Lottery.  Casino games are limited to tribes, and bingo to tribes and charities; it would require an amendment to the California Constitution to allow private operators.  So, there's only poker.

4) Who would be eligible to apply.  Politically, the state's tribes and cardclubs have to get at least one of the licenses each.  Politicians are looking at legalizing online poker to raise revenue.  So, at least one license has to go to an outside company with more money than any California operator, such as Caesars or Bwin/party.  The only question is whether there will be three, five, or an unlimited number of licenses.

5) Potential federal constitutional questions.  This is probably a reference to the position by the Bush Administration that even intra-state Internet poker violates the federal Wire Act.  If true, there would be nothing more to discuss.

So, what is really going on?  Maybe it really is questions like these, which could be answered quickly by any competent gaming lawyer.

Let's hope that it is not just politicians delaying so they can get more campaign contributions.

© 2012, I. Nelson Rose.  Prof. Rose is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on gambling law, and is a consultant and expert witness for governments, industry and players.  His latest books, Internet Gaming Law (1st and 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials, are available through his website, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com