Hurricane Irene may never have become the devastating natural disaster that the media was hyping and hoping for, but it did manage to uproot a lot of people. Forced evacuations in New Jersey left Atlantic City closed for business, with the casinos shut down for the weekend. Yesterday, all eleven casinos reopened.

With Irene (downgraded to a tropical storm when it hit) heading toward New Jersey, the state ordered a mandatory evacuation of the coastline, including Atlantic City. That meant each of the eleven casinos had to be closed for only the third time in history. By losing a weekend of business, the casinos lost an estimated $40 million to $45 million in gambling revenue. That means the city also lost out on tax revenue and peripheral revenue such as money spent at nearby restaurants.

Yesterday afternoon, all of the Atlantic City casinos reopened, but few customers returned. With many people still out of the area and many roads leading into the city blocked by flooding or downed trees, casino attendance was sparse. Gaming officials believe it will be another day or two before casino attendance returns to normal levels.

“This was a major hit financially,” said Resorts Casino CEO Dennis Gomes. “It was a $3 million loss for Resorts. You can’t recoup it, so we’ve got to hope that the rest of the year will be good.” The casino industry is now looking at the coming Labor Day weekend as key to recovery from the tropical storm. To help bring customers back, some casinos are running special promotions. In addition, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno visited the city on Monday to “remind residents and tourists that the Jersey Shore is a great place to visit following Hurricane Irene.”

If you live in Greece and gamble online, I hope you report that income and pay the appropriate taxes. If not, you had better start. The Greek government has made it known that they are targeting tax evaders, including those who don’t pay taxes from online casino gaming.

There is an estimated €15 billion in so-called missing taxes each year for the Greek government. That means tax money that they should receive but do not because of tax evasion. As part of the rules given to them by the IMF, EU and Germany during the bailout, Greece must reduce that number and bring in more of that missing tax money. To that end, they have created a new team, called the Financial Police and Electronic Crimes Squad. That team is tasked with finding tax dodgers, including online gamblers.

Among the new powers given to that team is the ability to track bank accounts and stock market activity. That means there is a much better chance of noticing money made from overseas online sources, such as online casinos. Christos Papoutsis, the leader of the team, also says that online gambling is a major target because he thinks it costs the government €2 billion per year. “Greek banks are unwitting accomplices in this because all the transactions are done using credit cards,” he said.

Greece has long been considered one of the top European nations for tax evasion. Many online gamblers took advantage of that and simply didn’t pay tax on casino earnings. With the new team implemented to go after them, gamblers would be wise to pay their taxes legitimately.

While I would like you to get all of your gambling and online casino information from us here at Gambling Review, I know that people like to look around and use multiple sources. That is fine. If you want more information on the industry, bestonlinecasino.net is one of the top sites to try. Like Gambling Review, the site has a wealth of information on the best casinos, individual games, promotions and news.

One of the best features on bestonlinecasino.net is multiple directories of online casinos sorted by region. One of the frustrating things about searching for online casinos is finding a good one and then finding out that they don’t accept customers in your location. The website addresses that problem by sorting online casinos by the areas they serve. You can browse the USA Casinos section to see a listing of the best online casinos that cater to American customers. After Black Friday, that list is constantly changing, so it’s a good thing to track. Canadian customers can also check out the list of Canadian Online Casinos. There are also directories for online casinos that serve the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

In addition to listing the best online casinos by region, the casino website also reviews those casinos. By reading the reviews and looking at the benefits of each, it is easier to choose where to play. In addition to the listings, the best feature at bestonlinecasino.net is the blog. The blog is updated every week and has information on the current bonuses, promotions and tournaments at online casinos, as well as news that affects the online gambling community.

On Tuesday, the man convicted of robbing the Bellagio casino resort was sentenced to at least three years in prison. But if it helps, he said he was sorry. The sentencing puts an end to a sensational robbery story that captured the attention of Las Vegas.

Anthony Carleo, the son of a former Vegas judge, was sentenced to no less than three years and no more than 11 years for robbing the Bellagio casino on December 14. Carleo held up the casino at gunpoint, wearing a motorcycle mask to obscure his face, and made off on the motorcycle with $1.5 million in chips. He was later arrested when trying to sell those chips to undercover officers.

At the sentencing hearing, Carleo said that he was sorry for “all the chaos I’ve caused.” The apology must have seemed genuine to the judge. Prosecutor Chris Owens argued for a stiffer sentence, saying that Carleo thought it was a “big joke,” but Judge Michael Leavitt handed down a somewhat light sentence.

In addition to robbing the Bellagio, he admitted to robbing the Suncoast casino on December 9. Tomorrow he will be sentenced for the Suncoast robbery, where he used the same robbery tactic. At the Bellagio, he stole money at gunpoint from the craps pit area. At the Suncoast, he stole from a cashier’s cage near a poker tournament.

As expected, Carleo’s attorney will argue at the Suncoast sentencing that both sentences should be served concurrently. That’s another way of saying that because he committed crimes at two casinos, he’ll for some reason only do time for one of them. The prosecution will likely oppose concurrent sentencing.

Hollywood director Nick Cassavetes filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against him involving a poker game that included him, other celebrities, and a corrupt banker convicted of fraud. Directors Cassavetes and Ben Affleck and actors Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire are all being sued by a creditor for convicted banker Brad Ruderman. (Yes, I refer to Affleck as a director; hopefully it catches on).

Ruderman was in investment banker convicted of running a Ponzi scheme, which is illegal if you’re not the government. His fraudulent practices cost his investors $25 million. It is alleged that he lost another $5.2 million playing high stakes poker games with the aforementioned celebrities. Since the Texas hold’em poker games were unlicensed and Ruderman allegedly used those ill-gotten funds to play with, the court-appointed trustee for Ruderman’s investors is attempting to recoup the money he lost in the poker games. The lawsuits against the stars are an attempt to reclaim that lost money and then distribute it to Ruderman’s wronged investors.

In the motion to dismiss, though, Cassavetes points out that the high stakes poker games were perfectly legal, in which case there is no cause to confiscate the players’ winnings. California’s gambling laws ban unlicensed games of chance where the house takes a cut. According to Cassavetes, no one took a cut during the games, with the host only accepting tips. Furthermore, Cassavetes points out that Texas hold’em is not identified as an illegal game by California law.

If Cassavetes is successful in his dismissal motion, the other stars are likely to follow suit. None of the stars face criminal charges.

Today we want to let you know about free online casino games from OnlineCasino.net. Before you get too excited, no there are no free games at the website. Don’t be misled by the title. There are no games there at all, since it’s not an online casino. The website is an online casino directory and review site, just like this one.

So why would you check out OnlineCasino.net when you already have a great site here at Gambling Review? That’s a good question. While we would love for you to find everything you need here, sometimes it helps to get a second opinion and get information from multiple sources. For that, we suggest checking out OnlineCasino.net, where you can find information on free online casino games, casino bonuses, tournaments, promotions and more.

Aside from a guide to those free games, there is a lot of other useful information at OnlineCasino.net. You will find a comprehensive listing of online casino reviews that will help you figure out the best casinos to play. The website also has very in-depth guides to the most popular casino games, so you can learn the basic rules and strategy for blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, poker and more. A casino blog can also keep you up to date on gambling news, casino promotions and more.

There are a number of helpful guides on the site, including where to find the best free online casino games. With comprehensive guides, casino reviews, and tips to help you hone your gambling skills, OnlineCasino.net is a great place to spend some time when you’re not busy browsing Gambling Review.

If you found this website, there is a good chance that you peruse a lot of gambling websites to try to get information about the different online casinos. That is fine. There’s nothing wrong with getting information from a lot of sources. There is something I want to caution you against, though.

I have seen a lot of gambling websites hype when players hit jackpots. In particular, they play up any pattern, such as if a certain game has been hit more than usual lately. Reporting the fact that a player at such and such casino hit the jackpot for such and such game is okay, because, it’s the truth. However, what is implied in reporting that is that the slot is hot so you should play it now because you have a better chance of hitting the jackpot.

That is not true. At online casinos and brick and mortar casinos, there is no such thing as a hot slot. Slots are neither hot nor cold, which would suggest that since it hasn’t paid out in a while it is “due.” The truth is that online slots and their counterparts in land casinos are controlled by a random number generator. That RNG makes sure that the outcome of each and every spin is random and completely independent of the last. That means one spin has absolutely no impact on the next spin or any other spin thereafter.

The appeal of slots is their randomness. Anything could happen anytime you take a spin. That also means that you can’t predict their behavior. If someone tells you that you can, be weary of their advice.

Casino Tropez is one of those annoying online casinos that never seems to update its splash page. Where a lot of casinos continuously update the main page with whatever promotions are going on, the Tropez page doesn’t seem to have changed at all in the last two years. Therefore, to keep up with the promotions, you kind of have to read emails that they send or rely on sources like Gambling Review to keep you in the loop.

Right now, the online casino has a good promotion that runs until August 21. There are two different bonuses you can claim. The first is a 30% match bonus on all deposits. It is an unlimited bonus, so you can claim it as many times as you want. The other bonus is a 20% refund on all deposits. For those who don’t know the difference, a match bonus means the casino gives you a percentage of the exact amount you deposited. The refund bonus is used to defray the loss of money if you have a net loss. In that case, the casino refunds a percentage of the total amount of money you lost during the promotion.

Both of the promotions have wagering requirements. The deposit bonus must be wagered at least 20 times and the refund bonus must be wagered a minimum of 25 times. To claim the refund award, you must contact customer support on August 22, the day after the promotion ends.

All of these promotions and more can be found at Casino Tropez, a popular online casino based in Antigua & Barbuda. Tropez uses software developed by Playtech.

Chicago Governor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn continue to spar in person and in the media over casino legislation. For Emanuel, a Chicago casino can’t come fast enough. For Quinn, the legislation needs to be studied carefully to make sure they don’t do more harm than good.

The fellow Democrats agree that allowing a casino in Chicago is a good idea. It would bring revenue to the city that is currently crossing the border to Indiana. However, the legislation that would allow such a casino also calls for several other casinos, slot machines at racetracks and even slots in airports.

Mayor Emanuel is counting on getting the revenue that a Chicago casino would provide, so much that he seems to already be allocating that money. Emanuel predicts that a Chicago casino will bring in $150 million in annual revenue for the city and he has that revenue earmarked for CTA stations, roadwork, school renovations and more. It’s nice to have a plan for extra money, but Governor Quinn doesn’t like the mayor publicly saying how he will spend money that the governor has yet to approve. According to Quinn “spending the money before the law is passed is putting the cart before the horse.”

Emanuel says the revenue is vital to Chicago. In recent years, the federal and state government is allocating less money to the city for its infrastructure. Emanuel says that he is “committed to making sure that the resources that have not been coming from Washington, that have not been coming from Springfield,” start coming from a Chicago casino. To Emanuel, a casino allows the city to become more self-sufficient and pay for needed projects.

Governor Quinn has said that he has a number of problems with the gambling legislation, including that it is too big and that it would reduce government oversight of the industry. He says that the bill has “serious shortcomings” when it comes to “honesty and integrity.” Emanuel has not commented on the bill as a whole, only on the part concerning a casino for the Windy City.

The large Harmon Tower, which was supposed to be the gateway to CityCenter, will soon be demolished. Casino business MGM Resorts International, co-owner of Harmon Tower, had until a 5:00 deadline yesterday to either agree to have it demolished or submit a plan for repairing the Las Vegas tower. They chose the latter.

Construction on the 27-story tower was halted in 2008 after a poor inspection. William P. Moore Structural Engineers spotted problems with the steel reinforcing bars and worried that a large earthquake would bring the tower down. Clark County then decided to seek a second opinion for a third party. They brought in Weidlinger Associates to inspect the tower and they concluded that it was unsafe. MGM Resorts countered by bringing in their own engineering firm, John A. Martin & Associates, who came up with a plan to fix the tower.

Perini Building Company, the contractor who oversaw the construction, is now engaged in a legal battle with MGM Resorts. MGM blames the problem on poor construction, which is Perini’s responsibility. Perini says the problems is that the project was poorly designed, which goes back to MGM. When MGM’s engineers said that an earthquake could fell the building, Perini President Craig Shaw said that “Harmon Tower is in no danger of partial or complete collapse even in the event of a ‘code-level’ earthquake.” He added that he is “100% confident” that the tower is safe.

MGM really had no choice but to opt for imploding the tower. They were unable to submit a plan to the county for fixing the tower because they said it would take up to 18 months of study to determine “if repair is even a possibility.”

Perini said they can meet the county’s standards, but MGM balked at letting them finish the project. “Perini’s continued requests to fix the Harmon is like the director of Ishtar demanding a sequel,” said MGM Resorts spokesman Gordon Absher. “CityCenter has absolutely zero confidence or trust that Perini can and will properly fix a building it has so badly constructed thus far.” Perini countered that MGM Resorts simply wants to avoid another vacant property and is using “public safety” as an excuse.