William Hill Online chief operating officer, Peter Marcus, has announced an early exit from his position at the major UK online gambling site. In an interview with EGRmagazine, Marcus said that he expects his time there to be over “shortly, probably weeks rather than months.”

“This is purely about how we structure the business and how we can operate most efficiently” said William Hill Online CEO Henry Birch.

Marcus came on board the team at William Hill in January as part of their 5-year deal with Playtech. As part of the deal, online gambling software developer Playtech furnished William Hill Online with online poker and other casino software along with acquiring marketing companies Uniplay International and Six Digits Trading.

Marcus himself had this to say in an interview with EGR. “The reason for leaving is that we have just had a big restructure of the business and a number of the functions I manage have moved to TelAviv, and it was mutually agreed that I wasn’t interested in carrying on with fewer functions.”

Marcus caused a stir in the online gambling community last month when he railed against rakebacks, saying “networks and licensees have to find ways of rewarding loyalty which don’t encourage people to keep switching rooms or which involve stealing each other’s customers. It’s going to take time and be tough to get there, but the whole industry has to get together and be strict on this.”

There is no word yet on where Marcus will leave, however this appears to be a peaceful parting of ways, on the surface anyway. For more information, visit William Hill Online.

If they thought small time they probably wouldn’t call themselves Titan Poker. The online casino has no less than three different jackpot promotions going on, with big prizes available to the winners.

The Maui Jackpot Sit n Go tournament has tables for ten and has a buy-in of $5 + $1. Players who can mount a good winning streak receive an extra reward. If a player wins five consecutive sit n go online poker tournaments they take home a $15,000 jackpot in addition to their regular winnings. A player finishing in the top two spots in 5 tournaments in a row earns a $200 prize along with the regular earnings.

The Rio Jackpot Sit n Go tournament has a prize pool of $25,000. It is played at 6-player tables with a buy-in of $20 + $3.50. A player wins the 25K jackpot if they win six tournaments in a row. A $300 prize is given to anyone who finishes in the top two for six consecutive tournaments.

Dirty Dozen Jackpot Sit n Go is the other online poker jackpot tournament being offered by Titan Poker. It features two 12-player tables and the buy-in is $2 + $.040. Anyone who wins four consecutive tournaments receives a jackpot of $2,000 in addition to the regular winnings.

The jackpots offered are very enticing, especially to the more streaky players. Online poker players can usually only take home the pot when they win. Receiving a jackpot bonus for winning four to six consecutive tournaments would make it a pretty profitable day. To play in any of the sit n go online poker tournaments, visit Titan Poker today.

Barney Frank has been trying to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) for a while, introducing legislation as far back as 2007. UIGEA was passed in 2006. Frank currently has a bill in the House of Representatives that would legalize and regulate online gambling, but it has already been delayed and now, sources say, it will have to wait.

Back in January of this year, as President Obama was sworn in and the Democrats took a more commanding majority of the House and Senate, Barney Frank announced that he would introduce legislation immediately that would repeal UIGEA. He then pushed it back to Easter before he eventually introduced the bill in May. Still, he kept insisting that his bill would be discussed by September and passed this year. Now some experts are saying not to expect anything until 2010 at the earliest.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Richard Bryan, a former Nevada Senator and current gaming attorney, stated that he believes Frank’s bill won’t even be discussed on the floor until next year. The reason, he said, was due to Congress’s notoriously slow pace and due to the importance of voting on much larger priorities, such as healthcare reform.

While it’s true that Congress generally takes a long time to come to a decision, the current Congress has been a little different, several times hurrying to pass a bill that no one took the time to read, let alone have informed discussions about. The rushed bills were usually under orders from Obama, stating that it was an emergency and that they had to act right away. Repealing an online gambling ban, though, even for Obama, would be tough to spin into an emergency. Especially now. The American people already feel like they’ve been duped by the “stimulus” bill and those who know about it are angered by the cap and trade bill. Convincing the people that legalizing online gambling was not only a priority but an emergency would be a tough task, even for a master hypnotist like Obama. Therefore, it is likely that Bryan is right.

If so, it’s bad news for those who want Frank to succeed. The reason he, and others with a stake in the subject, are so confident that Frank would succeed now when he failed in 2007 is because there are a lot of sympathetic Democrats in the House. If the bill isn’t discussed until 2010, it had better be early because it’s an election year. Midterm elections are not favorable to the party in the White House. Combine that with Obama’s sinking approval rating, the massive healthcare protests, and the people’s disgust with Congress and you can bet there will be a lot of Democrats losing their jobs in November. Even if Frank’s bill comes to a vote before then, with gambling being such a controversial issue among constituents, many members of Congress up for reelection may choose to avoid voting for the bill even if they agree with it.

So I guess the moral of the story is: If you were really excited about the passage of Frank’s bill, don’t get your hopes up.

I have to say that I don’t understand why people think naming an online casino “celeb” or “celebrity” is a draw. When playing at an online casino it’s not like a celebrity is going to show up and hang out with you.  Still, online casinos and other businesses continue to focus on it and CelebPoker is one of the most notable.  Their latest move sees them stepping into the ring with the big boys.

Playtech’s iPoker network platform, which includes the likes of William Hill and Titan Poker, has just added CelebPoker to their already impressive list of online casinos. CelebPoker has a sharp new look and a stellar 3-D graphic interface and offers their players a slew of tournaments, ring games, promotions and prize pools.

CelebPoker already has a pretty solid following, with as many as 40,000 players frequenting their online casino annually. To bring in even more players, they are hosting a tournament with a $10,000 freeroll on September 17 open to users new and old.

“The move to Playtech’s iPoker Network has provided us with the scope to take CelebPoker to the next level. Our players can now enjoy even more exciting games and a wider range of tournaments as part of the world’s biggest poker network,” said CelebPoker CEO David Donovan.

“iPoker’s inspiring innovation and powerful collusion prevention system ensures an exciting, fair and secure gaming environment for all players and one which rivals, and exceeds, any other poker site on the internet. These are very exciting times for the company.”

For more information on Playtech’s iPoker network, check out the Playtech website.

I like to play in Elite Challenge tournaments because I like the idea of being “elite.” It’s the same reason that my band makes music that only we like and “understand.” It’s the same reason I watch foreign films and pretend that I work at Abercrombie and Fitch. Which is why I’m excited for the latest online slot tournament coming up at Casino Tropez.

On August 25, Casino Tropez is hosting a one-day online slots tournament. What’s best about this tournament is that the tournament is freeroll and therefore costs players nothing but the electricity it takes to run their computer…which is why I go to Panera Bread and plug in there. (I’ll teach them to charge me $5.79 for a Bacon Turkey Bravo!)

The free online slots tournament has a guaranteed payout of $1,000, a pretty large amount for a free tournament. One of the cooler things about Elite Challenge Online tournaments is that the leader board is visible on the Elite Challenge web site and will refresh every half hour for players to track their progress. The top twenty players on the leader board each win $50.

Casino Tropez is a subscriber to Elite Challenge online tournaments, which hosts online slots tournaments at multiple online casinos and also works with individual brands. Casino Tropez offers over 65 different online slots, all of which are available for play during this and other live tournaments. Most recently, their gladiator online slot has been generating some serious buzz and attracting a slew of new and experienced gamers.

To participate in this online slot tournament, visit Casino Tropez on August 25 and log into (or register for) your account, make a deposit and get free entry into the tournament.

When it comes to online slots, there is always a debate about whether it’s better for a slot to pay out often or pay out in large amounts. With progressive slots especially, the less often it pays out the bigger the jackpot when someone does hit it. While that may be a great deal for the person who hits the jackpot, it’s not so good for those who play it and get nothing back. Online slots that pay out more often, even though they don’t make anyone rich, reward more players for their business. One such example is The Shark, a new progressive slot found at Cherry Red Casino.

The Shark is earning a reputation for paying out on a regular basis. Combine that with the low cost of playing – the game is played with $.01 coin denominations – and it’s quickly becoming a hit with online gamers in the struggling global economy. In tough times like these, many people want to turn to a sure thing. While there are no sure things when it comes to gambling – if there was, it wouldn’t be a gamble – online slots that pay out frequently and have a low playing cost are as close as it comes.

The Shark is designed by Real Time Gaming, one of the world’s leading online casino software providers. In addition to its high payout frequency and low denomination, The Shark also has a free mode, where players can give it a try without putting any money down.

To play The Shark, visit Cherry Red Casino today.

When it comes to the potential legalization and regulation of online gambling in the United States, no one has been a more dedicated proponent than Representative Barney Frank. Some have even called Frank the “patron saint of online gambling.” During the Bush administration, Frank attempted to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) but was unsuccessful, despite a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Now he is trying again in a House with even stronger Democratic numbers and is confident that this time he’ll succeed.

Gambling has always been a controversial issue, with many opponents among social conservatives. Frank, however, has never been afraid of controversy or battling conservatives. Whether it’s his 100% pro-abortion rating from NARAL, including support of partial-birth abortion, or his establishment of the National Stonewall Democrats, a LGBT activist group, Frank has always come down on the liberal side of social issues. In fact, some have suggested that his reason for championing the cause of legalizing online gambling is because he’s eager for more things for the government to regulate.

Speaking of government regulation, Frank has also come under fire for his involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage firms blamed for the housing market collapse that contributed in large part to the worst American economic downturn since the Great Depression. When President Bush warned repeatedly that subprime lending by the companies could lead to a collapse of the housing market, Frank, then a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee and now the chairman, scoffed at the idea, insisting that the companies “are not facing any kind of financial crisis.” Frank, in fact, pushed for more subprime loans, all in the name of bringing affordable housing to the underprivileged. We all know how well that worked out. Of course, coming down hard in Fannie and Freddie would not have been polite for Frank, being that they are large campaign contributors of his.

Even Frank’s personal life has been controversial, such as the revelation that a gay prostitution ring was being run out of his house. He also is the subject of an upcoming biography titled Barney Frank: The Story of America’s Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman, which is shocking because most of America was unaware that he is left-handed.

If there’s a controversial issue out there, you can bet that Barney Frank has a strong opinion on it. Online gambling is no exception. Frank’s stance is that the ban is unconstitutional – that the government has no right to tell the people they can’t spend their money at online casinos. On the other hand, Frank had no problem with people spending their money on sex in his house, either. While it is refreshing to see a man like Frank, who doesn’t gamble, come out on the side of freedom, one has to wonder why he’s doing it. Is he truly motivated by protecting Americans’ civil liberties or does it have more to do with money received from online gambling lobbyists? Most likely it’s a little of both.

The newest online slot from PartyCasino brings back childhood memories of mayhem and a muscular Italian man with slurred speech. That’s right, a brand new Rambo online slot has just been introduced to PartyCasino’s ever-growing library of online slots.

According to the press release, “Rambo is a 20 line, 5 reel online slot machine based on the iconic film series that provides a high octain gaming experience. The game features heavy artillery, helicopters and jungle rescue sequences you would expect from the world famous motion picture. The minimum stake is one cent and a player can bet on a maximum of 20 lines.”

When three pictures of John Rambo are hit, playable missions send Rambo into action shooting down enemy defenses and rescuing POWs. This feature allows players the chance to win extra multipliers and free spins.

A spokesperson for PartyCasino had this to say about their latest online slot, “With Rambo it’s a case of give it a go, give it a go now and we’ll give you an experience you won’t believe!” I included that quote, because it sounded like bad Kiss lyrics.

PartyCasino is all about movie-themed online slots and to hear their list of titles is like watching a reel of classic films. Other movie-themed online slots include Mission Impossible, The Terminator, The Godfather, Top Gun, Saturday Night Fever and Gone with the Wind.

To check out the new Rambo online slot, put on your war face and head over to Party Casino.

Microgaming, one of the biggest and most respected online gambling software designers, has fallen on tough times. Not long ago, the state of Kentucky seized 141 online gambling domains associated with the company, though an appeal by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) overturned the action. Now, two of their licensees have been dissolved.

Eurolinx and BetonBet Poker, two online poker sites who carry Microgaming products, have been dissolved, which means the dissolving of 30 Microgaming online poker skins. The news came as a shock to the online poker community, since no one knew the poker sites were struggling that much.

Dan Stewart of PokerScout.com stressed that the financial impact for Microgaming is unknown. He stated that “the Microgaming Network still has a healthy amount of traffic and we don’t know how much business the individual licensees are doing.”

Cryptologic, one of Microgaming’s biggest rivals, recently underwent dramatic restructuring and cost cutting to become profitable in the tough economy. It might be wise for Microgaming to follow suit. The online poker industry as a hole has seen a decline in revenue during the global recession. As people become more uncertain about the economy, they take less risks with their money, so understandably fewer people are in the mood for gambling and those that are don’t spend as much. As the United States, Canada and other countries consider legalizing online gambling, however, the online poker industry could soon see a boost. It couldn’t come at a better time.

Just three weeks ago, it was announced that Gamynia would acquire WPT Enterprises, the parent company of World Poker Tour. Oh how things have changed. It seems PartyGaming has swooped in at the last minute and usurped Gamynia’s deal right out from under their noses.

The deal sees PartyGaming online casino forking over $12.3 million in cash with a continued 5% in revenue share between WPT and PartyGaming on purchased assets which include television programming, brands and contracts.

The sale still needs to be approved by shareholders, but the sale looks likely. However, that’s what we said a few weeks ago about Gamynia’s deal which offered up $9.1 million plus future revenue percentages. That deal was supposed to be closed in the fourth quarter of this year, but obviously things done changed. The filing, which occurred on Tuesday explained “Under the Purchase Agreement, the Company is to file a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC within 21 days of signing the Purchase Agreement.” The 21 days had not yet elapsed, hence PartyGaming’s offer.

The purchase of World Poker Tour has been a long time coming. Stock prices for the company have been sliding steadily for months now for the well-known brand. Once the sale is complete, WPTE will change it’s name and continue with its operations.