With the recession hurting economies worldwide, countries are looking into new ways to generate revenue. More and more countries are looking to online casinos as an avenue for more income. British Columbia is now the first Canadian province to legalize online gambling, and will have their online casinos, run by the B.C. Lottery Corp., up and running by March 2010.

For those readers unfamiliar with Canadian provinces, British Columbia is the country’s most southwestern province, located directly above the U.S. state of Washington. It is known for its forestry industry, fur trading, and soon online gambling. The people there speak English, though people in England or the United States might disagree.

B.C. Lottery Corporation CEO Michael Graydon stated that the move is designed to keep money that Canadians are currently spending at overseas online casinos. “Rather than it all going to offshore places like Antigua,” he said, “there’s an opportunity to keep it here in British Columbia.”

Indeed, it is estimated that citizens of British Columbia spend approximately $87 million at online casinos offshore, money that is untaxed and unregulated by the government of British Columbia. In anticipation of the legalization of online casinos, the B.C. Lottery Corporation has raised the weekly gambling limit for its players from $120 to $10,000.

The lifting of the ban, of course, is not without its critics. Shane Simpson of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party calls the move “unacceptable” and said that it does not take into consideration concerns about problem gambling. Graydon, however, said that provisions are in place “to prevent problem gamblers from losing too much money, such as a 24-hour cooling-off period before they can bet higher limits.”

The move by British Columbia would be the first legalization of online casinos by a government in North America.

As reported recently, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians has proposed a bill to open an online casino, offering online poker specifically, for the exclusive use of players within the California state line. The bill is five pages long and the hope was/is to push it through and have it passed before the closing of the legistlative year on September 11. But things aren’t looking up and lawmakers are saying they will need more time to more thoroughly examine the bill.

Senator Darrell Steinberg, a Democratic representative from Sacramento told reporters, “a legitimate idea for consideration… it should not be taken up in the last four weeks.” he said, “I think it’s going to take more than four weeks to analyze that kind of proposal and the potential economic benefit.”

There is also another group opposing the bill which is throwing a monkey wrench into the Morongo Tribe’s plans. The Pechenga Band of Mission Indians sent a letter opposing the legislation on Wednesday reading, “Pechenga has had a standing opposition to online poker since proposals first surfaced last year, out of concerns for the far-reaching legal, political and policy consequences of an expansion of this magnitude.”

The California Tribal Business Alliance (CTBA) also sent a letter detailing their displeasure with the bill to the California legislature.

Platinum Play online casino just announced a new feature that allows players to choose between two different ways to enjoy online play. A new feature to the online casino sports the option of instant play with no download required or via download.

Platinum Play is a member of the Fortune Lounge Group and while they mention that the instant and download versions each have their own characteristics, both allow for opening a real casino or guest account after registration.

Instant play is best for players looking to try Platinum Play out for the first time, with a generous amount of games offered. The downloadable casino is the real treasure trove though, with over 150 titles available for play.

Whether you’re just there to practice or you’re out to rake in some serious cash, Platinum Play has something their for everyone. Naturally, registration comes with its own perks (besides the chance to win lots of money). Those that sign up for “practice play” can’t participate in progressive games while registration for Platinum Play online casino “real money” play opens the doors to the entire casino and all tournaments.

If you’re brand new to the online casino world, instant play is most definitely the way to go. Platinum Play also offers up a Casino Guides section on their site that directs new players to games they would enjoy the most. Platinum Play offers privacy and security to all of its players regardless of account type.

For more information, visit Platinum Play Online Casino.

People who wish to do their online gambling with William Hill now have a better way to pay. The company has signed a deal with PaySafeCard, an alternative payment option with a guaranteed method of making deposits online. The deal, making PaySafeCard available to all William Hill customers online, will make all financial transactions more secure and simple. PaySafeCard can be used for players to make deposits as well as for William Hill to pay out any winnings.

The deal will streamline and simplify transactions for William Hill, an international online betting company based in Gibraltar that does business with 175 countries, eleven currencies and in six languages. PaySafeCard is also a large presence internationally, operating in 22 European countries and in Argentina and Mexico.

PaySafeCard, like competitor PayPal, allows players to deposit and withdraw funds without the use of a debit or credit card. However, unlike PayPal, no bank account information is needed. By not putting their card numbers out on the web, players can feel more safe from identity theft. To use PaySafeCard, players purchase vouchers for as little as £10 that are available at more than 230,000 outlets. To redeem the vouchers, the players go to the cashier section of William Hill and enter the PIN code on the voucher. It is a quick and easy form of payment without involving credit cards, checks or any bank account information. In a world that is increasingly paranoid about identity theft, there is likely no safer way to conduct transactions online, especially transactions for online gambling.

Visit William Hill online today.

You’re getting old, sagging and wrinkly. Players just don’t get as excited to play with your slots as they used to, so what do you do? Get yourself a makeover girl! GamingClub Online Casino is sporting a fresh new look and streamlined game play designed to satisfy the regulars and attract some new blood.

The most obvious and prominent change is the online casino’s name which has gone from “The GamingClub.com” to simply “Gaming Club.” Sort of like when John Cougar Mellencamp dropped the “cougar” part, only in this case, it’s the word “the.”

The site is trim and sleek, rocking the “clean” look that so many online casinos and other prominent websites are turning to these days. Out with the old “clunky MySpace” look and in with the “space-ship chic.” They’ve kept their signature green that dominates the site that remains consistent with the established online casino’s branding. Gaming Club also makes a prominent mention of its history with the words “1^st Online Casino Est. 1994” directly beneath the title. Just reading that should let those new to online casinos know that they are dealing with an established and trustworthy business.

The look may have changed but Gaming Club is still dedicated to the same quality customer service that established them as one of the top online casinos in the industry. The addition of four new Microgaming slots and is sending players to the Grand Slam of Slots online tournament is set for November 2009. Qualifiers are being held through the end of September to qualify for one of the net’s biggest online slot tournaments with prizes totaling over $1 million.

For more information or to check out the new look, head over to GamingClub online casino.

Online casino Titan Poker is now getting involved in offline poker tournaments. As part of an interesting rewards program, Titan Poker rewards players simply for playing. Gamers earn points automatically by sitting at a table and wagering. The more games they play and the more money they wager, the more points they accumulate. Earn enough points and Titan Poker will give you a pretty nice prize.

The current promotion is sending customers of their online casino to live in-person poker tournaments across the world. A recent winner was sent to the Irish Winter Festival for the live tournament. Titan Poker gave the player $1,025 for travel expenses and spending money as well as paying his buy-in for the event. Here’s hoping the winner realizes that for the live tournament, unlike online tournaments, it is not socially acceptable to play poker in your underwear.

In addition, another winner was awarded a seat at a table for the Asian Poker Tour’s Macau Main Event, which started yesterday. The buy-in for that tournament is $4,300 and the lucky promotion winner will have the opportunity to play against some of the best poker players in the world – or at least in Asia. The Titan Poker contest winner is not the only invitee to the event. The Asian Poker Tour famously extended invitations to Lady Gaga, of “Poker Face” fame, and Michael Phelps, of being the most awesome swimmer in the world fame. To date, neither celebrity has RSVPed, though Lady Gaga will be in the area on tour, so who knows?

For a chance to win these and other exciting prizes, visit Titan Poker.

It seems like when it comes to online slots, all of the bonus rounds are the same. They are triggered automatically based on a combination of symbols appearing on the reels, usually involving scatter symbols or wild symbols. Wealth Spa, a new online slot that debuted at All Slots online casino last week, does things a little differently, though. In this progressive slot, the bonus rounds are not triggered randomly. Instead, they can be purchased. This make it more of a gamble for players, but it also increases the stakes of the bonus rounds, making them more exciting.

There are five different bonus games that can be purchased in Wealth Spa are they can be purchased when players receive the token symbol. When the reels have one token, the player can purchase a bonus game for one token. When there are 2 tokens, the player can purchase a bonus game for the price of 2 tokens, and so on. The bonus games increase in complexity and potential winnings along with the price, so players are rewarded for using 5 of their tokens to purchase a bonus game rather than being stingy and avoiding the bonus. All Slots believes that the idea of wagering on bonus games will prove to be popular among gamblers. After all, if they didn’t like gambling they probably wouldn’t be visiting online casinos, would they?

All of the bonus games are based on health spa experiences, such as mixing a smoothie drink, getting a body wax or a massage. Botox is optional. If you enjoy more gambling in your gambling, the Wealth Spa is the perfect online slot for you. To play it, visit All Slots online casino today.

Right now, for better or worse, Golden Casino’s progressive slots are not paying out. While it’s bad that the jackpots aren’t paying out in short intervals right now, the good news is that means they have high jackpots, so whoever does win will be a very happy gamer. Golden Casino has set a new personal record for their online slot jackpots, amounting to over $2.4 million earlier this week.

Some online casinos don’t like to promote high jackpots on their progressive slots, because it says that they’re not paying out often, but Golden Casino has taken the opposite approach, playing up the fact that winners will win big. Just like with the lottery, each time the pot gets larger, more and more people dream of taking home the big bucks.

The summer months are traditionally rather slow for online casinos in regards to tournaments and other promotions, so promoting their high jackpots for the online slots is likely a good plan. Golden Casino is known more for their freeroll slot tournaments than for their progressive slots, but right now, in a market that is struggling in a recession, any promotion is a good promotion.

More like UN-American Express. The scent of freedom lingers in the air as the possibility of the legalization of online casinos. And following that scent are payment processors like PayPal, set to hop on-board the online casino gravy train when online casino laws loosen their grip. American Express, however, is whistling a different tune. They are continuing their policy of refusal to do business with online casinos in any way, shape or form.

Reports this week suggested from Gambling Online suggested that Rome Casino had begun to allow players to make deposits using their American Express cards, a violation of their policy on online casinos. However this information has proved untrue and American Express has (forgive the redundancy) “expressed” great displeasure in the misinformation.

American Express released a statement on the matter, determined to clear things up to the public. “It is a long-standing policy that American Express cannot be accepted for gambling – either online or offline and the Rome Casino is no exception,” said American Express Vice-President Christine Elliot said of the online casino. “Any merchant found to be in violation of this policy is terminated immediately from card acceptance.” she added.

On their strategies page, Rome Casino does not outright say they do not deal with American Express or other credit card companies. But they do suggest using alternative methods of payment. They go on to say that restrictions prevent them from processing withdrawals. “Furthermore, due to restrictions imposed upon Rome Casino by Visa International, MasterCard, and American Express, we can no longer process any portion of any withdrawal to a Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card including the players’ original deposits made by Visa or MasterCard credit cards.”

All Slots online casino has an online slot tournament running from August 18 to August 24. The tournament, cleverly titled the Slots All Stars Competition, is a leader board type of competition. To qualify for the competition, players must buy and wager at least 50 credits on other games at All Slots online casino, which, contrary to the company’s name, includes more than slots. Players can earn their spot by wagering credits in games of poker, blackjack, roulette and more.

During the Slots All Stars Competition, players earn 1 point per 50 credits wagered, 1 point for every 50 credits won and they lose 1 point for every 50 credits lost. At the end of the competition, the top players on the leader board split a 10,000-credit prize pool, with the top 100 players taking some kind of prize. The first place winner earns 1,000 credits.

The winners will have the prizes credited to their accounts, where they can use the credits to play more online slots for a chance to win big money. Or lose big money. That’s how it goes with online slots. Like with many casino bonuses, the players must wager the prize credits 30 times before they can make a withdrawal. The competition started 2 days ago, but for any online slot fans, there is still plenty of time to join and win, thanks to the large prize distribution.