Every online casino offers bonuses for joining their site and to be honest, most of them fail to impress me. They usually come in the form of a deposit match bonus, which is nice and all, but it doesn’t scream innovation or imagination. Where are those marketing people who are supposed to come up with eye-catching promotions?

Golden Tiger Casino has a prize giveaway that is simultaneously one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of and one of the craziest. Right now, if you join Golden Tiger Casino, you are eligible for a free Bengal tiger. A real one. Yes, I’m serious.

Every month for 15 months, Golden Tiger Casino is giving a real live Bengal Tiger to one lucky customer. The lucky winner is chosen at random from a pool of those who have recently joined the online casino. The promotion runs until April 14, 2011.

Tigers are one of the coolest animals in the world, but they’re also one of the most dangerous, so there are risks to having a Bengal tiger show up at your door. The casino is well aware of the risks and has a disclaimer that says “GoldenTigerCasino.com takes no responsibility for injury or death following delivery of tiger.”

If you are going to accept the gift of a free tiger, make sure you have an appropriate place to put it. For example, a wooden dog house wouldn’t work, but a secured enclosure made to zoological specifications could be fine. Also check with the laws in your area. Countries, states, counties and cities can all have ordinances that would prohibit a dangerous exotic animal like a Bengal tiger. Also, they are expensive to feed. Golden Tiger Casino states that an adult Bengal tiger “can consume up to 20 kilograms of meat at one time.” You might want to stock up your fridge then. Also, though the tiger will be fed upon dispatch, it will arrive hungry, so unless you want to be its first meal, you better have something handy as soon as it gets there.

If this all sounds good to you, then you’re probably crazy. Or maybe just a rich eccentric person who wants a tiger. If that’s the case, there’s no better casino giveaway than the one at Golden Tiger Casino.

Tomorrow, July 1, New Hampshire’s state-run online casino website was supposed to launch. That launch has been postponed, though, for political reasons. According to state lawmakers, the lottery officials did not inform them of the plans to operate an online gambling site and they were not consulted on the matter.

Politicians are funny that way. They like to be involved in everything that happens in their jurisdiction, even if it’s not necessary. It’s a power trip thing. Lawmakers are only needed for passing laws, amending laws, and passing spending bills, which is just a different kind of law. They did not need to be consulted on this online casino project because no new law or amendment was needed.

New Hampshire’s state lottery is looking for ways to make more money, since they are projected to fall $7 million short of the revenue they had expected. Their plan for doing that was to open an online casino that would be run by the state lottery.

The UIGEA, which took effect June 1, prohibits financial institutions from processing payments for “unlawful” (whatever that means) internet gambling. However, the law would have no effect on New Hampshire’s online casino because the payments would not actually take place online. Instead, New Hampshire residents would go to land-based payment processing centers. There they would purchase tickets, which would work like gift cards. The customers would then go to the online casino and use the access codes on the tickets to play the online casino games.

With the launch now postponed, the new online casino is expected to be up and running no earlier than August 1.

The Summer Slot Series promotion is going strong at Silver Dollar Casino right now. This promotion takes place in four parts, with a total of $500,000 in cash prizes up for grabs. Players can take part any or all of the parts of the tournament, with the potential for greater winnings with each part entered.

Part One of the Summer Slot Series promotion is almost over. It began on June 1 and ends on June 30. This part of the tournament is played on the Funky Chicken slot, which is a cartoonish slot featuring a variety of barnyard animals. I’m not sure how funky they really are, but funk has always been loosely defined. This part of the tournament has a $100,000 prize pool, with the top finisher taking half of that ($50,000).

Part Two of the Summer Slot Series tournament takes place from July 1 to July 31. It is played on the Shaaark! slot, one of the more unique games at Silver Dollar Casino. This game is a cartoonish take on shark attacks, which sounds odd and it is. This part of the slot tournament has a $150,000 prize pool, with the first-place finisher winning $60,000.

Part Three of Silver Dollar Casino’s tournament takes place from August 1 to August 31. It is played on the California Gold slot, which is based on the California Gold Rush. The prize pool for this part of the tournament is $175,000, with the first-place finisher winning $75,000.

Part Four of this tournament isn’t actually another competition. It simply awards the top player from the first three parts. The player with the most cumulative points will win more prize money, with $75,000 up for grabs.

Players who don’t participate in each of the first three parts aren’t likely to win anything in Part Four, but there is still good money to be had in each individual round. As an added bonus, players with five or more rebuys in Parts One and Two receive free entry into Parts Two and Three, respectively.

To take part in the Summer Slot Series promotion, visit Silver Dollar Casino.

Last week I wrote about the revelation that in more than half of California’s casinos, welfare recipients can use their debit cards to withdraw cash. The Electronic Benefit Transfer cards are debit cards used to pay for food, clothes and other necessities, but welfare recipients have been using them to withdraw money at casinos. That’s not exactly the best use of taxpayer money.

At the time of that story, the California government was looking into how much money had been withdrawn from the casino ATM’s using EBT cards. Now they seem to have an answer. The preliminary report is that welfare recipients withdrew $1.8 million from California casinos between the months of October and May alone.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, always on top of things, only found out about this welfare abuse when a Los Angeles Times reporter asked him for a comment on the story. Since then, he issued an executive order to block access to cash withdraws at casinos by welfare recipients.

This is one of the few good ideas Schwarzenegger has had in the last few years. Of course, he’s not a big fan of the CalWORKS program (California’s welfare program), having proposed eliminating it entirely in his May budget. This was another rare good Schwarzenegger idea.

For those who are worried about the EBT debit cards being used to pay for nonessential things, it seems like the most obvious solution would be to get rid of the debit cards. Remember old-fashioned food stamps? Those could only be used for food, not cigarettes, beer or anything else that is not needed. Of course, the CalWORKS program pays for more than food. It also pays for clothes, housing and more.

For anyone living in any of the other 49 U.S. states who thinks this abuse of the CalWORKS program doesn’t affect you, you’re wrong. First of all, there is a very real possibility that at some point the federal government will give bailout funds to California to help them balance their books. Even if that never happens, though, more than half of the money used in the CalWORKS program comes from federal funds. That means welfare recipients aren’t only stealing money from California taxpayers to have fun at a casino. They’re also ripping off taxpayers in every other state. With entitlement programs being the biggest burden to the U.S. economy, this is just another example of why comprehensive entitlement reform is necessary.

Almost every online casino offers some type of welcome bonus to new players. The money gives players something to wager with right away. It usually comes in the form of a match bonus, where a certain percentage of the player’s deposit it matched by the casino.

Captain Cooks Casino has an interesting take on the welcome bonus, though. In their unique no-deposit welcome bonus, players are given $500 and 60 minutes to make as much money as they can. No deposit is necessary. It’s as simple as that.

Here’s how it works. As soon as you sign up for a real-money account at Captain Cooks and click the “play now” button associated with the $500 welcome bonus, a timer starts counting down from 60 minutes. You are given $500 to wager with and during that hour, you try to make as much money as you can. Any money you make you get to keep. Any money you lose doesn’t matter, because it comes from the free $500, rather than your own money. This promotion is separate from normal pay, so you don’t get to carry over any of the unused $500.

There are, as always, a couple stipulations. First, you must wager at least 20 times during the 60 minute period in order to keep your winnings. That shouldn’t be a problem. The other one is that before your winnings from this promotion can be transferred to your real-money account and withdrawn, you need to purchase at least $50 in your real-money account.

This unique welcome bonus combines your favorite games with the excitement of a timed tournament. It’s kind of like those game shows where players run through the supermarket, filling their carts with stuff that they will get to keep at the end, once the time runs out.

To take part in the $500 welcome bonus, visit Captain Cooks Casino.

In a shocking revelation, it was learned that California’s welfare system is being abused. Yeah, I know. Sit down, breathe deeply and take some time to let that sink in. The Los Angeles Times has reported that in more than half of the state’s casinos, people are able to use welfare debit cards to withdraw money. Somehow that doesn’t seem like the best use of the cards.

California’s welfare system uses an Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is basically a debit card given out to welfare recipients. Those debit cards are intended to be used to buy food, clothing and other essentials. As anyone who has studied welfare and other government entitlements knows, the system is being abused and people are buying a lot of things that are nonessential, all on the taxpayers’ dime.

The EBT cards can be used in the automated teller machines in 32 of the state’s 58 tribal casinos and 47 of the 90 state-licensed poker rooms. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, when informed of this problem, promised to take immediate action. Of course, since he’s taken a few years trying to figure out what to do about the state’s budget – which definitely requires immediate action – I wouldn’t hold my breath.

The social services agency running their welfare program contracts with a private ATM network for the transfer of funds to welfare recipients. According to a spokesman, no one at the agency or the ATM network was aware that funds were being withdrawn at casinos.

Showing better acting ability than Schwarzenegger himself, one of the governor’s spokesmen said that he was surprised to learn this news and that it is “reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.” Somehow I don’t buy that a California politician is surprised that taxpayer money is being wasted.

All of this, of course, is the fault of the state of California. The EBT debit cards were created in order to “remove the stigma sometimes associated with public assistance,” according to their government website. Therein lies the problem. Why would you want to remove the stigma?

Receiving government assistance should only be a last resort. By getting rid of food stamps and other easily-identified programs in favor of debit cards, they make people more likely to sign up for the welfare program. That leads to an increase of public spending. Considering that California is crumbling under a mountain of debt – with entitlements being the largest problem – the last thing you want to do is encourage people to be on welfare and use public money. Switching to a debit card also makes it easier to use the money for things it was not intended, as this report makes clear. By switching to the debit card system, California has led to an increase in spending under the welfare program as well as an increase in abuse. So please, California politicians, stop pretending to be surprised.

First a disclaimer: The original source of this story is TMZ. Now, I don’t usually pay any attention to TMZ and I consider it to be one of the worst websites and TV shows on the planet. However, I stumbled upon this story and it was too interesting not to relay.

As those involved with Michael Jackson position themselves for wealth, ownership, rights and everything else, a lot of bizarre stories have come up. This is one of the craziest. Michael’s mom, Katherine Jackson, plans on releasing a memoir on the King of Pop as well as 273 previously-unheard songs. The Michael Jackson estate is fighting her on both counts, saying that she does not have the authority to do so.

To release and promote the book and songs, Katherine Jackson is partnering with a man named Howard Mann. It seems that Mann has the masters to those unreleased tracks. Mann, a Toronto entrepreneur, happened to be a huge Jackson fan and had bought a warehouse full of paraphernalia. Included in all of that mess supposedly is 273 unreleased tracks that would make a ton of money.

None of that is surprising and it doesn’t have anything to do with online gambling. What is relevant is how Mann is being described by the media and by those who oppose their plans. They describe his business as “online nude gambling” and sometimes call him an operator of online nude gambling sites.

The questions I immediately had were as follows:

1. There are online nude gambling sites?
2. Why haven’t I heard of them before?
3. Why didn’t I think of that? I would be rich!
4. Where did I put my credit card?

Mann has been involved in many business ventures, among them online casinos and erotic websites. Then one day, it occurred to him to combine the two. This happened in 2006, which means from the time the internet was popularized sometime in the 1980s until 2006, somehow no one else had thought of that idea. I’m kicking myself right now.

The website was GrandNevada.com and it was an online gambling website where you could play poker, blackjack or roulette with nude dealers. According to Mann in 2006, the casino allowed people to “play real casino games in real time, with real live sexy dealers, just like in a real casino,” except at his casino “the dealers are either wearing bikinis or are topless.” Many of the dealers were supposedly porn stars.

Before you leave my website to Google Grand Nevada, I should tell you that the website no longer exists. I don’t know how that could happen, because a website like that should be very popular. With the casino gone now, maybe there’s room for my own…

Look for a Gambling Review nude casino sometime soon.

If you’re a fan of online slots, it’s hard to beat a free roll slot tournament. After all, you get to play slots for free and in exchange, you might earn prizes. You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to win. If that kind of real sounds good to you, I suggest checking out Rich Reels Casino.

Rich Reels Casino is offering Free Roll Private Slots tournaments, which you can play on one of four popular games. Those games include the Tomb Raider slot, Hitman, Avalon and Loaded. These slot tournaments are free to enter and there is a tournament every two hours. The tournaments have a $75 prize pool, which isn’t very high but is good considering the lack of an entry fee.

With no buy-in, the free roll slot tournaments offer you a chance to play some fun online slots and earn prizes without actually spending any money. Let’s face it, there aren’t very many ways you can have fun for free at an online casino. Sure, there is the free trial, but you can’t win any money on those. With the free roll slot tournaments, you can win money.

Aside from the free slot tournaments, Rich Reels also offers scheduled slot tournaments for people who don’t mind paying an entry fee for a shot at larger prizes. These scheduled tournaments vary in length, prize pool size, entry fee amount and more.

To take advantage of the free slot tournament, visit Rich Reels Casino.

Yesterday I discussed an online poker bill in California that is so poorly written it is even opposed by those who are pushing for online poker in the state. In case you think that California is alone in its legislative ineptitude, let me assure you that they have plenty of company. Take Rhode Island, for instance.

Rhode Island is the state best known for being near other states that are better known. It also apparently has idiots in their legislature. That’s not surprising. In fact, I’m surprised when I find a politician who is not demonstrably stupid, corrupt or dangerous to society.

Anyway, Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri vetoed a bill yesterday that would have allowed voters to decide whether the state’s two current slot parlors can become full casinos, including offering table games. The plan for a voter referendum was nixed because, according to the governor, it was missing “critical financial information” and took too much power away from the individual communities.

So in other words, the bill is so poorly written that, according to Carcieri, it’s not even ready for the issue to come to a vote. Massachusetts begins debating a proposal for casino expansion today, and as soon as it was learned that they may go ahead with the expansion, the current Rhode Island bill was written. Proponents of the bill think it is important to get casinos up and running as soon as possible in order to avoid losing business to their neighbors in the Bay State.

Governor Carcieri told the lawmakers that there is no rush and that they should take the time to craft a good bill. “While some would argue the threat of gaming in neighboring states requires immediate action,” he said, “I believe the advantage of already established venues allows us the time to develop better information.”

Among the information that needs to be developed and included in the bill is how the revenue from the casinos will be split. The current bill does not specify how much money will go to the state. Carcieri also said that a statewide vote on the matter would take power away from the residents of Newport and Lincoln, where the casinos in question are located.

The governor’s veto can be overturned by a 2/3 vote by state lawmakers, which is a possibility, but it is more likely that they will have to start over and write a new bill.

The Advertising Standards Authority – the UK’s regulatory agency that polices advertising – is at it again. They have now banned a William Hill email campaign that they say is deceiving. According to the ASA, they banned the ad because it markets a bonus offer that requires customers to wager at least 50 bets to redeem. Such wagering requirements are common for online casinos and betting sites. What makes this slightly different, drawing the ire of the ASA, is that the customers must make those wagers within one month. For frequent customers, though, that shouldn’t be a problem.

As is often the case, the email mentioned the good parts of the deal, such as the amazing bonus offer, without going into too much detail about the rest. Customers could easily learn about the wagering requirements by visiting William Hill’s website, but that isn’t good enough for the ASA, who insists that all of the information should have been in the email.

According to the ASA, the “ad was misleading” because the “minimum number of bets, minimum spend and withdrawal limits and requirements were significant conditions likely to influence customers’ understanding of the offer and should have been stated prominently in the ad” (emphasis added). According to the ASA, the conditions of the offer – what is normally contained in fine print – should be as noticeable as the part that is meant to entice players. That is absurd. William Hill admitted that there was an error and the email should have included the statement “terms and conditions apply.” However, any rational person would assume that terms and conditions apply to any bonus. A wise person would read up on the conditions of any casino bonus before taking part in the deal. It only makes sense.

Last year I came down hard on another site, Betfair, for an ad that was banned by the ASA. Though I still don’t think it was a good ad, I made the mistake of assuming that the ASA had any credibility. They don’t. This is an agency that doesn’t understand marketing, constantly undermines good ad campaigns because they think people are too stupid to understand them and generally feels that they have to protect people from advertisements. People don’t need protection from ads. Unless they outright lie in the ads, they should be allowed. Whatever happened to caveat emptor? Failing that, whatever happened to people being responsible for themselves?

The ASA has had a number of controversial rulings. They banned an iPhone ad that said with it you can access “all of the Internet.” The reason for the ban? The iPhone doesn’t support the Flash plugin. The ASA also banned an Israeli tourism poster because it had a map of Israel that included the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Many believe that the ASA’s decision was influenced by Palestinians. They also banned a radio ad that featured a yelling German boss because it “reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical.” The ASA banned an ad for a 3G phone service because they didn’t make it clear that customers would need broadband connections to use it. American Apparel ads have been deemed too risqué and commercials for digital radio have been banned for allegedly exaggerating their quality.

I can keep listing ridiculous bans, but I think you get the point. The reasons the ASA gives for banning ads are what I call “good advertising.” They seem to be arbitrarily enforced, leading to speculation that there is favoritism going on. In any case, if you want to take advantage of the bonus in the banned William Hill ad, visit their website, but be sure to read the terms and conditions.