Multi- millionaires and even multi- billionaires have been made by the online gambling industry, and here we do no refer to players who have won big money. Although more than a few online multi-millionaires have been made when playing these games, the real winners are the people who dared to take a gamble, and offer casinos, bingo clubs, poker rooms, and sports-betting websites online.

Social gaming is a category that has long been popular online, but this popularity has recently expanded in to the online gambling arena. Basically this means that gambling-type games are being played on social media websites, and social media gaming designers are delving into the gambling genre. One of the latest of these social gaming developers – Playtika – has joined in the fray.

This Tel Aviv based developer is not to be confused with Playtech, also an Israeli-based online gambling game developer. Playtika aims to allow fans of their games a taste of what it might be like to enjoy gambling online, but at this point only for fun. In other words games will be developed in demo” mode where real money is not exchanged!

They are already creators of some of the most widely played social gaming titles – over five million people play these games daily – from one-hundred and ninety countries. Their online video slot title – Slotomania – is the current jewel I n the crown – introduced in 2010. It became an almost immediate hit, and immediately a big hit with web-based gaming enthusiasts. Its execution was soremarkable that Interactive Entertainment giant Caesar’s snapped it up just one year later. They became a 51% shareholder of the company in 2011, and we all know how big Caesar’s is.

Despite the fact that Caesar’s is a gambling brand, they are also predominantly a US land gambling brand. There are still currently all kinds of regulatory issues regarding the legality of Internet gambling in this country, so, Playtika, and their new major partner do not offer slots where money is involved. These games are considered to be normal online apps where the player accumulates points to earn virtual rewards.

Obviously there has to be some (rather large) money it in the system, or CIE would have never become involve. So, players effectively enhance their “freemium” gaming experience, by purchasing upgrades, but no player expects to win money. Playtika has essentially become Caesar’s Interactive Entertainments’ lynchpin in the social gaming industry. They even have taken the title of “largest in the world”, away from Zynga.

While we normally concentrate on gambling news from the UK, one of the furthest of the old British Colonial outposts happens to be New Zealand, so, we thought we might share this little snippet with you. The "Green Party" has proposed some rather strange measures to combat what they perceive as problem gambling. The Greens want mandatory gambling limits to be proposed for electronic gaming machines, which we would have to assume, would also include gambling online?

John Key – the Prime Minister understandably responded to this proposal as being completely unrealistic. He also said it is a ‘nice’ idea, but people are people, and it might work in a casino, but games can go to one of thousands of online casinos and gamble away as much as they like from the comfort of their own home.

At least Key, like the Government of the UK, can see that it is impossible to restrict online gambling, because players find ways to get what they want. The best thing to do is regulate this industry, thereafter taxes earned may be used to help problem gamblers who want help. Gambling is not the problem, people are the problem.

The report from Radio New Zealand is actually nothing short of being quite mad. They want the "introduction of pre-commitment cards", and player tracking. Why don’t they just have people micro-chipped, and programmed – its farcical, crazy? These so-called pre-commitment cards would require gamers to insert their spending limit, as well as a time limit, and stick to these. Graeme Ramsay of the NX Problem Gambling Foundation seems to agree. He insists this would be a harm-minimisation measure, rather than recourse for treatment.

Mr Key says it might be a nice idea, but people would find other ways to bet where there are no such limits, like online gambling. While online casinos, bingo room, poker sites, and sports betting facilities have tools for self-exclusion, and or setting time and bankroll limits. The onus is upon the player to activate these. A gambler with a problem, never admits that they are the problem, and will continue to gamble, and blame the gambling facility. It is only when they realise “they” are the problem that help is sought out and given.

Supporters of this proposal, need to take a look at all the other addictions which plague the human and their conditions. Are they going to regulate the amount of beer or booze that can be purchased in a supermarket or bottle store – we doubt it!

All Slots Casino is one of the favourite online gambling brands for many UK, and European-facing fans of these real-money games. This b rand has also recently announced a sponsorship deal with the BETFUZE Mobile Platform, which makes them an exclusive partner with one of the most innovative software platform for mobile gambling. The new platform is expected to have launched by late Spring 2013.

Mobile gambling for real money, to win real money prizes, has become one of the trendiest ways to play these games online today. BETFUZE is actually a sports betting specialist developer, but the new mobile platform will facilitate the playing of online casino games, sports betting, and multi-player poker on the go.

As well as being sponsored by All Slots Casino, the new mobile platform will also be sponsored by some of the biggest names in the British biz. At this point in time the names being dropped are Coral, William Hill and Ladbrokes. But currently the deal between BETFUZE and All Slots is still exclusive.

David Brickman who is the VP of All Slots Casino, had to Say about the new deal – that they are proud to be partnered with a product that they know is one of the most innovative platforms they have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Not only for this brand, but mobile is going to continue to be one the strongest growth channels seen in the online gambling genre for years. It makes good sense to have a great mobile gaming platform.

They believe the product is cutting-edge, and will help redefine how players relate and interact with their on the-go gaming experience. Obviously the product will also fans of the site take their gaming with them wherever they go; to be played whenever the mood happens to take them.

The mobile platform concept was built together by both partners, and is destined to raise the bar in terms of technological advancement, as well as quality of design. Paul McNea who is CEO as well as co-founder of BETFUZE says that their sponsorship partners have assisted them to develop the most sophisticated platform if its type available world-wide today.

The technology however, is only one side of the story, what they are truly looking for is high levels of client engagement. Working with some of the leading UK and European gambling concerns has meant that they can ensure seamless integration across a wide range of systems. The BETFUZE system has evolved into a fusion of facts, sentiment, contextual detail, and a wide range of diverse data to offer the player a techno rich, friendly user experience. Personally speaking, we can’t wait to give it a whirl.

The online gambling industry is still moving in the right direction, and this direction is up. In other words the industry is still generating a great deal of turnover, as well as showing positive growth. It is considered to be a mainstream industry, and has become vital to the financial welfare of quite a few small, as well as politically independent nations that are close to the UK.

These are the offshore sites where servers for online gambling sites are licensed and kept, which has had the knock on effect of investments in infrastructures which maintain sizeable internet operations. These are regulating and licensing jurisdictions which have opened their doors to the industry in return for lower taxes. The result of this is that most online operations – even the big guys like William Hill, have taken these ops out of the UK and re-located them to places such as Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malts, Alderney, and more recently Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Small, politically independent states such as these have come to depend to a great extent on the taxes the industry generates, as well as the employment, and growth opportunities it creates. While the online gambling industry does have its ups and downs, it also has an astonishing ability to roll with the punches. Many of the well-established online gambling concerns have had to reinvent themselves. And have done so in their efforts to survive, but what about British land Bingo, it seems to be taking a turn for the worse?!

There have been some serious changed in the gambling industry when it comes down to British tax law. And the one industry that appears to be worst affected is that of bingo. New taxes have been imposed on certain activities run by these business, which sees a recent hike to 20% on slot games in bingo halls. This poses a serious threat to the industry as a whole, but is an even bigger problem for smaller concerns.

Things started to go pear-shaped for this industry around 2005, and since then 150 of these clubs have closed down.

There is a real concern that this game may go completely extinct, which is rather sad rally considering it has become a big part of British culture. We have the Chancellor of the Exchequer to thank for the demise of this Great British game, as things stand now George Osborne could be the one to go down in history for killing the game. Bingo employs 13 000 people, but this also seems to mean nothing to him.

Despite the fact that Zynga is essentially a US company, the US online gambling industry has hardly even reached the infancy stage. It is not legal at a Federal level, and only two states have so far made online poker legal, with a vague possibility that casino and other gambling activities, may become legal sometime in the future. Zynga however, had to change or fade into obscurity, so, the obvious choice was to change. They threw their lot in with online gambling giants bwin.party in October 2012, and have now opened UK-facing real money online gaming sites.

The launch was scheduled for yesterday (at the time of writing), and we have taken a look at the screens-shots, things are looking good.

These brand new sites are the first evidence of the bwin.party/Zynga partnerships, comprising of both a poker and an online casino website. These are both real money gaming platforms, aimed at players in the UK, aged over 18years. The casino features a full suite of approximately 180 games including classic table games such as blackjack, roulette, and slots, amongst many more.

At one time the Zynga brand was the leading provider of social gaming services in the world. But with this new and exclusive partnership, it brings together social gaming expertise, with the owners of blue-chip assets. We are expecting this aggressive move into the real gambling space to be a product of very high quality, and apparently so too do shareholders – stock prices for the company have increased by 50% after a shocking drop during 2012.

The company posted massive losses, and a now a new executive pay scheme basically doubles the salaries of various key executives Marc Pincus himself is on a salary of $1 per annum. He has obviously made more money than he will ever need already, and this is a fabulous gesture to prevent a brain drain. Top brass will have the potential to maximize performance bonuses, while he offers his services for just about free of charge.

According to news reports, the poor performance of the firm led to losses of game designer Brian Reynolds, Dan Porter, CEO of Draw Something (OMGPOP), and CFO Dave Wehner. The new salary scheme, plus Pincus’ sacrifice should have the desired effect, while the new real money gambling websites have resulted in a show of confidence in Zynga products. It also helps that they have partnered with bwin.party – the biggest Stock Exchange listed online gambling concern in the world. It looks like this year is getting off to a much better start.