Casino gambling has spread from just two states, Nevada and New Jersey, to more than 600 casinos in 33 states in the past 12 years, says Steve Bourie, author of the American Casino Guide.

Since 1988 two more states went on to legalize land-based casinos, while six others approved riverboat casinos. Sixteen states now have Indian casinos and seven other states offer some form of casino gambling.

"Casino gambling is now within a four-hour drive of virtually every major U.S. city," said Bourie who maintains a free web site at http://www.americancasinoguide.com with an extensive database of detailed information on all U.S. casinos.

"The most successful of all of U.S. casinos is Foxwoods in Connecticut. It's also the world's largest casino and generates about $2 million a day in profits on its slot machines."

The age-old question of whether to tip or bet for the dealer is always asked of me. My response is, it is up to the individual. You must remember that each and every time you do this, it becomes a percentage of your win or loss result. Let us assume that you are "flat betting" (not varying your bet) and your unit increment is $5. Let us also assume that you are playing multiple deck blackjack. The table will usually have 3 or 4 players due to the low minimum table limit. Therefore you will get approximately 60 hands per hour. If you were to only bet/tip $1 per hand you would be "giving away" $60 per hour. This amounts to 20% of your bankroll. $1 is 20% of $5. Therefore you should limit the amount of bets/tips you make.

I recommend not "tipping" the dealers. Instead "make bets" for them...

Click for the rest of The Silver Fox's article

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino has an impressive schedule of events lined up for sports and music lovers alike. Rockers Styx and REO Speedwagon take the stage May 5 with tickets ranging from $15 to $45. On April 15, Fernando Vargas and Ike Quartey meet in the ring for the IBF Middleweight Championship. Also coming up: The Three Tenors on April 22, An Evening with Luis Miguel on April 29, and Ricky Martin on July 22.

Details at http://www.mandalaybay.com

Blackjack -- or vingt-et-un as they say in France -- is far and away the most popular casino game on the World Wide Web. So let's look at some of the Net's hottest blackjack sites starting with free resources that will help make you a better player and ending up at the table for big time, real money wagers.

Got a blackjack question that's crying for an answer? Then point your Web browser to BJ21, the home site of blackjack author and strategist Stanford Wong. There's nothing fancy about Stanford's Web site but what makes it special is that it's the online meeting place for blackjack players all around the globe...

Click for the rest of Chuck's blackjack picks

If you enjoy the fast-living, high-fashion style of the Roaring Twenties, then you'll love InterContinental Casino. Come aboard and enjoy the luxury of multi-player games and seductive music. And why not invite your friends to join you as you sail the oceans in your own High Society. Style, glamour and impeccable quality set InterContinental Casino in a class of its own.

Click here to visit InterContinental Casino

YouBet.com is to horse racing what Amazon.com is to books. Both have not been in business that long, and both are losing money. YouBet.com is a convenience for horseplayers who cannot always go to the racetrack when they want and YouBet.com makes it possible to place a bet on-line without ever having to leave your computer. You deposit the cash you want to bet with an outfit in Pennsylvania called Ladbroke, and then go to the YouBet.com web-site to bet it.

Part of the losing money process includes putting up cash for prizes. These prizes are distributed to winners of handicapping contests, and while I will not go into all the details, YouBet.com designates certain tracks on the weekend as 'contest tracks', and a tabulation is kept for your account if you bet these tracks, because as a member, you are automatically entered into the handicapping contest. You can chose not to bet these tracks, and that is OK too. You must bet at least $250.00 over the course of the contest. Prizes go to those who won the most money and separate prizes to those who have the highest return on investment...

Click to read the rest of P.D.'s column

On a recent visit to London I noticed William Hill betting shops on every street corner. On my return to Vancouver, I noticed that William Hill has started making a lot of noise on the Net, too. So I decided to track down Casino Manager Phil Fraser for the inside scoop...

CHUCK - In the world of Internet gambling it's sometimes difficult to tell if a casino is reputable or not. Obviously the William Hill name goes a long way to establishing consumer confidence. Can you tell us a little about William Hill and its history?

PHIL - The company was founded in England in 1934 and has over 65 years' experience of offering betting services -- through licensed betting offices, via the phone and, more recently, via the internet. Currently we operate over 1,500 licensed betting offices in the UK and employ 10,000 people. In addition, we have over 300,000 telephone clients worldwide, making us the world's largest telephone betting organization. The sportsbook site opened for business in 1998 for the World Cup and is now one of the world's leading online sportsbooks...

Click to read the rest of the interview

The final four pairings are set for Indianapolis at the RCA Dome on Saturday. This year's final four includes two number 8 seeds (Wisconsin and North Carolina), a number 5 (Florida) and a number 1 in Final Four repeater from a year ago Michigan State. Not since 1980 have we seen this many high seeds advance to the Final Four. In 1980 a 2,5,6 and 8 seed advanced to the Final Four and Louisville won the national title. This year's tournament has been full of upsets and surprises from the second round on.

In the west, number 8 Wisconsin playing their old fashioned style under hard nosed Coach Bennett have made believers out of Arizona, Lsu and Purdue to advance to the Final Four. Bennett's team plays outstanding defense and deny the passing lanes as well as any college team in the country. His kids have bought into his system and are well prepared and highly disciplined. Wisconsin seems to use 34 seconds on every offensive possession and does a great job of forcing the opposition into a tempo they would prefer not to play. Their style is not aesthetically pleasing but has proven to be very effective. Junior point guard Mike Kelly is one of the best perimeter defenders in the country and typifies the Badger's mentality with his tough, competitive style of play...

Click to read the rest of Tim's column

From the tranquil shores of Antigua, the world's largest online casino has taken the Las Vegas strip by storm with a new major marketing initiative that's sure to ruffle the feathers of some Nevada casino owners.

A fleet of brightly painted buses, sporting Omni Casino's logos, took to the streets of Las Vegas today. The buses will promote the online casino to millions of Las Vegas visitors, running the most popular bus routes in Las Vegas with the slogan "Omni Casino-Online For Real: Win a Jackpot from Home."

The campaign takes a stab at the big boys of Las Vegas, who have long-dominated the casino industry, by promoting a virtual casino on their turf.

100,000 free copies of Omni's online casino will also be distributed each week to riders on the buses, ensuring that visitors to Las Vegas will have access to casino games such as BlackJack, Poker, Craps and Slots long after they leave Las Vegas.

• Las Vegas - Stay at the Hard Rock next weekend for $89!
• Las Vegas - Exclusive Packages at the MGM from $75 per night!
• Las Vegas - The Rio Suites now from $109 per night!
• Las Vegas - The Luxor is now only $99 per night!
• Las Vegas - The Las Vegas Hilton is only $39 per night!

"Never gamble while under the influence; you booze, you lose."

-- Max Drayman, from The 10 Commandments of Online Gambling

The Gamblers Edge - Online guide to all gaming topics!
GoTo Casino & Sportsbook - All your favorite casino games and a big progressive jackpot.
WINNERonline's Guide to Online Gambling - Number one source for online casino information. Free games, expert strategy tips and much more.

Since our first issue in February we've received a lot of feedback from you, our friendly readers. Keep those e-mails coming! Tell us what you like, what you don't like and anything that's on your mind. Your comments help us provide you with the best darn Gambling Newsletter possible. Contact me, Steve Johnson, at .

See you next week!

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