Japanese have experienced gambling addiction

According to a government-commissioned report, around 3.2 million Japanese people have suffered from some form of gambling addiction at some point in their life.

The findings, which were published last Friday amid renewed concern about pathological gambling in the country since a law to legalise casinos took effect last year, showed that over of 3.6% of all interviewed people have responded that they have felt addicted to gambling at some point in their life. This figure, applied to Japan’s total population, suggests that 3.2 million people have experienced problem betting.

Additionally, the same study has found that 0.8% of Japan’s total population have been affected by problem gambling only in the last year.

The survey of 10,000 adults which received 4,685 valid responses has confirmed that Pachinko remains the most popular game, accounting for the most money spent on gambling. On average, players have been found to spent JPY58,000 ($515) per month.

Susumu Higuchi, Director of the National Hospital Organisation Kurihama Medical and Addiction Centeer- body that oversaw the survey- urged for aid “not only the government but medical practitioners need to work toward better treatment”.

He added that data for Japan could not be strictly compared with those from other countries due to differences in methodology; however, the report noted that the figures for suspected gambling addicts in 11 other countries and regions — including the United States, South Korea and Hong Kong — were lower, in the range of 0.2% to 2.4%.

Currently, gambling is legally restricted to pachinko and race betting (horse, powerboat, bicycle and motorcycle). Although last year the country passed a bill for the legalisation of integrated casinos resorts in the hope of boosting tourism and the local economy, however, there is still a long road ahead before the specifics of Japan’s casino regime are set in stone.

Las Vegas Tragedy

A horrific mass shooting on the Las Vegas strip has left many dead and hundreds wounded, as a result large parts of the Las Vegas Strip have been put into lockdown. The strip is currently sealed off to the public as emergency services continue to deal with the situation.

Reports are currently claiming that Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on festival goers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort. As of now 50 people have been declared dead and more than 200 are injured. This is the largest mass shooting in recent US history. The gunman later shot himself. A 62 year-old woman who was his roommate in a retirement home has also been arrested.

As per usual the strip was extremely busy on Sunday evening. To make matters worse the shooter opened fire on people who were gathered opposite the Mandalay for a Country Music festival on the South End of the strip. Over 40,000 people attended the Route 91 event that the shooter began firing on.

The Mandalay Bay which is owned by the MGM Resorts Group tweeted the following: ‘This evening there was a tragic active shooter situation at the South End of the Las Vegas Strip. Law enforcement and emergency personnel responded quickly to the incident and secured the scene. Law enforcement requested that we put hotels in the vicinity on lockdown to ensure guest safety. We will provide more information as it becomes available’.

Jim Murren, MGM's chairman and CEO, in a statement said: "Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of last night's shooting, their families, and those still fighting for their lives. We are working with law enforcement and will continue to do all we can to help all of those involved."

The New Version of Bloodsuckers Online Game by Betsoft

The theme of the mysterious and immortal vampires is the favorite among the casino software developers especially when it comes to online slots. 

This time famous Betsoft Gaming company has released brand new Blood Eternal slot online, dedicated to the fabulous vampires. 

Moreover, choose Betsoft free slots in order to know more about their 3D graphics and fabulous design. So, Blood Eternal provides 30 fixed paylines and dark but effective 3D graphics, many interesting combinations and Bonuses.

Symbolics

The traditional attributes of the vampire legends are crosses, saint water, bottles with the blood, chimeras, mystical castles – the houses for the bloodsuckers and the playing cards- are the basic symbols that take part in the creation of the winning combinations. The set of the special symbols includes:

· The vampires, placed at 2 and 5 reels will work with the people on 3 and 4 reels. The match of the vampire and the human will activate Free Spins. Here the gaming symbols get the additional characteristics

· The bat is represented in 2 variants – single and double. The amount of the mice counts by the piece in the match combination. Maximally you can collect six double mice and get the x10 multiplier

· Wild symbol is going to replace other symbols in the winning chains and receives the payouts

The appearance of vampire and human on the nearby reels will present 8 Free Games. If two couples match, then player will get up to 16 Free Games.

The pictures of vampires and people will stay at the reels till the end of the round and get the features of Wild symbol. Moreover, vampires and people randomly can add to the gaming field 4 Wild symbols.

Blood Eternal from Betsoft is the extraordinary game with the unique amount of the reels, original Bonus functions, top-quality graphics in the gothic style.

Georgia & Online Gambling

The Republic of Georgia has announced its plans to ban online gambling as part of its new regulatory framework.

According to local news outlets, special commissions have been appointed to work on this issue at parliament. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance will shortly introduce new bills which would totally prohibit any form of online gaming.

However, these restrictive measures do not please every politician in the ruling party. Speaking to the local media, Deputy Finance Minister of Georgia Lasha Khutsishvili assured these ban wouldn’t be beneficial as international cases show that banning online modalities is not always effective.

“We analyse the world experience to understand how effective those are or other measures taken with respect to online gaming. The international practice shows that at present there are no effective mechanisms to actually prohibit online games. Millions are spent from the state budget on such measures, but in vain.

“The Finance Ministry is also considering this issue from the point of view of fiscal policy, full control over the Internet is associated with very high costs,” he concluded.

Australia Bans Online Poker

Online poker gaming is now illegal in Australia, following implementation of the Australian government's Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill on Wednesday. 

However, officials from the Australian government have confirmed that they are mulling over potentially decriminalising the online poker market and implementing a full licensing framework.

On Tuesday, Australia’s chief online poker advocate, Senator David Leyonhjelm announced that he “has received a letter from Communications Minister Mitch Fifield advising that he has instructed his Department to undertake some preliminary work examining the feasibility of Australian onshore providers obtaining licences to operate online poker.”

The primary aim of the Interactive Gambling Amendment act was to stop unlicensed sports betting operators from targeting Australian customers, while instituting the requirement that any company taking Australian bets had to have an Australian licence.

This had the unfortunate consequence of effectively banning online poker, and despite the best efforts of Leyonhjelm and the Australian Online Poker Association efforts to exclude online poker from the forthcoming legislation fell on deaf ears.

Many online poker operators, such as PokerStars and 888 were forced to withdraw their services from Australian players as a result.

Despite this week’s setback, Senator Leyonhjelm remains committed to the establishment of a new Australian regulatory body, similar in its make up to the UK’s Gambling Commission, saying: “Australian online poker players deserve to have a safe, regulated environment in which to enjoy their pastime and not be forced into using offshore sites, I will make sure this matter maintains momentum.”

German Online Gambling Needs Special Attention

Efforts to legalise online gambling in Germany could fail if its 16 individual states do not implement the proposed Interstate Treaty on gambling soon, Saxony-Anhalt Finance Minister André Schröder has warned.

German legislators first introduced the treaty in 2012, in order to create a safe gambling environment for the country's gamblers. The treaty allows licensed online sports betting services, capping the potential number of available licences at 20. This provision was later contested by the European Union’s Court of Justice on the grounds that the cap on licences prevented the free movement of services between EU member states.

The first licences were issued to operators in 2014, however a number of applicants including big-name operators such as bet365, Betclic Everest and Tipico were unsuccessful in their applications, prompting the launch of a legal challenge against the new legislation. This challenge was upheld by the courts, plunging operators and the German states into limbo once more.

A subsequent regulatory amendment in March 2017 increased this licence cap to 40, with 35 international betting operators expressing an interest in entering the German market.

In an interview with the Presseportal website, Schröder said: "The Prime Ministers of all the federal states have agreed on changes to the gaming contract, which was a month-long struggle and a process of weighing up the debts, mainly to address the problems of enforcement that we have with the current regulations - online casinos and sports betting - and to ensure consumer protection.

“Saxony-Anhalt is in favour of this gaming agreement with its amendments. It is now important to ensure ratification.”

In order for the Interstate Treaty to be passed, all 16 individual states must approve and adopt the legislation by January 1st 2018, but Schröder is now calling on other states to move quickly and ratify the legislation to avoid the treaty becoming defunct.

Schröder added: “If the ratification fails in individual countries, then these regulations cannot be applied nationwide as of January 1, 2018. This is unfortunate, because then the current regulations simply would continue.

“Then the execution problems would continue. That is why we are very much campaigning for the counties to ratify. If this is not the case, we need to consider how we can deal with the continuity of current regulations and what we can do to protect consumers."

Torsten Meinberg, leader of the German Lotto and Totoblock (DLTB) echoed Minister Schröder’s comments saying: "If the treaty is not ratified, sports betting will remain gray and illegal gambling cannot be effectively controlled. Foreign gambling providers without a German licence are massively attacking the public-oriented gambling game and ignoring consumer protection. Speedy action is required."

Meet Alex: computer hacker who has decrypted the algorithm of the slot machines

Russian mathematic, programmer and the graduate of Academy of the Federal Security Service has decrypted the algorithm according to which all slot games work.

In the interview for the American Wired hacker under a pseudonym “Alex” has told that after slot machines decryption he earns about $250 000 per week. He could understand the principles, known as random number source or PRNG (Pseudorandom number generator) that determine the model of the game’s playback at slot games.

His three agents travel around the world, visiting casinos: from the Poland to Macau, then to Peru, looking for the slot machines. So called employees write down the work of the slots and send the videos to their master in order to determine the winning chances. Interestingly, that these agents do not possess special skills. Moreover, they were not informed about the work of the mechanism. The hero himself noticed that he values the carefulness at his employees.

Alex is looking for the people who understand the importance of the secrecy in the actions and behavior. In the case of the arrest, organization guarantees legal assistance.

Russian guy claimed eight-figured sum of the fee from the Aristocrat casino software provider for the PRNG hacking. Also he said that in the case of the refusal he will place the company’s algorithms over the Internet. Of course, company claimed that the system of PRNG for best Aristocrat slot games is safe and fair and refused to deal with Alex. The hacker said that sometimes he dreams to place the algorithm but after the outgoing from the most profitable business. Also he thinks that such actions will lead to zombie apocalypse and the extinction of the slot machines in casinos.