With Day 1B numbers in, Pokerstars has reported a large entry field for the $10 000 buy-in 2010 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure online poker tournament now playing out in the Bahamas in microgaming casinos.

In 2009 the event attracted 1 347 players and delivered a main prize of $3 million, making it one of the biggest poker tournaments outside the USA. This year the field is up to 1 529 - many of them top names in the game - although the first prize is smaller at $2.2 million as a result of an amended payout structure that gives more cash to more contestants.

224 players will cash this year, compared to 199 last time around, and the first payout level of $2 500 above the buy-in awarded last year has been boosted to $5 000.

“More players are getting paid and the players are getting paid better,” said PokerStars event host Neil Johnson. “It’s a much more significant return on your investment and it’s better for the poker economy as a whole.”

Johnson added that the bottom line is that 15 percent of the field is now getting paid rather than 10 percent.

Online gambling group Leisure and Gaming plc has announced that its non-executive chairman, Philip Parker, has resigned as he advised he would do earlier this year and has now left the online roulette strategy company.

Until a new non-executive chairman is named, non executive director Colin Eastaugh will take over Parker’s duties, the company said.

32Red Online Casino has announced that Australian players can now play in their home currency of Australian Dollars, further opening up the Australian market to 32Red’s award-winning online casino service.

All players can now opt to play in Australian Dollars and enjoy the Best Casino award-winner’s many online gambling banking methods, including NETeller, Moneybookers and credit and debit card systems. As an official Barclays Merchant, Australian Dollar players can also be assured of quick and secure deposits and withdrawals at 32Red.

The Gibraltar-based online casino has a large international and Australian player base, despite being largely UK facing. Head of marketing for 32Red, Mark Quayle, said “With over 250 online pokies in our casino, as well as hundreds of other casino game classics, the addition of Australian Dollars was a natural development to our global growth” Adding, “Our Australian players are attracted to our reputation for delivering top casino games and bonuses in a trusted playing environment. I’m sure the addition of their local currency will be welcomed”

This news comes off the back of 32Red’s nomination for eGaming Review’s Casino Operator of the Year award for 2009, marking a good year all round for the casino having retained the Best Casino title in February, enjoyed unprecedented recruitment figures and a successful television advertising campaign.

32Red Plc CEO, Ed Ware, commented, “The introduction of Australian Dollars to our online casino shows 32Red’s commitment to all our players and is a measure of how we listen to their needs” Ware added that player currency is an important factor in the company’s obligation to promote responsible gaming, “Allowing players to play in their home currency lends them an increased awareness of spend and budget, which is in line with our commitment to ensure players enjoy our casino responsibly”

Online poker site has unveiled details of a new tournament schedule designed to appeal to every kind of player with more gambling tournaments and bigger prize pools up for grabs.

The overhaul to the casinos tournament schedule will see new events and increased guarantees, with an innovative set-up that means players of varying bankrolls will have the chance to play tournaments that suit them in regular intervals.

The coveted $100,000 PKR Masters and new $30,000 GTD High Rollers event will now alternate each week giving players a shot at over $260,000 each month. Popular Primetime events have more variety and larger guarantees, while the $100 buy-in daily Grand Prix makes its return to the tournament roster. Small stake players will also find many new satellites in the lobby offering them chances to win into big buy-in events like Sunday’s Primetime $30,000 GTD and High Rollers events for less than $5.

On top of this, the Omaha and PLO8 game selections have been vastly improved with more scheduled tournaments, larger buy-ins, and more guarantees, while Australian and Canadian players will see the scheduling of more events during their peak hours with bigger guaranteed prize pools.

$100,000 GTD PKR Masters - Now twice monthly
The flagship event on PKR now runs every other week on Saturday nights. Buy-in direct for $250, or play the wide range of satellites, starting at just $1.81.

$30,000 GTD High Roller
The new High Roller event will take place on alternating Saturdays from the PKR Masters. It’s $500 to buy in direct with a selection of daily satellites.

$5,000 GTD Deep Stack Grand Prix
The deep stack 6 seater Grand Prix returns to a 20:45 GMT daily timeslot. Direct buy-in costs $100 with the opportunity to satellite in via events scheduled earlier in the day.

$6,000 GTD Aussie Classic & $3,000 Aussie Open
The Aussie Classic sees its guarantee increased by $2,000 with the tournament remaining in its usual 08:55 GMT Sunday timeslot. There is also a new $3,000 Aussie Open which runs at the same time as the Classic but is scheduled from Monday-Saturday. Buy-ins are set at $40 for the Classic and $30 for the Open and Australian players will also find a range of more frequent tournaments running through their peak hours.

$3,000 GTD Canadian Open
Another new event, the Canadian Open will take place daily at 02:30 GMT with a $30 buy-in. Canadian players will also find a range of other new regular tournaments at times to suit.

$5,000 GTD Gold Rush
A $2 rebuy that takes place at 20:50 GMT every day of the week. The generous prize pool means a small buy-in gives players the chance for huge return on investment.

$30,000 PKR Primetime #7
There’s now a new and improved PKR Primetime at 19:25 GMT with a $30,000 prize pool – and a wide range of satellites starting at just $2.94. Direct buy-in is $200.

Boyd Gaming Corp. said this morning it doesn’t expect to restart online gambling construction of the $4.8 billion Echelon project for at least three to five years.

The online gambling suspended construction of the Strip development on the casino site of the former Stardust more than a year ago.

“We continue to believe in the long-term viability of the Las Vegas market,” Boyd Gaming Chief Executive Officer Keith Smith said. “But given the ongoing weak economic conditions, the significant new supply coming online and a difficult capital-market environment for projects of this nature, resuming construction in the near term is not an option.”

The recession reduced Boyd Gaming’s third quarter profits. The casino operator said its net income fell about 27 percent in period that ended Sept. 30.

Boyd Gaming said its net income was $6.3 million in quarter, or 7 cents per share, compared with $8.7 million, or 10 cents a share for the same period a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated, on average, the company would report earnings per share of 12 cents.

Boyd said revenue fell 6.6 percent in the quarter to $398.2 million. The company blamed the slump on reduced consumer spending, especially in Las Vegas.

“Improved results in our Downtown Las Vegas, Borgata and Midwest and South regions helped offset softness in the Las Vegas Locals market,” Smith said in a statement. “While visitation levels remained fairly constant, spend per visitor continues to be down significantly year-over-year, as consumers are still being cautious with their spending.”

A candidate for the late Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat said he opposed casino gambling and challenged his opponents to take a stand on the issue, the Boston Herald reported on Tuesday.

Alan Khazei, a founder of City Year and a rookie politician, urged internet gambling business leaders to oppose the issue, saying that online casinos prey poor people and addicts.

“I am fundamentally opposed to this,” said Khazei. “The other candidates should take a stand. Are you for it or against it. And if so, why?”

Online bingo and internet gambling software provider Virtue Fusion Alderney has been selected to power a new gambling site branded Tea And Bingo.

The online casino site is produced by the UK’s leading super-affiliate, Digital Prophets, which also operates Bingo Base. The brand and the bingo community will be the focus of a forthcoming TV advertising campaign to promote the venture, set to launch on December 26.

Bingo Base.com will remain independent as the site will continue to promote other quality UK sites alongside any Tea And Bingo offers.

Digital Prophets Guernsey Limited md Raj Ramanandi said, “The Virtue Fusion Alderney solution brings us stable, award winning and innovative software allowing us to concentrate on investing in a superb community and innovating with our brand to win market share and expand the audience. TeaAndBingo is very unique and our ad campaign will certainly attract plenty of interest.

“We will have a sustained TV presence throughout 2010. The ads were the brainchild of an agency responsible for some award winning adverts for McDonald’s, Walkers Crisps, Sony, VW Polo, Philips, Nikon, Barclaycard and Esso.”

Virtue Fusion Alderney CEO Bob McCulloch said: “We are delighted that Digital Prophets has chosen Virtue Fusion Alderney ahead of the competition. The fact that a super-affiliate has chosen us is testament to the revenue generating capability of our product”.

“Digital Prophets’ proven ability to drive traffic, combined with their slick TV advertising campaign, makes for a powerful combination. We look forward to building a long and successful relationship with them.”

Last week’s news that the Tasmanian government had taken Tote Tasmania off the selling block and intended to restructure it for international operations has been followed by reports that Swedish mobile gambling company Mobenga has inked a deal with the internet casino company.

Internet gambling France and Overwatch Tasmania report that the deal was recommended by Agility Interactive, a consultant to Tote Tasmania.

Last week the state Treasurer, Michael Aird told a Government Business Enterprise hearing that Tote is a well organised and profitable business with strong cash flow generation, and will continue to provide solid returns for the government.

Aird’s comments heralded a new plan for the organisation, on which the government has taken off the ‘for sale’ sign on grounds that the bids did not satisfy the government valuation of the asset.

“Tote Tasmania has identified the need to find new markets, increasingly offshore, and alternative forms of revenue, based around its core activity, betting,” Aird said, adding that the organisation would continue to look to Asia and Europe to attract new customers, and has established relationships with a number of international operators to bring new product to its customers from Europe, Asia and North America.

“I expect Tote to announce some exciting initiatives in the New Year which will clearly demonstrate the internationalisation of the company,” remarked. Among these will be a new international brand, along with an expanded business operation through acquisition and strategic alliances.”

Aird promised more action on the strategy next year, and it appears that e-gambling and mobile operations form part of the fresh start for Tote, with particular emphasis on mobile horseracing and sports betting. Early reports suggest that the mobile service will feature downloadable versions for Java applications, mobile Internet and iPhone. The Mobenga package usually includes real time information content and speed betting.

NeoGames is in the casinos news again this week with another scratchcard deal, this one with the Isle of Man investment company Sweet Hope Ltd, which has ordered a white label on the branding Big Money Scratch, specifically targeting the Netherlands online gambling.

The partnership with Sweet Hope Ltd will not only result in the growth of online scratch cards in the Dutch market, but also provide the players a localised alternative internet gambling offering with a fun and creative concept, a Neogames spokesman said this week.

NeoGames have custom-made over 50 scratch games, all olf which have been localised and translated to meet the demands of the Dutch audience across the globe.

Michael Labrecque, CFO of NeoGames, said: “Together with Sweet Hope Ltd we are proud to have created a localised online scratch card brand which is taking NeoGames into its 17th local market. With Sweet Hope Ltd’s industry expertise, we see huge potential for the brand to grow in the future into other local markets”.

“Sweet Hope Ltd have now agreed a partnership with NeoGames,” said Ann Skinner, CEO of Sweet Hope Ltd. She revealed that Sweet Hope Ltd is a newly formed company in the gaming market sector and will be looking to add some new brand and content dynamics as a white label partner under the name BigMoneyScratch.com.

“We wanted to have a dedicated Scratch Card proposition for the consumer, something that is exciting, with easy to play games, that enhances the consumer experience and helps to retain consumer loyalty. We hope to turn BigMoneyScratch.com into a recognisable national brand and are focusing our launch in the Dutch market as part of our Strategic business plan,” Skinner said.

Online casino describes the discovery of America thus: “Early in the morning on October 12th, 1492, a sailor looked out to the horizon from the bow of his sailing ship, the Pinta, and saw land. After 10 long weeks at sea, from the port of Palos, Spain, Columbus and his crews saw the New World.” The casino wishes all its players a happy Columbus Day and offers two special bonuses on the occasion.

Both bonuses can be availed by players from October 12 to October 15. The first of these bonuses is specially designed for players who want to wager it on the casinos slots, scratch cards and Keno games on offer at Ruby Royal online casino. Players who make a deposit during the promotion period will get a bonus that is equal to 100% of the deposit subject to an upper limit of $250. I-slots are the specialty at Ruby Royal online casino. The casino has recently added two new I-slots called Fixer Upper and Spy Game. Both have some excellent animations and interactive bonus games. There are three scratch cards on offer - Gunslingers Gold, Penguin Payday and Tiki Treasure.

The second bonus is meant for players who want to wager it on blackjack and video poker. Since these games have very high average payout ratio the bonus is not as attractive as the earlier one. It offers 25% of the deposit subject to an upper limit of $50. Ruby Royal online casino offers both the single hand and the multi-hand formats of blackjack. There are more than half a dozen of the most popular video poker variants available.

The special bonuses are not the only attractions at Ruby Royal online casino this week. In the Weekly Slots Challenge the casino has chosen the popular video slot Pigskin Payout, which is based on the theme of American football. It is an appropriate choice for Columbus Day because American football truly represents the spirit of America. Five of the symbols on the reels from the slot game have been designated in a particular order. Players who wager on Pigskin Payout and hit the exact specified combination stand to win 10 times their total bet subject to a maximum of $100.

The Trivia Competition is also running at Ruby Royal online casino. One of the symbols on the reels from a popular slot game has been partly revealed and the players have to guess the name of the slot game from which the symbol has been taken. If they guess right they stand to win a free prize of $20. There are two notes of caution. Players can take only one guess per month, therefore they should be totally sure that they have the right answer before sending the entry. Players have to make a deposit at the casino cashier in the week in which they are sending the entry.

Ruby Royal online casino is powered by Rival Gaming and licensed in the gaming jurisdiction of Curacao. The online casino accepts players from the United States, who can participate in the above offers and celebrate Columbus Day in grand style.