A new week at the recently refurbished Millionaire Casino means new online tournaments for the players. This week there are online tournaments in blackjack and video poker in addition to the regular online slots events.

The most popular weekly online tournament at Millionaire Casino is the Slot-tery. This event is played on a different slot game every week. The new tournament begins on Tuesdays. The current Slot-tery event is drawing to a close. Being played on the popular Vegas Technology online slot game, Cleopatra’s Pyramid, it has attracted almost 1000 players for a prize pool of over $10,000. The Slot-tery online tournament starting on Tuesday, October 13 will be played on an equally popular Vegas Technology online slot game. This is X Marks the Spot. The Slot-tery events have pot prize pools and this week’s tournament is also expected to collect over $10,000. This coming from an entry fee of $3 and rebuy amount of $3 is truly remarkable.

The prize pools in the Slot-tery online tournaments run deep. They are shared by the top 200 players. The top winner gets 35% of the prize pool. At an expected prize pool of about $10,000 this works out to about $3,500. This is a great prize for a buy-in of $3, even if enhanced by several rebuys. The second winner gets 20% of the prize pool and the third winner gets 10% of the prize pool. At the lower end, players from the 101st place to the 200th place share 5% of the prize pool.

Registration has opened for the Weekend Blackjack Classic online tournament. This event will be played from Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18 on the Blackjack Vegas Strip variant of online blackjack. Blackjack Vegas Strip rules do not allow the dealer to draw a card on a total of soft 17 and therefore this variant has a low house edge and is popular with players at Millionaire Casino. The Weekend Blackjack Classic online tournament has an entry fee of $10 and a guaranteed prize pool of $5,000. The prize pool will be shared by 110 players, with the top winner getting $1500. The video poker online tournament is known as Deuces Wild Face Off. It will run simultaneously with the online blackjack event. It has a prize pool of $3000 that will be shared by 30 players, with the top winner getting $1000.

Millionaire Casino will also be offering a number of daily online slot tournaments running throughout the week. One set of tournaments will have an entry fee of $2 and a pot prize pool. The other set of tournaments will consist of freerolls and be played for casino credits. Millionaire Casino is a brand of the English Harbour group and is powered by software from Vegas Technology. It has been licensed in the gaming jurisdiction of Antigua and Barbuda.

Anticipating a delay in the processing of Barney Frank’s the internet gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act of 2009, nineteen members of the Congress have called on the authorities to put on hold the implementation of the regulations of the UIGEA. These regulations were passed last year in the dying moments of the Bush administration and go into effect from December 1, 2009.

These Congressmen and women are largely Democrats though they include three Republicans, namely Ron Paul of Texas, Judy Biggert of Illinois and Peter King of New York. They have written to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stating, “We are writing to strongly urge you to extend the date of compliance for the final regulations implementing the Unlawful internet gambling Enforcement Act by one year.”

They have given their reasons for the need to defer the implementation of the UIGEA. In the first instance they point out that the economic crisis is far from over. The UIGEA rules will place an additional burden not only on the financial services industry but also on the regulatory mechanism and neither are in a position to take on this burden at this time. An example has been cited of certain financial services organizations stopping the processing of online payments to state lotteries because it is not clear whether state lotteries are covered under the UIGEA or not.

These legislators also point out that there are several bills in the House and in the Senate that are aimed at repealing the UIGEA. These bills have considerable support. For example Barney Frank’s proposed bill, HR 2267, has already 61 sponsors and the numbers are growing by the week. The only reason that these bills have not been debated is because the economic issues need to be given priority. Therefore it is only fitting that the UIGEA be delayed by a year so that these bills are able to generate the required debate in the Congress. The legislators have also added that the UIGEA regulations are essentially flawed and that they were passed in abnormal hurry by an administration on its way out.

Finally, the passing of the UIGEA has led to the exit of major European online gambling operators from the American market. This not only caused losses that have been estimated at billions of dollars to the American economy but have also put the United States in the dock for violating World Trade Organization norms.

Though the U.S. Treasury confirmed receipt of the letter it has not yet responded to it. Despite widespread condemnation the Department of Justice is going ahead with its seizure of funds related to online gambling. Meanwhile, the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals held that the UIGEA is not bad in law but is not applicable across the United States. It is valid only in those states where online gambling is explicitly illegal.

From October 14 to October 20 InterCasino will be hosting an online slots tournament. At first appearance this is like any other online slot tournament. However, the difference is that it is being played on a custom made slot game called Casinomeister.

All online players know Casinomeister as the watchdog portal that has done yeoman service to the online gambling industry. There are countless players who have been able to recover their due funds from errant casinos only because of Casinomeister. Last year Cryptologic honored this web portal by releasing an online slot game dedicated to it. The symbols on the reels will be instantly recognized by all online players. There are Caricature and Vortran who labor relentlessly against rogue casinos. Rogue is also among the symbols and on occasion he appears behind bars. The symbols also include Casinomeister’s favorite drink, a tankard of beer. The highlight of the slot game is a 10,000 coin payout when five Caricature symbols are lined up in a payline.

This week InterCasino is honoring Casinomeister by holding its Bonus Bonanza Weekly Tournament featuring this custom slot game. The online tournament has an entry fee of $10. Players will be given a tournament chip balance of $500 and 30 minutes of wagering time. At the end of the promotion the top six players on the leader board will share the prize pool of $250. The prize pool will be distributed as follows. The player in the first place will win $100. The player in the second place will win $50. The next four players will receive $25 each. InterCasino has other exciting games lined up for the Bonus Bonanza Weekly Tournaments in the coming weeks. From October 21 to October 27 the designated game is Pontoon. This is a blackjack variant played with eight standard decks. From October 26 to October 31 the featured game is the popular Marvel slot, The Hulk.

October 18 is not far away. This date is important for players at InterCasino because it is payday. If players manage to accumulate 5,000 or more Cashback Points from September 18 to October 17 day can redeem these Points. Therefore players who have already reached the total of 5,000 Points can expect extra wagering money on October 18. However for those players who are just short of the magic number there are only a few days left to catch up. InterCasino has recently released two exciting slot games. These are based on DC Comics superheroes Batman and Wonder Woman. The two games are ideal for those who want to accumulate Cashback Points in a short period of time.

The finance minister for Malta, Tonio Fenech, recently revealed some interesting financial statistics on his nation’s tax benefit as an Internet gambling regulator and host.

Addressing an top online casinos seminar on the Mediterranean island, Fenech said that over a five year period, the island government’s regulator - the Lotteries and Gaming Authority - had processed over 500 applications for remote gaming licenses. The industry employs over 2 500 people on the island and generated Euro 15.6 million in tax revenue last year, a 35 percent increase over the previous year.

“The government considers this as an increase in economic activity that generates a multiplier effect in the economy,” the minister said. “The government has invested thoroughly in this field, nurturing and moulding its growth in the past 15 years. This has been the main driving force for Malta’s success in remote gaming.”