You’ve all seen the James Bond movies. I mean who hasn’t. The suave and seductive undercover agent is known for his love for war, women, ‘shaken, not stirred’ martinis and of course baccarat! That’s right, Agent 007’s love for baccarat became known when author Ian Fleming penned down the words in his 1953 novel Casino Royal. James Bond takes on villain Le Chiffre in a game of Chemin de Fer. Hollywood has help immortalize Bond’s connection to baccarat by featuring the game in movies like Golden Eye, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Thunderball.

Hollywood movies have been a real help in making baccarat happening and fun. Rush Hour 3, starring the dynamic duo Jackie Chan (Agent Lee) and Chris Tucker (Agent James Carter), has a really funny baccarat scene where Carter tries to impress a woman (Genevieve). Carter enters the game and is dealt two kings, he demands that the dealer “hit” him like in blackjack. He gets dealt another king and is happy thinking he has a strong hand, but of course the dealer tells him that his score is zero and he loses.

Now watching baccarat in movies James Bond movies or Rush hour movies or even the other casino movies that we have seen over the years is pretty understandable. But when Star Trek has baccarat in it, you know the game is going places! I think baccarat is the only casino gambling game that has been featured in a space adventure series! Check out Star Trek Season 4, and episode called “Our Man Bashir”. It has a scene where Lieutenant Julian Bashir has to play baccarat in order to win his friends’ freedom in a holodeck (which is a simulated reality facility). To think that baccarat made it to those galaxies far, far away is pretty cool.

Baccarat has also been featured in some very popular cartoons one of them being Pinky and the Brain. If you have watched the show you should know that Brain is an evil mastermind (who tends to forget that he is a white mouse that escaped from a science lab!). Brain is always making plans to ‘take over the world’. In a season4 episode called “Brain’s Way”, Brain plans to go back in time to 1967 to run a Las Vegas casino where players are only allowed to play baccarat. Brain believes that baccarat is the only game that requires real strategy. Ironically, baccarat strategy is actually pretty simple and anyone can learn it a few minutes. Maybe that’s why Brain’s plot didn’t quite work out as planned.

Owing to its large virgin markets, online gambling operators are keen on investing in Spain’s upcoming gambling market. Better yet, specialists are predicting that Spain will have to prepare itself for a gambling industry boom. According to a report by the Media and Entertainment Consulting Network, Spain’s online gambling market is likely to grow to as much as 680 million Euros by 2015. The report says that at least 80% of major operators are likely to apply for a license to operate in Spain. The gambling licenses are rather pricey and taxes are as much as 25% of gross revenue. But operators are still calling this a good deal because they know that Spanish license will pay off eventually.

The most important reason for these predictions is that Spain is already set to enter the gambling industry, whereas Germany, one of the largest potential markets, is still divided on the issue of the legalization of online gambling.

You may be thinking “I’m English, I don’t understand Italian.” This is where PokerStars have really brought out their best, as the app is available in all major European languages including English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, and even Russian. Most iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users will be able to download the game from their App Store and can get started with a great game of poker straight away. Another couple of superb features sees the app full of guides and tutorials, as well as a really useful new chat function. We’re hoping for a video chat option ourselves!

The Italian gambling market has been a bit wobbly in recent years, but PokerStars have been one of the few companies to keep their head above water in the strict country. During the reforms PokerStars’ Italian language website PokerStars.it has risen to the top of the league and is now enjoying a very nice spot in the top 10 poker sites. When we say top 10, we mean the world by the way. In terms of European casinos they come very close to the top. According to various traffic counting sources, the online casino pulls in thousands of cash game players every hour. Impressive.

When you look deeper into the facts, it would appear that both PokerStars’ French AND Italian sites are in the top list, which should give you a really good idea just how well the company is doing in Europe right now. Now all they need to do is burrow their way into the notoriously hard cookie to crack in the form of the US gambling scene to create a truly magnificent splash in the online casino world.

Online casino operators will find that this report is in their favor as a decent amount of time has been spent on this report which also talks about and recommends that the taxes incurred by the online gambling industry should be based on the gross gaming revenue and not on the overall turnover. Sharing of poker liquidity with other regulated countries has also been featured as a discussed issue in the report.

This could mean more online casino operation from France, thanks to the report of Senator Francois Trucy.

This new decision by the State of Schleswig-Holstein has been like a breath of relief for the online gambling company. Another popular internet gambling operator who is happy about this new move is Betfair. Peter Reinhardt, head of Betfair’s German operations said that this new decision would not only benefit the consumers but would also work wonders in boosting the coffers of the state government and local sporting clubs as well. We only hope that more states will follow the example of Schleswig-Holstein and allow licensed and regulated online gambling.

Ever since the recent crackdown on online poker sites in the US and the consequent suspension of Full Tilt Poker’s license which by Alderney, a White Listed jurisdiction, it was certain that UK would make immediate changes to their online gambling laws. The changes are quite fundamental and are being referred to as “sweeping” across the internet. Online gambling operators are being accessing the UK market are being forced to apply for a UK license.

This new level of licensing has been introduced to recognize the increasing importance of the relationships between B2B businesses. This Network Services Licensing has provisions in the existing Online Gambling Regulation Act of 2001. Garth Kimber, Head of eGaming Development for the Isle of Man government stated that the introduction of this level of license would help satisfy every model of gaming business in the Isle of Man.

This licensing provision would cover a number of businesses right from those people who are selling their platform capabilities to many other businesses with direct customers. He further explained that the new licensing provision would help the Island keep at pace with the ever evolving online gaming industry, but without complicating the licensing process.

A Cayetano Gaming spokesman expressed joy when he was quoted as saying “We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer Cayetano’s games in Alderney. It is a top tier jurisdiction with first class regulation and some of the best casino operators in the world. We thank the Commission for the certificate and look forward to working with local operators to deliver players the latest online casino games.”

Prior to this development, Internet gaming technology specialist Cayetano Technologies announced that its casino game licensing division had closed a monumental deal with online gambling operator Paddy Power.com to provide a vast selection of engaging internet slot and table games.

The most sensational European casino news to make it to the headlines is the current raid that was conducted on a Russian casino that is rumoured to be the Goldfishka Online Casino, by the Interior Ministry Police Force. This raid resulted in the Police Force seizing computer equipment along with 27 million Rubles which is approximately $1 million dollars. Not many details regarding this raid has been released by the Interior Ministry’s K agency as other online gambling sites are saying that the raided online casino can be operated by a large firm.

A Russian Ministry of the Interior’s spokesperson Larisa Zhukova stated that the raid on the online casino that was making approximately 200,000 Rubles a day was intentional. Information that was released revealed that the online casino offered 470 games and six people were arrested, however their names were not released. The owner and five other employees of the online casino could face five years jail sentence in Russia, for operating an illegal business. This online casino is believed to have been in business for at least ten years and enjoyed success by offering fund transfers through untraceable routes.
Some even believe that the online casino in question was a famous online casino that offered services in Russian.