Some of the table game advancements that will be shown at this event are so high powered that they turn table games halfway into being online casino games, and of course this is a fascinating look at what is happening at the forefront of the industry right now!

Kevin Grahame, head of table gaming at Grosvenor Casinos, said: “This bi-annual event has become a critical part of our new games testing process and we are delighted to bring it back again for 2013.  The new games showcase gives guests the opportunity to try out the latest in gaming technology and give our customers and team a major role in deciding which games make it into our casinos.  Over the last few years the event has spawned the likes of 21+3 Top 3, Freebet Blackjack, Casino Hold’em, Racing Card Derby, Blackjack Switch and House Money, all of which now sit firmly within our table gaming offer and ensure we lead the way in introducing new and innovative table games to meet our customers’ needs.”

A wide variety of games are set to be showcased this time around, from big name suppliers such as SHFL entertainment, TSC John Huxley, Customised Casino Games, Mr Casino Games, Galaxy Games and ICS-Europe to look forward too as well as the excitement of having a real say in what goes in to the casino. Feedback will determine which games are put into live trials, and this could mean putting them out across the whole of the thirty six other Grosvenor casinos in the UK – which makes this a very exciting opportunity indeed for those who have been invited along to have a go at these new options and judge them for themselves.

Let us explain everything from the start: the Middletons, that is Pippa and Kate’s parents, own a firm named Party Pieces, which supplies upscale party elements and events for those who have something to celebrate. Part of this business is their website, Party Times, on which Pippa herself recently wrote a piece which has been raising a few eyebrows – as she encouraged parents to hold ‘Casino Night Parties’ for their teenage children, who would not be allowed to go into actual casinos or take part in real money gambling.

There are sure to be plenty of casino online reviews popping up for this kind of service in the wake of her suggestion – after all, anything that the younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge says is going to set tongues wagging, and with a subject like this which can be quite controversial it attracted attention very quickly. Writing on the Party Times website, she said, “(Casino Nights) are a great choice for teenagers. Dress the table in baize green, dust off your packs of cards and mix up the cocktails – then all you have to worry about is whether Lady Luck is on your side.” One certainly hopes that when she refers to teenagers she means those who are in the very small group of being either eighteen or nineteen years of age – or they should not be drinking the cocktails, either!

Whether or not you agree with Pippa on the subject of age, it is certain that there is something in what she is suggesting – as we all know, a trip to the casino can be very fun, and even more so if you are able to achieve it from your own home.

The company will now gain full ownership of their online casino games along with the bingo hall, poker room, and sports book that they run through the same service. It will mostly be funded by a £375 million fully underwritten rights issue, and shares in William Hill have already climbed five per cent overnight as a direct reaction to the news. They claim that having full ownership will give them more freedom as well as an opportunity to develop their full potential by enhancing all of the products that they offer. On the Playtech side of things, their shares fell two per cent following the announcement.

Ralph Topping is the chief executive of William Hill, and he had this to say: “Having been advised of the valuation of Playtech’s 29% interest, the Board has concluded that it is in the best interests of our shareholders to exercise our call option to assume full ownership of this attractive, high growth, high performing business.” They know what they are doing – and they seem to have a clear direction to go in, judging by these comments.

Representing Playtech was their chief executive, Mor Weizer, who had this to say: “William Hill Online has been an overwhelming success and has delivered a cash return to Playtech greater than 3.5 times its original investment, excluding software royalties in the four years since inception.” It is clear that they want to push the knowledge that they made a good investment here and have profited, to keep hold of confidence in their company and in what they can do in the lead up to this deal.

The design specialists have been working with the Rank Group since 2005, so their partnership is a strong one and they are sure to be able to create a site for their online casino games which will really tie in with the luxury experience that most players expect to get when they visit a Grosvenor Casino. The consultants have stated that they will be ‘getting under the skin of customer behaviour and motivations for playing both in-club and online,’ which means a great step forward that will allow customers to enjoy the site ever more and get more out of it according to what they really want and enjoy.

The project will be undertaken with help from analysts MC&C, who are currently undertaking a data study in order to provide the information that is needed to find out just what customers really want. Michael Artis is the head of sports and entertainment at 20.20, who will be leading this project, and he had this to say: ‘We can make casinos a lot more relevant to a wider audience. It all starts with the customer, and that’s who our strategy team are with right now.’ If they manage to pull this off and do it right, then the new customer experience at any Grosvenor Casino venue or site is sure to be a much better one as soon as the changes go ahead – though time will tell whether they do manage to do something revolutionary, or if it is all just more PR talk and the redesign will be the kinds of changes that you see happening regularly.

While it may be true that online casino games are becoming more and more popular, there is still a lot of call for casino workers in land based environments – and indeed, for those who love to play on the internet this could well be the ideal kind of job opportunity as it deals with an area in which they are already knowledgeable. The new casino will be opening in Rose Kiln Lane in South Reading this March, and is of course already recruiting to make sure that they will be fully staffed on the launch date.

Leslie Donoghue is the principal of Reading College, and she is keen to continue this initiative with more people in the future. “Reading is a thriving town with a great future and a really positive attitude but we do have areas where people are unemployed and it’s a really serious concern for us. However, there is more optimism, I would say, in Reading than other areas and a really strong indication of that is the attitude of employers. An example of that is Grosvenor, who have taken on these unemployed people.”

The so called work academy will allow unemployed people to get access to pre employment training, work experience placements, and a guaranteed interview in which they can try to turn their fortunes around by impressing the recruiter who will be looking to hire them. There was an open day at the end of 2012 in which around one hundred unemployed people went to the Jobcentre Plus in order to find out more about the casino employment opportunities, with thirty eight of them being selected to take part in the training course.

Many people from all over the world enjoy playing online casino games hosted by PokerStars, and they are the biggest poker room on the internet with more than fifty per cent of the market under their control – and the company behind them is going from strength to strength as it expands into new territories, purchasing and relaunching former rivals Full Tilt Poker recently as well as purchasing a casino in Atlantic City to run as another live venture.

Speaking about the launch, Kirsty Thompson, UKIPT (UK & Ireland Poker Tour) President and Head of Live Rooms Europe, said: “The Hippodrome Casino is the premier casino destination in London. Establishing this permanent PokerStars LIVE room will give more players the opportunity to play cash poker with the high-quality player experience that PokerStars is known for.” The historic casino will be providing a twenty four hour poker lounge so that players can enjoy a wide range of different poker games for cash in a luxurious and above all relaxing environment. There will also be a new low buy in tournament series put together by the UKIPT, with the first event scheduled to take place from April 12-14.

Simon Thomas, Chairman of the Hippodrome Casino, said: “The poker room’s luxury interior design has been developed to take poker to a new level, catching the interest of all national and international players. It’s location in the ‘Gods’ is unique and our ambition is to create a fabulous environment in which to play poker, with great lighting, comfortable seating and the audiovisual support to the needs of the poker player.” This is something that both online and land based players will be able to appreciate.

It is not as though he just cannot handle being restricted to online casino games now that he is no longer able to run the real thing, and life in prison is never a cake walk – so why is he so keen to get his sentence? Well, the fact is that if he is found guilty and goes to jail, then the prosecutors who he bribed in the first place will also have to stand trial, whereas if he is found innocent then the investigation will end with him. This is what is known in Moscow as “the gaming affair”, a two year struggle with the prosecutor’s office on one hand trying to let him off and the investigative committee on the other hand trying to get him sent down.

“I insist on my testimony, I admit my guilt, I confirm all the evidence and I am prepared to serve my sentence,” he said. “They want me to take my testimony back… Well, I’m not going to.” The committee arrested him in February 2011 with the prosecutors, who he freely admits to having bribed, as their main targets; and to clear his name and his reputation, to put himself back on the right track, thirty two year old Nazarov feels that he must be found guilty and take the prosecutors down with him. “A lot of people were sitting on my neck… They must answer for this, too. For the sake of dignity,” he says. “The gangsters, they wouldn’t totally strangle you. You could say, I have to pay my workers and profits are down this month, and they would accept less. But the cops, they just pick you clean, they have no understanding of business.”

With an expected completion date of 2015, this will be a huge new Genting project and it is sure to bring a source of rejuvenation to the area, with one thousand seven hundred and fifty jobs being created by the construction process. While players might have to stick to online casino games for the next two years, once the venue is open there will be another one thousand one hundred jobs on offer in the complex itself, which will contain both the casino and a range of other attractions such as a hotel, restaurants, a cinema, and of course a shopping area where players can spend their hard earned cash.

Paul Thandi is the chief executive of the NEC group, and he thinks that the project will “make a significant contribution to the local economy”.  He adds, “We are genuinely proud to be officially starting the construction work on Resorts World Birmingham. Our partnership with Genting marks an important step in our wider vision to make the NEC site more of a destination and the place where people come to discover the future.” The site will cover 538,000 square feet, or 163,982 square metres, and will be a real landmark in terms of creating a huge casino for this area in the luxury style which could well outdo anything that the UK has yet to offer.

Peter Brooks, president and chief operating officer of Genting UK, has been quick to assure people that the company are taking the risk of problem gambling in the area seriously and will do their best to combat it. “We take these issues of social responsibility very seriously,” he said. “We invest a lot of money in training our people so they’re aware and can help.”

It looks like Carr will have to stick to online casino games from now on, unless he can get someone to give him a lift to the casino – Judge Eugene O’Kelly was not sympathetic, particularly given the circumstances of the offence and the man who made it. Garda Paul Bentley spoke to Carr when he caught him speeding along several roads, and reported that his eyes were glassy and he was unsteady on his feet. A urine sample was found to contain traces of cocaine, and while a solicitor for Carr tried to argue that the sample was taken incorrectly because Carr was not given any privacy, Bentley had an immediate answer. He said, “for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t be letting Mr Carr out of my sight while giving a sample. It is not unknown for prisoners to interfere with a sample by filling it with water”. The solicitor also tried to argue that there was no evidence that Carr had been given access to a solicitor on the night and nor was there evidence of him being notified of his rights, but the judge dismissed this almost immediately. He said that a solicitor could have “given no advice that would have altered the legal requirement on him to give a sample”.

Things when from bad to worse for Carr when it was discovered that there were twenty three previous convictions against him, including several for traffic offences: he had already been banned from driving for twelve months back in March 2010 for driving without insurance. Carr described his status as self employed, as “a professional poker player of some notoriety in Limerick”.

There are in fact six championship events taking place during this time period, so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on. The full schedule is as follows:

Bronze Championship: Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 of January (Buy in €500 NLH Freezeout)
Silver Championship: Thursday 17 and Friday 18 of January (Buy in € 1,000 NLH Freezeout)
Gold Championship: Saturday 19 to Monday 21 of January (Buy in €2,000 NLH Freezeout)
Omaha Championship: Monday 21 and Tuesday 22nd of January (Buy in €1,000 PLO Triple Chance)
Diamond Championship: From Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 of January (Buy in €5,000 NLH Freezeout)
High Roller: Sunday 27 and Monday 28 of January (Buy-in €10,000 NLH Freezeout)

If all you can do is dream of being there, then perhaps you should try out some online casino games to get you started. It is now becoming more and more common for winners of big poker events to have come from satellites organised at land based casinos, because it is easy to enter over the internet without having to travel to a certain casino and many great new players are really learning their skills online. This does not prevent them from winning in land based tournaments either, as certain WSOP main event winners or finalists from the past few years can attest!

Last year, the winner of the Diamond Championship took home €129,410 after beating a field of one hundred and nine players to come out on top. It was in fact a French rap star who took the prize, oddly enough – Bruno Lopes, also known as Kool Shen, who certainly displayed a hidden talent during the event.