The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt what is likely to be the final blow to Delaware’s plan for a state-sponsored gambling lottery that would have allowed residents to make bets on individual games in several sports.

MATTOON — The effort to create legal video gambling in Illinois might cause some heads to spin in Coles County.

By WILLIAM HERSHEY and LAURA A. BISCHOFF DAYTON DAILY NEWS COLUMBUS – They’ve said “no” four times since 1990, but this year, driven by a promise of new jobs to combat a slumping economy, Ohio voters may be ready to approve casino gambling. A Blade/Ohio Newspaper Poll released today found that 59 percent of registered voters across the state support Issue 3 on the Nov. 3 ballot. Thirty-eight …

Prosecutors and law-enforcement groups oppose legislation that would allow the Gaming Control Board to grant immunity to witnesses testifying in gambling-license investigations.

There are (52 × 51)/2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold ‘em, but since suits have no relative value in poker, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, A♣J♣ and A♥J♥ are identical, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit. There are 169 nonequivalent starting hands in hold ‘em (13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands; 13 + 78 + 78 = 13 × 13 = 169). These 169 hands are not equally likely. Hold ‘em hands are sometimes classified as having one of three “shapes”:

• Pairs, (or “pocket pairs”), which consist of two cards of the same rank (e.g. 9♠9♣). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221 (P(pair) = 3/51 = 1/17).

• Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. A♠6♠). Four hands out of 17 will be suited, and each suited configuration occurs with probability 2/663 (P(suited) = 12/51 = 4/17).

• Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of different suit and rank (e.g. K♠J♥). Twelve out of 17 hands will be nonpair, offsuit hands, each of which occurs with probability 2/221 (P(offsuit non-pair) = 3*(13-1)/51 = 12/17).

It is typical to abbreviate suited hands in hold ‘em by affixing an “s” to the hand, as well as to abbreviate non-suited hands with an “o” (for offsuit). That is,

QQ represents any pair of queens,

AK (or, sometimes, AKo) represents any ace and king of different suits, and

JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie announces a review of Northern Ireland’s gambling laws.

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — PartyGaming Plc , William Hill Plc and 888 Holdings Plc , U.K. gambling companies facing a slowing market at home, may get a boost as neighboring France opens its online-betting market to foreign operators next year.

Maryland officials are poised to award the state’s first slot machine gambling license to the Ocean Downs racetrack, a move its owner has said would allow betting to begin at the Eastern Shore location as early as Memorial Day weekend, according to several sources familiar with the process.

Since video gambling has been made legal in Illinois, more bars, clubs, truck stops and many other businesses are getting the machines.

When someone with limited experience achieves better than expected results it is referred to as beginner’s luck. The term is most often used in reference to a first attempt in sport or gambling. For example, if Mike beats veteran golf player Joe in his first game, Joe might attribute this to beginner’s luck. Beginner’s luck is also be applicable to non-sporting activities. For example, if Susan takes first prize in her first ever baking contest, she might have had beginner’s luck. The term is also used when no skill whatsoever is involved such as a first-time slot machine player winning the jackpot.

One would expect experienced players to outperform novices – when the opposite happens it is counter-intuitive hence the need for a term to describe this phenomenon.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

School pupils, some as young as 10, are gambling with their classmates and are losing thousands of rands a day.

Though they are counting on hundreds of millions in gambling dollars to flow into Ohio’s budget, Senate Republicans want to slow industry campaign contributions to a trickle.

In the poker game Texas hold ‘em, a player’s hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand.

The player’s “playing hand”, which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards.

Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player’s two hole cards, or starting hand.

Links

• Percentage of Pots Won with Hold’em Hands Ranked by Percent
• More Detailed look at Starting Hand Statistics
• Essay discussing the different hand groups
• Texas Hold’em Poker

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Suburb slates vote on opting out of gaming act Naperville is the latest town to decide it does not want video gambling.

Evanston joined the ranks of communities voting against video gambling Monday night with the mayor saying the “social consequences” outweighed the financial benefits.

A legislative committee studying gambling in Indiana is planning to discuss a host of issues, including the possibility of moving one of Gary’s riverboat casinos.

LAKE IN THE HILLS – As soon as the Illinois Gaming Board finalizes video gaming machine regulations, the gambling devices will be allowed in Lake in the Hills.

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — 888 Holdings Plc , the second- largest U.K. online gambling company, rose the most in four months in London trading after signing a contract with a unit of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.

Soft lines is a betting terminology representing betting odds that have been poorly researched by sportsbooks.

Handicappers commonly use this term to emphasize the value of their play. Since handicappers can focus on a smaller subset of all the possible games, they have the chance to identify soft lines. Soft lines usually exist in the games where the least number of people bet because there is less incentive by the sportsbooks to put an effort into making strong lines.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

AFL star David Schwarz has admitted to a gambling addiction that ‘left a trail of destruction’.