2009 End of Year Review
2009 has been a very eventful year for the gambling world, so what better way to see out the old and bring in the new than with a 2009 End of Year Review? Obviously we can’t condense 365 days of betting news into a single article, but we can review 2009 on a month by month basis and pick out some of the most notable stories that we have reported on. Here then, is the best (and worst) of 2009…
January – A Ladbrokes Casino player won a King Cashalot jackpot worth £1,031,985.20 after placing a bet of just £2.25. At the time, this was the biggest progressive jackpot that Ladbrokes had ever made, and for the anonymous winner it got 2009 off to a great start!
February – News broke that police in the USA had discovered a large-scale scam against San Diego casinos. Tai Kheim Tran, just one of the scam members, admitted to obtaining over $1 million by cheating at blackjack and baccarat. In July 2009 four members of this ‘Tran Organisation’ were jailed for eight years.
March - In Canada an online slots player thought that he had won a jackpot of $43 million. Unfortunately, the machine had merely malfunctioned (it actually had a maximum jackpot of around $9,000). The player was offered four free buffet tickets by the management and a reminder that ‘any malfunction voids play’.
April – PartyGaming announced that it had entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with the US Attorney’s Office. The agreement cost PartyGaming $105 million, but meant that the company would not face prosecution for allowing US customers to gamble illegally prior to the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) on 13 October, 2006.
May – The Mega Moolah progressive slots game paid out a €6.37 million jackpot to Giorgios M, a player from Greece, and set a new record for the biggest online jackpot payout.
June – William Hill Casino decided to up the ante in the casino bonus department by introducing a no-deposit casino bonus worth £30! This gave new players the chance to enjoy games at the William Hill Casino without risking a penny of their own cash, and it was so popular that the free casino bonus offer is still running.
July – 32Red Casino introduced the ability to make deposits via PayPal, the online payment service that allows people to transfer funds for goods and services without having to give their credit card details.
August – A Millionaires Club jackpot worth £1,547,338 was won by an online slots player in the UK. Days later, the same game paid out another big prize of $186,118, proving that slot machines don’t automatically stop paying out after a jackpot has been landed.
September – Derren Brown made headlines with his How to Beat a Casino show, in which he gambled £5,000 of a TV viewer’s cash on the spin of a roulette wheel. Whether by accident or design, the gamble failed and the viewer was refunded.
October – Ladbrokes Casino launched a £25 free chips offer (no deposit required) for new players. Whether Ladbrokes Casino was inspired by William Hill’s initiative in June is not something we can answer with certainty, but the move certainly proved to be good news for online casino player. And yes, the offer is still available.
November – The first ever Grand Slam of Slots tournament created its first ever millionaire winner. Stefan, who played at Ladbrokes Casino, had won his way into the tournament for an outlay of just €2, and walked away with €1,000,000!
December – 888.com was named Casino Operator of the Year in the eGaming Review Awards for 2009. Betfair was named UK Sports Betting Operator of the Year and PartyPoker was name the Poker Operator of the Year.
As you can see, 2009 – like all previous years – has been a mixture of highs and lows. The good news for online casino gambling fans is that the online gaming innovations have continued to come thick and fast, and we should therefore have even more to look forward to 2010.
Happy New Year!
Article Published: 11/11/2011 10:40:06
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