Tag Archives: bidding
Gaming Giants Bidding For Illinois Lottery Contract
Gaming Giants Bidding For Illinois Lottery Contract
Four huge gaming firms are bidding on the Illinois lottery contract and two of these gaming giants have teamed up to bid on the 10 year contract. Both firms, GTECH Corp. and Scientific Games Inc., have had contracts for instant lotto tickets and lottery equipment since 1989. GTECH, which is based in Rhode Island has been a major player in the gaming industry and is a subsidiary of Lottomatica which is the world’s largest lottery operator. According to GTECH , both companies control 63% of all lotteries around the world giving both companies extensive experience in operating lotteries.
GTECH currently provides Illinois with lottery terminals and ticket dispensers at lottery retailers throughout Illinois and also provides the central gaming system computer that operates the terminals. Last year the Illinois legislature indicated they wanted to move the state lottery towards private management. Lawmakers hope private management will boost sales by an additional $150 million which would be used to fund infrastructure projects. Illinois lottery revenues have remained steady at about $2 billion dollars a year. Illinois had considered total privatization of the lottery until the Justice Department ruled that states cannot relinquish control of lotteries.
Other gaming giants bidding on the Illinois contract include Camelot from the UK. Camelot has extensive experience running the UK National Lottery. Intralot S.A., based in Greece, is also expected to bid. Illinois is also considering online lottery ticket sales and most of the firms bidding on the Illinois lottery contract have experience providing online lotto ticket sales. At the present time confusing federal regulations regarding online gambling are preventing several states from implementing online lottery ticket sales. Thanks to a new bill introduced in congress all that may change in the very near future.
If the regulations are changed and Illinois is successful in implementing online lottery ticket sales most states are expected to follow. Most players say they would purchase lottery tickets online citing convenience as the main reason for online purchases. Players would no longer have to make a trip to a lottery retailer and stand in long lines to buy lotto tickets. Most states with lotteries already have lottery websites and it would be very easy to add online ticket sales. The technology and software for online ticket sales are readily available and most of the firms bidding on the Illinois contract are ready to launch online ticket sales. It will be very interesting to see the results of the bidding war.
Online Bridge and Its Variant Casino Card Games
For card game fans, bridge is more than a game. Its a sport on its own with websites, blogs and columns exclusively dedicated to the game. Online casinos offer a whole lot of classic bridge and variant versions for free download and play. Since this is essentially a game of contract bidding, it involves playing for money. Bridge remains one of the most difficult card games to play. Only people who understand the nuances well, can keep in step with complicated strategy manage to win.
Whist is a variation thats been checked in popularity by bridge but nonetheless an interesting game. It lets you beat the opponent in a visual manner but there is no bidding involved. Having evolved from a game called Ruff and Honors, Whist was popular through the 18 and 19 century. The classic whist is a trick game for four players who begin with fixed partnership. A deal can use two card packs and 13 tricks are played.
In whist a 52 pair is used and game is held clockwise with cards ranking from highest card- the ace to lowest, the card 2. Whist has different variations including Knockout whist, Solo whist, Bid whist and Minnesota whist. Suit whist is a Belgian adaption of Solo whist while bid whist is a partnership game where bidding is done. There are no trumps in Minnesota whist so its quite close to Norwegian whist. Israeli whist is linked to Oh Hell, where player attempt to bid on tricks.
Bridge has another popular variation called Spades which is quite simple. Spades is played on jailhouse rules wherein tactics like point based sandbagging are penalized and there are many options in house rules. At a time 2 to 5 people can play either solo or in partnerships. A young game, spades is already popular online. Unlike in whist, this game is based on the premise that spade suit is trump. Different variations employ different rules.
One version of online Spades uses only a set whereas another uses two joker cards- big and little in addition to the full cards set. Spades scores on basis of hands, requiring winner to attain a fixed figure in points which is decided on before game starts. A 200 point target is considered short game and longer games can go up to 500 points. Game is opened by player on left of the dealer, with others following suit.