Toronto Blue Jays fans got a glimpse of the future Saturday, and for them the future is bright. J.P. Arencibia made his major league debut behind the plate, but did the most damage when he stepped to it in the batter’s box. The Tampa Bay Rays only managed to retire Arencibia once in his five at-bats. By then the damage had already been done.

The rookie catcher began his major league career by hitting a two-run home run to left field off Rays starter James Sheilds, who dropped to 10-10 after getting touched up for eight earned runs, and six homers. He is now the third player in franchise history to homer in his first at-bat as a Jay.

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Though Macau’s gambling industry had skipped a beat when the World Cup had blown through, armed with vuvuzelas, the occasional upset, a horde of bettors and many arrests, it is finally beginning to kick back up. Macau’s gambling industry has posted a surge of 70 percent in July.

According to reports, the gross gambling revenue in Macau totaled just over 16 billion patacas, or $2 billion dollars. In contrast, last year’s month of July generated a paltry 9.6 billion patacas, or $1.2 billion dollars. The World Cup had reduced revenue in the month of June to only 13.6 billion patacas, or $1.7 billion dollars.

The last time Macau had experienced a surge of 70 percent or higher was in April, where a 70.1 percent increase had occurred.

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August 2 – The Rival powered Black Diamond Casino, sister site to the popular Box24 Casino, has undergone a complete redesign. The site sports a very glitzy new look.

In addition Black Diamond Casino has also upgraded their sign up offer to $999 free, which is split over the first four deposits. The first deposit bonus is 200% up to $200 free. The casino also offers a $25 no deposit as well as a $300 sign up bonus which should be clamed by players who prefer table games.

Black Diamond has also recently introduced new purchasing mechanisms for US players like eChecks and we understand that they are experiencing high credit card processing success rates.

In other news involving USA Casinos, the Real Time Gaming powered Slotastic Casino has also undergone a complete makeover and launched a new sign up bonus.

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The San Diego Chargers are facing many questions about their roster heading into the 2010 NFL season. Players on offensive and defensive side of the ball have failed to sign their free-agent tenders, and are making it difficult for coaches to formulate a strategy based on their depth chart.

Linebacker Shawne Merriman has expressed concern about what he views as a lack of job security. The three-time Pro Bowl selection wants a guarantee that he will not be trade fodder next year. With Merriman, the Chargers’ 2010 NFL betting odds should be more favorable.

“I need to know I’m not going to be on the trade block every three weeks,” Merriman said.

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The first step in attempting to pass legislation through the United States Congress typically lies in the subcommittees of the branch of congress in which the bill had originated. In the case of Barney Frank’s Internet gambling bill, HR 2267 or the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, it had begun its trek through Congress in the House Financial Services Committee.

As of July 28th, 2010, HR 2267 has successfully made its way through the House Financial Services Committee, receiving an official vote of 41 ayes and 22 nays.

The bill had not been passed, however, without some amending.

One major amendment submitted by Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) made it so the bill would include text making it so any person or entity applying for licensing will be ruled out in the event that they had previously violated state or federal gambling laws.

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July 12 – Following the approval of PartyPartners.com in January this year, a second affiliate marketing administration program in the PartyGaming group of online gambling companies has successfully passed the on-site inspection and monitoring requirements of player protection and standards body eCOGRA. Read the full post >>

Now that the FIFA World Cup has concluded, online bookmakers shift to the most wagered on golf event of the year.  2010 Open Championship betting gets underway with odds released from Bookmaker.com.

Tiger Woods once again finds himself in somewhat unfamiliar territory, if not for the fact that he’s seen this before recently.  Woods is a long favorite of +550 (with a payout potential of US$55 for every US$10 bet at Bookmaker.com). 

"Prior to last November’s accident and subsequent sex scandal, one could not get Tiger Woods odds of winning a Majors tournament at longer than 3/1 odds," explains Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com.

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With immediate effect, the Italian Serie B will now be known as Serie bwin. The cooperation between the 22 league teams and sports betting outfit bwin will continue until 30. June 2012.

The sponsorship agreement has been presented this morning at the offices of Lega Serie B in Milan by Luca Ferrari, Chairman of Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B, and Paolo Di Feo, CEO of bwin Italy.

“We are delighted to be working alongside the new Lega Serie B in this exciting new adventure”, said Paolo die Feo, CEO of bwin Italy.

“bwin is continually active in high-end sports sponsorship and this will continue at the international level. Read the full post >>

According to a trading update issued Monday, the French online and land gambling group Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) is enjoying significant and early rewards from the liberalisation of the French gambling market, reporting a 400% growth in sign-ups at its website since May alone.

The company’s advantageous licensing position as the football World Cup action commenced, and its sports betting partnership with Paddy Power and Orbis contributed to what it described as a ‘very encouraging’ start to online gambling sector operations, which were augmented July 1 by the launch of dedicated French online poker action in partnership with Party Gaming.

Player registrations on the website soared starting early June, with some 9 million unique visits to the site during that month, the update revealed, whilst new customer sign-ups grew four-fold compared to previous months on the website, when horse racing action was offered pre-market liberalisation.

During H1,2010, overall internet wagers on racing increased some 19%, but a growth of over 200% in bets made via mobile phone technology was recorded.

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Online slot fans are anticipating the imminent arrival of Microgaming's July tranche of new games, with previews indicating an interesting range of themes across three new video slots.

The Argyle Open is a 5 reel, 40 pay-line video slot with a theme centred on a famous golf course, and includes a three-level bonus feature.

This game’s outstanding graphics are redolent with golfers, clubs and trophies, all backed by an entertaining slew of big slot features such as Scatters, Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers and an absorbing interactive game-within-the-game in the form of a 3 stage golf tournament.

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