Casino Games with Chinese Origins
The Chinese culture has a significant influence on the American gambling industry. Many of todays popular casino games were introduced to American casinos by Chinese immigrants. In this review, you can read about some of the most popular Chinese gambling games that had a successful immigration to the West.
Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker is a hybrid of American poker and traditional Chinese tiles game called Pai Gow. The original tile game Pai Gow, which means Make 9, is one of the most ancient gambling games that are still available in cotemporary casinos. Pai Gow Poker is played with playing cards instead of tiles and it uses the traditional poker hand ranking. It is one of the most popular casino games worldwide and it can be found in almost every major casino in the US. Its online version can be played at most casinos on the internet.
The object of the Pai Gow Poker is to form the highest possible two poker hands, one five card hand and a two card hand, out of the seven cards dealt to each player. Each player competes against the banker that can be either the casino dealer or one of the players who can afford paying the players winnings.
Sic Bo
Sic Bo is yet another popular casino game with roots that go back to ancient China. The chance game came to the States around the beginning of the 20th century by Chinese immigrants. It can be played in most land based casinos in Macau, the US and the UK. Sic Bo has an online version as well.
The meaning of Sic Bo is Dice Pair. It is played with three standard dice on a special table. Each player places any number of bets on the table and then tosses the dice. The outcome is determined by the combinations of the three dice. Each combination has a different payoff according to a payoff schedule, which vary from one casino to the other.
Fan Tan
Fan Tan used to be the most popular gambling game among Chinese gamblers but the glory days of Fan Tan have already passed. During the 1890s, Chinese immigrants brought the game to the United States. At that time, every Chinatown in American City had several Fan Tan houses that were always full of enthusiastic gamblers. Nowadays, you can find Fan Tan in some casinos in Macau as well as in some online gaming sites.
Traditional Fan Tan, not to be confused with the card game of the same name, used to be played with any objects such as coins, dried beans or small buttons on a table with a square marked on it. Fan Tan. The object of the game is pretty simple and odds are 1: 4.
The play begins with the banker puts on the table a pile of objects then covers them with a bowl. Each player has to bet on one of the numbers that mark the four sides of the square, or on one of the corners of the square. After the bowl is removed, the croupier removes four of the objects each time until the last group remains. If 1 object is left, then the player who placed a bet on 1 wins the pot, and so on.
Mahjong
Mahjong is probably the biggest inherit of Chinese culture to the gaming world. The ancient Chinese tile game has many variants worldwide including variety of online games. According to the myth, Mahjong was developed by Confucius around the 500 BC. The game was brought to the United States during the 1920s and soon was very popular especially among women. The game was played in Chinese style decorated rooms with waiters wearing traditional customs.
The American version of Mahjong was developed during the 1930s and it is played in America until today. At the same time, the National Mahjong league was founded. In addition to American Mahjong, there are Japanese, Vietnamese, Cantonese and other variations of the game, which vary from one to the other by their scoring structure, number of tiles and rules variants. In 1998, the China State Sports Commission had set a standard set of rules that will differentiate the illegal gambling game from the skill game.
Mahjong Solitaire, the online version of Mahjong, gains wide popularity recently. The online version of the classic Chinese game is a matching game that uses the Mahjong tiles. Online Mahjong games can be found in many online gaming sites in variety of layouts and versions.
The Effects of the Banning Online Gambling
Everyone talks about the negative impact of online gambling, but they are not talking about the negative impact of banning online gambling.
A reason for banning online casinos was to make sure that underage children were not using thee parents credit cards to gamble online, but besides the fact that most online casinos did everything possible to ensure to verify the age of the account holder before allowing any gambling to occur, but by banning it you are only stopping the law abiding casinos from taking bets and not the less reputable online casinos. They will use third party account like PayPal ore Click2pay which provide a loophole in the new law.
By banning an activity especially such a popular activity as online gambling all that can be expected to happen is for people to find ways around the law, such as the Speakeasies of the 1920’s.
A Speakeasy was a nightclub that served Alcohol during prohibition and was usually hidden in the back rooms of pet stores and innocent looking book stores. Every time a speakeasy was raided the next night another one was opened, and this is what will happen with these online casinos. If the government finds one operating in the USA and gets it shut down or manages to stop the money flowing to it then another will open.
By regulating online gambling the government would know exactly who was running the casino to make sure they were running it honestly and within all the laws, and it would help make sure that the criminal element did not get rich and gain power a second time in the history of the USA because of a bad lawmaking decision.
Another reason given for the ban of online gambling was to help protect against a rise in problem gamblers from have casino gamming in your home 24 hrs a day, but no proof has ever been found that shows that people who would normally not be inclined to go to a casino and gamble would decide to do it just because it was now in their homes.
The facts actually show a steady rate of people with gambling problems and growing at the same rate it has been growing for over 25 years.
Many experts are now saying that there are some positives to the online gambling ban, but those positives would be even better if the industry was properly legalized and not, just by putting a mostly unenforceable law in place.
But this to be a pattern the government seems to always make, it is much like the war on drugs. Last time I checked thee was still a drug problem in this country even though drugs are illegal, yet in countries like Holland where the use of soft drugs like hash and grass are legal the number people with drug problems is much lower per capita then in the USA. This is because the money that is brought in the form of taxes from these sales goes to fund the public schools where they properly educate kids on the negative effects of these drugs, so most of the people who smoke are tourists and not the locals.
Maybe one day the government will learn from its past mistakes and make things right.
Categories: Gambling, Money Tags: casinos, drugs, Gambling, gambling problems, gamming, illegal, Online, online casinos, prohibition, speakeasy, The Effects of the Banning Online Gambling
How to Protest the Online Gambling Ban
Protesting the government is not a cast of protesting a company because you do not like a product, this is a case of you trying to change the mind of the government and this can be hard to do, but it can be done.
Before you can even have a chance at holding a successful protest the first thing you should do is to circulate an online petition, this will give you an idea of how many people support your cause and gives you a list of names with phone numbers that you can call to get people to come to your protest.
The next step is to go online and find other groups protesting the new internet gambling act, and see if that group would be willing to join your protest, the more people protesting the online gambling ban the better the chances are of getting the law reversed.
After this you should start a letter writing campaign not only to your local congressmen but to all the Congressmen and see where they stand. Some of them will not be in support of the online gambling ban and will be willing to not only sign your petition but will be hey may be even willing to speak at your protest.
The next step is to plane your protest. The timing of your protest is important if you choose to protest at the Whitehouse you do not want to do it when the president is not there or if you choose to make your stand at congress do not do it at a time they are on a brake, this can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your protest.
Make sure to have a well written press release to the press at least 2 days before the protest to ensure that you will get press coverage. The more people who hear about your protest the more names you can get on your petition.
The point of a petition is to basically let someone know that people are not happy with what they are doing, and if enough people protest the government you can get them to change their decision. This is especially true with a politician. They know thee job depends on votes and if they are going to gain enough votes to secure their job they will do it even if they truly do not agree with it.
You must apply for a permit to protest at least 30 days in advance, or if there are delays you may not have a permit on the day you have told your protesters to show up, to truly insure you have time, apply for the permits at least 60 days in advance.
When applying for the permits you should be able to find out about the rules for setting up any sound equipment you will need so you can make the arrangements for them.
The only thing left to do for your online gambling ban protest is to wait for the big day.
Categories: Gambling, Online Tags: ban, Casino, congressmen, Gambling, How to Protest the Online Gambling Ban, Online, petition, politician, protest
