The effort to create an online California “Internet poker consortium” is being led by a wealthy Riverside County tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and by card clubs including the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles County.

They are dispatching lobbyists to the capital and privately courting other tribes and poker rooms to build political momentum for a gambling enterprise run by a consortium of tribes and card rooms. The state’s 60 card clubs and more than 100 federally recognized Indian tribes would be eligible to participate.

Though it still lacks an author to carry the bill, the Morongo tribe is pitching a plan to get an Internet poker bill passed after lawmakers return from their summer recess next Monday. Representatives from dozens of tribal groups are invited to hear the proposal Thursday at a closed-door meeting at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento.

Morongo is billing its effort as a means to generate new tax revenue for California and allow tribes and card clubs to tap into a vast offshore Internet poker industry that draws an estimated $4 billion in what are now illegal bets from U.S. residents.

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It sought to stem the reach of overseas gambling sites by blocking U.S. bank and credit card payments for Internet betting. Some legal scholars say the federal law has loopholes that could allow states to permit Internet gambling.

The California effort may get a boost – and legal clarification – from federal legislation introduced Aug. 6 by Sen. Robert Menendez. The New Jersey Democrat’s bill would legalize online poker and “games of skill.”

The bill, following similar legislation by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would give states and Indian tribes the authority to permit – or disallow – Internet poker for their residents.

“You’ve got a huge amount of gambling going on on the Internet right now that is a large measure unregulated,” George Forman, an attorney for the Morongo tribe, said in an interview. “Huge amounts of money are being wagered. The state is not getting any of that. Money is going offshore.

“I think it is fair to say there is an interest on some people’s part that this activity can and should be regulated to protect consumers and produce a revenue source for the states,” Forman added.

The online poker push is stirring friction with some other California tribal groups, which claim a poker cooperative with card clubs could upset California tribes’ exclusive rights to casino gambling and violate federal standards against off-reservation gambling.

“They’re trying to convince people that this is a good idea and we should move forward when the Legislature comes back,” said Alison Harvey, executive director of the California Tribal Business Alliance, which recently heard the pitch from Morongo tribal representatives. “I just think there’s serious potential consequences of this that haven’t been thought through.”

In 2008, then-Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, introduced legislation asking the California Gambling Control Commission to study Internet gambling and how to regulate it if it became legal. The bill died.

But I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and a consultant on gambling issues, said an economic downturn that has cut into tribal casino earnings and state fiscal coffers could soften the political resistance.

“Any time Internet gambling would get through the Legislature is right now because the state is desperate for money,” Rose said.

Morongo officials declined to discuss specifics of their plan publicly. But in private talks with other gambling interests, they have said a California poker consortium could net $450 million a year.

Harvey of the Tribal Business Alliance said Morongo is suggesting a 10 percent licensing fee to be paid to the state. Proposed bill language being circulated leaves the state’s share blank.

“It’s a little word, I know, but it is true.”

Getsy, 33, was sentenced to die for fatally shooting Serafino in a crime that targeted her son, Charles Serafino, in a dispute over a landscaping business.

Charles Serafino was shot seven times but survived and watched Getsy die Tuesday.

After apologizing to Charles Serafino and his sister, Nancy, who also witnessed, Getsy told them it was his earnest prayer that God would grant them peace.

Charles Serafino brushed Getsy’s apology aside, saying it was too little, too late.

“What are you going to do when you’re laying there and you’ll be dying in a couple minutes?” he said.

“This day doesn’t do nothing for me, either way,” said Charles Serafino, who witnessed the execution in brown shorts, a white T-shirt and white sneakers. “All’s I know is my mother is still in the grave.”

Nancy Serafino said she assumed anything Getsy would say would ring hollow after what she said was a legacy of not taking responsibility for the crime.

Instead, she found his apology genuine.

“I thought those words were going to be words, and I wasn’t going to see, feel anything at all, if he did apologize,” she said. “I think he was sorry.”

Nancy and Charles Serafino agreed on putting Getsy to death.

“He needed to pay for what he did,” Nancy Serafino said. “I did not put him here. We did not put him here. His actions put him where he was.”

Getsy tilted his head to the left and appeared to smile at his aunt and uncle and spiritual adviser before his eyes closed at about 10:19 a.m. His chest rose and fell three times and then he was still.

“Sleep my friend, sleep,” said Saundra Cardillo, the wife of Getsy’s spiritual adviser.
Warden Phillip Kerns shook Getsy and called his name to see if he was unconscious, as part of prison policy when putting inmates to death.

Getsy fatally shot Ann Serafino in her home in Hubbard, near Youngstown, on July 7, 1995. Charles Serafino was the intended victim.

John Santine, who orchestrated the crime, was in a dispute over ownership of a landscaping business with Charles Serafino and offered Getsy $5,000 to kill him and any witnesses to the crime. Santine was convicted of aggravated murder.

Prosecutors said Charles Serafino was lying wounded on the floor when Getsy struck his mother in the head with a revolver, opening a 4-inch gash, and then shot her twice.

Getsy spent Monday night writing letters — he asked for 15 stamped envelopes — making phone calls and reading the Bible. He ate part of his last meal, including rib-eye steak, barbecued buffalo wings and onion rings.

He saw visitors on Tuesday morning, including his grandmother and an aunt and uncle. Getsy was upbeat but became increasingly emotional, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said.

Getsy, who dropped out of school in the 12th grade, never met his father and was raised by his mother and stepfather. In 1992, he was convicted of negligent homicide in the death of a 14-year-old companion who died playing Russian roulette.

The Ohio Parole Board by a 5-2 vote last month recommended clemency for Getsy because other defendants in the slaying, including Santine, appeared just as guilty but weren’t sentenced to die. Gov. Ted Strickland overruled the board last week, saying the sentencing disparity did not by itself justify granting clemency.

Appeals courts previously have questioned Getsy’s sentence. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his sentence in 2006, saying it was arbitrary. The full 6th Circuit reinstated it in 2007 in an 8-6 ruling.

The Ohio Supreme Court also noted the sentencing differences in a 1998 ruling but said that was not enough to spare Getsy.

The U.S. Supreme Court late Monday denied Getsy’s request for a stay of execution. His lawyers had said they wanted to challenge Ohio’s lethal injection system as unconstitutionally cruel.

This month is packed some of the biggest tournaments we have ever seen online. Three Crown Jewel of slots tournaments at the moment id the massive Grand Slam of Slots tournament hosted by Microgaming, which with its 1.3 Million Euro prize pool, surpasses anything we’ve seen before.

A number of large tournaments are currently open for participation.
The Microgaming Grand Slam of Slots which kicks off on October 23rd and runs until November 2nd, is indeed the biggest online slots tournament in history. Entry to the tournament can be gained via Microgaming licensed online casinos like the River Belle Casino, where players get a free chance to win a ticket. The first prize in the Grand Slam of Slots Tournament is a breathtaking one million Euros. Unfortunately this tournament is not open to US residents.

Players in the United States will be delighted to know that there are a number of lucrative tournaments available to them. The first and most poignant is the “Remembering a Legend” tournament at Golden Casino, powered by Vegas Technology. The $15,000.00 guaranteed prize pool tournament is a tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and the 200 top finishers will win cash prizes. In addition, the casino also runs a $20,000 guaranteed tournament each weekend wit only 9.95 entry fee.

Also open to US residents, The Summer of Slots Series is still running at Super Slots Casino and in August players can participate in the “The Reel Deal” stage with a $200,000 prize pool. In addition, the Grand final of this series takes place on August 31 where five players will share a $100,000 prize.

Slots tournaments have become immensely popular and these are but a few examples of how lucrative they can be.

The “King of Swing” comes right on time for the baseball fans. This baseball-themed online slot machine is a 5-reel 25-liner and offers Free Games, which are triggered when a Pitcher appears anywhere on reel 1 with the Batter anywhere on reel 5. Then a pitcher and a batter are revealed on a baseball diamond. The batter will attempt to hit balls thrown by the pitcher and if the batter misses, a Strike is registered and 1 Free Game is awarded. The top award you can win at the online casino while playing this game is $4,000. The “Year of Fortune” video slot, meanwhile, could land you as much as $88,888 – it offers Free Games which are triggered when 2 or 3 Golden Oxen appear, awarding 1 or 18 free games, respectively, plus 8 free games are also awarded when 3 or more scatters appear. A coinciding appearance of 2 Golden Oxen with 3 scatters awards 9 free games, not to mention that 88 pay-lines are played during free games.

These are both great new slots and an awesome addition to the already large selection of casino games at the online casinos mentioned above. With the two new casino games, the total new games made available this month at the online casinos have climbed to seven and the management of the gambling company is saying that more are on the way, as well. It’s great that the online casinos from the Mainstreet gambling group do realize the value of adding new games to the online casino software and players at any of the online casinos are indeed enjoying one of the best selection of slots and other casino games online. Head to the Slots Plus online casino to check out all the games or to begin playing them right away for fun or real money.

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Stakes can range from a few dollars to a few thousand.

The throng around him jeered and heckled, slapping him on his backside as he went through the maneuver.

One player serving as “the bank” had been goading the spectators to bet against Mr. Colbert’s roll with the rapid-fire patois of an auctioneer. Four players had soon pressed $5 and $10 bills into his palm, betting that Mr. Colbert’s dice would betray him.

The cubes rolled up the wall, spinning around before landing back on the sidewalk. When they settled, the bettors converged on the dice, crouching to read the faces in the dwindling light. The roll, 2, 2, and 3, a fairly low score, was beatable. Two more players handed over their money to the bank and stepped up to roll a challenge. Each rolled higher than Mr. Colbert, who dug out a billfold from his pocket and turned over the amount each challenger had wagered. It was not his night — but his luck could change. The round-robin game would last till morning.

“You’ve got to get dice warm, you’ve got to let them breathe,” said Mr. Colbert, 27, explaining that the key is in the finger snap followed by the all-important grunt of “Huh!” It’s called “talking to the dice. Sometimes they listen.”

Mr. Colbert is something of a neighborhood legend — a nearly unbeatable roller in a game called cee-lo that has been played in Harlem and many other big city neighborhoods for decades.

When he’s not playing the game he took up at age 11, Mr. Colbert works in construction. He says the game pads his income substantially — he said he won $1,000 playing cee-lo in July alone. The game, played with a trio of dice for stakes that can range from a few dollars to a few thousand, steps out of living rooms and illegal gambling dens when the warm weather arrives.

Outside, uneven sidewalks make the dice bounce in unpredictable ways, and passers-by add their skills — and cash — to impromptu games. Someone usually serves as a lookout for patrolling police officers.

The rules tend to be somewhat fluid, varying from corner to corner, but in one popular version players bet against one or a pair of players who hold the money. The best rolls are called “headcracks,” the highest of which is a “cee-lo”: a roll of a four, a five and a six. Other good rolls are three of a kind, known as triples or “trips,” or a pair of any number plus a six. If one die ends up at the number one, that player “craps out” — an automatic loss.

Mr. Colbert, who has his street name, “Long Boy,” tattooed on the back of his lucky right hand, often plays at the same spot near Lexington Avenue — he preferred not to give a more precise location because street gambling is illegal — with a cast of characters with nicknames like “Fats” and “Soulja Boy.”

Cee-lo’s origins are murky, but it is related to a centuries-old French game called passe-dix, with a betting system similar to craps, said Gil Jacobs, the author of “World’s Best Dice Games.” Craps itself is believed to have originated in Africa and to have been brought to the United States by slaves who worked on riverboats on the Mississippi River, where it became a staple of on-board casinos, said I. Nelson Rose, who wrote “Gambling and the Law.” A version of the game, which came to be called cee-lo — the origin of the name itself is unclear — was introduced to New York by sailors and merchant marines when their ships pulled into port.

Its heyday, in the 1970s and ’80s, coincided with a time when Harlem was far grittier and crime and drugs were abundant, said William Crum, a longtime dice player and a substance abuse counselor at Black Veterans for Social Justice, a nonprofit group in Harlem that provides housing for homeless veterans. The neighborhood, he added, was a bit of an alfresco casino.

“It was part of the glitter of the streets,” Mr. Crum said. “It was a way to add a little money to your bank.”

Today, cee-lo is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere — depending on whom you ask. Over the years, police crackdowns on street gambling, as part of a broader campaign to reduce crime in Harlem and elsewhere in New York, has driven cee-lo into the shadows. Frank Galindo, the community affairs officer for the 23rd Precinct, said the police would make up to 20 street-gambling arrests a week in the neighborhood 30 years ago. Now, such arrests are just a trickle.

But just to be sure, during games of cee-lo, someone takes on the role of sentry, keeping an eye out for officers on foot or in a patrol car. Sometimes, it doesn’t work: during one recent Thursday night game, Mr. Colbert said, the men were so engrossed by the click and bounce of the dice that they didn’t notice that a patrol car had drawn near.

They were lucky: the police for some inexplicable reason didn’t seem to notice them and kept going.

Though arrests are down, the game seems very much alive, with packets of red and green clear plastic dice found on the shelves of just about every neighborhood bodega.

Cheaters can be a problem, Mr. Crum said. Some cheats prefer a method called “cuffing,” in which “loaded” dice, weighted to land on a certain number, are slipped into a pant leg and stealthily pulled out during a game. Then there are players who aren’t necessarily cheaters but will go to great lengths to gain an advantage, devoting hours, for example, to studying the trajectory of the dice in an effort to control a roll.

That’s why Tyreke Taylor, 31, a maintenance worker at Black Veterans for Social Justice, says cee-lo players rarely compete with strangers, and almost never play outside their neighborhood.

When he’s restless on a warm summer night, Mr. Taylor heads to his favorite Harlem block, where a game starts up as easily as conversation. He didn’t seem bothered by having lost $250 to a 15-year-old player the other night.

“You’ll win-lose, win-lose all day,” Mr. Colbert said. “It will be like a seesaw, up and down.”