Monthly Archives: January 2021

Brooks: The Sidney Awards – The Register-Guard

Posted: January 1, 2021 at 9:43 am

David Brooks| The New York Times

This has not been a great period for free expression. The range of socially acceptable opinion has shrunk, as independent-minded journalists and experts have been eased out of their jobs at places ranging from New York magazine to Boeing and Civis Analytics for saying unorthodox things. The esteemed scholar James R. Flynn wrote a book called In Defense of Free Speech which was in turn canceled by his publisher for being too controversial.

Fortunately, a range of people from across the political spectrum have arisen to defend free inquiry, including Noam Chomsky, Cathy Young, the University of Chicago president Robert Zimmer, Caitlin Flanagan, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Jonathan Haidt, John McWhorter, Yascha Mounk, Jonathan Rauch and magazines like Quillette and Tablet.

Rauch was the subject of an interview by Nick Gillespie in Reason magazine, called How to Tell if Youre Being Canceled, which gets the first Sidney of 2020, the awards I give out for the best long-form essays of each year. Rauch was an early vocal champion of the movement for same-sex marriage, which was led by people who, in the early years, said things that seemed shocking and offensive to others. All they had back then was their freedom of speech, Rauch observes.

In Reason, he takes up the argument that certain ideas should be unsaid because they make other people feel unsafe. The emotional safety argument, I argue, is fundamentally illiberal, and there is really nothing about it that can be salvaged. It is just inconsistent with the open society, Rauch says.

The notion here is that emotional injury is a kind of harm like physical injury, and because its a kind of harm its a rights violation. The problem is this is a completely subjective standard, and it makes any form of criticism potentially subject to censorship and cancellation and lumps science into a human rights violation.

There were many brilliant pieces written in the wake of the George Floyd killing. Ill lift up Hilton Als memoir in The New Yorker called My Mothers Dreams for Her Son, and All Black Children.

Als mother had dreamed of raising her children in a nice house in a welcoming community, and finally realized that dream in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The neighborhood changed, though, in September 1967 after riots broke out after a Black boy was shot in the back of the head by a Black detective. The Alses moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, but riots followed there, too.

The essay is partly about the long-running tension between the gradual version of social change and the more aggressive version. Als subtly makes the case that gradualism might be nice, but Black Americans are shoved back into refugee status so regularly, its really not an option.

For a time, Als thought that Black men looting and rioting had to do with enacting a particular form of masculinity: if white men and cops could wreak havoc in the world, why couldnt they? But, as I grew older, I realized that part of their acting out had to do with how we were brought up. They werent trying to be men they were already men but in order to have the perceived weight of white men they had to reject, to some degree, the silence they had learned from their mothers. If they were going to die, they were going to die screaming.

I was also drawn to Brandon Vaidyanathans Systemic Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System is Not a Myth. Writing for Public Discourse, a conservative-leaning publication, Vaidyanathan is rebutting conservative writers who argued there is no such thing as systemic racism. The core point he makes may not shock too many readers of this newspaper, but the way he does it is a glowing example of how to construct an argument. He is calm and methodical. He works up no outrage nor does he spread aspersion. He simply gathers a massive amount of data to carefully describe the contours of systemic racism, while dismantling the studies that supposedly deny it.

There were many gripping diaries written by medical personnel fighting COVID-19. I found Rana Awdishs The Shape of the Shore in Intima, among the most compelling. It not only describes the horror of working in a plague but also how hard it is to communicate that horror, even to the psychologists who were brought in to help, and who continually make the doctors and nurses feel misheard and misunderstood. At the heart of the problem were the moral injuries suffered by doctors and nurses forced to act in ways that seemed to them inhumane.

I dont recognize myself anymore. I dont know who I am here, a nurse, quoted in the essay, says. I kept a mother from her baby. I didnt allow her to nurse. I had to treat her as if she was a threat to her own child. And when the mother cried, I thought she was being so shortsighted. It was only for a few days until she tested negative. I remember thinking she was so selfish.

This was a year of both frontline heroism and appalling back-line failure. In a September article in The Atlantic called How the Pandemic Defeated America, Ed Yong describes the many, many ways our governing systems failed us.

The essay contains paragraph after paragraph of jarring incompetence. For example: Diagnostic tests are easy to make, so the U.S. failing to create one seemed inconceivable. Worse, it had no Plan B. Private labs were strangled by FDA bureaucracy. Meanwhile, [Pardis] Sabetis lab developed a diagnostic test in mid-January and sent it to colleagues in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. We had working diagnostics in those countries well before we did in any U.S. states, she told me.

This was a year when the very foundations of society seemed to be crumbling, and there were many fine essays about that. Francis Fukuyama wrote Liberalism and Its Discontents in American Purpose, which is the best single primer to the long-running debate about the liberal order.

Classical liberalism can best be understood as an institutional solution to the problem of governing over diversity, Fukuyama writes. It does this by deliberately not specifying higher goals of human life. It leaves people free to decide their own values, their own form of worship. Liberalism is thus perpetually unsatisfying to those trying to build a perfectly just or virtuous society because it is neutral about many ultimate concerns. Theres a void that often gets filled with consumerism.

Fukuyama honestly faces the shortcomings of liberalism, and then makes the core point that the alternative to slow, deliberative liberalism is inevitably some form of violence.

Tara Isabella Burton takes the argument one level deeper in her essay Postliberal Epistemology in Comment. Liberalism, she argues, was based on a view of the human person now being rejected on left and right. A person, Enlightenment liberalism holds, is essentially rational and disembodied. If people use reason properly, they will come to the same logical results.

For more and more millennials, in particular, she argues, this view is insufficient: In rendering human rationality disembodied, it also renders human beings interchangeable, reproducible, not incarnations but instantiations of a vague generic. Burtons essay takes some work, but it profoundly captures the way so many young people on left and right feel alienated from and unseen by the structures of society.

Well get back to deep think in a minute, but first a few fascinating essays that have nothing to do with the weighty issues of 2020.

First, eels are amazing. In On the Many Mysteries of the European Eel, on Lit Hub, Patrik Svensson breaks down eel life. The European eel can morph four times over the course of its life, changing color and shape. It crosses the Atlantic twice. It can live for 50 or even 80 years.

Second, men can be fools. In a piece called Dupes and Duplicity on the site Damn Interesting, Jennifer Lee Noonan writes about an 18th-century courtesan, Margaret Caroline Rudd, who went through life seducing, duping and defrauding a ceaseless variety of gullible men. With one guy, she posed as four different women, with different wardrobes and handwriting, and managed to bilk him out of four times as much money and jewelry.

Third, men can also be weirdly impressive. A man named Leon was 309 days into his westward cycling trek across Asia and through Europe, when suddenly in the deserts of Kazakhstan, he stumbled upon a man named Noel, nearly his own age, who was riding east from Europe and toward Asia. Kim Cross article, What Happens When Two Strangers Trust the Rides of Their Lives to the Magic of the Universe, in Bicycling magazine, is really about people who head out alone, with mediocre gear, to ride across two continents the motives that drive them, the adventures that befall them.

OK, back to weighty matters. In The Erosion of Deep Literacy, in National Affairs, Adam Garfinkle points out that over centuries people developed the ability to do deep reading patient, slow, creative absorption of complex plots and arguments. But technology now threatens to erode that skill, making us incapable of deep reading and thus deep understanding. In science fiction, Garfinkle writes, the typical worry is that machines will become human-like; the more pressing problem now is that, through the thinning out of our interactions, humans are becoming machine-like.

Finally, The Last Children of Down Syndrome by Sarah Zhang in The Atlantic is a subtle, fair and sensitive treatment of a very touchy subject. In Denmark, prenatal testing for Down syndrome is nearly universal and 95% of parents decide to abort the fetus when the test comes back positive, so in Denmark, parents are all but eliminating Down syndrome.

One health expert lists all the bad health outcomes associated with the syndrome, but she wonders, If our world didnt have people with special needs and these vulnerabilities, would we be missing a part of our humanity?

One mother with a child with the syndrome says she would have aborted him if she had known what it would be like. Other women are shaken as they choose to have the abortion. They realize they are not the person they thought they were the kind who would choose to have a child with a disability. The issues surrounding these decisions are complex and tender. Zhang treats them beautifully and humanely.

I have not included any political essays this year. Weve had enough politics. But I hope you get a sense of what a crisis year it has been, a year in which the foundations, norms and structures of our society seemed to be crumbling away. I hope these essays help you make sense of things and Im hoping 2021 will be so fantastic that all of next years Sidney-winning essays will be about eels.

David Brooks writes for The New York Times.

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Know the difference between facts and opinions – Gasconade County Republican

Posted: at 9:43 am

Diana James

To the Editor:Upon reading the Dec. 16 issue of The Advocate, I wanted to ensure that the difference between an opinion by a commentator and a news article by a reporter is clear to all your readers. At this point, it may not always be easy to distinguish, not like it was in the days of Edward R. Morrow and Walter Cronkite. When I was in journalism school, we learned the difference between unbiased reporting and opinions. Opinions are defined as a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Unbiased reporting is based on facts, researched and, hopefully, confirmed by at least two sources. Laura Schiermeier does a great job of reporting and writing articles for the paper. The item highlighted in For the Record is an opinion by Ralph Voss. Its unfortunate, with the current media environment, that there are a lot of opinions being presented as fact. It is unfortunate because there are so many people who believe anything in print or on a news show. It would be a nice change to have an opposing opinion piece represented in the paper as well. And, it would be nice if the facts were given by the publisher of the paper. In this way, your readers could have the facts and the opinions, and be able to form their own, more educated, opinions.I recently was reminded that our constitutional right of free speech does have limits. For example, it is unlawful to run into a crowded event and yell FIRE if there is not. Lets hope that everyone is reading these opinions will do their own research in order to know what is true and whats not, while still allowing for some freedom of speech.Diana James

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Forget Balloons and Follow South Korean Politics Properly – Foreign Policy

Posted: at 9:43 am

The first weeks of December were eventful in South Korean politics. After months of partisan jawing and committee deadlock, the ruling Democratic Party flexed its 174-seat majority in the National Assembly to pass a truly massive slate of lawsmore than 130 bills that touched on areas including government organization, corporate governance, labor rights, and climate change. But in Washington, only one bill among the 130-plus received any attention: the revision to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, the so-called anti-leaflet law that prohibits disseminating leaflets near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by launching large helium balloons in a manner that could cause serious danger.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement criticizing the bill. A Washington Post op-ed reported that Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun conveyed concerns about the legislation in his recent visit to Seoul. Amid the small club of Korea watchers in the United States, the bill was the only topic in South Korean politics that generated any significant discussion.

The singular focus on the leaflet law is a typical example of the old mindsetone Ive criticized beforethat assesses South Korea solely on the basis on how closely its North Korea policy aligns with U.S. needs. These blinkered views, disconnected from ground-level events, cause an unnecessary strain on an alliance that is far more important than just for dealing with North Korea.

Few dispute that China is this centurys greatest U.S. foreign-policy challenge. This naturally means that the U.S. ally nearest to China must be given a very high priority. If we really are in a second Cold War, South Korea is as important as West Germany was: a wealthy democracy with a twin in the communist camp, standing at the front line of the liberal world order. South Korea isnt an auxiliary player but rather deserves to be evaluated on its own termssomething thats unfortunately rare in Washington foreign-policy circles. Even among experts and think tanks that specialize in East Asia and the Koreas, there is little attempt to keep tabs on South Koreas domestic politics. Instead, its politics (and sometimes its entire democracy) is judged based on two questions only: What is South Koreas plan for North Korea, and how closely does that plan align with the U.S. plan for North Korea?

Such myopia is especially harmful today, when South Korean politics is going through a fundamental realignment similar to the ones overseen by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan in the United States. For 29 years after the end of military dictatorship in 1987, South Korea was largely a conservative country, with 19 years of conservative presidencies and 10 years of liberal ones. When liberal presidents like Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun did win, they did so by making strategic alliances with smaller conservative factions. Kim Dae-jung partnered with Kim Jong-pil, a former lieutenant of the dictator Park Chung-hee, while Roh campaigned with Chung Mong-joon, a centrist scion of the Hyundai Group. Even when they won the presidency, the liberals persistently faced a legislative minority, constricting their ability to implement a large-scale, center-left political agenda.

That era ended with the impeachment and removal of Park Geun-hye in 2017. The twilight years of Parks presidency saw the changing of the guards, as the liberals scored four national victories in a row: the 2016 legislative elections, 2017 presidential election, 2018 local elections, and the legislative elections once again in April of this year, in which the Democratic Party earned a historic, filibuster-proof majority that it applied with gusto to pass a massive slate of progressive laws. With these victories, the electoral mainstream of South Korean politics shifted decisively. Voters in their 40s, who make up nearly 20 percent of the whole voting population, support the liberal parties by a 2-to-1 margin, making South Koreas baseline electorate center-left rather than center-right. Conservatives may yet recapture the presidency, but in all likelihood, they will only be able to do so in the same way that liberals did 20 years agoby co-opting center-left issues and forming an alliance with some of the progressive factions.

This sea change, however, has been mostly lost on Washingtons Korea watchers. In December, they were content to focus on one law with no attention paid to the other 130-plus that, according to the conservative Dong-A Ilbo, effectively changed the foundation of our [South Koreas] society. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials Act, for example, is the culmination of the Moon Jae-in administrations prosecution reform, whose drama involving the Justice Ministry and the Supreme Prosecutors Office gripped South Korea for months. Revisions to the Fair Trade Act are virtually certain to trigger billions of dollars worth of restructuring in South Koreas largest corporations as they come under greater scrutiny for anti-competitive behavior. The three ILO acts represent the greatest expansion of labor union rights in decades, making South Korea catch up to the recommendations of the International Labour Organization, the United Nations agency that sets global labor standards. In fact, the leaflet law is not even the most important North Korea-related bill that passed; that would be the corresponding revisions to the National Intelligence Service Act and the Police Act, which shifted the authority to investigate espionage cases from the spy agency to the police. None of these laws drew any attention in Washington; there was no congressional statement, no op-ed, no policy paper on any of them.

This is a pity, not least because studying South Korean politics would have made the debate on the leaflet ban more rigorous and informed. Most of the criticisms against the law come from the hard-liners in Washington who characterize the leaflet ban as a weak-kneed capitulation to North Korea by the liberal Moon. But if they had been following South Korean politics, they would have known that this issue long pre-dated Moon. South Koreas restriction on launching balloons containing leaflets near the DMZ began in 2007, with even conservative Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye enforcing the restriction. They did so because the safety concern was real: The last time North Korean shells landed in South Korean territory was 2014, when the North Korean military shot anti-aircraft guns at large helium balloons launched by activists.

The activists challenged the restriction with the court and lost, as the Supreme Court of Korea held in 2016 that the danger justified the restriction. The new law is no more than a legislative ratification of the Supreme Courts decision four years ago, made more urgent today due to the risk of an inadvertent escalation into a nuclear war with North Korea. None of the criticism from the United States refers to any of this history, makes any analysis of the 2016 Supreme Court opinion, or engages with the text of the law that makes clear the ban is not a wholesale prohibitionas Article 24 of the law states, the leaflet distribution is prohibited only to the extent that it is done in a manner that causes actual harm or danger.

Greater focus on South Korean politics would have also revealed the domestic political dynamic around the balloon-launching activists, many of whom are North Koreans who escaped to the South. Many in the North Korean defector community in South Korea have joined forces with South Koreas far-right. This trend was especially pronounced during the conservative Park Geun-hye administration, which subsidized the North Korean defector groups in exchange for their flag-waving support in downtown Seoul. As a result, they mostly stayed silent when the Park administration abused North Korean defectors, by falsely charging some as spies, but now vigorously protest Moon.

Being blind to these overall political dynamics harms the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Freedom of speech for North Korea activists is an important issue, but it is not the only important issue in the alliance that serves as the lynchpin for the liberal order in the Indo-Pacific. When the U.S. government expresses concern for freedom of speech only when North Korea is involved and not when, for example, the Park Geun-hye administration blacklisted and censored some 9,000 liberal-leaning artists, including the Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-ho, South Koreans justifiably wonder if the United States supposed love for free speech is no more than a pretext to defend a hawkish stance against Pyongyang.

When the South Korean public sees U.S. experts on the Korean Peninsulawho are supposed to be well versed on these issuescavalierly dismiss the concerns of more than 1.1 million residents living near the DMZ, they feel viewed as disposable chess pieces in the game of foreign policy, not as human beings who carry on their lives in a community. The leaflet ban may deserve debate, but it should be a better, more rigorous one, with an eye on the health of the overall alliance.

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How To Stay Safe When Playing Online Casino Games – The Island Now

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When it comes to online gambling, safety is one of the major concerns. Playing in an online casino can be incredibly fun and even be a way to get a hand on some extra money, but only if you stay cautious.Of course, you cannot win all the time, but losing money from some poker game is one thing, getting scammed and having your identity stolen is something entirely else. But how can you make sure thatyou wont end up with a bad taste in your mouth? Although you can never be 100% safe, there are steps you can take to stay as safe as possible while gambling.Make sure you gamble in a licensed casinoThis is something that can easily be checked. Before you create your profile and sign in, carry out the necessary research, and determine whether the chosen casino has a valid license such as MGA or Curacao.

On the other hand, on the CasinoBros website you can find a list of legit casinos, so you just need to pick one from it and you are good to go. If you are wondering why this license is so important, you should keep in mind that every licensed online casino needs to obey a set of rules and standards, such as ensuring their clients privacy and safety.Encrypted passwordsWhen you create your account you will need to choose a password which you will then enter every time you want to sign in. Your password needs to be encrypted by the system and stored in a secure and closed database. Unfortunately, in the past, casinos stored passwords in raw form, which were then easily accessed by hackers. Luckily, nowadays the casino industry is far more developed so most casinos do not make this mistake.Choose a trusted payment methodIn order to make money, you have to invest money first. Even if the casino platform is completelysecure, you still need to make sure that you use a dependable payment option. Stick to established brands such as Visa or MasterCard. If you do not want to leave your credit card number, you can make payments via an e-wallet platform, such as Skrill or PayPal.Multiple layers of protectionIf an online casino just requires your user name and a password when carrying out a financial transaction, odds are it is not a very safe platform. Trusted online casinos will ask you to prove your identity in some way and verify that you are who you say you are. This way they are able to deter scammers, so dont be surprised even if a casino asks for a copy of your ID, such as a drivers license, passport, or an identity card. To make sure that you have given your correct address, some platforms will ask for a copy of a recent utility bill.Read the fine printEvery time you are joining a game table or requesting a bonus, make sure you read every word of the terms and conditions. It is not an interesting job but you need to be fully aware of all the details in order to make an informed decision. It often happens that a hidden catch puts a players stakes at risk.Therefore, read even the fine print so there are no nasty surprises.Take advantage of the trial periodSome online casinos offer new players a trial period that is free of cost. Since you do not invest any money during this limited period, you cannot withdraw any winnings either. However, you can use this time to get acquainted with the technology, safety framework, games, and operations and see whether you wish to invest your hard-earned money.When you are gambling online it is important to use your head at all times, not get carried away or tempted by offers that seem too good to be true. Also, keep in mind that gambling should be fun, so if it causes you more stress than excitement, step away from the keyboard and use your time more wisely.

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PA Online Casino End-of-Year Roundup: Live Dealer Games, Slots, Bonus Offers and More – Play Pennsylvania

Posted: at 9:42 am

Its been a year of growth for online casinos in Pennsylvania.

With the recent addition of BetMGM, there are now 13 online casinosin the commonwealth. The much-anticipated arrival of live dealer also occurred in the fall of 2020, much to the delight of players.

Operators regularly add games to their iGaming roster, and it can be a lot to sort through, so we highlight it for you here. If you are 21+ and physically located in PA, you can play slots, blackjack, video poker and roulette at home on your computer or mobile device. Pennsylvania is only one of four states with legal online casinos.

In a roundup of some of PlayPennsylvanias favorite iGaming sites, we break down:

New member sign-up bonus: To welcome new users, BetMGM is offering $25 in free play and a 100% deposit match, up to $1,000. It is also having a party to celebrate its arrival.

Reward Program: BetMGMs online casino is integrated with MGM Resorts M life Rewards program. There are five M life Reward Tiers. Rewards can be used at MGM resort properties nationwide, including the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Slots: 120 slot titles

Jackpot slots: MGM Grand Millions, Loot Em Khamun & The Dead Sea Scrolls, Melon Madness Deluxe, Book of Myths, Mercy of the Gods, Divine Fortune

Table and card games: Two types of blackjack, eight types of roulette, Baccarat Jacks or Better, Let It Ride

Video Poker: Game King Poker

Live Dealer:

$25 Free with No Deposit

100% Deposit Match up to $1,000

Use Bonus Code: PLAYNJFREE

New member sign-up bonus: First deposit bonus matched 100%, up to $250.

Reward program: Earn both iRush Rewards loyalty level points and bonus store points on every wager.

Slots: 176 slot titles

New slots: Bonanza Blast, Respin Rhino, Disco Danny, Double Bullseye Jackpot, Hercules High & Mighty, Mighty Black Knight, High Voltage Blackout, Ninja Gold, Treasures of the Pyramid, Lightning Horseman, Wild, Wild Gems, River Dragons, Sapphire Spin, Cash Noire, The Wolfs Bane, Rise of the Mountain King, Gorilla Kingdom, Oceans Treasure, Double Lotus, Pillars of Asgard, Blue Ribbon, Lobstermania 2

Progressive slots:

Table and card games: Two types of blackjack (min. $0.10), five types of roulette (min. $0.10), baccarat (min. $1)

Video Poker: Game King Poker

Live Dealer:

Top 5 most popular game titles in the past 30 days: Fortune Coin, Gonzos Quest Megaways, Cash Volt, Cleopatra, Rakin Bacon.

New member sign-up bonus: Risk-free 24 hours where all casino losses are covered up to $200.

Slots: 121 slot titles

New slots: Triple Red Hot 7s Free Games, Reel Steal, Rise of the Mountain King, The Big Easy, Oceans Treasure, Jack and the Beanstalk

Holiday titles: Fruit Shop Christmas Edition, Jingle Spin, Seasons 7s, DraftKings Christmas Blackjack, DraftKings Lunar New Year Blackjack

Table and card games: Players Suite Blackjack (min $1.00, max $5,000), 12 types of themed blackjack, baccarat (min. $1), Casino War (min. $0.10/max $600), Jacks or Better Double Up (min. $0.25/max. $125), Let It Ride (min .30/max. $400)

Video poker: Game King Video Poker (min $0.20)

Live Dealer:

New member sign-up bonus: 100% back on losses (up to $200 in site credit) during the first 24 hours of play.

Slots: 34 slot titles

Progressive slots:

Table and card games: Two types of blackjack (min. $0.10), three types of roulette (min. $0.10), baccarat

Video poker: Game King Video Poker (min. $0.10)

Live dealer:

New member sign-up bonus: Receive a first deposit match bonus, up to $500. Also, get $25 just for signing up.

Reward program: mychoice Rewards

Slots: 133 slot titles

Progressive slots:

Featured slot titles: Hotline 2, Zeus, Zeus God of Thunder, Zeus III, Dancing Drums, Monopoly Mega Movers, Wheel of Fortune Extreme Spin, $10,500 Cash Machine, 88 Fortunes. Hollywoods popular slot game Halloween Jack recently produced a $537K jackpot winner.

Holiday titles: Jingle Spin, Seasons 7

Table game and card games: Two types of blackjack, American roulette, baccarat, Let It Ride, Jacks or Better Double Up

Video poker: Game King Video Poker

Live Dealer:

PokerStars PA is currently the only online poker room in Pennsylvania. Players in PA can also enjoy online casino games from PokerStars.

New member sign-up bonus: The PokerStars casino welcome bundle includes a 100% match deposit bonus up to $1,500 over the first three deposits, and up to $1,000 in slot bonuses through two mystery chests.

Slots: 82 slot titles

Exclusive slots: Lion Storm, Frog of Fortune, Stars Classic, Cobra Cash, Flamin Elle, The Imperial Kitchen

Progressive slots:

Table and card games: Atlantic City Premium Blackjack, Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Double Bonus, European roulette, American roulette, Joker Poker, Triple Bonus, Baccarat, Tens or Better, Aces or Eights, Double Bonus, All-American

New member sign-up bonus: $10 free plus 100% first deposit match up to $500.

Slots: 135 slot titles

New slots: Monopoly Mega Movers, Volts and Bolts, Trollpot 5000, Starmania, Mad Mad Monkey, Mighty Black Knight, Montezuma, Pillars of Asgard, Bruce Lee, Disco Danny, Hotline 2, Kronos Unleashed

Progressive slots: Divine Fortune, Mercy of the Gods, Jackpot Shores

Table and card games: Blackjack, Philadelphia Eagles blackjack, American roulette, European roulette (plus Diamond Series Exclusive), French roulette, Roulette Advanced, baccarat, Let It Ride (new), video poker (Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Game King Video Poker, Deuces and Jokers Wild, Jacks or Better Double Up)

Live dealer: Blackjack, roulette

New member sign-up bonus: 100% first deposit match up to $500.

Slots: 22 slot titles

New slots: Astro Cat, Respin Rhino, Fu Dao Le

Table and card games: Blackjack, American roulette, Casino War, Let It Ride, four-card poker

Live Dealer:

Other Pennsylvania online casinos include:

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PA Online Casino End-of-Year Roundup: Live Dealer Games, Slots, Bonus Offers and More - Play Pennsylvania

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Why to Play at Online Casino Judi – One of the Top Reasons to Play at Online Casino – – VENTS Magazine

Posted: at 9:42 am

The reasons to play at Judi Casino are many. The games are all based around baccarat and video poker and are a lot of fun to play. I have been to the top slots in the world and seen the pros at work and they look like they have fun just winning, ha. There are several reasons to play at judi slot online Casino as well.

The main reason to play at situs slot online Casino is the bonuses they give their players. These bonuses can be huge. I have won a small amount of cash at the casino. That alone was worth the visit. If you are looking to win some serious money then this is one of your best options. Moreover there are no real financial limits as they are all based on what you spend so there is nothing to lose.

Another reason to play at online casino Judi is the promotions that they have going on. The jackpots are very high at times and they are enticing to everyone to play. Moreover, at times there are daily specials, which are great as well.

Judi has one of the largest video poker chips in the world. They even have a few versions of Texas Holdem poker as well. This is one of the biggest casino video poker chips around and one that you will see a lot of action at. Moreover, if you are lucky enough to win a few hands you can walk out with some real money.

Lastly, the promotions that they have going on are fantastic. There are all sorts of contests going on and they give people a chance to win big money. Moreover, there are often big player bonuses as well. When you play at online casino Judi, it will be good to know what the best times are to play so that you do not miss any of the action.

Playing free games will let you explore the features of the casino without paying any of your winnings. Choosing a good casino is very important, because you want to make sure that you will get the most out of your gaming experience.

If you want to choose online casinos that offer tips to choose online casinos, you should use some of the suggestions above. These tips will help you increase your chances of enjoying your gaming experience, and you will not have to worry about losing any money while playing. Just remember to take your time and play in the casinos that you have chosen before depositing money into your online casino account.

With all of these reasons to play at online casino Judi, it is easy to see why it is so popular. It is a great way to enjoy yourself while you are having fun at a favorite site. Moreover, you will find that there is plenty to keep you busy as well. You may even want to start a second career with it and work as a dealer at one of the tables!

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The status of online casino legislation in Peru – Times of Malta

Posted: at 9:42 am

Peru is a niche gambling market you may have not heard about. However, the country has done everything in its power to make gambling legislation as easy as these things can get, and it has succeeded.

There has been a string of decrees passed, the first one of which dating back to 1979 followed by a string of legislation from 1991 on in. All of these laws contributed to the ultimate goal of establishing Peru as one of the most liberal gaming markets in the world.

As you can imagine, this extends to online casinos which are welcome and represented by various global brands that have chosen Peru as their home. Regulated by the General Directorate of Casino Games and Slot Machines (DGJCMT) under the control of Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), Peru's gambling law has been doing well.

While much progress has been made in the 1990s, it wasn't until 2008 that Peru's online gambling and brick-and-mortar industries truly picked up some steam enjoying a liberal approach towards the entire industry.

Peru began endorsing private brands and allowing them to operate so long as they were able to provide and meet the necessary consumer protection standards the government has set out through its regulatory arms.

This led to the arrival of Betsson, one of the largest British gambling brands, which has been present all over Latin America and Peru is no exception today. The company was the first to obtain a license in the country, with more following,

More importantly, though, having a clear-cut regulatory framework has allowed to evolve and allow residents to enjoy various casinos online in Peru. In fact, players may participate in various gambling products even if the website in question does not hold a license, but regulators advise against it due to the lack of a proper license.

Yes, online casinos are perfectly legal in Peru and they are part of the country's growing gambling industry. As a resident of Peru, you may participate in all types of gambling, including online casinos, but also join the gaming floors of brick-and-mortar facilities.

The only condition for players is to be of the legal age and not to be self-excluded from gambling due to problems with managing their addiction, for example. Other than that, Peru has consumer-friendly laws on regulating gambling, that make KYC and AML checks a piece of cake.

Now, one minor thing that must be mentioned here is that the US Department of Treasure was a little skeptical of how Peru regulated its gambling industry, according to a Wikileaks document dating back to 2009.

Peru did bring up a new online gambling regulatory bill to tighten controls around 2017, but presently, the country's regulatory limbo remains the same, albeit players who pick good casino brands can expect and enjoy an accomplished array of online casino gaming options.

Peru has one of the most diverse banking systems when it comes to online casinos. Peruvians have the good fortune to choose from a whole lot of excellent payment options when playing online, including Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, and other intuitive payment methods.

Cryptocurrencies are only beginning to make their mark on the country, but they are also being adopted rapidly across South America. Peru's casinos offer quick deposits and withdrawals and make money transfers to and from the casino website simple enough for consumers to be happy with.

Interestingly, the Nuevo Sol, which is the national currency, is a bit of a niche, and players will actually go the lengthier road of converting their money in euro or US dollars, which makes Peru one of the few gambling industries where residents do not use their native currency to play with.

Peru has modernised its gambling industry significantly. Choosing a non-interventionist approach, the country has made it possible for overseas brands to arrive and offer fair competition in the country, prompting fair conditions for consumers.

Yet, Peru can optimise and help its industry by regulating it a little closer so as to reassure skeptics that it is doing a proper job. Latin America is the next big frontier for online casinos as a whole, and other jurisdictions may learn from Peru's example with a few caveats here and there.

Disclaimer: Play responsibly. Players must be over 18. For help visit https://www.gamcare.org.uk/.

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Rabbit Entertainment: Speed put us ahead in this industry – Casino Beats

Posted: at 9:42 am

Speed, according to Neil Ferris, head of casino at Rabbit Entertainment is what has put the company ahead within the industry over the last 12 months.

The industry has had to overcome various well documented hurdles over the year, with numerous lessons being learnt throughout this unexpected period, yet Rabbit Entertainment ended 2020 with a high note winning big at the SBC Awards.

Speaking following the firms receipt of the Rising Star in Casino, Ferris explained that the company has reshaped the business and have proximity to the platform and developers, and this gives us a significant competitive advantage.

For Rabbit Entertainment, being selected for the Rising Star in Casino award shortlist created a lot of excitement within our growing team, the SBC judges helped to independently acknowledge the great strides we have made over the past year.

To then be chosen by the judges from that shortlist to take the Rising Star in Casino Award gave our team an even bigger boost, in a market so fast-moving, with so many restrictions, tougher competition, and an ever-changing regulatory landscape, I can definitely say that our close collaboration and proximity to our platform and aggregator United Remote was surely part of the judges thinking process in what set us apart as an award-winner.

I am convinced that the judges saw that we have no geographical or communication boundaries with our platform provider and this certainly gave us an edge. In addition, Lapalingos partners cover some of the worlds biggest providers, to more experimental and boutique producers, giving Lapalingo a highly-differentiated gaming experience which also no doubt proved popular with the SBC Awards judges.

Nowadays, players prefer to place their bets anywhere anytime using a mobile rather than waiting to get home and do it on a desktop, laptop or tablet

Rabbit Entertainment, asserts itself as a mobile-first focus while offering a range of online casino games including slots, table games, keno, video poker and live casino. This alone, according to Ferris, gives the company an advantage in being able to offer significant benefits to players.

He continued: Nowadays, players prefer to place their bets anywhere anytime using a mobile rather than waiting to get home and do it on a desktop, laptop or tablet. In addition, with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are new preferences for live casino.

Eighty per cent of our players choose to play via mobile so strategically mobile is at the centre of every decision we make. This is the driver for mobile-first. Our mission is to eventually offer a better mobile-based brand experience than others. Currently, we are working on having a good competitive mobile product and a relevant brand experience for our players.

Frankly, with wider adoption of mobile devices, the trend is for users to expect exactly the same from mobile as they expect from a desktop or tablet. This trend is opening the market for more potential players and we are responding to this with adjustments to our technology, software and user interfaces.

Whilst this is very much a work-in-progress, we have made progress this year and we are confident that we can continue to devote resources to ramp up our capability in this important area.

The enhanced mobile environment also calls for a lot more diversification so we have intensified our offer to over 2000 casino games. The fact that mobile devices now support reliable deposit and withdrawal methods, app security and top-quality internet connectivity only enhances the power of mobile gambling even further.

One of the many hurdles that faced the industry during 2020 was the heightened focus on responsible gaming, particularly due to the impact of nationwide lockdowns on vulnerable players.

the trend is for users to expect exactly the same from mobile as they expect from a desktop or tablet

When asked on what procedures are in place to ensure that responsible gaming remains a central focus throughout the company Ferries explained: We take responsible gaming very seriously at Rabbit Entertainment, and use it as an opportunity to create a sustainable business that puts consistency at its core.

Rabbit Entertainment and its brands lapalingo.de and lordlucky.de are the first and only independently certified entities to provide virtual slots in conformity with Germanys forthcoming regulations, the first company to achieve this status via its platform provider United Remote.

As a result, the offering of Rabbit Entertainment on lapalingo.de and lordlucky.de, based on the platform provided by United Remote, is the first vertical offering Virtual Slots which has been certified by TV AUSTRIA Group as compliant with the new German regulation (Glckspielstaatsvertrag).

This puts player protection front and forward, seriously emphasising a commitment to responsible gaming, while creating a safe environment for players to enjoy the entertainment experience to the full.

The conformity statement issued by TV TRUST IT GmbH certifies the vertical offering is already compliant with the requirements of the forthcoming Inter-State Treaty on Gambling in Germany, based on the currently established Tolerance Period. TV AUSTRIA Group is the neutral, objective and independent partner for consulting and certification services.

In addition, we hit the milestone ISO 27001 certification in October which defines the highest standards for data privacy and protection and is highly respected by numerous regulatory bodies. United Remote has shown the proper policies, procedures and controls are in place to comply with the requirements of the international standard for information security management ISO/IEC 27001:2013.

Rabbit Entertainment has a strong player base and we will be driving significant focus on profitable verticals

Ferris noted that 2020 has taught his company how to become resilient and discovered that its team spirit is strong while not taking things for granted. Now with both eyes firmly fixed on 2021, Ferris provided a glimpse into what people can expect from Rabbit Entertainment.

Rabbit Entertainment plans to invest in infrastructure, expand in key markets, and continue to focus on achieving operational excellence in a regulated environment, he concluded

Rabbit Entertainment has a strong player base and we will be driving significant focus on profitable verticals.

We will also build on the companys strategy to reshape releasing further potential, including capitalising on the certification in Germany and as the winner of Best Rising Star in Casino at the prestigious SBC Awards. The business is entering a new phase and our CEO Tal Zamstein has identified a number of actions necessary to further strengthen the companys position.

Both Lapalingo and Lord Lucky have universal appeal that will help our business go from strength-to-strength and we look forward to building on that legacy further with a focused multi-brand strategy in our key markets.

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Holiday Halloween Jack-Pot! Half Million-Dollar Win Tops Off Big Year for PA Online Slots – PA Online Casino

Posted: at 9:42 am

It was quite the Christmas bonus.

One online casino player in Pennsylvania was spinning a Halloween Jack slot game on December 16 at Hollywood Online Casino. The game is considered NetEnts spookiest slot, with free spins and features that include something called the Expanding Death Reaper Wild.

And for a player named Randy, the scary slot brought the most pleasant dreams. When one of his spins stopped, Halloween Jack produced a jackpot of $537,000.

This has been our biggest jackpot win so far, Rich Criado, general manager of iCasino for Penn National Gaming, said in a news release.

Were thrilled that this player was able to go into the holiday season and 2021 with more than half a million dollars in the bank!

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Halloween Jack and many other casino games (including blackjack, Dancing Drums and 88 Fortunes) are available on HollywoodCasino.com on desktop and mobileplatforms. Randy was playing via Android when the jackpot arrived.

There is also a free-to-play version of Halloween Jack available on Penn National Gamings social casino site, mychoice Casino, which is available in the GooglePlay Store or in the App Store nationwide.

The calendar year 2020 will live in infamy, but in regard to online jackpots, it was a banner year especially for Divine Fortune players. Here are some of the highlights:

The design of Divine Fortune should continue to reward its players in the new year as well. Unlike some other progressive jackpot slot games, Divine Fortune emphasizes a high return to players (RTP) of 96.8%. The slots volatility rating is also considered medium, which means it produces more consistent winners.

In addition, based on the rate at which the jackpot consistently climbs, the prized slot is still gaining popularity among online casino players in Pennsylvania.

So as the year 2020 turns to 2021, the excitement provided by Divine Fortune should continue.

There will be more winners. And more jackpots too.

And perhaps some more people like Randy, who hit the big one just in time for the holidays.

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BetMGM Sportsbook Recaps Biggest Betting Wins, Parlays and More From 2020 – Play Pennsylvania

Posted: at 9:41 am

The BetMGM sportsbook app arrived in Pennsylvania on Dec. 17, a few weeks after the launch of the companys online casino.

The response to BetMGM Casino in Pennsylvania has been incredible, and were thrilled to bring our best-in-class sports betting offering to the Keystone State, said Adam Greenblatt,BetMGM CEO.

PAs newest sportsbook provided a betting recap of 2020 that included big bets, parlays and more from users across the eight states where the sportsbook is available.

Although BetMGM was not available in PA at the time, the Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia Eagles game on Nov. 30posted the third-largest handle of any single game in 2020.

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States with the BetMGM app with the highest handle in 2020:

Jason Scott, VP of Trading, BetMGM, commented in an email:

COVID wreaked havoc on the 2020 sporting calendar, which was challenging for both bookmakers and bettors. Despite the pandemic, the 2020 sporting season was a great success. We expect continued growth with betting now available in Indiana, West Virginia, Tennessee and Colorado, as well as further development in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

At BetMGM, sports with the biggest increase in betting action this year were MMA, golf and soccer.

College football biggest-winning parlay bet

Lead image credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

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BetMGM Sportsbook Recaps Biggest Betting Wins, Parlays and More From 2020 - Play Pennsylvania

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