Category Archives: Blackjack

If you invest or pursue the game of blackjack competitively, the name Edward Thorp might ring familiar. For the average person, Edward Thorp is largely unknown. From inventing the first wearable computer to devising a system of beating the casino in blackjack, anybody in the gambling world should be familiar with the man who laid the foundation for modern card counting.

While his father was deployed in World War II, his mother had to pick up a job at a factory to help make ends meet. With his new-found alone time, Thorp began tinkering around the house and picking up different hobbies like chess and crafting explosives.

Thorp and his family relocated to Lomita, California, where, despite attending one of the worst rated schools in the area, he continued to thrive academically. Thorp went on to get his masters from UCLA in 1955.

While working as a professor at MIT, Thorp found that games like roulette were almost impossible to beat due to each of the spins being independent of each other. However, after having his interest piqued with a statistical journal article about blackjack, he found that the game could be beaten.

With the help of an IBM 704 computer and the Kelly criterion, a formula developed in 1956 to find the ideal bet size, Thorp devised the 10 count blackjack system. He and fellow mathematician and gambling friend Claude Shannon also devised the first wearable computer to give players an advantage, a piece of technology that is now illegal.

After being backed for $10,000 by Manny Kimmel, the two went to Las Vegas for a weekend. After leaving with a profit of $11,000, Thorp was sure his system was sound. The math prodigy decided to move to Vegas to rack up the profits, but was soon banned from a number of Vegas casinos.

As a result, Thorp had devised a number of disguises to gain him entry into casinos. He even maintained a notebook to keep track of his wide array of disguises. According to Thorp, casinos would continuously serve him alcohol to stifle his winning ways. He even claims that his car had been tampered with.

The content of the book ranges from tips on recognizing cheating to card-counting strategies. The book went on to sell over 700,000 copies and notched itself on the New York Time Bestseller List.

With the inception of the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2002, Thorp was rightly inducted on his first ballot due to his contributions to the strategy of the popular casino game.

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Edward Thorp: The Best Gambler of All Time - HighstakesDB

Blackjack is a popular card game that punters from all over the world have enjoyed for many decades.

The introduction of online casinos, in particular, has played a key role in popularizing the game as it made the game more accessible than in the days where casino gaming was limited to brick-and-mortar establishments. Nowadays, punters can play for real money anytime and place, right from their mobile devices. According to a 2020 BBC report, blackjack's popularity alongside that of other online casino games is projected to soar to great heights.

Looking at the number of punters who actively play the game, the income they generate from blackjack, and the reviews they get from their clients, blackjack undoubtedly stands out as one of the best casino games. That explains the fact that the number of online casinos that feature blackjack games is constantly rising, which makes it even more crucial for players to pick the best online casino blackjack sites standing in this niche which provides trustworthy and legal platforms for blackjack enthusiasts.

Blackjack tends to be a lot popular in some countries. Here is a list of some of the nations where blackjack is played most.

Especially among people between 30 and 49 years of age blackjack is one of the most played casino games in the United States, in both online and land-based casinos. It is almost impossible to find a major casino that does not offer blackjack. One of the many interesting things about blackjack in the US is that most casinos provide many blackjack variations, and almost each of them seems to be popular. Some of the unique variations include Vegas Strip Blackjack, Atlantic City Blackjack, and Blackjack Switch.

Malta is another top destination known by many punters as an online casino paradise. The country has relaxed gambling rules for casino operators and players alike. The casino operators do require an operating license from the government, but the qualifications for the operating permit are not very tough.

That is among the reasons many international online casinos base themselves in this country. The Maltese citizens have also grown to love gambling as a result. Blackjack is among the most popular game they play. The game also attracts numerous tourists to the country. Reliable reports indicate that a significant portion of Malta's GDP comes from gambling, specifically online gaming.

The casino industry in the UK has been booming over the last few years. In 2018, the total revenue in the country from the casino industry was approximately 14.5 billion. The government reported 5.6 billion of that amount was from online casino gaming. Despite the restrictive regulations set for legal gambling in the country and the effects of the covid-19, which saw UK gambling revenues fall in 2020-2021, the industry is set to realize the past' record numbers.' Owing to blackjack's popularity in the UK, it is understood that a sizeable amount of casino revenues comes from blackjack.

Spain is home to a flurry of blackjack punters. Blackjack's popularity in the country can be attributed to the lack of prohibitive restrictions. In light of this, both citizens and tourists can play whichever online casino games they please. Like in other countries, online casino players enjoy vast options. Whether at a land-based casino or the comfort of a luxury hotel with integrated casino, blackjack is one of the most played casino games in the country.

According to reports, Italy has the second-largest online casino market in the entire European continent. The industry is also doing quite well, with profits increasing exponentially over the last decade. The laws in Italy do favour online gaming, but with very strict regulations. That is probably why the industry is thriving. The stiff competition among the local online casinos helps to ensure that punters get the best. The casinos offer a wider range of unique games, including many variations of blackjack.

Ireland legalized online gambling quite recently, attracting a lot of attention from punters. Citizens and visitors alike are taking advantage of the conducive online gambling environment to enjoy their favourite games. Some of the gambling values are borrowed from the neighbouring country, the UK. Because of how popular blackjack is in the UK, it has also become quite popular in Ireland. The many tourists who visit the country have also contributed to the growing popularity of the game.

France is well-known for its gambling culture. Even some casino games are historically known to have originated from the country, blackjack being one of them. The popularity of blackjack grew even further in the 90s when online casinos hit the world. France is also known as a major tourist destination, where punters from all over the world visit to enjoy playing blackjack from where it originated.

Curacao is another place where many punters enjoy blackjack. The gambling laws are quite friendly to gambling providers. The gambling operators need only one license to operate legally, irrespective of whether they run an online casino or sportsbook. The taxation rates are also friendly. The operators can thus afford to offer the best RTP rates for blackjack, which attracts many punters.

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Blackjack Worldwide: Where Do Gamblers Play Blackjack Most? - FTNnews.com

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Timeline Television and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) have been awarded international production and distribution contracts for the Bahrain horseracing 2021-22 season at Sakhir Racecourse, following a competitive tender process.

Timeline, a major provider of outside broadcast, post-production, and studio-based services to all major UK networks, will provide broadcast facilities and crew to provide world-class race coverage for 10 fixtures, primarily for simulcast operators.

RMG, owned by 34 racecourse shareholders and responsible for a range of horseracing media rights businesses, will be producing a one-hour world feed programme for international broadcasters for the three feature races, the Bahrain International Trophy today (November 19) and the first and final races of the Bahrain Turf Club series on December 10 and February 18.

The undoubted highlight of the Bahrain racing season is the 500,000 Bahrain International Trophy, which has attracted a top-quality field of horses, hailing from as many as six different countries. RMG has secured widespread global coverage of the race, which will be available to view in 130 countries via broadcasters such as Fox Sports in the US, ESPN in Latin America and Caribbean, and SuperSport in Africa.

Executive Director at the Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club, Sheikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, said: We are delighted to have secured the services of two world-class media companies in Timeline TV and Racecourse Media Group, who will greatly assist in taking the television production and delivery of Bahrain horseracing to the next level.

Dan Storr, Senior Broadcast Engineer of Timeline, said: Timeline is looking forward to bringing an exciting new look to racing in Bahrain and working closely with our long-term partners Racecourse Media Group.

Seb Vance, Director of Communications and International TV distribution for Racecourse Media Group, added: Bahrain is fast becoming one of the real superpowers in horseracing and were honoured that Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club have appointed RMG and our partners Timeline TV to provide a world-class broadcast solution, as befits the quality of racing on the track.

Timeline and RMG will also be tapping into the local production expertise of Bahrain TV, while on-screen graphics will be provided by MOOV. Timeline is providing a bespoke OB facility to provide an onsite broadcast operation centre.

Racecourse Media Group and Timeline have a long-established relationship. Both companies are now in their seventh season of producing and distributing the horseracing for the Dubai Racing Club, which stages the most valuable festival in the world, the $40m Dubai World Cup Carnival, and will apply similar world-class treatment to the horseracing output in Bahrain. Timeline Television has also built and run the playout facilities for Racecourse Media Groups TV channel, Racing TV, in Ealing Studios, West London since 2012.

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The jewel of Ezugi now launched exclusive Blackjack Salon Priv - European Gaming Industry News

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Online casino gaming can be exciting and pretty simple so long as you sign up to an online site first! The tricky part however, is deciding which game to play next, since there are so many to choose from.

If youre looking for a traditional table game, then youll find all the variations that you could possibly dream of, including some exciting game-changers, like Blackjack Switch and Poker Lobby Live.

Blackjack and Poker are some of the most popular table games available on UK online casino sites and you might be considering playing one of them on your next visit to an online casino.

Read on, as we help you to decide which of these games to play next!

Blackjack

If youre a beginner and have just joined an online casino site, you may have avoided table games, or afraid that you might not understand the rules involved. However, the majority of table games are actually really simple and Blackjack is one of the easiest to get the hang of.

The aim of the game is to beat the dealer and to do this, youll want to form a hand that has a value as close to 21 as possible, without exceeding it.

Thankfully, there are plenty of videos online to help you to learn the ins and outs of Blackjack. You could also try a free demo game on an online site, to practice without spending any of your own cash.

Once you feel comfortable, you could try out all of the Blackjack variants on offer, including Live Blackjack, where you can play in real time, in the company of a professional dealer.

Poker

Although Poker is classed as a sport and there are professionals who are highly skilled players of the game, the outcome is predominantly determined by luck.

The most popular form of Poker is No Limit Texas Holdem and in this game, each player is dealt two cards, which lie face down on the table. These cards are known as the two-hole cards and after you receive these, five community cards will be placed on the table.

To win a game of Poker, you will have to use your hole cards and community cards to make up the most valuable hand possible. The player with the most lucrative hand will win the jackpot.

The thing that sets amateur players apart from their professional counterparts is a deep and innate understanding of the game, which helps players to manipulate the outcome in their favour.

Of course, you cant hope to be a master of Poker on your first attempt, but the more you play, the better you will understand the classic game and who knows maybe one day youll be a pro!

Whether youre a fan of the Slots, traditional table games, or a new gaming hybrid like Slingo, youll find exactly what youre looking for when you browse the online casino lobby. You might be trying to choose between Blackjack and Poker, but you dont have to play both! Just maybe not at the same time

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Which Online Game Will You Play Next? - News Anyway

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Promotions are always on offer at Ruby Fortune, with some great cashback deals on offer for table games players along with regular reload bonuses. The addition of two different loyalty schemes also ensures that the rewards on offer are well worth your time spent wagering here. With many years experience in the business, you only need look at their history to know that this developing online casino is trustworthy and reliable while offering plenty of fast payouts too! Theyre one of the few online casinos that accepts players from the United States, Canada and Australia (more on this later) so you can be sure of a safe, secure gaming experience each time you log on.

As well as the usual games such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat and craps plus video poker titles, Ruby Fortune has some interesting additions to their game library with some quality slots including Tomb Raider, Gladiator, Spartacus Blood and Sand, Rocky, The Mummy, X-Men. All Playtechs best are available here.

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Free Blackjack Game Overview

Welcome to this online blackjack page where you can play the best free blackjack games. The benefits of playing online are that you can learn blackjack rules in no rush and there is no actual monetary loss if you lose! You can click the menu button on the top right corner to read the rules. What's best: We also automatically save your game so you can come back anytime to play blackjack online! Remember, you don't win because you are closer to the value of 21 -- you win because your combined value of the cards is greater than that of dealer.

1. When the value of dealer's revealed card is 4,5 or 6, it may be fruitful to double your bet with an Ace and 4 in hand.

2. You may want to surrender if you have 16 in your hand while the dealer has a 9,10 or A.

3. You should always split if you have a pair of Aces.

4. If you get a pair of 7s, only press hit if the dealer has 8,9,10 or Ace.

Play Blackjack for free now to test whether the strategy works!

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Online Blackjack | Instantly Play 21 Blackjack for Free

The double-down meaning in blackjack is simple to understand, yet not always so easy to play profitably. Its a way to get more money in play when you think your hand is strong. But with that comes the risk of losing more than you would have done had you played out your hand in the normal way.

Some players think of doubling down as a sort of side bet and use it sparingly. But its a key part of the main game of blackjack, and you should introduce it to your strategy to improve your chances of making a profit over a session at TwinSpires Casino.

When you play blackjack, you get two cards and see only the upcard of the dealers hand. Once you assess the comparative strength of the dealer against your cards, you can decide how you wish to play the hand.

The most common moves are standing and taking no further action or hitting and receiving a third card. If your two cards are the same value, you might also elect to split and play them as separate hands.

But you also have the option to double down if you think your hand is strong or if the dealer seems weak.

To do so, you simply double up your initial bet. So, if you bet $5 at the start of the hand, you add another $5 to receive your next card. Hopefully, you are now in a position of strength, and your hand either beats the dealer, or the dealer goes on to bust.

If you double down and win the hand, you win 1:1 on your money. In our example, you ended up betting $10 on the hand, getting $20 back, including your stake.

While this seems like a happy state of affairs, the risk is clearly that if you double down and receive a terrible third card, you could end up losing the hand and saying goodbye to twice as much as your usual bet.

Lets say your starting two cards totaled 11 the perfect hand to double down with (unless the dealers upcard is an ace.) Your hope is that because 10 is the most common value in the deck, you will end up with a total of 21. Even getting a seven, eight, or nine as a third card is not terrible. But what if you get a three, four, or five? Now you have one of those difficult totals of 14, 15, or 16 and will be vulnerable.

In most casinos, live and online, you will receive only one more card when you double down. Whatever its value, that is your finishing total. However, some places will allow you to double down, take a third card, and take another if you wish.

As ever, check the rules at the table before you play so that you know what to expect.

Whether you play online or at a local casino, the simplest thing to do is print out one of the blackjack hand charts that you can download for free online (search blackjack hand chart in Google images, for example).

You will notice that the optimum time to double down is fairly limited, which makes sense because you dont want to splash your money around for no good reason. These are the spots you should look for:

Soft totals, where you have an ace in your hand, play differently, so your total can be one of two numbers.

The only other time you should consider doubling down is if you receive two fives. You should not split in this instance but double down, treating your hand as ten, so you can double down in all cases unless the dealer has a ten or ace.

While at first sight, you might be reluctant to double down and risk more money, its a profitable play so long as you only do it in the circumstances outlined in this article.

You can try it for yourself at TwinSpires Casino today. Sign up for your account, make your first real money deposit, and claim your welcome bonus. You can then explore the random number generated animated table games or try blackjack with real dealers in the live dealer games section. Good luck!

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What is Double Down in Blackjack? Definition, rules, and payouts - BetAmerica Extra

Hawaii is considered to be one of the most expensive places to live in the world. In simple terms, Hawaiian people often live paycheck to paycheck to meet their needs. Most people also look out for part-time jobs to meet their needs.

Poland has got world-famous casinos both offline and online known for having najlepsze gry hazardowe. There are various online tournaments organized where you can gamble and take huge cash home.

You have to be careful while playing at online casinos as there are many hazard games at online casinos that might cause harm to you.

Before playing at the online casino make sure you do research properly about the online casino at which you are playing. The top online gambling tips can help you really with the gambling experience.

Here are some cool online games that you can play while living in Hawaii and make money online in them.

Poker is a world-famous casino game available both offline and online. This game is not only popular in land-based casinos but it is quite famous in the online world too.

There are specially dedicated apps for poker and online casinos where you can win real money. You can play it just as a game but there is a lot more potential in it if you play poker online to make some real money.

Blackjack is not different from poker, in terms of popularity. Blackjack is one of the best casino games that you can play offline and online. You can play online blackjack at an online casino, that can make you a real money payout.

Slots are super addictive while taking in terms of their gameplay and popularity. Slots are so easy to play, whether you play offline or online. It can make you lots of money without even realizing that you made so much of it.

Slots are considered to be the same in terms of making money like in poker or blackjack. These online slots can make you so much money, which you can pay out as real money in your accounts.

Beforehand, just make sure that online casinos must have a valid license. If the online casino has got its valid license then you are all set to go.

Roulette is another fun and thrilling game on our list of games that can make you real money online by playing online casino games. Although it is a complete game of chance, you can change the winning odds by making the right decision on what to bet on.

You can find roulette in both online and offline casinos, after reaching a certain amount of winnings, you can take the cash out in your hand.

Baccarat is more of a game like blackjack, but the only difference is it is more of a game of chance. In blackjack, you can have a strategy that can make you fall in the highest winning odds to win the game.

But in baccarat, it is unlikely to have a space for strategy as it is completely based on chance. Playing baccarat in an online casino can make you a huge amount of winnings based on your bet and luck.

Playing casino games at online casinos is the best way to make some cash while playing and having a fun time. It is more like shooting two birds with one bullet, therefore it is beneficial for you as you get a real money that you can use for your fruitful purposes.

Besides these games, there are plenty of other games that you can explore and they can also make you win big chunks of money. If you really want to get a big hand then try to play at online tournaments that have big jackpots as their prizes as they can make your winnings huge by multiple times.

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How to live in Hawaii and make money online? - Hawaii Army Weekly

Wrangel Island sits north of the Siberian cost in the harsh Arctic waters of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas. Surrounded by ice for much of the year and buffeted by fierce cyclonic winds throughout it, it is the last known redoubt of the woolly mammoth and is the site of the highest concentration of polar bear dens in the world.

It was also the site of one of the most quixotic and ill-fated Arctic expeditions in history. In 1921, five people landed here and ignited a diplomatic incident; two years later, only one survived to tell the story: a 25-year-oldIupiatwoman called Ada Blackjack.

The expedition was the brainchild of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a Manitoba-born Arctic explorer who railed against the notion of the northern polar region being an inhospitable wasteland, promoting it instead as The Friendly Arctic. Although Wrangel was Russian territory, the fact that it was uninhabited meant that, in Stefanssons eyes, it would be possible to claim it for Canada or the United Kingdom, a dream seemingly motivated by the vision of transforming it into an air base for future pan-Arctic flights.

He recruited four young men for the taskthree Americans and a Canadian who would be the nominal leader to give the team standing to make a territorial claim. After leaving Seattle on August 18, 1921, they arrived in Nome, Alaska, to secure passage to Wrangel for the four men and theIndigenous Alaskansthey expected to hire to accompany them. Although they were, after some effort, able to find a ship that would take them to their destination, all theIupiatfamilies who had expressed interest in being hired ultimately refused to go, leaving Ada Blackjack as the only one on the dock as they prepared to depart.

The plan was for theIupiatto provide essential hunting and survival skillsskills that Ada did not have.Originally Ada Deletuk, Ada Blackjack was born in 1898in the Native settlement of Spruce Creek, Alaska. She had been sent by her mother at an early age to Nome, where she had been raised by Methodist missionaries, who taught her to read, write and cook white peoples food. She had become an expert seamstress, and her skills at making fur clothing would prove invaluable.

Stefansson had promised her $50 a month during her time on the expedition, far more than she could make otherwise. And it was money she needed: she had divorced her husband, Jack Blackjack, whom she had married at 16, after he beat her and starved her and eventually abandoned her; of the three children she had borne him, two had died and the survivor, Bennett, had chronic tuberculosis and lived in an orphanage because she could not afford to take care of him herself.

Even so, she was understandably nervous about going. For one thing, she had a deep-rooted fear of polar bears. A visit to a shaman in Nome did not exactly assuage her anxieties: death and danger lay ahead, the shaman told her, and she should be watchful of fire and knives.

She also did not think it right for her to travel alone to a remote island with four men and they in turn considered it unseemly to travel with a single femalebut she had given her word, and she was assured they would hire more Inuit during a stop in Siberia. And so, on September 9, they set forth20-year-old Canadian Allan Crawford; Americans Lorne Knight and Fred Maurer, both 28, and Milton Galle, 19; Blackjack; and the expedition kitten, Vic, presented to the men by the crew of the ship that had brought them to Nome.

One week later, they arrived on Wrangela brief port of call in Siberia having failed to produce anyInuit reinforcementsand Ada immediately felt overwhelmed by what lay ahead. As the men raised the Union Jack and declared the island to be a British possession, she walked to the beach, her eyes on the departing ship, and cried.

Even so, the weather was surprisingly mild, and the team soon settled into a rhythm. After a couple of weeks, however, the situation took a turn. Ada, painfully homesick and frightened, became withdrawn. Every sight of the mens knives terrified her, convinced as she was by the shamans warning. She knew none of the men particularly wanted her there and that they all regretted taking her, and was convinced that Knight was going to kill her.

She walked off into the snow one day with a bottle of liniment that she planned to drink to kill herself; on another occasion, she followed fox tracks away from the camp because she believed that there were spirits that disguised themselves as foxes and if she could find them, she would be treated kindly. Her cooking and sewing became sporadic, and in response the men at first tried coaxing her, then mocked her, then turned to denying her food, forcing her to stay outside in the cold, and even tying her to the flagpole. At one point, they threatened to whip her.

As winter drew in tightly, Adas mood appeared to lighten as the mens sagged; she threw herself into work and the five united to survive the dark, cold months, to stay fed and warm, and to deter the polar bears that stalked the camp. They looked forward to summer and the arrival of a relief ship; but even as summer marched on, peaked, and passed, the icy barrier around the island remained, and the ship that Stefansson had dispatched from Alaska was unable to reach them.

The return of winter saw the group struggling, not just emotionally but physically. Notwithstanding Stefanssons promises that game would be plentiful, much of their would-be prey, foxes, seals and bears, had moved elsewhere on the island. They began to weaken, especially Knight, who had fallen ill while on a solo exploration that fall and was showing signs of scurvy. Finally, in January 1923, with temperatures plummeting to minus 50 degrees, Crawford, Maurer, and Galle set out across the sea ice toward Siberia, intending to raise the alarm and arrange rescue. They were never seen again.

Ada was now left with a swiftly deteriorating Knight. It was now incumbent on her, the young Inuk who had never lived in the wilderness before, to provide for them both. She taught herself to catch foxes in traps and shoot birds out of the sky. She even summoned up the courage to scare bears away from camp. She gave Knight the lions share of the fresh meat to combat his scurvy, but as his decline intensified, he berated her endlessly, accusing her of not doing enough to keep them fed and alive. All the while she, too, was becoming ill with early signs of scurvy.

Sole survivor of the Wrangel Island tragedy, Ada Blackjack, with her son in Seattle, November 17, 1923.

Smith Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

On June 23, Knight died. Ada could not bear, and did not have the strength, to remove him from his sleeping bag, so she erected a barricade of wooden boxes around him to protect him from wild animals and moved into the storage tent to escape the smell of decay. Ada was now, apart from the welcome company provided by Vic the cat, truly alone. She hoped and expected that the others would return, but she could not know for sure. What would happen to her if she was forced to spend another winter in this cruel and remote place? Would she ever see Bennett again?

Shortly after Knights death, she killed her first seal, but with ammunition running low, she focused on collecting eggs, and even used wood and skins to build herself a boat. When the wind washed it out to sea, she built herself another one. And she waited.

On August 20, she woke from her slumber believing she had heard a noise. She heard it again. And again. She grabbed her field glasses and rushed outside. The perpetual fog enshrouded the island, but for a brief moment it lifted and through her glasses, she saw a ship. She raced down to the beach and splashed into the water just as a boat reached the shore.

She expected Crawford, Maurer, and Galle to be on board; the man who stepped out of the boat, Stefansson accomplice Harold Noice, expected them to be ashore. With the first words they exchanged, they both realized the full gravity of the situation. Ada Blackjack, theIupiatseamstress who had been a reluctant afterthought on the expedition, who had been belittled and berated and tied up, who had had to teach herself to hunt and trap and live in the Arctic, was the last survivor. She was alive, and she was going home to her son. And with that, she collapsed into Noices arms and cried.

Her return, and the death of the other expedition members, generated a huge public furor, but Ada tried to avoid all of it. She took Bennett to Seattle to cure his tuberculosis, had another son called Billy, and eventually returned to Alaska. She died there on May 29, 1983, aged 85, and is buried in Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. On her grave is a plaque, erected by Billy, with the words: The Heroine of Wrangel island.

A century later, her story continues to resonate and inspire, not least among her fellow Alaska Natives.

As an Inuit woman who was raised like Adain a village, but so contemporaryI wonder, would I survive that? says Holly Mitiquq Nordlum, anIupiatartist who co-produced a short documentary on Ada. Here in Alaska, that strength and survival that she showed, doing what you can and figuring things out, those are things that all of us have to have to survive, even just growing up in a village. Shes one of us; I see myself in her. Thats what inspires me.

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The Inuit Woman Who Survived Alone on an Arctic Island After a Disastrous Expedition - History

Posted on: November 16, 2021, 04:09h.

Last updated on: November 17, 2021, 07:12h.

The Sweden-based parent company of Evolution Gaming, the largest live dealer business-to-business firm in the United States, is denying allegations that it allows its products and services to be used by bad actors.

Evolution AB, through its many subsidiaries, conducts real money live dealer games around the world. A recent lawsuit filed in New Jersey on behalf of a US interest alleges a problem. They claim that private investigators hired by the anonymous group were able to access Evolutions live dealer platforms in an array of black markets, including in countries that are currently the subject of US sanctions.

With live dealers, an online gambler can sit on his or her couch and interact with a live blackjack, roulette, or other table game dealer through their computer or mobile device.

Bloomberg broke the news that Ralph Marra, senior counsel with Calcagni & Kanefsky, filed the complaint with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement earlier this month. It presents an array of serious accusations against Evolution.

Evolution strictly complies with all applicable laws and regulations, Evolution spokesperson Carl Linton responded to Bloombergs request for comment.

Marra says investigators found Evolution doing business where such online gambling isnt legal, as well as in countries that are under US sanctions. Marras letter, obtained and viewed by Bloomberg, alleges that Evolutions games were accessed in Sudan, Syrian, and Iraq.

If the allegations brought against the largest live dealer online gambling firm in the United States are true, the consequences could be devastating to an industry that is still in its infancy. Only three states currently have such iGaming options New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and Evolution is responsible for handling the vast majority of the live dealer action in each.

Heres how the Evolution business model works:

Lets say a hypothetical company called FanKings is licensed to operate online live dealer games in a state through a partnership with a brick-and-mortar casino. FanKings hires Evolution as a B2B firm, and Evolution operates its live tables for FanKings.

Evolution generates revenue by charging FanKings for the table, studio, and dealer costs. FanKings keeps the tables gaming income. The studios are often found inside the physical casinos, but also in standalone facilities where permitted.

Many remote online gamblers say live interaction is as close to the real thing as possible.

COVID-19 only heightened the importance of having online gaming options during land-based casino closures. Its one of the many reasons why Evolutions stock has skyrocketed more than 450 percent since the onset of the pandemic.

Linton stated that since Evolution is a B2B business, it has no direct relationship with the underlying player and no involvement of handling of players money. Linton added that Evolution only contracts with iGaming platforms that are licensed and regulated in their host jurisdictions.

US gaming jurisdictions require that all licensees be of good character and adhere to state and federal laws. Evolution is licensed in the three US states where it operates.

New Jerseys DGE said it had no comment, but had received the Evolution complaint.

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Evolution Gaming, Largest Live Dealer Firm in US, Accused of Operating in Black... - Casino.Org News