Online-Casinos.com – The end of the year 2013 approaches quickly and the year 2014 looks like it will usher in new technology and trends that have never been seen before. First the advent of mobile and smart phones will change the world of online gambling by making it more accessible and faster. Mobile is definitely the big thing and as flash based technology is taken over by the new HTML5 platform the games on mobile will be more exciting and varied. Next for 2014 we will see the continued effort in the USA to provide an online gambling industry regulated…

The year 2013 was a volatile one for Zynga social gaming as the company went through a significant strategic and management transition and terminated some of its well known games. Revenues and profits continued to slide as the user base shrank. The only silver lining was that the company’s key franchises Farmville, Farmville 2 and Zynga Poker continued to lend support. Going forward, Zynga will primarily focus on mobile gaming and further development of its own gaming platform. Under the new leadership, the company is confident that it can reinvent itself and bounce back by bringing more stability and predictability…

Orlando Sentinel – About the only sure bet when it comes to gambling in Florida is this: Sooner or later, the issue will start an argument. For decades, legislators, activists and kitchen-table kingpins have debated whether more casinos should come to the state. But with gambling growing more popular nationwide, there’s a chance Congress eventually could clear the way for card sharks — and vulnerable minnows — to skip the casinos and wager from their computers. At least three bills to allow Internet betting were introduced in Congress this year, and the issue gained enough traction that House lawmakers held…

eSecurity Planet – The Bitcoin-only poker Web site Seals with Clubs recently announced that all user passwords were reset after the data center the site had been using permitted unauthorized access to a database server (h/t Ars Technica). As a result, the company says, its database containing user credentials was likely compromised. While the passwords were salted and hashed, all users are required to change their passwords, and are being advised to change their passwords on any other sites where they used the same credentials. And Ars Technica reports that the fact that the passwords were salted and hashed shouldn’t…

The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas has been an icon for tourists traveling to the Strip. The property opened the day after Christmas in 1946, despite the fact that it wasn’t yet complete. Mobster Bugsy Siegel and his partners opened the hotel with just 105 rooms, hoping the grand event would attract business that would recoup cost overruns and help finance the rest of construction. The Flamingo was to be a new kind of luxury for Vegas, a full resort that featured a nine-hole golf course; tennis, squash and handball courts; a trapshooting range and extensive landscaping. Its high-end clientele…

Newsday – Britney Spears has begun her early retirement in Las Vegas with a show that looks strikingly like the eye-popping Cirque du Soleil productions found elsewhere on the Strip. The debut of Spears’ long-term casino gig Friday kept an audience of about 4,500 on their feet for about 90 minutes. The young-for-Vegas crowd was there for the danceable hits and the spectacle, which included acrobatics, a ring of fire, confetti, a live band, frenetic costume changes and a frequently airborne Spears. The show’s production values are unusually high for a casino residency, calling to mind the golden age of…