Ray Van Eng (10/08/97)
On board of a specially equipped Boeing 777 jet, roulette, slot machine, poker and blackjack gaming on computer screens at the back of the seat in front of the economic class passengers or on the armrest of the business class riders will lure anyone into the action feeling just a little bit lucky.
The Caribbean resort town of Curacao has launched an online gambling club, featuring blackjack, Caribbean poker, roulette, and slot machines with a jackpot that tops at $10,000. Much of these are similar to what you would find in a Vegas hotel, minus of course the noise, the ambiance, the beautiful showgirls, the free drinks, and the $2.99 all-you-can-eat dinners. But hey, we are talking about being able to enjoy all that gaming excitement in the privacy of your home, office, or wherever you might find a computer, a modem and an Internet access. Obviously another big difference is that the chip you use to place a bet over the Internet is a virtual one. Don't be misled though, it is just as real as money out of your wallet. Then again what's the fun if you are not playing with real money, uh? The casino handles the processing for credit cards, bank wire transfers, money orders, personal checks, and prepaid gambling cards and opens up an account for you with an Internet currency system derived from the Dutch DigiCash electronic cash technology. The casino also accepts online registrations from anyone with a major credit card and will credit the customer with an ecash account in about 30 seconds. However, the online gambling indsutry faces bureacratic hurdles worldwide, not the least of which comes from the U.S. government which equates solitictation from Internet gambling as door-to-door selling and therfore will be tightly regulated. Wagering across state lines is deemed illegal in America.
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To
join this exclusive mile high club, you only need a valid credit card or
the airline's "Fun Card". The plane takes off three times a week
from Vienna to Singapore to Sydney to Melbourne to Singapore then back
to Vienna.