Online Gaming Stalwart InterCasino.com First to Offer Independent Arbitration Protection for Players
As reported by PR Newswire

LONDON - World's Oldest Online Casino Continues to Lead in Player Security and Protection With Groundbreaking 'InterCasino Group Independent Arbitration Service.' To further enhance the protection and playing experience of their guests, InterCasino.com, the most awarded online gaming casino in the world, has unveiled a unique program in conjunction with top industry watchdog organization Casinomeister.com which offers players access to independent arbitration. This added insurance, titled "InterCasino Group Independent Arbitration Service," is the first time a global online gaming company has ever offered a completely independent arbitration service to its customers and furthers the reputation of InterCasino.com as a trusted leader in the industry. The groundbreaking program is set to launch today.

In developing yet another level of security for its players, InterCasino.com has chosen Casinomeister.com to arbitrate all issues that cannot be rectified by the gaming site. Casinomeister is a fully independent organization and will provide its service to the all the sites within The InterCasino Group (InterCasino, InterPoker, InterBingo, InterLottery, VIP Casino and Classic Poker). Casinomeister.com will be empowered to arbitrate on any complaint made by a customer on the condition that the customer has first tried to seek resolution via InterCasino.com's Support Center and Casino Manager. The InterCasino Group will abide by all decisions made during arbitration.

"From InterCasino.com's opening in 1996, the goal has always been to provide players with an exciting site they can trust and enjoy," says InterCasino.com spokesman Peter Marcus from his London, U.K. office. "Having Casinomeister.com in position to investigate and remedy any issues that can't be resolved by our management team will give players an added level of confidence knowing that InterCasino is continually striving towards providing a safe, secure and monitored online gaming experience.

"I have known InterCasino and their managing staff for several years, and have come to recognize a level of unparalleled professionalism and integrity in their company," said Bryan Bailey of Casinomeister.com. "Not only that, but their customers have repeatedly recommended the site and continually express their satisfaction with InterCasino. I am honored to be selected as their chief arbitrator."

About InterCasino.com

InterCasino, founded in 1996, is the oldest, most awarded and one of the largest Online Casinos in the World, hosting more than 300 million games and paying out more than $3 Billion in customer winnings to date. With player security and site integrity at the forefront of their efforts, InterCasino partners with NETELLER.com, a publicly traded company on the London AIM exchange to transfer funds securely and conveniently, with ECash Direct, one of the most reliable and trusted e-commerce applications in the world, which has processed more than $11 billion in uncompromised electronic transactions for customers in more than 240 countries and with industry software leader CryptoLogic, Inc., one of the few gaming software companies certified to strict standards similar to land-based gaming.

About CasinoMeister

Bryan Bailey is the owner and operator of Casinomeister. "My involvement with the online gaming industry has been mainly via activities at Casinomeister and by attending conferences and exhibits from around the world, meeting casino operators, managers, software developers, and other portal operators. I have always been a players' advocate, but I am a casino advocate as well. The established entities in the online casino world understand that Casinomeister makes a difference." Casinomeister was chosen as Top Watchdog of the Year 2002, 2003, and 2004 by the readers of Gambling Online Magazine.

Thousands line up for casino jobs
As Reported by Sioux City Journal

EMMETSBURG, Iowa -Nearly 2,000 hopeful job applicants waited in line for up to four hours Thursday and Friday to apply for any of 250 jobs available here when Wild Rose Casino opens in July.

Casino manager Kevin Preston, who has opened six similar venues in the last 14 years, said this was the smoothest job fair of which he has been a part. There were 200 people in line when the doors opened Thursday morning. More than 1,000 applicants went through the system before the day was over.

Some 250 were sent home that night without being interviewed, Preston explained.

"We've seen a tremendous number of great people applying for positions," Preston said. Those positions range from dealers to hotel operations and food service and administrative employees. Dealers' school would begin March 1 for craps, blackjack and roulette. Training to deal poker doesn't take as long.

"What we're looking for is great people with great smiles and great personalities," Preston added. "We've found a lot of great people, already. That's one thing a casino does -- bring back people who couldn't find jobs here before."

Preston added that while lines for some of the positions were long, the plan was to spend adequate time to get to know the applicants.

PR vs. dealer

One of those applicants, Jasmine Halsrud, plans to drive more than 30 minutes each way from her home in Bradgate, if she lands a job.

The 26-year-old, who has a one-year-old baby, is a school board member and worked in newspaper advertising sales in Fort Dodge before her baby was born. Her husband Eric Halsrud, an electrician, is Bradgate's mayor.

While Halsrud explained she was looking for a job in marketing or public relations, her interviewer saw her more as a dealer "because he thought my personality would match well with that job. He said I'd be good on the floor, working with people. It's something I will have to think about. He explained he really didn't want to just put me in a desk job," she said.

According to Halsrud the interviews were straightforward, with five or six simple questions to open the conversation.

Asked for three adjectives to describe herself in the interview, Halsrud said she used "outgoing," "energetic," and added she was "a people person."

Other questions included why the applicant was looking for a job, what he or she was looking for and if working holidays and weekends would pose a problem.

Many of the applicants, including Ron Cejka, 60, of Emmetsburg, would like to find "just a part-time position for a little extra income."

State staff helps

Carol Morgan, who helped staff the job fair along with Iowa Workforce Development personnel, said Thursday they had a variety of openings, but few applicants appeared to be looking at just one slot. Morgan and her co-workers distributed job descriptions and applications prior to the interviews.

Retired mail carrier Jerry Reiter of Pocahontas was looking for something "just a couple days a week."

When Reiter noted he found quite a few other Pocahontas residents in the room, table-mate Kathy Solt, of nearby Palmer, quipped, "It's just like old-home week. We're seeing people we haven't see in a long time."

A former convenience store manager, Solt sought a receptionist or cashier position. She waited almost three hours to be interviewed.

At another table, West Bend's Sean Johnson, 36, countered boredom by building a casino with the stick pens left to complete applications. "He hasn't been the same since his dad took his Lincoln Logs away," joked college buddy Jared Madsen, 37, of Emmetsburg.

Johnson built his casino six pens high before it collapsed.

Madsen, Johnson and George Van Meter, 40, of Greenfield, Iowa, are all Buena Vista University graduates looking for different careers.

Madsen, an actor and singer on both coasts before returning to Northwest Iowa, is hoping to find a place at one of the card tables. He said he got a "pretty firm indication he'd get a dealer's job, but didn't get an immediate offer as a result of his interview."

Johnson, a computer technician in Emmetsburg who wants more regular hours than the 12- to 14-hour days he spends on the road now, is being called back for a second interview in the security area.

Van Meter, who has been working for a family-owned motel in Greenfield for the past 14 years, wants to continue in the hotel operations area.

Chamber deluged with apps

At the Emmetsburg Chamber of Commerce, assistant Kathy Fank said they have been deluged with job applications from all over the country since the casino license was approved last year.

One of Thursday's early hopefuls was Andy Stolley, who grew up in Davenport, Iowa, and is now an accountant in St. Louis. Stolley, 30, is married to an Emmetsburg native who would like to use the casino as an opportunity to move home.

Applicants also came from as far away as Atlanta, Ga., said Julie Clarkson, a volunteer who helped bring Wild Rose to Emmetsburg. According to Clarkson, one of the reasons for the huge turnout is that "there aren't a lot of job fairs around here."

While there were many applicants donning suits and ties when the doors opened, Clarkson said that changed throughout each day, with casual dress in the afternoons. Late in the days, she explained, "We had people coming in who looking like they just jumped off the bus."

But overall, Clarkson said, "The reaction was one of excitement. And most people stuck out the long wait for the interviews. Hopefully we'll see these folks who are sitting here today working on the other side come the first of July."

While he doesn't anticipate the need for any further job fair activity, Preston said Friday the Wild Rose will continue to accept applications.