Graham Calvert, a gambling addict, lost more than 2 million pounds and has now put his future in the hands of a High Court ruling after suing his bookie, William Hill, who let him lay bets.

Calvert, 28 is requesting his bookie pay him damages after losing his wife, health and livelihood due to his gambling addiction.

A self-exclusion policy was claimed to be had by Calvert between him and Hill. It’s claimed that Hill breached this policy by permitting Calvert to carry on betting after he had asked them to stop taking his money.

Aneliese Day, a representative for Calvert told the judge: “What in fact occurred was that William Hill actively monitored and manipulated the claimant’s gambling disorder in order to gain as much revenue for their business as possible.”

“They assert that they were entitled to do this whatever the consequences for him or his family by reason of the fact that the claimant was an adult of full capacity participating in an activity the law should provide no protection from.”

Ms. Day said that the scale of her client’s gambling was “staggering”. “The financial and personal consequences for the claimant of his disorder and William Hill’s failure to take reasonable steps to operate their self-exclusion policy have been predictably disastrous.”

Hill has vowed to contest the allegations “vigorously”.

You would be lying if you said that you never had a bad day at the casino. In fact more days are bad than good, but some days are a complete disaster and make you wonder why you game at all. It only makes sense that if you can hit a jackpot and beat the odds, you will have days where you will lose with the same extremity as hitting a jackpot.

I’ve had some bad days at the casino. I recall losing nine blackjack hands in a row once. It didn’t bust me so I left that game to find something that would treat me a little better. That didn’t work well because I went to the roulette table and tried my luck there. I didn’t hit a single bet for the ten minutes that I was at the table, and within 40 minutes I was busted and leaving.

Take the bad with the good and keep on plugging.

With real estate at such a premium in Vegas, it’s my opinion that the older casinos should all be levelled. There are numerous groups lobbying to save the older buildings for historical reasons, but this is Vegas. We’re not talking about 200-year-old government buildings. Vegas is make-believe land; level whatever is outdated for the next best thing. That’s what has made Vegas great.

The Sahara is only 55 years old – take some pictures and get rid of it. Same goes for the Tropicana, the Flamingo, the Riviera and the Golden Nugget. All of Fremont St. should be levelled with the exception of the Golden Gate.

These lobby groups are just trying to protect their era of Vegas. Set up a vintage Vegas museum and document the old casinos. Then implode them all for the next great attraction. That’s what Vegas is baby.

The best casinos in Europe are not all in France anymore. France still has some of the best, and they don’t come much nicer than the Lyon Vert Casino situated at Lyon and Palais de la Mediterranee Casino in Nice. In the U.K., London has the Ritz Club and Fifty London to choose from, and both are top-notch. Poland has the Radisson SAS Hotel & Casino - Szczecin in Szczecin.

If you find yourself in Germany there’s the Spielbank Stuttgart in Stuttgart. If you’re in the big city, the Casino Berlin & Forum Hotel Berlin (in Berlin) are good choices for action. Spain boasts nearly 40 casinos. One of the most beautiful of these casinos is Casino Castell de Peralada in Girona. If you’re in Barcelona, the Casino Barcelona will be your best choice. And let’s not forget the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco; who could resist sun and gambling on the Mediterranean?

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has been a thorn in the side of online gaming since the U.S. Congress tacked it onto the SAFE Port Act in Oct. 2006. But there are ways around the UIGEA.

Two blogs in particular have kept track of the UIGEA and the loopholes being found in the legislation. United States of Poker is a very useful site, providing information on which online poker rooms are open to U.S.-based players and how to process payments without running afoul of the law. Sister site US Casinos does the same for the online casino crowd.

Every law has its loopholes, but not everyone is aware of them. These two blogs are raising awareness; the resulting buzz circulating through the online community is translating to more players making more bets. Among the recommended methods to skirt the UIGEA: eWallet Express, gift cards, checks and money orders – all perfectly legal.

According to the data and stats geeks over at MarketingCharts.com, Harrahs.com earned top honors for most popular casino website and picked up 1,451,000 unique visitors for the month of December. Second place finisher MGMMirage.com drew 523,000 unique visitors while third place casino site Venetian.com took in 224,000 unique visitors.

I’m not saying that Harrah’s isn’t a great casino, but Harrahs.com isn’t exactly doing anything groundbreaking with its site. The overall design is a little bland in that it doesn’t reveal much about the actual casino, but give Harrah’s web team full marks for user experience and optimization.