Ben Mezrich is a very brave man. First he writes Bringing Down The House, the seminal book on how a gang of young card counters tip the odds in their favour. And it's all there - exactly how to rake in the millions. The huge bestseller is classic rags to riches, with lots of sex and plenty of danger, set in ever sparkling Las Vegas, which is no doubt why Kevin Spacey is to star in and produce the movie. Now, Mezrich has gone for broke and revealed how to smash

Americans will spend an estimated $440 billion on gifts this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation. How much of that are you going to spend?

If you are like most holiday shoppers, you want three things when giving a gift: It should be easy to buy, it should be easy to wrap and deliver (preferably on time) and, most important, it should be something the recipient actually likes. Well, there might be a fourth factor: Hopefully you won't have to spend an arm and a leg shopping for everyone on your list.

The future of Blackjack has been revealed. As legalized gambling continues to blossom, with a record 73 million Americans expected to visit a Casino before the end of this year, the industry´s managers are scrambling to stack the odds on Blackjack ever more in their favor.

The motivation is transparent: Blackjack is the only game in the Casino where a player´s skill can radically increase his or her chances of winning, maybe even shifting the edge away from the house.

Considered gambling's newest frontier, wireless devices mark another step closer for companies that want to enter the lucrative world of online gambling.

As published on The Seattle Times, Cantor G&W, an affiliate of New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald, wants to provide the system and the devices to the Las Vegas casinos. For the Wall Street firm, the business leverages its experience with mobile trading technology.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita inflicted temporary financial damage on a gaming industry already dealt a bad hand by declining consumer confidence.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp., for instance, are down almost 32 percent this year, and share prices of other prominent players also have slipped.

Natural disasters prolonged an industrywide losing streak. Harrah's, the world's largest casino entertainment firm...

Nicky Hilton is addicted to online gambling, specially to Blackjack , and says it helps her sleep. The sexy socialite and model, who runs two successful businesses, spends sleepless nights playing cards on the internet.She said: "I love online gambling. At night, when I can't sleep, I play blackjack online until I get tired or lose my money." Meanwhile, Nicky has confessed she is a complete slob. The brunette beauty claims she doesn't spend time worrying about the way she looks

Bill Gates and Paul Allen did it together. So did Queen Beatrice of Holland and Enrique Iglesias. And in 2004, almost 11 million people worldwide did the same thing. Many did it two or three--or more--times.

What is it they did? They took a cruise. Now, of course, in the case of billionaires, such as Gates and Allen, they didn't technically "cruise." Paul Allen has three yachts, the biggest of which, the 414-foot Octopus, is the second-largest yacht in America

Playboy Enterprises Inc is in talks with potential partners to develop Playboy casinos in Macau and London, The Standard reported, citing the company's chief executive Christie Hefner.

According to the newspaper, Hefner told analysts the two markets have 'the most inherent interest' to the group. 'These are very large deals,' she was quoted as saying. 'We're doing a half-dozen big facilities in places like London and Macau.' Playboy Enterprises currently has no casinos

Games like poker and Internet blackjack are becoming more and more popular on campus, and for some students, this attraction can become an addiciton.Raymond is a former student from Sacramento City College. He chose not to continue his education after a summer filled with gambling winnings. "I won $30,000 in one summer," Raymond said. Raymond said he had all the money he needed, so he quit school and his job.

The 19th-century American social arbiter, Ward McAllister, the man who originated the concept of defining elite groups by the numeral 400, once said, "A man with a million dollars can be as happy nowadays as though he were rich."

These days, however, for those looking to dabble in the world of ultra-expensive cars, a million doesn't go as far as it used to. In fact, if one bought the awesomely fast, incredibly sexy Saleen S7 Twin Turbo in Europe for $670,000 the change from that million would just about pay for gas and insurance.