This review of Gambling Weblog is brought to you by The Weblog Review blog and website reviews. Get your site reviewed within 4 days by using the 'For Faster Service' link on the left menu.
Gambling Weblog
Considering my entire gambling career consists of blowing $25 on slots in Atlantic City, I was pretty excited to review this blog. I'm scared of "real" casino games because I don't know how to play them. Billed as "your ultimate guide to gambling," I figured this site was my ticket to riches. I grabbed a pen to take notes and dug in.
Jo runs this blog and according to the "About the Author" section, she knows the business. Jo has been working in the online gambling industry for over 5 years and currently works for "an independent casino games design company that develops products for the land-based and online casino industry." I particularly appreciate that there is also an "about the company link" (Creative Weblogging, Ltd.).
This is a new blog that was launched at the end of November, so there are presently only about 31 entries. At first I was very impressed with the apparent research that goes into each post. Every entry contains a list of "Related Entries" and "Related Research Reports." It wasn't until I read several entries that I noticed that the three research reports for every post are exactly the same. They include a MarketResearch.com report on Proctor & Gamble, a company called Gambling Services and a third report from MarketResearch on Proctor & Gamble in the OTC healthcare market. Color me confused. What does this have to do with gambling? Probably something, but nowhere does Jo give an analysis of these reports nor does she tell the reader why they're important. The "Related Entries" links pertain a bit more to the actual post, but not always. The majority of these links are to articles on other Creative Weblogging owned websites. For instance, in an article about the launch of a gambling hedge fund (please Jo, enlighten the uninitiated masses. What is a gambling hedge fund?), one of the related links is to a story entitled "Presidential Candidates Lay Out Lifelong Learning Plans."
For a site calling itself the ultimate guide to gambling, I had a hard time finding any actual guidance. Most of the posts are news articles containing lots of links, in addition to those mentioned above. Trump Casino's recent bankruptcy filing gets a mention, as does the 2004 award winners from Gambling Online magazine. I enjoyed the post "Botnets, Zombies and Botherds – How DDOS Attacks Work" because of the author's helpful commentary. I'll probably try to squeeze the word "botherd" into conversation at holiday parties this season just for fun. I'm still trying to figure out where the post reporting reviews of the movie "Ocean's Twelve" fits in.
The site design is minimal, which is a plus for this type of blog. Most interesting on the sidebar is an ad for "News Spotters." The company offers to pay US$5 for each breaking news story you send in that they publish.
Overall this is an interesting site if you are really into gambling and want to keep current on the gambling world. I think calling this site "Your Ultimate Guide to Gambling" is a bit misleading. This is strictly a site for gambling news. For the general population more explanatory commentary from Jo is required. There is really no need for links to the research reports on every post and quite frankly related entries links should actually BE related to the post. Perhaps with more posts under its belt "The Gambling Weblog" will find its stride. There is definite potential here.
This site was reviewed on 2004-12-17 by Sagent.
They felt this site belonged in the News/Links category.
Sagent felt that Gambling Weblog deserved a rating of 2.25.
I honestly didn't know what to expect when I came to this blog. Gambling is an addiction I know nothing of, and a risky hobby that I don't see the glamour in or purpose of. That being said, if I wanted to learn any and everything about it, Gambling Weblog is the place to do it.
The content consists of only Gambling information, from Poker tour dates the results of Gambling Magazine Online's award winners. There is an abundance of links to different places in the online gambling world, and at the end of every entry, there are related, archived entries and research reports.
Yet, there is a generic air to this site. It seems to be manufactured. I didn't like that. And the recently reviewed soccer Weblog reveals an eerie resemblance. And low and behold, the Gambling and Soccer weblog link to one another, ie. the same author, or company, or whatever. The layout is just boring. There was no imagination and no effort put into it's design.
I myself, do not consider this a blog. It's simply a website, attempting to attract more traffic to itself by luring unsuspecting blogger to it under false pretenses. If you enjoy Gambling and want to stay in the know, then this will be an excellent site for you to visit. It seems to be consistently updated and well-maintained. But, if you are anything like me, don't waste your time.
This site was reviewed on 2004-12-17 by Lalaah.
They felt this site belonged in the Entertainment category.
Lalaah felt that Gambling Weblog deserved a rating of 2.
2 reviewers gave Gambling Weblog an average rating of 2.1250
Site Stats
Site Category: Entertainment
Reader Rating: 1.1250 based on 2 votes
Report URL
Cast your vote
Sorry you need to log in to vote.