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Some games are known for their spirit of union and excitement of acting as a team and it’s quite common in team sports such as football, baseball and basketball. However, some individual games are known for the same level of adrenaline rush and for many it will be a real surprise to learn that some online casino players describe their excitement just like football players would do.

One of the games that is known for its excitement and exquisite tension that makes the player as involved as with a physical sport is of course blackjack. And no big surprise that some many online casino players choose this particular game when entering numerous online casino sites all over the world.

The cultures of online and real world blackjack playing are quite different despite the fact that it’s pretty much the same game being played. The main difference is of course that when playing online you’re playing alone, usually in the comfort of your home without the typical distractions and tension you get in brick-and-mortar casinos. Of course, there’s a downside to it – you don’t get the thrill and excitement that make blackjack games so exciting.

People who play blackjack form close communities because they are very passionate about the game, And taking the fact that it’s all in all a gambling game where the stakes can go sky high and earn the winners a fortune, sometimes the communication between blackjack players can seem to be a bit esoteric to those who are not in the game.

That’s what online blackjack is famous for – there are numerous specialized forums that form communities of players all over the world. The Internet lets many players communicate regardless of their location, and when there are many people sharing the same passion for such thing as playing blackjack online you can definitely say that there’s a real culture behind it.

Just with any other game-specific forums and communities you can get lost and confused the first time you enter such an online community. They are quite often based around online casinos where you can play blackjack anytime, and discuss the game after you had your fun at the online table. Of course, some forums are more open to newbies than the others and with some communities you will find it hard to communicate with other players if they haven’t seen you in the casino.

Still, without a doubt, the Internet has revolutionized the culture of blackjack, turning it into a global phenomenon rather than a local community-based game, revolving around clubs and real casinos. Regardless of your location, you can play blackjack online, take part in tournaments with large prizes, win real money and discuss the strategies and experience with other players who enjoy playing blackjack just like you do. And you don’t need to pack your bags and go to a city where playing blackjack is legal. All you need is a good Internet connection and plenty of time to enjoy this exciting game.

Looking round the US right now is a bit like Alice in Wonderland (but not the big-earning version by Tim Burton which looks to beat the one billion mark in takings worldwide). There’s a lot of unreality around and it all goes back to one of these pesky idioms, “Trying to get blood from a stone”. Let’s take it step by step. In the world of boxing, you introduce the fighters according to their corners. So, in the blue corner, you have the lefty socialist liberals and they all want to keep the entitlement spending without increasing taxes. While in the red corner, you have all those Tea Party members who want to do away with government and all its spending on little things like defense and the infrastructure that delivers electricity, drinking water and so on. Oh, and they don’t want to raise taxes either. In fact, abolishing big government means no IRS. So, whoever you ask, they all agree it’s impossible to raise taxes (“starve the beast” as the GOP puts it) but, without more money coming from somewhere, it will be impossible to balance the budget. Does balancing the budget matter? Well, ask Greece whether they should balance their budget. Once the riots die down, you may have an answer. In the meantime, the world’s lenders think Greece will default on its debts. In ten years time, without action from the US government (big or small), the same fear may affect the US power to borrow.

So, right now, states cannot raise taxes and face paying out on entitlements. The majority are licensing more gambling. The levy is not counted as a tax and is politically acceptable. Except, there’s too much gambling already. No matter how many casinos or other sites you licence, there’s still the same number of gamblers. Hence, the reference to “blood from stone”. It’s going to be very difficult for states to get any real increase in revenue, particularly when you add in the effect of online gambling. With rising gas prices and family budgets still under pressure because of the recession, it’s cheaper and more convenient to stay home to gamble.

So, let’s pick a few states and see what plans are in the pipeline. Go to Boston and you find yourself in a war zone with New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island all pushing their own gambling agendas. Wherever you look, there are plans for new resort-casinos and thousands of slot machines at race tracks and dedicated slots parlors. With all these states in competition to attract the same hard-core gamblers, they all risk ending up with little improvement to their revenue streams. More interestingly, you have to doubt the commercial judgement of the corporations still prepared to consider building new casinos. Just as the states have looming deficits to fill, many of the existing casinos have fallen on hard times as online slots have grown more popular. Indeed, if the GOP and its Tea Party element are against big government, they should oppose the use of gambling to prop up state finances. Surely, the libertarian stays home to play slots, keeps all the winnings and pays no taxes, direct or indirect.

One of the more exciting features of the latest recession has been the collapse of tax revenue flowing into the coffers of the individual US states. Sales are down so there’s less tax take there. Property values have crashed through the floor so, where tax is a percentage of valuation, the tax take has fallen – with so many properties foreclosed and families unemployed, payment of the tax has been difficult to enforce. People have been earning less and businesses have made less profit so, again, less income tax. Put everything together and many states are effectively bankrupt, their bonds reduced to junk status by the credit rating agencies. Yet there is no political will to really grasp the nettle of tax increases. If the electorate want the same level of services from the state, they have to pay for them. If they genuinely will not pay, they must be prepared to accept real cuts in the quality of the services. Perhaps this recession will finally break through the stubborn refusal to pay a larger percentage of income as tax. While we wait for this revolution, individual states are playing around the margins to save a few dollars here, and raise a few dollars there. Their theory is that federal government will not allow them to fail. Like AIG, many of the states are “too big”. So bail-out money will save them from having to make the hard decisions.

This has not prevented some states from getting creative. In New Hampshire, Governor John Lynch has a new policy. To help bridge the gap between solvency and insolvency, he’s proposing to legalize online gambling. The detail of the plan is to be announced soon, but it’s already controversial. Ignoring the problems created by the federal law clamp-down on the transfer of funds for gambling purposes, the Governor has been caught in a classic flip-flop. Not so long ago, the lawmakers who represent the real-world casino interests proposed a bill to licence some 17,000 slots and table games. The recession was not yet in its full glory and the hole in the budget was not today’s gaping chasm. The Governor decided to veto the bill.

He gave two reasons. The first a simple calculation that there were already a significant number of machines in the state and licensing more was unlikely to produce a real increase in revenue. It would only share out the same money among more machines. But it’s the second reason that has landed him in trouble. He said the bill would lead to an increase in gambling. Whether he was concerned at the rising level of addiction, the risk of more young people being tempted into gambling or he had some moral objections is not clear. The bill died. The new proposal to legalize online gambling is likely to make gambling more accessible. If people have to travel to specific locations, their behavior can be more closely monitored and controlled. The age of players can be verified. Operators can stop someone when they have obviously lost too much. Allowing gambling from PCs, lap and palm top machines, and Blackberrys is opening the flood gates. Playing online slots, people can burn through a lot of money very quickly without anyone to stop them. The Governor can’t have it both ways. If proliferating gambling is a bad thing, legalizing online gambling is a bad thing. While he decides how to answer, we can all have fun playing slots wherever we find them.