Is the celebrity poker market becoming overcrowded? For that matter, is the online casino and online poker market flooded with not only too many celebrities, but too many casino and poker brands?

Let's play word - brand - name association...

Richard Branson - Virgin

Calvin Ayre - Bodog (regardless of the fact he sold it to Morris Mohawk Gaming Group)

Shane Warne - 888

Chris Moneymaker - Poker Stars (and World Series of Poker)... ok, Moneymaker was a regular player, with a great name who "made it", but you get the point

Many online casino and poker websites and portals make no secret of the fact that prefer one of two brands. The exception is when they just back one brand like "The Wizrd of Odds" Michael Shackleford public and shameless pushing of Bodog.. tip, it's got more to do with no pop ups appearing on Bodog, especially considering the current legal going ons at Bodog, which are also of course related to Morris Mohawk to some extent.

Brian Balsbaugh, owner of poker talent agency Poker Royalty explains. "Many poker sites have been successful using top professionals by having them provide content for the site. This gives customers a reason to revisit the site to get updates and instructional information from the top names in poker. That’s done through trip reports and ‘Hand of the Week’ kind of articles, as well as offering the ability to interact with the players themselves."

There's a ton of brands out there in the online casino and online poker world, and just as many affiliate programs.

Media Man Australia opens up on some of its affiliates here http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/casino.html and here! http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/affiliate_prog rams.html

So, who are Media Man's top picks for this month?

Virgin Casino

Virgin Poker

PKR Casino

PKR Poker

Lasseters Online Casino

James Packer has had to walk away from his second offshore casino project in as many months because the global credit crunch has dried up the finance he had planned to use to expand his gaming empire.

The decision to pull out of the $1.5 billion project in the Philippines was announced yesterday by Crown's chief executive and Mr Packer's right-hand man, Rowen Craigie.

Crown had earlier sought to play down its interest in the massive plan to develop a Macau-like casino precinct in Manila, saying it was merely helping a British Virgin Islands entity, Bloombury Investments, to lodge a preliminary bid with the state-owned monopoly gambling body behind the project.

Crown, which likes to do its deals out of the glare of publicity, said it was only a partner in the project and would be obliged to pay only a small amount of funding.

"The recent and ongoing events in world credit markets have made it very difficult for gaming operators to develop commercially viable casino-entertainment projects where those projects require significant external debt funding," Mr Craigie said in a statement.

"After further review, Crown has determined not to participate in Bloombury's proposal, or any other proposal to develop an integrated casino-entertainment complex in Manila Bay."

Crown prefers to team up with a partner when it enters locations where it has not operated before, such as Canada, Las Vegas and Macau. The company has one casino in Macau with Melco International, and is part-way through building a $2.5 billion casino named City of Dreams, which is due to open next year. A third, smaller casino known as the Macau Peninsula project, is yet to be built, and will likely be put on the back burner.

In June Crown also cited a lack of credit for its decision to halt plans to build a $5.2 billion casino with American partners on the Las Vegas strip and wrote off $44 million it contributed to the deposit to buy the site from Archon Corp.

Crown is still considered a buyer as it has cash from the demerger of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, and it has been rumoured to be eyeing casinos in the US.

Other potential casinos prospects in Asia are likely to emerge in Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan as these governments are proposing to liberalise their gaming laws.

James Packer's Crown Ltd has walked away from its second offshore casino project in six weeks, because of increased debt-funding costs due to the global credit crunch.

Crown pulled out of the $1.5 billion project in the Philippines, after initial discussions with Bloombury Investments Ltd about a casino in Manila.

"The recent and ongoing events in world credit markets have made it very difficult for gaming operators to develop commercially viable casino-entertainment projects require significant external debt funding," chief executive Rowan Craigie said.

Crown has since tried to play down its interest in the plan to develop a Macau-like casino precinct in Manila, saying it was merely a project partner.

"After further review, Crown has determined not to participate in Bloombury's proposal or any other proposal to develop an integrated casino-entertainment complex in Manila Bay,"said Mr Craige.

Crown's share price jumped more than 8 per cent in intraday trading yesterday, to close 4.2 per cent higher, up 33 cents to $8.23.

Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, reports the ongoing trend for punters to hit the internet for their gaming and poker fix.

Virgin Games, and in particular, Virgin Casino and PKR (the world's most animated online casino) lead the pack in Media Man's assessment.

Australia mainstays Centrebet and Lasseters recent affiliation and collaboration with Media Man Australia are forecast to further shake up the sector.

James Packer's Crown is sticking to the line that they are not interested in either the Ameristar opportunity, or acquiring part of Media Man Australia.

Pikum!, which even Virgin Money and and Richard Branson have put their name to, is in negotiation with at least one Australian media and new media company.

International online gaming brands GoldenPalace.com, 888.com, Bodog and a few others are likely to be unsettled by recent developments in the online casino world, however it's not expected to deliver a devastating blow, but certainly will heat up competition for eyeballs, web traffic, and the slice of online casino revenues.

Casinos of the month as picked by http://casino.pokernews.com/ and close associates - Virgin Casino and PKR.

Online casinos, traditional casinos and online poker and gaming rooms are battling for headlines, as the stakes continue to raise in the gaming and gabling world. Media companies such as ours are now associated with such brands such as Virgin Games, Virgin Casino, PKR, Bwin, GoldenPalace.com, 888.com and Jamster. Virgin and PKR are setting the pace.

The Media Man Australia most improved new entry goes to PKR. Next month we expect big things from both Virgin Games and Bwin, and a major announcement from our friends at Virgin Media. We also expect Bodog to bounce back, and expect to see more bricks and mortar casinos close down or go up for sale, as online casinos dominate, with the collaboration of major news media players and celebrity support.

Welcome to the Media Man Australia Poker and Casino News Blog.

I'm an Australian based media analyst, publicist, internet publisher and online entrepreneur.

In the coming days and weeks I will provide a series of news stories relating to the world of poker, casinos, gaming and the like.

Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Media Man Australia