Casinos have been a popular entertainment choice for hundreds of years since the first one opened in Venice in 1638. Over the last hundred years, casinos have become a more mainstream choice, attracting a wide range of gamers as well as those who like to watch others play.

When the virtual world began to emerge, casino games were among some of the first to be digitised as companies wrote code that could simulate games of chance accurately. All the major games were represented as people played video versions of a variety of games, including:

• Poker
• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Craps
• Slots
• Roulette

These games, including online casino uden rofus, soon became popular and many casinos included digital games alongside their traditional counterparts to give players a choice and broaden their offering. As the internet proliferated and the technology that supported the games became more and more advanced, online gaming took off and the online casino market became a hugely popular gaming sector.

Technology and casinos

The gaming industry has always been at the forefront of technology, with games embracing new innovations as soon as they come to market. By staying at the cutting edge, video games have been able to showcase their own originality, offering players a chance to play hundreds of versions of their favourite games.

With improvements in graphics and the speed at which content could be delivered, even the simplest games had to stay current to compete, so high-end graphics and user-friendly interfaces became the industry standard for casino games. Games designers were often ahead of their time, coming up with creative approaches to some of the most popular games that would not actually be possible until the technology to deliver them caught up.

This was the case with live online casino games, which were first conceived in the 1990s, but it wasn’t until streaming technology became more widely available that they offered the immersive experience that players wanted. As soon as gamers could dial in to a real casino game from wherever they were in the world, live casino games became a firm favourite among those who wanted to combine the excitement of a live game with the convenience of gaming from home.

The increasing popularity of live gaming was made even more accessible by the huge uptake in the use of mobile devices. Developers designed apps to be played on the go, simplifying the controls and making it even easier for players to enjoy the live casino experience from wherever they happen to be.

Getting started with live casino gaming

With so many players opting for casino games, there’s plenty of choice available for a new player that wants to take their first foray into the world of live casino gaming. If you want to experience the fun of online casino gaming, then the first thing to do is find a legitimate casino site to play on.

Online casinos have to be licensed by an official gaming authority that ensures that all gaming sites adhere to a strict code of conduct and guarantee fairness and excellent customer service for their players. There are plenty of established sites, such as Rainbow Riches, that offer players the chance to enjoy a variety of games with the security of knowing that they are fully protected. Other examples include 22bet casino.

It’s also important to check that your chosen site will allow you to deposit and withdraw cash using your preferred payment method. Although most sites accept all major credit and debit cards, some players prefer to use web-based finance services to cryptocurrencies to manage their casino game payments, so make sure your first choice is supported by your chosen site.

Seek out promotions

One of the things that appeals most to online casino gamers is the variety of promotions and bonuses available in the online realm. Many providers offer a choice of discounts, including:

• Welcome /Sign-up bonus
• First deposit bonus
• Loyalty bonus
• Free spins
• Referral bonus
• Cashback bonus
• Weekly/monthly bonus

Players can check the terms and conditions to ascertain their eligibility for the various offers available, check which can be applied and whether they can be combined to create even more enticing discounts. New players can take advantage of bonuses that allow them to effectively play for free as a way to find their feet in the world of online casino gaming.

Choosing your game 

Experienced casino goers will usually have a favourite game, but if you’re new to the world of playing online, then it may take you a while to settle on one. There are games that rely purely on chance (and statistics) as well as games that require a degree of skill and experience, such as poker.

Whatever type of game you prefer, you can enjoy playing live online where the action is as close to a bricks-and-mortar casino as it is possible to get. With real dealers and croupiers offering an authentic playing experience, players can interact with the game in the same way that they would if they were there in person.

Live casinos have a universal appeal – from casino veterans that want to make the most of modern technology to recreate their favourite aspects of gaming in person, to complete newcomers that want to try their hand at casino games in a low-pressure way.

The Nigerian civil service system has in recent times been deeply characterized by a bunch of cankerworms known as ‘ghost workers’.

The syndrome, which isn’t peculiar to the federal level, is indeed ubiquitous that no certain level/unit of government is exempted whenever its scourge is being discussed. Funnily enough, the anomaly has lingered that anyone could insinuate that it’s a norm.

Three years ago, precisely on Thursday, 5th May 2016, during the meeting between federal ministries and Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) in Lagos State as organized by the Minister of Information and Culture – Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the then Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun unequivocally disclosed that the then N165 billion monthly salaries cum allowances of federal civil servants was over-bloated, thus could no longer be sustained by the Federal Government (FG).

Mrs. Adeosun who was speaking on the economy reform agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, stated that the said fund represented about forty percent (40%) of the total spending made by the FG.

According to her, the figure was outrageous, hence the government was pursuing aggressive measures towards detecting as well as prosecuting ghost workers and other saboteurs in the system.

She landed with a mind-boggling revelation that the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), which wasn’t fully functional, still had names of about ten thousand (10,000) workers on its payroll regularly serviced by the FG’s coffers.

In a related development, in the same 2016, over a huge sum of N4 billion fraud was reportedly discovered in Aso Rock, Nigeria’s Seat of Power. The discovery was made by President Buhari’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd).

Aside from his alleged shocking discovery, which was made after a general security auditing and verification exercise ordered by Mr. President, the NSA further disclosed that  names of twenty-nine (29) ghost security personnel had been on security payroll in the Presidency over the years.

The various states and LGAs across the federation aren’t exceptional. On Thursday, 26th May 2016, the Bayelsa State government said it had uncovered payroll fraud in the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), with the discovery of over 765 illicitly employed teachers in the existing eight local government councils in the state.

According to the aforementioned report from Bayelsa, names of fifty (50) dead teachers were equally found on the payroll of Ogbia Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) alone in the State.

In spite of the thus far war against corrupt practices or graft invented by the Buhari-led government since inception, the payroll of most government MDAs, and even that of the pensioners, at various levels are still presently influenced by the enemies of the society. This very societal ill has hitherto been causing the country a colossal economic mayhem.

It’s also more worrisome to note that despite the invention and onward implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by Nigeria’s government, the ugly trend still lingers. This simply implies that corruption remains the country’s prime plight as regards economic emancipation.

It’s so baffling that in this digital age, Nigeria is still lagging behind in regard to adequate utilization of the numerous gains of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). We can’t continue indulging ourselves in retrogressive issues in an era when ICT or Hi-Tech has succeeded in simplifying everything, or unraveling every mystery related to personnel information and management.

Nigeria’s problem ab initio, had been lack of orientation and corruption. The people she had had in positions of authority have seemingly remained deceitful and adamant concerning the lingering payroll palaver in the country, perhaps owing to lack of political will occasioned by corruption.

However, we ought to be immensely joyful that the current administration apparently detests graft profusely. But it does not stop at just having an interest in a certain cause, but ensuring the needful is aptly considered and done.

Hence, as the Buhari–led government is ostensibly interested in getting it right, it must acknowledge that obtaining a comprehensive database for all the federal workers is long overdue. Such measures can only be actualized via a forensic approach.

To this end, a special unit/department must be created by law under the Ministry of Finance. The proposed unit is subject to be manned by well qualified and reliable IT experts; and no one ought to have access to the department, except its staff and the director/HOD.

Additionally, an agency comprising thoroughly scrutinized individuals ought to be set up by law to monitor or oversee the day-to-day activity of the department. The agency would ascertain whenever a worker dies or retires, as the case may be, among other likely events, and thereafter ensure that the record is duly implemented by the unit.

Moreover, from time-to-time through their oversight functions, the federal legislators should invite the members, particularly the chairman, of the agency to keep them abreast of happenings. This must not be compromised for any reason whatsoever.

For the above unit to function tactically and properly, every federal MDA must equally boast of a competent and reliable IT unit that would regularly update that of the Finance Ministry being the umbrella body, on matters relating to employment, death, retirement, expulsion, retrenchment, or what have you.

The agency as mentioned above would assist in monitoring the genuineness and adequacy of the aforementioned cooperation. For efficiency’s sake, the unit must engage a viable and reliable software consulting firm toward ensuring holistic update of its software maintenance.

The measure ought to as well be replicated on the part of payment of pensions and gratuities. And, the various state governments should, on their part, endeavour to borrow a leaf from the overall proposed approach. It’s arguably time the governments at all levels fully embraced ICT towards enjoying forever.

Above all, the authorities must tackle the unbridled corruption with the last drop of their blood, acknowledging that nothing will work as planned if it is marred by graft.

This is an inevitable sacrifice the concerned authorities need to make towards salvaging the entire system of this monster that has already eaten deep into our bone marrow. 

There’s absolutely no doubt enthusing that Nigeria is a great country, but how greatly has she thus far fared in the area of technology? This is a candid and succinct question we must genuinely attend to if, as a people, we are truly determined to arrive at a definite destination.

If the gospel truth must be told in regard to the above inquiry, anyone who truly understands the situation here would boldly assert that Nigeria is nowhere to be found on the world map whenever tech-driven matters are being discussed.

This is the reason the concerned authorities are requested to sit up with a view to addressing the ugly and pathetic circumstance without further ado by facing the realities squarely at all cost, solely in the overall interest of the citizenry.

Facing the facts as expected would enable the relevant quarters to henceforth jettison every parameter or iota of temptation that would make the governments at all levels to continue to dwell on retrogressive issues when progressive ones are seriously needed.

For us as a nation to get it right, we are required to commence from the education sector. The area in question is presently bearing a deplorable and pitiable physiognomy, yet virtually no tangible step is being taken towards alleviating the obvious plight of the sector.

Nigeria has conspicuously grown of age that, by now, she’s meant to holistically realize that no existing nation becomes great, particularly in the field of technology, without duly embracing education. At her present age, she shouldn’t be reminded of the inevitable impact of education on a country’s quest for development and innovations.

Nigeria is unarguably not getting any younger, hence the compelling need for her to hold the bull by the horn in her apparent quest to reach the next level. It’s therefore high time she started doing the needful for the benefit of all.

The current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari, not unlike the past ones, has laid so much emphasis on technology. It ought to be told, without equivocations, that the people are losing patience with regard to the numerous promises of the government in terms of technology.

Nigeria has been widely noted as a country that talks more but does less. Well-meaning individuals, not just in Nigeria but across the globe, have gotten weary of the continued promises of the government, yet end up doing virtually nothing.

The country has indeed come of age, hence the need to be accorded a well-deserving respect by the various leaders. Technology isn’t about tendering a myriad of speeches, but delving into actions aptly.

Time has really come to start walking the talk. It’s imperative to acknowledge that this lofty agenda as presented in Tokyo cannot be well achieved without prioritizing technology, which depends majorly on research.

It’s indeed a shame that an average university in Nigeria, that’s supposed to be a research-oriented institution, can barely boast of the needed facilities to thrive in the area of creation of patents let alone commercializing them.

The country can at the moment hardly boast of functional technical colleges across the federation, yet the leaders keep ‘informing’ the world that they are doing the right things. These colleges used to be viable in the past, and tremendously helped in grooming our young ones in skills acquisition in various fields ranging from automobile, electrical/electronic services, sculpturing, wood work, to painting, and what have you.

It’s noteworthy that on a regular basis, Nigeria’s budget allocates about merely 9 per cent to the education sector, contrary to the 20% stipulation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). We need to restore the lost glory of the country’s educational system by placing it as a priority.

A hub needs to be created by the governments towards enabling the youth to aptly thrive in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which is gradually dominating the global space, thereby making it look like just a village. ICT – popularly known as IT – has obviously come to stay, thus must be fully embraced by all and sundry.

The fact remains that the required talents as regards technology, or technically-inclined issues, are abundant in Nigeria. All the government needs to do is to create an enabling environment to allow the talented ones to wholly develop and sell their patents.

The country can’t be technologically great when the needful is being swept under the carpet on a daily basis. The concerned leaders must, therefore, be very courageous in their quest to get it right.

Nigeria must discover her numerous prospects as regards tech issues with a view to putting them into practice for nation-building.