Diamond Investments

Diamond Investments have been as gemstones since the ancient times. Popularity of diamonds has risen since the 19th century because of successful advertising in spite of a greatly increased supply. Diamonds are not normally as a mainline store of value during times of crisis, because of their lack of fungibility and low liquidity. However, they may still be useful during times of hyperinflation. Approximately 20% of mined diamonds are in jewelry and 80% for industrial uses. Chemical vapor deposition to produce synthetic diamonds, which, unlike diamond stimulants, inherit all the properties of gemstones formed in nature. There is no natural shortage of diamonds. Diamonds synthesize at much lower cost than the equivalent natural diamond price, and the chemical and structural purity of a synthetic diamond can exceed a natural one. However, the chemical composition is not the only factor that determines their value - the quality of the cut is of as much, if not greater, importance. Today a few funds are investing in diamonds. These funds purchase unique diamonds; each stone check by a few professionals and negotiated until the fund decides to purchase it. Then a marketing team goes into action and through an extensive work, the fund yield gain. Between 2007 and 2008, the price of a diamond from the top range of color, clarity, cut and carat went up by over 50%. Polished and rough diamonds lack some of the desirable attributes of investment vehicles, including liquidity, homogeneity and fungibility. Grading and certification by recognized laboratories goes some way to redressing this. Weight and cutting proportions are parameters precisely measured. Color and clarity grades are parameters, which need to be determined by gemologists. The increasing quality and size, and decreasing price, of synthetic diamonds also presents a threat to the value of polished diamonds as a long-term investment. The possibility of low-cost ultra–high-quality diamonds becoming available in industrial quantities at some time in the future is not an encouraging prospect for long-term investors in diamonds; however, synthetic diamonds manufactured since the 1950s and have yet to make a major impact on the market. A cautionary example of such a price fall caused by introduction of a new stimulant strongly undermining the prices of a natural gem was the permanent fall in natural pearl prices with the introduction of cultured pearls. The mechanism by which prices affected is complex. In part because of the social acceptability of wearing cultured pearls to much of the market, customers migrated from the natural to the lower priced cultured product. This altered the supply and demand situation for natural pearls and perhaps the overall prestige of pearls in general lowered. Where synthetic stones are less socially acceptable to the market for the natural version, arguably as with synthetic markets, natural and synthetic, are mostly separate, the prestige of the natural stones has been, with effort, retained. Thus, increased availability and lowered prices of synthetics may or may not have major implications for the future price of natural diamonds. In addition, the introduction of synthetic rubies in the late 19th Century did not appear to have a permanent effect on the price of natural rubies. There are several factors contributing to low liquidity of diamonds. One of the main is the lack of terminal market. Most commodities have terminal markets, and some form of commodities exchange, clearing house, and central storage facilities. Until recently, this did not exist for diamonds. Diamonds subject to value added tax in the UK, EU, and sales tax in most developed countries, therefore reducing their effectiveness as an investment medium. Most diamonds are through retail stores at very high profit margins. As diamonds in larger become increasingly rare and valuable, any easily visible and readily understood pricing system has been difficult to establish. The Rapaport Diamond Report is relatively expensive to subscribe to, and as such is not readily available to consumers and investors. Each week, there are matrices of diamond prices for round brilliant cut diamonds, by color and clarity within size bands, and also other shapes. The price matrix for brilliant cuts alone exceeds 1,400 entries, and even achieved only by grouping some grades together. There are considerable price shifts near the edges of the size bands, so a 0.49 carats (98 mg) stone may list at $5,500 per carat = $2,695, while a 0.50 carats (100 mg) stone of similar quality lists at $7,500 per carat = $3,750. This may appear such a large difference as to defy logic, but in reality, stones near the top of a size band tend to be up rated slightly. Some of the price jumps related to marketing and consumer expectations. A buyer expecting a 1 carat (200 mg) diamond solitaire engagement ring may be unprepared to accept a 0.99 carats (198 mg) diamond. There are numerous diamond-grading laboratories, and there is no easy way for investors, consumers, or even dealers to know the relative competence and integrity of each. Even the market-leading Gemological Institute of America (GIA) suffered embarrassment recently when a small number of large, important and valuable diamonds were over graded, resulting in legal action by one dealer against the dealer who had submitted them to the GIA for grading. A number of GIA employees left after the scandal emerged, and the GIA has changed a number of its procedures. There are also a number of laboratories affiliated to Jewelry Confederation. There must be commercial pressure on all labs to upgrade marginal stones or lose business to other labs that are prepared to reduce standards. The non-linear pricing of different sizes (weights) of diamonds means that it is not realistic to exchange. With commodities such as gold, it is clear that one twenty gram bar is worth the same as two ten gram bars, assuming the same quality. In most terminal markets, there needs to be a readily available standard quality, or limited number of qualities, available in sufficient quantity to be tradable. This is a major factor, which affects liquidity. The large number of variables in diamond quality makes commodity-like pricing difficult. There are fashion and marketing elements to take into consideration. De Beers expends marketing efforts to encourage sales of diamond sizes and qualities, which produced in relatively large quantities. They have to take steps to discourage investment, primarily because they perceive that bubble prices, which followed by sharp falls, are bad for long-term consumer confidence in diamonds as a long-term store of value. Diamonds are primarily a consumer item. The main positive investment parameter of diamonds is their high value per unit weight, which makes them easy to store and transport. A high quality diamond weighing as little as 2 or 3 grams could be worth as much as 100 kilos of gold. This extremely condensed value and portability does bestow diamonds as a form of emergency disaster fund. People and populations displaced by war or extreme upheaval have utilized this property successfully. The arguments given mean that it is almost certain that diamonds cannot commoditize sufficiently to allow efficient and liquid markets. This does not mean, however, that diamonds can never considered as investments. A speculator who was prepared to make a market in diamonds could use the very lack of liquidity itself. Any such investor would need to ensure that he maintained sufficient personal liquidity to avoid distress selling, except by others. Such an investor would need to expend effort to market his stock and to advertise his readiness to buy and would effectively become a trader rather than investor.

Poker Paigow

Paigow

Pai-gow poker is a banking poker game played in some of the California card clubs and casinos. The object of pai-gow poker is to make two poker hands that beat the banker's hands. The player is dealt 7 cards that he makes into a five card hand (high hand) and a two card hand (low hand). The hands are played and ranked as traditional poker hands (with one exception: A2345 is the second highest straight), and the 5 card hand must be higher than the 2 card hand. If both hands are better than the banker's hand, you win, if both lose, you lose, otherwise it's a push. The banker wins absolute ties (i.e. K Q vs K Q). The game is played with a 52 cards plus one joker. The joker can be used as an Ace or to complete a flush or straight.

Each player spot has spaces for a bet, low hand, high hand and sometimes the house commission. The dealer deals 7 7-card hands in front of the chip tray. The banker can be a player, but is usually the house. The banker designates which hands go to which player by shaking a dice cup with three dice; the banker's position is either 1, 8 or 15 and the hands are passed out counterclockwise. So, if the dealer is the bank and the dice total to 6, player 5 gets the first hand, player 6 gets the second, the dealer gets the third and so on. The dice mumbo-jumbo appears to be ritual stuff --- you don't need to worry about anything until you get your hand.

In pai-gow poker, the only strategic decisions are how much to bet and how to set your hand. The simple basic strategy for setting your hand is to make the highest 2-card hand that is less than your five card hand. If you can't figure out what to do, you can show your hand to the dealer and they will tell you how the house would set it.

In the California card clubs, all wagering is between players, so the option to be the bank rotates among the active players. The rule differences from the IP rules are that the Joker is wild, and the house commission is a flat $1 per hand ($10 minimum bet).

Pai-gow poker is an easy game to play, and since each hand takes a while to play (dealer has to shuffle for each game) and most hands push, you can play on $20 at a $5 table for quite a while.

Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s when the Portuguese government legalized the activity in the colony. Since then, Macau has become known worldwide as the Monte Carlo of the Orient.

Gambling tourism is Macau's biggest source of revenue, making up about 50% of the economy. Visitors are made up largely of Chinese nationals from the mainland and Hong Kong. With the entry of large foreign casinos from Las Vegas and Australia, Macau overtook the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenues in 2007.

Until Western-style casino games were introduced in the 20th century, only Chinese games were played, the most popular being Fan-Tan. Generally, gambling in Macau can be divided into three different categories: casino games, horseracing and greyhound racing. There is also sports betting and a number of lotteries. At the present time, Macau does not license online gaming operations.

Macau has 33 casinos, of which the biggest is The Venetian Macau. They all operate under a government franchise and under a common set of rules.

Many forms of gambling are legal there, such as blackjack, baccarat, roulette, boule, Sic bo, Fan Tan, keno and slot machines.

Poker was introduced only in August 2007, in an electronic table format at Galaxy Starworld casino. The first live poker tournament was the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau event in November 2007. Shortly thereafter, in January 2008, the government of Macau published the official rules for Texas hold 'em poker games in Macau. In February 2008, Grand Lisboa Casino added the first live-dealer cash game tables in Macau. In May 2008, 'PokerStars Macau' opened at Grand Waldo Casino. In November 2008, Texas Holdem' Poker opened at Wynn Macau and the Learn to Play table is available. 'PokerStars Macau' moved to a new location at the Grand Lisboa Casino in March 2009. Today, Wynn Macau, Venetian, Hard Rock Casino , StarWorld and Grand Lisboa Casinos offer live-dealer cash game poker tables, and only Grand Lisboa Casino has live poker tournaments every weekend.

Gambling has been legal in Macau for a long time beginning in 1851 where there was a licensing system for gambling houses until 1863. Beginning in 1934, casinos' ownership and operation was centralized where through private negotiations, some franchises monopolized the operation right of all casinos. The casino industry has been controlled by the STDM monopoly for 39 years but, this changed in 2001 when casino licenses were offered to other casino operators, including American companies such as Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson and Wynn Resorts Steve Wynn and then later on May 18, 2004, the Sands Macau casino opened near the Macau Ferry Terminal.

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Pathological Gambling

Pathological gambling is being unable to resist impulses to gamble, which can lead to severe personal or social consequences.
Causes

Pathological gambling usually begins in early adolescence in men, and between ages 20 and 40 in women.

Pathological gambling often involves repetitive behaviors. People with this problem have a hard time resisting or controlling the impulse to gamble. Although it shares features of obsessive compulsive disorder, pathological gambling is likely a different condition.

In people who develop pathological gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems.
Symptoms

People with pathological gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines pathological gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:

Committing crimes to get money to gamble
Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
Gambling larger amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
Needing to borrow money due to gambling losses
Needing to gamble larger amounts of money in order to feel excitement
Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as remembering past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble

A psychiatric evaluation and history can be used to diagnose pathological gambling. Screening tools such as the Gamblers Anonymous 20 Questions can help with the diagnosis.

Treatment

Treatment for people with pathological gambling begins with recognizing the problem. Pathological gambling is often associated with denial. People with the illness often refuse to accept that they have a problem or need treatment.

Most people with pathological gambling enter treatment under pressure from others, rather than voluntarily accepting the need for treatment.

Treatment options include:

    Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT has been found to be effective.
Self-help support groups, such as Gamblers Anonymous. Gamblers Anonymous is a 12-step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Principles related to stopping the habit abstinence for other types of addiction, such as substance abuse and alcohol dependence, can also be helpful in the treatment of pathological gambling.
A few studies have been done on medications for the treatment of pathological gambling. Early results suggest that antidepressants and opioid antagonists naltrexone may help treat the symptoms of pathological gambling. However, it is not yet clear which people will respond to medications.

Like alcohol or drug addiction, pathological gambling is a chronic disorder that tends to get worse without treatment. Even with treatment, it's common to start gambling again relapse. However, people with pathological gambling can do very well with the right treatment.