International Business Times UK, the London-based Daily Mail, CNet and any number of online casino industry publications have been breathlessly reporting this week on the possibility that Facebook will begin hosting internet gambling services on the social networking ‘site – at least for a U.K. test market.

Facebook is reportedly planning for an IPO offering which could value the company at $100 billion plus and would put shares on the New York Stock Exchange as early as April 2012; CNet, among others, speculates that the investigation into gambling site hosting is an attempt to make potential profit look more promising in advance of the IPO.

According to industry publication eGaming Review, Facebook is currently in negotiation/advisory meeting with 20 consultants, experts in the field and some website representatives. ZDNet reported that current plans would have Facebook awarding eight licenses in areas of sportsbook, casinos and other verticals; Gamesys and 888.com are widely reported to have the inside track in acquiring two of these permissions.

In answer to publicly-voiced fears that gambling interests on Facebook could easily prey on the underage, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes was quoted on CNet as stating that “Our commitment to providing a safe, secure and appropriate experience for teenagers is a fundamental principle of Facebook. The suggestion that we would make any decision that doesn’t carefully consider the impact on this audience is short-sighted and, frankly, offensive to the hundreds of people who work to keep kids safe and the many parents at Facebook.”

All those gamblers who have dreamed of taking down the house but good – and face it, who hasn’t had that fantasy? – have a new hero in the form of Don Johnson.

No, not *that* Don Johnson of 1980s television fame, but rather Wyoming businessman Don Johnson, who has become the scourge of Atlantic City and the partymeister of London in short time while breaking records all over the Guinness Book of Records. 

In the six months over 2010 and ’11, Johnson took three Atlantic City casinos for an total of $15.1 million, all on blackjack, all completely legally (i.e. no card-counting) and all (well, mostly) tax-free. By spring of this year, the horseracing industry entrepreneur even got a further advantage that all but the highest rollers can only dream up: He was able to negotiate special rules and even a 20% cashback bonus on losses – granted that he played for $100,000 per hand and bought in for $1 million.

No matter and no sweat for Johnson, though. By playing tight, the Wyomingite racked up his eight figures slickly, even winning $700,000 on a single hand that had been split three times as well as doubled up three times.

So how does a guy like Johnson celebrate such a win? By popping over to London to party with buddy Jon Bon Jovi and buying the world’s most expensive bottle of champagne, a 99-pound behemoth called the Armand De Brignac Midas carrying a price tag of about £140,000 ($225,000)! The clincher: Johnson hardly touches bubbly and usually drinks vodka. Expensive vodka, one would surmise.

And while $15 million or so wouldn’t seem to put a dent in the Atlantic City economy, New Jersey tax authorities are reportedly demanding that Johnson pay income taxes on the winnings despite no affiliation to or ownership of land in the state.

Just call him Wyoming Vice…

You’d figure that, once folks in America realized the inevitable about the arcane federal online gambling laws and the industry’s potential as a moneymaker to fill government coffers, the state of Nevada would be among the very first to try fully legalizing online gaming in the state. And late last week, the first steps were taken in this logical direction, as the Nevada state assembly unanimously passed a bill which defined a licensing process for internet poker providers who could supply state citizens with legal gaming.

Though the prevailing law regarding online gaming in the U.S., the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, disallows most such playing under federal law, a proviso in the act allows individual states the possibility to allow online casinos, poker and the like in an intrastate system. The Nevada bill would appear to be the first step for that state to implement such a network.

While it may seem paradoxical that Nevada is moving forward with the plan just a few weeks after federal authorities cracked down on a handful of huge-name sites such as PokerStars, it seems likely that lawmakers simply want prime offenders of certain to be removed from the playing field before the seemingly inevitable licensing process sweeping Europe begins in the U.S.A. (Think of the end of the Prohibition Era, a time guiding by moral rules about as silly as those dictating gambling rules in the ‘States today.)