Casino revenues jump
(LAS VEGAS) -- Americans spent more money gambling in 2007 than on movie tickets or candy, but the steady growth of commercial casinos in the past decade could take a hit next year because of a slumping economy and setbacks in building new places to play. A survey released
MEC, Horsemen Support Pro-Slots Campaign
(MARYLAND) -- The Maryland racing industry is throwing its support behind a campaign for slot machines, but it remains to be seen whether any racetracks would get the gambling devices should the public approve a statewide ballot measure in November.
Casino debate is back
(MASSACHUSETTS) -- The debate over casino gambling is back, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi said Thursday, two months after pronouncing it dead and as a commission the House approved to study the issue remains unformed.
Off-Strip hotels push harder
(LAS VEGAS) -- Three off-Strip properties are addressing the economic pinch by increasing promotional spending, although they are taking separate approaches to cost-cutting efforts.
CityCenter budget hits $9 billion
(LAS VEGAS) -- The cost to build MGM Mirage's massive CityCenter development has cracked the $9 billion mark. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, MGM Mirage said the construction budget for CityCenter had increased to $9.2 billion, which includes capitalized interest.
Juror dismissed in lawsuit against Sands
(LAS VEGAS) -- A juror in the month-long civil trial against the world's 12th richest man was dismissed late Thursday after calling an attorney in the case an "asshole."
Already, CityCenter’s scale, complexity unparalleled
(LAS VEGAS) -- For all the stories I’ve written about CityCenter, the largest construction project in the country, nothing could have prepared me for the experience of standing in the middle of it this week.
Authority foresees drop in hotel room-tax revenue
(LAS VEGAS) -- Even Las Vegas optimists led by "America's happiest mayor" have lowered their revenue expectations for Southern Nevada resorts, predicting room taxes for the year will be $8 million less than forecast.
Bill that transformed a city
(NEVADA) -- A piece of Nevada legislation with a name of big dreams and high expectations, "The Wide Open Gambling Bill of 1931," was the cornerstone on which Las Vegas’ modern economy was built.
KCK casino makes first payment to city
(KANSAS) -- Gamblers are apparently embracing the new Wyandotte Nation-owned casino here, which made its first revenue-sharing payment to city officials this week.
Atlantic City keeping current
(ATLANTIC CITY) -- It's been a brutal year for this seaside gambling mecca. Competition from Pennsylvania and New York slots parlors began in late November 2006, and a law that will convert a partial smoking ban on casino floors into a full ban beginning Oct. 15 will further test Atlantic City's staying power.
Sports agency chief: NJ horse racing needs permanent fix
(NEW JERSEY) -- The horse racing industry in New Jersey will have trouble surviving unless state and industry leaders find a long-term solution to its problems instead of three-year quick fixes, the head of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority said Tuesday.
States see casinos' benefit
(MISSISSIPPI) -- Casinos have been a good bet for states over the last 10 years, when revenue for commercial casinos soared 73 percent.
House panel holds table games hearing despite Senate opposition
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- The Democratic-led House Gaming Oversight Committee took the first step Thursday on a bill to legalize table games at the state’s licensed slots casinos, holding a hearing on them despite heavy opposition in the Senate to expanding the state’s gambling platter.
Pa Casino’s Considering More Games
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- The gaming oversight committee heard testimony from people on both sides of the issue. Advocates say expanding gambling in the commonwealth will lead to more jobs.
Bethlehem casino gets name
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- Now that the debate is over and the steel is being erected to build a casino in south Bethlehem, the gambling hall finally has a name. Las Vegas Sands officials Friday announced that the casino will be called "Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem."
Hearing consensus: Grant slots license
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- The overwhelmingly positive response by the community will be a factor in the Pennsylvania State Gaming Board’s decision on whether to give Valley View Downs a license to operate 3,000 slot machines at the planned harness racing track.
Table games bill still faces opposition
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- The debate on gambling in Pennsylvania shifted Thursday, if only briefly, to craps, poker and blackjack, instead of whether the Legislature set up a flawed regulatory mechanism to vet who should win a slot-machine casino license.
State unlikely to approve table games anytime soon
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- Two casino executives want the state Legislature to let Pennsylvania casinos add popular table games, like blackjack, poker, dice and roulette, to the hundreds of slot machines already available for bettors.
Another casino faces financing crunch
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- Another planned Pennsylvania casino faces an uncertain financial future, according to testimony today before the state Gaming Control Board.
Final OK given to deal for slots host
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- It's official. Dauphin County and East Hanover Twp. have entered a four-year pact in which the county will provide $3 million annually to help with expenses the township incurs as host of the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.
No bluffs called in table games showdown
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- A House Republican lawmaker threw down the gauntlet during a hearing Thursday on legislation to legalize table games at Pennsylvania’s slots casinos.
Senate supports video bingo limit
(LOUISIANA) -- State legislation that would cut off the expansion of video bingo machines that resemble video poker or slot machines was approved Wednesday in Senate.
Tentative opening June 2
(INDIANA) -- Plastic still clung to most of the slot machines, but the expanded Hoosier Park casino was ready for previewing Tuesday.
Big Brown overwhelming favorite for Preakness
(MARYLAND) -- No more outside post positions for Big Brown. The undefeated Boundary colt, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 at Churchill Downs, will break from post seven as the overwhelming 1-to-2 morning-line favorite for the Preakness Stakes (G1), the second leg of the Triple Crown on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.
Senate OKs tax on poker games
(NEW HAMPSHIRE) -- The state Senate endorsed a tax on operators of the wildly popular Texas Hold Em' poker tournaments to pay for state oversight over what's fast becoming a multimillion-dollar business in New Hampshire.
Racetracks reach deal on Belmont signal
(NEW YORK) -- The Southern Racing Cooperative, which represents several Thoroughbred tracks, has reached an agreement with the New York Racing Association on the Belmont Park signal.
New NYRA board takes shape
(NEW YORK) -- Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-Brunswick) has tabbed a former Ad Hoc Racing Committee member as one of his picks for New York Racing Association’s reconstituted board of directors.
Losing racehorses killed in Puerto Rico
(PUERTO RICO) -- For thoroughbreds in this U.S. Caribbean territory, being fast enough to win, place or show is a matter of life and death - losers often don't even make it off the racetrack grounds alive.
Lawmakers take aim at budget
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to use money from an expanded lottery to plug a big state budget hole is not looking like a winning ticket.
Governor's big gamble with the budget
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's unusual proposal to borrow against future state lottery revenue to help erase the state's $17.2 billion budget deficit drew sharp criticism Wednesday from Democratic lawmakers and financial experts who say the idea is risky and irresponsible.
Q&A: How the lottery proposal would work
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to borrow against lottery proceeds to help address the state's budget problems. Here's a quick look at the plan:
Doubts cast on lottery as state budget panacea
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's controversial plan to borrow against future state lottery revenue has been successful in other states, but California may find it difficult to raise enough money from lottery ticket sales to repay bonds used to bridge its giant budget deficit, lottery experts said Thursday.
Taking a chance on Calif. lottery
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Schwarzenegger on Wednesday proposed to close the state's $15.2 billion budget gap by borrowing against the state lottery and making major cuts to health and social service programs.
Governor gambles budget on lottery
(CALIFORNIA) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday proposed propping up a shaky $101.8 billion state budget on a bet that California can wring more than four times as much money as now from its lottery.
OP/ED: Governor's gaming money
(CALIFORNIA) -- If there's something positive to be found in the governor's revised budget it's that he appears to be coming around to the idea that California is not going to cut its way out of a $15.2 billion shortfall.
Store owner claiming $21.5M jackpot misled officials: documents
(ONTARIO) -- An Ontario store owner who claimed a $21.5-million prize in 2006 misled lottery officials when he first spoke to them about the winning ticket, according to documents recently obtained by CBC News after a lengthy dispute with the province's lottery corporation.
Judge tosses wife's Lotto suit -- for now
(FLORIDA) -- A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday said the wife of a lottery winner cannot go forward with a lawsuit against her husband until she can provide a legal argument to support her claim for half of his jackpot.
Judge upholds WA online gambling law
(WASHINGTON) -- Online gamblers are vowing not to fold after a King County Superior Court judge on Thursday upheld a state law that makes internet gambling a Felony, punishable by up to five years.
Online gambling still illegal
(WASHINGTON) -- Playing poker for money online will remain illegal in Washington state, a King County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday morning.
Despite ruling, online poker players won't fold
(WASHINGTON) -- It's just the first round of bets, but the state won the hand in a battle to preserve its ban on Internet gambling. A King County judge has upheld Washington state's ban on online gambling, setting back the hopes of players who want to play for real money.
Judge backs state law against online poker
(WASHINGTON) -- A King County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of upholding a state law Friday that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player last year.
Save our slots, says Gale
(UK) -- THE government must swiftly reverse decisions that have damaged the interests of seaside amusement arcades or see more of them close down.
Packer's Macau venture turns a profit
(AUSTRALIA) -- Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau), a casino venture between James Packer and billionaire Stanley Ho's son, reported a first-quarter net profit, reversing a loss from a year earlier on higher gaming volume at Crown Macau.
Chips Pile Up At Melco PBL
(AUSTRALIA) -- Melco PBL Entertainment broke into the black in its first quarter, but investors weren't ready to bet it all on the developer and owner of casinos and resorts in Macau.
Chips Pile Up At Melco PBL
(AUSTRALIA) -- Melco PBL Entertainment broke into the black in its first quarter, but investors weren't ready to bet it all on the developer and owner of casinos and resorts in Macau.
Chinese market a government-directed casino
(CHINA) -- The plunge in Chinese stocks over the past seven months and regulators' attempts to revive them make one wonder whether China's bourse is a government-directed casino housed within the confines of a communist state.
Reform Needed To Secure Mexico’s Gambling Growth, Say Regulators
(MEXICO) -- Potential benefits from Mexico’s rapidly expanding gambling industry are being squandered because of the non-implementation of the 2004 law that welcomed many new operators to the market, participants at a meeting of Latin American gambling regulators in Monterrey concluded yesterday.
Barkley says he'll pay huge gambling debt
(LAS VEGAS) (AP) -- Charles Barkley acknowledged he owes a $400,000 gambling debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino and promised Thursday to repay it after a prosecutor said the retired NBA star faced criminal charges. ''My mistake,'' Barkley said in an interview at a pro-am golf tournament in Hoover, Ala. ''I'm not broke, and I'm going to take care of it.''
Deal Barkley out / Debt to casino might be sign of problem
(MARYLAND) -- Charles Barkley is a Las Vegas kind of guy - something he's not shy about. He said during a radio interview last year that he won about $700,000 gambling in Sin City around the time of the Indianapolis Colts- Chicago Bears Super Bowl.
The life of a Wichita billionaire
(KANSAS) -- What would you do with $1 billion? Few people get the chance to live out that scenario, but Wichitan Phil Ruffin is one of them and sat down with KSN’s Jason Kravarik to tell him what it’s like.
Bingo audits still going
(MARYLAND) -- State tax auditors continue to sift through thousands of documents obtained from gambling machine operators in St. Mary’s County to determine whether any businesses failed to pay proper taxes, according to the state comptroller.
Luck runs out on gambling operation
(PENNSYLVANIA) -- Nine people have been charged with bookmaking and conspiracy after Philadelphia police broke up what they called a multimillion-dollar gambling operation.
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