For the fourth consecutive year, Gary Loveman, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Harrah’s Entertainment, was named "Best CEO" in the gaming and lodging industry by Institutional Investor magazine. "Although awards such as these are bestowed upon individual executives, credit for this honor truly lies with my 85,000 hard-working, dedicated colleagues at Harrah’s," Loveman said.

While in 2007 the casinos of Santa Cruz, Pinto (Termas de Chillán) and Los Ángeles should be operative, on the first semestre of 2008 casinos in Mostazal and Talca will start operating. In the second semester, the rest of the ten casinos will be developed, and will be located in Calama, Antofagasta, Copiapó, San Antonio, Rinconada, Talcahuano, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno and Punta Arenas.

Andrew Silverman, a US casino and real estate tycoon, is in the process of applying for the purchase of Veneto Hotel & Casino in USD 85 million. The transaction could be concluded in 30 days, but the final approval is in hands of the Gambling Control Committee. Alberto Btesh and Moisés Haski, owners of Veneto, have already applied for the approval of the sale to the Panamenian Gambling Control Committee, which now anticipates the investigation of the applicants.

Düsseldorf/Espelkamp. The minister for innovation, science, research, and technology and deputy prime minister of the Land North Rhine-Westphalia opened the 26th IMA (International Trade Fair of Amusement and Vending Machines) on 16 January 2007 together with Espelkamp-based entrepreneur and chairman of the German Industry Association of Coin-Operated Amusement and Vending Machines (VDAI), Paul Gauselmann.

The position of the Supreme Court of Justice about the Law of Games and Draws took an unexpected turn: it opened the debate on its legality and showed the possibility that the licenses granted might be invalidated. Last Monday, Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero, in charge of the project, expressed its support to the regulation issued in 2004 by ex president Vicente Fox, which gave the power to the Government Secretary to grant licenses for up to 25 years, to instal remote betting centers, horse racetracks, greyhound racetracks, etc.

The US Department of Justice has ordered the world’s biggest investment banks, accountants and law firms to hand over all emails, telephone records and papers connected with Internet gaming firms as part of an investigation into illegal online gambling in the US. HSBC, Dresdner Kleinwort, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are known to be among banks issued with subpoenas as part of a worldwide hunt to build a case against those who benefited from illegal online gambling.

Gambling group Ladbrokes has continued its European expansion, buying Sponsio - an online gaming firm in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The British bookmaker already had a partnership deal with the company but said the £36m purchase would bolster its position in the region. Spending on gambling per capita in the Nordic area is among the highest in Europe, Ladbrokes said.

Ninety new casinos, the equivalent of ten supercasinos, have been approved in the UK in the last two years, according to minutes from the Gambling Commission. Tory spokesman Hugo Swire said the revelation was evidence of a "casino con trick" by ministers after the number of actual supercasinos initially allowed was restricted to just one, according to reports. A shake-up of gambling laws could increase problem gambling, the Government minister in charge of the issue has conceded.

On 13 December 2006, the state prime ministers of the 16 German states agreed to a new draft of a new Interstate Treaty on Gambling (Glücksspiel-Staatsvertrag) against the single vote of the state prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, i.e. from a sportive point of view 15 : 1. On 1 January 2008, this new Interstate Treaty shall become effective and replace the current Interstate Treaty on Lotteries, which came into force on 1 July 2004. According to the perception of the agreeing states, this new treaty shall regulate gambling law in a constitutional way after the Federal Constitutional Court’s fundamental decision of 28 March 2006 on sports betting. The new treaty shall explicitly include sports betting (which is disputed with regard to the current Interstate Treaty on Lotteries) and shall contain explicit provisions for casinos.

The full scale of Britain's gambling revolution can be revealed today after The Observer obtained secret minutes revealing that the equivalent of 10 super-casinos will be built in England and Wales in the next few years. A week before the announcement of where Britain's first Las Vegas-style super-casino will be located, a detailed list obtained from the Gambling Commission reveals vast expansion plans which are a contrast with government assurances that the number would be very limited.

The US Department of Justice has ordered the world’s biggest investment banks, accountants and law firms to hand over all e-mails, telephone records and papers connected with internet gaming firms as part of an investigation into illegal online gambling in America. HSBC, Dresdner Kleinwort, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are known to be among the banks that have been issued with subpoenas - official requests for information - as part of a worldwide hunt to build a case against those who benefited from illegal online gambling.

Sands Regency, Gold Ranch, Rail City and The Depot are getting "Terriblized" under new ownership, officials said this week. With Las Vegas-based Herbst Gaming Inc.'s USD 148 million buyout of the Sands Regent holdings complete, the Northern Nevada properties will be renamed in phases. The names will be Terrible's Rail City, Terrible's Gold Ranch, Terrible's Casino Dayton and Sands Regency, a Terrible's casino, said Ferenc Szony, who maintained his position overseeing the Northern Nevada properties after serving as president of Sands.