In 10 days' time one council will hit the multi-million pound jackpot and be given the right to run a 'supercasino'. The winner will be allowed to open a gambling arena the size of at least a football pitch, with 1,250 slot machines paying out unlimited jackpots. The liberalisation of gambling in Britain has some extremely vociferous critics but they do not include the seven shortlisted councils - Blackpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, Greenwich, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield - all of which see the casino as an opportunity to transform their town for the better.

New York (Dow Jones) - A proposed smoking ban for Atlantic City casinos could burn the industry. The Atlantic City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on the ban, a move that has cost other casino markets a 10% to 20% hit to profits because smokers will go elsewhere to gamble. Atlantic City casinos have been exempt to existing New Jersey law that snuffed out smoking in public places. Casino operators argue a ban places them at a competitive disadvantage as gamblers opt to bet and puff in rival markets such as Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

A city council has put a stop to more casinos being built in its district. Nottingham City Council has decided the city's existing eight casinos provide plenty of opportunities for those who wish to gamble. Leader of the council, Jon Collins, said he did not think opening more casinos in Nottingham was the right thing to do for the city. But just 24 miles away in Mansfield, councillors are pushing for casino plans to go ahead.

The casino industry is seeing its fortunes rise in Seoul. Grand Korea Leisure, a subsidiary of Korea Tourism Organization, last year advanced into the casino business for foreigners with its Seven Luck casinos, ending 38 years of domination in the city by Paradise Walkerhill Casino. Thanks to the new competition, the casino market has exploded. The number of foreign visitors to Seoul's casinos exceeded 700,000 last year, up from around 330,000 in 2005.

Tourism is on a roll in tiny gambling haven Macau, with a record 22 million people visiting the tiny southern Chinese territory's booming casinos in 2006, tourist chiefs said. The former Portuguese enclave of just 450,000 people was swamped by 12 million tourists from mainland China alone. Together, tourists spent USD 21 billion (AUD 26.69 billion) on gambling, hotels, food and booze – all of which made Macau the world's most profitable casino city, beating even Las Vegas' famous strip.

Mount Laurel, New Jersey -- After a losing a pile of money at an Atlantic City casino in July 2004, a frustrated gambler drove directly to the Casino Control Commission headquarters and put his name on a list of people banned from the city's casinos. It's a decision he immediately regretted _ even more so when he learned that in this case, what happens in Atlantic City does not stay in Atlantic City.

The two founders of the British "virtual wallet" group Neteller, which provides gambling accounts to online punters, have been arrested in America and charged with money laundering offences which carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Neteller's former chairman, Steve Lawrence, 46, was detained in the US Virgin Islands on Monday and his co-founder, John Lefebvre, 55, was picked up by the US authorities in the millionaires' playground of Malibu, California.

The Bavarian Administrative Court of Appeal (Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof) decided that it is illegal for the Bavarian Ministry of Science, Research and Art to order the Bavarian Agency for New Media (Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien) to ban advertisement for private sports betting with regard to the channels it supervises (decision of 9 January 2007, case-no. 7 CS 06.2495). The Court affirmed the decision of the Administrative Court of Munich and dismissed the complaint of the Ministry of Research.

Bloomberg -- The manager of a 23,000-member private card club in London was convicted today of violating Britain's gambling laws after a jury decided poker is a game of chance, not pure skill. Derek Kelly argued that he didn't need a gambling license to take a share of profits from players at his club because the U.K.'s Gaming Act 1968 covers games like roulette, not skill- based games like poker or chess. The jury disagreed, and convicted Kelly of illegally taking profits of as much as 10 percent from players on two occasions at the Gutshot club.

Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun is poised to buy up to a 10 percent stake in Star Cruises (0678), which will then get the rights to build and operate a casino in Macau in exchange, according to a report. Shares in Star Cruises have been suspended from trading since January 12, pending an announcement in relation to a price-sensitive potential transaction, according to a statement filed with the stock exchange. The cruise operator said it will make an announcement in due course.

A giant casino in Glasgow will not open until autumn - more than a year later than expected. London Clubs International is building the huge venue on the south bank of the River Clyde at Springfield Quay. With floor space bigger than a football pitch, the LCI development will become Scotland's biggest casino complex, and include several restaurants and bars. Such is the size of the project it's likely to be as big as the UK's first super-casino, which Glasgow is still in the running for.

The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) expressed substantial doubts about the punishability of transferring sporting bets. With decision of 29 November 2006 (file no. 2 StR 55/06), the Federal Court of Justice therefore annulled the conviction of the accused sports betting agent by the District Court of Frankfurt am Main (Landgericht Frankfurt am Main). The District Court had accused the agent of committing the crime of illegal gambling in accordance with Art. 284 German Criminal Code by transferring sporting bets without a licence to a London based company, which (only) holds an UK license.