Berlin (Reuters) - Germany's federal states plan to ban Internet gambling, according to draft documents to be discussed by the country's state premiers on Wednesday, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Despite pressure from the European Commission to open up Europe's gambling market to competition, ministers from most states want to sign off on new rules aimed at protecting their lucrative monopoly as lottery operators, said Handelsblatt.
An exhibition outlining the fledgling plans for a casino in Bath will be staged this week. Bath and North East Somerset Council has applied to the Government for permission to have a small casino in the city. Bath is among 31 locations chasing 16 licences - eight for small casinos and eight for larger venues. The council will find out on January 30 if it has been chosen by the Government's Casino Advisory Panel.
Winnie Ho, younger sister of Macau casino kingpin Stanley Ho, has offered to buy out his stake in the company that controls 16 of Macau's 23 casinos. Winnie Ho claims Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) owes her about HKD 3 billion (AUD 491 million) in dividends for the past five years for her 8 per cent stake. Ms Ho, 83, has filed more than 30 lawsuits against her brother for owing her money, defamation, and over shareholding structures.
Genting Bhd., the Malaysian gaming operator that's expanding into Singapore, said revenue from its latest venture will make it the world's third-largest casino operator within a decade. Its shares extended gains to a record. "To be the top three, you need to show some real revenue, and the revenue for this project will form a substantial part of the target," Genting Chief Executive Officer Lim Kok Thay said in an interview yesterday. "We'll start to see that in the fourth to fifth year" after the resort opens in 2010.
Atlantic City, New Jersey -- New Jersey's casinos brought in more in November than they did in the same month last year, even though the Sands Hotel Casino closed its doors. The increases can't be credited to a last-minute gaming bonanza at the Sands, which had been the city's smallest casino and closed on Nov. 11. In the 11 days it was open, the casino brought in USD 3.53 million in winnings _ less per day than November 2005, when it brought in a total of USD 12.8 million.
Betting giant Ladbrokes is believed to be in talks with Britain's biggest racecourse operator about a joint casino venture at the Wolverhampton track. Under the deal, Arena Leisure - which also owns racecourses in Windsor, Berkshire, and Lingfield, Surrey - would add gaming to its portfolio under one of the Government's new smaller supercasino licence agreements, which will be awarded next year.
New York (Reuters) - The board of Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest gambling company, plans to meet on Wednesday to consider buyout offers, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. Harrah's has set a deadline of Tuesday on all bids and may also consider a leveraged recapitalization if the bids are not compelling, the source said.
Genting's upcoming casino resort featuring a Universal Studios theme park will be Singapore's biggest tourism money spinner and is expected to break even in seven years, the Malaysian gaming giant has said. The "Resorts World at Sentosa" is projected to generate tourism receipts of 15 billion Singapore dollars (9.5 billion USD) annually by 2015, half of the overall industry target set by the Singapore Tourism Board, Genting International chief financial officer Tan Hee Teck said Monday.
London -- The Seminole Tribe of Florida said Thursday it was buying the famed Hard Rock business, including its casinos, restaurants, hotels and huge collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, in a groundbreaking USD 965 million deal with a British company. The deal with London-based Rank Group PLC is believed to be an American Indian tribe's first purchase of a major international corporation of its size, the Seminoles said. It includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues and stakes in three unbranded hotels.
Singapore (Reuters) - Singapore said on Friday it had chosen a consortium led by Malaysia's Genting Bhd. to build and run its second casino resort. The winning proposal for the 49-hectare site on the resort island of Sentosa trumped two other bids submitted by Eighth Wonder and Kerzner. Genting Bhd, which bid through affiliates Genting International and cruise operator Star Cruises Ltd., had proposed a USD 3.1 billion plan that includes movie-based roller-coaster rides built by theme parks giant Universal Studios.
Premiership clubs could be forced to terminate lucrative sponsorship deals with gaming companies after the government announced it is to examine whether shirt sponsorships and other endorsements involving gambling operators are illegal. Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Aston Villa have all recently signed shirt sponsorships with online gaming companies, prompting concern among MPs and other interest groups that the deals effectively bypass laws intended to protect children.
Las Vegas (AP) - A Las Vegas judge has granted a 15-day restraining order to prevent southern Nevada police and prosecutors from enforcing a voter-approved statewide smoking ban that was to take effect Friday. Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon said Thursday that there was a sufficient likelihood that a group of southern Nevada business owners could persuade him the ban was unconstitutional, and ordered both sides to present their cases at a Dec. 19 hearing.
