Third Consecutive Year for the Gaming Industry’s Premier Event

A restructuring of how Wynn Las Vegas manages its casino soon will leave many dealers there a little lighter in the wallet. Starting Sept. 1, table game supervisors will share in the tips earned by dealers, a move gaming industry insiders said is unheard of along the Strip. "This amounts to money out of my pocket to pay other employees," said one dealer, a 14-year veteran who has worked at the USD 2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas since it opened in April 2005.

Call it the USD 6 million promise. Recently crowned World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold is being sued for half of his mammoth, USD 12 million winnings. According to a suit filed Monday in District Court, Los Angeles-based "television development executive" Bruce Crispin Leyser claims that Gold promised to pay him half of whatever he won at the series as part of an informal arrangement. Leyser also asked a judge to stop Gold from claiming or spending any of the money until the dispute is settled.

The snowballing gambling scandal, possibly involving a nephew of President Roh Moo-hyun and his aides, is shedding light on the social problems caused by Korea's rapidly growing gambling sector. Critics have been questioning why the government in past years eased the regulations on gaming rooms, allowing their business to double in less than a two-year period, while failing to properly monitor irregularities.

Las Vegas Sands Corp., the world's largest gaming operator, is keen to build a casino in Japan once Asia's richest economy moves to legalise casinos. "We would be remiss as business people if we weren't involved. There is literally limitless opportunity in Asia," Sands President and Chief Operating Officer William Weidner said on Wednesday on the sidelines of a signing ceremony between the Singapore government and the company, which is going to build a USD 3.6 billion casino in the city-state.

A week ago Jamie Gold was on top of the poker world. The 36-year-old Malibu resident won the World Series of Poker, the largest and most prestigious tournament. By capturing first prize of USD 12 million among a field of more than 8,700, Gold was supposed to be enjoying his status as a nouveau multi-millionaire. Instead, he’s getting sued, is the subject of tabloid rumors that he’s a fake, and facing tax problems.

Public hearings are to take place into the merits of eight shortlisted venues bidding to host the UK's first Las Vegas-style super casino, it was announced today. Examinations-in-public (EiPs) will start from next week for eight areas hoping to launch the giant gambling venue, the Casino Advisory Panel has said. A provisional shortlist of Blackpool, Wembley, Cardiff, Glasgow, the Millennium Dome, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sheffield was announced in May.

Councillors have finally given the go-ahead for a GBP 2million casino to open in a historic church building in the heart of Aberdeen. Members of the city council's licensing board yesterday gave permission to the owner of Soul in Union Street to convert the upper floor into a luxury gaming centre which will provide about 80 jobs. The application was the third to come before the board since last year.

One of the first rules of casino design, experts say, is that the gambling halls must look like places where games of chance are played. The new MotorCity Casino won't break that rule. Right now, the 400-room hotel and 100,000 square feet of gambling space are just steel girders and concrete pillars, but over the weekend, the casino's owner offered the first glimpse of what the facility will look like.

ICE 2007 is set to welcome more South American buyers than ever before following the announcement of a joint promotional agreement between the London show organisers, Clarion ATE, and Monografie S.A., the team behind South America’s SAGSE exhibitions.

San Francisco - The recent arrest of a high-profile online gambling executive and a federal bill outlawing virtual wagers are generating headlines but will do little to curb the multibillion-dollar industry, gaming experts say. Former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers is scheduled to appear in a St. Louis federal court Monday. He and his company are charged with mail and wire fraud and money laundering.

The Government wants to ban all one-armed bandits and slot machines from the Norwegian market from July 1st next year, the Minister of Culture, Trond Giske, has announced. All licenses for gambling machines expire on that date, and none will be renewed, Giske says to the newspaper VG. This means that 15,000 machines will be removd by July 1st 2007 at the latest.