The venue, part of Maidenhead-based Rank Gaming, has applied for planning permission from Blackpool Council to expand by a third. Bosses want to extend into the first floor of its existing premises within the council-owned Sandcastle Waterworld building on the Promenade. If the changes go ahead, staff areas and the 60-seat restaurant would transfer from the ground floor to a mezzanine first floor and a new card room and gaming areas would be created in their place.

The coming launch of the scratch lottery operated by the ONCE-National Organization for the Blind, will take place in mid-May, 2006. Advertising expenses for this new lottery, known as Rasca y Gana, totals 8 mill.€uros. This instant lottery, also called pre-draw, will be sold through electronic terminals, and the price of the ticket will be of €0.50; 50.8% of the sale value of tickets will return to players (adults) in cash prizes.

Hong Kong (AP) -- Gaming company Las Vegas Sands Corp. plans to develop and own a resort in Macau that will be managed by Fairmont Raffles Holdings International, the two companies said. The resort will include 1,500 rooms, and be part of the Cotai Strip development on Cotai -- an area of reclaimed land between the islands of Taipa and Coloane in Macau, the companies said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

The government of Valencia, specifically the Regional Treasury, has approved the Bingo Regulations for this Community. The Decree (43/2006) updates existing regulations and adapts the new technological systems, that is to say, suits the bingo offer to present day demands. The Decree regulates the different modes of bingo game, as well as the economic activity related. It equally regulates the development of Simultaneous and Electronic Bingo, adapting the filing system to the new computer systems, it extends the number of machines and terminals per hall and modifies prizes, replacing the accrued prize for the Prima prize.

When Tim Holley launched the Monday lottery, the former Camelot chief executive was confident of taking on his old employer - and winning. "We've taken three years to develop this and we know it will succeed," claimed Holley as he launched a multi-million-pound advertising campaign. But six weeks on Holley’s dreams are in tatters. On Friday Chariot, the AIM-listed company set up to run the Monday lottery, admitted it was in crisis. The company had virtually no cash left - having burnt its way through almost GBP 15m.

Victoria's Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos has rejected a gambling industry push for more poker machines in clubs and pubs. The Government is reviewing the duopoly held by Tattersalls and Tabcorp over the 27,000 pokies machines outside the Crown casino in venues across the state. Both the gaming giants want the duopoly extended for another two decades after the licences expire in 2012.

Vietnamese Sports Minister Nguyen Danh Thai spoke to the press Monday on the National Assembly sidelines about possible plans to legalize football betting by next year.

ESPELKAMP/PRAGUE. In the latest and most fashionable shopping center in the Czech capital Prague there were two reasons to celebrate at the end of April: the official inauguration of the new MERKUR CASINO – one in six based in the cultural metropolis at the river Vltava. In addition, Merkur Casino can undeniably take extremely positive stock on the occasion of this inauguration.

Kostroma is located some 370 kilometers northeast of Moscow, where the river with the same name flows into the Volga, and is part of the northernmost city on the tourist route ‘Golden Ring.’ Roughly 280,000 inhabitants, of whom approximately 10,000 are university students, live and work in Kostroma, Like Moscow, Kostroma was founded by the Russian prince Dolguruki, but five years later – in 1152.

Thanks to more attractive financing schemes and the growing ranks of wealthier visitors - and the money they're leaving behind - the investment appetite for Las Vegas is hotter than ever. The new developers, coupled with the Strip's current bulls, promise to build the casino corridor up and out, and into a posh, multiuse urban core. Las Vegas' newest wheeler-dealers are private equity companies that historically invest in traditional real estate such as office buildings and malls, and hotel companies that want to position their brands alongside the best-known casino resorts in the world.

Niagara Falls, Ontario - A strike by over 350 security staff at Casino Niagara and Niagara Fallsview was averted Friday, June 2 when bargaining team members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union reached a contract agreement with Falls Management Company.

Detroit -- While MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity casinos are working furiously to build lavish new permanent hotel-gaming complexes, Greektown Casino remains tangled in red tape that has prevented it from placing its first shovel in the ground. The delays could end up costing Greektown Casino tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Both MGM and MotorCity already have started signing up conventions and events at the new facilities for 2008 and beyond.