While battling a tough economy, Michigan has lost out on more than USD 300 million in revenue from Native American casinos since the state's deal with seven tribes allowed them to halt payments, a Free Press analysis has found. The lost revenue could easily double by the time the tribal pact with the state expires in seven years. The tribes were obliged to pay the state a share of profits only as long as they held a slot machine monopoly in Michigan. That monopoly ended when the state opened gambling to other tribes in 1998.

A new lottery pitched as a "fairer" alternative to the National Lottery launches on Monday night in the UK. Organisers say a greater proportion of money raised will be donated to charity.

Nassau, Bahamas - Prowling the casino at Atlantis, you can close your eyes and easily imagine that you're in Las Vegas: the clack of chips, the melodic - some might say annoying - chant of electronic slot machines, the occasional cry of triumph from a gambler who has just won a big bet or hit a jackpot.

Last year, Sol Kerzner's fourth wife, Heather, persuaded her husband - who, at 70, is twice her age - to check himself into the Betty Ford Clinic. The experience wasn't altogether pleasant for South Africa's richest self-made man. He has consumed industrial quantities of whisky, chased as many women as humanly possible, surrounded himself with the likes of Frank Sinatra and run a sprawling international casino empire on precious little sleep. Small wonder that he has been dubbed the Bugsy Siegel of the veld.

Freeport - U.S. marshals no longer are playing Texas Hold'Em with the Texas Star Casino boat after the attorney of electrical company Instrumentation Inc. said he received a letter of credit from the vessel owner Friday, ending an almost month-long seizure of the boat that resulted from a dispute in payment.

More than 100 poker machines a month are being added to pubs and clubs across Queensland. New figures show the number of pokies in the state has topped 40,000, prompting concerns from welfare groups and the Opposition that problem gambling will increase.

Johannesburg - Sun International, South Africa's biggest hotel operator, said it will proceed with a bid to buy Real Africa Holdings (RAH) for R2.2 billion, defying opposition from Real Africa directors.

The smoking ban north of the Border is having a "very modest impact" on Stanley Leisure's three Edinburgh casinos, despite gamblers having to leave the table for their cigarette break. The gaming giant, which has operations in Rutland Place, York Place and Ocean Drive in Leith, admitted it had been "apprehensive" prior to the March 26 ban, but so far the impact on takings has been minimal.

Washington (Reuters) - A House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban Internet gambling, estimated to be a USD 12 billion industry. The legislation would update and expand an existing federal law to cover all forms of interstate gambling within the United States, and would bar a gambling business from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers. It would also prohibit gambling on an estimated 2,300 Internet gambling sites.

Las Vegas (AP) -- The company that led a 2005 legislative effort to allow wireless gambling in Nevada won a recommendation Wednesday from regulators for licensing needed to market its hand-held, mobile gambling devices in the state. The state Gaming Control Board recommended Cantor Gaming as the state's first licensed manufacturer and distributor of the devices. The board's parent state Gaming Commission will have final say on the licensing at a May 18 meeting.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc, which owns the internationally famous Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, told The Gazette it wants to transform the resort's rundown Central Station site into a money-spinning flagship supercasino. If Blackpool wins the great casino race and Harrah's is appointed as the council's preferred developer, the GBP 400m complex could be open as early as 2011.

New York (Reuters) - Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss on Wednesday, but the casino operator said it was revamping operations and had cut back spending on promotions, sending its shares up nearly 3 percent. Trump, which was started by Chairman Donald Trump, is working its way back to profitability after emerging from bankruptcy a year ago. The company owns three casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and has applied for a license to build a casino in Pennsylvania.