London (Reuters) - British casino group Stanley Leisure Plc said on Wednesday its full-year performance had met expectations, helped by upmarket London sites recovering most of a first-half downturn seen after the July bombings.

Long before a May Day demonstration turned violent, Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah had warned about a time bomb of social unrest ticking away due to economic transformations and contradictions that have turned the former Portuguese colony from a tiny fishing village with gambling dens into a well-established tourist spot with modern casinos.

A chinese dragon symbolising good fortune has thrown open the doors to a revamped city centre casino at a spectacular launch party. The event was held to celebrate the completion of major refurbishment work at Stanley's Strand Casino, on Princess Street, which has been turned into a state of the art casino also given a new name - the Manchester Mint.

Coun Jon Bamborough said a referendum was needed as the resort would undergo its biggest change in more than 100 years if ministers backed Blackpool's regeneration dream. The Blackpool, Cleveleys and Fleetwood Liberal Democrats branch feels the public has not had enough say on the plans and has called for a postal ballot to determine the council's policy.

Las Vegas (AP) - Major casino companies dodged a bullet Monday as employees showed up for work on a day planned for a boycott, then joined more than 11,000 people in flag-waving rallies across Nevada calling for immigration reform. Casino companies Harrah's Entertainment Inc., MGM Mirage Inc., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Station Casinos Inc. said calls to support fair reforms through petitions, T-shirts, stickers and rallies helped keep workers on the job.

Malaga/Espelkamp. MERKUR GAMING’s presentation at the "Torremolinos Expo" 2006 (Andalusian Gaming and Gambling Trade Show) in Malaga/Spain from 8 to 10 March 2006 proved extremely successful. At the stand of the partner Sente S.A. MERKUR GAMING once more presented stunning innovative entertainment.

The Wynn has changed the face of the northern part of Las Vegas Boulevard, and Friday Steve Wynn broke ground on his second tower for a new USD 1.4 billion resort. At the groundbreaking, Wynn didn't need flashy renderings or to brag about size of the new Encore Resort. He says it's about a small-town Las Vegas tradition that he learned when he was 25.

James Packer's private company Consolidated Press Holdings is expected to become the first foreign group to run a casino in Russia. Fresh from breaking ground on its AUD 1.4 billion City of Dreams project in Macau, CPH is now understood to have signed an agreement with Russia's Crocus Group, which is building a 24,300sqm casino at Crocus City, on the north side of Moscow, which bills itself as the largest luxury mall in the world.

Dublin (Reuters) - British casino owners have rushed through 41 applications this week to open new venues before tight new government restrictions come in tonight. "At the moment we have 62 under consideration, of which 41 were received this week," said a Gambling Commission spokeswoman, adding that the numbers were correct at 1630 GMT on Friday, but could rise as new applications arrive by courier.

Singapore (Dow Jones) - Singapore will launch Friday the tender for its second casino resort, and will announce details such as the price for the 35.6 hectare site on Sentosa island and the criteria that will be used to select the winning bidder.

London (Reuters) - Shares in casino operator London Clubs International rose by 8 percent on Wednesday on rumours bookmaker Ladbrokes was preparing to make a bid.

Espelkamp/Lübbecke. Axel Pawlas, Managing Director/CSO of MERKUR GAMING took a very positive stock of MERKUR GAMING's participation in the ENADA SPRING 2006 trade show in Rimini/Italy from 23 to 26 March 2006.