At USD 925 million and 850 rooms - only 415 rooms built in its first phase - Red Rock Resort costs about USD 1.1 million per room. It's significant that the company known for its chain of train station-themed locals properties will break the million-a-room record set on April 28 when the 2,700-room, USD 2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas opened for business.

The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has collected 2.81 billion patacas (350 million U.S. dollars) in direct gaming taxes in January and February, a year-on-year rise of 4.2 percent.

Casino operators will have to pay high taxes to cover the social effects of gambling, it has emerged. The Chancellor will use tomorrow's Budget to announce a new set of charges on super-casinos. The move amounts to a vote of no confidence in Tessa Jowell's project to liberalise the gambling laws and allow Las Vegas- style gaming resorts in Britain.

Supporters of Blackpool's bid to host the UK's only permitted regional super-casino have rubbished comments in a government-commissioned report that stated that the town had "no space" for a site on such a scale, insisting its chances have not been affected. Together with Manchester, Glasgow and Coventry, the town is among the front-running locations battling to win the bid, which it is claimed could bring in as much as £500 million and thousands of jobs to the local economy and boost the area’s entertainment industry.

On Sept. 5 Wynn Resorts will open its first casino and resort in Macau as part of its USD 1.2 billion project underway in the city. Analysts say the former Portuguese colony could overtake Las Vegas as early as this year as the world's largest gaming market. Grant Bowie, president and general manager of Wynn Resorts Macau, spoke to BusinessWeek Asia correspondent Frederik Balfour about the unusual challenges the group faces in the Macau gaming market. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:

Pittsburgh (AP) - The three groups vying for the Pittsburgh slot machine license promise the casino will create scores of new jobs, but some experts caution against putting much stock in the wildly varying estimates. Three competitors - Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises, Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., and Detroit businessman Don Barden's PITG Gaming - are in the running for the license.

The inability of senior councillors to decide the best site for a new super-casino has "undermined Birmingham's credibility", the leader of the opposition on the city council has claimed. Sir Albert Bore, leader of the Labour group, said a decision to back Birmingham City Football Club's proposals for a new Sports Village or the National Exhibition Centre's plans for a casino complex should have been taken weeks ago.

Pinnacle Entertainment made a savvy move last week when it bought Tropicana parent Aztar Corp. for USD 2.1 billion. Pinnacle has flown under the radar in recent years while Chairman and CEO Dan Lee has built Louisiana's sweetest casino resort and set the company up to build two casinos in the St. Louis area.

It will be a casino to rival some of the best in Las Vegas and would bring thousands of jobs to the West Midlands. Plans to introduce the country's first super casino are well under way but an unlikely battle has broken out in the second city. Two of its best known landmarks are fighting to become Birmingham's bid for the giant casino complex.

The government is expected to get a response from the United States, today, concerning that country’s compliance with allowing cross-border Internet gaming, as decided by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling in 2004 and 2005.

The three casinos that have reopened in Biloxi made USD 58.9 million in February compared to USD 64.2 million in January, but business was actually better. When the numbers are broken down on a daily basis, the casinos averaged USD 2.1 million compared to USD 2.07 million in January. February has three fewer days than January.

Myrtle Beach — Horry County Council has decided it would rather tax casino boats than ban them. Council members voted Tuesday to take advantage of a new state law that lets counties charge as much as 10 percent of a casino boat's boarding fees and 5 percent of gross proceeds. Counties also could choose to ban the boats after a five-year grace period.