Smoking will be outlawed in 124,000 pubs and clubs across England from next summer, after MPs voted overwhelmingly to ban lighting up in all enclosed public places. Tony Blair and 12 of his Cabinet colleagues were accused of a U-turn after abandoning Labour's manifesto commitment.

Los Angeles (Reuters) - Leading U.S. casino companies are increasingly looking overseas as domestic growth slows, with the Chinese gambling resort of Macau emerging as the biggest potential expansion engine. Operators from Las Vegas Sands Corp. to Kerzner International are investing heavily in foreign markets including Singapore, with Macau taking the limelight as a destination which could soon rival Las Vegas in size.

A GBP 1.2 billion plan to transform Glasgow's waterfront into a world-class tourist destination, complete with a super casino and leisure and retail facilities, was unveiled yesterday. The plans are part of a major revision of the original blueprint for the Glasgow Harbour development on the derelict north bank of the Clyde, close to Partick.

Construction work is due to start in six weeks at a GBP 27 million redevelopment of an Aberdeen city-centre shopping complex. The former What Everyone Wants and Poundstretcher site at Shiprow is to be turned into a casino and a 107-bedroom hotel.

The Bourbon Street Hotel and Casino will became a part of Las Vegas history early Tuesday morning when it was imploded. It has stood on Flamingo for decades before the Bourbon Street casino was gutted and set for implosion. Nearby casinos and hotels said a sad goodbye but were anxious to see what may be in store for this prime real estate.

New Orleans (Reuters) - Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's top gambling firm, on Monday forecast a slow recovery in its hurricane-ravaged casino business in Louisiana and Mississippi, but was confident about the long-term prospects. Three days before the reopening of its New Orleans casino, Harrah's Chief Executive Gary Loveman told Reuters he expected business there would be "considerably off from where it has been."

The Casino Control Bill passed in Parliament on Tuesday seeks to strike a balance between controls and ease of implementation. Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng hoped it would provide an environment where the integrated resorts could thrive while keeping law and order. The government will also continue to review and fine tune such regulations to ensure they stay relevant.

The government has decided to relax some controls over the casino operators of the two proposed integrated resorts in Singapore, like removing limits on the number of hours that a casino can operate. On the other end, it is setting up a new statutory board called the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA).

Horseshoe Casino announced plans Thursday to build another casino boat in Hammond, which could bring hundreds of jobs and significant tax revenue to the city. The proposed expansion would cost the casino hundreds of millions of dollars but would create about 400 permanent jobs, said Rick Mazer, senior VP and general manager of Horseshoe Casino. It would also bring hundreds of construction jobs to the area while the casino is being built.

Most students at Britain's first casino 'university' spend at least 12 weeks learning how to shuffle a deck and spin the roulette wheel. Ed Caesar had just 24 hours. So how would he cope when the chips were down at a top London table?

The gaming group Gala is paying GBP 14.5m for the Leo Casino in Liverpool, taking its total number of British casinos to 31. Gala is buying the business, which opened in 2002 and is near the Albert Dock, from Amaury Taittinger, who also owns the Dolby hotel in the city.

The Las Vegas Convention Center has for decades drawn visitors at a rhythmic clip, producing cash so steadily it's easy to forget how hard the place actually works. But in its 47th year, the heart of Southern Nevada's convention industry is showing its age.