Siegfried Kauder, MP, condemns the Interstate Gambling Treaty of the states as dishonest and pharisaic – “Germany is not a banana republic!” This year’s opening of the IMA, the leading trade show of the German amusement machine industry, was characterised by courageous speeches and the unbroken determination to boldly and with full might oppose state arbitrariness against commercial AWP gaming. Paul Gauselmann, in his position as Chairman of the German Amusement and Vending Machine Industry Association (VDAI)

The research could explain why people continue to gamble even when they know that the odds are against them. Even though they lose, gamblers get a surge of excitement from almost hitting the jackpot, the study found. It is this ‚hit‘ which spurs them on to continue gambling, even when they are losing. „Gamblers often interpret near misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble,“ said Dr Luke Clark, from Cambridge University, who led the study.

Chilean casinos could be forced to inform about the addiction that games of chance can cause when they become a frequent practice, because some senators have pointed that the inauguration of new gambling venues could increase cases of people with gambling problems. Senator Ricardo Nuñez has just presented in Chile a modification to the norm that forces these operators to „show warnings in casinos about gambling addiction”.

Problem gamblers could ban themselves from all of Great Yarmouth’s arcades and card tables to tackle their addiction. It is hoped more than 50 gambling premises in the borough will sign up to the Count Me Out gambling self- exclusion programme by February. Many people are getting hooked on gambling as they see it as a way to make money during the credit crunch, but once they are addicted to gambling it can lead to crime.

Crown Casino chief executive Rowen Craigie was allegedly part of a plan to target a chronic gambler who turned over AUD 1.4 billion in a 14-month gambling spree while banned from every casino in Australia. The explosive allegations are part of amended Supreme Court documents which also reveal that gambling addict Harry Kakavas, who is suing the casino for damages, wore a concealed hearing device that captured Crown’s senior managers allegedly attempting to lure him back to the Southbank venue.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease are about five times more likely to become problem or pathological gamblers than others, concludes a new Canadian study that offers some of the most dramatic evidence to date of the unusual link. Almost one in 10 of the Parkinson’s patients studied by psychiatrists in Calgary was found to have a gambling addiction of some sort, with the likely culprit being a type of drug prescribed to most people suffering from the condition, the researchers said.

London (Reuters) – A compulsive gambler on Wednesday failed in his bid to force British bookmaker William Hill to repay losses of more than two million pounds. Graham Calvert, a greyhound trainer, was suing for negligence and compensation for personal injuries at the High Court in London. The 28-year-old, described by his lawyers as a „pathological gambler,“ claimed he had lost more than two million pounds…

William Hill’s new chief executive shrugged off government warnings about the addictive nature of lucrative betting terminals, calling instead for ministers to broker the bookmakers‘ feud over levy contributions with the racing industry. Ralph Topping, the one-time „Saturday boy“ elevated last week to the top job, said the Gambling Commission had studied the impact of new gaming technology such as fixed-odds betting terminals and found no rise in problem gambling.

Singapore is taking huge steps towards helping addicted gamblers. The National Council on Problem Gaming has been partnered with the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) since 2005 in a joint effort to combat problem gaming. They have now planned the implementation of telephone lines which provide immediate access to trained counsellors who can advise the caller on the spot.

A supercasino in Manchester would not lead to an explosion of problem gambling and should go ahead, a major study will claim today. The document will find ‚little evidence‘ that the GBP 265m development – earmarked for east Manchester but set to be scrapped after an apparent u-turn by Gordon Brown – would ’significantly‘ increase the number of gambling addicts.

Have you committed a crime in order to pay gambling debts? When you gamble, do you go back another day to win back money you lost? Have you lied to family, or others, to hide the extent of your gambling? Pretty personal questions, but they are just a sample of those in a government survey carried out over the past few months to help gauge the level of problem gambling in Britain. The last such “prevalence study” was in 1999 and the new survey, timed to coincide with the Gambling Act, which came into force yesterday, will be published later this month.

Students will learn about gambling addiction as part of a new A-level course. The move, by one of the country’s biggest exam boards, is being billed as an attempt to train a new generation of psychologists to deal with the UK‘s growing addiction to betting, fruit machines and gaming tables. The course will focus on the origins and influence of the gambling industry, why people sink into addiction and possible cures.