Atlantic City, New Jersey - A court has ruled that an admitted problem gambler who voluntarily put his name on a list barring him from Atlantic City's casinos for life cannot take his name off the list. The man, identified only as S.D., put his name on the self-exclusion list in 2004, which bars him from Atlantic City's 11 casinos. But what he didn't know was that the names on the list can be shared with casinos in other states, who also can bar the individuals from gambling there.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says in a legal opinion that the state can expand its smoking ban to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos. In 2003, lawmakers banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but not in private clubs or the casinos. The state Supreme Court last year upheld that ban despite protests from bar and restaurant owners who claimed it is unconstitutional and hurts their businesses.

Senate committee hearing scheduled for tomorrow, who has long opposed the expansion of gambling in Maryland, called on lawmakers today to approve legislation that would ban video gambling machines by next year. Arguing that the machines are similar to slots and should have been confiscated years ago, Peter Franchot, the leader of the opposition to the slots referendum...

The House of Representatives analizes the Bill 2429/07, from representative Luiz Carlos Hauly (PSDB-PR), which bans bets via data transmission, specially in Internet. The text excludes the prohibition of bets performed in federal and regional lotteries authorized by law. The project also bans banks and administrators of credit cards to transfer money for the payment of online bets. In case of an infringement...

The French Tennis Federation is taking legal action in Belgium in an attempt to ban online betting on the French Open at the end of May. The case will be heard in detail on April 11 in Liège, the European Union headquarters of the three major websites concerned. This is not the first time the federation has tried to counter internet betting. Last autumn it invited undercover police into the stands and corridors of the Paris Masters Series event at Bercy, to clamp down on suspicious betting activity.

The air in Colorado's casinos cleared in the first month of a smoking ban, with the levels of harmful air-pollution particles dropping 92 percent, according to a new state report. "It's what we've seen in other states — pretty dramatic results once the smoke-free laws pass," said Jodi Kopke, a spokeswoman for the state health department's Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership.

Storm International, the country's largest casino company, will open gambling venues in Costa Rica and Armenia this year and may abandon its home market because of restrictions, chief executive Michael Boettcher said. President Vladimir Putin is forcing casinos out of Moscow and St. Petersburg to reduce gambling, exiling them to four regions outside the two biggest cities.

The smoking ban in public places, effective since the 2nd January of this year in casinos, caused “an annual downward trend of 14% in the gross gaming revenue.” This was pointed out in a statement issued by the Casinos de France union last week. The professional organization added that “an investigation carried out in the gambling establishments which are members of Casinos de France showed a fall in entries and a sensible decrease in the time spent by the clientele inside the casinos.”

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health wants a total ban on minors' gambling. A working group at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is proposing that teens under 18 years of age would be prohibited from playing slot machines, lotto and toto. The group also proposes gambling games to be equipped with identification devices to help ensure that age restrictions are abided by.

"The European Gaming and Betting Association calls on the European Commission to take swift action against the German Interstate Treaty on gaming," the lobby group said in a statement. The treaty, which came into force on January 1, bans online gaming and betting, except for horse races, in Germany. The EGBA said the ban "is in direct contravention of European Union law."

Online gambling will be banned in Germany starting January 1 as part of an accord with states that preserves the country’s state monopoly for lotteries and most forms of betting. All 16 German state legislatures voted by mid-December to approve the new online-betting laws, which the states negotiated after the Federal Constitutional Court overturned earlier rules. The new rules ban any form of Web-based gambling or brokering of games over the Internet.

A bill in Congress seeks to eliminate military slot machines overseas that take in USD 130 million a year, mostly from soldiers. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Lincoln Davis, named the bill after Army Warrant Officer Aaron Walsh, a decorated Apache helicopter pilot who became addicted to gambling on military slot machines. Walsh eventually was discharged from the Army. He committed suicide after several failed attempts to break his addiction.