Century Resorts International, Marriott Hotel International, Navegante Group and ADI Group are among partners in four consortiums vying to build and run the first casino in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Details on the groups and their plans won’t be revealed until five government committees pick a winning proposal, perhaps in May. The panels will assess the contenders’ finances, gaming expertise, development prospects and plans for facilities that might include hotels, recreation and harness racing.

Arena Leisure is putting together a consortium to bid for one of the 16 new casino licences being made available for the government and said it would begin building it early in 2009 if its bid was successful. The operator of seven racecourses and a quarter of UK horseracing fixtures wants to attach a casino to its Wolverhampton racecourse, which last year staged more than a third of Arena’s fixtures, and will be a leading contender for the city’s casino licence.

An application for a second major casino in Bournemouth was refused yesterday - and a major nightclub may now be built on the site instead. Developers wanted to convert the former ice rink in Westover Road into the Majestic Casino but were turned down by Bournemouth Magistrates. The building's owner, Luminar Leisure, may now turn to its plan B, the Oceana nightclub.

Sacramento – In what may be a referendum on the future of Indian gambling in California, Propositions 94 to 97 ask whether four of the state's wealthiest tribes should be allowed to expand their gaming operations, perhaps dramatically, over the next 23 years. Underscoring the stakes involved, the heavyweight matchup already has burned through nearly USD 120 million, with more spending on the campaign to come before the Feb. 5 election.

Trenton, New Jersey - New Jersey legislators on Thursday revived an effort to legalize betting on professional sports in Atlantic City casinos, rejecting claims by the National Football League that the move would risk the integrity of sports. An Assembly committee pushed forward legislation that would ask voters to allow casinos to offer professional sports wagering.

A casino has lost its bid to open for 21 hours a day after councillors rejected its plans to open from 10am each morning. The Gala Maybury Casino, near The Gyle, wanted to open throughout most of the morning for the first time, and only close its doors at 7am. The maximum normal opening hours for casinos were set at midday to 6am by new UK gambling laws last September. However, local councils have the power to vary this.

The bidding war for a new casino licence in Nelson Mandela Bay will start in earnest this week when South African and international groups make presentations to show their level of interest in the plan. City-based empowerment group the Embo Project Management consortium said yesterday it would hold meetings tomorrow in its search for a partner in its licence bid.

(Bloomberg) -- Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd. fell the most in nine months on New Zealand's stock exchange after a newspaper reported a single bidder is interested in the country's biggest casino operator. U.S. private equity firms TPG Newbridge Capital and Apollo Management LP are the only group to have assessed Sky City's accounts by a deadline this week, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Proposals for the creation of a casino came a step closer to reality this week after Solihull Council's overview and scrutiny management board decided to back them. The board will recommend full council does not resist the building of a Casino in Solihull should the government give the go-ahead. Uncertainty still surrounds the scheme, following the rejection of government recommendations in the House of Lords but supporters remain hopeful it will eventually be given the green light.

Further discussions on whether a casino should be sited in Solihull will be held at a meeting on Monday night. On Friday Solihull Council's overview and scrutiny management board met to consider whether a casino built at the NEC or anywhere else in Solihull would be in the interests of the borough. A number of speakers and interested parties - both for and against the casino - made representations but the board decided to defer their recommendation to their next meeting on Monday.

Sydney, Australia - Australian firms Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. and Macquarie Bank Ltd. Tuesday extended their AUD 1.37-billion takeover offer for Canada's Gateway Casinos business. It was the fourth extension of the bid due to delays in gaining Canadian regulatory approvals. Shareholders in Gateway Casinos Income Fund, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, now have until Nov. 14 to decide on the offer from New World Gaming Partners Ltd., the investment bank's 50-50 joint venture with PBL.

New Zealand casino operator Sky City Entertainment Group sees the possibility of more than one bid, as a potential buyer looks at its books over a deal that could be worth around 1.9 billion. Executive Director Elmar Toime told Reuters on Friday that the unnamed bidder's decision to conduct due diligence could spark other bids. "The interest is there, whether the timing is right, or people have the wherewithal is the great unknown," Toime said.