The owners of Leeds's new GBP 13m casino and entertainment venue have offered a sneak preview ahead of its official opening in September. The 1,700 capacity Alea Leeds casino is located in the recently developed £260m Clarence Dock quarter of the city and its owners believe it will become one of Leeds's hottest entertainment destinations. The official opening party is on September 10 when customers will be able to see the development for themselves.

Omak - Clutching brand new shovels and wearing bright white hard hats, leaders of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation on Monday dug into the earth on a site just off Highway 97, where next summer a new USD 24 million Omak Casino will open for business. At a time when its government departments have suffered major cutbacks due to declining revenues, the tribes' casinos continue to be the bright spot in the picture, tribal officials say.

Topeka - A state board will take another step forward this week in its efforts to decide which developers should build and manage four state-owned resort casinos. The Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board will begin hearing presentations from prospective casino managers and hear public comment on new gaming ventures today. The seven-member board will meet in each of the four areas of the state that would house the resort casinos.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will meet Thursday to hear an update on the latest financing plan for Majestic Star Casino developer Don Barden. The hearing was scheduled because Barden's latest financing plan has been wrapped up, and it has changed since the last time the board examined it, said board spokesman Richard McGarvey. "We had to make sure we had enough information before we could schedule a hearing," McGarvey said.

Buffalo (AP) - A judge has ruled that the Seneca Indian Nation does not have the right to build a casino on a site where it has started construction. The judge, William M. Skretny, of Federal District Court, set aside a decision by the National Indian Gaming Commission that allowed the casino, ruling in favor of opponents who sued to stop it. Judge Skretny said that land the Senecas purchased in 2005 qualified as “Indian lands” under federal guidelines...

Tax revenue generated by Indiana's casinos dipped nearly USD 3 million in June compared to the same period a year ago, despite the addition of new gambling centers in Anderson and Shelbyville. Indiana casinos generated about USD 78.6 million in tax revenue for the state last month, a drop from USD 81.5 million last June, according to figures released today by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

Port Canaveral, Florida - Hundreds of employees of a Port Canaveral casino cruise ship showed up for work Monday only to find out the Ambassador II has shut down and the employees have been laid off. The next time the Ambassador II sets sail, it will be to another port and the hundreds of employees who used to work on the ship are now left unemployed. "Everyone was just stunned. We were speechless," said former employee Debbie Bryant.

Cherokee - Harrah's Cherokee Casino plans to continue with a USD 650 million expansion to double its gambling floor space by 2012 even though the gambling business is taking a hit in the economic downturn. Harrah's Cherokee is one of western North Carolina's largest employers with 1,800 workers. The Eastern Band of Cherokees pays Harrah's to run its casino.

Governor Rendell has a strong interest in every single casino in this state. That's because using slots revenue from those casinos to reduce school property taxes was his project. Rendell proposed the idea, convinced the General Assembly to buy into it and now wants every casino up and running as fast as possible. Today Rendell said he is confident in Don Barden and that is good news for the casino developer in Pittsburgh.

Tallahassee, Florida - A South Florida casino wants a federal judge to stop blackjack and other games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Lawyers for Isle Casino of Pompano Beach cited last week's Florida Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional the tribe's recent gambling agreement with the state. The filing Monday is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed in federal court in Tallahassee challenging that agreement.

Hans Nansen of Carlsbad sometimes suggests to friends that they go out to a casino, but he gets an immediate objection. “We want to go out there, but 'Oh, God, the smoke,' ” he said. “I can only stand it so long.” Thirteen years after California banned smoking in most workplaces, there's one public place where people regularly light up: tribal casinos. A survey of more than 1,700 Southern California gamblers released last week by J.D. Power and Associates found that 85 percent would prefer a nonsmoking environment at their casinos.

Die vier Starttage der USD 10.000 World Championship Texas No-Limit Hold'em sind beendet und es ist Zeit Sie mit ein paar Daten zu füttern. Nachdem an den Tagen 1a (1.297) und 1b (1.158), die Teilnehmerzahlen doch sehr zu wünschen übrig ließen, war das Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino an den Tagen 1c (1.928) und 1d (2.461) dann doch sehr gut gefüllt, sodass die Zahl aus dem Vorjahr (6.358) noch deutlich übertroffen wurde. 6.844 Spieler waren es am Ende, was einen Zuwachs von 7,4 Prozent bedeutet.