Bettors from Panama and abroad bet USD 658 in 2006. It represents a 28% increment on games of chance bets in the country, thanks to the economic growth and the increment of players. Besides, the Panamenian Association of People with Gambling Problems said that, as well as revenues and prizes grow, it also increases the number of people with gambling problems. A long report on Panama-America newspaper, concentrated in the financial aspects of the so-called industry of entertainment, indicated that the activity registrated a 28% growth last year.

Last Friday, Montevideo Local Council approved the privatization of Carrasco Hotel Casino. Its employees assisted to the session and opposed to the measure. When asked about the support of Anibal Glodosky, a representative of the opposite party, Fabían Villamarín, representative of the official party, pointed that he is a “moral guarantee” for Montevideo citizens, and added that the official party voted modifications performed by the two big political parties.

The palm-fringed beaches of Goa attract millions of tourists lured by the white sands, dreamy blue water and trance parties held alongside the pounding surf. But the idyllic coastline of Goa is poised to get a controversial new addition, a flotilla of casinos that will operate offshore to get around federal laws restricting such enterprises on land. Reports suggest that up to 11 ships could be operating along the coast by the end of the year.

Evansville, Ind. - A majority of casino dealers and dual-rate dealers at Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind., filed a petition today with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a union representation election. About 180 workers will be eligible to vote in the election. Casino Aztar workers presented their employer with a notice of the decision by a majority of casino dealers to form their own union in Evansville today.

Las Vegas (AP) - The USD 95 million purchase of the Hooters hotel-casino has been slowed by a turbulent debt market, the prospective buyer said. Richard Bosworth of Hedwigs Las Vegas Top Tier said the investment group is still working to buy the off-Strip hotel-casino, valued at USD 235 million when including the assumption of debt. But he said the volatile market has caused Hedwigs to re-evaluate its projections for financing the deal.

Plans by James Packer's Macau casino business to raise USD 2.75 billion (AUD 3.5 billion) to finance its expansion plans have been hit by the turmoil in US credit markets, which has shut off new lending for the casino business in the city. The nervousness in the US lending market has compelled the joint venture partners to shelve plans for the main USD 1.5 billion portion, which was to have been raised in the US markets in September as part of a three-tranche financing deal for their Macau investments.

The acting head of casino operator Sky City Entertainment Group said growth next year would be tempered by a smoking ban in Adelaide and the completion of its Auckland refurbishments. The company has predicted a 10 to 12 per cent increase in net profit for 2008. Executive director Elmar Toime said the Auckland and Adelaide factors would temper growth in market share but he was unconvinced that forecasts of a tightening economy would have a major effect.

Newark, New Jersey - Net income at Atlantic City's 11 casinos fell 34 percent in the second quarter, giving the industry its second consecutive quarterly drop, the state Casino Control Commission reported Friday. Net revenues fell 6.1 percent and gross operating profit dropped 19 percent in the April-June period for the seaside gambling halls, which have been hurt by competition from new slot parlors in New York and Pennsylvania.

The prospect of a second NSW casino has re-emerged after it was confirmed yesterday that a Hong Kong billionaire talked to the Premier before the election about setting one up. Stanley Ho, whose son Lawrence is involved in casino interests with James Packer in Macau, had a private discussion with Morris Iemma, the Premier's office confirmed yesterday. There is speculation that the possibility of a casino at Tweed Heads is being used by the Government in its negotiations with Tabcorp.

Six armed men held staff at a Newcastle casino at gunpoint and made off with ZAR 1,5-million in cash, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Monday. Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said the men entered the casino at around 11pm on Sunday night, held staff at gunpoint and demanded cash from the tills. They then ran away with an estimated ZAR 1,5-million in cash.

Las Vegas - Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has been in his home state of Massachusetts lobbying to legalize casino gambling there, but the casino company he controls has no interest in partnering with Indian tribes to do so, an executive said Thursday. "There's no reason for us to talk to the tribes, quite frankly," Las Vegas Sands Corp. president William Weidner said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.

Jerusalem - Sheldon Adelson has spent the past two decades collecting a string of casinos, but now the billionaire - considered by many to be the richest Jew in the world - is taking another kind of gamble. Two weeks ago, Adelson, CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., launched Yisrael Hayom, or Israel Today, a free daily newspaper that on its first day was already one of the largest-circulation papers in the country.