While eight agreements with international operators have already been confirmed for Gran Scala complex, ILD company aims to conclude the rest of the agreements in London, between January 22-26, within ICE. International Leisure Development (ILD), promoter of the complex than includes a theme park, tourism and leisure, has concluded agreements with eight groups of the sector to be in charge of other hotel casino projects, according to sources of the pool of companies.

The Seminole Tribe paid USD 50 million to the state Monday, as required under its gambling agreement with Gov. Charlie Crist, after the controversial deal became official. "Today's transfer of USD 50 million to the state of Florida is just the beginning of revenue that will potentially provide billions of dollars to Florida's schools during the next 25 years," Crist said in a statement.

The United States has reached a deal with the European Union, Japan and Canada to keep its Internet gambling market closed to foreign companies, but is continuing talks with India, Antigua and Barbuda, Macau and Costa Rica, US trade officials said. "We are pleased to confirm that the United States has reached agreement ... with Canada, the EU and Japan," Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative’s office, said in a statement several hours after the EU had announced details of the deal it had reached with Washington.

Brussels (Reuters) - The European Commission dealt a blow to European online gaming companies on Monday when it accepted a U.S. offer of openings in other sectors to compensate for closing the U.S. gambling market to foreign firms. European companies such as PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment had hoped the European Union executive might shun a settlement and fight on instead to restore their ability to operate in the world's biggest market.

Casino and bingo operator Rank has rejected an approach from US casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported. Without citing sources, the paper said Rank rebuffed the deal, which saw Harrah’s effectively offer to swap its own UK casinos for a 28 percent stake in the enlarged Rank. A spokesman for Rank declined to comment, Harrah’s could not be reached for comment.

Global Cash Access (GCA) completed a sponsorship agreement with Absa Bank, one of Africa’s largest banks. It enables GCA to process MasterCard and Visa cash advances within casinos in South Africa, one of the world’s fastest-growing gaming markets. "We’re very happy to be able to begin serving South African casinos – and to do so by being sponsored by one of the continent’s largest banks.

Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina is poised to play spoiler in Miami-Dade County's slots referendum. Robaina vows to campaign against the January referendum -- and urge Hialeah residents to vote no -- unless the city's famous but shuttered thoroughbred track wins new racing dates, allowing it to reopen and potentially install slot machines. The popular mayor's strategy to save Hialeah Park seeks to tug at voters' heart strings -- and bring more jobs to Miami-Dade's second largest city.

The state may get a second casino after Star City was believed to be near a deal giving away its exclusivity rights. Talks between the state government and Star City's owner Tabcorp stalled, with the gaming giant granted a second month-long exclusivity extension to continue the talks. However, it is believed they are close to agreement which would result in a lower gaming tax rate if Star City relinquishes its sole NSW casino operator privilege.

The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, two tribes that are the target of proposed ballot initiatives to limit casino gambling, filed lawsuits Wednesday to block the referenda. The lawsuits allege that the backers of the initiatives did not have signatures supporting the measures certified on time by the state. Pechanga, Morongo and two other tribes signed new agreements with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allowing them to increase the number of slot machines in their casinos.

Huddersfield Giants have signed a new sponsorship deal with Casinored.com for a second year. The deal will see the Casinored.com logo placed on the sleeves of the new 2008 Giants Super League shirts. Casino Red already offers online casino and poker, mobile bingo and casino, and has recently launched a full online and telephone sports betting service to add to its services. The company are also a main sponsor of Huddersfield Town, and Giants Director of Business Development Sean Jarvis believes this new deal is excellent news.

The casino chips could soon be stacking up in the basement of a hotel that hosted the Beatles, Laurel and Hardy and most of Britain's 20th century Prime Ministers. Yesterday Peel Hotels revealed it had signed a deal with Clermont Leisure (UK), which is expected to lead to the creation of a casino in the basement of the Midland Hotel in Bradford. A conditional agreement has been signed for a 25-year lease to rent the basement with Clermont, who gained a gaming licence for the hotel in September.

Queenco Leisure International Ltd. (QLI) as finalized the terms of its concession agreement with the Constanta municipality in Romania for concession rights over a historic building in the city, which the company intends to renovate and operate as the “Casino Constanta”. QLI will pay gross annual royalties of EUR 140,000 to Constanta municipality over the 49-year concession period, and has an option to extend for 24 years.