Denver - Not long after Congress passed a ban on Internet gambling, PR man John Pappas knew he had to be here at the Democratic National Convention. Pappas represented online poker players. Their ragtag Poker Players Alliance had been stunned by Congress’ midnight approval of the ban late in 2006. Internet gamblers had been powerless to block the bill. They were only loosely affiliated.

Ask Karel Kruška to describe what it takes to be a good poker player, and he’ll tell you it has as much to do with personal temperament as it does with raw talent. “Czech poker players are usually ambitious young guys,” said Kruška, chairman of Hot Springs Poker Club Teplice and a member of the executive council of the Czech Association of Poker Clubs. “Many of them have a gambling gene."

A new question has been raised in the ongoing battle between the United States government on online gaming: are federally recognized tribes allowed to operate online casinos under the provisions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act? Tribes are allowed to operate gaming activities on tribal land provided said activities are not prohibited by federal or state law. To help clarify, the Gaming Regulator Act of 1988 created three classes of gaming...

Alaska voters will be asked Tuesday whether they want to create a Gaming Commission within the state Department of Revenue, resolving a bitter fight between pro- and anti-gambling forces. The seven-member commission would have authority to expand gambling by allowing slot machines, poker rooms, lotteries or any form of waging game.

Gary Kaplan, the captured founder of online gambling's once largest sports betting outfit BetonSports, could be settling with US authorities for an untold amount of money according to various sources throughout Costa Rica and those close to his case. BetonSports - once publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange - was forced to shut down following indictments of Kaplan, former CEO David Carruthers, and eight others.

The wait is almost over. The Kansas Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board on Friday is set to select a manager to operate a large casino in Sumner County under the state's new expanded gambling law. The board is meeting Thursday and Friday to finalize its decision. It also will select a manager for the southeast "gaming zone," which includes Cherokee and Crawford counties.

According to a survey performed by the Consumers Defense and Orientation Association (ADOC), released by Agipronews agency, each Italian citizen spends an average of 600 euros a year playing poker in Internet, which represents a total of 350 million euros. The same survey revealed that near two million Italian citizens have participated at least once in a game of chance in Internet, and one fourth of them usually play in specialized sites abroad.

(Bloomberg) - Kangwon Land Inc., the operator of South Korea's only casino open to local citizens, dropped the most since its listing seven years ago after the government said it plans to control gambling. Kangwon Land dropped 11.8 percent to close at 20,900 won, the most since the company's shares started trading in October 2001. The benchmark Kospi stock index declined 0.05 percent.

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said at a regular Cabinet meeting last week that before the government can outline plans to build casinos on the outlying islands, it will first have to decriminalize gambling on the islands. No decision was made on the controversial issue of construction of offshore casinos, as Liu said only that "in principle, one of the major efforts in the development of the outlying islands is the construction of the tourism industry."

South Florida's casino boat business is sinking fast. SeaEscape, the only day cruise operator at Port Everglades, will have its last sail today. Palm Beach Casino Line is bankrupt and trying to sell its old, wood-decked Princess. When blackjack arrived at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in late June, cruise-to-nowhere boats lost their claim as the only venue to offer local residents one of the most popular casino card games.

The Subcommittee of Games and Draws started working this week in the House of Representatives, with the aim to revise 728 licenses issued by the Mexican Department of the Interior and verify the process through which the new authorizations were granted, informed the representative Octavio Vargas Martínez. Besides, they will work in a new national legislation for the sector.

Like a gambler betting on a hunch, Florida voters and lawmakers have expanded legalized gambling throughout the state without much certainty about its effects on crime, bankruptcy, suicide and addiction. Since 2005, state voters have approved Las Vegas-style slot machines in Broward and Miami-Dade dog tracks, horse tracks and jai-alai frontons; Gov. Charlie Crist's compact with the Seminole Tribe has expanded slots and brought blackjack and table games to Indian casinos...