Moscow - A Russian law forcing gambling out of Moscow and St. Petersburg from July next year will deter investment in the industry and should be relaxed, the country’s Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Union said Friday. Plans to restrict gambling to four regions of Russia are prompting local operators to expand outside the country, the Moscow-based union said in a March 5 statement on its web site.

Online betting increases day after day in Spain, because 130,000 Internet users have turned this illegal practice into a business that already moves 650 million euros, although experts assure that the real “boom” of the sector is to come. At an European level, the UK is the Mecca of online gaming, an area to which US has declared war. According to data from Spanish Internet Betting Association (AEDAPI), Spain already has 130,000 users...

Brussels - The European Union launched an investigation on Monday into whether U.S. prosecutions of foreign online gambling companies were discriminatory, possibly paving the way for action at the World Trade Organisation. European online gambling companies, such as PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment, complained in December that the U.S. Justice Department crackdown had singled out foreign companies.

The Squamish Nation is in talks with Toronto-based Boardwalk Gaming and Entertainment Inc. to build a small gambling hall on the Sea to Sky Highway. The community gambling centre will have up to 150 slot machines and a bingo hall, said Greg Walker of the B.C. Lottery Corporation. Squamish’s mayor, Ian Sutherland, confirmed that negotiations between Boardwalk and the District of Squamish for the gambling centre...

In 2008, Regent’s Seven Seas Voyager and Silversea’s Silver Shadow will navigate through the Channel of Panama and the Mexican Riviere, following a route towards tropical places in Hawai. In 110 days, Silver Shadow will visit 26 countries and 52 ports, including seven places never explored by Silversea before. Its largest cruise, Seven Seas Voyager, will visit 51 ports in 26 countries in 115 nights.

Washington - Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, will hold a hearing in early April to explore the burden on U.S. financial institutions to comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The law was intended to deter illegal Internet gambling activity. Meanwhile, support for legislation that would regulate Internet gambling continues to gain momentum...

Atlantic City, New Jersey (AP) - She was an ambitious lawyer and TV commentator who starting going to Atlantic City casinos to relax, and soon was getting high-roller treatment that included limousines whisking her to the resort. Arelia Margarita Taveras says she was even allowed to bring her dog, Sasha, to the blackjack tables, sitting in her purse.

China prepares to allow online gambling in the country. Casino operators are following close behind. Gambling companies are gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation for the forthcoming changes to the Chinese gambling law. The country intends to begin regulating gaming rather than outlawing it. This may open the door to a whole new untapped market for many of the operators who were frozen out of the US market over a year ago.

Wo viel Geld fließt, da sind auch die Betrüger nicht weit. Das betrifft natürlich auch die vielen Onlinepoker-Seiten und dementsprechend gibt es immer wieder neue Bemühungen, diese Betrügereien mit Hilfe von Softwareprogrammen zu verhindern oder zumindest auf ein minimales Maß einzudämmen. Eine neue Möglichkeit Betrügern auf die Schliche zu kommen haben laut der Internet-Seite New Scientist Tech jetzt die Sorftware-Entwickler Roman Yampolskiy und Venu Govindaraju von der University in Buffalo (US-Bundesstaat New York) vorgestellt: die „gambling DNA".

Congressman Jim McDermott introduced yesterday the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 that would ensure that taxes are collected on regulated Internet gambling activities. These revenues are estimated between USD 8.7 billion and USD 42.8 billion over ten years, according to a tax revenue analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers. "To be clear, these are not mostly new taxes...

Senate committee hearing scheduled for tomorrow, who has long opposed the expansion of gambling in Maryland, called on lawmakers today to approve legislation that would ban video gambling machines by next year. Arguing that the machines are similar to slots and should have been confiscated years ago, Peter Franchot, the leader of the opposition to the slots referendum...

Vladivostok - At a press-conference Primorye Governor claimed that the gambling zone that is planned to be created on Russkiy Island will become an "anchor" for investors. Mr. Darkin said to the journalists that he is not keen on gambling, but supports the project of the gambling zone in Primorye. In the whole world gambling zones transform into entertainment zones.