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.

The Canadian government treated a bill that almost made online gambling illegal in Canada, but before the bill passed, Senator George Baker found that some amendments to modernize bookmaking laws by removing Criminal Code references to telephone and telegraph could cause problems for gamblers and Internet gambling services. Baker told Law Times the new amendments had gone through four House of Commons committee hearings with no mention of how the changes could affect online gamblers.

Antigua and Barbuda expects to receive a big damage award from the World Trade Organization in a long-running Internet gambling dispute with the United States, a lawyer for the Caribbean nation said this week. The expected ruling by a WTO arbitration panel is set for tomorrow, Friday. “We feel pretty confident about our case, to be honest. We really feel like we have the upper hand here,” Mark Mendel, a private attorney representing Antigua.

Bulgarian lawmakers rejected on Thursday the controversial amendments to the country's gambling laws proposed by the cabinet and criticised by the opposition and president Georgi Parvanov. The amendments bill proposed to tax betting firms 10% of their profit, rather than 10% of their turnover, as it is now, and has sparked a heated debate on the parliamentary floor.

As the contentious trade dispute between Europe and the US over Internet gaming industry continues, the British Government said it favored US regulation of Internet gambling as opposed to prohibition. "The British Government has signaled quite clearly its support for regulation rather than prohibition of gambling by the recent implementation of the (Unlawful Internet) Gambling Act," said Emily Bourne...

The House of Representatives to vote on a proposal that would legalize gaming on Saipan and make the former La Fiesta shopping mall the center of such activities. House members voted 15-1 to pass on first reading House Bill 15-322, which would exempt the operation of Texas Hold ’em poker and other card games, as well as video lottery terminals, from the gambling prohibition.

Televisa demanded the Mexican government to take legal measures against owners of illegal gambling and betting houses that proliferated in the whole country. A 20 % tax on games and draws was approved by the congress last September, as part of a fiscal reform proposed by President Felipe Calderón. It is expected to have a harmful effect in the sector in which Televisa has just entered.

The threatened 40.85 per cent new gambling tax that was recently proposed for the Netherlands has been commuted to 29 per cent, but the impact is judged to be so severe on the Dutch machine market that the issue is now almost certainly set for the European Court of Justice. Minister of Finance Wouter Bos proposed the new level of tax on all forms of gambling in the country and for several months the industry has been at a standstill as a result.

Singapore is taking huge steps towards helping addicted gamblers. The National Council on Problem Gaming has been partnered with the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) since 2005 in a joint effort to combat problem gaming. They have now planned the implementation of telephone lines which provide immediate access to trained counsellors who can advise the caller on the spot.

Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who recently launched the world's biggest gambling complex, may have given up on hopes of establishing a casino in Israel, but Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Monday said he plans to push hard for a legal gambling house in the southern city of Eilat. Aharonovitch made the announcement Monday at a meeting of the Knesset Economics Committee where he presented the ministry's work plan for 2008.

It is a thriving, lucrative industry in many parts of the world, but in Ireland, casinos and clubs don’t know where their future lies and neither do the foreign investors who have toyed with the idea of setting up here. John Mulligan looks at the Government dithering that has led to this situation. While a number of casinos are currently operating in Ireland as private members' clubs, those looking to jump into the business in a big way are still waiting for the Government to show its hand over legislation on the market.

For five years, government regulators have been aware of misspending of gambling profits by Seminole tribal leaders in violation of federal law but have taken no enforcement action. Indian leaders elsewhere in the country have been cited for using tribal funds on such things as Super Bowl expenses and accepting free jackets worth USD 1,330.