Around five hundred thousand educators, psiquiatrists and games of chance experts are participating in the first International Conference on Gambling Addiction, whose aim is to study the problem in depth. During the two-day conference organized by the Singaporean National Council for gambling problems, assistants deal with the causes of the gambling addiction and the consecuences that such problem involves for the gambler and his family.

Within SAGSE Central America, Hector Rivera Davila, Head of the Puerto Rican Gambling Commission, talked in exclusive to Yogonet about the situation of the sector in his country and anticipated the intentions they have, together with other Latin American regulators, to exchange ideas and have mutual support.

The Korean Ministry of Information snd Communication has announced that it will toughen its monitoring measures for online gambling including poker. According to the National Police Agency, 291 online gambling sites have been requested to be blocked. The Ministry said that it would be working with related Government agencies including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Police Agency and the Information and Communication Ethics Committee in a crackdown on online gambling, which is illegal in Korea.

Thirty eight Russian regions have prohibited all gambling activities since Sunday when the new federal law restricting gambling in the country came into effect. The Primorye region, which is in the list of four gambling zones to be left in Russia by July of 2009, has not entirely banned gambling but has introduced considerable restrictions.

However, there are signs that illegal gambling dens are beginning to spring up. "In Krasnoyarsk there are already five or six illegal casinos and dozens of illegal slot clubs," said Michael Boettcher, CEO of Storm International, a casino group that operates the Super Slots chain and several casinos, including Moscow’s Shangri La. "Every time you try to ban something it goes underground."

New York (Reuters) - A founder of payment processor NETeller Plc pleaded guilty on Friday to a conspiracy charge over the handling of billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds. Stephen Lawrence, 47, during a hearing before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan, also agreed to cooperate with the government. Lawrence faces a maximum sentence of five years on the conspiracy charge for his role in the operation of the payment processor.

Sacramento -- The Legislature removed a key hurdle to passing a state budget Thursday, agreeing to allow four Indian tribes to expand casino gambling in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to the state. The action ended what had been a lengthy legislative logjam that pitted two special interest titans: labor groups vs. casino-operating Indian tribes. The tribes won.

Brussels: The EU threatened France with court action on Wednesday unless it changes a law banning foreign gambling advertising — a ban that stopped a Unibet.com cycling team from taking part in this year's Tour de France race. The European Commission also told Sweden to end limits on sports gambling services, and said the two countries effectively block companies based in other EU countries from doing business there.

The State Government will consider reciprocal bans on shady gamblers after revelations that the brother of notorious drug lord Tony Mokbel is among Queensland's biggest casino punters. Horty Mokbel, brother of the captured crime czar and an alleged drug trafficker, has been barred from Melbourne's Crown Casino because of money-laundering fears. But he has been revealed as a high-roller at the Gold Coast's Jupiters Casino in a secret list of Queensland's biggest gamblers obtained by The Courier-Mail.

Brussels (Reuters) - The European Commission will decide on Wednesday whether to take legal action against France, Sweden and Greece for restricting competition in their gambling markets, the European Union executive body said on Tuesday. "There will be some decisions made probably tomorrow by the college (of commissioners) on a number of member states," Oliver Drewes, a spokesman for the European Union's executive arm, told a regular briefing.

An executive member of the Union of Members Clubs and Lottery Workers (UMCLW) is to be sworn in as a temporary Opposition Senator today, as the Senate debates a bill that could put an end to the local gaming industry. "Because of the special nature of the occasion the UNC is offering the opportunity to the executive member of that union to speak in her capacity as a temporary Senator, Cindy Gibbs," said Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Wade Mark.

A Tel Aviv court upheld a lower court ruling today, stating that any company operating a gambling website that targets Israelis is breaking the law, no matter if the site is run from abroad and if the company is registered outside Israel. The ruling was handed down in the appeal of Michael Carlton, an English citizen and CEO of the website Victor Chandler Casino. Note that no charges have been filed in the case as yet: the case is undergoing investigation.