This year’s Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE), held August 24-26 at Sydney’s Darling Harbour, features an innovative and impressive three day conference programme, which is free for gaming industry organizations. “We have a stellar line-up of speakers and entertainers at this year’s conference, covering issues such as gaming technology, regulation and legislation, design and décor, and gaming investment and reward.

Topeka, Kansas - Four state-owned resort casinos and slot machines at race tracks could generate up to USD 739 million in annual revenue even if two Indian casinos operate near the border in Oklahoma, a study prepared for the Kansas Lottery concluded. The estimate assumes the Quapaw casino will operate south of Cherokee County and the Pawnee tribe will have a casino south of Arkansas City. Without the two casinos, the study said annual revenues could reach USD 811 million.

Citing higher oil and food prices and softening of economic conditions, Supreme Ventures Limited (SLV) has shelved all expansion plans, and has replaced its capital-investment programme with a promise to pay big dividends to shareholders. The company, whose retained earnings top JMD 648 million built on triple profits last year, paid no dividends in 2007. Up to two months ago, SVL had said it was pressing ahead with plans to grow its gaming business in Jamaica...

Sacramento, California - A revolutionary gaming compact between the Wiyot Tribe and the State of California was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wiyot Tribal Chairwoman Cheryl A. Seidner today. The compact, which has been under negotiation for nine years, allows the Wiyot Tribe to join the ranks of many other California tribes who have elected to utilize gaming for economic development, but with an entirely new twist.

According to a report from the Dow Jones business news service, the French Government is still considering the implications of legalizing online gambling under strict controls. Prime Minister Francois Fillon’s office stated late last week that it was in the process of studying a report it commissioned in November into how the virtual gambling market might be opened up in France. At the moment, all internet-based games involving money are outlawed in France...

Macao (Xinhua) -- Except for the existing casino projects, the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will neither grant any new gaming concession or sub-concession nor approve any land for the building of new casinos in the near future, said the SAR's Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah on Tuesday. In light of China's central government's requirement and expectation for Macao to diversify its gaming-centered economy, the SAR government decided to tighten its gaming market regulation policy...

According to figures published by the Norwegian Gambling Commission, the online gaming market in Norway grew by 6.1% in 2007, with an estimated 244,000 people gambling online. The Commission said Norwegians spent 961 million euros online, of which 82.9% or 797 million euros went to foreign operators, with Norsk Rikstoto and Norsk Tipping accounting for another USD 258 million.

The Andean Gaming fair is no doubt the greatest consolidation and expansion showcase of the industry of the region. With an annual growth of 20% in exhibitors and visitors, the 2008 fair surpasses the expectations of the organizers. With an annual growth of 20% in exhibitors and visitors, the 2008 fair surpassed the expectations of the organizers, who assure that they have been pleasantly surprised with the increase of national and international exhibitors...

In Australia, gaming operators Tabcorp and Tatts Group are set to lose long-held monopolies on operating poker machines in the state of Victoria following an announcement by Premier John Brumby last week. The State Government announced that pubs, hotels and clubs would be allowed to hold their own licenses when the two companies’ current permits expire in four years rather than leasing machines from Tatts or Tabcorp.

Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, Germany's biggest private online sports-gambling company, may win a legal fight that threatens 118 million euros (USD 188 million) in annual revenue, or a third of its take. Johannes Caspar, a law professor at Hamburg University and legal adviser to the Schleswig-Holstein state legislature, says the Vienna-based company may succeed with lawsuits challenging a January 2008 ban in Germany on Internet sports wagering. Bwin argues the prohibition, approved in all 16 German states, violates European Union law.

The American Gaming Association and JCM Global are set to celebrate their decade-long partnership for responsible gaming at the 10th annual JCM/AGA Golf Classic held at Cascata in Boulder City, Nevada, on April 28. The Golf Classic is a fundraiser for the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG). Since its inception, the event has raised more than USD 500,000 for the NCRG, including USD 75,000 last year.

Following on from its court victory last week, granting it the right to provide online casino games to residents of the German state of Lower Saxony, Spielbanken Niedersachsen has chosen Chartwell Technology as its online gaming system provider. The five-year agreement calls for the initial release of casino and soft games, and provides Spielbanken’s sister companies for the release of additional gaming products where possible, with the release of its flash casino, scheduled for early May 25th, under the Casinoland.de brand.