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.

Las Vegas – 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, Nev., 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.

Taipei (XFN-ASIA) - Ma Ying-jeou, who is due to take office as president on May 20, is in favor of allowing local governments in the offshore islands to issue gaming licenses if they so choose, the Economic Daily News reported. Subject to parliament passing the necessary amendments, his administration is ready grant such licensing authority to local governments in the islands, Ma said during a visit to Penghu in the Taiwan Strait.

Sydney (Thomson Financial) - Australian gaming groups Tatts Group Ltd, renamed from Tattersalls Group Ltd., and Tabcorp Holdings Ltd. said on Thursday that trading in the shares of the two companies had been suspended following a decision by the state government of Victoria which could affect a key source of revenue for the two groups. The government of the southeast Australian state announced plans to abolish the two companies' duopoly in the state's slot poker machine licences and will allow hotels and clubs to directly bid for licences beyond 2012.

Thousands of American Indian tribal and industry leaders will gather April 20-23 in San Diego, California, for "Indian Gaming '08," the 17th annual meeting and trade show of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA). The event to take place at the San Diego Convention Center. The NIGA trade show is one of the largest annual gatherings of American Indian tribal and industry leaders, typically drawing several thousand delegates.

To control the tidal wave of slot machine outlets and casinos which have flooded Ukrainian cities, politicians are looking to copy a radical step taken by Moscow. The Russian capital passed a law in December 2006 forcing all gaming operations to move outside city limits to specialized gambling zones, and certain Ukrainian members of parliament (MP) want to do the same...

The deadline for the US to put forward a proposal to settle its long running Internet gambling dispute passed last Monday with Antigua and Barbuda reportedly receiving no word from the US. Up to late last Monday, neither Antigua and Barbuda's attorney in the matter Mark Mendel nor the local Directorate of Gaming had received any communication on the matter from US officials.

Washington, D.C. (April 2, 2008) – Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group comprised of almost one million online and offline poker players nationwide, issued the following statement on today's hearing before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).