Macao -- Macao saw its economy unleashed by the booming gaming industry in the past eight years, but further development requires a more diversified economic pattern, said a Macao legislator in an interview with Xinhua on Monday. "Historically speaking, the special administrative region (SAR)is at the best time for its economic development in the light of its rapid growth in the past eight years," said Ieong Tou Hong, a member of Legislative Assembly of the Macao SAR and Board Chairman of Macao Association of Economy Promotion.

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.

Harrah’s Entertainment informed that it received approval from the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission for the proposed acquisition of Harrah’s by affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P. and TPG Capital. The transaction remains subject to approval by other jurisdictions in which Harrah’s subsidiaries operate and other conditions to closing set forth in the agreement and plan of merger entered into on December 19, 2006.

Senators from political parties Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Acción Nacional (PAN) and Revolución Democrática (PRD) demanded the presence of Roberto Correa Méndez, deputy general director of Games and Draws of SEGOB, to communicate the causes of the increment of licenses for activities of that kind. Senator Felipe González assured that at least 50% of the games and draws held in the country are irregular, because he said his organizers have appeals for protection to work, altough they do not have operating licenses.

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.

Four weeks after a Phoenix TV station reported that some gambling chips manufactured by a Las Vegas company contained exceptionally high lead content, anxious casino dealers say they still don't know if they're handling toxic materials for a living. The report put the manufacturer, Gaming Partners International - the world's largest gaming chip maker - on the defensive; the casino industry's trade association said after some delay that the issue is being reviewed, and government health experts shrug.

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.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Branville McCartney has called for the implementation of more progressive legislation to facilitate gaming in The Bahamas but appeared to stop short of calling for a revision to the law to allow Bahamians to participate. The issue has long been a big bone of contention for many clerics who have outright blasted any attempt to move in that direction.

Harrah’s Entertainment announced it received approval from the Missouri Gaming Commission for the proposed acquisition of Harrah’s by affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P. and TPG Capital. The transaction remains subject to approval by other jurisdictions in which Harrah’s subsidiaries operate and other conditions to closing set forth in the agreement and plan of merger entered into on December 19, 2006.

Penn National Gaming announced that it has filed a license application with the Kansas Lottery Commission to be considered as a Lottery Gaming Facility Manager at a proposed destination casino resort in Sumner County that the company has budgeted at USD 365 million. The second phase expansion will bring the total budget for the master-planned project to over USD 565 million.

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.