The European Commission said France will provide detailed new legislation on the provision of its gambling services to its EU internal markets services by autumn. A spokesman for EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: "France is working on this new legislation...(it) has promised the Commission to come forward with detailed legislation as early as autumn this year."

Anti-gambling legislation that would have banned ATMs and any credit extensions from casinos narrowly failed this week. But state Senator Joe McPherson and other gambling critics did get one victory in committee with legislation forcing casinos to also advertise their revenue when touting their large payouts to customers. The issues quickly turned into a debate on the merits of gambling in Louisiana, with most of the discussions focused on the presence of automated teller machines in casinos in McPherson’s Senate Bill 41.

Executives from one of the biggest casino operators in the world have been lobbying government departments about changes to gambling legislation - while dangling the possibility of building a EUR 350 million resort casino here, which would create 2,000 jobs. Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns over 50 casinos worldwide, made representations to the Department of Justice earlier this year.

Governor Jon S. Corzine signed a bill that will keep video lottery terminals out of New Jersey horse tracks for three years while requiring resort casinos to annually pay USD 30 million to horse racing interests. The bill also establishes a casino tax credit on bonuses several casinos give to players that can only be used at those casinos. While the casinos currently pay an eight percent casino gross revenue tax on them, the bill caps the tax on the first USD 90 million.

Ahead of a scheduled vote wherein Dutch legislators will consider UIGEA-style legislation designed to restrict access to the Dutch online gambling market for international court, a Netherlands Court denied an appeal in a related case by Unibet, admitting that its interpretation is different than that called for by European Union treaty. Unibet had been judged guilty of violating the Dutch Gaming Act and infringing upon the market rights of the Dutch state lottery, De Lotto (The Lotto).

Costa Rica government named a high-level commission with the aim to revise the law that regulates casinos, made in 1922, and toughen the rules in order to avoid the massive arrival of gambling venues in the country. The commission will be comprised by Ministers of Tourism, Carlos Benavides, Foreign Commerce, Marco Ruiz, and Justice, Laura Chinchilla, who will have 15 days to make a report to be presented to the government council.

MonsonN, Massachusetts – As reported by the Worchester Telegram & Gazette: "State Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Palmer, said this weekend that with Gov. Deval L. Patrick's casino legislation heading for the Joint Committee on Economic Development for study and hearings, a debate on the bill may well not come before this fall. "If that's the case, communities that might find themselves in the neighborhood of a casino have plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons...

Major betting companies Expekt, Ladbrokes, Betsson and Unibet have launched a new Responsible Gambling Code in Norway in a move designed to counter a government initiative to ban its citizens from transferring funds to foreign online gaming companies. Under the proposed ban, Norwegian customers would be stopped from betting on football or cross-country skiing online but the new Code seeks to promote and strongly support responsible gambling in answer to one of the Government’s justifications for the proposals.

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.

Governor Deval L. Patrick said that he plans to file legislation next week to establish casino resorts in Western Massachusetts and two other parts of the state, and that it will include language calling for local approval of the gambling halls. He said he could not say whether local approval would be decided by binding referenda or through municipal regulatory boards. "What we want to assure is that there is going to be local input in the siting issues, as there is for any other large development," Patrick told reporters after an unrelated speech at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. "How we do that is a question."

In the US, the Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Barney Frank revealed that his proposed Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) will not become a reality anytime soon. Speaking this week, Frank said that his Bill to overturn the UIGEA has stalled although pressure from foreign countries could revive the legislation. He said that pressure brought on the Bush administration by the World Trade Organization along with compensation claims from the European Union could offer a significant boost to his legislation becoming a reality.

President George Maxwell Richards signed legislation banning one of the most significant gambling activities in Trinidad and Tobago, slot machines. Once the legislation comes into force, it will be against the law for common gaming houses and private members’ clubs to conduct gambling by way of slots. If such an activity takes place on the premises of a private members’ club, that premise shall be deemed a “common gaming house” for the purposes of the Gambling and Betting Act.