British bookmakers are facing the prospect of a tax-rate increase as Her Majesty’s Treasury looks to generate income amid the economic downturn. Reuters reports Chancellor Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report is due to be released this week, and analysts are saying that gambling profits - especially those derived from fixed odds betting terminals - are “easy targets” in the current environment.
Poker machine maker Aristocrat Leisure yesterday gave details of the extent of its sales decline in the US and warned of an oversupply of machines in its other important market, Macau. It also gave an insight into a distressing trend where their casino customers were holding onto their outdated machines for three times longer than ever before, a move which has crimped sales of replacement machines.
Less than a month after Pennsylvania's newest slots parlor -- Hollywood Casino at Penn National outside Harrisburg -- opened its doors, four machines have skyrocketed to stardom and become some of the casino's biggest moneymakers. The machines feature a game many thought wouldn't see the inside of a Pennsylvania casino anytime soon: blackjack. Or, to be more precise, virtual blackjack.
First, ATMs elbowed aside bank tellers. Then, voice mail eliminated phone operators. Now, poker machines are muscling in on croupiers at Quebec's casinos. One of the world's most storied professions is becoming automated but it's creating a standoff between the dealers and the house. Quebec's 1,450 unionized croupiers said yesterday they will boycott a test next week of 25 automated poker tables at the Montreal Casino. The dry run will involve no-money games reserved for Loto-Québec staff.
The slot machine is undergoing a generational shift. For more than a century, slots have required little more than cash, faith and an ability to pull a lever or push a button. But now, a new class of machines, aimed at attracting younger players who grew up with video games, is demanding something else: skill. Adding an element of hand-eye coordination is just one way slot makers are laboring to broaden the appeal of the insistently bleating devices that have proved so popular among older players.
Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina is poised to play spoiler in Miami-Dade County's slots referendum. Robaina vows to campaign against the January referendum -- and urge Hialeah residents to vote no -- unless the city's famous but shuttered thoroughbred track wins new racing dates, allowing it to reopen and potentially install slot machines. The popular mayor's strategy to save Hialeah Park seeks to tug at voters' heart strings -- and bring more jobs to Miami-Dade's second largest city.
Atlantic City will soon become the next testing ground for what many are calling the next generation of slot machine technology. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission last week approved testing of server-supported gaming in Atlantic City casinos. It means that tests will now be conducted of systems that download game content and peripherals from a central server to terminals on the floor. The “server-supported” gaming approved differs from “server-based” gaming in that the game logic will still reside at the slot terminals on the floor.
Providence, Rhode Island -- It was the slot machine that kept on giving -- and giving. A malfunctioning video lottery terminal at Twin River gave gamblers credit for twice as much money as they had inserted, erroneously paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of two months. The machine, installed in May, was removed on July 15 after the problem was discovered.
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.
