Star City will unveil its plan today to turn the ugly duckling of Australian casinos into a harbour-front entertainment and gaming complex worthy of global attention. The 13-year-old complex, which was built with its rear to harbour, will be turned around as part of a proposed AUD 475 million makeover. "For the first time, Star City will be facing the harbour and the city, and that will give us an advantage that no other casino in the world can match..."

James Packer and Lawrence Ho, two sons of billionaires, opened a USD 524 million casino in Macau in May 2007. It was a flop. The empty building was "eerie," the 31-year-old son of casino magnate Stanley Ho said in an interview. Three months after Crown Macau's grand opening, the two co-chairmen of Melco Crown Entertainment, its Hong Kong-based owner, decided it was time to "throw in a nuclear bomb," Ho said.

New York: The venerable slot machine is undergoing a generational shift. For more than a century, since its invention by a German immigrant named Charles Fey in the 1890s, slot machines 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.