Leeds should soon be able to start the ball rolling on the search for a firm to run its biggest ever casino. The city was among 16 places given permission last year to license a so-called ’new generation‘ gaming complex. Now the Government has revealed it is close to finalising the regulations that will allow each one to begin choosing who should be awarded the licence for its proposed Las Vegas-style attraction.

Macau struggling casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. will lay off as many as 11,000 workers after a cash crunch forced the company to halt construction on multibillion dollar projects in the Chinese gambling city, a top executive said this week. About 2,000 of the construction workers are from Macau, and the remainder are from Hong Kong, mainland China and other countries, said Stephen Weaver, Sands’ president for Asia.

The body that represents casino operators in Ireland says regulation of the sector could have huge benefits for the economy. A government-appointed committee has recommended that casinos, which currently operate as private clubs in Ireland, will be licensed and supervised by an independent regulator. However, the government has yet to take action on foot of the report.

New York (AP) – Shares of casino operators tumbled Monday — several to new multiyear lows — as jittery investors watched Wall Street and global markets slide on fears the financial crisis is spreading. The markets have realized that the USD 700 billion rescue plan won’t work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks are still having difficulty gaining access to cash.

Greek betting monopoly operator OPAP has dismissed reports that it is considering acquiring a stake in Spanish gaming group Codere from the Martinez Sampedro family, but reaffirmed its determination to expand geographically beyond its home market. In a filing with the Athens Stock Exchange, OPAP said its goal was to become a leading operator in the international gaming market, reducing its dependence on the current concession with the Greek state.

New York (AP) — Shares of casino operators slid Monday along with the broader markets as the House rejected the government’s USD 700 billion financial bailout package. In late afternoon trading the Dow Jones industrials plunged as much as 705 points as investors worried the financial system would keep sinking under the weight of failed mortgage debt. The Dow did manage to regain some ground before falling backing again, trading down 454.95, or 4.08 percent, to 10,688.18.

New York (AP) — Casino operators‘ shares skidded Monday as investors questioned whether growing capital and liquidity concerns would hinder their financials and stifle their growth plans. Gaming companies hinge their success on continued growth, and many have started to falter as major projects unravel. The sector’s stock fell more on Monday than the broader market, which was anxiously awaiting details about the government’s plan to purchase USD 700 billion in banks‘ mortgage debt.

The previous step to tender the land that will host the new Russian casinos in the regions of Kaliningrado, Primorye, Altai and Krasnodar, requires USD 31 billion allocated to the creation of infrastructure. Today, operators do not show interest in operating gaming in those zones. It has been communicated by Minister of Finance, committed with the promotion of the territories that are least favored.

This Argentine businessman is one of the most searched one by the media, and after a long silence, he granted an interview to La Nación newspaper, in which he spoke about the situation of the company, and he denied that he had the aim to sell the firm. He also talked about his relationship with former Argentine president, Néstor Kirchner. From Spanish city of Alicante, in which he was on holidays until yesterday…

(Bloomberg) — Kangwon Land Inc., the operator of South Korea’s only casino open to local citizens, fell the most in almost seven years in Seoul trading after the government announced plans to double the casino tax next year. Kangwon Land dropped by the daily limit of 15 percent to 15,950 won, the biggest drop since Oct. 24, 2001. Rival Paradise Co. declined 15 percent to 2,085 won, the lowest since November 2002.

RummyRoyal, a British online gaming operator, has determined that, by percentage of population, the number of online gamblers in Iran is the highest in Asia. Despite religious fanatics who demand that personal freedoms be subjugated to their particular perception of how individuals should live their lives, and the existence of laws that attempt to block and forbid online gambling, the citizens of Iran are one of the most avid groups of customers playing at online casinos.

Casino operators in Macau aren’t expecting much of a revenue bump from the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, which will begin August 8. Wall Street thinks the numbers may even dip. Wynn Resorts Chairman, Steve Wynn, isn’t banking on an Olympic boost for Wynn Macau. „It’s going to be a great event for Beijing, but it’s not going to mean much for Macau,“ he said.