Indications from the vote counting late yesterday in Guam showed that the Democrats were poised to retain the majority in the Legislature with a strong majority opposing an initiative to legalize casino gambling in Tamuning, reports Pacific Daily News. Around 70 percent of the 50,806 registered voters cast their votes with over 50 percent opposing Prop A, the gambling initiative.

Buffalo (AP) - A judge has ruled that the Seneca Indian Nation does not have the right to build a casino on a site where it has started construction. The judge, William M. Skretny, of Federal District Court, set aside a decision by the National Indian Gaming Commission that allowed the casino, ruling in favor of opponents who sued to stop it. Judge Skretny said that land the Senecas purchased in 2005 qualified as “Indian lands” under federal guidelines...

Detroit (WWJ) - The House has soundly rejected legislation that would pave the way for two proposed Indian casinos in Michigan. Opponents said it would circumvent gambling laws. The bill led a clash among several Michigan lawmakers, gambling opponents and those trying to bring jobs to the state, which has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates. It was defeated on a vote of 298-121.

Washington (AP) - The House soundly defeated a plan Wednesday that would have advanced two proposed Indian casinos in Michigan, as gambling opponents and interests protecting Detroit's casinos rallied to scuttle the bill. The measure, rejected by a vote of 298-121, touched off a spirited debate over gambling and the rights of Indian tribes and pitted Michigan lawmakers against each other amid charges the tribes were engaging in "reservation shopping."

Bulgarian lawmakers rejected the controversial amendments to the country’s gambling laws proposed by the cabinet and criticized by the opposition and president Georgi Parvanov, Sofia News Agency reports. The amendments bill proposed to tax betting firms 10% of their profit, rather than 10% of their turnover, as it is now, and has sparked a heated debate on the parliamentary floor.

A bill that proposed opening casinos on Taiwan's outlying islands with the consent of the majority of the island's residents failed to clear the legislative floor yesterday. The bill was an amendment to an act regarding the development of the outlying islands. It did not curry enough votes to pass, as 84 of the 149 legislators who were present voted against it, while only 57 voted in favor and eight abstained.

Saipan, CNMI (Marianas Variety) – Saipan, which rejected casino gaming overwhelmingly in 1979, has once again said "no" to it, but the same proposal finally got the required two-thirds support of Rota’s voters. The Saipan Casino Act initiative, which also required two-thirds of the total votes cast, received only 3,492 votes with 4,721, or 57 percent, voting "no." Saipan has 866 absentee voters. But on Rota, the casino initiative received 788 votes, or 84.5 percent, with only 144 voting against it.

London (Reuters) - Britain's high court dismissed a challenge to government plans to build a new wave of Las Vegas-style casinos in the UK on Monday, after a casino industry body claimed the plans were badly thought out. The British Casinos Association (BCA), which represents 90 percent of Britain's casino operators, had sought a review of the government's new gambling policy.