Casino firm Harrah’s has been accused by its joint venture partner in a USD 2.6 billion Bahamas resort project of fraud in trying to end their deal to build the resort, according to a court filing. The dispute is over a deal announced in January 2007 between resort operator Baha Mar Resorts Ltd and casino company Harrah’s Entertainment to build a resort in the Bahamas. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc was to manage four hotels at the resort.

Moscow – Russia’s grandiose scheme to build a Las Vegas from scratch in 18 months is turning into a sour bet because of the sinking global economy. The plan calls for shutting down dozens of casinos in Moscow and St. Petersburg by July 1 and moving big-city gambling to four far-flung reaches of Russia, including building an entire new city along the Azov Sea. „It’s just not going anywhere fast,“ says Joseph Weinert of Spectrum Gaming Group, a U.S. firm that advised on developing one of the resorts.

City of Dreams, Crown’s development project in the Cotai which will include four hotels as well as serviced apartments, and an underwater-themed casino, is expected to be “the tourist destination’s hottest selling point at next year’s travel fair.” The over USD 2 billion complex going up right across the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on the Cotai Strip will open in May next year, said May Chow, group director for hotel sales and marketing for Melco Crown Entertainment…

AMZ Holdings Plc, the AIM listed hotel and leisure company seeking to build Taiwan’s first world class hotel and casino resort, is pleased to announce today that the Taiwan Tourism Bureau – Ministry of Transportation and Communications – has approved the resort Enterprise Plan submitted for the proposed property. This plan, part of a complex zoning development process for the 27 acre beach fronted site…

US-based investment management company Oaktree Capital Corporation said it plans to pump in USD 5 billion to build luxury resorts in Da Nang. The managing director of the company, William F. Kerins, said the firm had spent 90 days surveying the city’s Hoa Van Hamlet, and hoped to build seaside resorts on an area of 700 hectares. There would be 4,000 rooms, an entertainment area, yacht quay, golf course, helipad to transfer tourists, casino for foreign tourists and a cable car system connecting the top of the. Hai Van mountain pass with the hamlet, he said.

A USD 600 million resort and casino in Southwest Ohio that developers hope Ohio residents will vote for this fall would be 185,806 sqm and include a 1,500-room, 20-story hotel. Partners for MyOhioNow.com, the group that hopes to develop the project, revealed an architectural design from their offices here on Wednesday. The casino would be built on Ohio 73 at Interstate 71 between Harveysburg and Wilmington, but the project first must be approved by Ohio voters.

A GBP 3.5m casino at a seaside resort in Norfolk is due to be officially opened. The casino, within Great Yarmouth’s existing Palace Bingo centre, is expected to attract 75,000 visitors a year and has created about 70 new jobs. It is the third casino to be opened in the town. Plans for a fourth have been submitted in a seafront development. Great Yarmouth was one of eight places in England and Wales to be granted permission by the government in 2007 to build a super-casino.

While Massachusetts debates legalization of casino gambling, the gaming landscape in Connecticut is growing. Traveling along Route 2, a maze of construction, designed to accommodate a projected 9,000 additional daily visitors to the area, is just one sign that something big is afoot as drivers approach Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. The other is a 30-story tower, rising from the surrounding reservation woodlands, and crowned with a symbol of Las Vegas – the shiny MGM Grand marquee with its signature lion.

Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, a Wyndham Grand Caribbean Resort, has reopened its 650,321 sqm casino after a USD 5 million expansion and remodeling project. The work at this Caribbean resort included an addition of 180 slot machines, 12 gaming tables, a bar with five 50-inch plasma television screens and new carpeting, chairs and tables.

Genting Highlands Resort defeated many a familiar name in the casino business to win the prestigious International Travel Award – The 2007 World Travel Award for the World’s Leading Casino Resort at the 14th Annual World Travel Awards Gala ceremony. The local resort was nominated along with world renowned Ceasars Palace Las Vegas (USA), D’Oreale Grande, Emperor Palace (South Africa), MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Vegas (USA), Park Hyatt Mendoza (Argentina), Star City Hotel & Casino, Sydney (Australia) and The Venetian (Macau).

he group SuperClubs has announced the opening in 2008 of its first complex in Panama. It will be a resort of its brand “Breezes”, located in Playa Blanca, in Bijao, province of Coclé. The facility will have 300 all-inclusive apartments as well as a spa, a casino and several international and local restaurants. “We have aimed to expand our properties in Latin America for ten years. In the next 18 months we will be duplicating the presence of the SuperClubs Resorts in the whole region”.

Atlantic City – No longer content with building a mere casino, gaming giant MGM Mirage Inc. plans to develop a mini-city of gambling, hotel towers and luxury condominiums that would dramatically redefine the Atlantic City skyline. The estimated USD 4.5 billion to USD 5.5 billion project would mimic the company’s huge USD 7.4 billion CityCenter project under construction on the Las Vegas Strip, although on a smaller scale, according to people familiar with the plans.