Strip casinos have been struggling lately to keep up their gaming revenues. Fewer people are visiting Las Vegas and that means even less are gambling. But could the cure for the downturn be reaching out to would-be gamblers in their own homes? Online gambling sites offer the same variety of games that most Strip casinos do -- from sports betting, to poker and even bingo.

O.K., das Ganze ist für meine derzeitige Situation schon reichlich übertrieben, trifft aber recht gut die Stimmungslage, wenn ich von meiner bisherigen WSOP berichten soll. Die ersten drei Wochen war ich durchgehend krank mit einer Sinusitis inklusive Stirnhöhlenvereiterung, wie ich es noch nie erlebt hatte. Das Schlimmste war der Schlafentzug und die Nebenwirkungen der diversen Medikamente, so dass der Informationsaustausch meiner kleinen grauen Zellen bestenfalls im Schongang ablief.

Mumbai (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service said Las Vegas strip casino resort operators should be able to avoid ratings downgrades due to the economic downturn, but will be vulnerable to negative rating actions if the slowdown is prolonged or takes a turn for the worse. 'The Las Vegas resorts are not as recession-resistant as they used to be,' Moody's said. It said most operators have some room within their respective rating categories to withstand negative trends...

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said his company stands ready to take its Cotai Strip model of destination resort development into other emerging Asian gaming markets. Adelson wants the jurisdictions to cough up lucrative tax breaks, infrastructure construction and other concessions before the gaming company will spend USD 15 billion to USD 20 billion to replicate what it is building in Macau.

Bei den Betreibern der Spielcasinos am Strip in Las Vegas schrillen die Alarmglocken. Denn den Unternehmen drohen höhere Steuern. Dabei geht es um ein Thema, das in der Bevölkerung mit breiter Zustimmung rechnen kann: Bildung und Ausbildung der Kinder. Die Lehrer-Gewerkschaft geht jetzt auf die Barrikaden und fordert eine Erhöhung der Spielsteuer um drei Prozent. Nachdem einige Anträge abgelehnt wurden, wollen Schulen und Universitäten den Weg über einen Volksentscheid nehmen.

In Washington, D.C., leaders have been proposing economic stimulus packages, trying to figure out ways to jump-start the nation's sagging financial picture and calm fears of a recession. Las Vegas has its own way of surviving economic downturns -- build more Strip resorts. History has shown the Las Vegas economy rebounds from any economic slump when the Strip goes through a building boom.

MGM Mirage said on Friday its Monte Carlo Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip will reopen its doors for customers on Feb. 15 after being closed two weeks ago after a fire. The company said Monte Carlo plans to open with no fewer than 1,200 guest rooms available and management anticipates an additional 1,300 rooms will become available a week later. The remaining 500 rooms in Monte Carlo's 3,000-room inventory are located on the upper floors...

In der Pokerszene ist Brandi Rose Hawbaker in den Jahren 2006 und 2007 durch einige ordentliche Platzierungen aufgefallen. So qualifizierte sich die attraktive Lady aus Los Angeles am 13. Oktober 2006 mit einem Einsatz von USD 1.000 für den drei Tage später stattfindenden USD 10.000 No-Limit Hold'em WPT Main Event in Las Vegas, landete hier auf einem respektablen 35. Platz und durfte dafür USD 20.875 in Empfang nehmen.

When a float depicting a portion of the USD 1.8 billion Palazzo rolls down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, Calif., this morning to kick off the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade, it will promote an open casino. After a few days delay getting through the Clark County permitting process, Las Vegas Sands Corp. opened the casino portion of the Palazzo on Sunday evening, just in time for the busy New Year's Eve holiday.

Hong Kong casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group announced this week that the company has received government approval to expand its planned development on Macau’s Cotai strip, pitting it against the newly opened Venetian. Galaxy currently runs five casinos in China’s gambling enclave in Macau, including StarWorld, which opened last October. It is also building Galaxy World Resort on Cotai, a reclaimed strip linking two outlying islands...

American billionaire and gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson said Wednesday he wanted to set up variations of Las Vegas-style strips around the world, with Asia alone having room for several more casinos. "What I'd like to do now is different mini-Las Vegas's, I call them, in different parts of the world," Adelson said after receiving a lifetime achievement award for enterprise at the Forbes Global CEO conference in Singapore.

Phil Ruffin's nearly 10-year run as a casino magnate on the Strip is officially over. He signed the final papers Aug. 7, selling the 34.5-acre New Frontier property for USD 1.24 billion, according to the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, his hometown newspaper. Ruffin paid USD 167 million for the property in October 1997. His purchase brought to an end four months later what had been a bitter six-year labor strike.