Archive for December, 2007

 

Harrah’s Entertainment – new owners for Casino & Hotel Resort chain

December 28th, 2007

Harrah’s Casino & Hotel Resort chain, which also run the World Series of Poker, will have new owners, two private equity firms named Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, shelling out a whopping $17.7 billion for the acquisition, being complete in early 2008.
“The WSOP will remain a key brand in the [...]

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Germany will ban online gambling starting with January 1st, 2008

December 28th, 2007

Germany will ban any form of Web-based gambling or brokering of games over the Internet, beginning with January 1st, 2008, including the advertising of gaming over the Internet and on television.
Germany ratified an accord that preserves the country’s state monopoly for lotteries and most forms of betting. The new online-betting laws, [...]

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Egyptian pyramids and Sphynx, copyrighted

December 27th, 2007

Egypt intends to restrict the right to make copies of its ancient monuments by extending the copyright above 3000 years, claiming royalties for using likenesses of the Sphynx and the pyramids.So, casinos from Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macau, future Gran Scala or any other entertainment center, will have to pay [...]

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Gambling industry, more important for US than the intellectual property?

December 27th, 2007

The World Trade Organization, on 21 December 2007, awarded Antigua and Barbuda an annual $21 million compensation claim against the US and also approved of Antigua’s right to suspend its recognition of US copyright and trademark laws to an amount that does not exceed the value of its claim. [...]

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Macau, the new Mecca of the gambling world

December 22nd, 2007

MGM Grand Macau officially opened its doors these days to thousands of guests eager to experience the burgeoning gaming destination’s latest grand resort. With 600 rooms, MGM Grand Macau resort casino marks the powerful partnership’s first venture into the rapidly growing Macau gaming market, setting a new standard of luxury [...]

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When the dice are rolling…

December 22nd, 2007

Two bored casino dealers are waiting at a craps table. A very attractive blonde comes in and wants to bet twenty- thousand dollars on a single roll of the dice. She says, “I hope you don’t mind, but I feel much luckier when I’m bottomless.”
With that she strips naked from the [...]

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MGM Mirage – Entertainment, hotels and casinos

December 22nd, 2007

Type of the company: Public (NYSE: MGM)
Founded: 2000
Headquarters: Las Vegas, Nevada
Key people: Terrence Lanni (CEO)
Industry: Casinos and hotels
Products: Hotels
Revenue: $7.4 billion USD
Employees: over 70,000
Website: www.mgmmirage.com
MGM Mirage is a Las Vegas – based business engaged in the development, ownership and operation of hotels and casinos. The company began operations on May 31, [...]

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$21m annually for Antigua and Barbuda in its dispute with US for online gambling

December 22nd, 2007

The World Trade Organization, on 21 December 2007, issued the arbitration report regarding Antigua and Barbuda’s complaint against “United States — Measures affecting the cross-border supply of gambling and betting services” (DS285), especially UIGEA, awarded Antigua and Barbuda an annual $21 million compensation claim against the US and also [...]

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EU online gambling companies against US

December 21st, 2007

The European Union, Japan, and Canada have reached a settlement with the U.S. regarding its protectionist online gambling policy through UIGEA, although US tolerates some forms of online gambling, such as state lotteries and horse racing.
Remote Gambling Association made today a complaint under the EU Trade Barriers Regulation seeks to stop discriminatory [...]

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Google, Yahoo and Microsoft settle online gambling charges

December 21st, 2007

All the three companies have agreed to pay a total of $31.5m (£15.7m) to settle claims that they accepted online ads promoting illegal gambling, during the last ten years.
Microsoft has to pay $21m, part of it as a charitable donation to support exploited children ($4.5m to the International Center for Missing and [...]

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Indian online gambling and casinos – Mohawk – Kahnawake Gaming Commission

December 19th, 2007

The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed with hope that tribe-operated casinos would provide a steady source of income for Native American communities. The income genereated from these casinos would aid reservation economic development. Many tribal governments have seen great improvements in their ability to provide public services [...]

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Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA)

December 18th, 2007

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (Pub.L. 100-497, 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq.) is a 1988 United States federal law which establishes the jurisdictional framework that presently governs Indian gaming.

The Act establishes three classes of games with a different regulatory scheme for each:

Class I: traditional Indian gaming and social gaming for [...]

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US and EU agreement on online gambling, possible Canada and Japan

December 17th, 2007

Unfortunately for the online casinos and poker rooms, the agreement (signed in Geneva) is not to change UIGEA, but to compensate EU for this ban.
United States will compensate European Union especially in the domain of the trade, and mail services. In accordance with Business Week, “This compensation cannot be [...]

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Atlantic City, new casino and entertainment centers

December 17th, 2007

Gambling is far from stopping its development all over the world. Asia, Europe, Middle East, Russia, USA, places where the gambling industry is one of the most profitable business.

After four years when it was built the last casino in Atlantic City (Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa), now it is its turn for [...]

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Report on the European Las Vegas in Spain (Los Monegros, Aragon): Gran Scala project

December 14th, 2007

Gran Scala is a €17 billion entertainment city to be built on 2,025 hectares in the Aragón desert and will include 32 casinos, hotels and five theme parks. This location was chosen because of a possible 25 million catchment market (excluding foreign tourists) and its proximity to Zaragoza Airport, an [...]

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UIGEA – End of comments

December 13th, 2007

On Regulations.gov, December 12 was the last day allowed for public comments on the Docket ID Treas-DO-2007-0015:

Title   Prohibition on Funding of Unlawful Internet Gambling
Type   Rulemaking
Description   Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act requires the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System (the “Agencies”) to proscribe regulations requiring designated payment systems and all [...]

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Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA)

December 12th, 2007

Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 is part (Title VIII) of the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 (or SAFE Port Act, Pub.L. 109-347), an Act of Congress in the United States that covers port security and online gambling. This title (found at 31 U.S.C. § 5361–5367) prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site, with the notable exceptions of fantasy sports, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing.

SEC. 802.
PROHIBITION ON ACCEPTANCE OF ANY PAYMENT INSTRUMENT FOR UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
SUBCHAPTER IV
PROHIBITION ON FUNDING OF UNLAWFUL INTERNET GAMBLING
§ 5361. Congressional findings and purpose
(a) FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Internet gambling is primarily funded through personal use of payment system instruments, credit cards, and wire transfers.
(2) The National Gambling Impact Study Commission in 1999 recommended the passage of legislation to prohibit wire transfers to Internet gambling sites or the banks which represent such sites.
(3) Internet gambling is a growing cause of debt collection problems for insured depository institutions and the consumer credit industry.
(4) New mechanisms for enforcing gambling laws on the Internet are necessary because traditional law enforcement mechanisms are often inadequate for enforcing gambling prohibitions or regulations on the Internet, especially where such gambling crosses State or national borders.
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
NO provision of this subchapter shall be construed as altering, limiting, or extending any Federal or State law or Tribal-State compact prohibiting, permitting, or regulating gambling within the United States.

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The third Las Vegas

December 11th, 2007

Las Vegas
The successful recipe of the Las Vegas complex in the desert of Nevada will be used again, this time in Europe. There are already another gambling and entertainment complex considered as the Asian Las Vegas, in Macao, and now it’s time for Europe, in the desert of Spain.

Macao
It is [...]

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Blackjack basic rules

December 8th, 2007

What to do the blackjack player:

Doubles are permitted on any two-card hand except a blackjack.
Doubles are permitted after splitting.
Early surrender; the ability to forfeit half your wager against a face or ace before the dealer checks for blackjack.
Normal (aka "late") surrender.
Resplitting Aces.
Drawing more than one card against a split Ace. [...]

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How bingo works

December 7th, 2007

Each bingo player is given a card marked with a grid containing a unique combination of numbers and, in some countries, blank spaces. The winning pattern to be formed on the card is announced. On each turn, a non-player known as the caller randomly selects a numbered ball from a [...]

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