Card Player – Fighting with Steve Wynn in his own casino probably isn’t too great of an idea. The billionaire casino boss and actor George Clooney had dinner a couple of weeks ago to discuss some business, but the evening reportedly ended in a heated exchange. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the two men were talking about politics and got into it after Wynn, Clooney said, criticized President Obama and his policies. Wynn is known for being a staunch Republican, while Clooney is a Democrat. Clooney eventually stormed out of the dinner, calling Wynn “an asshole,” the report said….

Card Player – A bingo game in the United Kingdom continued despite one of the players collapsing from a heart attack, according to the Burton Mail. Two nurses who were also playing rushed to the man’s side to help. Paramedics eventually arrived and were trying to save his life. Still, numbers were being called. One of players in the room described the experience: “A man was seemingly dying and people were playing bingo like nothing was happening. The two nurses said the chap had actually ‘died’ twice.” The bingo hall—Mecca Bingo, in Middleway Park—defended the decision, saying that it allowed…

Think winning a lottery prize would be great? Well, when Jozef Lazarcik, a 35-year-old factory worker, heard his number called on national television here recently, he pumped his fists, hardly believing his luck. He had registered only nine receipts with Slovakia’s new tax lottery, and yet he had just won a new car. “It’s a heavenly feeling,” he said before leaving the studio, ready to encourage all of his friends to register their receipts, too — which is exactly what Slovakian officials were hoping for. Over the last 10 years, Slovakia’s revenue from value-added taxes, a type of sales tax,…

Calvin Ayre – The government of Nepal has given all casinos operating in the country until Sunday to close their doors after they failed to honor back tax bills. The dispute between the government and the country’s 10 casinos dates back nearly a decade and has featured countless ultimatums and deadlines, all of which the casinos have ignored. As a result, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) was left with no option but to declare all casinos in the country to be operating illegally. The latest game of brinksmanship began last July via the adoption of the…

CNBC – Whether traveling with tight pockets or loosely tossing around cash, visitors to Las Vegas can find the ultimate playground for adults. From high-end shops and penthouse suites to day clubs and pool parties, they spend tens of billions of dollars in total here a year, with the younger demographic dropping less on casino tables and ponying up more to party in clubs. “I think the younger generation is a little bit more entertainment focused and less focused on gambling than the older generation,” said Stephen P.A. Brown, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER)…

It’s a fashionable and long-held belief that some UK betting shops prey on the poor. High street betting shops spring up in deprived areas, says received wisdom, in order to exploit those already suffering from economic hardship. Leading bookmaking companies – such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power – have always strongly denied this, and a new report seems to bear them out, suggesting that the “poverty exploitation” theory is a myth. The independent report, which was conducted by data analyst the Local Data Company at the behest of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), concludes the UK’s poorest…

Times Union – Whither harness racing in Saratoga Springs? A day after the Saratoga racino announced it had deserted plans to pursue casino gambling in Saratoga Springs in favor of East Greenbush, hundreds of patrons placed bets on the racino’s video lottery terminals while trotters and pacers at the harness track enjoyed a day off. Simmering beneath the calm at Saratoga Casino and Raceway, however, was uncertainty and nervousness. Horsemen were worried the state’s casino sweepstakes were leaving them behind. They said the future of the sport looked cloudy. “There could be a serious situation down the road, serious effects…

Courier Journal – Corporate leaders from Louisville-based Churchill Downs Inc. talked about the new over-sized video board at its namesake track and other issues facing the company in a Thursday conference call with investors and analysts to discuss the company’s $700,000 first-quarter loss. …An analyst asked when Churchill would begin to see returns on its investments for an Internet gambling platform for games like online poker. “We believe that over time the Internet gaming market in the U.S. will develop into a significant opportunity for us and for others as well, of course,” Evans said. “We plan to be a…