New York Times – Singapore’s tourism receipts doubled to $18 billion within two years of opening the Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa casino resorts in 2010, and visitor arrivals jumped nearly 50 percent. Lured by Singapore’s success, the Taiwan Legislature could soon allow the opening of casinos. And Japan, with an official goal of tripling the number of foreign tourists in 20 years, is considering building casinos. Analysts believe that gambling in Japan could generate gross revenue of $15 billion annually. But these countries should also pay attention to another aspect of Singapore’s experience apart from revenue. Singapore has gone…

The Motley Fool – The battle for up to three new casino licences in Brisbane is officially underway. Acting State Development Minister Ian Walker said that the first round of Expression of Interest (EOI) documents had been issued to the eight parties to so far declare their interest in three new integrated resort developments across the state. So far the eight parties haven’t been named, but Echo Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: EGP) and Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) have both expressed an interest and it could be speculated that rival SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited (ASX: SKC) may be interested too….

Charlotte Observer – Indian tribe’s effort to open a gambling casino in neighboring North Carolina is being spearheaded by a businessman with long ties to video poker, an industry lawmakers have long sought to outlaw. A company called Sky Boat LLC is working with the Catawba Indian Nation to build a casino that promises to bring 4,000 jobs to a site off Interstate 85 near Kings Mountain, The Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh reported (http://bit.ly/1h0xjOE ). The company selected by Catawba leaders to operate a casino is led by 40-year-old Wallace Cheves, of Greenville, S.C., whose…

Daily Mail – A 39-year-old man who leaped from a second-floor balcony to his death inside a Queens casino yesterday was on a winning streak. Sayed Alam was up by about $1,200 on the slot machines when he plunged 30-feet inside the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Race Track just before 6pm. Dozens of people were standing in the main lobby of the gambling hall on Rockaway Blvd in South Ozone Park when the man jumped, New York Daily News reported. The reason for the man’s death is not known. However sources told The New York Post that Alam was…

Orlando Sentinel – The casino-hotel talk in Tallahassee has gone on for more than two years, so what’s one more week? Sen. Garrett Richter, head of the Senate committee on gaming, had planned to release a draft of a comprehensive gambling bill on Monday. But he announced Friday that his bill will need to wait a week, after the committee failed to complete its agenda during a two-hour session on Monday. “As it turned out, we did not finish the workshop on ‘elements and options’ for inclusion in the proposed committee bill,” Richter, R-Naples, wrote in a memo released Friday….

Macau Business Daily – The first tourism satellite account data have quantified the city’s dependence on gaming, revealing that about 84 percent of their spending is at the city’s casinos. The data for 2010 show tourists spent MOP220.4 billion (US$27.6 billion), including MOP184.5 billion in the casinos and MOP19.3 billion at the shops. The tourism satellite account is meant to assess the value of the tourism industry to the economy, the Statistics and Census Service says. In 2010 the value added by the tourism industry was MOP51.8 billion, or 35 percent of gross domestic product.

Register Mail – After failing to win enough support the past two years, proponents of expanded gambling in Illinois see it having better chances this year, with other issues out of the way and the state in dire need of cash. The legislation, which would establish five new casinos and authorize slot machines at racetracks and airports, went out with a whimper last May as the session adjourned. Lawmakers discussed the lengthy, complex proposal extensively but never called it for a vote. So far, advocates are pushing almost identical legislation this year, but circumstances are different. It’s an election year,…

Card Player – A plan to put a commercial casino in Virginia reportedly will have to wait until 2015, despite a positive advancement on the idea early this year. Senate Bill No. 19, which will be shelved, called for a casino in the Hampton Roads area. The state doesn’t have any Las Vegas-style casinos of any kind. According to The Washington Post, Sen. L. Louise Lucas, sponsor of the bill, asked her colleagues this week “to put her own measure off for the year while she gathers support in the more-conservative House of Delegates. Lucas said she’s found a House…