Las Vegas Review Journal – Somehow, “What happens in Crimea, stays in Crimea,” doesn’t seem like an appropriate catchphrase. In April, a month after Russia forcibly annexed the Black Sea peninsula away from Ukraine, President Valdimir Putin said he wants to turn the territory into his own version of Las Vegas. He wasn’t talking about replacing “Thunder From Down Under” with the “Shirtless Putin Dancers.” Putin crusaded against gambling in 2006, leading to the closure of most Russian casinos and slot machine parlors. He called gambling a “dangerous addiction and a magnet for organized crime.” Now, he wants to create…

Reuters – Macau, the world’s casino capital, raked in 31.3 billion patacas ($3.92 billion) in gambling revenue in April thanks to strong spending by Chinese visitors keen to place their bets in the country’s only legal casino hub. Gambling revenue growth in Macau, a special administrative region like neighbouring Hong Kong, was up 10.6 percent in April, beating analyst estimates of 6-8 percent growth. A Portuguese colony until 1999, Macau earns the equivalent of Las Vegas’ annual haul in less than two months. Annual revenues reached a record $45 billion in 2013, elevating the tiny territory high above rival gaming…

Star Adviser – A federal judge has ruled the sweepstakes gaming machines police have seized from several arcades on Oahu violate the state’s gambling laws. In a ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi said “no reasonable jury would believe plaintiff’s story” that the gaming machines sell a legitimate product — a discount coupon to purchase merchandise on a website — and offer free sweepstakes only as a way to attract customers. Kobayashi said that the amount of coupons bought compared with the lack of coupons being redeemed showed that customers were using the Products Direct Sweepstakes game machines…

Gaming Intelligence – The publication Wednesday of a set of measures designed to tackle the issue of problem gambling, focused on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), has been met with criticism from both the industry and the machines’ biggest critics, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which said that the government has missed its “single biggest opportunity” to make a real impact on tackling the issue. Following a policy review, the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) yesterday set out a series of measures to curb irresponsible gambling. These include requiring players that want to stake over £50 to either pay…

Las Vegas Review Journal – Stop the presses. Steve Wynn declared Las Vegas is on the road to recovery Thursday. At the outset of a first-quarter conference call with analysts, the Wynn Resorts Ltd. chairman and CEO said he was “feeling good about Las Vegas, better than I had in the past.” Wynn based his opinion on the company’s results from Wynn Las Vegas and Encore during the three-month period that ended March 31. The resorts’ overall revenue total — $380.9 million — was a 1.5 percent decline from a year ago and accounted for just 25 percent of the…

PR Newswire – When the Tribal Gaming industry converges at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego, CA from May 11 -14, IGT (NYSE: IGT) will showcase the gaming industry’s finest portfolio of gaming innovations. The Company’s line-up of all-new, Class II-only titles will complement its fan-favorite library of MegaJackpots® games, captivating core titles and performance-driven systems products. In addition to industry-leading games and systems, IGT will demonstrate the Company’s continued commitment to Indian Gaming through charitable giving.  During the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention, IGT will present the American Indian College Fund with a $25,000 check that…