Legal US Poker Sites – The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland state legislators passed a bill on April 4 which would fine gamblers under 21 caught playing in a land-based casino. For the bill to become official, the bill will have to be signed by Governor Martin O’Malley. The bill is endorsed by Maryland casino operators, due to the deterrent factor provided by the fines and penalties for those who break the law. Prior to the bill’s passage, underage gamblers had no discouragement besides being thrown out of the casino, while the casino itself faced its own stiff fines. The…

Atari games will soon be partnered with gambling and lottery game developer Pariplay to bring the former’s classic video game brands to real-money gambling formats, the companies announced. Atari game brands — including Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong and Tempest — will be brought to Pariplay’s iLottery and iGaming platforms as well as its mobile and social online formats. Atari-branded lottery games will also be distributed through Pariplay’s network to third-parties who will use these games on their websites. “Atari was a pioneer in the interactive entertainment space, having built tremendous brand equity through their rich suite of beloved brands,”…

NJ Spotlight – As Atlantic City’s “Do AC” campaign enters its second year, the Atlantic City Alliance, a casino-funded marketing group, is refocusing its message, promoting specific events it hopes will pull in more tourists rather than emphasizing AC as a clean and safe place to visit. Atlantic City, meanwhile, is still struggling to find its feet. Entertainment and food revenue leveled off in 2013, according to the ACA’s 2014 report, after increasing for the previous four years. Casinos continued to lose money, although at a slower rate. And 2013 revenue was flat, or at least posted a very modest…

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN – Moves are accelerating to bring casinos to Japan, but the economic benefits could be overshadowed by the social costs evident in other countries where gambling is legal. Shintaro Ishihara started the trend in 1999, when, as governor of Tokyo, he proposed establishing casinos in the fashionable Odaiba district of the capital. Hokkaido, the prefectures of Chiba, Osaka, Nagasaki and Okinawa, and the cities of Yokohama and Chiba have all earmarked budgets for casino-related studies this fiscal year, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. A supra-partisan group of lawmakers in December submitted to the Diet a bill…

Gambling 911 – Don’t tell this to the throngs of people who love Las Vegas but Sin City has just registered at number 10 on the SmartTravel “10 Most Disappointing Vacation Destinations” list. It could be worse we suppose. “Is there any place more depressing than the inside of a casino at three in the morning? Fluorescent lights, a thick haze of cigarette smoke, and the stink of desperation don’t really add up to a dream vacation,” SmartTravel’s Caroline Morse wrote in her review. “Whether you’re losing your money by gambling it away, paying for obscene amounts of food at…

St Louis Post Dispatch – An Illinois House committee is planning a daylong hearing on gambling expansion in the state. The Executive Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Bilandic Building in downtown Chicago. The morning session will focus on a plan by Rep. Bob Rita to create a large casino in Chicago, but none elsewhere. The session beginning at 1 p.m. will focus on Rita’s alternative to build a smaller Chicago gambling house and four scaled-back casinos in Winnebago, Vermilion and Lake counties, and in a south suburb of Chicago. The Blue Island Democrat has proposed alternative…