Forbes – Macau’s metamorphosis from gamblers’ guide footnote into the global gaming capital booking seven times the casino revenue of Las Vegas has inspired countries across Asia to try their own luck. From South Korea to Sri Lanka, there are gaming venues and big plans for more. While every government wants to duplicate the dollar figures of Macau, the model most follow is made in Singapore. Singapore awarded two casino licenses in 2006, following an unusually contentious pubic debate, with the goals of boosting visitor arrivals and adding what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the “X factor” found in…

The Guardian – A gigantic resort proposed for far north Queensland does not need federal environmental assessment, its backers have argued, even though it includes two casinos, eight accommodation towers, a golf course and a 33-hectare lake filled via a 2.2km pipeline from the Great Barrier Reef. The $8bn Aquis project, slated for Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, is described as “Australia’s only genuine, world-class, integrated resort”. The resort, which would cover 340 hectares, is backed by the Hong Kong investor Tony Fung, who last year bought the Reef Casino Trust, which operates the Cairns casino. An initial advice statement…

Online Poker Report – It has been two years since Illinois became the first state in the nation to begin selling lottery tickets online, and, according to the Illinois Lottery, the program is “working as designed.” That’s per a press release released by Illinois Lottery officials that put the total amount of online tickets sales at $36.9 million to date. Much like the relatively new legalized online gambling sites in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, those who wish to purchase Illinois lottery tickets via the Internet must be physically located in the Land of Lincoln when doing so and must…

Things may get interesting for Colorado casinos. The state’s only horse racing track isn’t the only group proposing ballot measures for voters to consider this fall. Last month, the owners of Arapaho Park horse racing track in Aurora filed six proposed ballot measures calling on Colorado voters to allow it to have up to 2.500 slot machines or video lottery terminals at its horse racing track in Arapaho County or where it offers parimutuel betting of those races in Mesa and Pueblo counties. To counter that, the casino industry has proposed a few measures of its own, all of which…

Totally Gaming – David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, is preparing a crackdown on FOBT machines in betting shops this week, alongside fresh penalties for companies if they fail to enforce new limits on playing times and betting losses, according to the Guardian newspaper. The paper reported that in correspondence between Downing Street and the gambling industry in March, David Cameron said the bookmakers’ new code, introduced in February by the Association of British Bookmakers, needed to be “strengthened to minimise harm”. The Tory leader is due to announce a clampdown on the terminals, with a range of regulatory and…

Reuters – Pachinko hall operator Dynam Japan Holdings is in talks with several Asian casino operators to build a casino in Japan as the country readies to debate a bill that would legalise casino gambling. Yoji Sato, Dynam’s chairman and one of Japan’s wealthiest businessmen, said the company wants to announce its partnership with an Asian operator after the passage of an initial bill towards legalizing casino gambling. SOURCE