Pew States – Many Internet cafes that have popped up in suburban strip malls and gas stations offer something more than coffee and access to the Web and email. Known as Internet sweepstakes cafes, they sell time on computers that can have the look, sound and feel of slot and video poker machines, sometimes with cash payouts for winners. State and local authorities say the operations are illegal gambling, but shutting them down hasn’t been easy. More than $10 billion in revenue a year is the incentive to stay in business for these storefronts, numbering in the thousands. For some…

The Cato Institute and the Pacific Legal Foundation this week filed an amicus brief which supports the New Jersey sports gambling appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding online sports betting. In February, Chris Christie’s administration filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, stating the federal ban on sports gambling in all but 4 states (the PAPSA law) is unconstitutional. The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank located in Washington D.C. The think tank was founded in 1974 by Charles Koch. It is considered one of the leading think tanks in the world, sitting at 6th best among American…

iGaming Business – German Bundesliga top-division football club FSV Mainz 05 has extended its sponsorship deal with local lottery operator Lotto Rheinland-Pfalz, according to the Wiesbadener Kurier newspaper. The new deal will run until the end of the 2016-17 season. Lotto Rheinland-Pfalz will continue as a second-level co-sponsor of the team. The deal includes naming rights to a standing area for home fans at the club’s Coface Arena, as well as various in-stadium branding and access to a VIP box. SOURCE

Reuters – Chinese gambling fever has crossed the East China Sea. Shares in Lippo jumped 36 percent after a consortium including the Hong Kong-listed property group won approval to build a large-scale casino in Korea. The prospect of luring punters from northern China explains the excitement. But just as in the gambling hub of Macau, investors may be pushing their luck. The news appears to have caught investors by surprise. The consortium of Lippo, Singapore’s OUE and Las Vegas casino operator Caesars had a previous application to build Korea’s first foreign-run gambling resort rejected last year. When it’s opened in…

California Tribal Business Alliance – Recent accounts in the media indicate that PokerStars is in partnership negotiations with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and three large Southern California Card Clubs to offer online poker in California. The news accounts come at a particularly opportunistic time, when the California State Legislature will be debating two measures that will authorize the play of online poker within California’s borders. One of the most significant issues in the legislative discussions is who will be allowed to offer online poker in California.  From the California Tribal Business Alliance’s (CTBA) perspective, only entities that adhere to…

Daily Finance – The casino industry commands $37 billion in annual revenue. As far as competitive pastimes go, Americans spend more money on gambling than we do on professional sports. And if it’s the rush that’s the draw, there’s no competition: We shell out $9 billion more on gambling than we spend on coffee and video games combined each year. But when you dig into the demographics of gambling, a troubling trend emerges. Among senior citizens, gambling is a primary social outlet — more so than outings to museums, libraries, and zoos, according to one survey of activity directors from…