Vietnam’s go-ahead for locals to enter one of the country’s casinos for a trial period has set off a rat race to lure gaming investors in a country where local leaders have been chiefly judged by economic growth rates alone. In August 2013, the Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo allowed Vietnamese meeting certain criteria to gamble in a casino to be built in the Van Don Economic Zone in Quang Ninh Province bordering China. Vietnamese tycoon Dao Hong Tuyen and US firm ISC Corporation are investing in the US$7.5 billion project that includes a casino, marinas, a convention center and golf…

A consortium of will build a new South Korean casino, which will be a first for the country. Caesars Entertainment and Indonesia’s Lippo conglomerate has received a preliminary license to build the resort near the country’s largest airport, stepping up competition among Asian countries to lure Chinese tourists. The Indonesian-U.S. consortium plans to spend 743.7 billion won ($696 million) to open a casino town in Incheon in 2018, the nation’s culture ministry said in a statement Tuesday. It is the first South Korean casino license given to foreign investors, though a final approval is pending. It will become the country’s…

When it comes to Illinois gambling, you can thank state lawmakers that many corner taverns and fraternal organizations throughout the state have video gambling machines. But Fairmount Park won’t have those moneymakers — although all other racetracks in Illinois will — if either version of state Rep. Bob Rita’s gambling expansion bill gets approved. What, that doesn’t seem fair? Rita isn’t interested in fair. He’s interested in getting a casino for Chicago. And he has decided that a bill will have a better chance of passage without video gambling at Fairmount Park than with it. You see, East St. Louis…

10TV – The lists of people banning themselves from Ohio’s casinos and racinos have grown as the state’s gambling industry expands. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland (http://bit.ly/1p4DjUY ) reports nearly 750 gamblers from 11 states and Ontario excluded themselves from Ohio’s four casinos by last month through a voluntary program. That’s up from less than 550 in September. A similar program exists for the racinos, which feature horse racing tracks with slots-style video lottery terminals. About 80 people banned themselves from those facilities by September, when two racinos were open. Now four are open, and the list has nearly doubled….

Cincinnati.com – About 35 legislators attended a news conference Monday aimed at giving the casino issue a boost in the final days of the 2014 session, but seconds after it was over House Speaker Greg Stumbo said the issue still is effectively dead this year. “I’m just saying what members are saying,” said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. “What we’re running into as we count votes is they know that the Senate’s not going to act.” The expanded gambling issue remains locked in a stalemate between the Democratic-majority House and Republican-majority Senate, with both chambers’ leaders saying the other needs to act first….

The World Lottery Association (WLA) has cited “strong performances” from the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions as the main reason for an increase in full-year global lottery sales during the 12 month through to December 31, 2013. The association said that global lottery sales were up 4.9% in 2013, which follows on from full-year growth of 7.7% in the previous year. The Latin American market proved to be the most successful market with an aggregate year-on-year increase in sales of 21.4%. Argentina’s Lotería Nacional Sociedad del Estado was the main driver behind this growth after it experienced a 31.4%…