According to statistics gathered by Ofcom, since the passage of the 2005 Gambling Act, television gambling ads have grown by 1,443 percent. The eight-year-old law allowed gambling operators to advertise widely on TV, for the first time, and sponsor sporting events. In 2005, there were approximately 90,000 but this figure has grown to over 1.38 million by 2012, which was an increase of 14-fold. Last year, over one third of the advertisements were for bingo at 38.3 percent, 29.6 percent were for online casino and poker, while lottery and scratch card ads accounted for 25.6 percent of total television gambling…

iGaming Business – Online casino and sportsbetting provider Webis Holdings has announced that its WatchandWager.com deposit wagering subsidiary has received approval from the Thoroughbred Owners of California organisation to allow residents in the US state to wager on thoroughbred racing. The approval will cover thoroughbred racing in the US and all international jurisdictions in which WatchandWager.com has rights. WatchandWager.com can now accept wagers from Californian residents on thoroughbred content throughout its website. The agreement involves a statutory $50,000 (€36,584) one-off payment in prize money contribution to the California Purse Fund and also ensures that a percentage of all bets placed…

M Live – State regulators say they’ve reached a compromise on charity poker rules, but not everyone is happy with the restrictions. The Michigan Gaming Control Board on Thursday announced a proposal to limit poker rooms or other locations to hosting charity poker games up to four nights a week. While that’s less restrictive than a previous proposal, some say it could put poker rooms out of business that had been operating seven days a week. The board has for months weighed different options for dealing with so-called “millionaire parties” that allow nonprofit groups to raise funds by hosting casino-style…

Press of Atlantic City – When Atlantic Club Casino Hotel closes its doors Monday morning, it will mark only the third time in the city’s history that a casino has shut down. But unlike the gambling halls that have closed before it — shuttered amid unfulfilled promises of bigger and grander operations to replace what had failed — this time, experts say, the closing comes with uncertainty for the property’s future and what might come next for Atlantic City. Politicians, officials and analysts called Atlantic Club’s closing inevitable; the casino has struggled for years, and it only recently gained ground…

Daily Finance – Following the footsteps of Macau, Singapore, and the Philippines, Japan appears poised to clear away regulatory barriers and allow legalized gambling in casinos. Analysts at Citi believe that Japan could become the second-largest gambling venue in Asia after Macau. Japan could generate gross gaming revenue of $13.4 to $15 billion annually. The topic of opening a casino in Singapore can be traced back to 2005 when key legislation and administrative infrastructure were put in place. Five years later two integrated casino resorts opened their doors, Las Vegas Sands ‘ Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World’s Sentosa.  Within…

Kotaku – When ads bearing the slogan ‘gambling starts with games’ started appearing throughout South Australia, there was an uproar amongst the local gaming community. Now, the South Australian government has agreed to adjust its advertising, changing the slogan from ‘Gambling starts with games‘ to ‘Gambling is no game‘. The news comes in response to a letter of complaint sent by Ron Curry of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA). In December Curry asked that the South Australian government remove all copies of the offending image from advertising across the state, and provide a written acknowledgement that there is…