It’s “80 to 90 percent certain” that citizens would be allowed to gamble in big Vietnam casino resorts in that country within “two to three years”, said a speaker at the Macao Gaming Summit. Currently only foreigners or Vietnamese with overseas passports are legally allowed to gamble in the 13 or so establishments of varying size that are unofficially classified collectively as ‘casinos’. “At that time Vietnamese will be allowed to play in Van Don and Ho Tram – not in small casinos,” said Augustine Ha Ton Vinh, who describes himself as an advisor to the Vietnamese government. He was…

Sydney Morning Herald – James Packer’s casino has the green light after the NSW Parliament passed legislation approving VIP-only gambling at the proposed $1.3 billion hotel complex at Barangaroo. The legislation passed through the upper house at lunchtime on Monday with the support of Labor and opposed only by the NSW Greens and Christian Democrats who voted against it. Premier Barry O’Farrell recently announced that cabinet had entered into a “binding agreement” with Crown to develop the “VIP-restricted gaming facility”. The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority will still need to consider whether Mr Packer’s company is a suitable casino operator…

iGaming Business – Italian lottery and gaming company Lottomatica has agreed a deal to distribute the internet and mobile slots games of online gaming software developer World Match Limited via its Lottomatica.it and Totosi.it platforms. According to the Yogonet.com website, Lottomatica customers can now access slots games via a desktop computer or smartphone. “Having gained an extensive experience in international markets, World Match has managed to design a game engine developed specifically to meet the needs and tastes of Italian players,” World Match’s chief executive officer, Andrea Boratto, said. SOURCE

iGaming Business – The EGBA association of European gaming and betting operators has welcomed Advocate General Sharpston’s criticism of a lack of consistency in Austrian gambling legislation. Sharpston said national gambling legislation should be consistent and that it is up to the Member States to provide the necessary evidence to this effect. The Austrian gambling system has already been subject of a number of court cases on both a national and EU level. Sharpston recalled constant Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case-law that “the burden of proving that the restriction is proportionate rests with the Austrian authorities”,…

Macau Business Daily – Japan has long been touted as an attractive gaming market with a large and relatively rich population base. The country may generate US$10 billion (79.9 billion patacas) revenue a year if it opens up, Union Gaming Group LLC estimated. Sceptics on the operations side of the industry say that Japan – with its distinct culture and low penetration of English language skills – is likely to focus its casino offer mainly on domestic players. They also point out that Japanese VIP table players have not been seen in other Asian casino markets in any big numbers…

OSGA.com – It’s been almost 2 weeks since the Breeder’s Cup and interest in horse racing has not been affected one bit by the event. In fact the Breeder’s Cup itself was deemed so insignificant that it wasn’t even shown in its entirety on national TV. In prior years the major networks devoted a full afternoon to the Saturday races complete with story lines and interesting factoids and they employed commentators from overseas to weigh in. This year the telecast was aired on NBC Sports (a digital station which most don’t subscribe to) and only brought in to NBC’s prime…