Scientific American – Forget the simple nickel slots of yesteryear. Today’s digital slot machines and poker screens in casinos and at online gambling sites are capable of amassing a wealth of behavioral data on individual players, and they are on the verge of altering game play on the fly. As the software becomes increasingly capable of “thinking” like the gamblers themselves, experts in the gambling research community are working to create machines that will identify and assist problem gamblers, rather than simply pushing players deeper into a financial hole. Researchers at the University of Brescia and other institutions in Italy…

Herald Review – A law allowing online wagering on races at Illinois horse tracks is set to expire Jan. 31. Without an extension and an agreement to pony up more funds, racing dates would be either eliminated or deeply slashed at tracks. Illinois lawmakers could take up the issue when they convene for the fall veto session next week, or discussions could be rolled into a debate over a larger gambling expansion package that has languished in the General Assembly for years. A hearing on a gambling expansion plan, which would add five new casinos and allow slot machines at…

Centre Daily Times – A bill that could allow several thousand bars in Pennsylvania to profit from gambling contests called small games of chance won approval from the state Senate Wednesday but fell off the fast track amid last-minute objections from Gov. Tom Corbett and House Democrats. Its passage would represent the state’s largest expansion of legal gambling in nearly four years. The bill passed the Senate 39-11 without debate and senators had initially expected a speedy vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a signature by Corbett. But that changed several hours after the Senate vote. House Democrats…

Miami Herald – Florida state senators are holding the first of four public hearings about the future of gambling in the Sunshine State. Some 60 people have already signed up to testify Wednesday during a meeting that will be held on the north campus of Broward College. The Senate Gaming Committee will also hold hearings in Lakeland, Jacksonville and Pensacola. The Republican-controlled Legislature in early 2012 shot down a bill to allow major casinos in South Florida. But now lawmakers are considering changing the state’s gambling laws. Among those scheduled to testify include a lawyer who has represented adult arcades…

UK bookmaker Betfred has agreed to become a shareholder of Racing Post Greyhound TV, the dedicated pay-television service of daily racing news and betting newspaper the Racing Post. Under the deal, agreed through Betfred subsidiary Totepool, RPGTV will be available in Betfred’s 1,730 UK retail outlets as well as via the Betfred.com website. Racing Post said that the move would allow a new pool betting service to be provided to viewers. Betfred and Totepool have joined founder companies Bet365, Betfair, Coral, William Hill and Ladbrokes as RPGTV shareholders. “This is fantastic news as Betfred brings to RPGTV two great brands…

Macau Business Daily – Sands China Ltd is to open a new premium mass gaming area at Sands Cotai Central on Cotai early next year, the parent Las Vegas Sands Corp says. In June the firm said a similar zone at The Venetian Macao was generating the equivalent of US$20,000 (159,712 patacas) per table per day and more than US$300 million in annual revenue. “SCC [Sands Cotai Central], as you know, has almost 6,000 hotel rooms on Cotai, and at this point, there’s 200 less mass table games at SCC versus The Venetian [Macao]. So in the spring, we open…