WGZR – Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted Monday that the November referendum to legalize casino gambling in New York will pass, but it will require a “sophisticated argument.” Cuomo said he expects a close decision Nov. 5 when voters will be asked to approve up to seven privately owned casinos in New York, with the first four upstate. Cuomo said voters might be put off by approving more gambling in New York. But he said New York already has gambling at racetracks and at Indian casinos. “I think that’s going to be the natural knee jerk for people” to reject more…

Reuters – Casino operators and regulators around Asia are watching Singapore’s two multi-billion-dollar gaming resorts as they focus on tourists and trade shows to boost revenue in response to restrictions on gambling and a sluggish broader market. The city-state has become a playground for Asia’s rich and famous, with attractions ranging from fancy clubs and restaurants helmed by Michelin-starred chefs to the world’s only night-time Formula One race. Las Vegas Sands Corp, which owns the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino in downtown Singapore, says its 2,500-room hotel is packed and it is eager to expand its holiday accommodation and convention…

Bloomberg – Japan legislators plan to present a bill to legalize casinos as early as this year as companies including Wynn Resorts Ltd. mull billions of dollars in investment in what could be the world’s second-biggest gaming market. Hiroyuki Hosoda, the chairman of a cross-party group of lawmakers promoting casino development in Japan, said yesterday that the group aims to submit a casino bill to the next diet session that is expected to start next month. It aims to pass the bill next year in the following session of parliament, he said. Wynn Resorts yesterday said it will consider investing…

For the first time since it’s inception in 2002 the WPT Championship $25,000 event will not be played at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The event will now be held at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey in May, 2014 with PartyPoker as the official sponsor. The move was announced during day 2 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open main event, a $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament that drew 1,189 entries to build a total prize pool of just over $3.8 million, surpassing the $3,540,500 prizepool of last year’s WPT Championship by more than a quarter million dollars. WPT President…

Reuters – Madrid put pressure on Spain’s central government on Thursday to push ahead with a mega gambling resort outside the capital after delays caused by U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands seeking exemption from a national smoking ban as a condition of a deal. Madrid desperately wants the Eurovegas resort – slated to include six casinos, 12 hotels and shops – to be built in the region to create employment in a country with one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. “We must do everything in our power to prevent a deal like Eurovegas slipping through our fingers,”…

Associated Press – It’s not often you can use the word “dry” to describe a Las Vegas landmark, but tourists hoping to cruise along the Venetian hotel-casino’s indoor canals are finding them tapped out. The waterways were emptied for repainting earlier this month for the first time since the casino opened in 1999. When they reopen in mid-October, the water will once again appear to sparkle below the hotel’s trompe-l’oeil sky. On Thursday, piped-in Italian music echoed off cement mixers and construction tools strewn around the bottom of the canals that meander through the hotel’s shopping mall. Tourists leaned over…