From Australian Broadcasting Corporation WATCH VIDEO HERE Australians no longer accept tobacco advertising in any shape or form, now public health advocates say gambling ads should also be banned because of the harm they cause. The Federal Government has proposed a total ban on live odds during play and limited bans on general gambling ads during matches to reduce the intensity of betting company marketing. But just as tobacco companies were once accused of targeting teenagers to get them addicted to their product, Australian researchers believe gambling firms are just as voraciously targeting young people today. FULL STORY

British sports betting operator Stanleybet has threatened to sue Greece for lost revenue in a long-running legal battle over their gambling monopoly firm OPAP. Stanleybet accuses Greece of tacitly rejecting its 2004 request to offer sports betting in the country and said on Wednesday it had told the government and OPAP it will seek damages of about 240 million euros. OPAP, one of Europe’s biggest gaming companies, has a monopoly in offline sports betting and lotteries in Greece until 2030. Athens agreed earlier this month to sell a controlling stake and management rights in OPAP to Greek-Czech investment fund Emma…

Like infinite numbers of women before her, Heather Robbins didn’t dream of Nevada brothels. She came to Las Vegas with a bit of luggage and a big dream: to someday become a showgirl; or at the very least, to dance in a strip club and maybe work her way up by catching the attention of somebody influential. Like the thousands before her, the 22-year-old arrived by bus, fleeing a dysfunctional relationship, a negligent family, and desperate poverty in inner-city Indianapolis. Within the first week here, she managed some job interviews but never a job. By week two, she was ripping…

From Chicago Tribune Buried more than 400 pages into the 524-page gambling expansion bill that would bring a casino to Chicago are directions for splitting some of the state’s take to create new ways to pay for the pork-barrel projects politicians covet. Money from the new casinos and slot machines at horse racing tracks would be steered to a new “depressed communities economic development fund,” a “Latino community economic development fund,” grants to the State Fairgrounds and county fairs, funding for equine research, soil and water conservation, cooperative extension services and an annual grant to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Other…

From Chicago Business Language on a long-expected proposal to bring widespread Internet gambling to Illinois finally has surfaced in Springfield, and by all indications the plan will be both highly lucrative and highly controversial. The language was circulated late Tuesday, according to my source, by aides to Senate President John Cullerton, who long has said he wants to legalize online gambling because of the potential payoff in state revenue but has separated the issue from the proposed expansion of casino gambling. Mr. Cullerton’s office didn’t officially confirm that something is coming. But his spokesman promised “details to come” — and…

From Card Player Caesars Entertainment Corp. and another firm are developing a zip line-like ride between the two towers of the Rio Hotel and Casino, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The project is not expected to be done in time for the summer World Series of Poker, however. The project is being called the “Voodoo Skyline” and it will send guests flying 400 feet above the ground between the two sections of the massive casino. “It’s going to be different than a typical zip line,” one of the developers said. “This type of system is viewed as much safer…