The Sydney Morning Herald – One-armed bandits are blamed for robbing Sydney of its live music scene, but pokies may be the saviour of the industry under a plan adopted by the City of Sydney. The council will lobby the state government to support the live music industry using money from gaming revenue. It is one of 57 recommendations in the City of Sydney’s Live Music Taskforce’s final action plan that were unanimously adopted at a meeting of councillors on Monday. A City of Sydney spokeswoman said a similar program in South Australia had become a valuable resource supporting live…

Sydney Morning Herald – Clubs NSW chief executive Anthony Ball claims: ‘‘Fairfield Clubs do a fantastic job in supporting local community groups that might otherwise notexist if it wasn’t for their support’’ (‘‘Punters in west pile money in pokies’’, March 23). That is all well and good, but even Mr Ball would have to concede that the $298 million the clubs raised from annual poker machine profits is quite a lot tohave taken from the local community in the first place. Both the NSW and federal governments justify their softly, softly approach to problem gambling by citing individual rights (‘‘Time…

Biz Journals – Travelers will soon be able to gamble at Kansas City International Airport. Joe McBride, a spokesman for the Kansas City Aviation Department, confirmed that the airport will start selling lottery tickets and running keno games inside the airport’s passenger terminals through the Missouri Lottery. McBride said the airport is excited about the addition of another activity in the passenger terminals. He added that revenue collected through the gaming will go to the state’s education needs. Susan Doolen, a spokeswoman for HMSHost Corp., confirmed that the airport will soon allow gambling. She said that the agreement, which will…

Channel News Asia – The opening up of new casinos or integrated resorts in North Asia is unlikely to cannibalise the gaming industry in Singapore. Analysts Channel NewsAsia spoke with say the success of casino resorts in the city-state will continue to drive demand for similar services in other parts of Asia. First, Genting Singapore announced its entry into the Korean gaming market via a US$2.1 billion investment in Jeju together with a Chinese property developer. Then came property developer OUE and its project for an integrated entertainment resort in South Korea. The project valued at about 855 billion won,…

iGaming Business – The Gaming Technologies Association has revealed that Japan is well ahead of any other country in the world in terms of the number of legal gaming machines installed throughout the nation. The association’s ‘The World Count of Gaming Machines 2013’ report found that 4,592,036 legal gambling machines are installed throughout Japan. The second-placed US was some way off with 889,070 machines, while Italy was third in the list with 412,252. Spain rose to fifth in the worldwide rankings while Australia, Germany and the UK were also included in the top 10. Japan also led the way in…

Miami Herald – Gamblers could ban themselves from casinos or gambling websites without having to admit they have a problem under a bill that the New Jersey Assembly approved Thursday. The state’s voluntary self-exclusion lists permit people to sign up and request that they not be admitted to casinos or allowed to gamble online. But the law currently requires them to attest that they have a gambling problem. The bill, passed by a 77-0 vote, would let people sign up for the lists without having to admit they are compulsive gamblers. “This is simply another option for those who want…