« Year 2002 Summary

Group of lawmakers fighting gambling petition - 31 August 2002
Fourteen state senators have signed a statement urging Nebraska voters to reject a constitutional amendment that would legalize video slot machines. The statement says revenue from video slots will not lead to lower property taxes but instead will increase the overall tax burden on Nebraskans.P> Conservative estimate - read more »

Cyber Casino Pulls Into Fast Lane - 31 August 2002
In an unprecedented move for the online gaming industry, GoldenPalace.com has become the first cyber casino to sponsor a professional stock car racing team. On August 31, 2002, the GoldenPalace.com Ford Taurus V8 will make its debut in the ARCA RE/MAX 200 at the Winchester Speedway in Winchester IN, with rookie driver - read more »

Hilton posts profit slide despite rise in gambling - 30 August 2002
HILTON group, owner of the Ladbrokes betting chain and operator of 384 hotels including Edinburgh's Caledonian, reported disappointing results as occupancy rates continued to struggle in the wake of 11 September. The company also disappointed investors by failing to announce a £300 million sale and leaseback deal of ab - read more »

William Hill Backs A Winner With Eckoh Technologies - 30 August 2002
Eckoh Technologies, a European speech application service provider, has entered into a two-year partnership with William Hill to provide a phone-based solution for its customers to access results, live racing commentary and call centre services. P>The news and live commentary service allows William Hill to provide p - read more »

Harrah's cancels Illinois hotel project - 29 August 2002
An increase in riverboat casino taxes has prompted Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas to cancel plans to build a $40 million hotel in this town in far southern Illinois.P> Harrah's says the project has been tabled until the state repeals its tax hike or allows more slot machines and gaming tables at casinos.P> - read more »

Casino operator seeks deal for speedway - 29 August 2002
Donald Trump and International Speedway Corp. want to build an interactive racing park and a speedway at the Meadowland Sports Complex in East Rutherford, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported Tuesday, citing the developer and casino operator.P> Trump said the proposed racing park would be a theme park similar to Disneyl - read more »

New delays for Internet gambling, OK since mid-2001 in Nevada - 29 August 2002
Nevada's Internet gambling law, more than a year old, is going nowhere fast given word from the Justice Department that it remains opposed to betting in cyberspace.State Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Thursday he got a letter from the federal agency showing the Bush administration opposes Internet - read more »

Venetian applies for online gaming license - 28 August 2002
A company affiliated with Las Vegas' Venetian hotel-casino has invested in an Internet gaming operation and is exploring opportunities in Indian gambling. Venetian Casino Resort Athens LLC has applied for an Internet gambling license in Alderney in the British Channel Islands. Alderney, an island 8 miles off the coast - read more »

Casino must entice customers, says expert - 28 August 2002
If Rhode Islanders are hoping to make an impact with a casino, they are going to have to make it incorporate a significant gimmick to make the proper impact. A long-time gaming facility researcher, the Rev. Richard McGowan from Boston College and the Carroll School of Business Management, candidly addressed the watered - read more »

NZ Safe Gambling Campaign Offends MP - 28 August 2002
A busty cartoon pokie machine called Dolly who appears in leaflet promoting safe gambling has offended a woman MP. New Zealand's chartered clubs created Dolly. She tells punters not to get too excited and press all her buttons flat out, because she likes people who treat her gently. But the campaign to counter problem - read more »

Better off at a casino? - 28 August 2002
Casino (ka seeno, noun): 'A place where people gamble (that is, risk money in the hope of winning more) by playing card games, roulette or slot machines. Alternative means of gambling include punting of Singapore stocks, particularly in the past six months.' We're just kidding about that second bit - MacMillan's Engl - read more »

Accusations fly in gambling fight, but the governor's office is silent - 27 August 2002
At a time when Indiana is taking its deepest, darkest dive into the regulation of gambling, Gov. Frank O'Bannon is taking the Fifth. Call it a horse-racing controversy, call it a scandal, call it a war. Say any of those things - say anything at all - and you will have said more about it than the governor has publicly. - read more »

Future Texas lottery may include video betting, multi-state games - 26 August 2002
A decade ago, Texans were so excited about the state's brand new lottery that they bought enough tickets in the first three hours to pay for the games' startup. P>Now, with the novelty wearing off, lottery officials are faced with the challenge of keeping players' interest. P>"I think there's a level of maturity this - read more »

Sportingbet quits Alderney after betting laws clampdown - 26 August 2002
Sportingbet, the online gambling company whose shares have been under attack from short sellers, has relocated its business from Alderney after the island clamped down on companies' taking illegal bets from US citizens.Sportingbet had located its business offshore to limit the tax bill, but began taking all its Europea - read more »

Ex-Ladbrokes boss starts new gaming venture - 25 August 2002
Former Ladbrokes International MD Ed Ware has launched Trafalgar Betting and Gaming, which earlier this month rolled out a UK-focused online casino called 32Red. The company intends to offer a range of online gaming products and has recruited digital marketing agency Skive Creative to help promote 32Red. It has deve - read more »

Game room owners file suit to prevent police raids of operations - 25 August 2002
Owners of various Pasadena game rooms are hoping a lawsuit they have filed will show they aren't violating state gambling laws and stop police from raiding their businesses.P> P>The dozen business owners filed suit after receiving a letter dated Aug. 15 from Pasadena police Sgt. James Zink, who warned the video machin - read more »

Hinojosa to push for re-opening of Indians’ gambling casino - 24 August 2002
A Rio Grande Valley lawmaker says he will file legislation next session to allow the Tigua Indians to reopen their Speaking Rock Casino in El Paso. Sen.-elect Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said Attorney General John Cornyn's decision t - read more »

Dean Gambles Election Bid On Gaming - 24 August 2002
Raising the stakes in his bid to unseat Republican Gov. Mike Johanns, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stormy Dean on Friday hitched his campaign to the push for expanded gambling.P> ŒŒDon't split your vote. If you support expanded gambling, vote for me. If you don't, then vote for the governor," Dean said, urging v - read more »

PayPal to Limit Online Gaming, Pay Fine - 24 August 2002
PayPal, the electronic payment service, has agreed to limit online gambling merchants from using its transaction system and to pay a $200,000 penalty, the New York State Attorney General's office said on Wednesday. PayPal , which Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. EBAY.O>plans to acquire, has been the subject of a - read more »

Coast hits $120 million July jackpot - 23 August 2002
Buoyed by a long Independence Day weekend, Mississippi casinos had record winnings in July. "The Fourth of July is our biggest weekend of the year, next to New Year's Eve," said Duncan McKenzie, president of Grand Casinos in Gulfport and Biloxi. "Maybe people were tired of this economy and they wanted a little break."T - read more »

PayPal blocks Internet gambling - official - 22 August 2002
PayPal, the electronic payment service preferred by many online casinos, has agreed to block online gambling merchants from using its transaction system and will pay a $200,000 penalty, the New York State Attorney General's office said Wednesday. PayPal, which is shortly to be acquired by Internet auctioneer eBay Inc., - read more »

Antigambling lawyer says of casinos, 'Not so soon' - 21 August 2002
Even as Seneca Indians redoubled efforts to set up casinos in western New York, a lawyer warned Monday that a court case in Albany could thwart the tribe's plans. Cornelius Murray said his suit, filed in January, challenges the legality of the October 2001 law approved by the state Legislature and Gov. George Pata - read more »

Gambling behind resurgent Macau economy - 21 August 2002
The award of three casino licenses seems to be paying dividends as tourists flock to Macau, a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Thanks to encouraging casino performance, the SAR government raked in $431.25 million (3.45 billion patacas) in tax revenues from gambling sites from January to June, up 19.1 %. Th - read more »

Senecas, Pataki sign pact for casinos - 20 August 2002
The Seneca Nation of Indians signed a 14-year pact with New York state Sunday to bring Las Vegas-style casino gambling to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.P> "It's one of the biggest things the Nation has ever done," Seneca President Cyrus Schindler said. "It will help a lot of our people."P> The slot-machine casinos could - read more »

Mexican close to legalizing gambling - 20 August 2002
In Prohibition era in the United States, Mexican casinos were the signature haunts of gangsters and shady characters looking for cheap and legal booze, loose women, cards and dice. But Mexico banished gambling by presidential decree in 1938, a ban that has stood to this day.Now, however, the economy is flat, tourism is - read more »

Millionaire says he funded pro-lottery ad to back education - 18 August 2002
Aneel Pandey thinks it's time people started thinking about the lottery.P> P>The Nashville computer software executive, who spent $30,000 to make a pro-lottery commercial last week, certainly has them talking. A lot of the discussion is about Pandey himself, a private citizen who jumped into the public arena by funding - read more »

Tulalip Tribes Borrow $120 million to build casino and mall - 18 August 2002
The Tulalip Tribes have obtained a $120 million loan to build their new casino fronting Interstate 5 and to pay for infrastructure improvements in the tribe's business park.The loan was underwritten by a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America and Wells Fargo, said John McCoy, Tulalip executive director of government - read more »

Casino Mogul Wynn to Take IPO on the Road - 18 August 2002
Casino mogul Steve Wynn does not plan on letting the battered IPO market get in the way of his next mega-projects. The entrepreneur responsible for such Las Vegas casinos as the Mirage and Bellagio expects to begin pitching investors a $2.4 billion Las Vegas resort and a new casino on the Chinese island of Macau shortl - read more »

MGM back to casino bidding - 17 August 2002
MGM Mirage Inc. is back in the hunt for a Chicago-area casino. On Friday, the Las Vegas-based gaming company instructed its local legal counsel to begin looking for potential casino sites in northwest suburban Des Plaines, confirms the attorney, Lawrence Suffredin of Chicago-based Shefsky & Froelich Ltd. P> “The com - read more »

Nevada State Casinos Report Worst Profits on Record - 17 August 2002
The most recent fiscal year was the worst on record for Nevada's 342 casinos, the Gaming Control Board reported Tuesday. The downturn directly cuts state revenue, as Nevada relies on gaining one-third of its budget from taxes levied on casinos, said Greg Bortolin, Gov. Kenny Guinn's spokesman. The $9.3 billion Nevada c - read more »

McGreevey signs law easing some US casino rules - 17 August 2002
Casino regulations will be streamlined under a law signed Wednesday by Governor McGreevey.'This legislation ensures the competitiveness of Atlantic City and the New Jersey gaming industry,' McGreevey said at a bill-signing ceremony. 'More importantly, the law streamlines the casino industry regulations to ensure accoun - read more »

Equus Gaming expects net loss to increase - 15 August 2002
Equus Gaming Corp., the Virginia-based company whose racetracks interests in Central and South America and the Caribbean include El Comandante racetrack in Puerto Rico, reported that revenues for the second quarter are down from last year's corresponding quarter and that the company's net losses have increased. Revenue - read more »

Sportech puts its money on Zetters - 15 August 2002
The declining football pools market was whittled down to two players yesterday when Sportech, the gaming company that owns the Littlewoods pools business, bought its smaller rival Zetters from the eponymous spread-betting group.The move leaves Vernons, the rival pools operator owned by Ladbrokes, as Sportech's only UK - read more »

UK gambling reforms criticized - 15 August 2002
The rush to liberalize the UK's gambling laws has drawn criticism of the government from some sources, after revelations that a donor to the ruling Labour party may benefit from the reforms. Now, the reformers have drawn more flak with the news that pleas from the former head of the gaming board to maintain the present - read more »

Ads from offshore betting sites against law - 14 August 2002
British Customs & Excise is setting up a specialist division which will focus solely on Internet-related activity. One of its key issues will be to clamp down on offshore betting sites advertising, contravening UK law. According to Jurek Pieliechaty, the betting and gaming manager for the unit, Customs has already take - read more »

UN Considers International Lottery - 14 August 2002
As reported by the National Post: “World lottery chiefs met for the first time yesterday to discuss launching an international lottery that would benefit the cash-strapped United Nations and could have a first prize that makes payments from even the so-called 'mega' lotteries look like small change. “One estimate sugge - read more »

Siemens bets on mobile gambling - 14 August 2002
It's been the one sure thing in gambling: You can't bet on the outcome of a sports contest once it's begun. But German software start-up Scaraboo and telephone equipment maker Siemens are trying to change this centuries old dynamic with what they're calling "live betting." The concept of wagering on result of a sport - read more »

OPPOSITION GROWS TO NEW CASINOS IN CONNECTICUT - 13 August 2002
Karen Johnson, a Union, Conn., resident, thought the Nimpucs, an Indian tribe in Massachusetts, had been denied federal recognition. She learned differently in May when residents around the lake in her town received purchase offers from Lakes Gaming Corp., a development company in Minnesota.P>P>"All they need is 50 acr - read more »

Internet Gambling - The Player's Money Machine - 13 August 2002
"Sometimes a machine is hot, red hot. And that's when you make the majority of your winnings. Games on the internet are the same, when they're hot, they're hot. And that's they only way to explain it ... " At least that is how internet gaming analyst Will Valentine explains the phenomenal $400,000 in combined mega-ja - read more »

Gaming, exports drive up Macao economy - 13 August 2002
Macau's economy will hopefully be on a fast track this year due to a robust tourism business, increasing tax revenues from casinos and more exports, economists and government authorities said. P>The gross domestic product (GDP) of Macao is expected to grow 5 per cent or more in 2002 in an optimistic estimate from Chief - read more »

Debate over benefit of gambling to tribes - 12 August 2002
The jangle of coins striking metal at the Spokane Tribe's casino is music to the ears of tribal attorney Margo Hill.Money from gambling allowed the tribe to help pay for Hill's legal studies at Gonzaga University. It is one of many success stories tied to Indian gambling in Washington, according to a new study. But c - read more »

Women odds on for a gamble - 11 August 2002
Women are levelling the odds when it comes to gambling, with almost half the UK's female population enjoying a bet, research suggests. P> Traditionally, women have been associated with having a flutter on bingo, but now they bet on everything from reality TV to the horses. P> The lottery has been credited with changing - read more »

Three arrested for chemicals used in gambling scam - 10 August 2002
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thai police have arrested three people suspected of using a radioactive chemical to coat cards and dice designed to help gamblers cheat.P> Police seized the goods in a Bangkok raid at the request of the FBI, which intercepted parcels of the items sent to the United States, police Maj. Surasit Sang - read more »

Shift in odds boosts take for casinos - 10 August 2002
Illinois casino officials fret openly about how they will cope with a $135 million tax increase. But over the last three years, the industry has quietly added hundreds of millions of dollars to its take from gamblers through a simple and perfectly legal practice: toughening the odds on people who play slot machines.BR> - read more »

Pokies cut call after $14b gambled away in a year - 09 August 2002
MELBOURNE, Thursday: Anti-gambling campaigner the Reverend Tim Costello has called for state governments to cut their poker machine numbers and slow the speed at which they swallow money as figures showed Australians gambled away more than $14 billion in 2000-01.The Australia-wide figures, compiled by the Tasmanian Gam - read more »

Study: Problem gamblers not confined to casinos - 08 August 2002
There are problem gamblers at casinos, but not significantly more than in the general population, according to a new study on gambling addiction. A study of 500 gamblers at the Mohegan Sun casino indicates that the proportion of problem gamblers is about 5% - roughly the same as in the general population.'I think peopl - read more »

Nevada Officials Delay Meeting with Feds on Internet Gambling - 08 August 2002
Brian Sandoval, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, has decided to do plenty of legal homework before seeking a meeting with the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss the legality of Internet gaming. Meanwhile, the Commission will hold a two-day seminar next week that will be devoted to technical and legal issues - read more »

Casinos promote responsible gaming - 07 August 2002
Casino employees perform vital functions in efforts to identify and obtain help for individuals who have gambling problems, officials of Council Bluffs' three casinos said Monday. They made the comments after a ceremony at which Council Bluffs Mayor Thomas P. Hanafan signed a proclamation in observance of Iowa Responsi - read more »

Panel kills increase in gambling tax - 07 August 2002
A legislative committee decided Monday not to gamble on a bill that would raise millions of dollars by changing the tax on video poker and keno machines. Members of the House Taxation Committee rejected, 17-3, a proposal to increase the tax rate on machines in larger casinos and decrease the rate on machines in busines - read more »

The Vegas Guy: Hollywood Casino/Tunica - 07 August 2002
The Hollywood Casino sits at the end of the road. It's a nice road, four lanes all the way, but of the ten casinos in Tunica -- America's third largest gambling destination after Vegas and Atlantic City -- the Hollywood is the one that has to fight and scrap a little more, and for a simple reason. If you set out fro - read more »

New casino at St. Charles among nation's largest - 07 August 2002
For the past five years, whenever Beverly Johnson crossed the Interstate 70 bridge over the Missouri River and into this St. Louis suburb, she was struck with one sight: "Gaudy concrete staring me in the face."P> As of Tuesday, the St. Charles resident has something else to look at.P> Five years after the riverfront - read more »

Study: Casino not an addicts' haven - 06 August 2002
There are problem gamblers at casinos, but not appreciably more than in the general population, according to a researcher's study on gambling addiction. P>"I think people think there's going to be much more problem gamblers (at a casino)," said Cheryle Molina, a researcher with the University of Connecticut Health Cent - read more »

Ehrlich's slots plan may be tough sell - 06 August 2002
If Robert Ehrlich is elected governor and tries to carry out his plan to put slot machines at race tracks, the Republican gubernatorial candidate may have a hard time selling members of his party on the idea. GOP state senators and delegates have a history of opposing expansion of gambling. While some are ready to com - read more »

Budget woes drive states to gambling - 06 August 2002
At least 26 states considering some sort of betting expansionTHE HUNT for an antidote to budget shortfalls that doesn’t require raising taxes has softened resistance to gaming in Maryland, where opposition once ran high, and in New York, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.BR>        It is the chance fo - read more »

Lawyer to file $700m class-action suit against Loto-Quebec - 05 August 2002
Quebec - A Quebec City lawyer who is a recovering gambling addict plans to file a class-action lawsuit worth nearly $700 million against Loto-Quebec in Quebec Superior Court in the coming week. P> In his declaration signed Thursday, Jean Brochu will claim damages and base interest of $578.7 million, or $4,863 for ea - read more »

Casino ship works to make headway after bumpy start - 04 August 2002
The chips have been stacked against Atlantic Casino Cruises.Since the company announced plans in March to bring a casino ship to Gloucester, it has been stymied by delays outfitting a ship.It has faced mechanical problems that, at one point, left its boat adrift off the Florida coast.After the company finally arrived a - read more »

Speirtech develops MMS gambling service - 04 August 2002
Speirtech, a Dublin based company providing mobile casino platforms, said that its recent demonstration with Logica of interactive casino games on mobile handsets was the first time this has been achieved in the MMS arena. The demonstration of mobile gaming was performed using Logica's MMSC's mobile application interfa - read more »

Detroit Bets Big on Casinos - 03 August 2002
Mayor Dennis Archer, who championed the casino referendum approved by Michigan voters in 1996, dismisses such concerns, maintaining that lessons have been learned from mistakes of other cities that have embraced legalized gambling — notably Atlantic City and New Orleans.BR>        "I think - read more »

Coral betting chain sold for £860m - 02 August 2002
Coral, the UK's third largest betting chain, has been sold for £860m ($1.3bn) to the private equity firm Charterhouse Development. The move ends months of speculation over the future ownership of the gambling chain, with Rank and Stanley Leisure both having been tipped as potential purchasers. P> Coral ope - read more »

Detroit Mayor, council extend casino deadline - 01 August 2002
Three casinos must again wait to know their fate in the city. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the City Council agreed Wednesday to extend by two days the deadline to vote on final casino deals. P> The council now is expected to vote Friday on the development agreements for permanent locations for MGM Grand Detroit, - read more »

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