Gamblor’s World

Author:
Source: Monsters and Critics News
Published Date: Dec 13, 2007

Description:
The north-eastern Spanish region of Aragon has announced plans to build the world’s biggest casino complex after Las Vegas. The complex of 32 casinos, five theme or amusement parks and other forms of entertainment will be created in an area measuring more than 2,000 hectares in Los Monegros desert, where the regional authorities have pledged to bring water, electricity, roads and other infrastructure.

Author:
Source: IGamingBusiness.com
Published Date: Dec 14, 2007

Description:
The new 10,000 square foot Starlight Casino has opened featuring 850 slot machines, 45 gaming tables, a poker room and 1,000-seat, interactive sports bar. A joint project of Gateway Casinos And Entertainment Inc and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), the venue is located near Vancouver and also features a private gaming room, a 450-seat restaurant and an intimate show lounge that is to feature live local entertainment. “BCLC’s vision is to have better gaming facilities with all the amenities that our players are looking for, from the newest in gaming machines to full-service restaurants and the finest in show lounge entertainment,” said Darryl Schiewe, Vice-President of Casino Gaming for the BCLC.

Bill would ban military slot machines

Author: Griffin, Drew
Source: CNN
Published Date: Dec 16, 2007

Description:
A bill in Congress seeks to eliminate military slot machines overseas that take in $130 million a year, mostly from soldiers, to help finance the U.S. Army’s morale, welfare and recreation programs. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tennessee, named the bill after Army Warrant Officer Aaron Walsh, a decorated Apache helicopter pilot who became addicted to gambling on military slot machines and committed suicide after several failed attempts to break his addiction.

http://www.responsiblegambling.org/staffsearch/latest_news_articles_details.cfm?intID=10985

Author:
Source: National News [New Zealand]
Published Date: Dec 17, 2007

Description:
Pokie machines attract too much crime to be a valid form of community fundraising, says the Problem Gambling Foundation. Foundation chief executive John Stansfield said today it was ridiculous that an activity that attracted so much crime and caused so much misery was still being used for fundraising. “Almost every day we see another conviction for pokie-related crime,” he said.

http://www.responsiblegambling.org/staffsearch/latest_news_articles_details.cfm?intID=10983

Author: Leslie, Keith
Source: Prince George Citizen
Published Date: Dec 18, 2007

Description:
Ontario Provincial Police are to release the details Wednesday [Dec. 19] on charges they have laid in an alleged multimillion-dollar “insider” lottery win. The charges come months after Ontario’s Ombudsman slammed the Ontario Lottery Corporation for ignoring allegations of widespread fraud by retailers who were winning too many prizes. In his report, Andre Marin accused the corporation of “coddling” ticket sellers and playing “games” with customers who complained they had been cheated of their jackpots.

Author:
Source: Newswire.ca
Published Date: Dec 19, 2007

Description:
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is paying a group of co-workers a $5.75 million lottery prize after it was determined that this group purchased a winning ticket in 2004, Kelly McDougald, OLG CEO announced today. “We are glad to be paying the group this prize,” said McDougald. “The OLG conducted its own thorough and independent investigation that confirmed the group’s claim that a winning ticket paid out to someone else several years ago was in fact purchased by them.” The case involves co-workers who bought tickets together in 2004. They contacted the OLG in July 2007 with evidence to support a claim that they purchased the winning ticket for a prize of $5.75 million. OLG referred the case to the OPP. At the same time, OLG conducted its own independent investigation which confirmed the group’s claim that they purchased the ticket.

http://www.responsiblegambling.org/staffsearch/latest_news_articles_details.cfm?intID=11003

Author:
Source: Ad-Hoc News
Published: Dec 19, 07

Full Document:
CHINA — Research and Markets has announced the addition of ‘The Chinese Gambler Report’ to their offering.
The Chinese Gambler Report analyzes all aspects of the industry in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, including:

Historical Background Regional Competition Market Forecasts Doing Business in China Key Participants in the Chinese, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Markets Chinese Regional Lottery Sales/Key Economic Data 2002-2006 Key Demographic, Economic and Social Data

The Chinese Gambler

The Chinese Gambler is a unique, groundbreaking, in-depth report on the burgeoning Chinese gaming market. It focuses not just on Mainland China but also looks at the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau as well as Taiwan.

In a nation that, with the possible exception of the Australians, most experts agree has the most awesomely prolific gamblers in the world, the regulated gambling industry is only just starting to come into its own.

Looking ahead, the authors of this exhaustive report make the case that the Chinese Government’s will to legalize, regulate and tax the gambling industry, coupled with the possible use of technology - in particular China’s 400 million Mobile phones - and the mind-boggling expansion of Macau, means that Chinese gamblers might well be spending as much as US$34 billion in just five years time.

Author: Fagan, Kevin
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Published Date: Dec 24, 2007

Description:
There are an estimated 1.2 million gambling addicts in California - 300,000, or about 30 percent, more than before voters approved Proposition 1A in 2000 to allow Las Vegas-class gambling on Indian lands in California, according to figures compiled over the past decade by the state attorney general’s office and the California Council on Problem Gambling. Only a handful of private counselors statewide treat gambling addiction. And while some states dedicate millions of dollars toward counseling for the ailment - a medically designated psychological disorder in its most severe, pathological form - California’s program addressing problem gambling is minuscule in comparison. With the citizens of California getting ready to vote in February on four Indian gaming compacts that could expand the number of slot machines in the state by nearly a third, critics say the issue of how to help those hurt by the trade is more important than ever.

Author: Taylor, Rob
Source: Reuters
Published Date: Jan 03, 2008

Description:
CANBERRA — Oscar-winning Australian actor Russell Crowe is fighting a new gladiatorial combat to wean his countrymen off their addiction to gambling machines. Crowe has become the public rally point for opposition to the ringing, flashing game consoles, known as “pokies,” that fatten the profits of Australian pubs and clubs, relieving gamblers of up to A$10 billion dollars ($8.8 billion) a year.

…….

“But it is Crowe who has galvanized public opposition, setting up “A club with no pokies” page on internet network site Facebook and printing thousands of t-shirts bearing his anti-gambling message for the community around his South Sydney Rabbitohs club. ”

Article also states:

“More than 200,000 machines, or 21 percent of the world’s total, cram social venues across the country, chiming away in corners as they feed the gambling addiction of up to 300,000 people, according to frustrated welfare agencies.”

Author: Houston, Cameron
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Published Date: Jan 03, 2008

Description:
The poker machine industry escapes tough regulation because state governments are addicted to the billions sucked in every year from people with gambling problems, a study has found. Almost half the $10 billion lost on poker machines nationally is spent by NSW gamblers, and some states take about half their total gambling revenue from people with an addiction or the risk of one, the study found. Its authors, Charles Livingstone of Monash University and Richard Woolley from the University of Western Sydney, are scathing about the states’ regulation of the national poker machine industry.

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