Macau’s gambling revenue is experiencing a meteoritic rise and increased to a whopping 40 percent to 15.8 billion patacas ($2 billion) in August after SJM Holdings Ltd. and its rivals added tables for high wagering gamblers. Revenue at the six operators in the only Chinese city where casinos are legal skyrocketed to 63 percent as opposed to the previous year to 117.9 billion patacas in the eight months through August, according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

The revenue growth in August is the slowest this year and in line with a forecast made by CLSA Ltd. analyst Aaron Fischer. Wynn Macau Ltd., Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. and other casino operators increased their revenue from so-called VIP gamblers having increased the number of baccarat tables with minimum bets of 10,000 patacas or higher. “A slight moderation in the growth momentum of Macau’s gross casino revenue would probably be a …

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is determined to regulate the country’s $10 billion slot-machine industry; if she succeeds in her bid to form a minority government after inconclusive elections the previous month.

Gillard became the favourite to retain power on Thursday after Tasmanian Independent Andrew Wilkie said he would support her Labour party providing she’s willing to reform gambling.

“I have judged that it is in fact (Labour) that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, competent and ethical,” said Wilkie, who blamed slot machines for causing addiction and misery to most families.

Under the agreement with Wilkie, Gillard has promised to push for the gambling industry to adopt new technology that would enable gamblers to pre-set limits on how much they were prepared to wager on slot machines.  This measure target’s those gamblers who are addicted to gambling and can’t control themselves.

Canberra would place …

In a nation that is rocket by environmental, social and military disasters, cricket has always been the main outlet and a sense of escapism for a cricketing mad nation, in a country whose daily diet is anguish and suffering.

Pakistanis are concerned with the latest allegations of match fixing against their national team.  “Amist the chaos that our country faces, there should be some source of romance,” reports Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmed, an attorney from the city of Lahore. “For Pakistan, that source of romance has always been cricket. Cricket is the one thing we could always be proud of and now that pride is gone.

The allegations blindsided Pakistan at its most vulnerable moment, the country has been rocked by the latest floods and has left millions of people destitute, destroying infrastructure such as roads, schools houses and bridges.  The area submerged by the flood is approximately the size of Italy. …

iGaming Business is the market’s leading journal for the global interactive gaming and gambling Industry.  The journal is published every second month and mailed to over 6,000 subscribers across the globe. It covers online casinos, sports books, poker rooms, bingo sites, betting exchanges, land based casinos and finance companies.  

iGaming Business is based in London. Recently it announced the imminent release of a unique report into the political forces that drives the regulation of Internet based casino gaming, sports betting, poker and lottery sales in US states. The reports’ title: ”The 2010 United States iGaming Report: State by State Analysis of Legislative Progression.”

Chris Krafcik mentioned that the report has been researched and written between April and June 2010. It is covers over 200 primary sources and over 50 interviews conducted with lawmakers, lobbyists, regulators, trade association heads, lottery officials and others who are involved in some way with …

Blackjack Ballroom online casino is in the news yet again. A few days ago a player won the largest progressive jackpot on the Mega Moolah online slot network. The amount is a staggering $4,170,128. Blackjack Ballroom is the leading brand of the Casino Rewards group and its slots machine is Summertime. The operator will release the name of the player shortly who has been given some time to become accustomed to his/her new found wealth.

Players who wager frequently at this online casino will have noted several interesting facts about this hit- four slot games are tied in to the Mega Moolah network. The original game is Mega Moolah itself. Subsequent additions are 5 Reel Drive, Summertime and Isis. All the big progressive hits on this network so far have been reported on the Mega Moolah slot game. Mega Moolah is by far the most popular of the four games …

Las Vegas has been the centre stage for most internet poker players this summer especially those who played in the World Series of Poker. Most of them took some time-out to watch the presidential address on Tuesday evening.

The U.S is regarded as the hub for many online poker operators and considered to be the premier market for online gambling in the world. The past couple of weeks have seen Representative Barney Frank and his fellow lawmakers hard at work to convince the powers that be, to change the current gambling laws in the country and to legalize online gambling once again.

Rep. Frank proposes that the U.S should rather control the online gambling Industry rather than criminalize it. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UGEA) was implemented in 2006 since then nothing much has changed in the industry pertaining to the U.S.

Rep. Franks’ bill has a worthy opponent …

The politics news portal National Journal reported a newfound vigour to drive legislation to put in place a regulatory framework for online gambling. It all started with the passage of Barney Frank’s HR 2267 in the House Financial Services Committee the previous month.

In March 2010 Democrat House Representative from Washington, Jim McDermott, introduced the bill HR 4976, which named the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010. This was a companion bill to the HR 2267.  In contrast HR 2267 concentrates on the regulatory framework, HR 4976 authorizes amendments to the Internal Revenue Code and to levy taxes and fees on online gambling it also indicates how the collected taxes are to be utilised.  This bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee to be discussion and marked up.

Now that HR 2267 has cleared its committee, McDermott is pushing House Representative Sander Levin to …

Approximately 23,000 residents of the Anne Arundel County are up in arms with the prospects of a new Slots casino at the Arundel Mills mall. Many folk regard it as a family-friendly mall. In less than 75 days to go concerned county residents are set to oppose one of the largest slot’s casinos to be constructed on the East Coast.

The local community is concerned and one of the main reasons why they opposes this new casino; since gamblers will cause a dramatic increase in daily road traffic eventually leading to a dramatic increase in road accidents and other of social evils as well. As it is, Arundel Mills mall is already experiencing crime and traffic problems.

The Arundel Mills mall is visited by thousands of visitors per annum, the construction of the new Casino will divert people from spending time and money at the mall and local businessman are concerned that it …

When national legislation on online gambling is side-tracked, provinces or states start making their own decisions.  This time not in the United States or Canada but in South Africa. Unfortunately, this time round in Gauteng, South Africa’s main province declared that online gambling is not legal.  This could spell severe problems with regard to online gambling in the country in future.   It’s unfortunate, since South Africa just came out of a recession and the loss of potential tax revenue from online gambling could have been utilised toward social welfare and local infrastructure. 

North Gauteng High Court issued judgement on August 20 by Judge N.B. Tuchten, it clearly states that online gambling transactions based in South Africa are illegal.  The judgment further stated that both the domestic online gambling operator who offers such service to South African citizens for gain and the player who commits to any online gambling could be found guilty of violating the law.

Judge Tuchten’s decision was delivered in the long running case …

Regardless of  legal issues, rejections and  identity theft, credit cards continue to be one of the major deposit methods to wager online in the casino industry.  Although players use electronic wallets to fund online casino accounts, they also use credit cards to load their electronic wallets.  That’s why most players are interested in developments pertaining to credit card service providers.

Announced on August 19 MasterCard Inc. the world’s second largest payments network,  agreed to purchase DataCash Group Plc.  DataCash is a United Kingdom based processor of online credit card transactions.  MasterCard will pay £333 million, which comes to $517 million in hard cash for the acquisition.  This offer is wpould be levelled at 360 pence a share, this is 52% more than DataCash’s average closing price of 237 pence for the current month.  MasterCard will conduct this deal through its MasterCard/Europay U.K. Ltd. unit, which has already received commitments to vote in favor of the transaction from owners of 52 percent of the stock.

CEO, …