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02.10.2008, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Gaming Industrial News all over the world».

Senate bill that would regulate online poker introduced
Senate bill that would regulate online poker introduced 1 October 2008

By Vin Narayanan

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced legislation this week that would legally define poker as a skill game and create a regulatory environment for the game to be offered over the Internet in the United States. The bill is the first piece of legislation concerning online gambling that has been introduced to the Senate since the passage of the UIGEA. Similar legislation and attempts to either repeal or better-define the UIGEA have already been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Menendez's "Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act" calls on the U.S. Treasury Department to set up a licensing framework for games that use "simulated cards, dice, or tiles in which success is predominantly determined by the sill of the players." The measure lists "poker, bridge and mahjong" as examples of those types of games. The bill also defines permitted bets as wagers "made with respect to the outcome of an Internet skill game that is a non-housed bank game."

"The PPA has long advocated for thoughtful and effective licensing and regulation of online poker as a means to protect vulnerable communities, such as children and compulsive gamblers, and provide appropriate controls to thwart consumer fraud and abuse," said Poker Players Alliance chairman Alfonse D'Amato. "Senator Menendez's legislation is the right vehicle to achieve those goals."

"This action by Senator Menendez is yet another example that prohibitions on Internet gambling, and specifically poker, will not work to protect consumers," the former Senator from New York added.

Operators under this legislation would be licensed for one year and have to pay a licensing fee as well as renew their licenses on an annual basis. And individual states and Native American Tribes have the right to "opt out" of the legislation and prohibit Internet gambling within their borders.

The bill also calls for "reasonable" measures to be taken to ensure:

People under the age of 18 are not allowed to gamble. Operators only accepts bets from jurisdictions in which it's legal. Operators pay taxes. Money laundering laws are obeyed. Privacy laws are followed. Programs for "social problems" are in place. The bill also specifically makes it legal to invest in licensed operators and it prohibits operators from offering sports bets.

The bill has been assigned to the Senate Banking Committee and if it is not taken up by the time the current session adjourns it will have to be reintroduced next year.

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Big U.S. casino Foxwoods to cut 700 jobs
Boston (Reuters) - Foxwoods Resort Casino, North America's biggest casino, announced plans on Tuesday to lay off 700 workers or about 6 percent of its work force, citing a drop in gambling and the weakening U.S. economy.

The 340,000-square foot casino in Connecticut, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe, is the biggest player in the thriving Native American gaming industry, which was worth more than USD 27 billion nationwide in gross revenues in 2007.

"As is happening to so many organizations, the economic issues facing our nation and regional consumer economy have negatively impacted our revenue growth," Tribal Council Chairman Michael Thomas said in a written statement.

The job cuts come just four months after Foxwoods opened with much fanfare a new USD 700 million skyscraper in the woods of Connecticut adjacent to the main casino. The MGM Grand at Foxwoods added 1,400 slot machines to Foxwoods' previous 7,200, as well as a new 4,000-seat theater.

"People are gambling less" said tribe spokeswoman Lori Potter. "It's been sudden."

The credit crunch, combined with higher prices for energy and food staples, has sapped consumer spending power -- a double whammy for casinos, which depend on customers with plenty of disposable income.

Gambling revenue on the famous Las Vegas Strip is down 6.5 percent in the year to July, recent data show. That's hurt gaming giants such as MGM Mirage and privately held Harrah's Entertainment -- owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital LP.

At Foxwoods, gambling activity fluctuated over the summer before slowing sharply, Potter said. "There was a significant enough decline over just the past several weeks that we needed to make this adjustment," she said.

The Mohegan tribe, which owns the rival Mohegan Sun casino, last week announced plans to scale back a USD 734 million expansion project at that facility, citing the weak economy.

Foxwoods, which employs about 11,000 people, and Mohegan Sun generate combined annual gambling revenues of around USD 2.5 billion, according to the Indian Gaming Industry Report by Alan Meister, an economist with Analysis Group, based on 2006 data, the latest available.

The Mashantucket Pequots -- numbering around 800 to 900 people -- have given some USD 2.6 billion to the state, 25 percent of slot revenues, since the casino opened in 1992. As a sovereign nation, the tribe is not required to pay taxes or to make public its financial reports.

Source: Reuters.com

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Schwarzenegger OKs 5,000 slots at Red Hawk
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill allowing Red Hawk Casino, which is under construction in Shingle Springs, to operate up to 5,000 slot machines.

The casino, owned by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok, is being built and will be operated by Lakes Entertainment Inc., which operates Native American casinos in other parts of the country.

The new gaming compact runs 21 years and is set up where Shingle Springs shares revenue on a sliding scale based on a percentage of net winnings from the machines. That is a different compact structure from the existing local casino compacts with the United Auburn Indian Community's Thunder Valley Casino and Rumsey Band of Wintun's Cache Creek Casino Resort. Those compacts are set up with the tribes paying the state a fixed amount per machine on the gambling floor of their casinos.

Red Hawk Casino should open by the end of this year with room for 2,000 slot machines. Lakes is currently hiring about 2,000 employees to operate the casino, its 10 food and beverage outlets, 75 table games and child care center.

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Über Glücksspiele Las Vegas - Gambling in Las Vegas:

Las Vegas liegt im Westen der USA im Bundesstaat Nevada und ist das Glücksspiel-Paradies von Amerika.

Las Vegas hat rund 100 Spielcasinos. Im Bundesstaat Nevada sind sogar über 300 Spielcasinos registriert. Die grössten Casinos sind das Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Venetian / Palazzo, Wynn / Encore, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay.

Weitere bekannte Casinos sind das Mirage, frühere Heimat von Siegfried und Roy, das Luxor in Form einer Pyramide oder das Casino Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, in welchem jährlich die Pokerweltmeisterschaft (World Series of Poker WSOP) durchgeführt wird.

Die bekanntesten zwei Strassen sind der Las Vegas Boulevard, welcher auch als Las Vegas Strip bezeichnet wird. Daneben ist die Fremont Street eine gut besuchte Casino-Meile, wo beispielsweise das legendäre Casino Binion's (vormals Binion's Horseshoe) seine Spiele anbietet.

Las Vegas erstreckt sich über eine Fläche von 340 km2 und hat rund 650'000 Einwohner.

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