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Decemder 21, 2006
Russian MPs have passed a law to drive casinos and slot machines out of Moscow and other cities, where they have proliferated in recent years. The law was passed overwhelmingly by the lower house on Wednesday. It had been proposed by President Vladimir Putin in October.
By July 2009 gambling will have to be concentrated in four regions far from Moscow, the law says. It also bans gambling on the internet and at airports, supermarkets and other sites.
Russian gamblers will be restricted to the Kaliningrad region by the Baltic Sea, the Primorye region in the Far East, Altai in Siberia and an area in the south spanning the Rostov and Krasnodar regions.
The law also states that casinos must have a floor space of at least 800 sq m (8,611 sq ft). Halls with gaming machines must have at least 50 machines and a floor space of at least 100 sq m (1,076 sq ft).Any gambling sites infringing the new rules will face closure from 1 July 2007.
Slot machines are currently found in various locations across Russia, including airports, supermarkets and apartment building lobbies.
 Decemder 12, 2006
Regulators in Spain and Italy have passed legislation to liberalize land-based and Internet betting, sparking a wave of license applications from foreign operators.
In Italy, the government is auctioning off 17,000 licenses for sports and horse racing betting at shops and other outlets. Companies have been invited to bid for the number of outlets for which they want licenses. Sports wagering online will also be allowed.
Remote casino gaming and brick-and-mortar casinos are also being regulated by Italy. More than 30 companies-- many of them bookmakers, including Betfair, William Hill and Unibet-— have already received licenses to offer remote gaming. Remote wagering on skill games and person-to-person betting exchanges is also being regulated.
The Spanish federal government has enacted legislation allowing sports betting in shops, retail outlets and online, and regional governments were given the ability to impose conditions as they see fit. Madrid's regional government published regulations outlining its licensing conditions last month. Unlike Italy, Madrid has established a fixed license fee and a limited number of licenses, however, license holders can open as many shops and outlets as they please.
Britain's largest betting operators appear well-placed to take advantage of the opening markets. Gala Coral already operates an Italian-language Internet site and a betting shop in Genoa. Ladbrokes entered into a joint venture agreement with Italian firm Pianeta Scommesse in August and bought three betting shops in Turin last month. And William Hill is finalizing a joint venture with Spanish firm Codere after the European Commission announced last week that it would not oppose such a partnership.
Italy had, until recently, resisted the notion of allowing foreign companies to offer Internet betting and gaming products to its citizens. The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance had gone so far as to order the country's Internet Service Providers to block access to the websites of foreign betting operators in February. But when foreign betting operators complained Italy's policies violated European Union free trade laws, the country became one of nine Member States against whom the European Commission launched infringement proceedings.
Decemder 08, 2006
Singapore said on Friday it had chosen a consortium led by Malaysia's Genting Bhd to build and run its second casino resort.The winning proposal for the 49-hectare site on the resort island of Sentosa trumped two other bids submitted by Eighth Wonder and Kerzner.
Genting Bhd, which bid through affiliates Genting International and cruise operator Star Cruises Ltd., had proposed a $3.1 billion plan that includes movie-based roller-coaster rides built by theme parks giant Universal Studios.
"We wanted a large-scale family-oriented resort that would draw a large number of new visitors to Singapore," deputy prime minister S. Jayakumar told a briefing where he announced the decision.
Bahamas-based casino operator Kerzner International had teamed up with CapitaLand, Southeast Asia's largest property developer, to submit a $3.3-billion concept headlined by Frank Gehry, the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Eighth Wonder, headed by resort builder Mark Advent, had put in the most expensive bid at $3.5 billion with its partners Mississippi-based Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., Australian tycoon James Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd. and Melco International Development, controlled by Lawrence Ho, son of Macau gambling magnate Stanley Ho. The resort is expected to operate from 2010.
In May, U.S. gaming giant Las Vegas Sands won the bid for Singapore's first casino resort along its downtown waterfront. Expected at a cost of more than $3.2 billion, the resort is set to open by late 2009 or early 2010.
Decemder 04, 2006
The World Trade Organisation held two days of talks at the beginning of last week on Antigua and Barbuda's internet gaming dispute with the United States, from which the twin-island emerged optimistic. The WTO has ruled in the past that the U.S. was contravening world trade rules by blocking market access, but the large nation of 300 million has so far refused to comply.
Dr. Errol Cort, the finance minister of Antigua, a nation of 69,000, in a statement issued from Geneva said the Caribbean country's position was backed by big trading partners of the U.S., including China, Japan and members of the European Union.
"Major trading partners of the United States have seen it fit to join with us in contesting what we have always maintained is a dispute about granting market access," said Cort in a statement from Geneva, Switzerland, home of the WTO.
"What is even more remarkable is that they choose to become active players in this WTO process, and we believe that a crucial factor in their respective decisions to do so was the pure merits of our case."
The EU's stance on the issue was not that surprising considering the US$15.5 billion value tag on the industry and the fallout felt by mostly British-based online betting companies after American president George W. Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law, criminalising the processing and settlement of payment linked to online gaming transactions by banks and credit card companies.
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