Las Vegas feels the pain as US economy tanks

Latest figures from the Nevada Gaming Control Board show a further decline in revenues on both The Strip in Las Vegas and across the gambling state -- the ninth consecutive month in which revenues have gone downhill.

Gaming revenues across Nevada were down 5.4 percent to a billion dollars compared with September 2007, officials reported. On The Strip, revenues dipped 5.1 percent to $525.1 million over last year's equivalent.

The bottom line was that Nevada was $10 million in tax income down from the same period last year, receiving only $63.5 million.

A statistician with the Board described the decline as "alarming" and predicted that the October 2008 figures are unlikely to show a better picture.

It looks like people are prefering to play online - rather than taking the time and expense to travel to land based casinos.

For a list of the BEST places to play check out our online casino guide

Stumble It!

Betting on Tennis Events OK

The French Tennis Association has lost a legal case which sought to prevent online gambling groups such as Bwin, Ladbrokes and Betfair from taking bets on the Roland Garros French Open and Paris Masters 2008.

The gist of the claim was that the competition organisers had sole rights to the competiton and any betting on the event was "parasitic" and caused possible damage to the integrity of the events.

In three rulings issued this week in Belgium, the Liege first instance court rejected all allegations of the complainant, gthat the betting operators concerned do not violate the FFT's rights as the event organisers of Roland Garros and Paris Masters.

The judge, taking into consideration the corporate responsibility of the EU operators concerned and the procedures in place "preventing all anonymous bets, ensuring perfect traceability" concluded that the operators had behaved in a prudent and diligent manner.

The judge also considered that the "...simple mention of the name of a sports event is a necessary indication for the online betting activity" which therefore "...cannot be considered as an act of parasitism since its sole purpose is to let the player identify which sport event to place a bet on".

The Belgian judge ordered the French Tennis Federation to pay Euro 5,000 per case for the recovery of legal costs.

Stumble It!

Is Denmark going to end their gambling restrictions?

The Danish government has apparently responded positively to a European Commission 'reasoned opinion' issued over a year ago regarding the monopolistic gambling nature of the state-owned Danske Spil organisation.

Denmark received a opinion from the European Commission in mid-March 2007 which advised that the EU considered that the restrictions on the sports betting market imposed by Denmark and other member nations are not compatible with existing EU law.

The Commission warned the Danish state that it could find itself before the European Court of Justice if it did not respond to the non-compliance opinion. The opinion opened the way for litigation against Denmark in the European Court of Justice should the monopolistic policies continue.

Under the Danish Pools and Lottery Act (tips- og lottoloven), Danske Spil has hitherto been the only enterprise that can lawfully offer games, lotteries and bets to Danish gamblers.

Section 10 of the Act expressly lays down that no one except Danske Spil may offer games defined by the Act in Denmark. And no person or entity except the licensee may arrange for participation in such games offered by anyone other than Danske Spil.

The Danske Spil exclusivity has led to the prosecution of both competing gambling companies interested in the Danish market and even newspapers carrying gambling advertisements. It has also attracted the attention of the European Commission under its EU treaty compliance responsibilities.

In its reasoned opinion of March 21, 2007, the Commission unequivocally asserted that the Danish Pools and Lottery Act is incompatible with Article 49 of the EU Treaty, and that the measures taken in Danish law to restrict the free movement of sports betting services are unnecessary and disproportionate.

Denmark has continued to drag out a solution, along with other member nations such as Germany, France, Finland, Hungary, Greece, The Netherlands, Italy, Austria and Sweden.

However, in recent months there has been a noticeable softening in resistance to the EU requirements, especially from Italy, France and (apparently) now from Denmark, together with more cautious approaches in The Netherlands and positive legal rulings in Germany.

Stumble It!

APCW News - UIGEA hearings - Dutch gambling decision.

I'm a member of the APCW - and one of their more entertaining features is a regular weekly 10 minute video on all things gambling (usually Casino and Poker focused).

Here's this weeks edition of Perspectives Weekly - which has a discussion on the Congressional UIGEA Hearings in the US, plus exclusive coverage of the Casino Affiliate Convention in Amsterdam.

Stumble It!