Kiwi Gaming has recently introduced a Japanese version of its online casino – FastWin Casino. That didn’t take long after the release of two single player versions of Mahjong in the World Mahjong federation and Japanese rules.

Now Japanese players can also enjoy a traditional table, a wide selection of slots, video poker and arcade games offered by FastWin Casino in their own language. This selection of features will introduce the world of bonus rounds and sizeable progressive jackpots to Japanese players.

Besides, Japanese players can win money playing the very first real money online version of the popular Japanese slot game pachinko. Every time a ball falls in the catcher, you win, and you can win up to 1,500 times your bet.

February is going to be a very special month for the Everest Casino players. Current slot club members will automatically take part in the promotion called the Sweetheart Challenge. Fourteen of the online casino’s most popular games are included into it. All the members have a chance to win their share of $5,500 in cash prizes. And any time a player wagers on any of these games, they accumulate points.

Eduardo Santos, Everest Casino’s property manager claims that besides getting cash prizes for participation, their players’ names will be placed on the leader board. No doubt, it’s a great motivating point. Thanks to a great variety of games Everest Casino offers, more and more people are able to take part in this sort of competition.

GSM is the company representing more than 82% of the world’s mobile phone users. That is over 700 GSM mobile operators in 217 territories and countries. Having become interested in Spin3, the leading wireless casino system that is powered by Microgaming, GSM awarded Spin3 with the Associate Membership of Global Trade association GSM. This membership will give Spin3 the opportunity to act as an application provider for the GSM family of technology platforms.

Spin3’s mobile casino games will be displayed at the 3GSM World Congress Barcelona, February 12 – 15, 2007 (booth no. 7C34).

Since 2000, the time beinternet.com – an online gaming group that is based on the Isle of Man – appeared, it has reported a pre-tax profit for the first time. It totaled £182,000 within the period of six months leading up to November, 2006. The corresponding period in 2005 was not successful at all, as the company lost £599,000.  Its turnover has also grown by 53% to £43.6 million, while in 2005 it totaled only £28.5 million.

Such great improvement can be explained by the new strategies put in place by the new management team and no contact with the US market and the passing of the UIGEA of 2006.

Thanks to the profit, betinternet.com may now consider an acquisition deal.

After the enormous success of the two International Gaming Conferences & Expo in San Jose, Costa Rico, and Dublin, Ireland, one more is being planned to take place in Cancun, Mexico. The gathering is scheduled for May 7 – 9, 2007, at the up market resort of Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun.

Being worried about the future of the gaming and gambling industries, leaders will discuss the question which can be defined as “What’s Next?” Cynthia Pagano, Assistant Director of Conferences for the IGCE says: ““In a society such as ours where gambling is pervasive, lotteries are held in almost every state… Nevada is burgeoning and busting at the seams, wagering is a near obsessive pastime of the populace, odds are published in all of our media, the intention of the government to curtail the activity, with emphasis on the Internet, demands a multitude of questions and answers to determine what is next”.

In the next three years gatherings may take place in Prague and Bangkok.

Macau is genuinely interested in the development of the gambling sector what is proved by the number of owned casinos and those planned to be opened. Currently Macau has 24 casinos. And it is being planned to open some more: Grande Lisboa, Venetian, Crown Macau and MGM casinos. The interest comes from the gaming revenues. Thus, in 2006 their gaming and gambling revenues amounted to 55.884 billion patacas. With further development of this sector the figure will definitely rise. It is expected to be approximately 65 – 70 billion this year.

The Macau government applies both direct and indirect taxes on the gambling sector. The direct tax that totals 34% is applied on gaming and gambling, while the indirect tax of 4% is applied on each table and slot machine in a casino.

There are six casino operators in Macau, and Stanley Ho who actually owns Grande Lisboa, is a dominant figure there.

The casino revenues cannot but amaze. So, the Sands casino in Macau has given 58.75% of the operating profit of Las Vegas Sands. The operating profit in the Sands casino totaled $413 million. Thus, it is considered to be the largest gambling venue in the world. As for the Venetian casino, its operating profit totaled $289.9 million.

A $100,000 guaranteed holdem poker tournament offered by Everest Poker www.everestpoker.com took place on the 27th of January, 2007. The tournament appeared to be very popular as more than 1800 players from all over the world participated in it.

The tournament buy-in was $100 + 9 or 25000.00 + 2250.00 Summit points what says that players at all levels could take part in it. What concerns Summit points, they represent a special Everest Poker’s Loyalty program. Thanks to them players are able to enter tournaments at no direct cost to them.

The winners are already known. They are: BigBroiler with $36, 500, Davethebest with $21,900, bourse07 with $16,425, superboy1975 with $12,775, patrickkkk with $8,213, Darace with $6,388, Freakflyer with $4,563, jedi9 with $3,194, Ashtavakra with $2,281, and Sterti66 with $1,825.

With the success of the $100,000 guaranteed holdem poker tournament, Everest Poker is planning to offer more events of this type. The next $100,000 guaranteed holdem poker tournament will take place on the 10th of March, 2007.

To find out tournament schedules, visit http://www.everestpoker.com/.

There is a big question: who will operate the UK’s first super Casino located in Manchester.

Actually, there are two competitors now: US casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corporation and Kerzner International that runs Atlantis in Bahamas. Gala Coral, Europe’s biggest gambling company declared that their focus is on a smaller scale.

The competition promises to be rather stiff, as both companies seem to be rather ambitious and ready to achieve their goal.

China is the country where online game industry is fast developing now. T2CN is the leading online casual sports game company in China. Its distinctive feature is the most popular online sports game in the country – FreeStyle. Besides, the company has got such well-known partners as Coca-Cola, Nike and Nokia.  It’s obvious that it makes T2CN extremely attractive in the game markets. As a result, the acquisition of majority ownership of T2CN Holding Limited by GigaMedia Limited has become known to the public.

By acquiring up to 18.3 million shares of T2CN (40.3%) GigaMedia are fulfilling their next step in building a dominant online platform in Asia and becomes a leader as “no other company has this kind of reach in Asia”. Having initial investment into T2CN in May 2006, GigaMedia also holds: convertible preferred shares of T2CN that can be converted into extra 15 million common shares of T2CN; an option to buy additional 4.3 million common shares of T2CN. As a result, the total ownership stake of GigaMedia is approximately 51.9%.

The total consideration of the acquisition amounts to $22.9 million, but it is subject to adjustment based upon T2CN financial performance in the first half of 2007. The payment is to be made in two trenches. One is expected to be in February 2007, and the other – in August 2007.

Casino portal www.casinoalerts.co.uk is reported to be re-launched by Gaming Alerts Limited. Now, players are able to view the best in online casino offerings. The portal has becom a one-stop shop, where such great players as William Hill, Casino Swiss, Casino King, Littlewoods and some others offer clients exclusive deals.

The download is free. A small window on the desktop regularly informs you about the top new deals, bonuses and their location. Besides, Skinkers, a company that provides live notification platforms via email, sms and desktops, offers a great range of promotional offers. One of the current ones is a £300 welcome bonus at casinoking.com.