Australia’s biggest casino owner, James Packer’s Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, is planning to build its third, largest so far hotel. Being the richest man in Australia, Packer opened his first gaming house in Macau in May. The third hotel will be located at the company’s Melbourne gaming house. The approximate cost of the casino is said to be A$300 million ($267 million). A$205 million is being planned for building retail shops, upgrading an existing hotel and refurnishing the casino. About 340,000 guests a year will be accommodated there.

The construction of the 658-room hotel is expected to be started this month, and the completion is expected to take place in May 2010. The hotel is believed to attract a large number of visitors and “to target the international leisure market”.  Besides, the hotel will focus on the global conventions and conferences industry.

The two agencies, The United States Treasury and Federal Reserve that work together with the US Department of Justice have initiated a process implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Thus, final steps are being taken to ensure that internet gambling is banned once and for all.

In spite of the fact that the Act was passed by Congress in 2006 and was designed to avoid any ambiguity about whether or not gambling is illegal, many banks and credit card companies have not stopped payments to illegal sites. They are waiting for the rules “to determine what procedures need to be followed”. The announcement made details those roles and calls on banks, credit card companies and automated payment system companies to have policies that do not allow illegal gambling businesses to be paid.

Natalie Dormer, the rising British actress, claims she adores poker. Shooting the second series og BBC’s new drama series where she plays Anne Boleyn, Natalie is missing her poker friends terribly.

She said she had started playing poker in the 6th form. At that time there were five boys to every girl. She’s never been into playing strip poker. However, the poker fan has got her kit off on her first day onset in Venice where she played Victoria in Lasse Hallstrom’s Casanova.

After the withdrawal from World Trade Organization (WTO) the Government of the USA has made its first compensation offer to the European Union (EU). At the same time, some European gambling groups press the EU to consider the American compensation for losses suffered after Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed to be inadequate.

The EU will be able to study the US compensatory offer until October 22. The offer is believed to include opening opportunities in the storage, warehouse services and technical testing sectors to make up for any economic damage caused by the US withdrawal from its trade obligations on online gambling in the Uruguay Round over a decade ago. The withdrawal took place after a lost by the Americans WTO dispute with the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

University of Queensland psychologist, Bill von Hippel, in his study issued by Current Directions in Psychological Science reports that “decreased inhibitory ability in late adulthood can lead to unintended prejudice, social inappropriateness, depression, and gambling problems”. It is caused by significant atrophy within the frontal lobes, the area responsible for executive functioning, i.e. planning, controlling, and inhibiting thought and behavior.

Based on the results of his study Bill von Hippel suggests:

– the older adults seemed to know the social rules but failed to follow them, which is consistent with diminished frontal lobe functioning;

– people who struggle to control their rumination begin to lose that battle as they age, with the end result being the emergence of depression late in life;

– a possible avenue for intervention, by scheduling their important social activities or gambling excursions earlier in the day.

Having signed a revenue sharing agreement with a leading gaming operator, PactGames, a subsidiary of PacificNet, Inc., will be able to put their products such as virtual baccarat, fish prawn grab, card games, bingo, poker, live gaming, slots, land based kiosk networks, mobile gaming, and fixed odds games into several areas of the Cambodian market. According to the agreement, PactGames will be placed in several cities in Cambodia including, Bavet, PoiPet, Phnom Penh right now, and Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar, next year.

The games and user accounts of the people who play the games are accompanied by a management system, so it is easy for operators to control them.

The Asian market is growing. There are lots of casino projects planned for Asia, and Cambodia in particular. The sooner PaccificNet gets into the huge Asian market, the sooner they’ll have the inside track on the business.

A complaint has been recently placed by the Belgian Gaming Commission against online gambling group Unibet regarding “its political proposition betting policy on the formation of the nation’s new government”. The commission regards Unibet’s game of chance at the time of the formation of a new government to be against the law. As for Unibet, they think that real money betting on political events is legal. Unibet’s site offers gamblers 25 to one odds for those who think a new Government will be formed before October 1, dropping to 2.5 to one if they pick a date after December 1, 2007.

Under Belgian law the event is forbidden, except licensed sports competitions and horse racing. Organization of this kind of betting is not an obstacle in other European countries, so it must be in Belgium – Unibet points out.

In case the company is mistaken, they will have to pay a fine of up to $140,755. More over, a penalty of a six-month to five-year suspension may be imposed on them.

32Red.com bought its Gibraltar-based BetDirect.com only 18 months ago, but there are rumors that 32Red.com is in discussions with some unknown party regarding the sale of its sportsbook subsidiary. People guess Irish company Boyle Sports may turn out to be the buyer.

32Red.com purchased BetDirect.com for approximately 25 million. According to the latest company research, there are more than 46,000 active customers. More than 11,000 new customers have signed up this year.

The business has operated in poor trading conditions, no wonder it resulted in a pre-tax loss of $7.4 million.

This year it’s been 15 years of gambling for Mississippi Coast casinos. To say more, it’s been their best August on record, as the gross gaming revenue amounted to $108.9 million. The figure has dropped by 12% in comparison with July (an all time record was set in July with the opening of the Hard Rock Casino – it was as high as $124.7 million), but still, it is a record.

Revenue at casinos in Mississippi’s river counties in August also dropped from $143 million to $130.9 million. As for the state revenue, with the Coast and river casinos lower, it also dropped. The total state revenue so far stands at $1.98 billion, while the goal is $3 billion.

Mike Bruffey, an associate with the Biloxi law firm of Brown Buchanan and a casino development consultant, claims that investors take into consideration the monthly revenue. So, the fluctuations “might impact the scope of their project”. Bruffey thinks that a key to expanding the marketing area of the casinos beyond the Coast is the expansion of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and more non-casino attractions.

The launch of the new exclusive affiliate program called Care Rewards (the name CARE stands for Canaffco Affiliate Rewards), has been recently announced by the Canadian Affiliate Management Company (CanAffco.com). The program provides affiliates with additional compensation for their success “allowing them to work with the merchants that they choose to, instead of who they are told to”.

CARE points are awarded by participating merchants for new player registrations, conversions, ongoing activity and joining their affiliate program. E.g. having registered on the site of CanAffco, an affiliate is awarded with 500 CARE points. AffiliateAir.com, CanAffco’s new affiliate travel site, gives CARE points for bookings. So, their affiliates will be able to use their points if they want to attend CAP and CAC affiliate conferences and poker tournaments or if they want to take a vacation.

Being a Bronze Sponsor, CanAffco will represent their merchants and meet with affiliates at the CAP Euro conference in Barcelona, October 5th to 7th.