The Illinois Gaming Board approved a new policy to require all casinos to ask players who are 30 years old or younger for an identification card. The purpose of this measure is to prevent addicted gamblers registered in the “self-exclusion program” from entering the casinos.

The program started in 2002 and, by signing up, players with gambling problems agree to ban themselves from the casinos in Illinois. “The Gaming Board is showing its commitment to the issue of problem gambling”, Aaron Jaffe, Chairman of the Board, said.

In a recent article, Standard & Poor stated that Macau may beat Las Vegas as the world’s most important gambling market in the next years. Nowadays, Macau’s economy has had a remarkable growth due to its many gambling facilities, and it is expected to increase even more in a very near future. China could also become the second largest gambling site after the United States.

The article, “Macau Versus Las Vegas Strip: Which will be the bigger winner?”, describes the building peak in both gaming centers and analyzes their tendencies regarding visitors, incomes, providers versus demand dynamics and regulation risks.

The Hazard Games division of the Tourism Company in Puerto Rico will establish next July 1st new regulations for casinos, which will try to offer a more secure environment for players, according to an article published today by Yogonet.com.

The new laws will come into effect in several phases and will give the government more power to grant licenses to casinos employees, as well as better internal controls for the operation and a mechanism to identify and help problem gamblers.

Professor Peter Collins, director of the center for the study of bets and commercial gambling in the University of Stanford, has recently suggested to the government’s Casinos Consulting Panel that they should allow the building of eleven Las Vegas-style casinos, one for each region, according to an article published today by Yogonet.com.

In a conference, Collins said: “I don’t know anybody who thinks that one single license is the right thing. There is no convincing argument to support the existence of just one license.”

Anyone who had the dream of becoming a croupier will now have the opportunity to learn every trick of this trade at the first casino training school in Scotland. The project will be launched this year, and the learning center will be located in Glasgow.

The syllabus includes roulette, blackjack and poker, among other games. The course has a duration of ten weeks, during which the most renowned gaming experts in the city will teach the candidates all they need to know about every casino game.

The group called West Warwick Citizens Against the Casino, which has 800 members, has launched a website to show their disapproval of a proposed casino.

The Narragansett Indian Tribe, together with Harrah’s Entertainment, were allowed to build and run a casino in West Warwick through a constitutional amendment approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Ten months after George Clooney announced that he would invest in Las Ramblas Casino project in Las Vegas, the media confirmed that the famous Hollywood actor would no longer participate in the future casino investment. The casino will be a luxurious condo-hotel with 4,000 rooms, plush restaurants and the most renowned brands.

Currently, the construction has come to a halt, and the failure of this project has been made evident with the sale of 25 acres of property to a condominium company of Las Vegas.

The Casino Advisory Panel revealed a shortlist of eight possible sites to host the first Las Vegas-Style super casino in the UK. Blackpool, Wembley Stadium, Cardiff, Glasgow, the Millennium Dome, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sheffield are on the list and were chosen from 27 applications.

The Gambling Act allows the construction of only one super-casino, with permission for up to 1250 unlimited jackpot slot machines.

The Mayor of Monte Hermoso, Alejandro Dichiara, declared that the Academia de Casinos de la Provincia would be launched soon, after Engineer Franco Laporta, from the Lottery and Casino Institute of Buenos Aires (IPLyC), confirmed his approval.

This academy will offer training courses for Roulette Croupiers, Card Games Dealers (Blackjack, Poker and Craps), Assistants, Cashiers and Machine Assistants that will be taught by Monte Hermoso Institute professionals, so as to provide qualified staff for the city Casino.

Five years ago, when all its competitors were betting on Macau, Harrah’s Entertainment decided to stay out of the race for a gambling license in the flourishing Chinese enclave.

Now, the casino operator lost its bid to build a new casino in Singapore and its chance to be part of the most dynamic gambling market.

"It's a concern", said Alberto Lopez, Harrah's spokesman. "It's an area of concentration.