The Irish Minister of Justice has revealed that gambling laws in the country will be liberalized and a new regulatory authority will be created to control all kinds of gambling. Minister Dermot Ahern declared that current regulations concerning gambling are not effective any more, but he promised to reach an agreement between the parties and ask for public opinion before making any changes.

Casinos are illegal in Ireland since the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act was approved, but currently there are up to 50 private clubs that offer roulette, blackjack and other casino games.

Lord McNally, of Blackpool, informed the House of the Lords that his city could be granted those gambling licenses rejected by other cities, which revived the discussion about a Blackpool casino.

“If all 16 are not taken up is there enough flexibility in this legislation, or can the Government use enough common sense, to reallocate those licenses to other areas?,” Lord McNally said. "I believe some of the benefits, which would have come from a resort casino, could still be won by Blackpool.”

A recent survey showed that almost 9% of adults claimed to have taken part in some way of remote gambling and online wagering along the past year (from March 2007 to March 2008).
The investigation included 8000 adults and results showed that gambling in the UK is continuously rising.

When analyzing each activity, statistics showed that 6.3% of the people said that they bought National Lottery tickets. When comparing this result to the overall 9%, it showed that about 5% of adults preferred gambling over lottery.

Macau, one of the most important gaming and casino centers of the world, announced this week that it will stop the granting of new licenses and the allotment of land for the construction of casinos. In the last few years, Macau has opened its doors to Las Vegas giants, such as Wynn and Sands.

Edmund Ho, Macau’s Executive Chief, was in charge of making the announcement that no more land would be allocated for the construction of new casinos in the territory. Ho explained that, besides social tension in the enclave linked to the boom of gaming, the new policy adopted by Macau comes from the wishes of Beijing.

Online Gambling in South Africa is still illegal, but a new Bill has been put recently in place that changes the whole gambling scenery in this country. It is up to the National Council of Provinces whether or not it is accepted as a law.

Quite a few online companies have communicated their idea of moving their operations to South Africa, once the bill has been approved. Two major gambling companies, The Victor Chandler International Group and the Bwin Interactive Entertainment are already working to open in the country in the near future.

Legalizing online gambling in South Africa has been talked about for a while. The general aspiration of the country to legalize this situation for a couple of years adds a certain anxiety on the whole process.

The Prime Minister of Bangkok, Samak Sundaravej’, supports the legalization of casinos in the country, in spite of the public opinion, which thinks that this action will benefit only the government and in exchange damage society. If this multi-million idea could actually be put into practice, then it would only serve politicians, businessmen and overall the government’s allies.

The public Thai public in general would receive nothing more than a very probable increase in debt and family and work problems.

The restriction imposed by the Russian government to the gambling industry in the last few years has led some operators to show their discontent and take some measures about it. Such is the case of Storm International, which announced this week its possible retirement of the Russian market.

The measures adopted by the Russian government include the exile of the big gaming centers from the main cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg to more distant regions. Also, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, compared the addiction caused by gambling to that caused by alcohol and nicotine.

The opening date for the new Resort & Casino that Harrah's Entertainment is planning to build up in Ciudad Real is projected for the year 2010. It is estimated that this ambitious project, which the American company is planning to build at the residential and entertainment complex of Reino Don Quijote, will attract almost 2 million visitors a year.

The total surface of the complex covers 6.8 million square feet. The hotel, with more that 800 rooms, will have a 5 star category and it will also have a 3,500 square meter spa, restaurants for 3,000 people, a convention center with 2,000 seats.

The authorities of the region of Krasnodar in Russia informed that the construction of a gambling city similar to Macau would start in 2009. According to a spokesperson, the zone will be called Azov City and it will be located in the south of the country. The same source informed that the necessary investment contracts would be signed in the next few months.