Manchester was today selected as the location of Britain’s first super-casino, in a decision that has stunned rival bidders. An artist’s impression of the Manchester leisure complex where the super-casino will be built The city’s 5,000 square metre super-casino will have up to 1,250 unlimited jackpot gaming machines, as well as a multi-purpose arena, a swimming pool, an urban sports venue, restaurants, bars, a nightclub and a hotel. Sounds Good!

Blackpool and the Millennium Dome in Greenwich were considered hot favourites to be awarded the licence from the shortlist of seven.

Cllr Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said the decision was “fantastic news for Manchester and the region”. “Manchester has an unrivalled track record in the delivery of major regeneration schemes so we are confident we have the expertise to deliver a world-class venue,” he said. (telegraph.co.uk)

Several British online gambling firms were forced out of the U.S. market as a result of the The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. EU International Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has decided to challenge the UIGEA through the WTO. McCreevey said the US was banning Internet gambling in an attempt to protect their home land gambling interest, which is protectionism, which is against World Trade Organization regulations.

However, due to the WTO’s protracted negotiations to secure a new world trade agreement, McCreevy said he would not rush to file a complaint. There have been no face-to-face talks about the issue with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, McCreevy said.

McCreevy has also launched legal actions against several EU countries to tackle obstacles to foreign competition such as France, Germany and Italy. Well done!

The gaming company Playtech, which supplies games for dozens of casinos around the world, has inked a deal with UK development company Masabi to enable players to play on the move. What Masabi allows Playtech to do is roll out a range of games including Black Jack, Poker and Roulette onto a wide range of handset types – not just those running Symbian or Windows Mobile 5.0. The engine encompasses low end handsets which can run basic Java apps, too.

Players access their accounts through the Masabi software, using the same style of interface that PlayTech provides on the desktop, and over any internet connection. This means the network operator is out of the loop - it may make some pennies from the data traffic, but otherwise it’s not involved.

Well done to Playtech for finding a way of going round the operator rather than deal with it.

The British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson plans to build an entertainment complex encompassing three hotels and a casino in Macau, the Financial Times reported in its online edition. “We hope to get all the boxes ticked in the next couple of months and start developing the site soon afterwards” the FT quoted Branson as saying.

Branson expects the project to be completed in 2010 and to recoup his initial investment within 18 months of operation, according to the report. Virgin is believed to be in talks with one of six casino license holders to operate the casino complex.

As we reported yesterday Gaming revenue in Macau surged 22% in 2006 to surpass takings from the Las Vegas Strip - no wonder Branson is interested!

UK online casino 32Red yesterday celebrated one of the biggest ever jackpot wins at an online casino, after it’s King Cashalot slot machine was hit for over £1m ($1.9m)!
The female 32Red VIP player sat down in front of her PC at her Australasian home late on Tuesday evening to play at her favourite online casino.

Unbelievably it was the 32nd time she has visited 32Red since joining and within a few minutes, she was an instant millionaire as the five King Cashalot symbols slotted into place – bagging £1,000,641 ($1,987,698) for a bet of only £2.25!

She said of her win… ‘I still can’t believe it. I don’t think it has sunk in. I’m numb! I remember almost in slow motion how the kings dropped into place and the jackpot window appeared. I’m still finding it difficult to believe that such good fortune could happen to me. Thank you 32Red!’

CEO and founder of 32Red, Ed Ware was overjoyed by the news of the jackpot win, which will go down as one of the biggest in history… ‘Everyone at 32Red is delighted at the good fortune bestowed upon one of our players. For this to be one of the biggest ever wins online is just amazing. Add to that it is the 32nd time she has played at 32Red, you have to say that 32 really is a lucky number for her!’ Ware continued that the win came at the perfect time…
‘Not only is this the biggest ever online jackpot win at 32Red, more importantly it means that our customer can now celebrate Australia Day this Friday in style!’

King Cashalot is just one of over twenty progressive jackpots available at 32Red, all of which are part of the microgaming Progressive Jackpot Network - the largest online progressive jackpot offering on the internet. Roger Raatgever, CEO of microgaming said of the win… ‘This latest King Cashalot payout is the highest sum ever won on the microgaming Progressive Jackpot Network and delivers our eleventh millionaire in less than four years. Our progressive has paid out over $225m in winnings during this period and with the Mega Moolah progressive now sitting at over a million dollars, it won’t be long before there is another player joining the millionaire club.’

The news of this record-breaking jackpot win comes only days after 32Red was named ‘Casino of the Year’ for the fourth year in succession, by online casino industry watchdog and player advocate Casinomeister.

Gaming revenue in Macau surged 22% in 2006 to surpass takings from the Las Vegas Strip according to data released by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau and estimates by Morgan Stanley’s gaming and property market strategist Rob Hart.

Gaming revenues in the enclave totaled $6.95 billion in 2006 against $6.5 billion in gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip. However, The Nevada Gaming Control Board has not yet released 2006 figures for gaming revenue.

‘The development (in) Macau in 2006 was broadly in line with mine and market expectations,’ said Rob Hart. At the end of 2006, Macau had 24 casinos operating 2,762 gaming tables and 6,546 slot machines. Four new gambling and entertainment complexes are expected to open this year and About $20 billion has been invested in new casino and hotel complexes by six casino companies for projects that are planned for completion in the next few years. Dow Jones Newswires

The City Council in Atlantic City originally planned to vote on a bill that would have enacted a complete ban on smoking in gambling casinos. The plan was strongly opposed by casino operators, which predicted 3400 jobs and close to 20% of casino revenue could be lost in the process. It looks as if a partial ban on smoking is more realistic.

That’s exactly what’s going to happen. According to a new draft smoking would be banned on 75% of each casino’s total gaming area (based on sq. footage). The last 25% would be sealed off and equipped with high-tech ventilation systems to pull smoke out of the air and move it out of the building.

Councilman Dennis Mason said:”I believe it’s a win-win situation for everyone including people who wanted smoking banned and the casino operators of Atlantic City.” I think he is right considering that the better-known destinations such as Las Vegas, Biloxi, and many American Indian casinos allow smoking.

Shares in Party Gaming and 888.com took a knock on news that the Department of Justice authorities in the United States were seeking information on Internet gambling by issuing subpoenas on major financial and investment banks involved in IPOs for gambling companies on the London stock exchange.

The subpoenas, earlier reported by The Sunday Times of London, appeared to be part of an indirect but aggressive and far-reaching attack by federal prosecutors on the internet gambling industry just two weeks before one of its biggest days of the year, the Super Bowl. (some parts from infopowa)

The prosecutors’ efforts have already taken a toll in the last two years on offshore casinos, most notably with the arrest last year of David Carruthers, the chief executive of an internet sports book, BetonSports. Several weeks later Peter Dicks the chairman of Sportingbet, was arrested at Kennedy Airport. Last week, a British online money transfer business, Neteller, said it would cease handling gambling transactions from US customers because of regulatory uncertainty following the arrest of the two founders.

Even before that law, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, was adopted, the US Government claimed internet gambling was illegal under a 1961 Wire Act provision, a claim that is contested by the industry.

Spin3 (www.spin3.com), the leading wireless casino system provider powered by microgaming, today announced the offering of a new and advanced service option for its clients – SpinSupport™ — optional 24/7 multi-lingual service center, with dedicated chat, email, phone and SMS support. This service will utilize a unique feature — the Call Back button, unique to Spin3 mobile casinos, which allows players to receive an immediate call back from a service representative within minutes. Spin3 clients who decide to take this service option will receive industry-leading customer support services, proven to provide enhanced customer satisfaction and improved business performance.

“This year we’ll see a different kind of growth experienced by the mobile gambling industry, as we seek to build greater confidence by offering service level benchmarks,” said Matti Zinder, CEO, Spin3. “Spin3’s collaboration with BrightMark for SpinSupport delivers the most comprehensive and timely support to ease the adoption of mobile gambling solutions around the world.”

Visitors at ICEi at Earl’s Court in London can experience Spin3’s mobile casino games and SpinSupport at the Spin3 booth (# 5715), from 23-25 January 2007. (marketwire)

Michael Carlton, the CEO of the British gaming company Victor Chandler, was detained for questioning by Israeli police. Carlton, a British citizen, arrived in Israel to participate in the Knesset debate on the law proposed by Nurit Tirosh which seeks to restrict payments for Internet gambling in the same way as the American UIGEA law.

Carlton was released after being questioned by the police’s Fraud Squad in relation to advertising gambling on the Internet in Israel and undertaking sports betting on Israeli teams. Exactly like the american government, the Israeli one is acting against online gambling.

Recently the Backgammon Site Play65 site was charged with committing an offense by offering online Backgammon games for money play. We think that backgammon even more than online poker, is a game of skill but the debate continues..