reportAssociated Press carried a new report this week that shows Nevada’s major hotel-casinos posted their highest net income ever in fiscal 2006 - a combined $2.1 billion. As a percent of total revenues, casino games accounted for 49 percent of the total, down from 49.9 percent. Hotel rooms revenues increased 14 pecent to $4.89 billion, or about 20 percent of the total.

“The UIGEA has been a godsend to unquoted offshore companies which have sucked in all the extra business,” says an expert in the field. “The shift has been particularly lucrative for sites that offer online poker, which is predominantly American.” Companies are taking advantage of a 270-day legislative ‘window’ granted by the US federal authorities to the banks and credit card companies, which have to find a way of stopping the flow of cash from customers to betting sites, but will not be penalised if this is found to be an impossible task.

Polish poker players will this year join thousands of their European counterparts in following the European Poker Tour action, as the wide ranging contest adds the Eastern European country to its list of venues.

One of the must-attend annual business events for online gambling industry professionals is undoubtedly the International Casino Exhibition, which this year opens at Earls Court in London on 23 January and ends of the 25th. The growing online gambling section, branded ICEi this year is well illustrated by the current list of committed exhibitors on the http://www.icei-exhibition.com website, which includes a wide range of well known and perhaps not-so-familiar companies offering various services and technologies to the industry.