18-Nov-09. Canadian money launderer exposes Las Vegas casinos. Calgary Herald, D5.

Canadian Stanko Grmovsek admitted in a Toronto court earlier this year to making $9.4-million with a friend from law school in a 14-year illegal scheme. Court documents show he said he laundered some of it by gambling cash in Las Vegas casinos. Experts say that strict controls have reduced financial crime in Vegas casinos to a fraction of what it once was, and most organized criminals use less scrutinized industries to convert illegal profits into clean money. In a typical scheme, a money launderer approaches the cashier’s cage with cash and converts it into chips using a players card to establish his identity. He later returns without his card to exchange the chips for cash, leaving no named record of the transaction and creating the impression he has gambled away thousands of dollars.

11-Jun-09. EU calls on U.S. to drop gambling ban. Globe and Mail, B6.

This newsbrief reports that the European Union yesterday urged the United States to open talks on ending a ban on foreign online gambling companies, saying it breaks global trade rules. The European Commission said the U.S. ban shut out gambling sites such as Britain’s PartyGaming PLC and Sportingbet PLC from the United States’ lucrative $4-billion (U.S.) market, causing companies to lose revenue and stock market value.

27-Feb-09. U.S. could raise US$52B in 10 years by lifting Internet gambling ban, study says. National Post, FP12.

A new analysis prepared by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that the United States could raise nearly $52-billion in revenue over the next decade by lifting a three-year-old ban on Internet gambling and taxing the activity. Gambling supporters hope the study will help propel efforts in Cogress this year to repeal the 2006  Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

17-Feb-09. Hard-hit Texas port city eyes casinos to stay afloat. Calgary Herald, C5.

The Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas finds itself searching for ways to come back from the one-two punch of September’s hurricane Ike and the national economic crisis. Business leaders are hoping to legalize gambling and open casinos to attract tourists from passing cruise ships that dock inthe city’s port. Several casino-related bills are before the Texas legislature to allow gambling in Texas but are opposed by social conservative groups and governor Rick Perry.

23-Dec-08. Wynn casino faces Vegas downturn. National Post, FP12.

This article reports that Wynn Resorts Ltd. was slated yesterday to open the US$2.3-billion, 2000-room Encore property adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas, the company’s three-year old luxury casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Encore will mark its debut as the casino industry grapples with tight credit markets and a downturn in gambling demand. The average price of a Las Vegas Strip  hotel room for the first week of January is down 35% from a year earlier, according to a survey by JP Morgan, which also found that rates for the New Year’s Eve holiday have fallen 27%.

21-Oct-08. Casino kingpin once took the Fifth 37 times. National Post, AL11.

This article describes the life of professional gambler Lefty Rosenthal who died on Monday at the age of 79. Rosenthal’s fourteen year career as a Las Vegas sports gambler was at the centre of Nicholas Pileggi’s 1995 book Casino and the subsequent film of the same name. He began his career as a horse player, oddsmaker and sports bettor in Chicago, where his non-violent but illegal enterprises were protected by mobsters. His testimony in front of a Congressional subcommittee on gambling and organized crime was notable in that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself 37 times, refusing to answer the simplest questions, including whether he was left-handed.

7-Oct-08. Atlantic City may delay casino smoking ban. Globe and Mail, B12.

Atlantic City may delay the start of a blanket ban on smoking in casinos due to recent economic turbulence. The new law allows casinos to set up enclosed, ventilated smoking lounges that would be unstaffed but smoking would be banned on gambling floors. The ban, opposed by casino owners but supported by workers, was originally approved in April.

12-Aug-08. Slump unlucky for U.S. casinos. Calgary Herald, D1.

Gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip dropped three per cent to US$486.4-million in June, resulting in the first fiscal decline in six years, according to Nevada Gaming Board data released Monday.

15-Jul-08. Gas prices deter would-be Vegas gamblers. Red Deer Advocate, C5.

A poll conducted last month by Jim Medick of Precision Opinion finds that Southern California gamblers who regularly drive to Las Vegas have cut back their visits by a third because of record gas prices. Those who still come say that they’ve cut their gambling back by 29 per cent. These findings offer a harsher  picture of gas price’s effect on tourism that statistics offered by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

5-Jul-08. Vegas casinos: Is Lady Luck deserting Sin City? Edmonton Journal, A17.

This lengthy article reports that, after a long boom, the gambling industry in Las Vegas appears to be facing a rare slowdown and belts are tightening across the city. Gambling has long been considered recession-proof and only twice have overall revenues on the Las Vegas Strip fallen since it took over from the downtown as America’s gambling hotspot in the late 1980s. In the year to April, gaming revenue across Vegas was down by 3.3 per cent from the year before.