Estonian Government using online gambling as a recession buster

Casino Online reports the Estonian Government are turning to online gambling for financial stability after their country was ravaged by the recession.

The legislation draft includes two phases: from 2010, Estonian citizens will be allowed to play at sites owning a local license, but after 2011, the Estonian market will open to all foreign operators. In the period between the first and second phase, the Government will develop regulations for foreign operators.

Read more about their interesting plan here…

Casino could provide jobs for returning soldiers

The Gettysburg Times reports that pro-casino spokesmen are using the premise of jobs for soldiers to get a casino built.

An interesting comment made by Adams County’s Jeff Klein was that many soldiers returning from Iraq don’t have jobs to come home to.

He said a project such as the casino could provide jobs, and called efforts to kill it “shameful (and) frustrating.”

Read more of the article here…

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Recession hits home of World Series of Poker

Betfair Blog reports that the casino which held the first World Series of Poker will be closing its hotel on December 14 due to the poor economic climate.

Binion’s in Downtown, Las Vegas was opened in 1951 and hosted the first WSOP in 1970, but times have been harder of late.

Read more of the article here…

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Horse Racing takes recession hit

THE San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article about how horse racing has been badly effected by the recession.

Grim stats include betting handle down 10.2 percent nationally this year after dipping 7.0 percent in 2008, and the number of new foals down 8.2 percent nationally and 15.8 percent in California.

“People used to say that gambling is recession-proof, but that’s not true anymore,” Golden Gate Fields general manager Robert Hartman said.

Read more…

The darkest side of gambling

HERE is a blog post by Methodist Preacher about the worst outcome of problem gambling.

It has some interesting quotes, including one by Andy Todd; “we have already had people reporting they have increased their gambling during the recession to cover rent, mortgage repayments, food, bills.”

Read more…

The States less interested in the stakes

The U.S.A have been hit hard by the recession, with there gambling sector no exception.

A casino in California is laying off nearly 10% of it’s staff because of the tough economic climate.  Just three years after it underwent renevations.

The Colusa Casino Resort are now facing a dogged battle with other recreational activities for business.

These battles stretch from East to West, with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reporting last month that the seaside resort’s 11 gambling halls had a 15.4% decrease in revenue for May, compared with a year ago.

Slot machine revenue fell 14.9 percent to $246.6 million, but remained Atlantic City’s main revenue generator – making up 70 percent of last month’s total revenue. (story here)

This is thanks in part to the economy and the competition which has surfaced from it.

Their rival Pennsylvania’s eight casinos took in $178.4 million in gross slots revenue last month, up 17.9 percent from a year ago.

An indication that although most casino’s profits’ are diminishing, some are seeing gains.

Gaming analysts say the debut of the $743 million Sands Resort Casino in Bethlehem on May 22 gave Pennsylvania slots revenue a boost at a cost to Atlantic City.

The new casino draws heavily from New York and North Jersey, two key feeder markets for Atlantic City. About 45 percent of the gambling mecca’s clientele come from there.

Even during a recession, it appears that there is a winner in these casino clashes, though it is obvious these are still tough times for all.

For the first five months of the year, the 11 Atlantic City casinos took in $1.62 billion, down 15.7 percent from the same period last year. (story here)

A Cure for Big Wednesday!

Big Wednesday has been lingering around longer than the latest strain of Swine Flu but a cure has finally been found, a must win draw!

The $35 million prize, bumped up from $30 million, will far exceed the current biggest NZ lotteries prize of $19 million won last year.

But for those humble fellows who have put a tenner on the counter of their local lotto store every week, looking for a quick fix to the ‘recession’, this prolonged money-grabbing has  gone on too far.

The last time Big Wednesday was won was in January of this year, about 20 weeks ago, so with a few calculations, that adds up to a gradual bill of over $200 to win a prize that seems to have gone on holiday.

It’s not a huge amount, but for a cash-strapped family, paying $200 alone of Big Wednesday is far too much for a pipe dream.

The big positive is that we will have at least one winner by tonight (providing the set isn’t overun by a mob of pissed-off Big Wednesday regulars) and reports say that there will likely be many winners.

Perhaps Big Wednesday will actually win some fans tonight, if the grand prize falls to third division there could be as many as 500 winners who share the pot. Here’s hoping!