By Ross Snel -
MGM Mirage (MGG :NYSE) shares gained as much as 2% Thursday after a Wall Street analyst said there's still plenty of room for the stock to roar.
Although the stock is at 52-week highs, it will rise further to hit $87 over the next year, contends J.P. Morgan's Harry Curtis, who on Thursday raised his price target to that level from $72.
Ritzio Entertainment Group, which runs a gambling chain in Russia, said it raised $45 million to refinance existing debt and buy new slot machines after a sale of notes linked to its credit.
The company received the money as a one-year loan from Dresdner Bank AG, which Moscow-based MDM Bank then bought and later sold as bonds to mainly Western investors, said Andrey Dobrynin, director for international capital markets at MDM.
"We purchased the notes from Dresdner and sold them to our investor base," Dobrynin said. "Investors purchased the whole issue."
By Reid Coploff -
Monday's sentencing of three Old Forge men to house arrest and probation capped a two-year investigation into a local bookmaking operation.
In a time when Internet gambling has become prevalent, sports gambling experts warn illegal gambling rings will survive and thrive because they offer conveniences the legal options cannot, such as larger credit lines.
By any definition, BetonSports.com is a global enterprise. The Internet gambling site is based in Costa Rica, trades on the London Stock Exchange, operates out of Antigua, and takes wagers from anywhere, online. It can't do business in the U.S., however, but that hasn't stopped stateside gamblers from placing bets on its site: Last year, they accounted for 98% of BetonSports' $1.25 billion in revenue. BetonSports CEO David Carruthers finds that state of affairs curious at best. He talked by phone with Washington legal affairs correspondent Lorraine Woellert.
p2pnet.net News:- China, home to some of the world's most enthusiastic gamblers, says having drastically reduced the number of porn pages since the summer, it’s about to crack down on, “other illegal web sites including those for gambling and superstitious activities”.
China's Ministry of Public Security has “rewarded a number of informers” for providing information that, “helped to uncover 254 criminal cases and capture 445 suspects,” says State news agency Xinhuanet, going on:
“Since the web site, www.china.cn was opened June 10 by the ISC [Internet Society of China], it has received 95,000 reports of pornographic and other illegal web sites”.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has refused to accept a guilty plea from a former America Online employee accused of selling the Internet provider's customer list to a "spammer," saying he was unsure a crime had been committed.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein stopped a Tuesday hearing at which Jason Smathers was to plead guilty to conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen property, saying he had a "technical question" about the alleged crime.
JAMAICA -- As reported by the Gleaner: "Dr. Ralph Thompson, a member of the National Council on Education, said yesterday that the introduction of casino gambling would be the answer to funding the $52 billion per year needed to transform the education system over the next ten years.
"'The Government should stop pussyfooting around and introduce casino gambling,' Dr. Thompson said.
"Dr. Thompson argued that the benefits from casino gambling would outweigh any perceived drawbacks, saying the Government had an obligation to exhibit leadership in putting it in place regardless of whatever political fallout it may cause.
By Stephen Wright -
SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Singapore legalizing casinos could be the catalyst for other Asian countries to relax restrictions on gambling, according to Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (HET), which wants the city state to serve as its beachhead for expansion in the region.
Tempted by predictions from industry experts that Asians will spend US$23 billion a year on gambling by 2010, governments are becoming less concerned about the social ills that critics say are caused by casinos, Harrah's senior vice president for business development Rich Mirman told Dow Jones Newswires in a recent telephone interview from London.
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (AP) -- Women, beware: Those "eye in the sky" surveillance cameras used by casinos don't just look for card cheats and crooked dealers.
Sometimes, they look for low-cut blouses.
New Jersey casino regulators fined Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino $80,000 Wednesday for using surveillance cameras to spy on female employees and customers sitting at casino tables or riding escalators.
CHARLOTTETOWN – P.E.I. made more than $18 million from gambling last year, an increase of $777,000 over the government's share in 2002.
The report of the P.E.I. Lotteries Commission report said people were buying fewer tickets, while pumping more money into video lottery terminals.
The government gets a cut of all of the gaming conducted through the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- The wife of the lottery winner who took home the richest undivided jackpot in U.S. history says she regrets his purchase of the $314.9 million ticket that has thrust her family into the public spotlight.
"I wish all of this never would have happened," Jewel Whittaker told The Charleston Gazette for Tuesday's editions. "I wish I would have torn the ticket up."
By Bradley Vallerius -
The U.S. Department of Justice's latest filing in the Casino City test case further clarifies the arguments to which both sides intend to adhere throughout the case.
The DOJ on Friday filed a reply brief in support of its motion to dismiss Internet portal site Casino City's attempt to obtain a declaratory judgment on its constitutional right to carry advertisements for online gambling companies. Built mostly as a reaction to Casino City's latest memorandum filed in November, the reply brief offers a more robust defense of the DOJ's actions while maintaining consistent arguments as to why the department believes the case should be dropped due to lack of ripeness and standing.
By Stefan C. Friedman -
Sports betting should be legalized in the city to provide billions of dollars in increased school funding, the head of a leading business group proposed yesterday.
New York City Partnership chief Kathryn Wylde made the explosive suggestion during a panel discussion on how best to come up with the more than $23 billion over five years that a judicial panel said was necessary to improve city schools.
By Mitch Moxley -
Here's a tip for you market gamblers out there: Ante up on poker stocks.
Analysts are bullish on makers of online gambling software -- led by Toronto-based CryptoLogic Inc. -- largely because of the booming online poker industry.
A month ago, CryptoLogic beat analysts' expectations for the third quarter with earnings of US$2.9-million, up 32% year over year. The company said it made more than 15% of earnings from its poker business, up 55% from the previous quarter.
By Clare Babbidge -
Laser technology apparently used by a gambling trio to pocket more than £1m at London's Ritz Casino is the latest of many examples of punters trying to turn the tables on casinos with elaborate scams.
"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em", advises Kenny Roger's The Gambler - but rather than "know when to walk away", many people over the years have tried to beat the odds stacked against them with an ace up their sleeve.
The Council of Ministers will this week consider implementing a policy change which could provide a major boost for the Island's e-business sector. At present the US is considered out of bounds for online gaming companies based in the Isle of Man — an approach which reduces the Island's attractiveness as a location for some companies.
The Department of Trade and Industry has submitted a report to the Council of Ministers which weighs up the potential opportunities and the risks involved in a policy switch.
By Tom Petruno -
To get a fair shake with your investment dollars, forget Wall Street. Head for the Las Vegas Strip.
So says billionaire Mark Cuban. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who got rich in the dot-com stock boom, plans to launch a hedge fund that would literally be a gamble.
By Thomas Heath -
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has been slapped with more than $1 million in fines by the NBA since buying the club in 2000, said he will create a hedge fund that will seek to make money the Las Vegas way: gambling.
"It won't be me figuring out what bets to place, or what games to play," Cuban said in a Nov. 27 posting on his Web log. "This is a fund. I will find the best and the brightest, with a confirmable track record, and hire them."
By Bill Deener / The Dallas Morning News -
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban apparently gets as disgusted with the stock market as he does with NBA officials.
He considers stock investing not much more than gambling – a trip to Vegas, as he calls it. For those inclined to wager, he says he has a better idea.
Mr. Cuban plans to open a hedge fund that bets on sporting events. Professional gamblers will manage the fund, and he says investors will be rewarded. In other words, he's serious about this.