BetFair, the United Kingdom online gambling site based out of New South Wales has spoken out about horserace betting. “There’s been some heated debate around the issue of industry funding with stakeholders quite naturally expressing concern about the future viability of the racing industry,” said Twaits.

Chinese police have been continually searching for seven suspects involved in the online gambling raids that occurred last month.

According to Gong Dao’an, Chief for the Public Security Bureau in Xianning City over seven billion dollars were tied up in the gambling gangs which included online casino gambling. “We found tens of thousands of gamblers from around the country took part in gambling organised by the six gangs between 2004 and 2009,” said Dao’an. It took the police almost an entire year to pin down the gambling gangs and begin to make arrests.

Out of the raids that the police have already made, only $117 million has been recovered. “Most of the gambling funds have flowed to overseas gambling groups through underground money laundering channels.” The government and banks have now frozen the bank accounts that were used for the gambling.

“We are seeking international cooperation to help cut off the money laundering channels, which circulated the gambling funds overseas,” said Dao’an.

“We found that gang members operated the sites,” said Dao’an. From this information gathered in 2007, the authorities began researching 5 websites which allowed participation in online gambling for soccer, horseracing, and card games.

“Some of the gangs used leased servers in the United States, Singapore and the Republic Of Korea to run online gambling websites and others acted as agents for overseas gambling websites. They developed gamblers in China’s mainland for the websites.”

“Through the detection of the five cases, police found clues to another gambling gangs, which organised gamblers in casinos in Macao, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia and lent out money at high interest rates to gamblers.”

Las Vegas has been under great criticism for years due to the fact that it continues to expand even in the times of depression. As we see, the casino and hotel companies want to increase their profits by making more casinos, and more rooms for the guests. At some point Las Vegas will have more rooms than visitors. This has been the rumor for many years, but now may be looking more like a reality.

Two reports recently released are stating that the rooms being created will now outweigh the number of visitors by 2010. The reports come from debt analysts at Deutsche Bank and CreditSights. “The challenge for the casinos will be to maintain hotel occupancy even as new supply is brought on over the next 14 months,” CreditSights said in its report.

The number of rooms being created is going to flood the casino market with supply while not boosting demand. The newly created CityCenter is expected to be completed by December and add more rooms to the situation. Fontainebleau is now dealing with bankruptcy issues and therefore is not moving forward on their project that was planning on adding more casinos and yet another 3,815 rooms. “The old rubric that ’supply creates its own demand’ is clearly not relevant in today’s environment,” CreditSights said.

Many Las Vegas Casinos and hotels have lowered their room rates in order to improve their occupancy rates, hoping that once they get the gamblers there, they will spend their fair share of money on restaurants and casino gambling. Condos being built in the area are struggling to fill their occupancy since the downturn economy as some companies are offering discounts on move in prices.

McCarran International Airport has released information stating that the numbers concerning travelers have been remarkably low. The number of passengers who travelled in May was 3.5 million which is down 11.5 percent from the previous year. The airlines and casino companies will have to continue to work with online specials in order to return Las Vegas to the booming and bustling town it has always been known.

According to The Providence Journal: “If Twin River slot parlor’s bankruptcy protection filing does provoke criticism from the host community, it may come over an included proposal to go to 24-hour, 7-day-a-week gambling.”

Twin Rivers Casino is now under new ownership which included a $220 million construction project that will add to the expansion of the casino property. Residents are concerned about the idea of shifting to a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week format. “It ‘is not going to sit very well with residents,’ Ronald A. McKenna, the Town Council president, said of a move to 24-7 operations. “The governor right now is not thinking of the people of Lincoln. He is only thinking of the the bottom line. They are forcing this down our throats.”

“But the federal Chapter 11 bankrupcty proceeding by BLB Investors on Tuesday is not expected to affect the town’s finances, which include a hefty share of revenue from Twin River, according to Town Administrator T. Joseph Almond. He added that officials’ concern this year had been over whether the property would remain under private ownership, which enables the town to tax it.

“…Almond deferred to the residents of Lincoln on the matter of 24-7 gaming hours. If there is going to be opposition on that issue, he said, ‘it’s something that the people in the community have a right to decide…’

According to the online casino website for Twin Rivers, they will begin their 24/7 round the clock gambling on July 2^nd through July 7^th, 2009. After this time they will resume their normal business hours of 9 am to 3am.

One lucky online casino player continued his gambling streak at Slotland.com and it paid off. The gambler known as SHLOMIC began his online slot play with just $100. A few hours later the gambler had won over $1900. He claims he trusted his gut and knew when to raise the stakes. Whether or not he is a mathematical genius, or just a lucky gambler, his gut paid off.

“I’ll share a secret with you,” said the winner. “After many hours of play I believe that most games work in streaks. Yes, I know, it doesn’t make a lot of mathematical sense, but it works for me!”

The online player took some time off a boring day of work and began playing his favorite game Treasure Box at Slotland.com. The player began to bet at a conservative rate until he started winning a few small bets. From that point he began to increase his bets.

He explained his online slot strategy, “At first I found myself loosing most of my bets and so I slowly reduced my bets, down to $2,” he explained. “But then something changed and it felt like I was entering a winning streak. So I tried my theory, and maxed my bet up to $8. And who would have believed it… it worked! Starting with a nice 777, that gave me $200 plus the treasure box (where I had about $600 at this stage). And then came the big win: triple 1, same colour, multiplied on all four lines giving me $1200!”

MGM Mirage general counsel Gary Jacobs had a difficult task in keeping organized as the casino and hotel company tried to manage a wide array of accountants, auditors, tax and financial experts.

The communication between all the different aspects of the projects caused the MGM Mirage hotel and casino to clear out some of the suites and turn them into makeshift offices for facilitators.

As the times got harder, the casinos in Las Vegas began to feel the pressure of the economy, and the stock market downfall. “It was kind of like going down a river, but you would hit one set of rapids, and then you hit another set of rapids, and another, and then another one. It was nonstop,” Jacobs said.

As the situation became worse, MGM casino resorts knew the importance of finishing construction and opening the CityCenter. “If CityCenter went bankrupt, it would not have only been a horrible situation for Las Vegas, but it would have complicated the corporate issues,” Jacobs said. “It was needed to be initially addressed.”

The situation once again took a turn for the worst when Dubai World chose to sue MGM Mirage and not pay a portion of the loan that they were contractually obligated to pay. “It’s not every day that you wake up on a Monday morning and your partner sues you in court,” D’Arrigo said. “But we did not feel it was in anyone’s best interest to get angry in public. We needed to get to the bottom of the matter and find a solution.”

In the corporate world of hotels and casinos, there are always politics involved. “The leaks were frustrating because it was like a sieve,” Jacobs said. “Everybody was trying to manipulate something for whatever purpose or their own purpose. That complicated matters.”

Dubai World was concerned about the MGM Mirage’s ability to pull off this task and needed to go into further renegotiation to finish the project. The 76 acre CityCenter was still in trouble of being fully financed. In the event that the Dubai World Corporation did not contribute to the funding of the project, the MGM Mirage hotels and casinos would have had to file for bankruptcy.

As this project was in turmoil, so were the other hotel and casino properties owned by the MGM Mirage. With over $14 billion in debt, the Strip casinos had not been paying on their bonds therefore possibly forcing the company into a corporate-wide bankruptcy.

By May of 2009 all of these financial problems appeared to be under control. As of April, 29^th, MGM Mirage hotels and casinos agreed with Dubai World on a plan to finance and complete the CityCenter for its grand opening in December.

To go along with this good fortune, the MGM Mirage corporation has also restructured their company as well as raising $2.6 billion in order to avoid what appeared to be an inevitable bankruptcy. “It was truly remarkable what was accomplished,” D’Arrigo said.

D’Arrigo had his work cut out for him in order to balance running the nine hotels and casinos, he also had this project of CityCenter looming over his head. Hundreds of advisors have been called in throughout this process in order to keep the goals fresh and on track.

“One time, I got on a call and something like 80 people beeped in,” D’Arrigo said. “We had to do all we could to keep people organized and focused on the different pieces of the puzzle. If they didn’t sync up, then it wouldn’t make sense. You couldn’t do C if you hadn’t completed parts A and B first.”

The CityCenter in Las Vegas is well on its way to becoming a reality, but it was not a smooth ride on the way. The CityCenter is a casino, restaurant, and shops all combined in one location for gamblers to enjoy their trip to Las Vegas. This spectacle is a joint venture between the MGM Mirage and Dubai World. At a price tag of $8.5 billion in private investments, it is the most expensive private development in US history.

Within the past year Dubai World tried to sue MGM Mirage tin order to back out of the contract, but MGM decided it a worthwhile venture and scrambled to make the payment that Dubai World failed to make. Already in a financial crunch, MGM had to call on their private investors and banks to make the transaction possible.

The corporate headquarters for MGM stood in the Bellagio hotel and casino where they anxiously awaited word from the banks about the funding. Chief Financial Officer Dan D’Arrigo sat with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren waiting for the word that the banks would make the payments. This decision left the jobs of 8,500 construction workers swinging in the balance. In fact the news helicopters were hovering over the building expecting a dramatic end where construction workers walked off the site. “It was pretty surreal,” D’Arrigo recalled.

There was a dramatic ending but it was a happy one. Bill Repko from a financial consulting firm called Evercore entered the room at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino with his blackberry in hand showing Murren and D’Arrigo the confirmation message. “It kind of lightened the mood a bit,” D’Arrigo said. “It could have been pretty ugly.”

Plans are still in the making for building an arena under the Harrah’s Entertainment umbrella. The current status of the arena depends on who Harrahs Casino Resort will pair with in order to make that a reality. The location for the arena is behind Bally’s on Las Vegas’ own, Flamingo Road and encompasses 10 acres of land.

The arena was predicted to be completed in September of 2010, housing 20,000 seats. Harrahs’ Casino resorts and Anschutz Entertainment of Los Angeles made the announcement in 2007 to create the arena, and now the economy has put a temporary halt to their plans.

“Unfortunately, that project has been a victim of the same thing that has afflicted every other project, which is an absence of finance,” Gary Loveman said. “But I think over time that project will get built.”

According to Chief Executive Office, Gary Loveman, of Harrach’s Casino Resorts, there are well developed plans for the future of the arena, they are merely waiting on the economy to pick back up to where funding will become a reality.

Loveman did not comment on whether AEG remain as a partner in the project, but he did state, “We’ll partner with somebody. I think the idea still makes a lot of sense.”

“The actual arrival of the arena is going to be at least down to (2012, 2013),” Loveman said. “The dynamics of professional sports make it more, not less likely, we could have one or two franchises in Las Vegas.”

At this point in the game and with the current struggles of debt for the Harrah’s Casino Resorts, and many other local casinos, there is no set groundbreaking date for the arena. Loveman hopes to see the start of the project within the next three years. As Loveman has stated before he believes that the economy will remain low for another year, then will begin to pick up by 2011, or 2012.

As the economy has effected many different markets, it has also taken its toll on cities to maintain their professional sports teams. With the money that is drawn into Las Vegas, they are hoping to acquire a professional hockey, or basketball team to place in the newly built arena.

As far as the name change of the casino resorts from Harrah’s to Ceasars, there is no timeline set for that, and it boils down to money.

“There’s a modest cost associated with that and we just felt that in a period where we were being so careful with our finances that there was no hurry to do that,” he said. “It is still our intention to change the company’s name.”

Although the economy has taken a negative turn therefore causing a decline in travelers to Las Vegas, many gamblers are still being lured in by low airfares and cheap room rates to return to the popular casino gambling spot.

Pres. Barack Obama has also added to the negative side of the casino industry in terms of travel. As the economy continues to decline his openly remarked about companies receiving public bailout money and commented on the choice of companies to use Las Vegas as a place to hold meetings.

“The consequence of that loss of that demand is we’re filling rooms that would otherwise be dedicated to those customers with a more value-oriented promotional market,” Loveman said. “That is, to a large degree, why you can go online day and night and see these unbelievably attractive offers coming in from all of us to try to fill these rooms.” “That’s the hole that has to get plugged,” he said. “Then I think you will see the rest of the business firm up.”

Loveman has been a member of the Harrah’s Casino resort Corporation for 11 years, six of which he has served as chief executive officer. He admits that this recession has proved to be quite challenging however he feels it has caused a new surge of energy.

“These last few months have been incredibly interesting, incredibly energizing, but at the same time very hard,” he said. “You get up in the morning and, by and large, you face a series of problems all day long. Where as before, you faced some combination of problems and opportunities. You’re doing a series of things that don’t feel very good even though you know intellectually they’re the right action to take.”