Cyprus Mail – NICOSIA yesterday launched its big push to secure the licence for the island’s first-ever casino resort, and like each of the other main districts, says the capital is the only location that makes the most business sense. The Nicosia Chamber of Commerce (EVEL) yesterday met with the city’s brass and other players to exchange views on how to boost tourism where it was decided to set up a steering committee to actively pursue the licence. Mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis and his predecessors were also at the meeting, which was held at the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry…

Reuters – A Japanese opposition politician on Thursday submitted a set of demands to ruling party lawmakers who are proposing a bill to legalise casino gambling, pushing back much-awaited parliamentary debate to next Wednesday at the earliest. The delay raises the risk of the bill failing to pass parliament this year, which would dampen the hopes of global casino firms keen to unlock a gaming market expected to be worth up to $40 billion a year in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Pro-casino lawmakers had aimed to begin debate in the lower house this week – before the end…

For techies of a certain age, few brands inspire as much nostalgia as Atari. They remember the heyday in the 1970s and 80s, when its two-dimensional arcade game Pong was the epitome of fun and the Atari 2600 video game console was the epitome of cool. But for many young gamers today, their closest brush with Atari is in the retro T-shirt section of their local Urban Outfitters. Fred Chesnais wants to change that. As Atari’s new CEO and majority shareholder, Chesnais is leading what he hopes will be a turnaround of the 42-year-old brand, which emerged from bankruptcy proceedings…

News Maker – Poker machines accounted for 60% ($9.8 billion) of the $16.3 billion spent by Australians on gambling in the 12 months to March 2014, well ahead of race betting and lotteries according to the latest results from the Roy Morgan Gambling Monitor. Australians spent $2.5 billion on race betting and $1.7 billion on lotteries, or 15% and 10% of the annual gambling spend respectively. The other forms of gambling make up the remaining 15% — including sports betting ($0.9 billion or 5%), casino table games ($0.6 billion or 4%), Keno ($0.5 billion or 3%), and scratch tickets ($0.3…

GGR Asia – Singaporeans are the world’s highest spenders on gambling, shows a new research by consultancy Global Betting and Gaming Consultants. Singaporeans spend on average US$1,376 per head on gambling a year, the results show. The Lion City topped previous leader Australia. Australians’ global gambling spend per capita currently stands at US$961. The figures cover all types of gambling, from casino to internet gambling to lotteries. The results, featured in the latest edition of the Global Gambling Report issued by Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, put Canada in third place with a spend of US$494 per capita. Hong Kong comes…

SCMP – Hong Kong police are launching a month-long operation against illegal soccer betting in the run-up to the World Cup. Working in conjunction with Interpol in nine other countries, local police are coordinating efforts to eliminate the multimillion-dollar problem. Police in the city also say they are being thwarted in attempts to stamp out illegal soccer betting as most syndicates operate online, on the mainland and offshore. Superintendent Dan Ng Wai-hon, from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, said yesterday that criminals had moved to the mainland and regions such as South America and Taiwan since local authorities got…