From AP – A Chinese fighter’s victory at a Macau showdown brings the world’s top casino market a step closer to challenging Las Vegas for dominance of another Sin City staple: big-time boxing matches. Macau, which long ago eclipsed Vegas as the world’s top gambling city, is now looking to add to its allure by holding the kind of boxing bouts that Las Vegas is known for. The tiny Chinese enclave is hosting a series of high-profile bouts this year featuring a pair of Asian stars: Chinese two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming and Philippine fighter Manny Pacquiao. Zou made…

Natalie Chan collected bets, dealt cards and calculated payoffs. She was not a croupier working in a Macau casino — in fact, at 20, she was not even old enough to be on the gambling floor at the glitzy casinos just a short walk from campus. But she is learning the tricks of the trade through a program meant to train Macau residents to run the hotels and casinos that have made this city Asia’s answer to Las Vegas. Last summer, Ms. Chan completed a dealer training course on a mock casino floor, in a room equipped with roulette wheels,…

From Commercial Appeal In just a decade, the center of gambling has migrated from Las Vegas to a tiny Chinese territory an hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong. The gambling mecca of Macau now handles more wagers than all U.S. commercial casinos put together. But as U.S. gambling companies have remade Macau, Macau has also remade them. Amid a soft regulatory climate in America, U.S. gaming companies have been hit with allegations of improper conduct, including allowing Chinese junkets linked to Asian gangs into Las Vegas. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal. Each month, 2.5…

From Reuters Gambling revenue in Macau rose 21.1 percent in June year-on-year, buoyed by a steady flow of wealthy mainland gamblers eager to place their bets in the Chinese controlled casino hub. June revenue stood at 28.3 billion patacas ($3.54 billion), according to government data released on Monday. Analysts had forecast June growth in the world’s biggest gambling market, to be up 18-21 percent. Macau is the only place where Chinese people can legally gamble at casinos in the country. Home to half a million people, Macau depends on high spending VIP gamblers, or ‘whales’, who spend 1 million yuan…

From Wall Street Journal Macau mogul Lawrence Ho is set to become Russia’s first well-known casino operator, as China’s northern neighbor enters the fray competing for the Asian high rollers who made Macau the world’s gambling capital. A company controlled by Mr. Ho signed an agreement to open a casino on the outskirts of Vladivostok, a person familiar with the deal said. The planned casino-resort in Primorye—a vast eastern region bordering China and Korea—is scheduled to open in the second half of next year. It will be one of the first in Russia after the country in 2009 banned casino…

From Gaming-Awards.com US Operators with casinos in Macau could face more scrutiny on money laundering following a report from a congressional advisory panel which says U.S. regulators should tighten up scrutiny of casino companies operating in Macau because of the risk of money laundering. The panel Commissioner Michael Wessel said there should be stricter scrutiny of Nevada-based companies that operate in Macau. He said regulators need to “go deeper.” Mr Wessel is a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was established in 2009 to examine implications of the trade and economic relationship between the two countries…