I was a poker virgin in Vegas. Poker is big here in the gambling epicenter of the universe. Huge. This is where movie stars play in those popular TV tournaments and casinos throw daily competitions for the public.

And poker rooms, once a staple here, are coming back to casinos along the Strip, where tourists sit elbow-to-elbow with professional players, sipping free cocktails. Fold, sip. Check, sip. Call, sip.

As they lounged poolside reading under a 50-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel & Casino here, the last thing Alice and Jerry Long wanted to do was gamble.

"You need to relax when you're eating, and when you're at the pool," said Alice Long, 56, of Hickory, N.C. Her husband, Jerry, 60, was absorbed in a book. "Gambling is not relaxing," he said.

The biggest overhaul in Britain's gambling laws since the 1960s took place this month, though you could be excused for not noticing. After all, not even meddling New Labour can overhaul the only gambling laws that most people can get really excited about: the laws of probability.

When the new casinos open their doors and their roulette wheels start spinning, there will still be no way to tell which of the 37 slots the ball will fall into.

The Horizon's Edge casino boat operation will pay less than it did last year to rent a city pier during the winter and early spring months when it suspends operations.

The Economic Development and Industrial Corporation will allow the firm to pay $21,000 in 2006 and 2007 to EDIC for use of the city pier. Horizons paid $45,000 this year to dock its casino boat at the pier.

It's one thing to be a poker champion, but it's another to be Spike TV's KING OF VEGAS, where players must not only master poker but a full spectrum of casino games including blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, among others.

KING OF VEGAS will feature gamblers who will compete in a 'decathlon of gambling' for a $1 million cash prize and be crowned the world's greatest gambler. The weekly original series will debut on Spike TV in early 2006.

Revenue from tribal casinos is lower than state officials predicted but they say it's too soon to say whether initial projections were too high.

Eighteen American Indian tribes paid Oklahoma $880,391 for card games and compacted electronic gambling machines, a decline of 16 percent from the $1,048,015 tribes paid last month for games played in July, figures released Monday show.

Set high in the mountains of southeastern New Mexico on the sprawling Mescalero Apache reservation, the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino recently opened after a two-year, $200 million reconstruction.

Like Indian gambling sites in California, the casino is bringing new levels of sophistication to areas that were once little more than glorified bingo halls.

The maker of Vegas Star and Thunderbirds are Go gaming machines, Stargames Ltd, has released a better than expected annual net profit and says a recent pick up in sales will continue.

Stargames' annual net profit for 2004/05 was $6.01 million, down from $6.7 million in 2003/04, but higher than the $5 million it warned the market it was expecting in early July due to sales timing issues.

The fate of 29 employees of the Riviera Casino in Kisumu hangs in the balance, following a dispute between the government, a local bank, businessmen Kamlesh Pattni and Ketan Somaia.

Ten employees of the establishment, a subsidiary of the International Casino, have been sent on unpaid leave while the rest, including the manager, have not received salaries for five months.
Customers who win games at the casino have to contend with pledges in the form of deposit slips.

Due to the success of his first online roulette book, "How to Win at Online Roulette”, Samuel Blankson is releasing a follow-up for his growing readers in the US and UK. His latest book "Ultimate Online Roulette System: Advanced Winning Techniques for the Tax Conscious Casino Gambling Investor," is an advanced version of the first book, a version he says, that "...concentrates on helping you make a daily income from online roulette...”