EuroPartners marked the beginning of a new era in online gambling with the launch of TV Games. From now on players will be able to play Roulette Royal and Club Roulette in front of their TV. The TV streaming video format creates an increased interactive experience, by making it possible for players to see each other’s bets.

An innovative extra feature of the new game is the televised presenter that will provide audio support by giving commentary on real-time statistics. The presenter is available in ten different languages, to be: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, and Russian.

EuroPartners is known for online casinos such as Casino Tropez and Europa Casino. EuroPartners started its business in January 2002, being a marketing partner for Casino Tropez. Their casinos offer a wide variety of games, such as blackjack, craps, and slot machines.

Only national land-based casino operators will be allowed to offer online gambling in Belgium from 2011. A new law that was created in march, earlier this year, is now signed by the King of Belgium. This is reported yesterday by the Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen.

According to this newspaper from 2011 only national operators will be allowed to offer online casino and games. These online operators also need to be land-based operators as well. New casino’s will need to follow strict guidelines on identification checks to make sure the user is 21 years old.

Secretary of state against fraud Carl Devies states that this is a measure against illegality and preventing gambling addiction. At the same time estimations tell us the Belgium government will benefit with a rise in tax of €60 million per year.

Expectations are this will also be bad for the Dutch market, with a large part of Belgium speaking Dutch there will be a loss for Dutch operators and online casino’s as well.

PartyCasino is celebrating the launch of their new slot game ‘Melon Madness’ and their new $1.5 millon jackpot ‘The Big One’. PartyCasino has decided to celebrate this by giving away $300,000 in cash prizes to their casino players!

This money is al put in a leaderboard ‘The Big Race’ where all PartyCasino players can collect points by playing at any of the progressive jackpot slots at PartyCasino. This race is going on from the 6th of january 2010 until junary 20, 2010.

When you are a palladium player there are even bigger prizes to win. For Palladium players PartyCasino has created a prize pool of $200,000 with $20,000 for the winner of the The Big Race. Every non palladium player will have a shot at a total of $100,000 in prize money with $10,000 for the winner. For non-palladium players the best 1,500 players will get paid! The winners will get paid at january 21, 2010, you can be one of them!

Although many casino industry experts expressed their critics to the opening of the new CityCenter in Las Vegas this month, investors at Wall Street strongly believe in MGM’s latest move. With a current share price of $9.41, option traders are betting on a price of $20 in January 2011.

It has to be seen if CityCenter can help MGM reduce its $13 billion long term debt. Industry experts believe that the 6,000 extra rooms will mainly compete with MGM’s other casinos, such as the Bellagio and New York New York. However, with an expected rise of 7 percent extra visitors is 2010, investors strongly believe that MGM will turn this new project into a long term success.

MGM’s share price has been on a wild ride of the last few years. With a peak of $96.40 a share in October 2007, the current price could easily double up in the coming year, making up for a bit of the 84% loss in 2008. With 1.5 times more bullish- than bearish options traded at the moment, Wall Street sure believes in a bright future for this giant in the casino industry.

The UK  stock exchange listed gambling company PartyGaming (known for PartyCasino) is talking to the Australian betting operator Bwin about a possible merger. A merger between these companies would create a £2 billion internet gambling company.

Even though PartyGaming shares put the value of the company at £1 billion last week, the company was estimated to be worth around £5 in 2005. This was before the UIGEA came in and PartyGaming lost 90% of it’s players. In April this year PartyGaming agreed a settlement with the US department of justice and paid a £65 million fine to avoid prosecutions for illegaly offering online gambling in the United States.

The strength of Bwin is especially in the field of online sports betting. While PartyGaming’s market shares are big in Online Casino and Online Poker a merger between these could benefit both. Also because of a similar market value the merger is expected to become a merger of equals. PartyGaming took a small step towards sports betting when they acquired the company Gamebookers, this was a £91 million purchase.

PartyGaming needs to grow it’s business, it is in fierce competition with operators like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker who still accept US players. This helped them take the market leading positions in online poker. Before the UIGEA in 2005 PartyPoker was the biggest internet poker company.

Even though this news was published by the Times both companies have not officially confirmed these merger talks.

With a spectacular fireworks show the new CityCenter in Las Vegas opened its doors to the public. The most expensive development project in Las Vegas ever built carries a price tag of approximately $8.5 billion. Considering the biggest financial crisis since the 1930′s, timing could not have been worse.

CityCenter’s owner MGM – well known for their MGM Grand, Bellagio, New York New York, and Luxor casinos – started the project together with another famous victim of the credit crunch, Dubai World. As Dubai World had to pull out because of a lack of funds, MGM was left behind and now has to carry the risk of this project alone, a gamble that even some of the most fanatic casino players would consider risky.

Americas macro economic numbers predict some very rough times ahead for the dessert city. With an umemployment rate of 12% and a national loss of $4tn of housing wealth, the near future is looking bad. The effects have already been noticed in Las Vegas with a 3.9% reduction in visitors. Hotel rooms have been slashed in 2009, averaging a reduction in rates of 23%. Such numbers makes you wonder: is this the right time to open a project that will increase the city’s hotel capacity with 4.2%?

Apart from the economic sense of the project, one has to admit the beauty of the project. The CityCenter involves four hotels, a shopping center, an entertainment hall, and two glass towers with luxury flats. This all is located at one of the prime locations at the Strip, between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts.