A shamed store manager who squandered bogus lottery refunds to feed her own gambling habit has escaped being sent to prison.

Kezia Hopkinson, 27, from Priest Road,Swanage, admitted the theft of £20,576 from WHSmith PLC while she was running their premises at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Carolyn Branford-Wood said an investigation had been launched at the store after financial irregularities were detected in February 2010.

She added: There were high levels of National Lottery pay-outs and a covert camera was installed to cover the tills and office. The footage showed Miss Hopkinson removing money and putting through false lottery refunds or winnings.

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Hopkinson, who denied pocketing the cash until she was shown the incriminating CCTV evidence, was £12,000 in debt. She told police she had frittered the money away on nights out with friends, splashing out on Champagne and gambling on slot machines, using part of the proceeds to buy a new car. During interview, she added: It was a habit; I couldn’t help himself.

In Hopkinson’s defence, the court heard that she was a woman of previous good character and truly remorseful.

At the time of the offences, she had been under immense pressure to boost sales and been suffering from depression, anxiety and a gambling problem.

Sentencing Hopkinson, Judge Roger Jarvis described the offence as very serious, and told Hopkinson: You were in a position of trust – the money has mainly been squandered. He imposed a 40-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with a 12-month supervision requirement and 20-day activity requirement.

Australians will wager almost $1 billion on illegal online gaming this year, raising concerns it could become as big a social problem as poker machines.

The Gillard Government yesterday foreshadowed its crackdown on problem gambling would move into cyberspace to target the growing epidemic.

Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin told a problem-gambling conference  held ironically at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast  that online betting was emerging as a major concern that would be tackled at a meeting of state and territory ministers early next year.

The move came as new research showed Australians would wager almost $1 billion on illegal online gaming alone this year and a leading gambling researcher warned young people were being caught up in the boom.

Internet gambling, apart from sports betting and lotteries, is banned in Australia, but many Australians access overseas-based gambling sites offering games such as poker and keno.
“It has been estimated that Australians will spend about $968 million in 2010 on illegal (overseas) sites,” gambling researcher Dr Sally Gainsbury told the National Association of Gambling Studies conference.

Dr Gainsbury, from Southern Cross University’s Centre of Gambling Education and Research, said internet gambling worldwide was forecast to grow in value from $21 billion in 2008 to $30 billion by 2012.

“It is highly accessible, fast and can be played alone at home with just a credit card and unregulated sites provide few player-protection measures,” she said.

The Productivity Commission, in a report on Australians’ addiction to gambling earlier this year, recommended a 10-year ban on internet gaming be lifted but the Federal Government refused.

Ms Macklin told the conference that while gambling was an enjoyable pastime for many Australians, for many others it was “a very, very destructive problem”.

Estonia is preparing to welcome a new surge of international investment after making online gambling legal.

The legalisation will also boost public finances through a specific taxation imposed on gaming operators, the Estonian Free Press reports. This year Estonians will be able to play nation-based gaming platforms such as the one set up by Olympic Casino group. Full international access to the Estonian gaming market will come into force in 2011.

According to the news provider, the decision to legalise online gambling comes after the success of the Baltic Poker Festival and the policy of other European governments to boost revenues from gambling by adopting ad-hoc legislation.

The Estonian market could be a gateway to high levels of investment for the whole Baltic market from international gambling operators, the report added.

This week, the market analyst Mondo Visione reported a marked increase in international investment interests in Estonia in 2009 as its stock exchange saw the second highest number of transactions in the last decade.

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Sin City welcomed some 315,000 revelers for New Year’s Eve with fireworks from casino rooftops, celebrity toasts at nightclubs and a traffic-free Las Vegas Strip. The downtown Fremont Street Experience hoped to host 35,000 partiers as it held a bash with nine bands and a countdown by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

Bundled-up revelers began trickling in at 6 p.m. for a block party with plenty of street-side bars and 2010 knickknacks. Bartenders flipped shakers and danced on the bar, while crowds sang along with tribute bands playing hits from U2, Van Halen and Aerosmith.

Elsa Valenzuela, a 27-year-old third-grade teacher from Victorville, Calif., said that despite graduating from high school and college during the last 10 years, she’s glad to move on from the past decade. “The horrible outfits, the bad hair,” she said as she and her boyfriend wore matching novelty hats and beads. “I really think it’s just more like thinking ahead on the possibilities and the good that we can do and the changes that we can make.”

David Fraley, 56, of Las Vegas, said he’s also ready to get away from the aughts. “This decade’s over, let’s get a better one going,” said Fraley, who said he lost his job as a supermarket liquor clerk in March. “My wish is a job. I’ve been laid off. I need work,” he said, sporting glasses that displayed “2010″ in blue lights.

On the Strip, actress Eva Longoria was scheduled to host at Eve nightclub at CityCenter, the newest casino complex in town. Other celebrity hosts at various clubs included rapper 50 Cent, singer Robin Thicke, Nicole Ritchie and Maroon 5, while DJs Mix Master Mike, Jermaine Dupri and DJ Z-Trip were scheduled to spin.

Las Vegas Boulevard was closed to vehicles from the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino to the Sahara. Police spokesman Ramon Denby said there were no major problems before 11 p.m., with eight adults arrested for various misdemeanors and one juvenile arrested for being on the Strip past curfew without a chaperone. Official crowd counts were not immediately available, Denby said.

At midnight, more than seven minutes of fireworks were shot from seven casinos on the Strip, stretching more than four miles from the MGM Grand to the Stratosphere. The show cost an estimated $500,000 and was brought back to the rooftops after a toned-down fireworks show last year was panned by tourists, city officials and casino executives.

Gone from the festivities were stunts. Last year, three stunts were performed in Las Vegas as part of television specials. This year, television networks Fox, ABC and CNN all planned New Year’s Eve programming from Las Vegas.

Tourism officials said they expected the city’s 148,000 hotel rooms to be 96 percent full as casinos slash prices to get more people in town.

The estimate of 315,000 tourists eclipsed last year’s total of 312,000 visitors, but the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said it expected folks to spend less than they did last year because of the bargains.

The agency, which promotes tourism to Las Vegas, estimated revelers would spend $183.4 million, down from $199.5 million last year.

In downtown Reno, several casinos pooled efforts to bring back fireworks in hopes the display would add excitement and encourage more visitors. The tradition went on hiatus last year as companies tried to save money.

They planned a $65,000, 15-minute show with Michael Jackson-themed music.

Associated Press reports indicate that the online gambling operator BetOnSports have been put on probation for five years and fined with $28.2 million on Tuesday,when a federal judge in St.Louis has sentenced the company.The lawyers on both sides belive that the fine is less likely to be paid.

BetOnSports legal defenders claim the company has more liabilities than assets and still owes U.S. gamblers $7 million to $8 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Holtshouser told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the amount owed to U.S. gamblers is probably much higher and supposably only half of those gamblers went through the steps to verify money owed to them.

Gary Kapla,the company founder was convicted last month to 51 months in prison after he has pleaded guilty,in August to conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy and violating the Wire Wager Act for running what once was one of the world’s largest offshore sports gambling companies and he agreed to forfeit  $43.65 million.His brother and sister have been convicted to ten months house arrest and having to turn over $6 million held in offshore bank accounts.

David Carruther,former CEO has also pleaded guilty and is remaining under house arrest awaiting sentencing.

Last week, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski signed a bill limiting all land-based gambling in Poland to licensed casinos, and banning slot machines in all non-casino venues. The bill also outlaws the marketing and advertising of gambling in the country, though it does not address sponsorship of Polish sports teams by online sportsbooks. Many of Poland’s top football teams are supported financially by foreign-based sportsbook operators, and their jerseys bear the logos and embalms of these companies.

Discussion is about to begin on a new draft legislation that would introduce further changes to Polish gambling laws. The proposed legislation would place severe restrictions on online gambling in the country, and would also place a ban on the sponsorship of Poland’s sports teams by companies in the e-gaming industry.

Under the proposed legislation it will still be legal to bet on sports in Poland, but Polish teams would not be allowed to wear shirts advertising online sportsbooks. Naturally, the thought of losing this lucrative source of sponsorship has Polish teams alarmed. Online gambling sponsorships of Polish sports teams currently amounts to approximately 50 million Polish zloties ($18.2 million) annually. This new legislation would be devastating to the teams that receive this money.

Sponsorship of European football clubs by online sportsbook operators is becoming more and more common. For example, by early 2010 France will open its doors to the world of online gambling, and Ligue 1 clubs Lyon and Marseille will start wearing shirts carrying the logo of a major European sportsbook starting in January. Other countries have taken the opposite route: online sportsbook sponsorship of teams in Russia and Ukraine is currently illegal, and Portugal’s football league recently lost its sportsbook sponsorship after the country’s state-controlled gambling operator won a battle in court.

This proposed legislation in Poland is still preliminary, and the outcome could go either way. The proposed changes are certain to bring up a lot of arguments from both sides. There is no estimation on when a decision will be made.

Poland’s parliament on Friday adopted a law that confines gambling to casinos and phases out the slot machines currently in many Polish cafes, clubs, shops and service stations.

“Barring any surprises, I hope the president will be able to affix his signature as of November 30,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said when presenting the project two days ago.

The Senate voted in favour of the project with 48 votes to 3, and 30 abstentions.

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The law received the green light from the lower chamber on Thursday, and now requires the signature of Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, before it can come into effect.

Gambling will be made illegal for individuals below 18 years of age under the law.

The decision by parliament comes nearly a month and a half after Tusk was forced to sack several key ministers and political allies over allegations of influence peddling within his cabinet regarding the gambling legislation.

A massive online gambling ring was broken up by the Israel Police and the Tax Authority on Monday.

The operation was jointly handled by the police’s specialist Lahav 433 unit, Tax Authority investigators, state prosecutors and the Money Laundering Prohibition Authority. Over 300 police officers and Tax Authority officials raided the homes of 37 suspects across the country, taking dozens of gamblers in for questioning, and seizing assets worth tens of millions of shekels.

Twenty court orders authorizing the Tax Authority to seize the vehicles and assets of suspects had been made available before the raid, and 160 bank accounts have been frozen.

“We employed techniques to monitor the Web site that are very similar to eavesdropping,” a police source told The Jerusalem Post.

In a statement released on Monday, police described the ring as a “pirate sports gambling industry that has taken in more than NIS 340 million since 2007.” “Internet gambling is one of the severe crime phenomena among Israeli crime organizations,” police added. “It brings with it other forms of serious crimes, like aggravated extortion, violence, money laundering, tax offenses, and theft of moneys from public funds.”

An elaborate hi-tech support network enabled the site’s ongoing operation, police said, including a Web site construction team, a technical support team, and betting agents.

“Millions of shekels in clean profit were made by the Web site’s operators,” police said. “Between April 2007 and June 2009, 70 million visits were recorded on the Web site, mostly by gamblers.”

Over the past year, a team of state prosecutors and investigators from the Tax Authority and police plotted to strike a blow to illegal Internet gambling rings.

Police said Monday’s raids were the result of the first undercover investigation led by the Joint Intelligence Center (JIC).

In March 2007, the government set up the JIC and tasked it with providing information to various police and Tax Authority task forces investigating crime organizations.

The center is based at the Intelligence Branch of the Israel Police headquarters in Jerusalem. It includes representatives from the police, Tax Authority and Money Laundering Prohibition Authority.

On Tuesday, the Polish Government had approved a draft on a law that would limit casino operations within the member state of the European Union. The law will limit different gambling options in several ways, but online casinos may be completely tossed out the window.

The ban would limit Poland’s casino choices only to the ones that are already established. This would mean that no new permits would be issued to hopeful casino operators. Another portion of the legislation would also raise taxes on the current casinos within Poland. Video lotteries would also be banned completely, leaving basic slot machines as the only option.

While still in its draft stage, the law needs the approval of both the parliament and president. Though these approvals have not yet been attained, both parties are expected to give the go-ahead on the ban. Ironically, mere weeks have passed since a scandal involving gambling and lobbying had stricken the Polish legislation with allegations.