“It will help the turnover but I’ll be surprised if the profit gets a particular boost,” Chief Executive Andrew McIver told Reuters.

“Bookmakers don’t tend to make a lot of money on things like the World Cup because there’s not many teams and the predictable ones tend to be there at the end,” he said.

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Sporting Bet, which gets almost 90 percent of its bets from Europe, said it was pleased the second quarter ended Jan. 31 came in line despite the recessionary backdrop.

The firm reported adjusted operating profit of 11.2 million pounds ($16.7 million) and saw net gaming revenue rise 22.3 percent to 52.6 million pounds.

But margins dropped to 8.2 percent in February from the group’s target of about 10 percent after a run of football results went against the firm despite more bets being placed.

“It was really down to more favourites winning in European football,” McIver said, adding that 65 percent of all the bets takes in Europe are on football, with the percentage increasing every year.

McIver also said that consolidation was not a priority for Sportingbet unless the right deal came along.

Royal Time Company opened the doors of Casino Oracle in Azov City, on the Azov Sea coast, last Saturday. The 1,500sq.m property features over 200 slot machines and 10 gambling tables, as well as a restaurant and bar. An 11-room hotel is to be opened later this year, with a 233-room hotel planned for 2017.

Although the operator is planning to offer free transport from the cities of Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don, the distances involved and the apparent lack of interest from other investors has raised concern that the gambling zones will struggle to attract visitors.

Making changes to the gaming industry has been a hot topic in Des Moines, with lawmakers considering a number of other proposals aimed at generating revenue through gambling.

“Where’s the logic? The availability has been going up and the funding going down for education and treatment” says Doug Billingsley of ADDS Gambling treatment services.

Billingsly says gambling is the third leading cause of suicide nationwide.

He says he’s not against having more gambling but hopes there will be more investment in gambling treatment.

Former mayor John Sayers, 75, who runs weekly bingo at the town hall in Sudbury, Suffolk, said he had been advised to stop using these phrases. He said no one had complained about being offended, but players had since moaned that his new style is “boring”.

Sudbury Town Council said it had issued the advice due to legal concerns.

Sue Brotherwood, Sudbury Town Council clerk, said: “We hear these things, of people being sued because of it, and obviously we have to take it on board.

“It’s very sad that everyone seems to have lost their sense of humour.”

Mr Sayers, a serving councillor, told the BBC: “The concern was that if there might be two large ladies in the audience when I said ‘two fat ladies 88′ or someone might think I was looking at their legs when I said ‘legs 11′.

“I was advised that someone might take offence and we could end up being taken to court.”

He added: “I don’t like it. “No-one had ever complained about being offended. But they moan now, they say it’s boring. And I think just saying the numbers is boring too. “I’m obviously not being offensive – just having a bit of fun. It’s the tradition of the game and part of our language.”

The news of Vahedi’s passing quickly spread amongst poker players and poker fans through social media sites.  Professional poker player Mark Seif sent a message through Twitter stating, “I’ve just been told by close friends of Amir Vahedi, that Vahedi passed away in Las Vegas on January 8, 2010, due to complications involving blood sugar levels.  Waiting for for more details.  Devastating news.  Very very sad.”

Jeffrey Pollack, former tournament director for the World Series of Poker, tweeted, “Amir was one of my favorite people in poker…. This is so sad, RIP my friend, your laugh will always be missed!”

Vahedi made the televised final table of the World Series of Poker main event in 2003, taking home $250,000 in prize money.  Through his career he has officially recorded $2.5 million in tournament prize money.

Vahedi was a former Iranian soldier and veteran of the Iran-Iraq war before coming to America as a political refugee.  He is credited with teaching a number of people the finer arts of poker, including Hollywood celebrity Ben Affleck.

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.

The site has released a list of around twenty industries which they find objectionable that includes, “gambling, including without limitation any online casino, sports books, bingo or poker”, these products sit beside firearms, tobacco and spy cameras on the list of banned advertising.

The list goes on to ban and monitor under strict policies: uncertified pharmaceuticals, inflammatory religious content, pyramid schemes and nudity. The company intends to protect its vast online community by adopting and implementing advertising censorship.

The banning of online casino advertising, however, does not stop online gaming operators creating facebook groups and fan pages in order to stay in contact with fans and players, updating them on news and promotions happening at their sites.

Andrew Rodgerson, 26, realised he faced owing £56,000 to a betting syndicate when he discovered he was too late to place the last piece of an accumulator on Conduit winning the last of a series of races. So he used terror tactics to try to force the owners of the four-year-old colt to withdraw it from the £500,000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

After getting the numbers of the Ballymacoll Stud from newspaper adverts, Rodgerson sent a string of email and text messages to the manager with one reading: “We don’t believe you are taking the death of Conduit very seriously.

“We want the horse removed from the King George race this weekend. If you co-operate the horse will live. There are people in and around Newmarket ready and willing and there will also be people at Ascot on Saturday.”

But just two days before the race, Rodgerson was tracked down by detectives from two police forces who traced the messages to his bedroom 300 miles away in Balderstones, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where he had set up a secret betting base. It emerged he had become so busy at his regular job at a travel agency he forgot to complete the sequence of bets he had been asked to place – leaving his syndicate out of pocket. Conduit later romped home to victory.

On Monday, Rodgerson, 26, pleaded guilty to threatening to commit damage and was sentenced to 34 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work. His not guilty plea to blackmail was accepted.

Bolton Crown Court was told the offence occurred in July when Conduit, which had already won £1 million in prize money, was favourite to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Peter Reynolds, the manager of the Ballymacoll stud in Ireland where Conduit was bred, initially received a text message which said: “Dear Peter, we would just like to warn you should Conduit run in the King George then the horse will be killed.” Mr Reynolds then alerted the colt’s trainer. “Mr Reynolds was concerned that, after 37 years in the industry, he had never received any threatening messages before,” said Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting.

Four hours later, Mr Reynolds got an email from a person who claimed he had heard a conversation in a bar in Manchester in which the horse Conduit was discussed and he claimed to have overheard that if it ran the horse would be killed. Mr Reynolds waited five days before calling police but then got the personal email from Rodgerson warning of people “ready and willing” to kill Conduit if he ran in the race.

Rodgerson’s mother later told police her son had had a gambling habit since he was 19 and kept large amounts of money in his bedroom. Rodgerson – said to come from a religious family – said he often placed £300-400 bets each way on particular horses up to five times a day and built up his syndicate through friends at a cricket club.

Defending, Joseph Hart said: “He met local businessmen who liked to put money on the horses, and liked to make clever bets. He was put in touch with a gambling syndicate and there were people putting up much bigger sums of money. “They told him when and where to put the bets on. They would bet on the best horses at the best races at the best odds.

“He was working in a travel agency but in the background he had the betting syndicate, which would insist on him putting bets on all through the day at specific times with specific companies and he forgot. “He had a great big bet to put on Conduit on the accumulator and he forgot. He was too busy at work and didn’t put it on at the right time with the right company. “And he suddenly found himself realising that if Conduit won he would owe this syndicate around £55,000. He was utterly and completely terrified – he simply didn’t know what to do. So he panicked and committed an unsophisticated and stupid crime.”

Conduit went on to win the race, netting more than £500,000 in prize money. In November, he won his second consecutive Breeders’ Cup title before running fourth in the Japan Cup. He is now standing as a stallion in Japan.

This has got to be one of the biggest cash prized bingo games we have ever seen run by an online bingo site to date, so for all you interested players this is how the 888 Ladies Bingo golden ticket game works.

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The golden ticket final £5,000,000 game will be played on 17th February 2010 at precisely 9.30pm, but to take part in this one you need to win a golden ticket first. When this game does run all golden ticket holders will get to participate in at and play for the £5 million cash prize, and no matter what one very lucky 888 Ladies Bingo player is going to end up quids in on the night as this game is guaranteed to payout at least a £50,000 cash prize, with the top prize being £5m.

Every day between now and 10th February there will be 30 golden tickets up for grabs at 888 Ladies Bingo and you can win these in a number of different ways.

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Full details of just how you could get your hands on those all important golden tickets are listed on 888 Ladies Bingo for you to view, but we can tell you that these include being a newbie player, giving their instant games a whirl, playing in their five daily free bingo games and guaranteed £50 75 ball bingo jackpot games, plus an exclusive golden ticket offer is open to gold VIP 888 Ladies Bingo players only.

The golden ticket game will be a coverall jackpot game, meaning the first player to cover all the numbers on their bingo card will win. At a certain point in the game the money on offer £5,000,000 will start to decrease with each ball that is called, but like I said earlier the least amount which will be won has been set at a guaranteed £50,000 jackpot prize, giving all golden ticket players so much to play for!

The amfAR Charity Event will run as part of the PCA Festival of Poker at the Atlantis in The Bahamas with celebrities, sports stars and top pro players among those set to take part. The tournament will have a $5,250 buy-in and half of the entire prize pool will go to amfAR to support their innovative research to help fight the global AIDS epidemic.

This star-studded event will welcome major PokerStars-sponsored sports stars such as NHL star and Olympic gold medalist Mats Sundin, tennis legend Boris Becker and French rugby player Sebastien Chabal as well as members of Team PokerStars Pro – including newly-crowned World Series champion Joe Cada.

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is a big supporter of PokerStars charity initiatives and has pledged his support. “PokerStars is bringing a truly innovative and fulfilling cause to the PCA this year through their partnership with amfAR. As a member of Team PokerStars Pro, I feel very lucky to be able to participate in, and contribute to, such a worthwhile cause in the name of AIDS research.”

Founded in 1985, amfAR is dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research. With the freedom and flexibility to respond quickly to emerging areas of scientific promise, amfAR plays a role in accelerating the pace of HIV/AIDS research and achieving real breakthroughs. amfAR has invested nearly $290 million in its mission and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.