Recently released Nielsen/NetRatings data showed France to be Europe's online gambling frontrunner. The French were documented as gambling twice as often and for three times as long as their British counterparts.

The French may be particularly attracted to internet gambling due to the country's restrictions on land-based gambling; only betting through state-managed operations is legal in France. State sponsored betting ventures are limited to PMU (Pari Mutuel Urbain), lotto and the National Lottery.

The prospect of slot-machine gambling holding the answer for New Hampshire budget woes failed by an embarrassing margin before the state Senate Thursday.
The Senate voted, 18-6, against passing legislation to allow up to 5,700 slot machines at New Hampshire's four racetracks and three resort locations in the North Country.

Manchester Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro vainly tried to get lawmakers to advance the cause to close a two-year state budget gap he estimated at more than $250 million.

The Seminole Tribe notified Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday that it wants to negotiate an agreement to have full-fledged, traditional slot machines.

The tribe argued that it is entitled to slots because voters statewide and in Broward County have approved slot machines at four Broward tracks and jai-alai frontons

An angry divide between Broward state legislators and the county School Board festered Monday, almost a week after Sen. Steve Geller shouted down board member Beverly Gallagher at a committee meeting to discuss slot machine tax proposals.

The spat led board chairwoman Stephanie Kraft to fire off a letter to members of the delegation and the committee demanding Geller apologize for his behavior. Geller on Monday flatly refused to apologize.

Voters in Broward County said yes to slot machines Tuesday, paving the way to put them into seven jai-lai frontons and dog and horse tracks.

Now, Central Florida's dog track operators want to bring slot machines into their businesses, too, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

Many dog track customers in Central Florida said they would like the choice of dogs, slot machines or both.

Few things get a casino boss’ skin crawling the way talk of loose slots can. The odds on their own slot machines are a secret they’ll guard with their life. But many are willing to guess, at how their machines compare with competing tribal casinos in California.

With gamblers reporting “time on device,” or the amount of time they can gamble with a given amount of money, as their top concern, how Northern Nevada odds stack up to tribal properties is crucial in competing for bettors.

Online casino and betting operators are up against a particular set of challenges in the way of computer crime and an upcoming UK conference plans to address some of these vital concerns. Combating Cyber Crime in the Betting and Gaming Business, a unique one-day conference scheduled for this Wednesday, February 23rd, will focus on some of the security challenges facing the online gaming industry. The conference will convene at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington, London.

Slot machine manufacturer Mikohn Gaming Corp. today said it earned $79,000 in the fourth quarter, up from a loss of $10.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes for the fourth quarter were $200,000, or 2 cents per share, compared to a loss of $7.7 million, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier. The figures don't include one-time charges and other non-recurring items.

David A. Marcus, CEO of Echovox, examines the effect of the changing UK gambling legislation on the mobile gambling (m-gambling) market.

David A. MarcusWith the Government looking to review gambling regulations for the first time since 1968, the legislation around m-gambling is provoking huge levels of interest. The Netherlands and Sweden have already created ‘mobile’ lottery licenses and Britain is set to follow suit.

Lower-than-anticipated revenues from the slot machines at Western Fair Raceway are forcing the city to look elsewhere in its budget to make up a $525,000 shortfall. The revelation comes as the city is wrestling with a proposed 7.3-per-cent property tax hike this year.