2008 May 09 Gambling News, Events and Happenings - Page 6

Breaking with the state teachers union, the Montgomery County Education Association voted Wednesday night not to endorse Maryland’s slot machine gambling referendum, according to a news release from Marylanders United to Stop Slots.

Linda M. Ritzer, Staff writer

A smoking ban approved by the Michigan Senate that includes casinos could keep gamblers away in Detroit, and gives an unfair advantage to casinos operated by tribes, casinos officials and observers said.

The future of electronic bingo games and the local charities supported by them in Sacramento County is being thrown into question as a number of the bingo operators have been ordered by the state attorney general’s office to stop using slot-machine look-alikes. The state says electronic bingo does not comply with the legal definition of the game and violates slot machine regulations.

The House has approved a revamp of the state’s bingo law — a plan that supporters say is needed to help nonprofit organizations compete with the state’s glitzy new casinos.

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Growing scientific evidence shows that gambling hijacks the brain by triggering a chemical reaction almost like cocaine does, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Gas prices are high. The economy is weak. And on the East Coast, competition for gamblers has become intense. Add some bad luck to the mix and you have Trump Entertainment Resorts, the latest in a string of casino companies to report disappointing first-quarter results.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown is ordering charity bingo parlors to stop using electronic bingo machines — a move parlor operators say will cost charities millions.

TORONTO Onex Corp. is ready to place a bet on the U.S. gambling industry, with struggling casino icon Tropicana Entertainment LLC a potential target for Gerald Schwartz’s buyout firm.