IGT officials may have a tough sell convincing its best customers that what’s good for the slot manufacturing giant is also good for the rest of the casino industry. Blame it all on a rapidly changing business and social environment.

The sounds and furies of political warfare as the GOP presidential pretenders descend upon Florida’s vote rich counties and occupy nearly every waking minute of TV commercial time – bumping the ads of pari-mutuels, racinos and Indian gaming.

With four casinos under construction in Ohio, another in Maine, and the prospects of additional gambling properties to be built in Massachusetts and possibly in Florida, gaming machine manufacturers see a bright spot in their future.

At least two states – Florida and Ohio – are addressing the problem created by cafes, bars and restaurants that provide computer terminals so that patrons can play casino-styled games. 

Macau casinos were flooded with tourists over the past week as Chinese visitors celebrated the Lunar New Year Holiday.  One analyst noted that because of the huge number of customers at the tables the property management raised the table limits.

Gaming consultants that are assisting the State of Ohio get into the casino business submitted invoices of more than $1.5 million in 2011, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper.

After waiting several years since acquiring Scioto Downs, the harness track in Columbus, Ohio, MTR Gaming Group Inc. (MNTG) has received approval to operate video lottery terminals (VLTs) at the facility. 

Nearly two decades ago, the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Nation in Connecticut became eligible to build and operate a casino when the courts ruled that since the state permitted and licensed charitable casino games the Indians were entitled to do the same.

A fiscal year budget in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not include gaming revenues of any kind, suggesting that the licensing of three casinos and one racino, will not take place any time soon.

At least one worker was injured when a floor collapsed at a Cincinnati, Ohio, casino construction site on Friday remained in serious condition on Monday, according to a hospital spokesperson. 

Illinois is expected to be the first state to implement online gambling, although it will be limited to the sale of lottery tickets, but the District of Columbia is hustling to become the first jurisdiction to offer an expanded menu of intrastate online gambling.

Read the latest casino industry news bites about MGM Resorts International (MGM), Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD), Penn National Gaming Inc. (PENN), International Game Technology (IGT), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) and so much more.

Cantor Gaming® announced today that it has received final licensing approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board to operate the race and sports book at Palms Casino Resort.

Gaming Insider |  Ladbrokes, the U.K.-based booking giant has made its first U.S. purchase.  Its agreement to pay $3 million for about 65 percent of Las Vegas-based software developer Stadium Technology.

It appears that the state of Illinois will be in a position this spring to launch the sale of online lottery tickets, a move that follows the recent federal opinion regarding Internet gambling.  However, the Illinois Lottery will restrict its sale to Illinois residents.

Move over, gaming companies, Zynga, the publicly-traded company that brought you such gaming biggies as CastleVille and FarmVille, to name just two, now wants to jump into online gambling to see where the money is. 

Online poker cheating that took place in the 2003 to 2008 time frame through a Canadian website was settled for $20 million by Ultimate Bet. The website operators, licensed by the Kahnawake tribe of southern Ontario, agreed to the settlement following an investigation.