Kansas is going through some hard economic times these days, as is much of the American heartland. Ironically, these are the times when casinos look a lot more appealing to the folks in charge. The state of Kansas is awarding four casino licenses, and the Kansas Speedway is so intent on landing one that they’re willing to build a road course in the infield of their 1.5-mile tri-oval.

Kansas is currently the host of the LifeLock 400, formerly known as the “Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods.” The speedway already announced two weeks ago that it wants a second NASCAR Sprint Cup race to add to the calendar as part of the casino push. The road course is apparently not related to that pursuit; instead, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is the speedway’s target.

The course will reportedly cost between $8 million and $10 million, compared to the proposals for a $700-million casino complex in Wyandotte County. Ka-ching.

A state report showed that the Nevada casino take is down 1.9% this June from last June. They still won $12.5 billion from gamblers; it’s just a bit less than what they made last year. The Vegas Strip’s revenues are down close to the same percentage, at 1.5% from 2007. The win came from a record $164.4 billion wagered last year.

This win is the amount of cash that’s left after winners get paid. It doesn’t include revenues from hotels, restaurants, or bars. The majority of the win came from the slots, with blackjack and baccarat in second and third, respectively.

This marks six straight months of decline compared to last year’s numbers. But the rate is not growing. In fact, May’s figures were worse, down 15.2% from May 2007. And let’s not forget that it’s profit that’s down slightly. The casinos are still raking it in, despite the downward trend.

At least that’s what Arelia Taveras is saying. The 37-year-old New Yorker (who now lives in Minnesota) had a successful career as a lawyer, a nice home, fancy clothes and an addiction to casino gambling that she feels is like being addicted to drugs.

“It’s like crack, only gambling is worse than crack because it’s mental,” said Taveras. “It creeps up on you, the impulse. It’s a sickness.”

After blowing her life savings and refinancing her house, she eventually lost her law practice, her apartment, her parents’ home, and she now owes the IRS $58,000. According to Taveras, much of the blame rests with the casinos so she’s suing them for $20 million.

“They knew I was going for days without eating or sleeping,” Taveras said. “I would pass out at the tables. They had a duty of care to me. Nobody in their right mind would gamble for four or five straight days without sleeping.”

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What do you make of this woman? Does she have a case or do you think she’s trying to milk money from the casinos to pay for her problems? Drop me a line!

Heading to New Jersey to gamble will no longer be the only option for New Yorkers. The Catskills, the once popular summer destination of weekending New Yorkers, will be getting a big boost with the building of a $1B resort. It will include gambling, golf, shopping, a spa, a water park, and horse racing.

Developers have tried to get a casino in the Catskills for decades, but have never been able to acquire a license. After failed attempts with local native tribes, Louis Cappelli came up with the idea to buy out the old Empire Resort’s race track and incorporate it into a new mega resort.

The casino will have limited action with horse racing and video VLTs. It will not be a full-fledged casino, but the added attraction of some forms of gaming will surely make it a popular close getaway for many people.

With the success of the Aussie Millions poker tournament, New Zealand is looking to amp up their annual poker tournament. Last year’s event only had 50 entrants playing for a $30,000 prize pool. This year the tournament had 150 entrants playing for $340,000, with 90% of the entrants coming from New Zealand.

SkyCity Entertainment Group is the country’s largest casino operator and they’ve decided to cash in on the new poker craze Down Under. They intend to host a million-dollar guaranteed tournament at the Auckland casino. Poker has become the most popular game in the casino since Joe Hachem won the WSOP main event three years ago.

Ejaaz Dean, SkyCity’s new table game boss who has more than 20 years experience in the casino business says, “I think SkyCity has the fundamentals in place to host such a tournament. But we will have to offer at least a million.”

Apparently the party is slowing down in China. The Chinese government has decided that the rapidly expanding gaming industry in the country needs to be levelled out and reviewed. They have stopped issuing any new casino licences in Macau until further notice; that includes sub-concession gaming licenses as well. Gambling has been legal in Macau since 2002.

To date there are three concessions and another three sub-concessions. These casinos will have all the action until the government decides to change its current position on the issue. Macau rivals the entire state of Nevada in gaming revenue already, but that looks like it will slow down for the next while.

“We’re now at a stage to review and estimate the development of the industry. We decided not to issue any new casino concessions, including casino sub-concessions,” said government official Edmund Ho during a question and answer session with legislators.

1. In 1993 Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis made off with a Loomis Truck that had $2.5M in it outside of Circus Circus. Just over 12 years later, Tallchief turned herself in.

2. Bill Brennan, a cashier at the Stardust, left for lunch during a shift in 1992 with over $500,000 in cash and chips in a duffle bag. Fifteen years later, there is no sign of Brennan.

3. The Orleans poker room manager was arrested by Nevada Gaming Control Board agents and charged with stealing more than $200,000 in tournament entry fees.

4. Three masked men carrying semi-automatic weapons burst into the Isle of Capri Casino and held patrons at gunpoint, making off with nearly $100,000.

5.  Thirteen people were arrested for cheating Claridge Casino Hotel out of more than $100,000 in mini-baccarat. A dealer used a false shuffle that allowed players to know the order of the cards.

In California this week, San Diego prosecutors have managed to crack a sophisticated scam which they believe has led to a minimum of $7 million in illegal wins being taken from casinos around the state. At one casino, the gang in question was known to bank over $800,000 in under 90 minutes.

This is a latest in a long line of scams which are hitting the casino industry. This one involved the use of computers off site. Players on the floor were able to relay the run of cards using hidden devices which they placed on their clothing and this was then fed into a central computer which logged the sequence. Bribed with large payoffs, the dealers then carried out a false shuffle where a large number of cards would remain untouched while giving the appearance of being shuffled.

Once the cards were dealt the off site computers calculated the chances of a big win, and this was relayed back to the players where they would make their bets accordingly. It’s still not known how the scam was found out and the casinos refuse to reveal their monitoring systems for obvious reasons.

As for the leader of this scam has been warned to expect to spend upwards to 20 years in prison, for pleading guilty to the crime. As for the other known associates, they are also in the frame for substantial custodial sentences. Names are not currently being giving out at this time.

Matthew Dunlap, Maine’s Secretary of State issued the ruling that a referendum proposal to allow a casino on Oxford County can appear on the November’s ballot. After reviewing petitions signed by registered voters who support the referendum, it was certified that there were 59,504 signatures 4,417 more than needed to send the question to Main voters.

“It’s a first step ……in a long journey to hopefully bring economic recovery to a state that could use it right now,” said Seth Carey, president of Evergreen Mountain Enterprises LLC, which was formed to promote the casino.

If Maine voters approved the plan, the municipality would still have to approve the project. The facility would have slot machines, bazaar and lottery games, video facsimiles, card games, table games and other games of chance. The proposal also seeks to lower the minimum age to play a slot machine or gaming device from 21 to 19.

The UK is set to begin plans for 16 large casinos throughout the country. Gerry Sutcliffe, UK Sports Minister should announce the plans in parliament soon. This comes after all the controversy over the possible construction of a super casino near Manchester, a casino plan which was thwarted by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Now we know why he did that.

There has been much opposition to the addition of casinos in the UK, mainly led by church leaders in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber. They feel the smaller casinos don’t pose as much of a threat to problem gamers and society as a whole. What they will do is bring in needed revenue to improve deprived neighbourhoods throughout the country. They will only be permitted to be open 18 hours a day. They cannot serve free drinks and players won’t be able to use credit cards.