MGM Mirage officially appointed James Murren to the company’s top job yesterday, naming him as the successor to retiring chairman and chief executive officer Terry Lanni. The move comes amid growing regulatory concerns over Lanni’s past disclosures to the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The economic slowdown is still biting deeply into the Las Vegas Strip as its biggest casino operator MGM Mirage reported a steep decline in third-quarter profit and said it will postpone some big-ticket projects to ensure their flagship development is completed.

As the economic downturn tightens its grip, casino revenues across much of the US continue to wilt and fear of further deterioration has led at least one regulatory body to postpone a looming smoking ban.

The take continues to dwindle on the Las Vegas Strip (and pretty much everywhere else in Nevada) as figures released by regulators on Monday showed yet another drop in wagering for June. The bad news came despite an accounting anomaly which skewed the figures in favour of the casinos.

Hard times could help lotteries, according to a new study by a US university which found that the poorer people feel, the more likely they are to take a punt on state-sponsored sweepstakes.

US state lotteries are beginning to show signs of strain from the economic downturn, but instant prize games are proving to be a defiantly bright spot across an otherwise gloomy landscape. And with sales of numbers games and scratch tickets expanding in China too, the firms that supply them say they are poised to prosper.

Brisk business in Macau and a tax benefit helped lift Wynn Resorts to higher profit in the second quarter even as the economic downturn dragged down gambling revenue at its flagship Las Vegas property, the company said yesterday.

The news from Las Vegas keeps getting worse as a precipitous drop in Nevada’s gambling revenue for May compounded a litany of Sin City woes that include airfare hikes and capacity cuts, along with some of the lowest room rates since the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Simulcasting will return to Calder race track in Florida this week after Churchill Downs and the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association cut a deal on purses and a slots contract for when the property rolls out machines on a future, but still unnamed date.

A report which charts a precipitous decline in interest in online and terrestrial poker among young Americans has delivered a double whammy to the online poker industry, as opponents wield the research to reinforce their belief that prohibitive legislation has already had a positive effect on youth and problem gambling in the US.

The belief is growing that U.S. horseracing will be the subject of an attempt to impose some form of mandatory, standardized regulation following a congressional hearing yesterday that found some support for the idea among many – though by no means all – of the industry representatives on hand.

On the eve of their public grilling by a Congressional subcommittee probing a recent spate of highly-publicized race horse deaths in the U.S., track operators defended their overall safety records and hedged on the creation of a centralized governing body in a series of letters to the legislators overseeing the hearings.

Soaring fuel prices have started to hit home in Las Vegas as cash-strapped airlines hike fares and cut capacity at McCarran International Airport – Sin City’s tourism lifeline – leading to pressure on room rates and lower spending levels by visitors.

With Vegas visitors tightening their belts the Strip’s leading operator, MGM Mirage, has begun to consider its strategic options. In an interview with GamblingCompliance MGM’s chief financial officer Dan D’Arrigo ponders emerging markets, and the possibilities for a spin-off for their emerging international hospitality business.

A new smoking ban is scuttling revenue at Illinois’ 'riverboat' casinos as many players migrate to neighbouring states without such restrictions, while those that stay spend less time on the gambling floor as they step outside to indulge their habits. But, in the short term at least, prospects for a level playing field across the mid-west are remote.

The U.S. government – and at least one charity – are set to get a big payoff from Microsoft, Google and Yahoo, which will hand over a combined $31m in cash and kind to settle past claims that they promoted illegal online gambling.

Lately it has been languishing on a back burner thanks to a nasty – and continuing – political spat over the state budget in the Illinois General Assembly, but lottery privatization in the Land of Lincoln looks set to resurface again in the New Year.