State referenda on Tuesday saw Maryland voters approve the introduction of class III gaming - and 15,000 slot machines - in the cash-strapped state, while measures that would have approved resort casinos in Maine and Ohio were comprehensively rejected.

Coloradans seem set to vote on measures that would allow state casinos to raise maximum stakes, open longer and add new games, after campaigners claimed they have received enough signatures to add the issue to this November’s ballot. Approval could prove a lifeline for Colorado’s casinos, which continue to suffer the impact of a statewide smoking ban that came into force in January.

Sponsors of a proposed plan for four casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio last week announced a ballot initiative to be included on the November 3, 2009 state-wide ballot. The proposal would seek to amend Ohio's Constitution, which currently prohibits casino gaming.

Arkansas is to become the 43rd US state to operate a public lottery following Governor Mike Beebe’s formal enactment of laws passed in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this week.

A judge in Missouri has cleared the way for a November vote to lift the state’s unique casino loss limit laws after throwing out a legal challenge to the referendum presented by plaintiffs aggrieved that voter approval would also introduce a cap on the number of casinos the state may host.

Voters in Ohio County have given their strong approval to table gambling at the local racetrack but fellow West Virginians in the more prosperous Jefferson County rejected the gambling expansion.

Intralot’s US arm has been given a further boost after it inked the company’s tenth state lottery deal.

The Ohio Lottery yesterday commenced operation of a controversial statewide keno game in a move one group of investors is hoping will foreshadow the approval of Ohio’s first resort casino in a public referendum to be held in November.

As Indian gaming tribes continue to increase their economic and political power in the coming years, they will come to be perceived more as corporations rather than sovereign political entities, but they could encounter labor issues as a result, write leading Indian gaming attorneys Michael Anderson and Lorinda Mall of AndersonTuell.

Confirmation that Governor Ted Strickland has placed the planned rollout of VLT gaming at Ohio racetracks on hold also bodes ill for an upcoming vote on whether to legalise Las Vegas-style casinos in the state, industry experts believe.