They call July the silly season, when important news stories are thin on the ground and a drama needs to be made of things that probably wouldn’t get a mention at other times of the year. Many businesses close for some weeks over July and August, summer vacation time through much of Europe and America. A fitting time, then, for the UK government to make backtracking noises over the gambling act due to come into force in September.

Across the pond in Indiana, Majestic Star Casino owner Don Barden has said he will stop paying incentive taxes to Gary City Council if council member Roy Pratt succeeds in having one of his casino licences rescinded. At a meeting that became a shouting match, Barden also said he would use the courts to tie up the issue for years.

In Pennsylvania, where Barden has been awarded one of the five stand-alone slots licences, the Senate has rejected a bill banning smokers in casinos, restaurants and bars. The move has delayed the bill for months and may derail it all together. It will now have to wait until the summer is over before being considered again by legislators. The news writers seized on the opportunity for headlines such as: smoking ban snuffed out.

In distant Nepal police have had to warn warring ex-partners in the country’s casino industry not to create disturbances. There have been various confrontations between Richard Tuttle and Rakesh Wadhwa as they battle for control. Gunmen fired shots at the Casino Royale in Kathmandu, which fortunately turned out to be blanks. The battle continues in the Hong Kong courts.

A battle of a different sort reigns in Connecticut. Visitors to Foxwoods Resort Casino played US$169 million less on its slot machines to 30 June 2007 than the previous fiscal year. Mohegan Sun ended the fiscal year up US$166 million, visitors having gambled US$10.6 billion on slot machines compared to US$9.2 billion at Foxwoods. Both casinos will now have to contend with increasing competition from gambling venues in neighbouring states.

That July might bring mayhem and madness was evident with the arrival of the auspicious date 07.07.07. It seems nowhere saw more madness and mayhem than Las Vegas where, with temperatures at 112F enough to drive anyone mad, the number of weddings undertaken that Saturday could have been described as lunatic.

In Macau it is said that the casinos are draining the electricity supply. Just one more thing for long-time residents to complain about as they see their housing costs rocket. Electricity consumption already has risen 17.6% over the first five months. A third and fourth electricity cable from Guangdong Province on the mainland are in the process of being laid to increase capacity.

Back in not so sunny Britain the government is ‘pausing’ to await the results of an independent Gambling Commission report due in September. Manchester City Council has taken as an insult the declaration by the Prime Minister that deprived areas might be better served by other forms of regeneration. As they say, a super casino was carefully considered as the best way forward for regeneration before the licence application was made. Parliament’s summer recess will further delay progress on the 16 new casino licences. (E-07.17.07)

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