Dennis Shields was showing his mother, who was visiting from Tennessee, the magnificence of California casinos. While playing at the Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, he was also able to share with her the joy of becoming a millionaire.

Mr. Shields had played $180 in a $5 Wheel of Fortune slot machine when he hit the $1,004,038 jackpot. “Once the three logos lined up, I was in shock, but nothing was happening and the machine was silent,” Shields explained. “Once the attendant arrived, I realized I'd won a million dollars. I tried to call my wife, who was in total disbelief, but she finally came over to see what I'd won.”

The Gaming Control Board is expected to award a slots license in Pittsburgh and four other cities in the state. The companies competing for the Pittsburgh license are Forest City, Isle of Capri and PITG Gaming.

Shannon Biggard, from Pittsburgh is pleased with the news "I think it would be a great change, something different, something that has to add to Pittsburgh, something for it to offer."

There is a proposal to remove some slot machines and other games played in Native American casinos across the United States. Members of the National Gaming Commission are considering eliminating Class II games, an idea that is not appealing to Native American tribes.

According to Katie Matha, Ho-Chunk Nation spokesperson, the law could affect bingo, poker rooms and some slot machines at the tribe’s casinos and gambling venues. “The entire operation at the Nation’s De Jope gaming facility in Madison is comprised of Class II machines,” she explained.

The Delaware County Community College will start offering training courses for slot machines technicians as of next month. The initiative comes as an answer for the needs of the four new casinos scheduled to open in the next few years.

“The School is partnering with Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey to use the College’s existing curriculum to train workers locally,” Walter Yakabosky, Dean of Technical Education, said. The program costs $3,900 and requires students to complete 375 course hours to receive a certificate. “Seventy-five of those hours will be spent on an internship at a casino or video game arcade,” Yakabosky explained.

The Uruguayan city of Colonia del Sacramento is the chosen place for the most modern private casino in South America. The casino is aimed for the Argentinean market and tourism.

The casino will be located at an important international hotel and will operate under a Uruguayan government permit.

The casino will have 152 slot machines, 6 roulette tables and 9 poker, blackjack and baccarat tables. The casino will also create almost 100 jobs.

The new Casinos Law would be oriented to in favor the companies that operate outside the law and it will allow them not to pay taxes for over 150 million, the tax lawyer Jorge Manini said.

The current legal mark of slot machines and casinos is given by Law Nº 27153, which establishes the Gaming Taxes. However, on January 1st, 2007, law 28872 should substitute the previous one, and this one substitutes the tax for a special regimen of Rent Tax, with which these businesses should pay about 198 million.

Last week, the company CET SA (Entertainment and Tourism Company in Spanish) added a new gaming room to the net they exploit in the province of Cordoba. Previous to the agreement with the municipality, they opened the facilities of their new electronic casino in the city of Cosquin.

The new room is located in the intersection of the Presidente Perón and Salta streets, were the old Uritorco Cinema was, that has been recycled to improve it for this new use and operates 24 hours a day.

Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. aims to earn 85 percent of its incomes outside Australia within five years in Asia, the U.S. and Russia. The company is the world’s second biggest manufacturer of slot machines and it gets almost 75 percent of its profits from outside Australia.

“Aristocrat supplied almost 55 percent of the slot machines in the first Las Vegas-style casinos built in Macao,” CEO Paul Oneile said. “The company would be disappointed if it didn’t get a similar market share in the three casinos being built by Melco PBL Entertainment’s Macau venture.”

Last Thursday, November 23rd, the Government of the province of Neuquen renewed all the licenses of the electronic casinos that operate within the mentioned territory. The rooms started operating about six years ago with municipal permissions, until the Government decided to regulate and control the activity in 2004.

Then, a law was written which gave permission to all the operators that had their venues functioning by the month of December, 2003. The permission was a way of agreement which had a duration of two years and it expired last November 7th. It also stipulated that if the investment plan were followed, it would be prorogated for eight more years, which happened last Thursday.

Cantor Gaming, a company owned by Cantor Fitzgerald of global financial services, has announced the signature of an agreement for slot content licenses with Atronic Americas.

The terms of the agreement say that the mobile gaming system of Cantor will be the exclusive support for the Atronic mobile games in Nevada and other jurisdictions of the United States. Atronic offered to provide the titles: Sphinx, IC Money, and the popular Deal or No Deal.