The 2006 Caribbean Poker Classic will be held in St Kitts from November 24th to December 3rd, with online players currently competing for the right to play in the sun, it has been announced.

The $6,300 main event offers a prize pot of $1.5 million, with a host of stars set to pit their wits against one another at the exclusive St Kitts Marriott Resort and the Royal Beach Casino.

Former World Series of Poker winners Kathy Liebert and Rob Varkonyi will be in attendance, along with big European names such as Dave Colclough and Willie Tann.

Online players eager to make a name for themselves can play for the chance to enter through a number of sites including interpoker.com. The prize package on offer is worth $11,300, and includes a buy-in to the main event as well as a nine-night package for two at the Marriot resort.

Beginners will be hoping to take their cue from Bjorn Wiik, whose triumph at last year’s event was his first ever major tournament win.

A New Jersey casino has announced that it plans to give away money to local gamblers, prior to shutting for the last time.

The Sands Casino hotel in Atlantic City, which is due to cease business on Saturday evening, will give away over $200,000 to casino regulars the night before.

But the event is not purely philanthropic – regulations require the casino to award jackpots from all its slot machines before closing up, with several slots still to do so.

The giveaway will involve a computer randomly selecting eight winners, with each finding themselves up to $25,000 richer.

The Sands will be the first casino hotel in Atlantic City to be demolished and replaced as part of the area’s numerous new regeneration projects. A $1.5 billion resort is scheduled to be built on the ground vacated by the current casino.

In its heyday in the mid-1980s the establishment was frequented by a host of stars, including Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack.

In an online world with a seemingly endless number of opportunities to play casino games, gamblers have been advised to search for the venues providing a stylish backdrop.

A new article by OnlineCasinoReports suggests that players seeking to play the best versions of their favourite gambling games, such as poker and blackjack, could well benefit from examining a site’s appearance before spending their hard-earned money.

“Not only should the online casino style also count as one of the factors to consider, we believe it is a measure by which to judge the online casino. Your gambling experience will be more pleasant and pleasing if the style of the site matches your taste,” the website advises.

“It is also a sign that the online casino features other aspects which you will appreciate,” the report continues.

With so many sites seemingly impossible to tell apart, presentation and graphical prowess may well become increasingly important to consumers.

It is estimated that over $1.4 billion was wagered online on casino games, lotteries and other betting events during 2005.

London’s Earls Court will host the 15th annual International Casino Exhibition from January 23rd to January 25th next year, with organisers promising a spectacular event.

Clarion ATE, who run the expo, say they have managed to oversee the show increase in size by 36 per cent, with floor space taken up by the event now in excess of 14,500 square meters.

The 2007 event will see 28 new companies from 19 countries appearing for the first time, with all areas of land and online casino gaming being covered. Overall figures now stand at 200 exhibitors from 38 countries, with Clarion promising that this figure will increase over the coming weeks and months.

“With this growth comes the obvious benefit to operators that they can visit London and find all their needs in one place. And with so many new and existing companies offering an ever wider range of new equipment and services, it’s clear that there has never been a better time for industry professionals to attend ICE,” said Karen Cooke, head of exhibitions at Clarion.

The 2006 event saw over 24,000 guests visit Earls Court over the course of the event, with numbers expected to rise once more in 2007.

A new $382 million casino has opened in French Lick, Indiana, bringing gaming back to the local community after a 13 year absence.

It is hoped that the casino resort will help boost the region’s poor economy, bringing much-needed revenue into the district.

After almost ten years of campaigning, council officials believe that their efforts at providing a solution to French Lick’s financial problems have finally paid off.

Over 1,300 new employees have already been hired, with more expected following the opening of a nearby in hotel in 2007. And with 2,500 visitors arriving during the first four hours of trade on Friday, the 84,000 square foot casino seems certain to be a success.

Customers appeared to be full of praise for the new facilities, with one gamer declaring “I love it. I love it. I love it,” to the Courier-Journal newspaper.

State gambling legislation means that the casino will be the last-ever resort to open within Indiana following the legalization of riverboat casinos 13 years ago.

After a series of delays and cancellations that led fans to wonder whether it would ever happen, the celebrity rock star poker tournament featuring some of music’s biggest names has finally taken place.

The VH1 Classic Rock ’N’ Roll Poker Tournament was held at the prestigious Flamingo casino, which takes pride of place in the centre of the Las Vegas Strip.

Band members from Kiss, ZZ Top, Anthrax and Godsmack were among the participants, as music legends Ace Frehley and Dusty Hill battled it out for their respective charities.

But with famous names such as Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari also playing, the poker world made sure that the rock stars didn’t have it all their own way.

Results of the tournament are being kept under wraps until the TV broadcast is aired in early 2007.

Early reports of a series of televisions being thrown out of the windows of the Flamingo Hotel have proved to be without foundation.

Hundreds of online poker players aggrieved at last month’s signing into law of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act are set to rally in the nation’s capital, it has been revealed.

Hundreds of players are set to engage in the peaceful protest, to be held on November 3rd and November 4th, organized by website onlinegamblingrights.com.

Media outlets such as MSNBC, Fox News and CNN have already shown interest in the rally, which starts at 09:00 on both mornings.

Marchers plan to move from the Washington Monument to the White House itself, with poker being played as an act of solidarity along the way.

However, the drive is set to focus not just on gaming but on the perceived reduction in personal freedoms that the bill represents.

“This protest is not only about internet gambling, online poker, or government wire tapping. This is about the United States government taking away personal freedoms that were guaranteed to us in the Constitution,” a statement on the organiser’s website declared.

“This protest is about Americans who demand that we get our personal freedoms back,” the statement continues.

The latest group to submit a bid for the contract to build and run Singapore’s second casino resort has done so with the most extravagant proposal yet.

The Eighth Wonder group, along with its three partners, outlined its vision for the 49 hectare complex, as outlined by specialist resort builder and Eighth Wonder chief, Mark Advent.

Mr Advent said that the group would build a ten-storey waterfall as the centrepiece of its $3.5 billion scheme. The resort would also feature a hotel centred around a soccer stadium associated with the game’s greatest ever player, Pele.

Other plans include the construction of a spa resort to be run by healthy living guru Deepak Chopra.

Mr Advent also unveiled plans for the resort to be named after a fictitious adventurer, Hurricane Harry, whom he described as “a combination of James Bond and Indiana Jones, with a little bit of Hemingway thrown in for good measure”.

‘Harry’s Island’ is to compete against rival bids from Malaysian and Bahamas-based firms, with the Singapore government scheduled to make a decision by December.