A new channel set to be launched by Sky is to focus solely on poker, as the game continues to grow in popularity on the digital platform.

Sky subscribers already have a number of poker offers to choose from, with dedicated channels competing with feeds from online casinos and more prestigious events such as Sky Sports’ Poker Million tournament.

Now viewers will be able to interact with televisual poker offerings to a greater extent than ever before, Sky claim. The Sky Poker channel will feature a number of famous poker presenters and guests, including Helen Chamberlain and Ed Giddins.

Chamberlain shocked many observers with her success in 2006 poker tournaments, with her winnings belying her status as a novice. Giddins, meanwhile, is a former England cricketer now playing poker for a living.

Viewers will be able to participate in events via their set-top boxes, Sky have announced.

Construction has begun on the $3.6 billion Las Vegas Sands Casino in Singapore as developers begin two years of work that will culminate in the resort’s opening in 2009.

The lucrative casino contract was awarded by the Singapore government to Las Vegas Sands last May, with the casino now revealing that it has secured deals with 56 tour operators to bring tourists to Singapore from 2009.

However, construction costs could rise by over a third due to recent increases in the price of sand.

“We are going to pay a little more for our sand because of transportation. There are alternative availabilities of sand that could cost us as much as 30 percent more. I don’t think the cost of sand itself is different, it’s just you have to bring it from further away,” said LV Sands president Bill Weidner.

Company officials also commented on the logistical side of contracting out the resort’s 1.2 million square feet of meeting facilities, with over 250 tenants already interested.

“Our biggest problem is who to allocate space to. Singapore is about to undergo a transformation,” said Sheldon Adelson, chief executive officer at LV Sands.

The company is also currently constructing a similarly lavish casino resort in the Cotai area of Macau.

The third annual European Gambling Briefing Conference is set to take place on May 8^th and May 9^th at Le Meridien in Brussels, with a number of speakers for the event now announced.

Aiming to address the future of regulation within the European gaming industry, the conference will have particular resonance this year due to a number of recent gambling initiatives.

Governments in the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have all recently announced, or are rumoured to be considering, new legislation, with the general trend tending towards an acceptance of gambling venues that are well-monitored by officials and industry bodies.

Currently the list of speakers includes representatives from a number of countries, including lawyers from Spain and Italy. Wayne Lurie, of South African’s Lurie law firm will provide insights into regulatory issues on other continents.

Software developer CryptoLogic this week announced that it had signed a contract with the Dutch government to provide games for the officially sanctioned Holland Casino website.

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, England, awarded rights to build a new casino last week as part of a string of new licences handed out by the government is now seeking a business partner.

But there is now speculation that the venue for the new casino could be changed.

Officials said that the selection of the NEC was by no means final, as the licence was awarded to Solihull Council rather than the NEC itself.

“We will consider interest from across the borough from those who wish to be considered as the location for the casino. Any site would be subject to planning, licensing etc before being given the go-ahead,” icSolihull reports a council spokeswoman as commenting.

Meanwhile, NEC officials maintained that their venue was the ideal location for attracting new business and tourism to the region.

The move is reminiscent of the news earlier in the week that Manchester Council was considering a different venue for its super-casino, an announcement that has caused controversy among officials from unsuccessful super-casino candidate towns.

The Manchester site originally selected was chosen largely because of the possibility of regenerating the impoverished area, the Casino Advisory Panel said last week.

A Malaysian billionaire has secured 28 per cent of all casino licenses granted in the UK in the last two years, it has been revealed. 

Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan obtained 25 out of the 89 casino licenses awarded in Britain since 2005, according to the Business magazine. 

Part of the Hong Leong group, Quek has been gaining licenses for casinos at his Thistle Hotels chain. 

He may open casinos in more than half of the hotels. 

Last summer Quek bought the upmarket Clairmont casino in Mayfair for £37 million. 

The casino is known for the bridge games between British billionaire James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan that once took place there. 

Last week Manchester won the UKs first licence for a super casino, astounding many who expected the bid to be a fight between the Millenium Dome and Blackpool. 

The Casino Advisory Panel also granted eight large licences to Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, New- ham, Solihull and Southampton. 

Gambling laws in the UK are set to change this September, following the passing into law of an updated Gambling Act. 

According to new research, women are likely to play poker with a completely different style when they are taking part in online competitions. 

Instead of being shy and retiring, women often play with a more aggressive style than they would feel comfortable displaying in a room full of men. 

A gambling site tested 1,500 women to see whether they gambled in a different way when they were playing alone from a computer. 

They discovered that these women felt much more at home with the anonymity of the internet between them and their opponents. 

One in three online poker players is female, a much higher proportion than is found in casinos, suggesting that online casinos promote women’s liberation of choice! 

And even more women are tempted by other forms of online gaming like slot machines according to recent research from the International Gaming Research Unit and Nottingham Trent University. 

“There are many interesting findings, some of which reinforce previous assumptions, some of which provide a fresh understanding of player behaviour and attitudes,” commented Jonathan Parke, from the International Gaming Research Unit. 

Many observers thought that the tactics many women used online were more masculine than feminine. 

Cryptologic, the providers of Intercasino’s online casino technology, have won the Gambling Online Magazine’s Award for Top Casino Software.
 

The software, which is used by Intercasino for their casino and poker room, has been recognised for its exclusive gaming concepts, outstanding player security and innovative software.
 

A spokesman for the company said that the software offers their customers a competitive advantage as they create “the ultimate online entertainment experience”.
 

Peter Marcus, spokesman for The Intercasino Group commented: “We will have to find an even bigger shelf to store all the honours (or accolades) recently awarded to us.”
 

“Intercasino is very dedicated to providing the best experience and value to all of its players. And to be recognized for this effort from our players is just icing on the cake.”
 

In 2006, Cryptologic developed the first ever online Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker and offers the highest jackpot in online gaming history.
 

Intercasino’s software providers are the only casino software providers to offer an interactive floor and offer a selection of 260 games to the consumer.
 

Over 80 per cent of Australians are known to gamble – the highest rate of participation on the planet, it has been revealed. 

A BBC report into the country’s gaming habits noted that the average weekly spend on gambling was £7, an amount above that spent on petrol and almost as much as was spent on clothing. 

The broadcasting organization also notes that over a fifth of the world’s gaming machines are now installed within the country. 

“There’s 99,723 poker machines in the state of New South Wales, more per capita than anywhere else on planet earth,” said former gambler Tom Simpson, speaking to the BBC. 

Earlier this week there was a blow for Australia-based gambling interests as James Packer, son of famous mogul Kerry Packer, had bids to install new casinos in both the UK and Russia thwarted. The UK super-casino was given to a different location, while new Russian legislation made Mr Packer’s other venture impossible to implement.

The news that Manchester was to be the site of the UK’s first super-casino has been followed by the announcement of eight further sites, each of which will receive a large casino over the coming years.

While not of the size of the Las Vegas style Manchester complex, the eight casinos will nonetheless be larger than those already existing around Britain.

Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton will all receive such developments, with officials hoping that the venues help with regional regeneration.

Great Yarmouth’s casino will be the focal point of a new £50 million tourist project in the town’s centre, with Solihull set to build a new gaming complex at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) site.

Each casino will be able to host up to 150 fruit machines, with top jackpots reaching £4,000.