Inside Asian Gaming

International briefs US ordered to lift restrictions on internet gambling The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the US has until next April to lift restrictions on Internet gambling, which the WTO says violate international trade law. The Caribbean island nation of Anti­ gua and Barbuda had brought the issue to the WTO over two years ago, claim­ ing US prohibitions were harming its online gaming business, which is aimed at reducing the island's economic de­ pendence on tourism. US officials had contended Internet gambling is illegal if it involves activity on US soil, with Washington vowing to prosecute those involved. In its ruling, the WTO accepted that prohibitions in some US states on cross­ border gaming were valid and agreed with Washington's argument that some federal Jaws could "protect public mor­ als or maintain public order." However, the appeals panel ruled that Washington had not been able to show that existing US laws on horse-racing bets were ap­ plied equitably to foreign and domestic online betting suppliers, a key condition of global trade rules. A lifting of the ban could also help US companies, since it has kept US­ based banks and major Internet search engines from doing business with gam­ bling finns on the island. The country has said it expects changes in US rules to unlock significant opportunities to advertise online gaming products on US Internet sites or media without the threat of legal action by authorities. While Antiguan officials are confident the US will meet the WTO deadline, . they have little recourse but to make an­ other appeal to the WTO if it does not. Divergent dealings with problem gambling Las Vegas casino operators are adopt­ ing contrasting strategies to deal with problem gamblers. Harrah's Entertain­ ment Inc., which prides itself on be­ ing one of the first casino companies to run public service announcements on problem gambling, recently began implementing a policy of approaching customers believed to have a gambling problem and referring them for help. With the acquisition of Caesars En­ tertainment in June, Harrah's has the world's largest casino database of some 40 million-plus names. The policy of Harrah's resembles a plan previously adopted by Caesars, but stands in marked contrast to that of Las Vegas' largest operator, MGM Mirage. MGM Mirage Chief Executive Terry Lanni recently said his company would not be identifying compulsive gamblers for fear of offending customers, attract­ ing lawsuits and putting employees in a position better left to professionals. Nevada gambling to go wireless In July, Nevada became the first US state to approve the use of wirless, handheld gaming devices at its hotel­ casinos. It won't be long until gamblers are placing bets '.Yhile poolside or queu­ ing for Celine Dion tickets. Hefty restrictions remain on the use of wireless devices to gamble, however. Under the law, the devices can be used only in public areas of casinos that have I 00 or more slot machines and that of­ fer at least one other gambling game. The devices would be barred from hotel rooms and other private areas. And they won't be available overnight. The US is still some way from permit­ ting local businesses from offering web­ based gambling, but the latest move is a step in the right direction. Casino Brad Donald Trump met with movie star Brad Pitt, along with Ocean's Eleven co-star George Clooney and Cindy Crawford's bar-owner husband Rande Gerber in New York City last month to discuss a planned new Las Vegas hotel, which Pitt hopes to design. Mr. Trump indicates things are progressing well: "They are all really great guys - a lot of fun and a lot of life. The meeting could not have gone any better." Monkey bets A study released last month showed that monkeys like to gamble. Male rhe­ sus macaque monkeys were shown two lights on a screen. Looking at the "safe" light yielded the same fruit juice reward each time, while looking at the "risky" 36 Inside Asian Gaming September 2005 light meant a larger or smaller reward. In the first game, the house advantage was nil, with monkeys given the same average reward regardless of which light they chose. Even when a house ad­ vantage was introduced, however, and gambling yielded less juice over time, the monkeys continued to overwhelm­ ingly prefer to gamble. Even when the scientists hit the gambling monkey with a string of losses, they stiII preferred to continue gambling. The scientists reported their findings in the August issue of journal Nature Neuroscience, stating: "While it's always dangerous to anthropomorphize, it seemed as if these monkeys got a high out of getting a big reward that obliterated any memory of all the losses that they would experience following that big reward." The scientists went further and wired electrodes into a part of the monkeys' brains that, in humans and animals, is known to process information on re­ wards. "As we increased the riskiness of a target, the neurons' activity would go up in the same way the monkey's frequency of choosing that target would go up," observed the scientists. "It was amazing the degree to which the activity of these neurons paralleled the behavior of the monkeys. They looked like they were signaling, in fact, the monkeys' subjective valuation of that target."