Asian gamblers are betting millions of dollars at Burswood Casino's elite International Room.

According to one croupier, some ? known as "whales" ? gamble a staggering $50 million in a week, or $5 million in a single hour.

The high-rollers often gamble in the smoke-filled elite International Room for 12 hours straight.

The croupier, who cannot be named for fear of being sacked, said the gamblers would arrive in Perth in parties of 10 and be treated to free flights, accommodation, food and drinks as they turned over millions of dollars during two to three-day gambling sprees.

What is it and how do you play? Mini-baccarat is essentially the same game as standard casino baccarat, with the exception that players do not take turns being the banker.

The mini baccarat table is about the same size as a standard blackjack felt, and utilizes just one dealer who manages to take care of every aspect of the game from their central location.

An advantage to you and I with mini-baccarat is that the 'high roller' expectations are discarded. You can dress as casual as you like, and the table minimums are nowhere near what you find behind the velvet ropes.

Station Casinos Inc. has purchased land in Northern California for the development of a casino the company intends to build and manage for an Indian tribe.
In a document filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Station said a company subsidiary on Thursday bought about 271 acres near Rohnert Park in Sonoma County. The company expects the federal government to take a portion of the land into trust for the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria.

The Fiat Panda, one of Fiat SpA's cheapest models, will make its screen debut in the next James Bond film due in 2006, replacing the luxury cars typically used by the secret agent such as Aston Martin's V12 Vanquish.
The Panda, which is priced from 12,490 euros ($15,379), 21 times less than the Vanquish, will have cinema's most famous secret agent behind the wheel in ``Casino Royale,'' the latest installment of the James Bond saga.

``Pierce Brosnan was so enthusiastic about the car that he immediately bought one,'' Lapo Elkann, head of brand promotion for Fiat said in an interview in Gazzetta dello Sport and confirmed by Bloomberg.

It won't be long before gamblers are shooting dice while queued up waiting to see their favorite comedian. Or playing poker and roulette under a poolside umbrella.
Even a trip to the buffet will no longer keep casino patrons from playing slots.
A law signed last month by Gov. Kenny Guinn made Nevada the first U.S. state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos.

"Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" helped the broadcast networks roar back in this year's Television Critics Awards, the same way they soared last season in ratings and viewer buzz.
Saturday's ceremony at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, site of the Golden Globes, saw ABC's "Lost" voted both outstanding new program and outstanding drama by the 200-member group of print and online TV writers. Another ABC newcomer, "Housewives," took program of the year, considered the TCA's highest honor.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney decided to open a hotel and a casino in Las Vegas. The two actors became good friends during the shootings for "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve".

They signed a contract with Cindy Crawford's husband, nightclub and hotel owner Rande Gerber, and the project is set to get underway in January 2006. It is reported that Brad will design the hotel, which will be situated on Las Vegas' famous Strip.

With Sen. Diane Feinstein’s bill to rescind the special legal status granted on Casino San Pablo and the abandonment of a second casino project in Oakland, the East Bay casino gamble is looking riskier by the day.

The California Democrat’s legislation cleared Sen. John McCain’s Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on a 9-3 vote Wednesday. It now heads to the full Senate.

If passed, the Lytton Rancheria band of Pomos would land back at square one in the off-reservation casino game.

In a grand opening featuring a trio of Las Vegas style showgirls, Resorts took over Friday as operator of the city's riverboat casino.

A handful of city and state officials joined a crowd of about 50 onlookers who cheered the change in ownership, the third in the casino's near decade in existence.

Resorts General Manager Joe DeRosa promised a commitment to the region, including hiring local vendors and local workers.

"We take our commitment seriously," DeRosa said.

Setting the stage for a possible legal showdown, several California tribes – including two in San Diego County – are defying an edict from state gambling regulators to remove or replace card-based craps games that use dice.

After waffling for months, the attorney general's Division of Gambling Control recently sent notices to every gaming tribe in the state, warning they had to stop using dice in the popular table game by June 15 to be in compliance with California's tribal-state gambling compacts.