Moody’s Investors Service says that slowing declines in revnue is a sign that the U.S. online gambling industry is reaching a bottom, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Moody’s says that internet gambling revenue will stablize after a few more months of slowing declines. New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa have all posted declines in revenue, according to the WSJ.

However, Missouri and Louisiana both posted double-digit gains in online gambling revenue. Indiana also posted a 4.3% gain, the WSJ reports.

The PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge is set to continue its first season with a brand new online casinos episode on Sunday, Nov. 22, right after NFL on FOX coverage.* The show’s debut episode was the most watched online poker television show in U.S. history with more than four million viewers tuning in, beating out the WSOP final table on ESPN. The show has become so successful, that it was quickly added to Hulu for fans to re-watch streaming episodes.

Fresh off of a seeing a poker-playing priest win $100,000 and watching a U.S. Army National Guard sergeant walk away from the show with $25,000 in his pocket, two more contestants will try to navigate their way to the $1,000,000 grand prize.

Oluwasegun “Big Mike” Odumuyiwa, a 35-year old music manager from Northville, MI, who also goes by “The Nigerian Nightmare,” is hoping to win the money to take care of his late brother’s family. A basketball and football star at Eastern Illinois University, Odumuyiwa was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, but was injured and never played in an NFL game

Brian Barboza, a 31-year old wine and liquor salesman from Raynham, MA., is hoping to win enough on the show to buy his way into the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. He has spent hours on pokerstars honing his casino game, and was happy to surprised his friends by beating thousands of other players to win his spot on the show. A huge Boston Celtics fan, Barboza has been playing poker for six years.

Both Barboza and Odumuyiwa have a long road ahead of them. First, they’ll face off against one of the show’s celebrity defenders: Super Bowl Champion Jerome Bettis, four-time NBA Champion John Salley, UFC champion Tito Ortiz or Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole, for a chance to win a trip to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. Win in Round One and the task gets even harder — a heads-up match against a Team PokerStars.net Pro such as World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker, Barry Greenstein or Vanessa Rousso with $25,000 on the line. Should the contestants win two matches, they’ll have a tough decision: take the $25,000 and walk away or risk it for a chance at $100,000 in a heads up match against Negreanu.

In each of the opening rounds, the contestants will have help from four-time WSOP bracelet winner and poker’s all-time tournament earnings leader Daniel Negreanu, who will coach the contestants against the celebrity and the pro.

To win a seat on the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge and have a chance at the $1,000,000 prize, players can enter free online tournaments at PokerStars.net and a youtube.com video. Each person selected will receive roundtrip airfare and accommodations to the show’s taping in Los Angeles for themselves and two friends.

Online gambling regulators on Friday granted preliminary licensing approval for the only internet casino component inside the $8.5 billion CityCenter project and suggested the revenue mix might be sharply different from the traditional gaming-driven environment.

During a hearing that lasted more than two hours, the Gaming Control Board was told not to expect additional internet gambling inside the multiple hotel, high-rise residential and entertainment complex.

Aria, CityCenter’s 4,004-room centerpiece, was designed as the project’s only casino. Vdara and Mandarin Oriental are nongaming hotels, and Veer Tower is strictly residential.

Executives from MGM Mirage and Dubai World, its 50-50 partner in the development, explained the CityCenter concept, using a promotional sales video and previewing Aria’s first television advertisement in what will be a $20 million marketing campaign.

Gaming is not the focal point of the 67-acre project. The casino at Aria, roughly the size of Bellagio, will have 145 table games and 1,940 slot machines, half of which will be linked to a server-based gaming platform.

Aria President Bill McBeath said the casino’s revenue projections are modeled with Bellagio, but the CityCenter casino has fewer slot machines. He said Aria is designed to have private gambling salons like other MGM Mirage high-end casinos, but the rooms will not be used immediately.

“There will be cross-marketing between the properties,” McBeath said. Aria will host MGM Mirage’s private Chinese New Year party for high-end customers at the MGM Grand, Bellagio and other company resorts.

McBeath said Aria’s slot machines are projected to produce roughly $320 win per unit per day. During MGM Mirage’s quarterly earning conference call with analysts, City Center Chief Executive Officer Bobby Baldwin said Aria would produce $1.2 billion in revenue in 2010.

“The (revenue) projections are optimistic,” Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said. “But they seem reasonable.”

McBeath said Aria might have ratios that mirror Bellagio, where 60 percent of the overall revenues come from the nongaming side and 40 percent are produced by the casino. Neilander said he thought CityCenter as a whole might see 80 percent of its total revenues come from nongaming areas.

MGM Mirage Chairman and CEO Jim Murren told gaming regulators the company did not want to design just another hotel-casino for the site when planning for the project began six years ago.

“The whole idea of CityCenter was to create an environment,” Murren said after the hearing. “You can’t do that with a casino resort in isolation. Most of what we have developed here has little to do with a casino. The casino is the core, it is the heart of the entire project. It’s the anchor tenant. It’s one piece of a very integrated puzzle.”

Control board members had few concerns about Aria or CityCenter. They did address a financing matter involving Dubai World, in the investment arm of the Persian Gulf emirate, which spent almost $6 billion in 2007 to buy half of CityCenter and a 9.4 percent stake in MGM Mirage.

Neilander said gaming agents raised a red flag on some of the funding for Dubai World, but an independent audit cleared up the matter.

After the hearing, Neilander said the funds coming into the CityCenter joint venture were not a concern, but the overall capitalization of Dubai World brought about the questions.

“Some funding that occurs among the United Arab Emirates is not documented in the way we’re used to seeing,” Neilander said.

Regulators did not raise questions about Dubai World’s surprise lawsuit that was filed against MGM Mirage in March, saying CityCenter had been mismanaged. The lawsuit nearly sent CityCenter in bankruptcy, halting the development. The parties were able to craft a new agreement a month later that kept CityCenter funded. The lawsuit was dropped.

“There were a few bumps along the road, but Jim and his team were able to smooth over those bumps,” Dubai World CEO Christopher O’Donnell said.

Neilander said the lawsuit didn’t need to be explored.

“While we don’t favor seen partners suing each other, certainly business disputes occur,” he said. “The partners were able to resolve things to their satisfaction.”

The three-member control board recommended unanimous approval for Aria. The Nevada Gaming Commission will consider the recommendation next week.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said there are no online gambling plans for the state to open an investigation into Pinnacle Entertainment following the sudden resignation of chairman and chief executive officer Dan Lee.

Missouri online gambling authorities said they were investigating Lee and the Las Vegas-based regional online casino operator after an incident between Lee and a member of the St. Louis County Council earlier this month. Lee expressed his displeasure with a rezoning vote that could place competition near Pinnacle’s under-construction casino complex in suburban St. Louis, verbally threatening the political career of the council member.

Lee’s resignation was announced Monday after the Missouri Gaming Control Board said it was looking into the matter. Pinnacle also operates the $507 million Lumiere Place casino in downtown St. Louis.

Neilander said Nevada gaming authorities had been in contact with members of Pinnacle’s compliance committee about the matter. Pinnacle operates the Boomtown Casino near Reno, it’s only Nevada property.

Neilander said Nevada would only look at the incident if criminal charges were filed.

Meanwhile, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it will cost Pinnacle more than $2.8 million to severe its relationship with Lee.

Lee is entitled to cash payments totaling $2.8 million, payable in installments over a three-year period, according to the filing. Lee is also entitled to receive his 2009 salary through his Nov. 7 resignation date, along with a bonus of $395,000.

Lee also has a year to exercise stock options that became vested on the date of his resignation.

As reported by the Newark Star-Ledger: “A Maryland man was sentenced yesterday to 16 years in prison for robbing an elderly Vineland man who had just won $10,000 in an Atlantic City casino.

“The sentence requires Lawrence Bellamy, 31, of Baltimore to serve more than 13 1/2 years of the term before becoming eligible for parole, said Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel. Housel said Bellamy, who pleaded guilty to robbery on July 29, admitted he stole in casino games $10,000 from Anthony Vastardis, 72, after punching him in the head in the parking garage of Trump Taj Mahal Casino & Resort on Jan. 4.

“Bellamy had followed Vastardis out of the online casino and into an elevator to the parking garage, Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor Diane Ruberton said. When the pair got out of the elevator, Bellamy punched the man in the head and stole his internet casino winnings from his coat pocket.

“Vastardis suffered a broken hip, cuts and bruises in the attack, Ruberton said…”

As reported by Reuters: “MGM Mirage and Macau partner Pansy Ho plan to expand their online casino and begin inspecting sites for potential resorts as they mull an initial public gambling offering.

“The Macau venture is ‘under-represented’ in the market and is ‘working on plans’ to finish the 70,000 square feet of its online casinos second floor, MGM Mirage Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Jim Murren said in a phone interview. MGM Grand Macau intends to look at sites in the Chinese city to build resorts, he said.

“MGM Mirage follows rivals Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Corp. in seeking to raise funds from selling stakes in their operations in Macau where gambling revenue is recovering. Still, Murren’s reiteration of plans to sell shares comes a day after a report that China tightened curbs on citizens’ travel to Macau, the only Chinese region where casinos are legal.

“‘In the short term, too many Macau plays may not be too good because of the unclear picture’ surrounding travel policy, John Koh, who helps manage $1.1 billion at MEAG Hong Kong Ltd., said in a phone interview today.

“Wynn Macau Ltd., controlled by billionaire Steve Wynn, raised HK$14.5 billion ($1.87 billion) in Hong Kong’s second- biggest offering this year and Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands said in August its Macau unit had applied for an Hong Kong IPO. Sands may raise at least $2 billion in the offer, company President Michael Leven said July 8…”

Online payments business Ukash has signed a deal with Spendon, a product of the Swedish Convenient Card AS company, which will make Ukash available in more than 500 additional new casino games and outlets in Sweden.

Ukash vouchers, which allow consumers to shop online casinos anonymously using cash, will now be available in over 300 Pressbyran kiosks and all 200 7Eleven branches found inside Shell petrol stations.

Swedish customers who do not have access to credit and debit cards or those that are fearful of online fraud will be able to exchange cash for Ukash vouchers available in denominations of SEK 100, SEK 250, SEK 500 and SEK 1 500 and use them to shop, pay and play online.
Ukash has an existing presence in Sweden, with over 2 000 points of purchase.

Ukash vouchers are available through payment terminals in retail outlets across Europe, South Africa and Australia and are also issued online from the company’s casinos website in selected European territories. Most recently, the company introduced its e-cash product on the Ukrainian market as a result of a collaboration with commercial bank PrivatBank.

Convenient Card is a company jointly owned by the PayEx group and Reitan Servicehandel, offering various payment services for the retail and service industries in Sweden.