George Maloof saw Lady Gaga’s latest Las Vegas performance, which took place last month, and he was allegedly, “blown away” by the singer. Maloof has reportedly offered millions of dollars to have Gaga perform nightly at the Palms Resort and Casino.

Going after the world’s top performers is nothing new for Las Vegas casinos. In the past, such acts as Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and many other lady singers have spent time in Sin City. The goal of these casinos is to give tourists top shows, and right now Lady Gaga is among the top shows in the world.

The appearances are not only strictly women acts. Late last year, Garth Brooks was lured out of retirement to perform several times a week at the Encore Hotel and Casino owned by Steve Wynn.

Brooks signed a five year deal with the casino this past December. Steve Wynn is said to have gone as far as flying Brooks back and forth from Las Vegas to his home several times a week.

Maloof was reportedly impressed when he invited Gaga back to one of his clubs after her show and the artist declined. He believes that she is goal oriented and the fact that she does not party would fit well in a city that could bring down a performer that is less grounded.

Now, for the first time in a long time, Nevada officials can smile after monthly revenue reports have been released. Nevada casinos had an increase of 4.4% in revenue for the month of November, compared to the same period the year before.

The total revenue for Nevada casinos was $873.2 million in November of 2009. That is almost $40 million higher than the $836.8 million in revenue that the casinos had in November of 2008. It has some believing that economic relief is right around the corner.

“This is good news for Nevada, and particularly, Las Vegas casinos,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz, “It is a stepping stone for what the state hopes are brighter days. It still, however, may take another full year before casinos in Nevada get back to enjoying revenue figures they were used to before the recession.”

One growing problem for Las Vegas is the emergence of Macau as the leading casino gambling destination in the world. Macau is drawing many of the customers from Asia that used to travel to Las Vegas to do their casino gambling.’

Las Vegas is hoping that the recently opened CityCenter, from MGM Mirage, will help bring customers back to the city. The project was a joint effort by MGM and Dubai World, and has opened in stages leading into 2010.

Las Vegas started off as a small railroad town back in 1905. Then in 1931, casino gambling was legalized, followed by the completion of the Hoover Dam five years later.

Since then, there has been some really interesting news including the fires that destroyed several casinos such the ‘El Rancho’ in 1960 and the MGM Grand in 1980. The opening of the Mirage back in 1989 started the era of the ‘mega-resort’, inspiring other major casinos such as the Bellagio in 1993. In May 2005, the city celebrated it’s 100th birthday and coming up in 2007, Las Vegas will play home to the NBA All-Star Game.

There is always plenty of news and upcoming events in Las Vegas. CasinoGamblingWeb.com will try to report the most interesting and relevant stories right here on this page.

A recent survey by an independent company asked why online casino players are so willing to spend their money. It is not only easier to sign up online and play more often, but there is an increased risk of debt for such convenience. The surveyors found it is not actually the gambling that many online casino players seek. Instead they go online and hope for a social network experience.

In the last couple of years more and more online casino players have realised there is more to the online world than just a few games. They get to join a game and have a live chat with the other players who enjoy the same things they do without having to go all Myspace or Facebook about it. Online casinos have begun to add more and more options regarding social networking on their sites.

If an online casino didn’t have chat options for their players before in the last year they have certainly been working on adding these features. By the year 2010 some experts believe that social networks will reach a saturation point in that all online casinos will have to have the options or go bust.

We already saw this year how having chat can help save a woman. Several months back a plea for help in the US was answered by another late night gambler. The fact is whether you’re on the internet for work, play, or sending the occasional email the internet is slowly becoming a place of instant responses. Why send an email to a friend when you can write on their wall? Or even better, you can live chat with them while playing your favourite games.

For players who might find it distracting to chat during the game they can always go offline in the chat area and then begin again once they have finished playing. Humans are curious, and that means we want to satisfy our curiosity by asking questions and talking even during gambling games.

Most of the new online casinos are going to be under some of the top online casino companies. They believe in order to remain on the top of everyone’s list they need to offer some new things. It is not enough to offer new games. These top casinos feel they must also offer new looks for a change of pace for their players. You will find some new gaming software is being added to the new online casinos too.

The first in line to offer a new online casino is RTG or Real Time Gaming online casino company. Their new design will be pleasing for online players who decide to switch or find what it is about RTG that attracts so many players. WinPalace Casino has already made its way into the online world for the new year. It rolled live with beautiful bonuses and the chance at extra winnings. As one of the best online software designers players can certainly understand what the new online casino might have to offer.

Next on the block is Rival Gaming’s Box24 online casino. This new casino has just been released as well with plenty of great options. In fact they have one of the largest sign up bonuses of any online casino including their own Rival Gaming casinos. You can earn up to $2400 in a bonus. It has been a most successful bonus already, as well as profitable for online casino players.

Crazy Slots Casino is part of Odds On. This new online casino has just been licensed and will be one to watch. Odds On is not on the top three list for online casinos and software, but their company has made waves in the last year. They are being most generous with their casino bonuses. In fact they are offering over $10,000 in bonuses for new players. Already it is being touted as the best 2010 online casino. With so many new online casinos to choose from players will have no trouble finding a venue for entertainment in the new year.

This quick start for United Kingdom players is not happening for all online players. Instead the United States players have yet to see a tournament offered for the new year weekend. Two days into the new year and no online casino that offers games to United States players are providing tournaments. US players are certainly hoping things pick up, but it could be that these online casinos are a little wary.

Unlike the United Kingdom there are some tough laws in the US making it almost impossible for the US to collect their winnings even if they get them. Hopefully, this will not stop the online casinos from fighting for US players to be allowed on, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The good news is that the UK has had plenty of opportunities including the Vegas online casino tournament that just ended. It started a New Year’s tourney on Friday. The slot tournament is a free roll tournament meaning you can enter for nothing and still play for a good prize. The prize is $50 which will be split by the top players as always. Anyone who needs to buy back in will not be able to use the free roll option. Instead to get back into the game it will be $12.99. The only reason to buy back in is if players run out of money and still want to try for the prize.

This tournament is going to end on Tuesday at 7pm local time. The original balance for the tournament is $80. Players will of course feel like adding more to that with a $12.99 buy in since they will get an additional $350 for the second buy in. Vegas has had a number of payouts in the last few months with tournaments. This one is not going to be any less. Some of the slots outside of tournaments have been paying out as well. One slot offered $30,000 to the winner. Others have paid out $2,500 to $20,000. With such top pay outs Vegas is one online casino to play at.

The first few online casinos were nothing but some downloaded games on a pretty page. Now we have virtual worlds with avatars for players and live casino dealers. It seems the online casino industry knows no bounds when it comes to their offerings.

In 1997 Avi Shaked and Aharon Shaked began 888 Holdings as an online casino. They wanted to make the online casino world even bigger than the land based options. Unfortunately, at age 58 Aharon Shaked passed away, which occurred on Saturday. It is unknown right now why Shaked died, but news states he may have been battling an illness.

888 Holdings has been a public company for five years now, trading on the London Stock Exchange. The brothers were able to make a fortune with the company as the owners. It is said the financial change did not affect Shaked, as he remained the low key individual he always was. In fact Shaked donated a great deal of the earnings from the online casino company to charities. The brothers did not have experience in gambling when they first started out. They just knew that with the tides changing towards internet it would be a big business.

Around the world online casino gambling has become one of the most popular online forms of entertainment, so it looks like these brothers were right. Even with the US having a ban on the online gambling market it has still seen some play. Other countries welcomed the online casinos, while others are still in the beginning stages of finding the right regulations. So, it is well known that even without Aharon Shaked the industry will continue as a powerhouse.

The announcement was a response to this outrage. Since the rules for foreign casinos are less online the British companies have felt they must seek outside licenses with foreign countries in order to remain in operation. The UK has decided to try harder to regulate the foreign casinos. They are asking that all licenses should include sharing of information especially in regards to suspicious sports betting and protection for children. The new regulations being offered through the UK are tightening the laws these foreign licensed companies will have to deal with. There will be a white list of approved jurisdictions that online casinos can be a part of. Even the EU members will be part of the list and must adhere to the licensing requests. In other words members of the EU would have to obtain UK licenses to even advertise in the United Kingdom.

The EU rules state that a member of any EU nation will have to accept the license of another nation. In other words the regulations set forth in a country like the UK must be followed for the online casino to be part of that country. It will work to stop corruption in sports betting like that exposed in China a few weeks ago. It is also supposed to make other countries feel more open to allowing online casinos. The US has been a strict country in regards to online gambling and adhering to the EU’s demand that all countries open up the online casino market.

The solutions which are being detailed are not concrete yet. The proposal is just the beginning for change. The regulations, however, will have to be followed even though online casinos may enjoy lighter taxes outside of the UK.

Now we are seeing a whole new aspect. Estonia just announced they would legalise online casinos. Estonia decided they would join the online world much as the EU has wanted several countries to do. The European Union has been applying pressure to any of its members to open up their countries for online casinos. In some countries it is a matter of stopping monopolies from occurring with local online casinos. In other countries it is a flagrant disregard for allowing any online casino to get a fair shot.

For the US it has been a law set up to stop online gambling by way of placing regulations on banking options. For Estonia it has been mostly a small country just not getting their feet wet in the legalisation of online gambling.

The country is small though, and they are seeing the influence of online casinos in other areas. Most countries that have already allowed online casinos are seeing a generation of income that is allowing the country to survive. After all, if the people cannot afford to pay taxes it seems only right to add a new way to make money through taxation of businesses. Whatever Estonia’s reasons they are definitely economic in stimulating their small country. They were targeted by the credit crisis and the global recession, which means things are very difficult right now.

In an effort to bridge a gap they have decided that Playtech and other online casinos can apply for licences. Playtech is with Olympic Casino Group and the first to benefit from the new laws. They stated they are happy to make this partnership with Olympic Casino Group in order to offer entertainment and revenue. Playtech has seen what a powerhouse the group has been in Central and Eastern Europe. It makes sense to get in while new places are allowing online casinos.

Despite the disregard for EU requests in some places, there are those that are willing to open their doors and keep them open like Estonia and the UK.