Welcome to Casino Life. Jennifer Aniston sells magazines. Put her on a front cover and it will fly off the shelf and will have done for the past 10 years. We can find no excuse to do likewise unfortunately, but if there's a comparison it's an image of a cruise liner (stay with me). Consistently at gaming shows world-wide, the magazine we always run out of from our archive on the stand has a cruise ship on the cover - not because most exhibition visitors like ships but because most have worked on one, know someone who has or may be thinking of it for their next move. A long introduction into our leading interview with Norwegian Cruise Line but I think such trivia should be aired. A similar fan of trivia is our guest editor Steve Donoughue who also shares my hatred of FOBTs and quite rightly devotes his space towards the subject. He also touches on the perennial problem of the gambling industry in the UK - it's perceived as either a James bond cliché with clinking champagne glasses or a drug-induced prostitute-filled hades. Nobody in power seems to be troubled enough to find out the truth - which timely leads us into the NCIF interview. Tracy and her team are trying to make a difference and Roy Ramm pulls no punches in his view of the latest proposed changes to the Gambling Bill. I have always maintained that casinos will only be accepted in the UK once a soap star character can be employed as a dealer and nobody blinks. We have some way to go. Finally if you are thinking of going to the Crimean Gaming Show please remember that it is being held on territory that has been stolen from another sovereign state. When you fly in it will not be from Europe as the European Air Safety Agency have declared that the airspace is not Russian but Ukrainian. The seaports have now been treated similarly. The US, EU, PACE and United Nations have all condemned Russia for it's aggression and even if you don't listen to me - at least they may have a point, even if their sanctions are toothless. Meanwhile Russia continues to kill Ukrainians by supplying troops, arms and ammunition to "separatists" trained in - Crimea. On the other hand, our proposals here at Casino Life to re-introduce casinos in a proper legal balanced regulated manner in Ukraine, are at least on the desk of someone who has the power to make them happen. Watch this space.
|
