News from Asia -- Pagcor, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., is this month going to launch an online sports betting facility that will take bets on basketball games in the Philippines and the United States, the Manila Bulletin Online reports. The facility is already drawing fire from the country's lawmakers. Rep. Joseph Santiago, a member of Congress, is warning that children could be able to access the activity since it's on the Internet. "We presume anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can also access the betting facility," he said.
New Stuff -- Parlay Entertainment Ltd. on Wednesday announced the launch of two new bingo Web sites, Bingonanza.com and Bingos.com. The company said Bingos.com is a nod toward expanding Parlay's reach in Europe and Spanish-speaking countries. Bingonanza.com offers what Parlay is calling "premium blend bingo"--a mix of bingo, video poker, slots and pull-tabs. "We evaluated a number of software providers, and Parlay stood out from the crowd," said Enrique Dubois, the CEO of Bingos.com. "Parlay's proved track record, wide variety of games and the number of high-profile customers using their software made them the clear choice for us."
US News -- Youbet.com Inc. is saying it handled $2,048,486 on Saturday's Preakness, an 82 percent increase over race day's handle on last year's Preakness. The California-based company also said on race day the number of unique bettors increased 36 percent and the average wager increased 40 percent. ... The 25th Annual Financial Executives Gaming Forum is taking place today and Friday at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. MGM Mirage CEO Terry Lanni and former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan are included in the list of keynote speakers. The Nevada Society of CPAs is co-sponsoring the event.
Legal Stuff -- The Mirage manager who failed to file thousands of money-laundering reports with Nevada gaming authorities was arrested at Las Vegas home on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Christopher Morishita is facing four felony counts in connection with the failure to maintain money-laundering files. Police say criminal charges are unlikely in the case, although The Mirage could be fined $25,000 for each report that was not turned in, and regulators believe Morishita failed to submit up to 15,000 reports over a year and a half. Alan Feldman, spokesman for the MGM Mirage, said the manager and two other executives were fired over the failures.
News from Down Under -- Vanuatu is being removed from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's list of uncooperative tax havens after the country's announcement that it will institute new rules as part of its Harmful Tax Initiative.