It's the most dramatic development in the British casino industry for a generation with roughly a third of Britain's operations passing into Malaysian ownership.Around 5,000 gaming and non gaming staff will be directly affected by the deal.So the latest Poll question on Gamingfloor.com is...Will the takeover of Stanley Leisure by Genting International be good for the British Casino industry ?I thought carefully about the answers and came up with...Yes - New Player, New money, New ideasHopefully - Fingers crossedNo - Things were fine just as they wereThere are of course dozens of other possible answers !So what do you think. Is the takeover (going to be) good or bad news ?Your thoughts are very welcome.

Is there anyway you can beat a casino game which is one of pure chance? Systems, such as the Martingale System are a sure road to ruin.

Particularly in Las Vegas there are dollar progressive jackpot machines. Basically every time a player puts $1 in the machine, the jackpot goes up by 1¢. If the jackpot is not won for a long time, then eventually the machine moves into positive expectancy. It is time for the professionals to move in, hog the machine and play on it until hitting the jackpot. You may have to invest $50,000 before the $70,000 jackpot pays off. But hell, it beats working for a living.

There is even a five card draw poker table spread in the Grosvenor Casinos throughout Britain where eventually, if the jackpot is not won, wagering moves into positive expectancy. This is around about where the jackpot reaches £250,000. The problem is that it is still 650,000/1 against making a Royal Flush. You could play for the rest of your life and never win. But it is a bet with a positive expectancy.

Costner's latest film The Guardian recently had its premiere in Berlin
Actor Kevin Costner is returning to court in a renewed bid to take sole ownership of a US casino.
Costner is asking the South Dakota Supreme Court to re-examine a ruling forcing him to pay $6.1m (£3.2m) to buy out his two business partners.

The Oscar-winning director fired Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the Midnight Star, in July 2004.

The casino is located in South Dakota's Black Hills, where Costner filmed much of his 1990 film Dances With Wolves.

Ordered

The actor hired an accountant to determine the market value of the casino, which was put at $3.1m (£1.64m), in order for him to dissolve the partnership.

But a manager of another casino in the town of Deadwood testified on behalf of the Canevas that he would pay twice that for Midnight Star.

The judge agreed with the figure of $6.2m (£3.29m) and ordered Costner, who owns 93.5% of the casino, to pay the full price or it would be put up for sale on the open market.

Costner's grounds for appealing against the decision are that the casino's value was set without any reference to financial documents.