Lest you weren’t sure about the relationship between lottery interests and slot machines in future regulated online gambling spaces, here’s a common ad getting served up to some of us on Facebook these days (for myVegas, an MGM joint). You do the math while I continue to get play-money slots game requests from Aunt Rita in Indiana.

While MGM has to wait (except in New Jersey) for real-money casino (or lottery) play, you can guess they are happy to be running various free point promotions where the prize is ultimately a trip to one of their real brick-and-mortar casinos, where the slot machines may or may not pay out the same way the they did for play money online.

Gaming leaders are looking at leveraging the release of a feature film that depicts the seedier side of illegal Internet poker to raise awareness of the need for proper regulation of online wagering.

American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman, in an email to the organization’s board of directors last week, said the Oct. 4 release of “Runner Runner” presents the Washington-based lobbying group an opportunity to state its case for Congress to pass regulations governing Internet gaming in the United States.

The movie, which stars Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, centers on illegal offshore Internet poker and the cheating of U.S. gamblers. According to the plot summary on IMDb.com, Affleck portrays an online gambling tycoon in Costa Rica who is confronted by Timberlake’s Princeton graduate school student who believes he’s been swindled by the website.

“This film provides our industry with an opportunity that the AGA will capitalize upon,” Freeman said. “The AGA will leverage the certain coverage this film will receive to raise awareness about the need for proper regulation of online gaming.”

Freeman, who became the association’s president in June, said tactics could include releasing research data on the amount of illegal Internet gaming that is estimated to be taking place in the U.S.

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Having navigated MGM Resorts International through almost four years of turbulent economic waters, Jim Murren has grown used to hearing negative comments from haters and detractors.

What surprised Murren, however, were some recent vitriolic remarks directed at his company from a competing corporate office down the street.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson used his quarterly earnings conference call to blame Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts for driving down hotel room rates along the Strip, thus, diminishing Adelson’s earnings in Las Vegas.

Adelson claimed the industry-leading long-term debt carried by Caesars ($23.7 billion) and MGM Resorts ($13.1 billion) affects the way they do business, such as lowered room rates to drive up occupancy.

“I don’t necessarily blame them,” Adelson said. “I suppose if I were in that position, I might do the same thing.”

In an interview following MGM Resorts’ quarterly earnings conference call last week, Murren, MGM’s chairman and CEO, said his company and Caesars have a better understanding of how Las Vegas works these days than Adelson does. Las Vegas Sands drew 86 percent of its quarterly revenue from Asia.

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The Empire put a hit on the Mafia and buried the farm.

Two years after Caesars Entertainment Corp. perplexed Wall Street by acquiring social gaming operation Playtika, the casino giant has moved past rival Zynga Inc. to the top of the business model.

Social casino games are free to play on the Internet, through Facebook and other platforms. Customers have the option of paying a nominal fee — often less than $1 — to acquire thousands of gaming tokens to increase their virtual bankroll.

Apparently, those pennies add up.

One Wall Street analyst estimated social gaming is now worth $1.2 billion worldwide in annual revenues.

Caesars Interactive Entertainment, a subsidiary of the casino company that controls Playtika and the World Series of Poker, now owns a large chunk of that market.

Playtika’s Slotomania brand — slot machine and bingo-like games — is fueling the effort, which sent Zynga, owners of Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words with Friends, and a platform of casino games, including Zynga Poker, into second place.

“Social casino gaming has essentially gone from being a nonexistent sector a few years ago to one of the most popular gaming genres on desktop and mobile (devices),” Adam Krejcik, managing director of Eilers Research, recently wrote.

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Macau gaming revenue grew 21.1 percent in June, as the world’s largest casino market continues to benefit from a nonstop supply of middle-class Chinese gamblers eager to place their bets in the former Portuguese colony.

Gambling revenue in the Chinese territory, just across the strait from Hong Kong, rose to $3.54 billion, according to figures released Monday by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. Analysts had forecast June growth to be up 18 percent to 22 percent.

Macau is the only place in China where people can legally gamble at casinos.

In May, revenues grew 13.5 percent to $3.7 billion, the second-largest single month collection ever recorded in Macau. The Chinese gambling enclave broke its monthly gaming revenue mark in March when casinos collected $3.92 billion.

Harry Curtis, an analyst with Nomura Equity Research, attributed the monthly numbers to a “stronger-than-expected final week” of June, as the “mass market headcount remains strong.”

There are two types of gamblers in Macau — mass market, which are mainly middle-class workers from China and elsewhere in Asia, and VIP or so-called high rollers.

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As Las Vegas turns to high-adrenaline rides to freshen its appeal to visitors, one developer has quietly started to move ahead with a roller coaster that would look down on all but one building on the Strip.

U.S. Thrill Rides LLC has submitted plans to the Federal Aviation Administration in April to build the 650-foot-tall Polercoaster, the company’s name for a scream machine that combines an observation tower with a coaster on the way up and down. Because of the height and location — a map with the application shows it at the Tropicana — the agency must assess any potential hazard posed to the planes flying in and out of nearby McCarran International Airport.

Because the FAA is still evaluating the project, critical pieces such as financing and a firm deal on the site still have not fallen into place.

However, U.S. Thrill Rides President Michael Kitchen said the company has held discussions with banks willing to furnish loans for the Polercoaster, with an estimated cost approaching $100 million.

He declined to comment on the location. A spokeswoman for Tropicana did not comment.

“This will be the tallest roller coaster in the world,” he said. “Since Las Vegas is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, we think it will get higher visibility and foot traffic than other places.”

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A downtown Toronto resort complex that attracted the interest of Nevada’s largest casino operators appeared dead Friday after the city’s mayor canceled a vote scheduled for next week on the multi-billion dollar development.

In a City Hall news conference Thursday, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, the key backer of a single hotel-casino complex, said he was halting the planned vote, which many analysts had predicted would go against the gaming development.

Gaming giants MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts, Limited, had all expressed interest in building and operating the downtown Toronto integrated resort complex.

The companies all committed development money to the effort and representatives all traveled to Toronto to pitch their ideas and meet with city and province officials.

Caesars Entertainment had proposed a casino and resort development along Front Street. Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Jan Jones said the company’s project would have created more than 10,000 jobs and would have been a catalyst for redeveloping the city’s convention center.

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As chief regulator for New Jersey’s struggling casino industry, Matthew Levinson has an interesting balancing act.

The Casino Control Commission must ensure the market is free of corruption. At the same time, turning away potential investment could be viewed as counterproductive.

Levinson, 33, was appointed to a five-year term as the commission’s seventh chairman in August by Gov. Chris Christie.

In less than eight months on the job, he has experienced the gaming market’s financial ebbs and flows, the weeklong closure of casinos in October because of Superstorm Sandy, the emergence of online gaming giant PokerStars as buyer of a struggling Boardwalk casino, and the application of MGM Resorts International to regain its gaming license that it surrendered in 2010 after a stipulated agreement with the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Also, New Jersey lawmakers approved legislation allowing Atlantic City casinos to offer Internet gaming, and Christie has pushed the casinos to allow sports wagering, a move being fought in federal court.

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A calendar shift that moved the lucrative Chinese New Year holiday into February sent Nevada gaming revenues soaring, contributing to the largest single-month total ever for the Strip.

Nevada casinos collected $1.073 billion in gaming revenues during February, a 15.1 percent increase compared with the same month a year ago according to figures released Wednesday by the Gaming Control Board.

The statewide gaming revenue total was the highest monthly amount produced by Nevada casinos since December 2007.

On the Strip, gaming revenues hit a record $696.1 million, a 31.2 percent increase.

“While February saw the timing benefit of a strong Chinese New Year, we think results still came in ahead of expectations,” Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chard Beynon told investors.

The record figures were the result of high-end baccarat play associated with the 10-day Chinese New Year holiday. In 2012, the Chinese New Year was in January. In 2013, the holiday fell into February. As a result, gaming revenues in January declined 12.4 percent statewide and 18.7 percent on the Strip.

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MGM Resorts International will spend $100 million to transform land along the Strip and surrounding the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts into an outdoor plaza and pedestrian mall with trendy shops, restaurants and a public park.

The plaza will serve as a gateway into a 20,000-seat sports arena, which the company will build behind the two resorts with national arena developer AEG.

The facades of New York-New York and Monte Carlo will be renovated as part of the retail, dining and entertainment district. The development will include several eateries, nightlife venues and entertainment attractions new to Las Vegas.

MGM Resorts announced the development today . Some initial construction has begun, and the company expects the retail and restaurant complex to open by early 2014.

“Our vision is to dramatically change the sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip, creating an area that will greatly enhance the area and create an energy that you find in the world’s great cities,” MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren said in an interview.

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Any predictions of a slowdown in Macau’s gaming market are long forgotten.

The Chinese gaming enclave shattered the region’s monthly gaming revenue record in March, with casinos collecting more than $3.92 billion from gamblers during the month.

The figure eclipsed the previous one-month record of $3.5 billion in gaming revenues, which was set in December. The March total accounted for a 25.4 percent increase over the amount casinos collected in March 2012.

The monthly results were released Tuesday by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The March total is the best year-over-year growth rate since January 2012, when gaming revenues increased by 35 percent.

Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts Ltd. are the three American casino companies operating in Macau.

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One of the Strip’s most expensive nightclub projects will debut next month.

Angel Management Group announced the opening schedule Tuesday for the Hakkasan Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.

The $100 million construction project removed the location of Studio 54 at the front of the hotel-casino for the development of a five-level restaurant and nightclub, that will offer indoor and outdoor views of the Strip.

The construction project expanded the space and redeveloped the front of the MGM Grand, which is owned by MGM Resorts International.

The Hakkasan nightclub portion of the facility will open April 18. The 10,000-square-foot nightclub will include different experiences and celebrity entertainment, including electronic music headliners Tiësto, Calvin Harris, deadmau5 and Steve Aoki.

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A Las Vegas-based gaming company has sent a letter to Toronto’s city manager expressing its interest in building a luxury casino-resort.

Much of the public debate on this issue has centered around a false choice between an outdated big-box slots model and no casino, Gamal Aziz, president and COO of Wynn Resorts Development, wrote in a two-page letter.

I am writing you to make it clear that we would offer another option, Aziz wrote. That is to create a luxury resort and spa experience that will confirm Toronto as a major global tourist and convention destination, one that will integrate seamlessly into the urban fabric of the city while standing out as an architectural asset.

The letter was sent March 4. A copy was obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday. Aziz said Wynn Resorts would work closely with the city to find an appropriate location.

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Approval of Internet gaming bills in Nevada and New Jersey less than a week apart helped fuel investors’ interest in the gaming industry during the last half of February.

The largest beneficiary was Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Nevada and New Jersey began implementing online gaming websites directed at customers gambling on computers or mobile devices within state borders.

Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Nevada’s interactive gaming bill Feb. 21 after less than one day of debate. Not to be outdone, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed his state’s online gaming bill Tuesday after state lawmakers approved changes suggested by the governor when he vetoed the initial legislation.

Caesars owns four of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos. In Las Vegas, Caesars operates 10 casinos on or near the Strip.

But the company also owns the popular World Series of Poker.

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Macau casinos collected $3.4 billion in gaming revenues during February, a 12 percent increase compared with a year ago, according to figures released Friday by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

For the first two months of 2013, Macau gaming revenues are up 9.4 percent over the same period in 2012.

Last year, Macau collected a record-setting $38 billion in gaming revenues.

RBC Capital Markets gaming analyst John Kempf told investors the February results “were encouraging” after the start of the Chinese New Year celebration during the month was slower than anticipated.

“It is likely that VIP volumes increased post Chinese New Year as the players avoided the crowds and extended their holiday past the typical seven to 10 days,” Kempf said.

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