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Global Gaming Expo attendees warned of hepatitis-A exposure

By KEN RITTER
Associated Press Writer
newsday.com

LAS VEGAS — Health officials in Nevada warned Friday that as many as 25,000 people who attended a Las Vegas gambling industry convention this month might have been exposed to a a virus that causes a serious, though rarely fatal, liver disease.

A sales representative at a booth where free ice cream was handed out became sick with hepatitis A after returning home from the Global Gaming Expo, officials with the Clark County Health District and Minnesota-based Schwan Food Company said.

Gambling executives, casino representatives and product manufacturers from 50 states and 20 countries attended the expo Sept. 13-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to conference sponsor, the American Gaming Association.

Schwan and Clark County health officials said Friday that there was no evidence the free ice cream handed out at the expo was tainted.

“It’s important to make clear the individual was the exposure, not the product,” said Lawrence Sands, community health director for the Las Vegas-based health district.

However, Sands said the man, who was not identified, was at the most infectious stage of the illness at the convention.

Schwan spokesman Mike Gunderson in Marshall, Minn., said the employee, a sales representative from Colorado, did not handle the ice cream.

“The assumption is that he did shake hands with a number of people there,” said Gunderson, who added that the unidentified employee followed food booth and product advisories and used a hand sanitizer.

Sands said Clark County health officials were notified of the case late Thursday by their counterparts at the Tri-County Health Department near Denver.

Dr. Richard Vogt, director of the health department that serves Colorado’s Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, said the man in his early 40s was recovering at home in Douglas County. He said he could not further identify the man for health care privacy reasons.

Vogt said health investigators did not believe the man had contact with many people in his community after becoming ill. But a family member was given immune globulin and vaccine as a precaution.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver that can cause jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. The virus most often is spread through fecal-oral contact, such as touching hand to mouth after using the bathroom or shaking the hands of infected people who did not wash properly.

Those infected usually develop symptoms 15 to 50 days after exposure to the virus.

“Most people feel very sick,” Sands said, adding that the virus can be fatal to some people with immune system disorders or liver disease.

The virus is not passed through the air, and not everyone exposed to the virus becomes infected.

Although there is no treatment for hepatitis A, symptoms can be prevented if a person exposed to the virus receives gamma globulin within 14 days.

Sands advised people who got free ice cream to at the Schwan’s booth to contact their local health department or physician.

The Clark County Health Division planned to provide free gamma globulin and hepatitis A vaccine clinics Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas.

The American Gaming Association was issuing a health warning by e-mail to registered conference attendees, said Holly Thomsen, spokeswoman for the association in Washington, D.C.

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WASHINGTON — The Senate today turned aside an attempt to restrict Internet gambling in a procedural move, but Sen. Jon Kyl vowed he would try again and said he expected the legislation would become law eventually.

The Arizona Republican tried to attach language restricting Internet gambling to an annual spending bill that must be passed this year, but an unnamed Democrat objected to attaching an unrelated matter to the spending measure under consideration.

Kyl said his legislation would require banks and credit card companies to block payments to online Internet gambling sites. He said some firms were already voluntarily blocking money transfers.

“We will proceed with this, it will become law at some point at some time,” the Arizona Republican said on the Senate floor. “There should be no reason why we can’t move forward on this.”

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said that a member of her party had objected to attaching Kyl’s language to the spending bill but she was not sure who. Kyl urged the lawmaker to come forward so the concerns could be addressed.

The U.S. Justice Department has said the laws that prohibit interstate gambling apply to the Internet. But Americans have turned to offshore gambling Internet sites as an alternative.

The Senate and House of Representatives have passed similar legislation in the past but have been unable to reach agreement on a single, identical bill, Kyl said.

Shares of online gambling sites in Britain moved higher today in anticipation of the Senate action. Partygaming Plc moved up 5 percent to 105 pence while Sportingbet.com Plc moved up 11.3 percent to 321 pence on London trading.

Reuters News Service

LAS VEGAS – The Aladdin hotel and casino has unveiled some new drawings for its upcoming transformation into a Planet Hollywood-themed resort by the end of next year.

The remodeling process is expected to begin in October and be executed in phases so that it will remain open throughout the renovation process.

The property was bought out of bankruptcy in 2003 and has long been criticized for its inaccessible design.

The casino will be completely redesigned with an ultramodern look and no distinct theme, the sketches show. The remodeling team includes Dougall Design Associates, Klai Juba Architects and M.J. Dean Construction Inc.

Dougall Design crafted the look for the Borgata resort in Atlantic City and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, while Klai Juba designed the new hotel tower at Mandalay Bay and the Hard Rock.

“We have the preeminent location on the Strip and … are prepared to deliver to Las Vegas the ultimate desination for entertainment, shopping and gaming,” resort co-Chairman Douglas Teitelbaum said in a statement.

Source: www.casinocitytimes.com

Mississippi’s floating casinos were left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina’s rampage.

The assessment was incomplete Tuesday, but Webster Franklin, CEO of the Tunica, Miss., Convention and Visitors Bureau, said all are likely to be heavily damaged or destroyed.

“It’s devastating. It’ll take months, if not years, to rebuild,” he said.

On Sunday, The Mississippi Gaming Commission shut down all 12 casinos operating on the Gulf Coast before Katrina hit.

Harrah’s Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman told Bloomberg News that its riverboat Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., is likely “a complete loss” after it separated from its moorings. The casino was “literally taken across the street and plopped down about a block or so away from where it normally sits,” he said.

Harrah’s Grand Casino in Gulfport was also “severely” damaged, he said.

In a statement, MGM Mirage said its Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi sustained “significant damage.”

Video footage has shown a number of riverboat casinos sitting on roadways and Interstate highways. State law prohibits developing land-based casinos.

Marc Falcone, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates six casinos in the three cities that sit on the Gulf Coast - Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis - likely are destroyed.

The state’s 30 casinos generated about $2.8 billion in revenue and accounted for $330 million of the state and local governments’ tax revenues, according to the American Gaming Association.

The region is the nation’s third-largest casino market, after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The industry employs about 29,000 in the state. Casinos on the Gulf Coast employ about 14,000 people, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

Casinos in Louisiana suffered less damage. But five casinos in the New Orleans area, including Harrah’s New Orleans, remain closed, says Wade Duty, executive director of Casino Association of Louisiana.

Since communications channels on the Gulf Coast have collapsed, companies are finding it difficult to properly assess the extent of the damage, says Holly Thomson, a spokeswoman for the American Gaming Association.

Deutsche Bank’s Falcone expects Harrah’s to lose $1.8 million to $2.5million in revenue for each day its casinos remain closed. MGM Mirage could lose $700,000 to $1.1 million. He made the estimates based on the assumption that more than half the casinos on the Gulf Coast are damaged beyond repair.

Tunica’s Franklin says the rebuilding process will include legislative debate on whether to allow casinos on land, where they’re less vulnerable.

USA TODAY