Here's a chip run that's currently tougher than the NUTT. Glad I already have their chips.
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Controversy Over Mideast Casino

By GREG MYRE
Associated Press Writer
JERICHO, West Bank (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation -
With its chained gates, empty parking
lot and missing plate glass windows shot out months ago, the ornate
Oasis Casino represents an early casualty of the current Mideast
conflict.

Now, with Israelis and Palestinians casting for ways to restore
a bit of normalcy to their relations, they've raised the
possibility of reopening the once bustling casino, which was a
money maker for the Palestinians and a magnet for Israeli gamblers.

But even this seemingly modest proposal, which appeared to have
support earlier in the week, has sparked a mini-crisis.

The Palestinians say all their towns and villages, sealed off by
Israeli army checkpoints, should be opened _ not just Jericho.

``The Palestinian position is (for Israel) to lift the siege and
the closure all over,'' said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian
leader who lives in biblical Jericho, one of the world's oldest
cities. ``It may be just a public relations campaign by the
Israelis. Deeds are what count.''

Israel said the restrictions were for security.

``As long as terrorism continues ... Israeli citizens won't be
allowed to visit the casino,'' Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
told army radio. ``We are not paying protection money. We are not
saying, 'Don't kill us, and we will open a casino for you.'''

The casino, which sits in an isolated patch of scrub brush on
the outskirts of Jericho, was a symbol of Arab-Israeli economic
cooperation after it opened in 1998.

Israelis arrived by the busload and spent freely at Oasis, the
only casino in either Israel or the Palestinian territories. The
casino provided more than 2,000 jobs, and was one of the biggest
money earners for the Palestinian Authority, which holds a $60
million stake in the Austrian-owned project.

But shortly after the Palestinian uprising began last September,
shootouts erupted near the casino, and Israeli gunfire shattered
the black plate glass windows at the front.

Without the casino business, the luxury Hotel Intercontinental
next door shut down shortly after it opened, and a fish restaurant
across the street still bears the scars of Israeli tank fire from
last fall.

Alon Arnon, who handles public relations for the Oasis, said
``management will open the casino when the time is right.'' But for
now, he said, it is a matter between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Jericho, a few miles north of the Dead Sea and just across the
border from Jordan, depends heavily on tourism. But on a typical
weekday afternoon, the town had a sleepy, empty feel, and no
tourists were in sight.

``We hope the casino will reopen. We would welcome the Israelis
back _ they love to gamble,'' said Nur al-Din, 32, a casino dealer
who was passing his afternoon with a card game in an alley off
Jericho's main square. ``I'm sure the Israelis would be 100 percent
safe if they returned.''