Sun, May 13, 2012
This week, a special Global Gaming Business Podcast features an informal press conference with Bill Eadington, head of the Center for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at University of Nevada, Reno and Bo Bernard, director of the International Gaming Institute at University of Nevada, Las Vegas on a recent announcement that the two universities would cooperate for the very first time.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
At the end of the first quarter earnings reports, there was no drama on any of the calls and most gaming companies performed as expected. Now is that good news?
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Sun, May 13, 2012
The most comprehensive study of the gaming industry is issued each year by the American Gaming Association with the State of the States. In this year’s study, evidence continues to mount that the industry is rebounding from the bad years of 2008-2010, with a 3 percent increase in revenues over 2011.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
Atul Bali, former CEO of the XEN Group, will join Aristocrat Americas as president effective June 30, succeeding Nick Khin, who will step down after four years.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
A state Assembly committee last week approved a bill that would legalize online gaming within the state of New Jersey. This follows a Senate panel doing the same and positions the bill for full votes in both houses of the legislature. But a pending feud between the bill’s sponsor and Governor Chris Christie (l.) may derail the entire thing.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
Dennis Gomes (l.), the recently departed leader of Resorts Atlantic City, leads a class of legends to be inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held on October 23 in Las Vegas.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
The Ohio Casino Control Commission last week issued licenses for the first two of four casinos that will operate in the state: the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland and the Hollywood Casino Toledo. The Cleveland casino (l.) will open first on May 14.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
Echo Entertainment, owners of the only casino in Australia’s largest city, is the target of a hostile takeover by gaming and erstwhile media tycoon James Packer (l.). The Star casino’s Sydney monopoly, coupled with its potential as an alternative to Macau and Singapore for Chinese high rollers, have sparked rumors that gaming giants Genting and Wynn Resorts might also enter the bidding.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
Universal Entertainment will invest $2 billion in a casino resort on the shores of Manila Bay, says company Chairman Kazuo Okada (in white with PAGCOR officials at groundbreaking). In addition, his slot manufacturing division, Aruze Gaming America, will build another slot machine factory in Batangas.
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Sun, May 13, 2012
Steve Wynn has dropped out of the Massachusetts casino merry-go-round after voters in Foxboro handed him a stinging defeat last week in his plan to build a casino next to Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots (l.). His company announces no plans for further efforts in the Bay State. At the same time, he reveals more about his plans for the recently approved property in the Cotai region of Macau.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
One of the most legendary poker players died last week. Amarillo Slim—Thomas Austin Preston Jr.—was 83 years old and will be remembered as one of the best cash players ever.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
This week, the Global Gaming Business Podcast features an interview with David S. Cordish, the chairman and president of the Cordish Company, which will open Maryland Live! Casino in early June in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
As several states move forward in the process of legalizing online gaming, a newspaper reports that Senators Harry Reid (L.) and Jon Kyl are working together to circumvent those efforts and authorize federally approved online poker.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
The first of four casinos authorized by Ohio’s voters will open in about a week in downtown Cleveland after the Ohio Casino Commission licensed its owners, Rock Ohio Caesars. The Horseshoe Casino Cleveland (l.) is expected to draw an additional 5 million visitors to the state.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
Pinnacle Entertainment, a Las Vegas-based casino company, has bought a controlling interest in a Retama Park, a racetrack near San Antonio, looking ahead at the possibility of gaming expansion in the Texas several years down the road.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
Tottering under billions of dollars of debt, the company started by Sol Kerzner (l.), the famed 76-year-old resort tycoon, has had to cede ownership of Atlantis Paradise Island to creditors and give up half its ownership in Atlantis Palm in Dubai. The restructuring largely reduces Kerzner International’s global role to management and branding.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
The legendary football club, Leeds United, has become the fifth organization to bid on a “super” casino in Leeds. City Council will weigh the applications at some future date. The club’s historic stadium, Elland Road (l.), would be the site of the casino in the west stand.
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Sun, May 06, 2012
Two premature announcements that it had been granted approval from the Macau government for its Cotai land concession notwithstanding, last week’s publication in Macau’s official gazette that Wynn Macau got the formal OK was the last word. Is MGM next?
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Sun, May 06, 2012
A bill passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would create a statewide auction for the casino license that was stripped from Foxwoods Philadelphia (rendering of the proposed project at left). Foxwoods could not get financing for the property and subsequent efforts to sell to Wynn Resorts or Caesars Entertainment fell through.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
This week, the Global Gaming Business Podcast features an interview with Joe Weinberg, the president of the Cordish Companies’ gaming and resorts division, which will open Maryland Live! Casino on June 6 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
Earnings reports from gaming companies have been impressive during this period. From Penn National and Boyd to IGT and LVS, gaming companies have been hitting it out of the ballpark.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court this week is considering whether a Michigan casino is legal. The case has ramifications that could affect many other tribal casinos and potential casinos across the nation.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The eagerly awaited opening this year of Entertainment City Manila’s first integrated resort, the Belle Grande Manila Bay (l.), is being delayed to 2013. The hitch is a government requirement that each of the massive complex’s four licensees be ready to open at least 800 hotel rooms concurrent with their casinos. Despite the postponement, optimism is running high in the Philippines over the economic benefits the massive project is expected to deliver.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The success of the first phase of Galaxy Macau has spurred Galaxy Entertainment to quickly begin Phase II of the project, which will not be subject to the onerous government approvals necessary before getting something started. But a deal must be reached to expand the number at table games in the expanded project.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The Cordish Company will open Maryland’s largest casino, the $500 million Maryland Live!, adjacent to the Arundel Mills Mall in Anne Arundel County on June 6.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
Golden Nugget Atlantic City has celebrated the completion of its $150 million renovation. The property, owned by Landry’s Inc. executive Tilman Fertitta, hosted a series of public events last week to showcase its new look, including a ribbon-cutting, celebrity appearances and a fireworks display.
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Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The bill to add a sixth Maryland casino location and legalize table games could be the subject of the second of two special sessions of the legislature. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (l.) doesn’t want the budget discussions bogged down by casino negotiations.
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Mon, Apr 23, 2012
This week, the Global Gaming Business Podcast features an interview with Robert Norton, the president and general manager of the Maryland Live! casino in Anne Arundel County, just south of Baltimore, a facility owned and operated by the Cordish Company, specialists in urban redevelopment.
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
Taking over Massachusetts’ racetracks by May 20, as required by the Expanded Gaming Act, could throw a wrench in the state Gaming Commission’s real job, to site and approve casinos, according to its chairman, Steven Crosby (l.).
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
The optimism surrounding the stock prices of gaming companies can evaporate quickly if casino executives say the wrong thing or what they say is interpreted incorrectly. Regional markets are very bullish but often confusing.
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
A year after “Black Friday” hasn’t clarified the situation that much. And the size of the U.S. online gaming market has been estimated to be as high as $12 billion. But what impact would state-by-state legalization have on these numbers if the federal government doesn’t act first?
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
First there was one, then there were two, and now three Indian tribes wrangling over a single casino license in Massachusetts’ Southeastern gaming zone. Cedric Cromwell (l.), chairman of the Mashpees, says his tribe is the only one that should get the casino.
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson says Vietnam is ripe for large-scale casino development, and just to move things along, his company has already begun designing a couple of them, one for Hanoi and one for Ho Chi Minh City (l.).
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
Although the company hasn’t confirmed it, multiple sources are reporting that the Macau government will grant Wynn Macau the land concession it needs to begin construction on a $2 billion project in the Cotai region of the SAR. With only two concessions to be granted in 2012, that leaves one more for either MGM China or locally owned SJM. At left, a picture pulled from a video by Las Vegas news website vegastripping.com purportedly shows a rendering of the Cotai property over Wynn’s left shoulder.
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Sun, Apr 22, 2012
The first of four casinos in Ohio could open soon now that the Ohio Casino Commission’s consultant has given the operator of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland a clean bill of health. Rock Gaming head and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert (l.) appeared before the commission last week.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
This week, the Global Gaming Business Podcast features an interview with Andrew MacDonald, executive vice president of casino for Marina Bay Sands on the first two years of operating in Singapore and how the VIP market is progressing.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
The 15th International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking will be held in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace from May 27-31, 2013. The conference has added the International Gaming Institute at UNLV as an organizer, along with the founding institution, UNR's Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming led by gaming legend, Professor Bill Eadington (l.).
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
The three largest gaming companies are in lock step on their expansion plans. For Asia to the U.S., the best potential markets can expect participation from the Big Three: Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and Genting.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
Defenders of the state law that allows the Ohio state lottery to authorize racetracks to install video lottery terminals last week urged a judge to throw out a lawsuit that challenges that law on constitutional grounds. And Hard Rock International last week reached an agreement to build a racino at Northfield Park Racetrack (l.).
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
The decider, the 500-pound gorilla in the room and the Big Kahuna rolled into one, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, whose members will determine the shape of gaming in the Bay State, last week held its first meeting since being appointed.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
After the resignation of Larry Echo Hawk as assistant secretary for Indian affairs, Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar named Donald “Del” Laverdure (l.) as Echo Hawk’s interim replacement.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
Battle lines are being drawn over a proposed resort-scale casino in Toronto. Supporters like Councillor Michael Thompson (l.) want a referendum on the issue this year. Opponents say the voters have already spoken. If Toronto doesn’t want it, however, other cities will gladly step up.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
Milton Keynes has approved Aspers’ bid to develop a new £10 million casino in the Xscape center (l.). The rewards for the South Midlands city should be substantial. In addition to jobs and investment, Aspers has pledged £500,000 a year to fund programs for local residents.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
Sands Cotai Central debuted last week with a measure of hype and excitement not seen in Macau… well, since the opening of Galaxy Macau at this time last year. Cotai Central is 30 percent larger than its neighbor, the Venetian Macao.
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Fri, Apr 13, 2012
Last-minute extras added in the Maryland House of Delegates as a condition of passing the bill to add a sixth casino and approve table games ultimately killed the measure. It could return in a special session, but many competing interests make it a difficult sell. It’s good news for the Cordish Company, which will open the state’s largest casino, Maryland Live! (l.), near Baltimore in June.
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Sun, Apr 08, 2012
This week, the Global Gaming Business Podcast features an interview with Michael Frawley, the chief operating officer of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, on the strategy to offer value pricing at the low-end Boardwalk casino.
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Sun, Apr 08, 2012
New Jersey is pushing ahead to become an epicenter for online wagering as a bill to establish internet poker and other table games has passed a Senate committee. Sponsored by Senator Ray Lesniak, the bill would allow casinos in Atlantic City to take bets from established customers through online games. The new legislation is backed by Governor Chris Christie (l.), who vetoed a similar proposal last March.
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Sun, Apr 08, 2012
Governor Jerry Brown (l.) of California has signed a compact with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria that has ramifications for all compacts to come as long as he is governor.
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Sun, Apr 08, 2012
Two Massachusetts tribes are competing for one casino license set aside for a federally recognized tribe as part of the Bay State’s gaming expansion law. One, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay-Head Aquinnah, led by Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais (l.), appears to be attempting to steal a march on its rival, the Mashpee Wampanoag, by courting three towns at once.
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Sun, Apr 08, 2012
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of the developers of Philadelphia’s second planned casino, upholding the project’s license revocation and dooming hopes for a Foxwoods Philadelphia (rendering at left). The decision opens up a license in Pennsylvania, but probably not in Philadelphia.
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