NEWS & NOTES

Pennsylvania casinos have posted their fifth consecutive monthly slot-machine revenue decline. According to numbers compiled by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, revenue from slot machines totaled 6 million last month, down 5.7 percent from a year ago. Counting only the 11 casinos that were also open in March of 2013, revenue slid 6.7 percent. Nine of those casinos posted year-over-year losses, led by Presque Isle Downs and Casino and Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack, each down nearly 13 percent. Valley Forge Casino Resort reported an 18 percent gain.  •  A report in London’s Independent newspaper quoted an expert in home mortgages says that evidence of expenditures for online gambling is considered a red flag by many bankers when considering mortgage applications. Financial history including iGaming transactions is one reason mortgages are turned down, at least in the U.K., according to Trevor Grant, chairman of Britain’s Association of Expert Mortgage Advisers.  • Bart Blatstein, owner of Philadelphia casino license contender The Provence, has purchased the waterfront site of the doomed Foxwoods Philadelphia project for $13 million, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Blatstein declined the newspaper’s request to comment on the sale. The site was owned by Blatstein before it was bought by the Foxwoods Philadelphia partnership. Ultimately, the Foxwoods partners were stripped of the license, leading to the current bids for the second city casino license. (The partnership behind the failed Foxwoods Casino project in South Philadelphia filed for bankruptcy court protection last week, citing claims of $23.6 million from 14 creditors.) Blatstein is conveying a 100-foot-wide strip of land along the river’s edge of the site to allow the city to complete a waterfront trail that had been planned as part of the Foxwoods project.  •  Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment said it will begin hiring 8,000 workers to staff its Studio City resort on Cotai by the end of the year and plans to offer competitive pay and management scholarships to attract workers. The US$2.9 billion casino hotel is slated to open the middle of 2015.  •  Intralot has been selected by the Wyoming Lottery Corporation as its gaming vendor to supply systems and services for the newly formed WyoLotto, the state’s first entry into the lottery business. The firm will provide start-up and ongoing services, including the recruitment of lottery retailers, supply, installation, maintenance and support of the new lottery central system, and software platforms, terminal network and communications.  •  The Novomatic Group has acquired the Casino FlaminGO Hotel complex in the south of Macedonia directly on the Greek border. The complex includes a casino, a five-star hotel with 58 rooms and wellness offering, two restaurants, a selection of bars, a night club and an event stage. The gaming offering includes 440 slots, 10 American Roulette tables and 16 card tables including blackjack, Caribbean Stud Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em Poker.  •  Valley Forge Casino Resort in Pennsylvania announced a partnership with US Airways on a promotion that will allow players to use their points earned playing at the casinos as miles toward free flights and upgrades through the US Airways Dividend Miles frequent-flyer program. According to casino officials, the promotion is the first of its kind in the industry.  •  The Veteran and Legal Affairs Committee of the Maine legislature last week approved of a bill that would authorize a study of whether the market could support more casinos in the state than the ones it has in Bangor and Oxford. A consultant would be hired to study the market in anticipation of developing a process for comprehensive regulation of future casino expansion. The bill follows a vote in the Senate that killed several casino proposals.  •  Scarborough Downs in Maine held the first races of the new season, another season without slot machines. The Downs has been pushing the legislature to pass a bill that would allow it to become a racino, without success. Two weeks ago a bill went down to defeat that would have allowed the racetrack to ask the state’s voters if it could add slots, an addition the racetrack considers key to surviving as an institution. The racetrack would also like to build a hotel and concert venue.  • Genting’s Blackpool casino has requested permission from the government of the English resort town to operate 24 hours.  •  Success Universe Group reported a 19 percent annual increase in EBITDA to HK$387.3 million (US$49.6 million) at its Ponte 16 casino and hotel on Macau’s Inner Harbour. Net profit for 2013 totaled HK$12.2 million, reversing a loss of HK$37.9 million in 2012. Success Universe owns 49 percent of Ponte 16, which operates as a sub-licensee of casino concession-holder SJM, and also runs a lottery division in mainland China, which contributed approximately HK$70.6 million in revenue last year, but posted a net loss of $13.4 million.  •  SJM satellite operator Hotel Fortuna recorded HK$261.3 million in revenue last year (US$33.5 million), a 1.6 percent increase over 2012. The casino on the Macau peninsula operates under a sub-licensee of SJM’s casino concession.  •  Budget airline Jetstar Pacific is launching daily service between Macau and Da Nang and Hanoi in its home country of Vietnam. Twenty-one round trips per week are planned, the carrier said, including two a day from Da Nang and one from Hanoi.