The Japanese Diet (parliament) passed its long-delayed integrated resort bill last week, just before the close of an extraordinary legislative session. The bill, which has been in the pipeline since 2013, had been all but given up for this year. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (l.) now has full support in the Diet so a second bill that spells out locations, regulations and licensing issues should pass as well.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, owners of three Four Winds Casinos in Michigan, recently was granted land-into-trust status for 166 acres in South Bend, Indiana from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribe plans to build a $400 million development with a casino, hotel and tribal village, creating 2,000 permanent jobs. BIA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Larry Roberts (l.) said the action restores some of the tribe’s original homelands.
The first of four new casino resorts in New York opened its doors on December 2. The Tioga Downs racino is now a full-scale casino with 33 live table games to go with more than 700 machine games. February will see the opening of the second of the new resorts, Del Lago, near Syracuse, with 2,000 slots and 85 tables.
The Cordish Companies last week submitted a bid to the Madrid Regional Autonomous Government to develop Spain’s first integrated entertainment resort destination. The world-class $2.2 billion project in Madrid’s Torres de la Alameda sector will create thousands of new jobs; increase tourism and generate billions in economic development.
Las Vegas is hot again, racking up visitor numbers it hasn’t seen since before the Great Recession. What that’s meant for consumers, of course, is higher prices. And now they’re paying before they even get inside. Caesars and Wynn followed the lead of MGM Resorts last week by installing various parking fees at their properties, bring the number of resorts charging for parking to 23.
The Hong Kong-based conglomerate has formally submitted a bid to purchase the Bahamas’ stalled $3.5 billion megaresort, Baha Mar (l.). The government of the island nation says it’s vetting the offer, which is reported to include a list of prospective casino operators.
Global gaming operator Melco Crown has introduced a new hotel brand that will see its first location in Macau. The Morpheus hotel was designed by late architect Zaha Hadid. The new brand may be used in future Melco Crown projects around the world.
Ladbrokes Coral is reportedly considering a £2 billion takeover of Australian gambling operator Tabcorp Holdings. The recently merged company has reportedly appointed advisers for a possible takeover bid. A potential bid could temporarily halt a merger between Tabcorp and Tatts Group in Australia.
A blog on an offshore gaming website cites an anonymous source close to President-elect Donald Trump (shown at Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal in 1990) in saying the new president will approve an online gaming ban if passed by Congress. But Aaron Stanley, writing for CDC Gaming Reports, believes RAWA hopes are “fading fast.”
Casinos were a bright spot in key report issued last week. grading U.S. anti-money laundering measures. The Financial Action Task Force says the U.S. gaming industry goes beyond legal requirements and understands risk and obligations. The evaluation marks significant progress for the industry, which has been under fire in the past for falling short on AML issues. Geoff Freeman (l.), AGA president and CEO, says a partnership with the federal government has led to the improvements.
This week, the GGB Podcast features an interview with Whit Askew, the vice president of government relations for the American Gaming Association, on the AGA’s role in representing the industry in Washington.
Australian casino operator Crown Resorts has hired elite law firm Minter Ellison to assess the firm’s legal responsibility in the shocking arrests and detentions of 18 Crown employees in Mainland China who were trying to lure Chinese gamblers to the company’s flagship property in Melbourne (l.).
It should be a happy new year for Macau, according to S&P Global Ratings. The agency predicts that 2017 will be year of recovery for the city’s gaming industry, with GGR expected to grow by as much as 10 percent. GGR in November soared 14 percent, the fourth consecutive month of improved results for the Macau casinos.
Casino boats off the coast of Goa, India are feeling the ripple effect of the recent demonetization, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed larger denomination notes from circulation to control “black money.”
Online bookmakers will be prohibited from offering lines of credit to punters in Australia. A crackdown by the administration of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (l.) will also include a self-exclusion registry for problem gamblers.
The Philippines Department of Justice says 1,316 Chinese nationals were arrested last month for illegally conducting online gaming at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino, run by Macau-based gaming kingpin Jack Lam (l.).
The vast gaming floor at Wynn Resorts’ new $4.2 billion Palace resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip will be reconfigured in a process that may not be complete until mid-2018. But the redo should start to pay off sooner.
Chinese police have arrested 94 members of a gambling ring that illegally brought hundreds of players across the border to play in Laos and Myanmar. The players wagered some 500 billion yuan (US$72 billion).
Vietnam could announce the soft launch of a sports betting trial by the end of this year, as well as a three-year test that would allow Vietnamese locals gamble at two of the country’s casinos.
Macau junket operator the Tak Chun Group officially opened a VIP room at the Studio City Casino Macau. It includes nine high-roller gaming tables in four rooms totaling more than 10,700 square feet of space.
Hong Kong-listed developer Lippo Ltd. is still trying to complete the sale of its stake in a proposed integrated resort in Incheon, South Korea. Lippo was to have partnered with Caesars Entertainment on the project, and now may sell to its partner.
Caesars Entertainment's Manchester235 (l.) has grown in revenue and staff by 10 percent, casino officials said. A restaurant by celebrity chef James Martin has increased visitation, plus the additions of electronic roulette and a poker lounge. Director Mark Hands said the property will spend $12.5 million in 2017 to rebrand and re-launch.
A report to the Cyprus House finance committee indicated the government is losing money under an agreement with betting giant OPAP, which has a monopoly on Cyprus lottery games. A new bill would grant exclusive rights to a single provider to operate specific lottery games for a stated time period under certain conditions
Russian media and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked access to BettingExpert in July, stating the website would not remove information about bets and betting shops. Now the international sports-betting social network announced it will exit the Russian market. Roskomnadzor has been cracking down on unlicensed bookmakers and casinos since September 2015.
Only one new bingo hall has opened in the UK in the past seven years and fewer than 400 operate in the country today. As a result the industry has lost 6,500 jobs since 2005. Online gambling, smoking bans and lack of innovation account for part of the downward trend.
Crown Resorts Ltd. and its majority holder James Packer, have put on hold a proposed multibillion spin-off the company’s foreign assets, including its 27 percent share of the Melco Crown casinos in Macau, including City of Dreams (l.).
David Baazov has reportedly found new funding in his bid to takeover Amaya Inc. Baazov said two Hong King funds have increased their share of the $4.1 billion bid. The money replaces funds from a Dubai investor Baazov named in regulatory filings that later disavowed knowledge of the deal. In another matter involving Amaya, PokerStars has been licensed to operate in Portugal.
Daily fantasy sports could double in profits by 2021, per a report released recently by Juniper Research. The paper projects a $5.3 billion market in five years. Meanwhile, a bill was introduced by state Rep. Scott Drury (l.) that would ban daily fantasy sports in the Illinois House last week. Though the bill had little chance of being acted on in this year’s legislative session, it was assigned to committee.
The UK Gambling Commission has released statistics showing that online gambling is now the largest part of the gambling market in the UK. The statistics show that 33 percent of wagers in the country are made online. The entire British gambling industry brought in £13.6billion between April 2015 and March 2016.
The country of Antigua & Barbuda wants the U.S. to settle a longstanding trade dispute over online gambling by the end of the year. If no settlement is reached, Antigua says it will suspend the copyright of U.S. intellectual property as permitted by a World Trade Association ruling.
Blockchain programs that allow for a network of computers to offer online gambling games without a central authority may be on the rise in online gambling. According to the tech site the-blockchain.com, recent gambling start-ups are using the program. The idea is that since there is no central site controlling games when using blockchain, they are more trustworthy.
Tipton brothers Eddie and Tommy will go on trial early next year for fixing lottery games in five states. They also allegedly could have fixed more lottery games, prosecutors said, citing the Tiptons' involvement in a rigged Colorado game and software manipulation on lottery computers in Iowa and Indiana.
More than 4 million visitors flew into Las Vegas in October, the sixth straight month that passenger volume has exceeded that magic number. The city is on track to break the record for air traffic set in 2007, with use of McCarran Airport (l.) up for six consecutive months. And the Chinese have only begun to arrive.
Developer Glenn Straub (l.), owner of the former Revel Casino in Atlantic City, is suing New Jersey gambling regulators for requiring him to obtain a casino license to re-open the former casino. Straub maintains he does not need a license to open a casino at the site—now rebranded as Ten—since he intends to lease the casino operations to another company. State regulators have ruled that he still needs some form of casino license. His suit was filed against the state’s Casino Control Commission.
Despite a razor-thin election victory, the Twin River Management Group of Rhode Island is taking the view that any win is a good win and is moving forward to develop its casino resort in Tiverton, on the border with Massachusetts. First step is closing a slot parlor in Newport (l.) to use the license.
A large California school district discovered last week that it’s on the verge of doing business with a development company who includes as one of its partners a man who was recently fined $500,000 by the California Bureau of Gambling Control.
The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency is running two controlled simulation tests at the $1 billion MGM National Harbor casino. The demonstrations test the integrity of the casino's slots and table games. The facility must pass both tests to receive a license and open as planned on Thursday, December 8.
The Wall Street ratings firm Moody’s Investor Services issued a statement saying that New Jersey’s takeover of Atlantic City’s municipal finances was a “credit positive” move and should keep the city from defaulting on its debt through 2017. The firm called state officials saying they are ruling out bankruptcy for the resort as a crucial step for restoring the city’s finances.
The closing of the largest racetrack in Idaho, Les Bois Park (l.), is leaving the Idaho Racing Commission so destitute that it must request more funding from the legislature. Right now, its revenues are expected to be $80,000 for the year.
Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission members recently said the same reasons they denied a Linn County gaming license in 2014 still exist. However, commissioners directed staff to prepare an RFP and will order at least one market study, spurred by Wild Rose Entertainment's desire to develop a $40 million casino in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Mohegan Sun Pocono's property tax bill recently rose from $2.9 million in 2007 to $3.71 million. Owners Downs Racing LP said that's too high. The local school district, which received $2 million in casino tax revenue, said it's too low, noting the casino added a hotel and convention center. The issue is headed to appeals court.
Ohio casino employees could gamble in casinos that they don’t work at in the Buckeye State if a law being proposed becomes law. Currently employees of the four state casinos face misdemeanors and felonies for daring to play at casino. Although none have ever been caught trying.
Batavia is the latest Illinois community to lift a video gambling ban. Aldermen voted 8-3 to allow the games since business owners said they could not compete with businesses in nearby towns where they were allowed. The games will generate $120,000 annually plus $25 per terminal if 12 businesses install five machines each.
Millennials, age 21 to 35, visit casinos more than any other age group, yet only 2 percent of them play slots, according to the American Gaming Association. To keep them coming, casinos are installing more arcade-like games, holding parties and tournaments and upgrading dining and retail offerings.
A planned New Year’s Eve concert at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall (l.), to be broadcast nationally by Dick Clark Productions, will not happen because the New Jersey agency that planned it couldn’t find a big-name act.
The Cowlitz tribe’s ilani casino resort near La Center, Washington, is three quarters completed and moving towards opening in April. The $510 million facility will try to tap the Portland metropolitan area.
A California tribe, the Redding Rancheria, is taking another bite at the apple and applying for a second time to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be allowed to close its existing casino (the Win-River casino, l.) and open a new one 1.5 miles away. This was made possible by a recent ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
MGM Resorts International and the state of Connecticut made their cases last week before the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeals on the lawsuit that MGM is pursuing against the state to stop it from allowing the state’s gaming tribes from choosing a site for a third Indian casino.
The National Indian Gaming Commission will hold consultations with tribal nations that operate gambling entities, February through May. NIGC Chairman Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri (l.) says the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires the sessions to help promote tribal economic development, self-sufficiency and strong tribal governments. Currently 244 tribes in 29 states operate 497 gaming establishments in a $29.9 billion industry.
A mysterious group with secret funding has gathered enough signatures on a petition to possibly force an election on an Indian casino proposed for Elk Grove, California. The goal is to overturn a city action that would make such a casino possible.
For some reason, keno in Massachusetts is much more profitable and ubiquitous than keno in any other state in the union. It continues to bring in the money for the state lottery—and the customers to play it.
BBC One broadcast the final televised UK National Lottery draw on Saturday, January 7, 2017. Results after that will be available on iPlayer. Tim Copper, digital director at lottery operator Camelot, said the change was made because players prefer to check lottery results at any time, across multiple platforms.
A fifth winner will claim a multimillion-dollar jackpot from Vietlott, Vietnam’s American-style lottery, which debuted in July. The draw games have proven very popular among the Vietnamese.
The National Indian Gaming Commission announced Chief of Staff Shannon O’Loughlin of the Choctaw Nation was appointed to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee by President Barack Obama. Vice Chair Kathryn Isom-Clause (l.) of Taos Pueblo was named one of the National Center for American Enterprise Development’s 40 Under 40 Emerging American Indian Leaders.
Armin Sageder, founder of BGT integrated solutions for the gaming market, has been named chief executive officer at Playtech BGT Sports, a merger of BGT, Geneity, Mobenga, Unilogic and Playtech’s internal Sports Trading team. The new company will provide one-stop-shop betting, based on Playtech’s Omni-channel platform technology and IMS management solutions.
EveryMatrix, a provider of sports betting and other software solutions to the iGaming industry, recently named Matthew Colledge as chief technology officer. Colledge has held a variety of iGaming positions in Toronto, Costa Rica and London over more than two decades.
Recent graduates in technology fields are invited to apply for the National Indian Gaming Commission's first-ever Technology Leaders Fellowship. Under the one-year program, fellows will work with NIGC technology staff on several special projects, hopefully leading to careers in Indian gaming.
TransAct Technologies has received the 2015-2016 Supplier Performance Award from Konami Gaming. This is the fourth consecutive year of recognition for TransAct and its Epic 950 Printer.
The International Association of Gaming Advisors has invited law students to submit research papers in the contest for two Shannon Bybee Scholarship awards.
Inspired Gaming is deploying land-based versions of content from leading online game developer NetEnt, on more than 10,000 Inspired terminals in its omnichannel base.
Alfastreet is launching a wireless management system that will link its electronic table games to accounting, tracking and other back-of-the-house systems.
