After intense industry lobbying, the Internal Revenue Service is dropping a plan that would have lowered the reporting threshold on slot winnings to $600 from the current $1,200. In addition, there will be no tracking of information from players clubs to determine if a customer owes more taxes. American Gaming Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman (l.) calls it a “big win” for the industry.
Pachinko king Kazuo Okada’s self-named resort (l.) has opened in Manila. Officials say the $2.4 billion Okada Manila, the third of four casino resorts planned for Entertainment City, could attract up to 20,000 people a day. It’s the third of four resorts planned for that area, with only a Genting-owned property left to open.
Macau, the world’s top gaming destination as measured by gross gaming revenue, is back in business after a historic downturn that endured for more than two years. December numbers continued the positive trend that began in August. But never did Macau relinquish the crown, which beats any other gaming jurisdictions by far when comparing GGR.
New Jersey has filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in its challenge of a federal sports betting ban saying that Congress violated the Constitution since it is barred from forcing states to repeal or reinstate their own laws. The argument put forth by Governor Chris Christie (l.) maintains that states cannot be forced to govern their citizens by Congress’ instruction. This is New Jersey’s second attempt to have the court hear its sports betting argument.
A lucrative compact with the Seminole Tribe hangs in the balance as Florida legislators address slots expansion where county voters approved the games. House Commerce Committee Chairman Jose Felix Diaz (l.) said allowing the slots would be an expansion of gambling. Senate President Joe Negron said the voters have spoken but compromise is possible.
Despite the retirement of the Senate champion for online gaming in Pennsylvania, a bill was introduced by state Senator Jay Costa (l.) last week that would legalize, regulate and tax both online gaming and daily fantasy sports.
The government Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (l.) is partially lifting a longstanding prohibition on its citizens gambling in casinos ahead of a new gaming law that is expected to further liberalize the market. Hanoi is looking to resort-scale gaming to provide an economic lift by boosting international tourism.
Konami Gaming last week named Steve Sutherland (l.) to succeed Satoshi Sakamoto as president and chief executive officer of Konami Gaming, Inc., as Sakamoto takes the position of senior executive director of parent Konami Holdings Corporation. Other promotions were announced within the company, as well.
The Gambling Control Bill passed the Irish legislature in 2013 but has languished since then. Now the Department of Justice and Junior Justice Minister David Stanton (l.) will review the measure, which will update all of Ireland's existing gambling laws, excluding the National Lottery, and will include provisions to protect children and those with gambling addictions.
This week, the GGB Podcast features an interview with Michael Silberling, the CEO of Affinity Gaming, on how his company has responded since he took over two years ago.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (l.), who has gone back and forth on the issue of online gaming in the country, has done it again, vowing he will close all online operations because they don’t support the local economy.
Imperial Pacific Holdings International has shelved a planned bond offering meant to fund construction of its permanent casino resort (l.) on the Pacific island of Saipan, which it has suspended. The company hoped to raise up to $400 million.
Lawrence Ho’s Entertainment Gaming Asia has sold off the last of its machine gaming holdings in Cambodia, at the Dreamworld Club (l.) in a casino in the gambling enclave of Poipet on the border with Thailand. The move leaves the NASDAQ-listed company with two slot leases in the Philippines.
With widespread public disapproval of legislation that could bring legal casinos to Japan, the government has launched a series of discussions on how to prevent gambling addiction in the country.
A report in the Macau Daily Times raised questions about Macau Legend’s development plans in Setubal Portugal. The report cited Portuguese reports that agreements between Macau Legend and the municipality have not been recognized by the Portuguese government. The proposed project will create a marina/pier area with hotels, restaurants, retail shops, apartments and other facilities.
Hong Kong-listed developer Lippo Ltd. wants out of a South Korean real estate project (l.) with U.S.-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. The project near Incheon International Airport includes a foreigners-only casino.
Landing International Development has announced it is now the sole owner of the foreigners-only casino project Jeju Shinwa World (l.) in South Korea. The property was originally planned as a Genting Resorts World.
The Indian state of Goa has revised its gaming regulations based on the legal framework observed in Macau. The draft legislation was due to be reviewed by lawmakers before the end of the year.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been slammed for cracking down on high street bookmakers in the continuing controversy about fixed-odds betting terminals. The new PM took office in July.
A majority of Finns want to maintain a state-run monopoly on gaming, according to a poll. More than two-thirds of those surveyed said they approve of the current structure, which sends the proceeds to charities. Casino Helsinki (l.) is run by RAY, the nation’s slot machine association.
Despite reservations, the Bournemouth, UK city council planning committee voted 6-2 to approve a $62 million casino in the new BH2 development area. The two-story casino will be open 24/7, featuring electronic gaming machines, a VIP area and live jazz music. Developers are Aspers Casinos with Licet Holdings and Legal & General.
Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (l.) continued his crackdown on state-sponsored gambling when the national lottery, the Mifal Hapayis, shut down the nation's 500 slot machines and 150 keno machines on New Year's Eve. The lottery could not reach a licensing agreement with the Treasury Department, which oversees the lottery and sports betting.
OPAP has encountered another delay in its plans to deploy 35,000 video lottery terminals in Greece. The European Commission has imposed the most recent pothole in the road to VLTs heaven.
Local residents from Gold Coast and Brisbane, Australia would provide the lion’s share of the new Gold Coast integrated resort that has been proposed for the Glitter Strip. That was the conclusion of two reports on the proposed resort.
The Belle Boulevard Casino along the Shoreline in Belleview, Ontario is expected to open any day now. The opening is now expected to be January 11, although the management won’t confirm that.
British Columbia could get a new casino. Talks are ongoing between the BC Lottery to build a new casino at the base of a new bridge being built to replace the Massey Tunnel.
Quebec provincial authorities want to combat problem gambling by cutting down on the number of video lottery terminals. The government announced last week that it plans to cut the number of VLTs from 12,000 to 10,000 and transition many of them out of taverns and bars.
The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel is not giving up on its dreams for online bingo. Despite a slapdown last month by a U.S. District Court the tribe is very optimistic that it will someday offer online bingo and online poker.
Philippines technology provider PhilWeb Corp. has sold its 32.5 percent stake in German technology provider Acentic GmbH to help pay for its domestic gaming operations. The buyer is Niantic Holding GmbH.
With new gambling laws about to go into effect in Australia, several online casino sites are expected to leave the market. One of the first to withdraw was the Vera&John online casino. The Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill bans in-play sports betting and also prohibits online poker and casino games.
The online Wintingo Casino has signed an agreement with Scientific Games to offer an array of the slot supplier’s content for play on mobile and desktop devices.
Aspire Global has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Play’n GO, under which Play’n Go content will be incorporated into Aspire platform solutions.
Senior lenders have resolved a dispute between them that could have dashed a plan to refinance and restructure Caesars Entertainment Operating Company and finally bring the company out of Chapter 11. As a result, the plan could be approved as soon as this month.
Georgia state Rep. Ron Stephens (l.) said he will introduce a bill that would change the state constitution to allow casino gambling and up to four casinos, including two in Atlanta, with revenue going to the HOPE scholarship fund. Last year he presented a similar but it died after House Speaker David Ralston postponed a vote.
As more casinos agree to make installment payments to local host communities as state lawmakers seek a permanent solution, local officials in Bethlehem fight back at the stance of Las Vegas Sands. But a Sands spokesman says his company has invested much more than any other casino developer and plans to invest even more in Sands Bethlehem (l.).
August 1 will mark 25 years of Mississippi's casino industry (at left, the first casino to open, Splash in Tunica County). The 12 Gulf Coast casinos, which survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2008 economic downturn and the BP oil spill, earned more than $1 billion in gross casino revenue in 2016--the best year since the recession.
A citizens group opposed to New York’s new del Lago Resort & Casino (l.) have lost a court challenge to delay the project over environmental concerns. The $440 million property, the second of four commercial casinos coming to the state, is set to open February 1.
The Michigan Auditor General recently released an audit report noting the state Gaming Control Board satisfactorily regulates the state's $1.37 billion gaming industry. However, one exception noted 213 employees who held supervisory positions at two Detroit casinos, including Greektown Hotel & Casino (l.), needed to upgrade their licenses. The Gaming Control Board disagreed.
Baccarat volume was weak on the Las Vegas Strip, and the house played a little unlucky across the board. But while Southern Nevada saw a slowing of gaming revenue and tourism growth in November, the region remained on a pace to handily beat 2015’s record-setting 42.3 million visitors.
South Carolina isn’t known for Democrats in high places, but one of them, Rep. Todd Rutherford (l.), a state legislator out of Columbia, believes Republican power in Washington bodes well for his bill to put casino legalization on the 2018 ballot. Trump is “well tied-in to gambling,” he says.
MGM National Harbor is the second Maryland casino to take advantage of new regulations allowing individual casinos to set table-game rules, instituting 6-5 blackjack on many tables.
Nevada has reaped a whopping $35 million over the last five years from players who haven’t bothered to cash in winning slot tickets. State law gives players six months to claim their winnings or forfeit them to the state, which takes 75 percent of their neglect. Casinos get the rest.
The gambling market in Black Hawk, Colorado could get a boost as the Monarch Casino (l.) adds a 500-room hotel, spa and expanded casino floor. Chief Operating Officer David Farahi, whose family owns the property, said it's part of a $400 million investment that "could be a catalyst for another wave of major investment."
Carl Icahn says Atlantic City’s closed Trump Taj Mahal casino is not for sale, but he does plan to surrender the casino license for the property under a new state law. New Jersey has passed a law designed to specifically keep Icahn from re-opening the casino as a non-union shop. Icahn closed the property in October after a long, unresolved labor battle.
Kansas Crossing Casino is headed for a March opening, as the state Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in lawsuits seeking to stop construction. Castle Rock Casino developers and the Cherokee County Commission claim the state review board did not follow proper procedures when it selected Kansas Crossing over the larger Castle Rock proposal (l.).
As expected, the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor casino and resort that opened December 8 near Washington, D.C. already is affecting Hollywood Casino (l.) in Charles Town, West Virginia. Video lottery revenue dropped nearly 20 percent and table game revenue fell 22 percent at Hollywood in National Harbor's first two weeks.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (l.) asked the state Supreme Court to assume jurisdiction over the case of Kelly Mathis, convicted of 103 charges in the 2013 Allied Veterans of the World internet café scandal. In October the Fifth District Court of Appeal dismissed Mathis' convictions and sentencing, ruling he should receive a new trial.
In a move that saved Prairie Meadows (l.) in Altoona, Iowa more than $60 million, the IRS withdrew its challenge of the racino's tax-exempt status. The facility had operated as nonprofit since 1989, but following an 18-month audit, the IRS said the casino operated more like a business than "exclusively for social welfare purposes."
A group that seeks to build a casino in York County, Maine, has turned in completed collected signatures on a petition that would put an initiative on the November ballot.
New Jersey’s Atlantic City Casino industry was valued at $3.7 billion in 2016 according to figures released by the state and analyzed by the Press of Atlantic City. About $2.4 billion of that revenue came from casino gambling. Through the first nine months of 2016, the city’s casinos took in $2.8 billion.
Jack Entertainment, which inherited three casinos in Ohio when it bought out Caesars Entertainment, and dissolved Rock Gaming, is not finding that the public is hooked yet on the new brand.
Racetracks that convert into racinos encounter a special set of problems. They may know a lot about pari-mutuel, but don’t necessarily know a lot about slots casinos. That forces a steep learning curve according to a report in CDC Gaming Reports.
Margaritaburg LLC announced it will develop the $35 million Margaritaville Resort in the Smokies, opening in July 2018 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The project will create 150 jobs and feature a 7-story, 174-room hotel, a LandShark Restaurant, outdoor and indoor pools, water slide, spa, fitness center and retail, but no casino since gaming is not legal in Tennessee.
Ho-Chunk officials have been lining up support from Beloit, Wisconsin representatives, the local Congressional delegation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for approval of their proposed Beloit casino. The tribal officials wanted to be sure the presidential transition would not negatively affect the casino project, which could create 2,000 new jobs. The tribe was told the final decision rests with the Trump administration Interior Secretary-designate Ryan Zinke (l.).
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is apparently processing a request by the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians to put land into trust in the city of Barstow. The 23 acres is more than 100 miles from the tribe’s San Diego County base. Opponents says the legislature, not Governor Jerry Brown (l.), has the power to grant the tribe land-into-trust rights.
Two years ago, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded the license for the Boston metro casino to Wynn, but the Mohegan Sun, which had proposed a casino in Revere (l.), has refused to accept the result. It is challenging it in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, arguing there should be a reset of the process.
Donald Trump is well known for his casinos, which are part of his past as he ascends to the White House. What is unknown is how much his previous casino experience will color his attitude towards tribes and tribal gaming.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey found the mayors of eight cities in the Phoenix Valley lined up to support his proposal for a new gaming compact. The cities are trying to pressure the Tohono O’Odham Nation into accepting Ducey’s olive branch.
Lawmakers in Connecticut are likely to vote sometime this session on a bill authorizing a third Indian casino in the Nutmeg state. The casino is seen as a firewall against the $950 million MGM Springfield that will open in 2018 in Massachusetts.
A 27-story, 500-room luxury hotel opened New Year's Day at Muscogee (Creek) Nation Casinos' River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The hotel tower features 483 rooms, 54 suites, a fitness center, spa and salon, retail stores and a business center. The Margaritaville Casino previously opened during the ongoing two-year expansion.
The Tule River Indian Tribe is moving forward with plans to relocate its longtime Eagle Mountain Casino to a new and expanded location next to the Porterville Municipal Airport. The tribe has owned this land for 40 years.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band KISS will partner with the Kaw Nation on a new "rock 'n roll casino and resort experience," including a Rock & Brews restaurant, at the tribe's SouthWind Casino in Braman, Oklahoma. A groundbreaking will be held and details will be revealed on January 12.
New surround LED lighting and signage, a new porte-cochere and main entrance recently were completed as part of a $5.5 million exterior remodeling project at the Ute Mountain Casino and Hotel in Towaoc, Colorado. In April, a new video marquee and new games were added. The hotel's top-floor rooms soon will be renovated.
A federal judge has rejected an unusual legal argument by a former Las Vegas company that its own product is illegal. Emil Interactive Games LLC argued that it can’t be held liable for a $1.1 million contract with the Minnesota Wild hockey club since DFS is illegal in that state. The judge rejected the argument, but did not rule on whether DFS is illegal in Minnesota.
Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor reported a 30 percent increase in illegal online activities in 20916 over 1015, including 15,900 sites that offered online gambling related services. The regulator said it closed 12,561 sites related to online gambling including 6,500 that were online casino domains.
UK bookmaker William Hill has exited the Czech Republic as new gambling laws went into effect in the country January 1. William Hill advised players of the move through e-mails last month. The company left open the possibility that it will seek a Czech license in the future.
Despite a series of raids by Malaysian authorities, operators of online gambling locations continue to operate. According to reports, authorities made roughly 200 raids on cyber centers and cafes, but often they were back open within hours.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel thought enough of the concept of a city-only lottery that he passed it on to top aides. Former Illinois Lottery Director Michael Jones suggested establishing a city lottery and estimated it could draw $550 million or more per year to help ease the city's enormous pension costs.
Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg (l.) has renewed her fight to allow lottery tickets to be sold online in the state. It’s the second year in a row she has filed a bill, saying the lottery needs to modernize and have a robust online presence.
Former 888 Holdings executive Roni Maman has been named the vice president of business operations for GVC. He is responsible for organization structure, process and execution of customer service.
Optec Displays has named industry veteran Bob Tortorello as director of sales, multi-location accounts, responsible for sales to national accounts in the U.S.
Spain has a new gaming authority boss. Juan Espinosa Garcia has been appointed to replace Carlos Hernandez Rivera, who left the post unexpectedly last year.
Seminole Hard Rock Support Services is the new company created by Hard Rock International to consolidate numerous functions and increase Hard Rock's buying power. Seminole Hard Rock Tampa President John Fontana (l.) will manage the new firm, which will at first focus on information technology and procurement.
Inspired Gaming Group has successfully completed the absorption of Inspired Entertainment, Inc., the former Hydra Industries, into the primary company.
Macau’s Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters has announced the upcoming launch of a central credit database system that will track credit issued to gamblers by junket operators.
Russia has launched its second TSUPIS payment processing system for online gaming transactions. The first system, from bookmakers association First SRO, became operational last February.
The 10th Milk Bar location—the first in the western U.S.—recently opened at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Created by pastry chef and "MasterChef" judge Christina Tosi, Milk Bar will feature signature and Las Vegas-exclusive pastries, cookies, cakes and more, plus MilkQuake soft-serve drinks and Fancy Shakes, a sweet treat/cocktail blend.
Celebrity chef Marc Murphy's (l.) Mediterranean-inspired Grey Salt Restaurant will close in February at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa. Officials said the restaurant, opened in December 2015, does not fit into plans at the property which is undergoing construction and renovation. Employees will be offered jobs at other food and beverage outlets on-site.
The Venetian Las Vegas has opened a new cocktail bar, the Dorsey, featuring craft cocktails in a 4,500-square-foot space offering a comfortable and upbeat atmosphere.
Authentic Gaming will broadcast its Live Roulette game directly from the trade-show floor at next month’s ICE Totally Gaming trade show at ExCeL London.
