GGR for Macau’s weeklong Golden Week holiday—which lasted eight days this year—met analyst expectations, but were pronounced “disappointing” by some. The extra day may have been a negative. More people visited this year but they didn’t gamble as much as expected.
Not surprisingly, it took only days for the casino giant to find itself named a defendant in the wake of the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that took 58 lives and left nearly 500 wounded. Many more lawsuits are expected to follow. Timeline of shooting has changed and security procedures at all Las Vegas casinos are being reconsidered
The Wall Street Journal recently report Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming and Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment (Pinnacle’s Belterra in Indiana at left) recently discussed merging but no deal has been reached. The companies have a combined enterprise value of $10.59 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. Penn National operates 27 facilities in the U.S. and Canada, and Pinnacle owns and operates 16.
Singapore-listed Genting, which will be one of the big gaming operators bidding on an integrated resort license in Japan, applied last month to issue Japanese yen-based bonds. It has also opened a corporate office in Tokyo. Melco is also fully committed, naming a president and opening two offices, one each in Tokyo and Osaka.
Jeff Hwang (l.), one of the most relevant observers of gaming, reviews the most promising skill-based games at G2E 2017. The winner? Gamblit’s PAC-MAN Battle Casino and GameCo’s Steve Aoki’s Neon Dream. But there were many other revelations as well.
A merger of gaming companies GVC and Ladbrokes Coral could be completed in the next few weeks according to published reports. The UK Financial Times newspaper reported that the merger talks are close to complete and that the two companies have already agreed on the shape of a new executive team and board. If the merger happens, it is expected to set off a new wave on mergers in the UK gambling industry.
The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled arguments on New Jersey’s challenge of a federal ban on sports betting for Dec. 4. New Jersey has challenged the federal ban in the courts several times and is currently trying to allow self-regulated sports betting at its casinos and racetracks. New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck (l.) said he is optimistic that the state will win its case.
The Obama Administration overturned the old Bush Administration policy of requiring “commuting distance” between a tribe and land off the reservation that it wants to put into trust. The Trump Administration is now proposing returning to the old policy. John Tahsuda (l.), who is acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, has scheduled tribal consultations starting in late October.
North American casinos continued their winning streak in August as revenue continues to grow. And the better news is the growth is actually accelerating.
This week’s GGB Podcast features an interview of Martin Storm, the president and CEO of BMM Testlabs on how testing technology in the gaming industry has taken a new turn.
As expected, MGM Resorts International will postpone the opening of its casino resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip to late January 2018. The site was damaged by Typhoon Hato, which struck the Chinese territory in August.
Landing International Development, which is opening its Jeju Shinhwa World resort (l.) on Jeju Island in phases, is feeling the pinch from fewer Chinese tourists. Beijing has banned domestic travel to South Korea.
NagaCorp, the company that runs the NagaWorld casino (l.) in Cambodia, saw a 67 percent increase in VIP play to US$11 billion in the nine months to September 30. The boost was attributed to increased Chinese visitation.
Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau will meet with the city’s Big 6 casino concessionaires to discuss security in the aftermath of the deadly Las Vegas shooting spree that killed 58 people on October 1.
A VIP room at Macau Legend Development Ltd.’s Macau Fisherman’s Wharf will be promoted by a firm owned by Frank Wong, a relative of one of the operator’s executive directors.
PokerStars has announced a guaranteed HK$25 million prize pool for its PokerStars’ Asia Championship of Poker, to be held in Macau October 13 to 19. The tournament has a HK$100,000 buy-in making it one of the richest poker tournaments in the world, PokerStars officials said.
There is no plan to date for the current greyhound track Macau Canidrome, which will close in July 2018. The government has suggested it may turn the facility into a cultural, leisure, sports and education facility.
According to the Ekathimerini news agency, Greece will lower taxes on casino slots and table games from the current 30-37 percent to 25 percent or lower. Officials, previously worried lower taxes would mean lower revenue, now agree reduced tax rates will attract international investment and generate more revenue in the long run. And the Regency Mont Parnes Casino (l.) has been given permission to move operations closer to Athens.
Doubling taxes by the government will force six casinos in Trinidad and Tobago to close their doors. So threatens the T&T Private Members’ Clubs Association, which claims thousands of jobs are threatened. Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis (l.) said the decision is final.
Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. recently received preliminary approval from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation to develop a casino and entertainment complex at the Delta Town & Country Inn (l.) in the Vancouver suburb of Ladner. The $70 million project would provide 700 new jobs and generate up to $3 million in annual tax revenue.
Brazil is emerging from its worst recession in history, but President Michel Temer (l.) has proposed privatizing numerous government agencies, including the national lottery, Lotex. Brazilian Congressman Jorge Picciani of Rio de Janeiro said he'll send a letter expressing his state's opposition to the move, since it would result in a monopoly.
Back in April the BC government was warned that organized crime in casinos such as River Rock Casino posed a “threat to public safety” due to the influence and infiltration by the mob, due mainly to money laundering. This warning came to light due to a freedom of information request.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has warned online gambling companies operating in the state to stay clear of Australian gamblers or they could lose their state license. Australia has just enacted new online regulations that effectively ban online poker and casino games in the country. The DGE is requiring licensees to show steps taken to block Australian gamblers from their international sites.
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority is investigating online gambling firms for directing advertising at children by using cartoon characters in the ads. The Authority is considering UK laws against advertising that ban ads that would cause mental, physical or moral harm of a child.
New online gaming laws proposed in Cyprus will be delayed as Malta reviews the legislation. The European Commission is evaluating Cyprus proposed online gaming regulations and is allowing Malta and other countries to present opinion on the issue as a major licensor of online gaming sites. Malta asked for and received a three-month extension to examine the proposed regulations.
Online television provider Hulu is adding four shows covering eSports contests, another sign that eSports coverage is becoming a hit on American TV screens. The shows are being developed by ESL gaming network. The shows offer a mix of content from eSports based talk shows to eSports tournaments recaps. In another eSports story, Malta has granted a gaming license to eSports betting platform Unikrn. The license allows Seattle-based Unikrn to serve European markets.
Daily fantasy sports giant DraftKings has announced it will expand its DFS platform into the Irish and Austrian markets. DraftKings will offer several fantasy leagues to players covering pro leagues such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Spanish La Liga, as well as golf, mixed martial arts, eSports, Canadian Football League, EuroLeague Basketball and U.S. leagues.
Authentic Gaming will supply game software to Greentube Internet Entertainment Solutions GmbH subsidiary of Austrian gambling giant Novomatic. Authentic will supply its live roulette offering emanating from brick-and-mortar casinos including the Platinum Bucharest. The deal comes just days after Romania granted Authentic an online gambling license.
Evolution has begun providing its Live Casino roulette games at Grosvenor’s Victoria Casino (l.), near Marble Arch, in London. Live play allows players to bet on action at the live casino table or online elsewhere in the casino. The company plans to introduce other live play tables at other Grosvenor casinos.
Peru’s land-based gaming regulator wants the country’s legislature to approve rules that restrict online gambling to companies with a physical presence in the country. Manuel San Román Benavente (l.), the head of Peru’s gaming regulatory body, said his group had worked with the Financial Intelligence Unit to craft a bill it plans to submit to Peru’s Congress that would regulate online sports betting and casino games.
Play’n Go has released an Asian themed slot titled Prosperity Palace that offers 10 fixed paylines to players as they seek out the palace garden’s great riches.
Tinian and Aguiguan Governor Ralph Torres has signed a bill that revises the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Act to allow online gaming. The bill also amends casino and licensing fees on the island—one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The gaming giant’s largest subsidiary is out of bankruptcy and freed of most of its debt. There’s a new slate of directors in place and confidence in the board room that one of the industry’s great conglomerates is positioned to grow again, and in a big way. CEO Mark Frissora (l.) said the company could now “unlock new growth opportunities.”
The American Gaming Association unveiled its agenda for the coming three years in what its president and CEO, Geoff Freeman (l.), calls an “offensive” to protect the interests of the gaming industry.
The owners of the closed Atlantic City casino the Atlantic Club have told local media they are close to selling the property. The former casino—previous incarnations include the Golden Nugget and the Atlantic City Hilton—has been closed for three years. No details on a potential buyer or plans for the property were released.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (l.) opened a new front in the battle against electronic bingo machines with multiple lawsuits against casinos offering the machines in five counties. Marshall asked the courts to declare the casinos public nuisances and shut them down immediately. The lawsuits sparked outrage among casino operators who said hundreds of jobs would be lost.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, (l.) former state Senator Hunter Hill, state Senator Michael Williams and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican candidates for governor of Georgia, recently proclaimed at a political meeting that they would oppose any casino-gambling legislation. The election will be held in November.
Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos closed for nearly 20 hours October 7-8 as Hurricane Nate grew from a tropical storm to a category 1 event. Storm surge forced water into parking structures and pool areas, and video of the Golden Nugget's flooded elevator lobby (l.), recorded by storm chasers, was nationally broadcast. Hotels remained open.
Disney Worldwide Services donated $575,000 to Voters In Charge last month. The political committee is leading a petition drive to place on the November 2018 ballot a constitutional amendment giving voters exclusive rights to authorize casino gambling. To date Disney has donated $2.325 million to the group.
Maryland casinos generated a significant increase in overall revenue, but it was fueled by the new MGM National Harbor resort, at the expense of other large properties.
Question 1, which would authorize a third Maine casino, in York County, is expected to dominate the November 7 election. The initiative is very controversial since it would authorize developer Shawn Scott, and only Scott to build a casino.
Since the first gambling machines were installed in Illinois in 2012, the number of terminals in DeKalb County has risen to 285, generating $8.1 million for the state and $1.6 million for municipalities. Statewide video gambling revenue is nearly $1 billion with $200 million to municipalities as of August 31.
Two recent reports about three proposals for casinos in Cedar Rapids paint a grim picture of cannibalization, with Riverside Casino (l.) losing at least 20.5 percent of its $85 million annual revenue if any of the casinos are built. However, the Marquette Advisors report said a new casino would attract new gaming dollars from the local population.
The Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health recently met to consider a countywide smoking ban. The ban would exempt smoking in certain areas at the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and some video lottery rooms. Wheeling Island President and General Manager Kim Florence said the casino could lose $17.5 million in annual revenue under a smoking ban.
The MGM Springfield, rising in Massachusetts’ third largest city, will open in September of next year. Much work needs to be done before the public is invited in.
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor came up big for the state’s sports books. So did the return of betting on football. Their August win topped $33 million, an increase over last year of 1,650 percent
New York’s three new commercial casinos are falling way short of revenue projections. With a fourth casino set to open in the Catskills early next year, along with another central state tribal casino, observers are wondering if the market has already reached saturation. Schenectady’s Rivers Casino could miss its target by more than $80 million.
New York’s Hamburg Gaming unveiled the first phase in a $7 million renovation plan that is the property’s first major upgrade since a project completed in 2010.
A decision last summer by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that a man accused of murder on Indian land should have been tried in a federal, not state, court could have widespread ramifications for tribal sovereignty. Tribes all over the U.S. are watching the case with interest.
During the recent three-day special session, Oklahoma lawmakers showed no interest in state Rep. Kevin Wallace's proposal to allow Class III games at tribal casinos. The legislation would let tribes offer roulette and craps in exchange for not collecting car tag revenue. Tribes share car tag revenues with the local community.
After winning the right to build a third Connecticut casino (l.) in the legislature, the state’s two Indian tribes could be tripped up by the requirement that an amendment to the existing state tribal gaming compact be approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA has issued an ambiguous letter on this subject that raises more questions than it settles.
The Tribal Office of Administrative Hearings has overturned the disenrollment of 18 members of the May family that were kicked out of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. Members say that justice “has been served.”
Oral arguments will begin November 7 at the Supreme Court in Patchak v. Zinke. The case questions whether federal law can deprive an American of the right to pursue a pending lawsuit. It involves David Patchak's suit against the Gun Lake Tribe. He claims a 2014 law that protects the tribe's casino against litigation is unconstitutional.
The Quapaw Indians offer gambling on the Oklahoma portion of their Downstream Casino (l.) but want build a casino on the Kansas portion. The National Indian Gaming Commission approved but an appeals court said that was only "advisory." Now Kansas has taken its case to the Supreme Court to prevent the Quapaws' casino expansion.
Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison and the city of Madison, Wisconsin commissioned a study indicating a $38.3 million sports complex could generate $3.8 million in revenue by its fifth year of operation. The complex would include indoor and outdoor sports facilities and a family entertainment center. Ho-Chunk would expand their hotel and casino and build a cultural center.
A report that has for 17 years chronicled the profitability of Indian gaming, is now including how multiplier effects generate even more economic activity. This new approach was in evidence in the latest Indian Gaming Industry Report by Alan Meister.
The Osage Nation thinks it owns the water rights to what’s under its reservation. The state of Oklahoma thinks otherwise. Because the nation has issued a permit to drill a well to serve its casino, the issue has boiled over.
Gaming tribes last week scrambled to defend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) as the U.S. Senate committee responsible for tribal gaming subjected the 30-year old act to increased scrutiny. Senator John Hoeven (l.) has introduced a bill to fight human trafficking that some say is enabled by Indian gaming.
Promoters of legalized sports betting are overselling their point without much reliance on research data according to Mark Macarro (l.), chairman of the Pechanga Band, which operates the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Southern California. Much more research is needed, says Macarro.
Washington’s Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe says it plans to build three hotel towers to serve its 7 Cedars Casino (l.). It plans to begin the first tower with a 2020 completion date. This first phase will cost about $22 million.
Wyoming’s Northern Arapaho Tribal Court has given the tribal business council until October 23 to show why it should follow the orders of the tribal council and fire the two top executives of the Wind River Hotel & Casino in Wyoming. The tribal council September 9 ordered the business council to fire the CEO and assistant manager—but so far nothing has been done.
Bettor Racing Inc., which one year handled $171 million annually in horseracing bets, has filed for bankruptcy. The bet rebate company, based in South Dakota, lost a legal battle against the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.
Candidates in a special election for state Senate in Massachusetts to replace Senator Jennifer Flanagan (l.), are staking out positions on whether the Lottery should be allowed to sell tickets online. Four of the five candidates say yes.
The Rhode Island Lottery profits declined nearly 2 percent over revenues last year. That is $7.1 million less than before, according to an audit by the Auditor General.
Attorney, philanthropist and winery owner Don Carano, one of Reno's most influential figures, recently died at age 85. Taking a risk, in 1973 Carano built the Eldorado Hotel and Casino "north of the railroad tracks." It became the center of Reno's downtown. Today Eldorado Resorts owns 19 properties in 10 states.
Scientific Games has named Shawn Dennis as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, responsible for elevating the company’s brand position.
GLI has named Erdal Eskin chief operating officer for GLI Australia, where he will manage the company’s Sydney laboratories and oversee supplier relations.
Tony Ure has been appointed head of e-gaming by the Department of Economic Development of the Isle of Man. Ure has 30 years’ experience in the gaming industry.
Robert M. Weather has been nominated by the president to be director of Indian Health Services. This agency is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Breon Corcoran, who's leaving Paddy Power Betfair after negotiating its $9 billion merger with Betfair last year, is said to be under consideration to head Uber, following the recent resignation of General Manager for Northern Europe Jo Bertram. Corcoran has 16 years experience in the gambling industry.
The CEO of the Vietnam Lottery Co. Ltd. resigned October 1, reportedly for personal reasons. Tong Quoc Truong had been head of Vietlott since 2012, the year the company was founded.
The CEO at TAB-Austria, Siegfried Dattl Jr,. has died at 51. TAB-Austria is a manufacturer of touchscreen games and specialist cabinets for sports betting. Dattl reportedly died at home after a long illness.
Ainsworth Game Technology will place 270 machines at the new Four Winds Casino Resort in Indiana, amounting to 15 percent of the floor or the casino, which will open early next year
The Rainmaker Group announced that it turned in a record-setting performance for the summer, deploying its cloud-based solutions at more than 150 properties in 14 countries.
VizExplorer has launched tableViz, a system solution to track bet activity in table games including blackjack, poker and baccarat through an electronic eye.
New Jersey-based EP&S International, producer of the SmokeAWay smoke-removal and air-purifying system for casinos, has launched a novel product that not only purifies the air, but offers players a vehicle to donate to their favorite charities while playing at slot machines.
