New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (r.) announced that his state has entered into a player sharing agreement for online gambling sites with Nevada (Governor Brian Sandoval far left). and Delaware (Governor John Carney, c.). Those two states had already formed a player-sharing compact, but adding New Jersey—which is averaging more than $20 million a month in online revenue—could greatly expand player bases for online poker sites. The three states will create a joint system for regulating games.
The roots of Caesars Entertainment are proud and resilient. Recent history has been somewhat spotting, and the reformed Caesars Entertainment following the bankruptcy isn’t changing things very much. Richard Schuetz (l.), a champion of women’s equality in the industry, offers his opinion.
President Trump has nominated Alaska native and businesswoman Tara Mac Lean Sweeney (l.) to head the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, whose title is also Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. She would be the first Alaskan to head the bureau and the second woman.
The four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA have filed a brief in New Jersey’s U.S. Supreme Court appeal challenging the federal sports-betting ban, as New Jersey prepares for a favorable ruling. U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (l.) and Democrat Rep. Donald Norcross have asked for Congressional hearings on that possibility.
Visitation is expected to take a short-term hit as the casino mecca works to recover from the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. For now, the marketing remains decidedly subdued, the emphasis on unity and healing.
The Golden Circle concept, which is used by many major corporations around the world, can help to create a great gaming enterprise. And it all starts with “why” and proceeds to “what” and more.
A new study focuses on a state-by-state of the dynamic economic engine of Indian gaming in the U.S. The study, by Alan Meister, was commissioned by the American Gaming Association.
Three ex-employees have accused Australia-based Crown Resorts of deliberately tampering with slot machines, overlooking drug use and looking the other way in domestic violence cases at its Melbourne casino. The accusers were not identified and the company has challenged them to come forward to provide proof.
With a new reporting quarter upon us, there are several questions for the industry and up-and-coming companies to answer. So let’s hear from Monarch, Sci Games, Eldorado and Golden about what direction they are taking.
This week, the GGB Podcast features an interview with Kathy George, the CEO of Firekeepers Hotel & Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan, on her experience since taking over the top spot at the casino earlier this year.
Daily gross gaming revenues in Macau will rise 14 percent to 15 percent year-on-year for the month of October, according to Japanese brokerage Nomura. It’s welcome news after a sluggish Golden Week holiday.
Wakayama Prefecture in Japan may bid for a casino, but it advocates a gaming hall that’s open to foreigners only. The prefecture’s integrated resort plan will be submitted to the government early next year.
The isolated dictatorship, badly in need of foreign currency and investment, is turning toward gambling. Lottery-style race betting has been sanctioned. A casino cruise ship could be next.
Tiger Resort, Leisure & Entertainment, owners of the $2.4 billion Okada Manila resort in Entertainment City, is reportedly in talks with local holding firms to attain a backdoor listing of its gaming business. The plan could be a part of the conflict between Kazuo Okada and Universal Entertainment, controlling entity of Okada Manila.
MGM Cotai, a project of MGM China Holdings Ltd., will open with mass gaming tables only, says CEO Grant Bowie (l.). VIP gaming will be added later. The resort, delayed by Typhoon Hato, is set to open in January.
China Star Entertainment Ltd. will sell Hotel Lan Kwai Fong Macau (l.) to former legislator Chan Meng Kam for HK$2 billion. The local businessman owns Golden Dragon Co. Ltd., which operates three casinos in the city.
A severe storm warning kept Macau on alert last week, but Typhoon Khanun came and went without doing major damage to the city. In fact, some residents thought price-gouging cabbies were the worst part.
Macau’s Big 6 casino operators will work with the city’s Judiciary Police to plan a response to potential attacks on the gaming sector. A risk consultancy says the industry is vulnerable to terrorism.
Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp has announced it will begin construction of its resort in Russia’s Primorye economic development zone sometime next month. Phase I of the resort will include a casino and hotel.
The government is reported to be considering lowering the tax on land-based gaming in hopes of luring foreign investors to a resort project outside Athens at the city’s former airport (l.). A streamlined licensing system might also be instituted.
The Dutch Gambling Act which would regulate online gambling has faced obstacles since it was submitted in 2014. But Henk Kessler (l.), vice chairman of the Netherlands Gaming Authority, said it could pass in January 2018 and take effect in January 2019. He said conservative politicians may demand operators have a physical presence in the country.
British lawmaker Daniel Zeichner (l.) has called for a review of “loot boxes” in video games saying the practice—which can lead to skins betting—could be influencing minors to take up gambling. Loot boxes contain items needed in the game, but are usually random. That encourages players to buy boxes in hopes of finding rare items—a type of gamble. Skins betting is the betting and trading of the rare game items and more and more, the loot boxes themselves.
Ladbrokes Coral Plc will try to reverse a £70 million tax judgment against it in the UK Court of Appeal. The case stems from the UK Revenue & Customs 2008 tax avoidance dispute with the company. The HMRC, charged Ladbrokes of “knowingly exploiting a 2008 tax loophole relating to loans between corporations and third parties” in order to minimize Ladbrokes full-year tax bill.
Belgium’s government plans to implement a stricter national gambling advertising code including a ban on gambling ads during live sports broadcasts. The code would also limit the number of advertisements allowed for individual companies and add consumer protections for fighting and raising awareness of problem gambling.
Asian gaming company K8 is looking to acquire Wigan Athletic, a League One football club in the UK. The acquisition price is expected to top £20 million. The league must now review and approve the deal.
Along with Japan, global gaming operators on the hunt for new and profitable markets are also keeping a close watch on Brazil. Pro-gaming legislators convened for the first time last week. Deputy César Halum (l.) is looking forward to defending the “legalization and regulation of gaming.”
The Queensland government has revived its plan for a second casino on the Gold Coast. A global tender for hotel and casino developers will be launched soon. State Development Minister Anthony Lynham (l.) has approved the new process.
The government of Kenya has announced it will curtail illegal slot machines (slot parlor in Nairobi at left), in part by dramatically increasing the penalty for operations and adding the possibility of imprisonment for some offenders.
The Green Party, a member of the Australian Capital Territory’s government coalition, is preventing poker machines from being deployed in Canberra. They want to have the lowest possible per spin bet. Machines manufactures say that’s a non-starter.
In Richmond, British Columbia, Mayor Malcolm Brodie (l.) said the police budget is not connected to the recent Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation into money laundering at River Rock Casino and Resort. Brodie said the city council will continue to provide funds for four additional police officers at the casino.
Javier Balbuena (l.), president of CONAJZAR, the Paraguay Gaming Board, said his agency battles both illegal gambling halls and sports match fixing. With a small staff and limited budget, regulating gambling throughout the country is a challenge, Balbuena said. He wants CONAJZAR to become an independent agency, separate from the Ministry of Finance.
The Swiss Parliament has approved the Money Gaming Act, which legalizes online gambling in the country—closing it as a “grey” market. The new regulations cover land-based and online casinos and bans unlicensed sites from operating in Switzerland.
The Stars Group has launched PokerStars Power Up, an in-house game development that mixes elements of traditional poker with aspects of modern video games.
Consumer electronics company Monster Technology Group has bought technology created by Florida’s Universal Entertainment Group and licensed by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma to open an online real-money poker site for the tribe. A purchase price was not revealed. The Iowa Tribe has received licensing for an international poker site from the Isle of Man. The site is to be called PokerTribe.com.
Realistic Games available via NYX Gaming Group have been launched on William Hill including Realistic's Perfect Pairs & 21+3 blackjack product. The games are available through NYX Gaming Group on the games tab of William Hill’s website.
San Jose, Costa Rica-based Breakout Gaming Group will operate breakout Casino in a deal with Pariplay. The site will offer Pariplay’s portfolio of slots and online scratch cards. The company said in a press release that Pariplay’s SMTM platform provides Breakout Gaming Group with a solution to track, analyze and report on the operations of Breakout Casino, which is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.
Maryland gaming regulators approved a 3 percent drop in the minimum overall theoretical payback percentage permitted on slot machines in state casinos, as lawmakers eye new casino games.
For the first time since they were installed in Illinois restaurants, bars and truck stops in 2012, video gambling machine revenue surpassed casino revenue. For the fiscal year ending June 30, video gambling brought in $296 million and casinos generated $270 million, a $7 million drop over fiscal 2016.
It’s been slow going since ground was broken on the Asian-themed Strip super-resort two years ago. But things could start moving quickly. A lead contractor is on board, and construction could begin by year’s end.
Some Texas police departments have closed poker clubs considered to be illegal gambling. But even clubs that attempt to obey the law fear they could be closed arbitrarily. State law says poker is legal if it occurs in private, everyone has an equal chance to win and the house can't keep any portion of the pot.
Plans have come and gone over the years for restoring Las Vegas’ first racially integrated casino to the glory it enjoyed for a short time more than half a century ago. Now it looks like the property’s future lies with something a lot less glamorous, as Clark County has put a bid in for the property.
Casino revenue for Atlantic City’s casinos was up four percent for September. If figures for the now-closed Trump Taj Mahal are excluded, however, revenue for the city’s seven remaining casinos was up nearly 7.9 percent. The seven casinos won $235.8 million. Online gambling in the resort had another strong month taking in $20.4 million, an about 25 percent increase over 2016.
Question 1, which would authorize a casino in York County, Maine that only one man could legally build, is the most controversial political measure in the state as the November 7 election approaches. Recently Governor Paul LePage (l.) unloaded on the initiative.
A New York-based investment firm is reported to be planning to buy the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, marking the second sale rumors for the property this year. Gaming experts are skeptical.
The head of the Pennsylvania lobbying organization fighting for legal video gaming terminals at bars says the battle over the issue is stalling efforts to expand gaming and earn the state new revenue.
Three members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission were very close to the recent Las Vegas massacre that claimed 58 lives. They say they want to learn how enhanced security might protect the casinos that are going up in the Bay State.
In a county with only 1,600 unemployed people, it's challenging to find enough qualified individuals to fill 1,500 jobs. That's the situation at the $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills Resort Casino, set to open in March 2018 in Monticello, New York. Training already has begun for 600 dealers. Starting pay will be $40,000-$50,000, officials said.
To help them determine if Cedar Rapids should get a casino—and which of three proposals should be selected—Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission members recently heard the results of two companies' market studies. In 2014 commissioners rejected a Cedar Rapids casino due to studies predicting a Cedar Rapids casino would cannibalize existing venues.
Although most of Puerto Rico still has no power since Hurricane Maria struck September 20, 13 of its 18 casinos have reopened, said Puerto Rick Tourism Company officials. Some are housing volunteers while others, like Oasis Casino at Embassy Suites, want to help visitors "enjoy, dance and forget the sorrows."
Officials of the Maryland’s Live! casino celebrated the completion of exterior construction of the 310-room luxury Flagship Live! Hotel, which combines with off-property “lofts” for a total of 560 rooms.
Indiana's first riverboat casino, Casino Aztar, closed on October 16 after 22 years of operation. Four days later, the new $50 million Tropicana Evansville opened across the street, on land. General Manager John Chaszar said, "It’s one giant entertainment experience, versus a gambling experience. It will change the way people think about gaming in Evansville."
Members of the 5-union group Unite Here Local 7 who are employed at Horseshoe Casino Baltimore now are covered by a contract offering wage increases, improved health benefits and an education and training fund. The contract, which applies to about 1,000 casino employees, only recently was negotiated although the casino opened in 2014.
The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved a new fiscal budget that cuts spending by 14 percent. The authority overseas the Atlantic City Tourism District and funds improvement projects throughout the city and state.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission said Lakeside Casino in Osceola, Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Cedar Rapids and Prairie Meadows Casino in Altoona agreed to pay penalties for self-ban list violations. Lakeside and Prairie Meadows each were fined $3,000 and Riverside paid $10,000 since it had three violations within 365 days.
Gaming tribes in Northern California behaved with courage and compassion as they helped firefighters battle fires that have consumed 100,000 acres and 5,700 homes—and provided shelter and assistance for survivors. A house near the Silverado Country Club destroyed by the Atlas Fire at left.
Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation has signed an agreement with the federal government enrolling it in a program that will allow it to buy back some land that was once part of its reservation.
A court challenge to the way that land was put into trust for California’s Wilton Rancheria earlier this year claims that the wrong federal official signed off on the project. The action occurred just as the Trump administration was taking over from the Obama administration. The tribe plans to convert an abandoned mall (l.) into a casino.
The Navajo Nation is seeking support for HR 2402, which would fix some problems that were inadvertently created by the Navajo Hopi Settlement Act of 1974. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye spoke about the bill before a House committee last week.
A South Dakota tribe has won a case in which the state tried to impose a use tax on products sold at a tribal casino. But the victory by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe was only partial, and only applied to businesses that were clearly gaming related.
The intense competition between the casinos in San Diego County is heating up again. Valley View Casino & Hotel and Pala Casino Resort & Spa (l.) have both begun work on expansions.
Located 10 minutes apart, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York and Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona formed a partnership that will provide the Hall with more national exposure and allow the resort to host major events, such as Hall of Fame Induction weekend events in June 2018. Ray Halbritter, the CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises, and Ed Brophy of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, shake on the agreement (l.).
Residents of Minnesota’s West Lakeland Township don’t believe the Prairie Island Indian Community when it says it doesn’t plan to build a casino on land that it purchased and is asking the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put into trust. They say the land isn’t suited for homes, which the tribe claims would be the land’s use.
Political infighting in the White Earth Tribe, one of five tribes of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, has prompted the chairman of the tribe to seek removal of one of the members of the White Earth Tribal Council. The chairman, Terry Tibbetts, is having trouble getting support to remove Secretary Treasurer Tara Mason.
The town of La Center, Washington, has lost two of the four card rooms that provided a large part of the city budget. The remaining two clubs are asking for tax relief, citing competition from the recently opened ilani Casino as the source of their ills.
The Meskwaki Nation in Iowa will open a 30,000 square foot factory in Tama to produce tribal branded cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes. Meskwaki Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hubble said the tribe is investing heavily in its vapor products line due to fewer smokers and to rely less on gambling revenue.
The $34 million Sycamore hotel tower recently opened at the Indigo Sky Casino in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, operated by the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. With 127 rooms, conference rooms, a ballroom and banquet center, the new facility created 45 jobs. Indigo sky now offers a total of 244 rooms, including the original Red Bud hotel tower.
The Jamestown S’Kallam Tribe of Washington has released plans for a multi-phase project that would add three hotel towers of the next ten years to its 7 Cedars Casino. The first tower, says the tribe, will be completed in 2020.
Paragon Casino Resort (l.) in Marksville, Louisiana is undergoing a "refresh" to update the property and enhance the customer experience, officials said. Owned by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe and managed by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, the "refresh" includes new staff uniforms, a new Mississippi River-themed carpet throughout the casino, new slots and redesigned billboards.
Septic, electrical and other issues have delayed construction—and drive up costs by $33 million--at the Ojibwa Tribe's Baraga casino and Marquette Casino Convention Center in Michigan. Construction on both properties will resume in mid-November. The Baraga casino will open in spring 2018 and the Marquette facility in late summer 2019.
The second annual XPO Game Festival recently concluded in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sponsored by Osage Casino, the event attracted thousands of gamers, fans, developers and game industry leaders. Game developer Chris Avellone was the keynote speaker. Activites included eSports tournaments, an expo floor, new gaming technology and entertainment.
A national lottery "warrants a discussion," said Bahamas Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar (l.), as the country faces serious financial challenges and risks future credit downgrades. Lottery revenue could fund more student scholarships, sports, youth programs and other social initiatives—or it could go toward expanding economic development and lowering the annual deficit.
Carolina Keno will debut in North Carolina on October 29. The game draws 20 numbers, from 1 to 80, every five minutes. As players pick more numbers, their chances to win increase. North Carolina Education Lottery officials said Keno could generate $135.4 million in additional revenue by fiscal 2018-19, with $30.9 million more for education.
Laura McAllister Cox, the vice president of regulatory compliance and legal counsel for Rush Street Gaming has been named the new president of the International Association Of Gaming Advisors (IAGA). Other officers were also named for the next year.
As the 7-year management contract winds down between a Station Casinos affiliate and Gun Lake Casino in Shelbyville, Michigan, the casino has hired casino industry veteran Salvatore Semola as president and chief operating officer. Semola owned a consulting firm and also held management positions at Foxwoods and Greektown casinos.
International Game Technology has become the first gaming supplier to receive responsible gaming accreditation from the Global Gambling Guidance Group.
Scientific Games has signed an agreement to use the intelligent API management platform of Google subsidiary Apigee as part of its portfolio of technology solutions.
Aruze Gaming America is offering a six-year guarantee of hardware, software and service support for all new purchases of products employing the APX platform.
Joseph Eve CPAs announced that it will join national accounting and consulting firm Wipfli, with the goal of bringing a broader array of services to clients.
Passengers on Carnival Corporation cruises soon will be able to download the PlayOcean app and gamble on their smartphone 24/7 anywhere onboard while their ship is at sea, using Ocean Medallion technology. The app will offer four games and will be programmed to include maximum betting limits per day and per cruise.
Montreign Operating Company has agreed to employ IGT games, solutions and the IGT Advantage casino management systems at its new Resorts World Catskills property.
Ourgame International Holdings Limited—owners of the World Poker Tour—announced plans to build up to 10 eSports arenas in the U.S. and China by 2019. The HKEX-listed company also wants to expand the WPT into Japan and South America with funds raised through the issuance of subscription shares.
European eSports platform supplier Unikrn has launched Unikrn EU, which secured a license to operate in Malta, and is contemplating entry into the Macau market.
Pansy Ho closed Macau’s Global Tourism Economy Forum with an announcement that the European Union will be the forum’s regional partner next year, in an effort to boost sustainable tourism.
American Gaming Association founder and past president, Frank Fahrenkopf (l.), will headline the 5th annual Caribbean and Americas Gaming Regulation Forum, November 20-22 in Miami Beach. BMM Testlabs President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Storm said "the most qualified and experienced professionals will share their knowledge and insight in an interactive and challenging learning environment."
Merkur Gaming will present a product show at the Balkan Entertainment & Gaming Expo in Sofia Bulgaria, scheduled for November 22 and 23. In addition to the latest HD games library, the Gauselmann Group is presenting a wide range of cabinets “made in Germany.”
