Scientific Games announced the purchase of 27.38 million ordinary shares of NYX Gaming, in a possible counter-move to attempts to William Hill’s attempts to block Scientific Games’ planned acquisition of NYX. Scientific Games claims William Hill is trying to protect its sports betting market by trying to stop the buy. William Hill is awaiting a judge’s decision that would give it enough equity to halt the merger.
Another form of “skins” betting—the betting of virtual items within video games—is gaining attention of regulators. Belgium and the Netherlands are launching investigations into “loot boxes” within video games. The boxes can maintain multiple virtual items and they are being sold and traded, much as skins are in certain titles.
Osaka, Yokohama, Hokkaido, Tomakomai—the list of proposed sites for Japan integrated resorts has lengthened. An all-Japan consortium that hopes to develop in Rusutsu may be facing an uphill battle, say experts. More companies are lining up, as well. Caesars Entertainment released a rendering (l.) of a proposed development in Tomakomai.
Despite setbacks in Atlantic City, there is still a push to include skill-based gaming machines in Atlantic City’s casinos. Caesars Entertainment introduced some skill-based games, but pulled them from their casino floor after six months. Blaine Graboyes, co-founder and CEO of GameCo, a skill-based gaming developer said that despite the machines being pulled, valuable marketing lessons were learned.
After more than a year of negotiations, the $134.5 million sale of Eldorado Resort's Isle of Capri Casino Hotel Lake Charles to Laguna Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the Pueblo of Laguna, fell through. Laguna failed to acquire the required gaming approvals by the deadline. Eldorado will keep Laguna's $20 million deposit.
Supporters and opponents of a state lottery presented their opinions at the final meeting of the Mississippi House lottery study committee. Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association Director Larry Gregory (l.) said the group would approve a paper system and scratch cards but would strongly oppose video lottery terminals. Mississippi is one of six states without a lottery.
Brazil’s largest state-owned bank and lottery operator, Caixa Econômica Federal, wants to serve as the regulator for that country’s land-based and online gaming industries.
Construction will be delayed on the $1.6 billion Mohegan Sun casino (l.) in South Korea’s Incheon Free Economic Zone until spring of 2018. This will give Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment more time to obtain permits for the project.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson (shown at the resort’s grand opening) missed the Venetian Macao’s 10th anniversary party after taking a fall. The 84-year-old billionaire fractured three ribs on a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong.
Some of the larger slot machine companies have seen record highs in the past year as the reasons for consolidation become more apparent. While selling and leasing slots remains their primary business, debt reduction and ancillary channels have provided a large part of the story.
This week the GGB Podcast visits with Ramesh Srinivasan, the president and CEO of Agilysys on his company’s unique products in data analytics and non-gaming technology systems.
MGM Cotai (l.) has begun booking rooms in advance of the Macau resort’s grand opening on January 29, just in time for the Chinese New Year. Room rates at the 1,400-room property start from MOP$1,398 (US$174).
Michael Foxman, director of the Macau Securities Resource Group, says a criminal complaint of market manipulation lodged by the Philippines’ SEC against him and agricultural firm the Calata Corp. is without merit. Calata was planning the Mactan Leisure City casino resort (l.) in Cebu.
Naga2, Phase II of the NagaWorld resort development in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, hopes the recently opened expansion will draw even more Chinese tourists to the casino complex.
Most of Macau’s newer casino resorts have room for hundreds of gaming tables, but have been awarded just 150 by the government. SJM Holdings hopes regulators will apply the “same standard” to its new Grand Lisboa Palace (l.) in Cotai.
Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister of Singapore, expects the country’s economy to grow by more than 3 percent for the year, with a low jobless rate and higher wages. Initial growth estimates had been about 1.5 percent.
China Star Entertainment Ltd. says “uphill challenges in the near future” are behind its decision to sell the Hotel Lan Kwai Fong (l.) in Macau. Golden Dragon’s Chan Meng Kam is the buyer.
Suncity Group, Macau’s biggest junket operator, will invest billions of dollars in a casino resort in Vietnam’s Quang Nam Province. The Hoiana resort may be one of several open to local gamblers in a three-year trial.
Seven sports clubs in Singapore have been ordered to close for failing to meet government regulations for slot machines. Singapore had around 82 jackpot venues in July, with almost 1,900 jackpot machines.
The promoter of an ultra-high end hotel, 13 (l.), in Macau contends that the property will be complete and ready for inspection by mid-February. The 13 Holdings Ltd. says the hotel will open by the end of March.
Lawmakers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are considering increasing the maximum fine that can be imposed on casinos that break the law. The current maximum fine is only $50,000.
Macau lawmakers will reschedule the November 28 trial of lawmaker Sulu Sou Ka Hou. Sou and fellow activist Scott Chiang Meng Hin are charged with aggravated disobedience for protesting a government donation.
Although Hard Rock International pulled out of a deal to develop the first casino in Cyprus the day after signing the agreement, the project is going smoothly, said Cyprus National Gaming Commission President Christos Mavrellis (l.). Now Melco International Development owns the majority stake in the $587 million project, expected to open in 2019.
In a unanimous vote, the Lithuanian parliament adopted gaming-law amendments requiring operators to connect to a new electronic control system and install 24-hour digital video recording systems. Minister of Finance Vilius Sapoka (l.) said the amendments will allow "more fair gaming operations, more effective money laundering prevention, transparent and effective accounting and control system."
Sources said Spain's largest casino and bingo hall operator Cirsa Gaming Corporation SA is considering an initial public offering, selling a minority stake, a merger or outright sale for a potential $2.3 billion. Billionaire Manuel Lao Hernandez (l.) is working with Lazard Ltd to review options, which may include keeping the status quo.
The Association of British Bookmakers has launched a “Back Your Local Bookie” campaign, which has initially drawn 400,000 signatures in a petition of support. The campaign highlights the interaction between bookmaker’s staffs and consumers and states that “responsible gambling is at the heart of the day-to-day running of betting shops.”
The AU$11 billion merger between Australian gaming giants Tabcorp and Tatts Group has been approved by the Australian Competition Tribunal for a second time after challenges to its first approval of the deal. The new approval can also be appealed, but it seems concerns raised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have been met.
The Bahamas megaresort has unveiled its second hotel, the 299-room SLS Baha Mar, lifting the property’s room count to just shy of 2,100, including an 1,800-room Grand Hyatt. A third hotel is on the way, a 200-room Rosewood slated for opening early next year.
A recent study has found that more than 25 percent of Australian online gamblers use unlicensed offshore gambling sites, and are more likely to be problem gamblers. The study found that offshore gamblers were significantly more likely to be moderate risk or problem gamblers. It also concludes that the demand for prohibited forms of online gambling will grow as new generations of gamblers prefer to gamble online.
William Hill announced a 4 percent growth in revenue for the quarter ending October 24. The bookmaker attributed the growth to gains in online gambling and in the U.S. The company said it expects to meet its revenue projections for the year.
EveryMatrix has been granted a license by the Malta Gaming Authority to distribute online games to operators under Maltese jurisdiction for Novomatic subsidiary Greentube.
SG Interactive, a division of Scientific Games Corporation announced that Betfred.com has added Scientific Games' interactive games portfolio, including MONOPOLY Big Event (l.), on its Betfred.com website in a new partnership.
Las Vegas based Costas Inc. will supply cryptocurrency ATMs to L.E.J.C sa. of Costa Rica, which supplies ATMS with major casino and sports book groups in Latin America. Agreements have initial ATM placements in casinos in Mexico with as many as 300 future ATM deployments throughout Latin America.
NetEnt has announced the release of Live Mobile Standard Blackjack, which takes its live-dealer online blackjack game to mobile devices in an HTML5 format.
DraftKings is returning as a sponsor for the World Poker Tour and will sponsor the Season XVI WPT European Championship in Berlin, Germany in January 2018. DraftKings had been a major sponsor of WPT events through 2012.
The Russian branch of Bwin has opened its website and will soon begin accepting bets in the country. The company had initially expected to launch the site in September.
Italian operator Sisal will install a targeted digital customer acquisition plan for its sports betting brand, powered by technology provided by London-based Betgenius.
Not only is gaming giant MGM Resorts certain to be deluged with claims from victims of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Now a panel of the Nevada Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a 5-year-old assault case that dents the company’s defense that the massacre was “unforeseeable.” Meanwhile, Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani (l.) wants to ban all traffic from the Strip.
As clear winners and losers emerge in the competitive atmosphere created by Pennsylvania’s new law creating satellite mini-casinos, some operators are crying foul. But Mount Airy casino (l.) in the Poconos was aided by an amendment vastly expanding its buffer zone.
Station Casinos is protesting to the NLRB that the Culinary Union’s victory in organizing Green Valley Ranch (l.) was achieved through coercion and false information. The local won the balloting by 78 percent, making GVR the third Station casino in Las Vegas to go union.
The price tag for the Tiverton Casino (l.) in Rhode Island has essentially double, from the original estimate of $75 million to $140 million. The developer, Twin River, attributes to higher costs to delays and limits on construction hours.
A Nevada judge says Wynn Resorts will have to prove to a jury that it acted properly five years ago when it forcibly redeemed Kazuo Okada’s 20 percent stake in the company in the process of ousting him from the board of directors. Okada wants the shares back, plus $1 billion in damages.
The MGM Springfield is looking at a fall of 2018 opening. The $960 casino project in the heart of Massachusetts’s third largest city is moving aggressively to make that happen.
Black Hawk County Gaming Association, the nonprofit license-holder for Isle Casino Hotel (l.) in Waterloo, Illinois, estimates they would have lost $1 million in annual potential grant revenue if the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission had approved a Cedar Rapids casino. Commissioners recently voted 3-2 against three development proposals.
The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has preliminarily approved a $5.6 million payment to billionaire Carl Icahn towards the demolition of a portion of his closed Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City. The authority ruled that the $13.2 million demolition qualified for casino redevelopment funds. One of two hotel towers at the site is scheduled to be demolished.
The Sports Betting USA conference brings together experts for an examination of what legalized sports betting in the U.S. would mean, with an eye toward next week’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing. NBA lawyer Dan Spillane told the conference the league was working to draw up sports betting legislation in Washington D.C.
The Strip resort has 2,496 new hotel rooms thanks to a $100 million investment―the first installment of a program that has Caesars renovating its entire Las Vegas portfolio of 23,000 rooms and suites. The company expects to have more than half the job finished this year.
Following the unanimous approval of the Indiana Gaming Commission, Ameristar Casino in East Chicago will move high-limit gaming from its riverboat to its land-based pavilion. The $5.8 million renovation will feature 95 slots, 14 table games, a cage, rewards center and food and beverages, and will allow 100 new slots on the riverboat.
A study on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s new “Play My Way” responsible gambling program produced by GameSense shows gamblers betting less and losing less when opting to set a gambling budget.
According to the Michigan Gaming Control Board, Detroit's three casinos posted a 1.7 percent increase to $112.7 in total revenue for October 2016 compared to October 2016. Year-to-date revenue also grew, by 1.2 percent, to $1.17 billion versus October 2016. Compared to September 2017, October revenue fell 0.9 percent.
For years La Center, Washington has relied on casino gaming to fund government services. That must change now that two of the four casinos are no longer in business. The city is looking at other options.
The Chicago suburb Orland Park commissioned a study indicating electronic gambling could generate $462,470 in annual tax revenue for the city. But another poll showed of all 67 eligible businesses, the majority were uninterested. In West Frankfort, the city council voted to increase the number of liquor licenses to allow more electronic gambling.
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide later this month whether it will review a case where the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) is fighting for the right to open a small bingo style casino on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Opponents of the casino, who have lost in earlier federal court venues, seek to have the high court overturn those rulings.
The Pequot tribe has about 100 electronic Class II bingo machines sitting in the Foxwoods Resort Casino (l.) ready to be turned on. This has set off alarm bells with the state’s Department of Consumer Protection.
MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren (l.) is raising eyebrows because he didn’t mention a $675 million casino proposal for Bridgeport, Connecticut during a conference call with investors last week. This despite the company’s drumbeat since September for such a casino.
The longer the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts is prevented from building its $1 billion casino in Taunton the larger its debt to the Genting Group grows. The debt is now an alarming $347.4 million and the tribe has initiated austerity actions. Chairman Cedric Cromwell (l.) has been accused of living lavishly on Genting funds.
Judge Joe Heaton recently denied the Comanche Nation's request for a preliminary injunction to stop a Chickasaw Nation casino in Terral, Oklahoma, near the Texas border. The Comanches said the $10 million casino would impact its Red River Casino (l.), 50 miles away. The Comanches also want to open a casino near Terral.
The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska may pursue a casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, the National Indian Gaming Commission recently ruled. It was the second time the NIGC approved the tribe's right to offer gaming there. At issue was whether a tribal lawyer had earlier agreed the tribe wouldn't offer gaming on the land.
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians last week unveiled plans for a $500 million upgrade to its casino that will include a 500-room hotel. A groundbreaking is expected next year.
Cuba is the name of the town where the Osage Nation wants to open the first tribal casino in Missouri. Osage Casinos CEO Byron Bighorse made the announcement last week in Cuba’s city hall.
Although the group formed to fight moving the Win-River Casino in Northern California adjacent to Interstate 5 is new, it is composed of veterans of several community fights to limit commercial development in the Churn Creek Bottom community.
The 323-acre home of a now-defunct racetrack (l.) near Santa Fe, New Mexico, will undergo a makeover. The Pueblo of Pojoaque Development Corporation is soliciting proposals for the Santa Fe Downs trust land.
Ho-Chunk Gaming in Wittenberg, Wisconsin opened a new gaming floor with 200 additional slots, a non-smoking area and an updated bar as part of a $33 million renovation and expansion. New electronic table games, a hotel, restaurant and porte-cochere will be added soon. The project will create 80 new jobs.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians recently opened a tribal police substation near its estimated $400 million Four Winds Casino, now under construction in South Bend, Indiana. Tribal Chairman John P. Warren said, "Opening the tribal police substation in our village is an important step in re-establishing our homeland in Indiana."
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has announced plans to build a second hotel—with 150 rooms—to serve its existing Casino del Sol Resort in Arizona. The tribe also plans to increase convention space at its other property, Casino del Sol Resort.
A front-page story about the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian's casino referendum ran in the November 16 Carthaginian under the headline, "Chocs go to polls today." The tribe considers "Choc" a derogatory term. Publisher Waid Parther took responsibility for the headline, calling it "an unintentional and unfortunate mistake."
A Northern Arapaho Tribal Court judge ruled Wind River Hotel and Casino Chief Executive Officer and Assistant Manager Andrea Clifford can keep their jobs. The Northern Arapaho Business Council fired them but changed its position. A tribal member asked the court to overturn that decision and also "banish Jim Conrad from our tribal land."
A Detroit Free Press investigation found employees at some Michigan retailers allegedly kept and cashed customers' winning tickets. The report said the Michigan Lottery Bureau has suspended or revoked five retailers' licenses since 2016.As an incentive, the lottery pays retailers a 6 percent commission on ticket sales and 2 percent on redeemed prizes.
Former Camelot International CEO Nigel Railton has been appointed UK CEO of the National Lottery by Camelot, which operates the Lottery. His mission will be to reverse the decline in Lottery sales.
Following the end of its current one-year extension with the Iowa Lottery, International Game Technology signed a one-year extension agreement expiring December 31, 2018. Since 2013, IGT has provided game planning, marketing, research, analytics, graphics support and instant ticket production and printing and related services for the Iowa Lottery.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority has issue a reprimanded to the country’s Health Lottery relating to complaints about a Facebook post the lottery made in January. The post claimed that up to £500 could be won per week with five draws per week “with up to £100K jackpot.” The authority received complaints the post was misleading.
Higher Lottery sales of traditional lottery products has almost offset lower sales at West Virginia’s four racetracks. Sales this year were basically static at $87.2 million.
Nigel Eccles, CEO and founder of daily fantasy operator FanDuel, announced he will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Matt King, who served as chief financial officer of FanDuel from 2014-16, will return to the company to replace Eccles as CEO and join the board of directors, the company said.
Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd named Toni Korsanos and Jane Halton to its board as non-executive directors. Korsanos is chief financial officer at Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. Halton is the former secretary of the Australian Department of Finance. Crown previously announced it would reduce its international operations and focus on Australian assets.
Bradford Cobb recently was hired as chief financial officer at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He will be responsible for financial accounting, regulatory compliance, labor and productivity departments, plus budgets and analysis. Previously he was vice president of finance at Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Liz McNally recently was hired as chief marketing officer at SkyCity Entertainment Group in New Zealand. As the former chief marketing officer at NZME, McNally managed the brand rollout from the APN News & Media and Radio Network merger. She also worked at Spark, formerly Telecom, and NewsCorp Australia.
Spin Games LLC has received an operating license to provide gambling content and technology to Spin partners in the United Kingdom. The license allows the company to start supplying Spin’s interactive gaming content utilizing Spin’s own Remote Gaming Server.
Legal issues related to the possible introduction of skill games and new slot machine regulations in Macau were among the subjects addressed at the MGS Entertainment Show in Macau.
