Regulators in Pennsylvania have approved temporary regulations for online gaming that allow current licensees an unlimited number of “skins,” as long as each domain identifies its affiliated licensee. Two Pennsylvania casinos had suggested allowing no skins at all, which would have severely limited the state iGaming market. The state gaming board will begin accepting applications next week.
Lawmakers from Japan’s ruling coalition have agreed on pieces of a regulatory bill to launch casino gaming in the country. If the bill goes to parliament this month, it could be enacted before the session ends in June. New details include an entry fee for locals, a tax rate, and a set number of initial casinos.
MGM Growth Properties (MGP) has purchased Ohio’s Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park, outside of Cleveland—the state’s most lucrative casino. It’s the first property not operated by MGM Resorts that the company has purchased. The final price was $1.06 billion.
Odyssey Europe AS will take over Olympic Entertainment Group in a transaction worth €288 million (US$353 million). Odyssey will acquire 100 percent of shares at €1.90 per share in a deal OK’d by major shareholders, including Chairman Armin Karu (l.).
An NBA official revealed at an Illinois legislative hearing that the Professional Golf Association supports efforts by the NBA and MLB to support legalization of sports betting with “integrity fees” paid to the leagues. Meanwhile several states have taken steps to legalize sports betting while New Jersey waits for the final Supreme Court decision.
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran (l.) may call a special session over potentially losing millions in annual payments from the Seminole Tribe in return for exclusivity. Tribal attorney Barry Richard said payments would stop "only if they think there is a substantial impact on their financial circumstances, or they think they are paying too much money for the exclusivity."
Galaxy Entertainment Group says its planned resort on Boracay Island in the Philippines will bring in revenues of $100 million a year once it opens. Critics question the government’s quick approval of the project.
A report in the New York Post last week speculated that MGM Resorts is interested in buying Wynn Resorts, despite denials from MGM Chairman & CEO Jim Murren (l.). While citing anonymous sources, the story could have some validity.
The Mississippi Gaming & Hospitality Association last week announced the first inductees into the new Mississippi Gaming Hall of Fame. The honorees all played a key role in the introduction of gaming into the state 25 years ago and include legendary Las Vegas pioneer Jack Binion (l.). The winners will be inducted at a gala dinner at the Southern Gaming Summit on May 3.
This week, the GGB Podcast features an interview with Kate Lowenhar-Fisher, a member of the Gaming and Hospitality Practice Group of the Dickinson Wright law firm, on how sports betting could play out following the upcoming Supreme Court decision.
Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp Ltd. realized an increase in gross gaming revenue of 181 percent increase for the first quarter of 2018. The surge was led by mass-market volume, which expanded due to the opening of Naga 2 (l.) last November.
Asian casino operator and developer Silver Heritage Group has removed the local partner overseeing development of its new Tiger Palace project (l.) in Bhairahawa. That partner alleged illegal hiring practices.
As Cambodia pursues more foreign investment in its casino industry, big-name hoteliers are also moving in to ease the chronic shortage of rooms, especially in the four-star to five-star categories. Sihanoukville (l.) , formerly a backpacker’s paradise, is being targeted by several major hotel brands.
Gross gaming revenues at Macau’s casinos rose 22.2 percent year-on-year in March to MOP25.95 billion (US$3.21 billion), according to official data. The results for last month puts GGR for the year up 20.5 percent over 2017.
Macau Legend Development Ltd. has announced that the sale of its peninsula-based hotel and casino will not be complete until the end of the month. It is selling the Landmark Macau for HK$4.6 billion.
Indian gaming operators in Goa, stunned by an increase in annual recurring fees for offshore and land-based casinos, plan to petition the government for a rollback of the plan.
Australian-listed Donaco International Ltd. has won an injunction from the Supreme Court of New South Wales to freeze the shares held by the Thai vendors of its Star Vegas casino resort (l.) in Cambodia.
Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development Ltd. has confirmed it will launch a temporary casino facility in Cyprus sometime in 2018. The company owns 75 percent of the project on the Greek-controlled side of the island. Melco Chairman Lawrence Ho (l.) says a 2021 opening is projected.
Spain’s Podemos Party has proposed an update to gaming laws in Madrid. The bill urges the regional government to “fight gambling addiction, regulate advertising, and move betting houses away from schools.” Deputy Emilio Delgado (l.) says the laws are outdated.
Calling the country’s gaming laws outdated, Dutch gaming Regulators are calling for an overhaul of gaming regulations. The Netherlands Gaming Authority also said it supports legalizing regulated online gaming in its 2017 annual report.
It’s becoming harder to navigate Germany’s restrictive gaming regulations. So, the German-based Gauselmann Group has partnered with TUI Cruises to operate two casino ships, including Mein Schiff 1 (l.).
Two partners of Australia-listed Star Entertainment Group have become the company’s largest shareholders. Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium each now own almost 10 percent of Star, whose flagship is a Sydney casino (l.) of the same name.
A major casino has been proposed in Pickering Ontario outside of Toronto by Ontario Gaming GTA LP. The complex would house an indoor water park, film studios, hotels and convention space. The company already manages three Toronto-area facilities, including the Woodbine Racetrack (l.)
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment has applied to the town council of Delta, British Columbia to be allowed to build a $70 million casino with 500 slots, 24 gaming tables and a 116-room hotel at the site of the former Delta Town & Country Inn (l.).
Casinos in British Columbia have for several years been centers of money laundering. That’s the conclusion of a report that was just completed by a former deputy commissioner of the RCMP.
Opponents of the Kingsway Entertainment District in Sudbury, Ontario, and its casino and arena, are appealing to the public to fund their fight. They have set up a GoFundMe account to try to raise $100,000.
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries must spend 2 percent of its annual $12 million social responsibility budget on addictions research and treatment, but last year, more than $2 million was left unspent. Operating and public awareness spending increased 18 percent over the last three years, including public relations campaigns, some MLL staff salaries and conference attendance.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. has agreed to allow the country’s iGaming operators to offer live-dealer table games. A one-year permit cost PHP1 million (US$19,220) and must be renewed yearly.
A New Jersey woman hit a $61,000 jackpot playing online at PlaySugarHouse.com just one week after the site announced that another player had hit the same jackpot for $161,000 after his first slots spin ion the site. Neither jackpot is record setting, but the back-to-back hits are noteworthy.
The Stars Group has set April 17 as the launch date for its Indian market version of PokerStars. The site will be available for play on desktop and mobile devices with Indian Rupees as the main currency and will feature localized versions of PokerStars' most popular tournaments and events, the company said. In another story involving PokerStars, the UK Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that the gambling site cannot air a TV ad and warned PokerStars against portraying gambling in a socially irresponsible manner or in the context of recklessness.
Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings has applied for a gaming license in Malta over concerns on how Brexit will affect its home base. 888 said it is “proceeding with its backup plan” by obtaining a Malta license and also establishing a server farm in Ireland so that it can “continue to serve European markets with no disruption to its business.”
Malta announced that blockchain cryptocurrency platform Binance will move its operations to the island. Malta is working to become a center for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.
Online casino software provider GAN is looking to build on its growth in 2017 in emerging U.S. markets, CEO Dermot Smurfit (l.) said while announcing its annual results for 2017. The company reported revenue of £9.1 million in 2017 and a total gross income reported of £41.1 million. It’s the first time the company has reported a profit since 2013.
Penn National Gaming won Pennsylvania’s fifth mini-casino license for a bid of $3 over the minimum, giving the operator an industry-leading fourth Pennsylvania casino license, where it operates the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course (l.).
The famed UK-based brand is eager to enter the gaming industry. Just not the gaming. The Virgin-led investment group that bought Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel has crafted a unique financial arrangement that will lease casino operations to an outside company. CEO Richard Bosworth (l.) says the company will focus on a strong convention business.
Massachusetts regulators last week said that continued construction on Wynn Boston Harbor could continue on a “at risk basis” because investigators are continuing their probe into the company’s suitability. And the company’s Massachusetts leader, Robert DeSalvio (l.) says a name change is being considered. And MGM Resorts International has put the pedal to the metal to recruit up to 1,000 employees for the $960 million MGM Springfield, which will open in September.
Gaming came away empty-handed from negotiations on a 2018-19 spending plan for the Empire State. A Senate provision for online gaming was DOA yet again. As for the struggling commercial casino industry, the immediate future holds no hope of tax relief, as Governor Andrew Cuomo (l.) opposed any bailout.
Senate Bill 427 would lower Kansas racetracks' tax rate from 40 to 22 percent, and allow slots at the shuttered Wichita Greyhound Park, which could then reopen. The bill also would let owner Phil Ruffin (l.) pay casinos the state's resulting $125 million penalty and be repaid through future revenue.
The embattled casino giant has locked in two key pieces of the puzzle overhanging its future. A settlement reached last month with former shareholder Universal Entertainment has been successfully concluded and Macau rival Galaxy Entertainment is on board as owner of 5 percent of the stock.
Atlantic City’s former Revel casino, now rebranded as the Ocean Resort Casino, will affiliate with the Hyatt Hotel chain, casino officials announced. The casino will include a 32,000-square-foot spa within Hyatt’s newly acquired spa brand. Ocean Resort will continue to own and operate the casino hotel, but will utilize Hyatt’s reservation systems and other infrastructure.
Regulators in Pennsylvania have approved the sale of the Valley Forge Casino (l.) and transfer of its license from Valley Forge Convention Center Partners to Boyd Gaming Corporation.
Smoking was banned in Louisiana restaurants in 2007, and now a bill would extend the ban to casinos, gaming facilities and bars. Fourteen cities already have passed smoking bans, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Louisiana would become the 18th state to ban smoking if the measure is approved.
After learning the Hell's Angels booked rooms at a local casino hotel, Deadwood law enforcement asked the South Dakota Commission on Gaming to ban wearing club affiliation patches in casinos. Deadwood Gaming Association Executive Director Mike Rodman said casinos should devise their own safety plans because since "no ‘one solution fits all’ approach" would be effective.
A report on transportation statistics has found that visitation rates to Atlantic City have fallen to their lowest point since the early 1980s. Visit-trips to Atlantic City in 2017 were 24.1 million representing a 1.2 percent decrease over the previous year's 24.4 million. The 2017 total represents the lowest visit-trip figure since 1982, when there were 22.9 million visit-trips.
Running against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (l.), who fired him in 2015, former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy proposed locating a casino inside O'Hare International Airport. He said an airport casino would generate revenue and avoid "all of the problems it causes in the community." Plus, it would work with Emanuel's proposed airport expansion project.
Nevada regulators signed off on the Meruelo Group’s purchase of the struggling North Strip resort, SLS (l.). The Reno-based company assured them that it can make the property a winner.
Two groups in Arkansas are pursuing proposed constitutional amendments to allow casino gambling. Arkansas Wins just filed its proposed ballot language with the state attorney general's office, which recently rejected Driving Arkansas Forward's ballot language for the third time. Driving Arkansas Forward said out-of-state interests dominate Arkansas Wins in 2018.
The Oxford Casino in Oxford Maine led Maine casinos in 2017 with $1.2 billion wagered on slot machines in the state last year, according to the Maine Gambling Control Board’s annual report. The Oxford Casino took in $796.6 million in 2017, up $62 million from 2016. The Hollywood Casino in Bangor saw $408.4 million in slots revenue, down $28 million from 2016. The Oxford Casino earned $68.7 million overall, while Hollywood Casino earned a $41.6 million profit in 2017.
A federal judge shot down Borgata’s Atlantic City claim that a card manufacturer owed the casino millions in damages because their faulty decks allowed gambler Phil Ivey to win big at the casino’s baccarat pits. The judge ruled that the cards—which had asymmetrical designs that allowed Ivey and a partner to read them—were only one factor in Ivey’s win. He said the casino could only recoup the cost of the cards—about $27.
In Wisconsin, problem gamblers' debt averages $34,078, according to officials at the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling. The hotline received 12,674 calls in 2017. Officials said callers max out credit cards, drain bank accounts, seek payday loans, borrow from friends and family, steal from employers, write bad checks and sometimes even rob banks.
Mardi Gras Casino and Race Track Chief Executive Officer Dan Adkins sued the racino's owner, Hartman & Tyner, over “millions of dollars” he was promised upon sale of the company’s Florida, West Virginia and Michigan gambling operations. H&T recently countersued, claiming Adkins "engaged in self-dealing, corporate waste and gross mismanagement."
The epic battle between MGM Springfield and the gaming tribes of Connecticut continues unabated in the state legislature. Both got something that they wanted in a bill that was passed out of the General Assembly’s Public Safety and Security Committee recently, but neither got all that they wanted. The tribes could continue construction on a casino in East Windsor (l.) designed to cut off traffic to MGM Springfield in Massachusetts.
Oklahoma tribal casinos pay the state exclusivity fees of 4 percent - 6 percent on adjusted gross revenue in return for exclusive rights to operate Class III gambling. Last year lawmakers rejected tribal requests to offer ball and dice games. But now legislators see the issue as a bargaining chip to raise exclusivity fees.
After the Interior Department rejected two land-trust applications, one for an East Lansing casino (l.), the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians' board voted to file litigation, though it hasn't done that yet. Interior Department officials said the locations were too far from tribal headquarters. But tribal leaders vowed they're "fully committed" to the off-reservation casinos.
Shawnee and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials held a signing ceremony placing 107 acres of Shawnee land in the Oklahoma Panhandle into trust. Accordingly, the tribe will break ground this spring on the 42,000 square foot Golden Mesa Casino (l.) in Guymon, expected to have an annual economic impact of $33.8 million for Texas County.
The San Diego county casino operator, the Pala Band, is fighting a development of nearly 800 homes that would be built a fifth of a mile from the entrance to the Pala Casino Resort & Spa. The project would be built on private land.
Officials of the town of Mashpee, Massachusetts feel that communications could be better between them and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Their latest complaint is not hearing about a bill that was introduced in Congress to put land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust for the tribe.
The Rhode Island Lottery has issued a request for proposals for a company to operate sports betting in the state. Of course, it can’t do that until the U.S. Supreme Court rules that it is now legal.
Mike Howard has been named general manager and chief executive officer at Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel in Charenton, Louisiana. Howard previously was vice president and general manager at DiamondJacks Resort Casino in Bossier City. Owned by the Chitmacha Tribe of Louisiana, Cypress Bayou has 730 employees.
Saratoga Casino Holdings LLC has named Alex Tucker as general manager of the Saratoga Casino in New York state. Tucker worked for the casino for 11 years prior to the appointment.
Atrient has named Angela Ahmet as vice president of sales, responsible for overseeing national and international growth markets for the system supplier.
No reason has been given for the terminations of Illinois Gaming Board Administrator/Director Mark Ostrowski and Illinois Liquor Control Commission Executive Director Donovan Borvan and Chief Legal Counsel Sean O'Leary. Ostrowski joined the gaming board in 2001. Borvan joined the liquor commission in February 2017, O'Leary in July 2016.
The Gaming Standards Association has officially launched its committee dedicated to developing standards for blockchain technology, naming AxesNetwork CEO Earle G. Hall chairman.
Jason Gastwirth, the president of entertainment for Caesars Entertainment, will join a stellar panel at the second Episode of the UNLV Gaming & Hospitality Education Series on April 24.
Governor Phil Murphy, who was recently sworn in as New Jersey’s chief executive, will give the keynote address at the 22nd annual East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City this June.
