Ontario casinos are just waiting for the green light to reopen and put people back to work. Paul Burns (l.), head of the Canadian Gaming Association, says they’re also hoping for a little help from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which pays out 75 percent of employee wages for 24 weeks.
Ocean Casino Resort has emerged from the shutdown with optimism for the future in a newly revived North Beach section of Atlantic City. CEO Terry Glebocki explains how her casino survived for the length of the shutdown.
The world’s most important gaming trade show and conference, Global Gaming Expo, is scheduled for early October. Should it be cancelled or delayed in the wake of Covid-19? GGB Publisher Roger Gros says G2E is needed now more than ever.
Gaming giants Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, have made facial coverings mandatory for all visitors to their properties across the country. The state of Nevada has also ordered face masks to be worn in all public spaces, including casinos, following a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui and Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura (l.)—who actually swapped jobs as part of their bid to bring an integrated resort to the prefecture—have put that plan on indefinite hold due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Arkansas Racing Commission’s decision to award a casino license to Mississippi-based Gulfside Casino Partnership over Cherokee Nation Business of Oklahoma has sparked accusations of bias against Commissioner Butch Rice (l.). The matter has been referred to the state attorney general.
China’s Individual Visit Scheme, which is considered a linchpin of Macau gaming’s recovery from the Covid crisis, has been on hold since January. The industry was hoping the lucrative visa program would be restored by July. Now that’s up in the air.
A new regulator has assumed oversight of the French gaming industry. L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), under Chairwoman Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin (l.) has replaced l’Autorité nationale de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL).
California State Senator Bill Dodd has admitted defeat and pulled SCA 6, which sought to put a measure on the November ballot to approve of sports betting. The bill’s weakness: almost every gaming tribe opposed it. Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro (l.) called the bill a “sucker punch.”
A Georgia House committee has voted 13-3 for a constitutional amendment allowing parimutuel betting, casino gambling and sports betting. Referendums will be held in each county. The bill’s sponsor is House Economic Development and Tourism Chairman Ron Stephens (l.). Meanwhile there was a twist in the state’s sports betting efforts.
Could the ongoing sports void turn into a launchpad for betting on esports? These days, the idea doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Legal experts at Greenberg Traurig explain why the time is right.
The Nevada Gaming Commission last week approved several regulations that are the first steps toward a cashless wagering system. The first step was to remove a prohibition against the process. Chairman John Moran (l.) said it would “enhance the gaming experience.”
The jubilance that accompanied casino reopenings has been tempered by a surge in Covid-19 cases. Operators realize we may be in this mess for the long haul. But they’re also looking to second-quarter earnings for a more complete picture.
This week the GGB Podcast features an interview with Mike Rumbolz, the president and CEO of Everi, on how the industry has an opportunity to transition to cashless payments now that contactless transactions are widely preferred.
On the Philippine Stock Exchange, Suncity Group’s Philippine unit is now known primarily as a tourism-related company. Suntrust Home Developers is developing Westside City in Manila (l.).
Enrique Razon Jr., head of Bloomberry Resorts Corp., expect delays in the construction of his second Philippines integrated resort, Solaire North. Razon says the IR likely will not be complete until late 2022 or early 2023—just in time for a “full economic recovery.”
Cambodian casino workers left out of a government program to help the unemployed are asking for a lifeline. A union representing employees of NagaWorld (l.) in Phnom Penh have been out of work since April 1.
Hundreds of Imperial Pacific International workers staged a walkout followed by protests on the streets of Saipan (l.), saying they have not been paid and are living in squalid d conditions in dormitories and at the construction site.
Dennis Uy’s PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. announced in a filing last week that it plans to complete construction of its Emerald Bay casino resort in Cebu in the first quarter of 2022. Hiring will begin in late 2021.
As hotels and restaurants and other hospitality businesses re-open in the U.K., casinos, including London’s Hippodrome (l.), remain shuttered, much to the dismay of the industry. The trade group, Betting and Gaming Council calls the continued closure nonsensical as the industry has done its part in instituting protocols to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The Rendezvous Casino, one of three in the historic seaside resort, has been out of action as part of Covid restrictions in place across Britain. Caesars says it doesn’t believe the venue will be worth reopening once the restrictions are lifted.
Resort operator Société des Bains de Mer recorded an 18 percent jump in revenues in the latest financial year, despite losing a full month to the coronavirus pandemic. Robust growth in gaming win helped drive the increase.
Two casino resorts in the Bahamas will reopen next month. The Royal and Harbourside Resort on Paradise Island will be first, opening its doors July 7. The Cove Casino will follow on 14 July. Both are managed by Atlantis at Paradise Island Resort and Casino (l.).
After reversing its opinion on the Wire Act two years ago to potentially criminalize online gaming, attorneys for the U.S. Justice Department reversed course during an appellate case.
Michigan state Senator Adam Hollier (l.) has introduced Senate Bill 969, which would permit tribal and commercial casinos to offer online gaming before statewide regulations could be finalized. The Michigan Gaming Control Board said rules could be written by the end of the year.
SciPlay Corp. has acquired Come2Play, and Israeli developer of casual mobile games, moving SciPlay and parent company Scientific Games into the social gaming space.
Spin Games has been granted an interactive gaming manufacturer license in Pennsylvania, and has gone live with its first remote game server installation at the Parx Casino. CEO Kent Young (l.) says the approval expands the company’s North American footprint.
Eleven Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) have been given the OK to resume operations. About 50 others still don’t have clearance to reopen, chiefly because of past-due taxes.
Netherlands Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker (l.) is looking for the upcoming iGaming sector to monitor its advertising and not to “go too far” or saturate the market.
Casinos will open in Atlantic City July 2, and with them, retail sportsbooks. But it’ll be weeks before Major League Baseball brings the first real competition since major sports ground to a halt in March. Will the books draw any business?
Colorado’s first retail sportsbook wager was accepted June 17 at the Saratoga Casino Black Hawk (l.). The wager was for the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl.
It may take a while before sports bets come to Washington state. The state has legalized tribal-only sports wagering, but tribes must renegotiate their compacts before wagers begin. “We want the process to move as quickly as possible,” said Gambling Commission Director David Trujillo (l.)
Rivers Casino (l.) in Des Plaines will be the first casino property in Illinois to go live with mobile sports betting, same as they were the first to take a bet in a retail sportsbook. Others will follow as the gaming board hands out more licenses. The launch comes as the NBA and MLB prepare to return to play.
Dacy’s Sportsbook became the first sportsbook to open in a Michigan tribal casino with its June 22 launch at Firekeepers Casino Hotel (l.) in Battle Creek. The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi also topped off an expansion of their hotel, a second tower (l.) . The casino reopened June 1.
Roar Digital, in conjunction with BetMGM, has agreed to operate the first sportsbook in an Oregon tribal casino. Spirit Mountain Casino (l.) in Grande Ronde is the state’s largest gaming property.
With a tax rate of 8 percent approved by Louisiana lawmakers, the state Gaming Control Board can now focus on the licensing of fantasy sports operators.
South Dakota’s Deadwood Gaming Association resumes campaign to educate residents to vote for the referendum to permit sports betting. The measure would largely benefit the casinos in Deadwood (l.), as well as tribal casinos in the state.
Sportsbooks in Scotland re-open on June 29, but the government has restricted customers to placing bets only. No lingering allowed or playing the FOBTs.
The approval by the Federal Trade Commission of the Eldorado Resorts buy of Caesars Entertainment means that only three more regulatory bodies need to heard from. The sale of Eldorado Shreveport (l.) and Lake Tahoe’s Montbleu was a condition of the OK.
After being dark for more than three months, Atlantic City’s nine casinos can reopen starting July 2. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy limited capacity to 25 percent and required that all guests and employees wear face masks.
New York State is in the final phase of its return to business. Commercial casinos and racinos (Resorts World New York City at left), which have been closed since mid-March, are supposed to be part of the broad reopenings—or will be, eventually.
The town of Tiverton, Rhode Island is having to do major surgery on its new budget in order to accommodate the fact that the Tiverton Casino (l.) has been unable to pay the town a share of its gaming profits. The casino has been closed since March.
The Louisiana House has approved a proposed bill allowing the state's 15 riverboat casinos, Harrah’s New Orleans (l.) and four racinos to exempt $5 million in promotional credits from the state's 21.5 percent tax on gross gaming revenue.
The need for restaurants and bars to recover after the Covid-19 shutdown has renewed the debate over legalizing VGTs in Pennsylvania. Senate President Pro Tem Joseph Scarnati (l.) has received major campaign contributions from VLT route operator Golden Entertainment, which would benefit from a change in the law.
Monmouth Park (l.) in New Jersey will allow 15,000 spectators for its racing meet, or a quarter of the total attendance at the track’s busiest day, at the GI Haskell Invitational in 2015.
A group called Keep the Money in Nebraska needs 130,000 signatures by July 2 to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to allow slot machines and casinos in the state. Group spokesman Mike Newlin (l.) said Nebraskans have spent $8.8 billion gambling in Iowa over 25 years.
The Illinois Gaming Board's process for approving casino license applications is "ridiculous," says state Senator Dave Syverson (l.) of Rockford. While gaming board employees were "sitting around doing nothing," he said, they could have approved Rockford's application for a Hard Rock Casino.
The first ground-up casino to come to Downtown Las Vegas in decades will open in October with a ban on anyone under 21. Adults “need some mystique back in their lives,” the property said in announcing the policy.
Racing fans are being allowed at Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino (l.) in New Mexico for the first time since the racino closed its doors on March 15. The facility opened for racing without spectators on Memorial Day weekend.
Connecticut’s two tribal casinos including Mohegan Sun in Uncasville (l.) had a profitable first two weeks after reopening June 1. The two weeks were more profitable in terms of gaming than the same period in 2019.
In Oklahoma, a gaming employee infected with Covid-19 led to the temporary closures of the Sac and Fox Nation's Black Hawk Casino in Shawnee and Sac and Fox Casino (l.) in Stroud.
The Tulalip Tribes of Washington State are working to open their new Quil Ceda Creek Casino (l.) in 2021. They began building the 126,700-square-foot casino 18 months ago.
The $250 million arena the Agua Caliente Cahuilla Band of Indians and its partner the Oak View Group want to build in downtown Palm Springs has been delayed launching by at least four months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The original date for groundbreaking was February 18.
Virginians will be able to purchase online lottery tickets starting July 1. Mega Millions, Powerball and Cash4Life games will be offered plus a new instant game, Northern Wilds. Virginia Lottery sales declined 28 percent in March due to Covid-19. Virginia will become the ninth state with online lottery ticket sales.
The board of directors of Macau casino giant Sands China has voted unanimously to extend Wilfred Wong’s contract to 2024. The aim is to further the company’s “long-term growth and development,” the board said.
Yukio Fujiki (l.), head of the Yokohama Harbor Transport Association, has announced he will retire from his post there to campaign against the city’s IR bid.
Aristocrat Technologies celebrated the grand opening of the first-ever “Buffalo Xing” showcasing its most popular game at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas.
Global Payments Gaming Solutions last week announced that the Downstream Casino Resort (l.) in Quapaw, Oklahoma has launched a successful pilot of VIP Mobility, a mobile solution that enables true cashless casino gaming.
Scientific Games has reported a record response to the Royal Ascot (l.) across its OpenSports platform, with bets up 44 percent over last year on the first day of the storied event, which included 36 races.
GameCo LLC has signed a distribution deal with Oklahoma-based distributor Dynamic Gaming Solutions that places its video-game gambling machines in the tribal casino market.
Rush Street Interactive, a sportsbook and online gaming supplier and operator, will provide the onsite retail sportsbook at Little River Casino Resort in Manistee, Michigan. Rush Street Interactive President Richard Schwartz (l.) says it gives the tribe access to online sports betting in the state and an online casino on approval.
The first game by Sega Sammy Creations Inc. to be installed in Vietnam is a video slot entitled Virtua Fighter Battle Genesis. It was just installed in a gaming club inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hanoi.
The American Gaming Association and Reed Exhibitions announced last week that the show would go on, but that special attention is being paid to health and safety at this year’s G2E.
