A consortium of racinos in New Mexico led by Sunland Park racetrack (l.) have proposed a “Recovery Act” that would put state racinos on a level playing field with tribal casinos
Today we catch up with Konami’s traveling road show when the WINovation trailer pulls into Atlantic City and reveals a dynamic exhibit of the supplier’s newest games in absence of the usual physical trade show.
A bill that would permit sports betting in Connecticut has been stalled in the legislature for more than a year. Connecticut state Senator Cathey Osten (l.) has introduced a bill that would streamline the gaming landscape in her state.
Park MGM (l.) reopened recently as a smoke-free casino. Fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, could the decision be the start of a movement to finally having casinos join restaurants and airplanes as non-smoking locations. Supporters hope so. Casino operators aren’t on the bandwagon.
Twin River Worldwide Holdings has bought the Bally’s brand name from Caesars Entertainment for $20 million. The company controls nine casinos nationwide and plans to rebrand nearly all of them. The company also recently bought Bally’s Atlantic City (l.).
The change to the country’s criminal code, proposed as part of a nationwide crackdown on capital flight, looks like more bad news for the junkets and the lucrative VIP trade they largely fund and for jurisdictions across Asia that have designed their casino markets around them. And it won’t leave Macau untouched either.
A $1.2 billion casino with a 1,000-room hotel (l.) and "stunning" performance venue will be developed in Biloxi by Universal Music Group and the Dakia U-Ventures investment group. The project will be constructed at the site of the Broadwater Beach Hotel, built in 1939, closed in 2005 after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Earlier this year, the city council approved a tourism tax inventive to redevelop the site.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced casinos and betting shops in Liverpool, including the Genting Club (l.), were to close until further notice on October 14 due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in the region. Betting shops have been open since June 15 after shutting in mid-March, and casinos only reopened August 15. Casino officials offered to stop selling alcohol to avoid being closed again.
Less than a year after securing proposals from six prospective operators, the Japanese city says Covid-19 has made a second RFC necessary. The pandemic also will delay by at least several months the final selection of the three resorts that have been approved for the country.
Regulators in Victoria, the state that is home to Crown Resorts’ flagship Crown Melbourne (l.) are weighing disciplinary action against the company for failures in screening its junket partners for alleged criminal ties. This comes after a week of intense scrutiny from regulators in New South Wales over the same lapses.
Greek regulators have selected the U.S. casino operator as the preferred bidder for a destination-scale resort with gaming in the country’s capital. Plans call for Inspire Athens (l.) to become a luxury hotel, major entertainment and events venues, outdoor attractions, and more.
Like commercial casinos nationwide, tribal casinos had to shut down in early spring on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (l.) says the loss of revenue between mid-April and mid-October when most of them reopened took terrible toll on revenues to fund health care and other services.
Scott Menke, co-founder of Las Vegas-based casino operator Paragon Gaming and CEO of the company has died at 56. Menke founded the company with his cousin Diana Bennett in 2000.
Estimates of the size of the U.S. sports betting market vary widely so investors need to understand the risks, the potential and the irrational fever. Should you pick who you think might be the winner or spread it out among many companies?
The GGB Podcast this week sits down the Dave McDowell, the CEO and co-founder of FSB, a leading B2B sports betting technology platform that offers soup-to-nuts to operators of U.S. sportsbooks.
The Chinese government has published a five-year plan to develop horse racing. The plan could mean that the Jockey Club’s HK$3.7 billion facility (l.) in Conghua could be major players as the country seeks to establish a standardized national horse racing industry.
Kangwon Land (l.), the only casino for South Korea nationals, resumed operations October 12 under restrictions. The property has been closed for long stretches of time due to the Covid 19 issue.
Two men associated with a Chinese gambling operator seeking to enter Japan's gaming market, received prison sentences for bribing a Japanese lawmaker. Masahiko Konno and Katsunori Nakazato gave $72,000 to former Cabinet Office Senior Vice Minister Tsukasa Akimoto (l.), and treated him to "extravagant wining and dining" in exchange for information about gambling legislation.
The Hong Kong-listed junket giant has big plans for diversifying into casino operations in Asia. Its acquisition of 69 percent of Tigre de Cristal (l.) owner Summit Ascent Holdings would appear to fit nicely into that strategy.
Shambala (l.), which joins the Tigre de Cristal casino in the emerging market of Primorye in Russia’s Far East, features a 56,000-square-foot gaming floor and includes future plans for a hotel, a golf course and outdoor attractions.
Svenska Spel, the state-owned Swedish gambling operator, reported gamblers spent less in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic but problem gambling did not increase. A rise in Svenska Spel’s Tur lottery business was offset by declines in its online sports and casino and land-based divisions.
Bank Australia has banned the use of its credit cards on gambling including bets on Sportsbet and pokies. The move quickly drew criticism as the bank was accused of trying to dictate to customers how they use its services.
The new director-general of Italy’s ADM customs and monopolies agency, Marcello Minenna (l.), has delivered a 0.5 percent tax on retail, digital and virtual sports, drawing the ire of horseracing and bookmakers. The racing industry said it would hurt financially, while Betfair, the bookmaker, threatened to leave.
Bodog has announced that it won’t be operating its sportsbook sites for players of most Asian countries, in order to comply with a rising level of enforcement against online gaming by those countries. It will be staying in India.
West Virginia gaming operators are reluctant to move forward with online poker because of the Wire Act. The 1961 law prohibit using communications across state lines for betting. The law could impact the state’s proposal to participate in multi-state poker games to improve profits.
BetMGM has extended its U.S. iGaming partnership with Scientific Games, which will continue to provide content to BetMGM’s outlets through the SG OpenGaming platform.
Spin Games has been awarded a provisional license to do business with state-approved internet gaming operators and platform suppliers by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. CEO Kent Young (l.) calls the license “significant.”
Gaming Realms has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with gaming supplier NetEnt under which Gaming Realms will develop a game based on NetEnt’s Slingo license.
Malta-based online casino operator Dunder announced it will leave the UK online market by the end of October. The company is in a phased withdrawal and has stopped accepting new UK accounts.
In Germany, GVC Holdings' bwin, SportingBet, Ladbrokes and Gamebookers brands will begin offering sports betting products in early 2021. Gauselmann Group's Cashpoint subsidiary became the first German sports betting company to be licensed for both online and land-based sports betting. IBC Sportsbetting also received a license to offer retail and online sports wagering under the name Wettarena.
Online sports betting could launch in Michigan in late 2020 or early 2021, since a legislative committee will now review a final draft of rules submitted by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. Governor Gretchen Whitmer (l.) signed the online sports betting bill in December 2019 but it didn't automatically take effect, due to Michigan’s lengthy rule-making process.
The Virginia Lottery began accepting license applications to operate sports betting October 15. They will stop taking the applications October 31 and will take 90 days to process them.
Sports betting is not expected to be taken up again this year by the Arizona legislature. But Senator Sonny Borrelli (l.) sponsor of a sportsbook bill, is hopeful to see quick action beginning early next year.
Penn National Gaming CEO Jay Snowden (l.) said the company plans to move its Barstool Sportsbook app into every state where sports betting legal is legal in 2021. The app is currently available only in Pennsylvania. The company already is planning to launch the app in Michigan next month.
Century Casinos has partnered with Tipico to become the third Tipico internet sports betting partner in Colorado, in a 10-year sportsbook operations agreement.
GAN Limited has launched its first simulated sports betting product for Jack Entertainment in Ohio (Cleveland casino at left), in advance of expected legislation to regulate sports betting.
BetMGM, in an expanded deal with Betgenius, is launching Parlay Builder, a same-game-parlay product for U.S. sports including NFL, NBA and all major soccer leagues.
A committee of the Pennsylvania state House heard testimony at a public hearing on the legalization of so-called “skill games” (l.) and an expansion of the video gaming terminal market.
Faced with a devastating loss of funding for the horse racing industry, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission would like the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision that historic horse racing games (l.) are not parimutuel events, but casino gaming. If the decision stands, it could decimate a $3.4 billion industry.
Colorado’s three casino towns—Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek (l.)—are seeking to gain the autonomy to decide betting limits and what games are allowed to operate with their jurisdictions. Amendment 77, if passed by state voters, would give them that local control.
If voters in Portsmouth, Virginia approve a casino resort, developer Rush Street Gaming could change the timeline for building the hotel phase of the project, if voters in Norfolk—just seven miles away—approve the Pamunkey Indian Tribe's proposed $500 million casino resort (l.) there. However, under state law, the tribe has the right to cut back their investment to $300 million.
Coming on the heels of a major investment in the company by media giant IAC, Corey Sanders (l.), CFO of the Las Vegas-based resort operator MGM Resorts, said the ability to sell the new debt “demonstrates confidence” in the company’s “long-term business outlook.”
Las Vegas’s Cosmopolitan casino has deployed metal detectors and will filter access to its casino on weekends. This is in reaction to recent violence on the Strip.
Caesars Entertainment will return live shows to its Strip properties beginning with the X Country adult revue at the Harrah’s Cabaret on October 22. Producers for the show, “Absinthe,” hope the preparations they instituted to meet the Covid-19 restrictions will be met with approval from Nevada reviewers. If so, the production can resume on October 28 at Caesars Palace.
Harrah’s Kansas City Hotel & Casino (l.) in North Kansas City, Missouri recently asked the city to forgive its rent for the land the casino sits on for the months when it was forced to close its doors. The answer was no.
Las Vegas will host the 2023 men’s regional basketball games in 2023 and the Frozen Four in 2026 at T-Mobile Arena (l.), part of a number of events the NCAA has selected to be hosted in Nevada. MGM Resorts International, UNLV, Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have taken part on the application process.
A mid-September report on exposure to Covid-19 in greater Las Vegas was obtained through a records request pinpointed specific businesses and the number if coronavirus positive test results. Health officials indicated such information may do more harm than good, will no longer compile reports for the public.
Though construction is already underway, Hard Rock casinos is fighting court battles over land ownership for its $300 million Gary casino project (l.). Many of the battles are over small land parcels needed by the casino for staging and construction. Owners of the parcels are accusing the casino company of literally bulldozing property they don’t own.
Hollywood Casino of Baton Rouge (l.) is planning a 38,000-square-foot addition as it moves its gaming facilities to a land lot which will total 100,000 square feet. The expansion includes an entertainment venue, a sports bar and a scenic overlook of the Mississippi River.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has created a new Division of Community Affairs. Executive Director Karen Wells (l.) said the division replaces the old ombudsman’s office and takes on some new functions as well.
Mohegan Gaming has received initial approval to operate casino space in Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (l.), marking the Connecticut Mohegan tribes first venture in the city. If the tribe receives final approval, it will be the first Native American gaming enterprise to operate a casino within the Las Vegas Strip.
Caesars Entertainment will begin charging sell-parking fees for all of its casinos located on the Strip starting October 31. The funds raised will—at first—be donated to pandemic aid relief.
Washington’s commercial casinos are singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” to Governor Jay Inslee. Eric Persson (l.) of Maverick Gaming is asking that commercial casinos and card rooms be allowed to move their operations indoors, just like tribal casinos have.
The first Atari Hotels, developed by GSD Group and Gensler, will open in Las Vegas and Phoenix," blending the past, present, and future of video games and entertainment for a destination that offers guests a one-of-a-kind hospitality experience, complete with state of the art amenities for esports fans and content creators." Future Atari Hotels are planned for Austin, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.
The West Hall expansion (l.) of the Las Vegas Convention Center should be completed by mid-December though the first show won’t set up until sometime in February. Meanwhile Elon Musk wants to expand the people mover beyond the convention center to the Strip, downtown and Allegiant Stadium.
Ohio’s casino and racino industry saw its third consecutive month of record gambling revenue in September following state-ordered closings for the Covid-19 pandemic. MGM Northfield (l.) led the pack with almost $20 million in GGR.
The tiny town of Jean has approved plans for a new hotel and retail project proposed by the Herbst family. The hotel will be built on the site of the former Nevada Landing (l.).
Wells Fargo Bank has announced a settlement with the Chukchansi Tribe of California. The bank had sued the tribe over what it claimed was mishandling of funds related to a refinanced loan to help fund the Chukchansi Gold Casino and Resort (l.).
Based in a trailer, the Wyandotte Tribe opened the Crosswinds Casino in Sedgwick County, Kansas, offering Class 2 electronic bingo gambling. The tribe plans to open a larger facility with a hotel opening early next year, unless the state of Kansas succeeds in its federal lawsuit that could shut it down.
An Oregon tribe has announced it plans to apply to put land in Wood Village into trust for a casino. The land formerly hosted the Multnomah Greyhound Park (l.).
Max B. Osceola Jr., 70, died of Covid-19 in Weston, Florida. He served on the tribal council of the Seminole Tribe of Florida as the Hollywood Seminole Reservation from 1985 through 2010, elected and re-elected to 13 consecutive 2-year terms. He served on the Seminole Tribal Council as the tribe expanded its gaming operations.
Bulletproof, a GLI company, announced a partnership with Missing Link Technologies Ltd. to form a new analytics and artificial intelligence practice for the lottery industry.
