Ashes to Ashes?

Casino workers in Macau say their employers are not obeying the government’s new ban on smoking in public gaming areas. Instead, the casinos are redesignating high-limit mass-market tables as...

Published November 3, 2014

Japan, S. Korea in Berjaya’s Sights

Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan (l.) isn’t getting the casino he wants in his home country, so he’s looking abroad, and in a big way, to possible gaming resorts on...

Published November 3, 2014

Analysts: More Casinos Coming to South Korea

A new report by investment bank Standard Chartered says South Korea will authorize as many as three more resort casinos for a special economic zone around Incheon International Airport....

Published November 3, 2014

Nepal Closures Rankle Hoteliers

Nepal’s leading hotel operators want the government to move fast to resolve tax disputes with the Himalayan state’s casinos. The industry was shut down earlier this year over unpaid...

Published November 3, 2014

New Tax, Entrance Fee Loom in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa (l.) likes casinos, but his political opposition and the island nation’s influential Buddhist leaders don’t. He’s pitching a higher tax rate and an entrance...

Published November 3, 2014

Caesars Has Big Eyes for Manila

Caesars Entertainment has shaken up the Philippines with plans to invest $1 billion in a resort casino at Manila’s international airport (l.). It would mean a sixth major gaming...

Published October 27 2014

Paris Coming to Macau Next Year

Sands China followed up a strong third-quarter performance with news that its $2.7 billion Parisian Macao on Cotai could open, in part, before the end of 2015. Good news...

Published October 27 2014

Jeju’s Governor: Not So Fast

Chinese tourists love South Korea’s Jeju island—maybe too much, says the island’s governor, Won Hee-ryong (l.). Plans are to put the brakes on “reckless development,” and new casino projects...

Published October 27 2014

Labor Pains in Macau

Massive growth in the Chinese casino hub is colliding head-on with an acute labor shortage, and the result is that operators ’costs are soaring. New research by Morgan Stanley...

Published October 27 2014

Vietnam OKs Island Casino

Vietnam’s largest island, Phu Quoc, is developing rapidly, and the government says a resort-scale casino is just the thing to keep the momentum going. With upwards of 3 million...

Published October 27 2014

Myanmar Considers Legalization

Myanmar’s new civilian rulers are pushing foreign tourism to help the Southeast Asian nation’s development economically, and casinos are now seen as an important tool in that effort. A...

Published October 27 2014

Golden Week Fails to Glitter

Macau welcomed more than 900,000 visitors during the popular Golden Week holiday, a new record. But that didn’t translate into gaming revenue, which analysts say fell steeply in comparison...

Published October 20, 2014

More Macau Smoking Rooms Come on Line

Seventeen of the city’s 35 casinos now have airport-style smoking lounges in place to comply with a new prohibition on smoking in public gaming areas. Eleven more have applied...

Published October 20, 2014

Macau Smoking Ban Takes Hold

Smoking is now prohibited in the public gaming areas of the largest casino market in the world under rules that took effect last week in a much stricter manner...

Published October 13, 2014

Casinos Proposed for Vietnam Islands

Investors and local officials say resort casinos have an important role to play in the development of several of Vietnam’s offshore islands, including the largest, Phu Quoc in the...

Published October 13, 2014

Macau Dealers Catch Blue Flu

Labor groups in Macau turned up the volume on public protests by casino dealers and other front-line workers for better pay and benefits, calling sickouts and slowdowns during the...

Published October 13, 2014

Royal Caribbean Wants Vietnam Casino Ban Lifted

Royal Caribbean Vice President John Tercek recently asked Vietnam's Tourism Minister Hoang Tuan Anh to ask the prime minister to end a 20-year ban on allowing casinos on foreign...

Published October 13, 2014

Pachinko Operator Niraku Planning IPO

Pachinko parlor operators Niraku Corporation of Japan announced it hopes to raise $100 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong next year. Founded in 1950, Niraku operates...

Published October 13, 2014

Wynn Sues For Macau Slander

Hedge fund operator James Chanos (l), the short-seller known for foreseeing the collapse of Enron, is being sued by Steve Wynn. Chanos suggested to a journalism conference last April...

Published October 13, 2014

Japan: Closing In on Casino Bill

A leader of the coalition backing casino legalization in Japan’s Diet says he expects it will pass during the current fall session. But Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe (l.) is...

Published October 6, 2014