Macau to establish as a retail destination
To give luxury shoppers distinctive products that are not easily obtained somewhere else is the goal in an established Singapore retail market. The challenge in Macau is just to establish it as a retail destination, on the other hand.
Asia retailing operations, there will be around 50 more shops opening in September at the Marina Bay Sands casino resort in Singapore, according to David Sylvester, Senior Vice President of Las Vegas Sands Corporations’ (LVS). Marina Bay Sands will be home to over 150 stores, with the addition of the new stores, including Dior and Hermes outlets. Engendering estimated annual sales of over S$1 billion dollars, Marina Bay Sands will house about 300 restaurants and stores when totally operational. Of the mall capacity, they currently have contracts to occupy about 95%.
LVS was granted a tender from the Singapore government to construct an integrated resort, back in 2006. The initial segment of Marina Bay Sands opened, on April 27. The resort will include a mall, convention center, 2,560 hotel rooms, a theater, a casino for casino games, and the SkyPark, when completed.
The U.S. $4 billion dollar casino still has a target opening date for the third quarter of 2011, despite difficulty obtaining consistent construction labor. The Sands China Ltd.'s (1928.HK) delayed expansion project in Macau's Cotai area will be advertised to retailers, in just a few weeks. Of the Cotai expansion, sites 5 and 6 will be mid-range.
During the financial crisis, even though many retail shops suffered, most of the retail contracts at the Venetian million-square -foot mall have been renewed and sales are steadily improving.
Mattern Third in Bid for Second EPT Title: EPT Tallinn
French Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern’s bid to become the first player with two EPT titles was derailed by a massive suck out in Tallinn Monday night.
Mattern had a previous shot at becoming the first two-time EPT title holder at a final table in Warsaw back in 2008 and won EPT Prague in 2007, ended EPT Tallinn in third after he got it in with queens against Kevin Stani's threes only to see a three come on the turn.
To book the €400,000 win in the EPT's kickoff to its seventh season, a Norwegian PokerStars qualifier, Stani went on to beat Moscow student Konstantin Bilyauer.
Making the biggest poker tournament ever held in Estonia, a total of 420 players dropped the €4,250 buy-in to play PokerStars EPT Tallinn.
A 27-year-old business management graduate, Stani won his seat in a $530 online satellite on PokerStars just days before the event began.
He said, “I was playing cash games online and just randomly saw the satellite advertised in the PokerStars lobby. I wanted to come here anyway so I thought I'd play it. It feels awesome to win. I've been through some tough times which have made it hard to focus... made it hard to play... but I stayed with poker and told myself things are going to get better. I'm glad I did."
In this year's WSOP Main Event for $57,000 was his previous best live result.
No player has two EPT Main Event wins, while players like Jason Mercier and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier have won EPT Main Event and High Roller titles.
Mattern had to settle for the €160,000 third-place prize in Tallinn. He has over $1.7 million in career tournament earnings.
In the tournament taking 26th place for € 8,000, Fellow Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano also achieved record-breaking 15th cash.
Next up for the EPT is a stop in Vilamoura, Portugal Aug. 28- Sept. 2.
$1.7 M Slot Jackpot for Toronto Man: Slot Machines
One man was very happy when Casino Rama handed him a $1.7 Million dollar check. After playing a 14 Mega Bucks Progressive slot machine for only a short period of time, the forty some year old man who asked not to be identified won the million plus jackpot. Since he had had come close to winning at two other gaming sites in Ontario on two previous occasions, he remarked that he always felt he was meant to be a winner. A mere $20 bill was the play cost for him.
President and CEO of the casino, Harry Oshanski, expressed his thrill to have another large slot jackpot winner. According to Oshanski, since the Mega Bucks jackpot had been introduced, this was the fifth time it had been won. The amounts of $9M, $1.2M, $2.1M, and $1.8M were the other wins.
In 2001, Mega Bucks was introduced in Ontario. It can be played at ten other different casinos including OLG Casino Thunder Bay, besides at Casino Rama, Niagara Fallsview, OLG Slots Georgian, Casino Windsor, OLG Slots Woodbine, Casino Niagara, Casino Sault Ste. Marie, OLG Casino Thousand Islands, Casino Rama, OLG Casino Brantford and OLG Casino Point Edward. At $1 million starts the Mega Bucks jackpot and it continues to climb until a customer makes the winning combination.
In 1996, Casino Rama opened and it offers more than 110 gaming tables, over 2500 slot machines, 10 restaurants, a full service hotel and a 5000 seat entertainment center. Penn National Gaming, Inc operated Casino Rama.
Ontario bets on Online Gambling
With hopes of creating an additional revenue stream, the government in Ontario has decided to try their luck in the business of online gaming, casino table games and online casino games. To allow Ontario residents to gamble from the convenience of their own home or personal laptop, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced that the government is spending 18 months to develop a system. In early 2012, the program will be launch.
Lottery games such as, lottery tickets via the Internet and e-instant tickets will be included as possible games. The website is also expected to have assorted poker games with the house (government) banking the table games and extensive casino games technology such as typical table games such as blackjack.
For this ambitious project, the administrator will be the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. A prominent role in the website will be taken by Poker (player against player). Off of the rake (percentage of the main pot goes to the house), poker games will make money.
Ontario residents are sending over 400 million dollars out of the country gambling on the Internet as shown by a recently taken Canadian study. The new Internet website will bring over 100 million dollars to the government in its first full year of operation as estimated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
At this time in Ontario, it is estimated that there are 400,000 to 500,000 internet accounts that are being used. This would mean several open accounts have been held by many players. There will be self regulation by players that will set their maximum limits is what is said by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
Slot Machines: International Gaming Technology’s Shows 52% Profit Increase
Slot-machine maker International Gaming Technology, slowed by the continuing recession, did have some good news for Wall Street today. The slot machine manufacturer showed a 52% profit increase in the their fiscal third quarter. The profit was attributed to tax gains.
Although International Gaming Technology's did show an impressive profit, shares fell 1.2% to $16.50 in after hours trading. So far this year, IGT stock has fallen eleven percent, as Wall Street investors have been disappointed with the stocks performance.
Chief Executive Patti Hart, said the third quarter profits "reflect meaningful progress at IGT." Goldman Sachs is not as optimistic when it comes to the slot industry and online slot machine games. Goldman Sachs analysts have gone on record saying they do not expect a full recovery until 2012.
Revenue from gaming operations, in which IGT leases the machines and shares in the profits, is down 3.5% and revenue from outright machine sales is down 7.6%. IGT relies on gaming revenue heavily from the leased machines. Their total revenue from their leasing agreements is 56% of their total sales.
IGT total reported profit was $92.1 million, 31 cents a share, which is up from $60.6 million, or 20 cents a share over last years reported profit.
Massachusetts Gambling Bill update – Gambling
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center investigated one of the projects, the Massachusetts gambling bill. Using funds received from national and state programs, the University investigates economic, social and other political developments.
In the Massachusetts house, they were responsible for promoting the gambling bill that would expand gambling in the state of Massachusetts.
The University of Massachusetts has a separate group for the program, called The Center for Policy Analysis, which is also paid for by the public. By using their students to work in programs, they like to translate their research into actual laws. They call these programs as applying research into actual existing programs.
For the University of Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts seems to work. Of all the bizarre things, he is extremely influenced by their proposals and investigations. He threatened the House and the Senate of Massachusetts that he would veto any bill that he didn't like and told them that they needed to send him a bill that would expand gambling in Massachusetts. The University of Massachusetts’, the Center for Policy Analysis has influenced him.
Coming from Governor Patrick of Massachusetts, the following is the latest warnings reported on the Internet:
"As they work through their differences, they also know they're going to have to either get something to me that can support or they're going to have to send something to me with a veto proof margin. Now, we're not at the point of threatening veto because they're not at the point of agreement."
The stalemate in the House and Senate of Massachusetts was referred by Governor Patrick.
Slot Machines – Demand for slots drops in Northeast
Northeast states’ demand for slot machines has dropped and many of the Casinos are reducing the number of slot machines on their casino floors.
Due to the slumping economy, and the demand for the offline & online slot machines, some casinos have reduced their inventory by 9% in the last 12 months. This is especially true for the casinos in Atlantic City. They have reduced their inventory 20% since 2005. This is when they had reached their peak of slot machines 42,000. Now in all 11 casinos in Atlantic City, they are down to 29,000.
In the States of Delaware, Rhode Island, West Virginia, New York and Connecticut, demand for slot machines has also dropped. Pennsylvania, Maine and Florida have seen an increase of their slot machine inventory on their Casino floors.
It is a common practice that casinos replace older slot machines with newer ones. However, some of the casinos are finding that since the demand for slot machines has dropped, it has affected their win per day drop, which is usually $230 to $240 win per day. When these industry-wide averages slip below these levels it creates too many capacities. Therefore, they cannot afford to add to their inventory, but instead they replace the older slot machines with newer ones.
The Demand for slot machine drops over the last year, has really taken a toll on the Casino industry. This is another sign of our economic slump. The most that some Casinos can do in this situation is just simply continue removing the older slot machines and not replace them at all.
Avenue Capital takes over Trump Entertainment Resorts: Casinos
On Wednesday, Avenue Capital Management was given the approval by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, to own Trump Entertainment Resorts over a bid by investor Carl Icahn, who has filed an appeal against the decision. The bankruptcy reorganization of the company, which was formerly owned by Trump, was also approved by the New Jersey commission.
Buying distressed companies, turning them around and absorbing the profit is what Avenue Capital Management is well known. At least five years ago, they had planned to own the Entertainment Resorts and in equity, they are expecting a huge increase.
A majority ownership of 21.7 percent by Avenue Capital Management is included in the structure of the new ownership with Trump retaining 10 percent. 80 percent debt of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings are expected to be cut, from 1.8 Billion to 334 Million. Trump will remain “as involved as he wants to be”, stated a hopeful, CEO of Avenue Capital, Marc Lasry. Trump says he will remain as involved as allowed by his schedule.
Lasry has said that prior efforts from Avenue Capital will be made to sell one portion of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Trump Marina. He says that closing it is not a suitable option. If they are unable to find a buyer, they are ready to make additional investments, renovate and keep it. Trump Entertainment Resorts also owns Trump Plaza Hotel Casino and Trump Taj Mahal Casino, besides Trump Marina.
New York still trying to put 4,500 slots at Aqueduct
Of three gambling companies that submitted bids on June 29th for the franchise rights to operate slot machines at the Aqueduct racetrack, two have been disqualified. The remaining company with an active bid, Genting New York, is a subsidiary of Genting Group of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The New York Lottery disqualified two bidders, Penn National Gaming and a combined proposal by SL Green Realty Corporation, Hard Rock Cafe International and Clairvest Group, because their proposals failed to comply with the terms of the bidding process. The Lottery said that both parties submitted “altered versions” that sought to rewrite the conditions set by the state in an effort to negotiate more favorable terms for their companies.
Penn National Gaming, for example, wanted to be able to terminate its lottery license after four consecutive unprofitable quarters. SL Green sought to sidestep the upfront licensing fee of $300 million by placing it in an escrow account until the state met certain of its conditions.
The New York Lottery will make a recommendation to Governor David A. Paterson and the New York State Legislature on August 3rd.
In 2001, the New York State Legislature approved the installation of 4,500 electronic slot machines, one of the most popular casino table games, at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Since 2001, New York has tried four times to choose a gambling operator for the Aqueduct “racino” project. A racino is a location featuring both a casino and a race track.
Gambling: Ohio set to install 17,500 Video Slots at race tracks
Ohio residents who frequent one of seven horse tracks supervised by the state's Lottery Commission will soon have a new way to spend their money: feeding the one-armed bandit. Plans to install more than 17,000 video slot machines at the tracks can move forward now that the last of the legal challenges has been dropped.
Ballot issue PAC LetOhioVote.org previously succeeded in collecting enough signatures to force a referendum on the November ballot, challenging the government's plan to install the slot machines, but on Monday the group reversed course and requested that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner remove the referendum. A threat by Governor Ted Strickland to seek court relief and last year's passage of a constitutional amendment legalizing gambling in the state were cited as reasons for the group's actions.
The fight may not be over though, as a question still remains whether the Ohio Lottery Commission has the constitutional authority to operate video slot machines. According to a letter written to Brunner by LetOhioVote member Tom Brinkman, the group recognizes their best hope to stop the slots resides in the court system.
"We successfully defended Ohioans' referendum rights with our victory in the Ohio Supreme Court last year, and then the voters approved a casino gambling amendment," he wrote. "With our primary goals accomplished, it seems imprudent to proceed with a campaign that can be easily rendered moot by a court decision or new legislation authorizing" slots."