It’s only been a month, and we have a long road ahead of us By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • April 11, 2020 It was a mid-March afternoon – Friday the 13th, as fate would have it – when gaming regulators closed Illinois’ 10 riverboat casinos, making it the first state to order a shutdown due to the spreading COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Illinois soon wouldn’t be alone. The next 48 hours developed into a vortex as more than a dozen states followed Illinois’ lead. I exchanged text messages throughout … [Read more...]
On the lighter side: a quick trip to the Fair Grounds By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • April 9, 2020 In this time of world crisis, it hardly seems my place to say anything more about the trials and tribulations of our society. So I thought this time, instead, I’d simply share a light, hopefully enjoyable story about another one of our sojourns. Our friendly band of handicappers usually numbered anywhere between 3 and 10, depending on the destination and time of year. For this particular trip, we … [Read more...]
Is it time to create a new in-house health care system for mega-resorts? By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • April 8, 2020 You would have liked Dr. Joseph Fink. I suppose just about everyone did. The good doctor, locally famous as the house physician at Caesars Palace, died in December 2011 after nearly 50 years as a Las Vegas resident. Fink was smart and funny, and did he ever make “house calls.” The fact he made those calls at what was then the grandest hotel-casino this side of Monte Carlo only made his duty … [Read more...]
‘Open for Business?’ Don’t expect busy gaming floors when the casino industry restarts By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • April 7, 2020 Even if the gaming industry were to receive the all-clear tomorrow to reopen casinos and resorts closed by the coronavirus pandemic, there wouldn’t be throngs of customers waiting at the entrances. The cloud of COVID-19 will be hovering above the surface. It may remain that way well into the summer months. While professional sports leagues are debating restarting their suspended seasons … [Read more...]
If you have to bet on ‘Tiger King,’ you have a gambling problem By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • April 4, 2020 The expansion of regulated sports betting in the U.S. over the past two years was considered a knife through the heart of the multi-billion-dollar illegal sports betting market. But the closure of the nation’s casino industry in an effort to slow the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has given the illegal offshore betting markets new life. Closed casinos also led to silenced retail … [Read more...]
Baffert speaks and beleaguered thoroughbred industry should listen By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • April 1, 2020 Bob Baffert knows all about high stakes. And the stakes couldn’t be higher in his beloved thoroughbred racing industry these days. The trainer famous for his Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify and a long list of other major victories are easy to find on race day. He’s the man with the shock of white hair standing in the winner’s circle. Now he’s standing up for federal reform … [Read more...]
‘Unprecedented’ Las Vegas Strip casino closure is one for the history books By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 31, 2020 Historians don’t like to use the word unprecedented. “We try to avoid it,” said Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has authored several books on the gaming capital, including 2005's Las Vegas: A Centennial History. However, Green has found himself forced to use the usually verboten term in the past few weeks. The shutdown of the Las Vegas Strip … [Read more...]
UK gambling must respond positively to coronavirus crisis By Jake Pollard, CDC Gaming Reports • March 31, 2020 Jake Pollard is an experienced freelance gaming journalist. He is based in London, UK, and covers all business and regulatory topics relevant to online gaming and betting companies. The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a series of events on the gambling industry that no one could have foreseen as recently as three weeks ago. In the UK, it is easy to forget that as we approached mid-March, … [Read more...]
Drawing the curtain on Black Friday By Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, CDC Gaming Reports • March 31, 2020 Last week saw the culmination of a ten-year campaign by the U.S. justice system to bring Isai Scheinberg, the founder of Internet-gambling giant PokerStars, before a federal court. Scheinberg was already in Europe when the U.S. government turned out the lights on three major online poker operators that continued to run ostensibly above-board businesses despite various legislation challenging … [Read more...]
Is proxy gambling ready for a comeback? By Andrew Klebanow, Klebanow Consulting • March 31, 2020 In May 2016, Macau’s gaming regulatory body, known as the DICJ, banned the use of mobile phones by players sitting at gaming tables in the city’s casinos. The ban’s intent was to put an end to proxy gambling, a form of wagering that allows punters to enjoy casino gaming without actually being present in the casino. Prior to that ban, it was estimated that proxy gambling accounted for nearly 10% of … [Read more...]
Finally, gaming has a seat at the table By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • March 31, 2020 It took a crisis of epic proportions, but gaming’s inclusion in last week’s Covid-19 relief package indicates that the industry has finally achieved full citizenship in the national business state. For most of its history, gaming has been viewed as something of a pariah or an untouchable - except, of course, by the tax collectors. Even as various gaming options have been legalized, it seemed to be … [Read more...]
The ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ Problem Explained By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • March 31, 2020 In the last issue of The Tottenham Report, I discussed how little many of us understand numbers and to demonstrate this, I posed a probability problem and promised to explain the counterintuitive answer in this issue. To recap. You are on the TV game show, “Let’s Make A Deal.” You’re given three doors to choose from. Behind two of the doors are goats and behind one of the doors is … [Read more...]
Thoughts about COVID-19 and its impact on the industry By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • March 31, 2020 Most of Europe is in lockdown. The whole United States will probably follow suit in the next few days or so, as the virus spreads across the country and its devastating impact becomes widely known. There is about a month’s lag between infection and death, less if health services are overwhelmed. It must be remembered that the picture that the number of dead paints was painted three or four weeks … [Read more...]
Applying for an online gambling licence in the Netherlands By Lisette den Butter and Tessa van den Ende, Bird & Bird's Commercial Group • March 31, 2020 The Remote Gambling Decree, the extended cooling-off period and the decision not to ban advertising for online gambling. Recently, the Remote Gambling Decree was submitted to the Dutch Parliament, accompanied by two letters answering questions raised in the previous parliamentary debates relating to the plans to extend the cooling-off period by six months and to ban advertisements for (online) … [Read more...]
Tilman Fertitta’s ‘Texas Monthly’ interview: Straight talk or Texas-style bluster? By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 28, 2020 Tilman Fertitta has turned himself into a brand as the uber-successful Texas billionaire. His ownership of five Golden Nugget casinos, the NBA’s Houston Rockets; countless restaurant chains, and Kemah Boardwalk, led to his CNBC reality television series as the “Billionaire Buyer,” where he advises small businesses. He is plain-speaking, blunt, and you always know where he stands. That is, … [Read more...]
Responsible gaming in a time of coronavirus By Alan Feldman, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • March 26, 2020 The online gambling industry has developed around the world and provided customers an enjoyable form of entertainment. As with almost any activity, so long as the product is used in appropriate moderation, it causes no harm and provides the benefits of any number of forms of leisure activities. In normal operations, operators should be keeping a watch for players playing for excessive amounts of … [Read more...]
Offering a ‘luxury quarantine package’ would send precisely the wrong message By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • March 25, 2020 If ever there was a wrong way to promote a hotel stay in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a luxury quarantine package including a $500 coronavirus test provides the definition. As first reported by Bloomberg, USA Today and The Washington Post, Le Bijou Hotel & Resort in Zurich, Switzerland is advertising “quarantine apartments” on its COVID-19 service page. The 14-day package … [Read more...]
Could America see an expansion in online gaming as a result of the coronavirus shutdowns? By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 24, 2020 Once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the gaming industry begins what portends to be a slow recovery, we may finally start to hear serious discussions surrounding legalized online wagering. According to the American Gaming Association, 973 casinos – commercial and tribal – are closed in some 40 states and are expected to stay that way well into April. Two states with legal online … [Read more...]
Looking for the end of a nightmare, and a ray of hope By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • March 22, 2020 Recently, we all woke up to find ourselves in a nightmare, the world changed beyond recognition. Things are shutting down all around us, on what seems like an hourly basis, and gaming is very much a part of the nightmare. As every person in the country now knows, official reactions to the coronavirus are happening too quickly to keep up with - or, really, to process. Take Atlantic City as an … [Read more...]
Coronavirus: Just one story topic dominated the headlines this week By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 21, 2020 At the 2005 Global Gaming Expo, just weeks after Hurricane Katrina wiped out the Mississippi Gulf Coast casino market, the-American Gaming Association CEO Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., described the devastation as “the worst disaster to ever hit our industry.” I went back to the Las Vegas Review-Journal newsroom and told my editor we needed to see the destruction for ourselves. Photographer John Locher … [Read more...]
Troubles in America, horse racing, and life By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • March 19, 2020 What’s happening today in America is, most probably, unlike anything most Americans have ever experienced. I won’t try and compare it with turn of the century epidemics, wars I’m too young to recall, or the Great Depression. I will only note that those were all terrible times for people around the globe, as well. But I must also note that America survived those tragedies - maybe not unscathed, but … [Read more...]
In Nevada: It took an arm twist, but gaming industry gets the message By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • March 18, 2020 Call it a coincidence if you’d like, but the timing of articles from major news outlets pointing out the fact Las Vegas Sands’ sparkling Strip casinos The Venetian and Palazzo were still open after other gaming giants had already shut their doors turned out to be as prescient as they were politically prickly. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News joined CDC Gaming Reports in reporting the … [Read more...]
Coronavirus does what 9/11 didn’t; U.S. casino industry is shut down By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 17, 2020 Many pundits and gaming industry observers have lately been comparing the coronavirus’s impact on the casino industry with the consequences the gaming community felt from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. They are not the same. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is worse. Far worse. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, airline traffic … [Read more...]
Do we really understand numbers? By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • March 17, 2020 In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought I would write about numbers. Most people think they understand numbers and how they work. As children, we are taught to add, subtract multiply and divide. Some go on to study more advanced mathematics, but as a whole, humans are not very good about understanding numbers. Certainly, we know that ten is double five and a piece of wood five … [Read more...]
COVID-19: Analysing its impact on the gambling sector By Richard Williams, Partner, Keystone Law • March 17, 2020 It’s difficult to write an article assessing the potential impact of COVID-19 on the gambling sector when international events are moving at such a rapid pace. Only last week, 251,684 race goers attended Cheltenham Festival for the National Hunt Festival. The Festival was a commercial success, though attendance was down by 5.5% from the record attendance in 2019. The risk of contracting … [Read more...]
Publisher’s Note: CDC Gaming Reports coronavirus coverage By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • March 16, 2020 On any normal weekend, the CDC Gaming Reports website gets 6,500 page views. Last weekend we had over 50,000 page views. Our daily newsletters are also seen dramatically increased open and click-through rates as well. We take no joy in this as the worldwide casino industry has been hit by one of the most serious disasters in recent years. It does, however, remind the entire CDC Gaming … [Read more...]
Fear, panic and confusion abound in the land By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • March 15, 2020 It has been difficult to think or talk about anything but the COVID-19 coronavirus lately. The stock market has been acting like a roller coaster on steroids; the Dow Jones index has been up and down by thousands of points from one day to the next. The Dow dropped 15 percent between March 4 and March 13. Gaming stocks have reflected this drop, except gaming stocks are down by 30 percent for the … [Read more...]
Black Book Blues: Meet ‘Company’ boss casinos didn’t want to keep By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • March 11, 2020 "One in an occasional series profiling a member of Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons, often referred to as "The Black Book." Las Vegas has been known for more than a generation as “The Ninth Island” to Hawaiians who love to vacation there. Islanders like to party and play in every casino, but they have a special attachment to the California Hotel downtown in a tradition that began in the … [Read more...]
No simple answers as coronavirus fears send gaming stocks on a wild ride By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 10, 2020 Analysts have all but given up trying to explain the past week’s gaming stock declines, which seem largely reflective of investor concern over possible repercussions from the Covid-19 coronavirus on the economy. How else do you rationalize International Game Technology, one of the industry’s three largest slot machine companies, with a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, watching its stock … [Read more...]
Hamilton’s entertaining memoir explores life as a Las Vegas comic’s wife By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • March 4, 2020 My career as a standup comic was mercifully brief. It consisted of participating in a celebrity roast in 2012 at the South Point Hotel and Casino showroom of legendary Las Vegas comedian Cork Proctor on the occasion of his 80th birthday and the publication of his hilarious memoir, My Mind is an Open Mouth. That’s right. I actually opened for Cork Proctor; the man affectionately dubbed “The Oral … [Read more...]
Gaming equipment providers can’t escape addressing coronavirus concerns By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • March 3, 2020 Everi Holdings CEO Mike Rumbolz said the company had not experienced “any discernable impact to date” from worldwide concerns surrounding COVID-19, the name now given to coronavirus. International Game Technology CEO Marco Sala, whose corporate headquarters are in Rome, a country that has seen more than 2,000 confirmed cases of the viral outbreak, couldn’t make the same claim. During … [Read more...]
2019, a mixed bag for the UK gambling industry By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • March 3, 2020 Once a year, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) publishes a report on the gambling activity and attitudes toward gambling of the adult population of Great Britain. The report is based on quarterly telephone and online surveys carried out the during the year. The 2019 report, which can be accessed here, contains both good news and bad news for the UK’s gambling industry. Let’s start with some of … [Read more...]
Dominating the market: a golden goose, or a false promise? By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • March 1, 2020 In September 2015, I was visiting my sister in Illinois. She had recently become a football fan via a sports pool among her friends, coworkers and some other family members. Every week, she eagerly filled out her entry and would then watch a game or two. Even though it was not generally part of our relationship, we watched that week’s Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and … [Read more...]
Mostly sunny: Las Vegas and Nevada shine in the national political spotlight By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • February 26, 2020 Chris Matthews played Vegas last week. Lester Holt did, too. During the Democratic Party presidential caucus in the Silver State, you couldn’t flip a TV channel or punch into a news website without journalists and commentators of every strip and station writing and talking about the political scene in Las Vegas and Nevada generally. The political world was fully focused on the state with a … [Read more...]
San Manuel’s $9M donation to UNLV furthers Indian gaming education and tribal presence By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • February 26, 2020 Minutes after I posted news of the $9 million donation to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas by California’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, a gaming insider texted me about the significance of the financial gift. “Classy move. Further unites the commercial and tribal sectors.” UNLV is interspersed with buildings and facilities connected to gaming industry donations. The positive … [Read more...]
Why change in the gaming industry should never surprise anyone By David Schwartz, CDC Gaming Reports • February 24, 2020 There has been a great deal of change in the news lately for the gaming world. After more than a decade as head of MGM Resorts, Jim Murren is stepping down. The Chinese coronavirus outbreak has sent Macau gaming revenues into a tailspin. On a happier note, a big brand name is returning to a Las Vegas casino, with the announcement that Hilton will be operating three hotels as part of the Genting … [Read more...]
A Texan who made Reno his home, and a better place in the process By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • February 23, 2020 Bob Cashell - former lieutenant governor of Nevada, mayor of Reno, president of the University of Nevada Board of Regents, chairman of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, casino owner, and involved community activist - died on February 11. Bob was from Texas, but you’re forgiven if you didn’t know that. He and his wife moved to Reno in 1964 and almost immediately plunged themselves into the life of … [Read more...]
The story of a casino vendor By Rick Mitchell, V.P. of Sales, Shreveport Communication Service • February 22, 2020 Publisher’s Note: Rick Mitchell of Shreveport, Louisiana submitted this commentary in response to Gaming: an economic driver beyond the bright lights by Bill Miller, President, American Gaming Association - JC On April 18, 1994 Harrah’s casino opened their doors in Shreveport, Louisiana. Weeks later, the Isle of Capri opened across the river in Bossier City. As the sales manager of a locally … [Read more...]
A hot time in Hot Springs, or on the road to real excitement By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • February 21, 2020 I wrote about racehorse names in my last article, but I sadly neglected to mention one of the most interesting horse names of all time, Pollard's Vision. Red Pollard was a jockey in the 1940's, probably most notable today for riding the great Seabiscuit. He was also, as it happens, blind in one eye. So, when owner David Moore bought a yearling in 2002 with vision in only one eye due to a birth … [Read more...]
Gaming: an economic driver beyond the bright lights By Bill Miller, President, American Gaming Association • February 19, 2020 To the candidates and their campaigns, let me be the first to welcome you to the gaming industry’s hometown and introduce you to an industry that’s more than bright neon lights. Wednesday's Democratic primary debate presented an opportunity for you to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the casino gaming industry, an economic juggernaut in Nevada and increasingly across the … [Read more...]
Unregulated slots do damage to the industry; AGEM and AGA call for a halt to the proliferation By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • February 19, 2020 In Missouri, gaming authorities estimate some 14,000 unregulated gambling machines are currently operating in the state - despite the simultaneous presence of some 19,000 regulated slot machines inside the Show-Me State's 13 licensed riverboat casinos. Missouri is not an outlier. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers were told roughly 40,000 unregulated slot machine-like games cost the state $95 … [Read more...]
MONEYVAL finds Cyprus’ AML efforts wanting By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • February 19, 2020 MONEYVAL, or more formally the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, is the monitoring entity of the Council of Europe that assesses compliance with the main international standards to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The Committee has issued a report based on its months-long visit to Cyprus. The purpose … [Read more...]
Germany’s new online gambling regime: a mixed bag with significant potential By Jeroen Laemers, Gaming in Holland • February 19, 2020 Recently, the sixteen German federal states agreed in principle on a treaty that will allow country-wide online gambling – including poker and virtual slots – in the future. The news created a veritable buzz at the recent ICE trade show, resulting in much excitement as well as a packed meeting on the topic of German gambling regulation. Industry associations, such as EGBA and DSWV, responded in a … [Read more...]
Flu Season and the Sugar Daddy By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • February 18, 2020 An animal virus somehow jumped to humans in China in December. It has since spread across the world. As of February 13, the number of coronavirus cases was approaching 60,000 worldwide, and the virus, now called Covid-19, has been responsible for more than 1300 deaths; roughly 6000 patients are reported to have recovered. There have been 41 cases reported in Europe, 18 in North America and 15 in … [Read more...]
Jim Murren: The leader the gaming industry needed By Geoff Freeman, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • February 16, 2020 It’s one thing to lead a company - it’s a different challenge to lead an industry. Jim Murren leaves a legacy of doing both extremely well. As CEO of the American Gaming Association, I had the opportunity to work side-by-side with Jim. Chairing an industry organization - as Jim did for four years - requires a different set of skills than company leadership. Chairmanship of an industry requires … [Read more...]
An ovation for Gary Platt, the man who helped casino customers take a seat By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • February 12, 2020 Pull up a chair and take a seat. There’s someone I want you to meet. His name is Gary Platt. He retired nine years ago at age 85 after working more than half a century in the casino business. By anyone’s measure, the 94-year-old has earned the right to relax. Platt began his career selling stacking chairs to California card clubs for L&B Manufacturing and T.R. King at a time the gambling … [Read more...]
Red Rock Resorts has survived worse catastrophes than the Palms fiasco By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • February 11, 2020 Red Rock Resorts will survive the massive cash drain the Palms Casino-Resort’s $690 million renovation had on the Las Vegas-based company’s bottom line. Still, the almost $34 million in one-time charges and payments the company was forced to make over the last few months of last year to shut down the debacle surrounding the appropriately named KAOS nightclub was a bitter pill for investors to … [Read more...]
From the Floor: What I loved, liked and disliked at ICE London 2020 By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • February 8, 2020 As I wait at London Heathrow Airport for my flight back home to Las Vegas (via Seattle) it’s time for my day-after major trade show tradition: what I liked, loved and disliked about the conference I just attended. There was a lot to love at this year’s ICE London 2020, especially ICE VOX the seminar program. Several other factors made the last week a very enjoyable experience. Love ICE … [Read more...]
Super Bowl snapshot from New Mexico: Sports betting making presence felt By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • February 5, 2020 SANTA FE, N.M. – Roaming through the Buffalo Thunder Resort Casino on Super Bowl Sunday, there was a moment I could tell I wasn’t in Las Vegas anymore. It wasn’t the size of the casino floor, a more than respectable 61,000 square feet filled with 1,200 slot machines, 18 table games, a poker room – and a new feature on the New Mexico gambling scene, a race and sports book. Nor was it the hotel … [Read more...]
Hawaii may be ready to say ‘aloha’ to legal sports betting By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • February 4, 2020 Legislatures in 14 states are considering proposals to legalize sports betting this year. That’s not surprising; fourteen other states currently offer regulated sports betting, and six more states, along with Washington D.C., have approved sports betting laws and are expected to launch sometime in 2020. More than $17 billion has been legally wagered on sports in the U.S. during the 20 months … [Read more...]
Listening to Brian Sandoval’s sage advice By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • February 2, 2020 There is almost always a disconnect between expertise and action, between the knower and the doer. The science of a thing is more advanced than the real-world aspect; the experts are rarely the practitioners, lawmakers or regulators. Gaming is no exception. Lawmakers and regulators are not, on the whole, well-versed in the operations of gaming. This gap can create serious problems for the … [Read more...]
What a remarkable run: Harrah’s Reno on its way out By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • January 29, 2020 RENO – Harrah’s Reno is still very much alive, but as I walk through it, I can’t help but feel the presence of ghosts. Not just the spirit of the property’s legendary namesake, so important to the development of the gaming industry and now more than four decades deceased. In the evolution of American gaming culture, Bill Harrah represented the appearance of Modern Casino Man. The name is … [Read more...]
‘Fear of failure’ drives developer as he looks to revive a shuttered Las Vegas Strip project By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • January 28, 2020 For more than a decade, the unfinished Fontainebleau was viewed as a hulking eyesore on the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip and a stark reminder of the Great Recession that crippled Southern Nevada’s tourism community. Steven Witkoff, however, only sees opportunity in the 67-story tower, which is now speckled with pockmarks where windowpanes from the bluish glass facade disappeared over … [Read more...]
It is the Year of the Rat, and the rat virus By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • January 26, 2020 Xi Nian Kuai Le: Happy New Year! It is Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat. This year, the celebration runs from January 25 through February 4. It is said to be the largest migration of people on the planet. Typically, hundreds of millions Chinese travel as part of the Spring Festival and the beginning of a new year; they visit relatives, eat traditional foods, give gifts and visit important … [Read more...]
Heads keep spinning as the NFL becomes Las Vegas’ biggest fan By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • January 22, 2020 Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Longtime locals can remember when the National Football League shunned Las Vegas at every turn. These days the league’s crush on the city borders on obsession. The celebrated list of connections between the league and Las Vegas continues to grow. In addition to the 2020 kickoff of the Las Vegas Raiders at a sparkling new, $2 billion stadium and the … [Read more...]
State lawmakers hear concerns about in-play sports betting from NCAA, pro leagues By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • January 21, 2020 SAN DIEGO – Naima Stevenson Starks offered up a slight smile when I asked her if the NCAA was no longer concerned about the nationwide expansion of legal sports betting. Of course the college sports governing organization, which spent years fighting an ultimately losing battle against New Jersey’s efforts to overturn the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act, wishes the activity would go … [Read more...]
Filling the shoes Bill Harrah wore By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • January 20, 2020 The unthinkable is happening: Harrah’s, a Reno icon and the heart of the downtown casino core, will close. Caesars Entertainment and VICI Properties announced the sale of Harrah’s Reno on January 15th, and the buyer, CAI Investments, plans to close the casino and the hotel and create a mixed used housing, office and retail complex on the site called Reno City Center. In a fitting tribute to the … [Read more...]
MGM Resort’s ‘asset-light’ strategy is good for the company, but what about other casino operators By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • January 15, 2020 Before the year is out, it’s possible MGM Resorts International won’t own any of the casinos the company operates in the U.S. Following 12 months of intense internal discussion and activity, culminating with Tuesday’s sale/leaseback of MGM Grand Las Vegas to a new real estate investment trust joint venture, MGM’s ownership portfolio includes MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, a 50% stake in the … [Read more...]
Even these experts can’t precisely describe the legalized sports betting galaxy By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • January 15, 2020 No matter how hard I try, I keep underestimating the ever-expanding universe of legalized sports betting in America. I need the ghost of Carl Sagan as my bookmaker just to discuss the “billions and billions” of dollars expected to be in play in the coming years as one jurisdiction after the next opens sports books. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of the 2018 repeal of the Professional and … [Read more...]
The UK Gambling Act 2005 — Fit for Purpose? By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • January 15, 2020 The UK Gambling Act 2005 has come under a lot of fire recently from politicians of all persuasions, as well as the UK press, which is not known for its restraint or reliance on facts. Opponents of gambling argue that the 2005 Gambling Act is too lenient, did not foresee the application of new technology and is therefore not fit for purpose and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has not been … [Read more...]
Perception is reality By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • January 15, 2020 How important is it to know exactly how your target market perceives your industry? We can all name any number of new casino projects in our respective jurisdictions which have failed miserably, and there are plenty of reasons why this can happen. Some of the more spectacular failures in the UK have involved companies from overseas investing gigantic amounts of money in larger sites — … [Read more...]
Sustainable luxury By Muhammad Cohen, Inside Asian Gaming • January 9, 2020 Casinos going green means much more than taking bets in US dollars. Integrated resorts, long regarded as bastions of extravagance, even profligacy, increasingly focus on environmental sustainability, commonly defined as meeting current needs without sacrificing the ability to meet similar needs in the future. Macau IR operators are perched at the leading edge of the sustainability … [Read more...]
Will the exercised clout of the Culinary Union be Nevada’s biggest political story? By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • January 8, 2020 You don’t have to search far to find what Culinary Union Local 226 is up to today in Nevada. The organized labor behemoth with its 60,000 members in the Silver State for months has been courted at every turn by Democratic Party presidential hopefuls. It continues to ratchet-up organizing pressure on locals gaming powerhouse Station Casinos, itself no bit political player. D Taylor, … [Read more...]
Mobile sports betting and retail sportsbooks both offer benefits, increased handle By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • January 7, 2020 Analysts have long credited mobile wagering with fueling Nevada’s sports betting market. Since 2010, the Silver State’s sportsbooks have seen an 81.5% increase in handle. The source for that analysis has, to this point, been largely anecdotal. Nevada gaming regulators have never tabulated how much sports bettors have wagered through a smartphone or a tablet PC, as compared to the money laid … [Read more...]
My crystal ball predictions for 2020: Is it clear, or is it cracked? By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • January 2, 2020 I don’t like to make predictions. I’ve never cashed a futures ticket on the World Series winner (betting on the Dodgers for the past 30 years wasn’t a wise move) and don’t get me started on my political forecasts. So why am I’m going to enlighten you with a few gaming industry prognostications for 2020? It’s sort of a sell-indulgent game so I can look back at the end of December and see if my … [Read more...]
2019: A Year in Review By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • January 2, 2020 A great deal happened in 2019 and trying to write about all of it is too big a task. But I have highlighted some of the events that took place, which should give a flavour of what happened in the past year. Mergers and Acquisitions In 2019, most major economies saw tepid growth, which led operators to look elsewhere for opportunities to increase revenues and profits. The big event of the year … [Read more...]
EU Commission investigates possible advantages for state-licensed casinos in Germany By Joerg Hofmann, Head of Gaming Law, Melchers Law Firm • January 2, 2020 The casino laws in Germany provide for a specific levy for the operation of state-licensed bricks-and mortar casinos, the so-called “Spielbankenabgabe”. With the payment of this casino levy, casinos do not have to pay various general taxes, including corporate, income, and trade taxes. That tax exemption has now been called into question by the EU Commission. On 9 December 2019, the Commission … [Read more...]
The year’s end – a glance back and a peek forward By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • December 29, 2019 December marks the end of the year, and every December, people are inspired to draw up lists of the most important events of the passing year. Last year in keeping with that trend, I drew up a list of significant events in gaming in 2018. I called it “A Wild and Crazy Year.” The column concluded with this statement: “Sports betting goes national, new casinos open up and down the East Coast, Steve … [Read more...]
DraftKings deal fuels competition in the growing U.S. sports betting market By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • December 29, 2019 In March, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins and William Hill US CEO Joe Asher engaged in a minor quarrel during the final panel of the American Gaming Association’s Sports Betting Executive Summit. The verbal exchange was somewhat entertaining. By the time Robins and Asher see each other at the AGA’s next summit, their companies will be battling for dominance over the growing U.S. sports betting … [Read more...]
What’s in a name? For thoroughbreds, a lot By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • December 29, 2019 I had always been fascinated by the names of thoroughbred racehorses. I thought a lot of them were cool, and many of their derivations very interesting. Even before I started in the business, I enjoyed the sound of the race callers excitedly announcing the names as the race progressed. But it was not until I owned one myself that I realized what the process for naming thoroughbreds actually … [Read more...]
Looking to Xi’s New Macau By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • December 22, 2019 The citizens of Hong Kong have been protesting for six months. They are objecting to a law that would give China more extradition powers over Hong Kong residents. The government withdrew the bill, but the demonstrations continued. The citizens are now demanding a more democratic process and a full investigation of police activities during the protests. Hong Kong is one of the Special … [Read more...]
Slot machine providers ‘not overly concerned’ about Oklahoma dispute By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • December 18, 2019 The war of words between Oklahoma’s Indian casino community and the state’s governor has caught the cursory interest of gaming equipment manufacturers. The companies, at least right now, believe the battle is just talk. They can’t imagine any disruption in the nation’s No. 2 Indian gaming state, which produces roughly 8% of total tribal casino revenue in the U.S. Oklahoma Governor Kevin … [Read more...]
Surveys and Research: Young People and Gambling in the UK By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • December 18, 2019 Earlier this year, the UK Gambling Commission published its annual report on Young People and Gambling, with young people defined as those between 11 and 16 years old. Despite the alarmist headlines there was much to be cheerful about. Although 11% said they had spent their own money gambling in the past 7 days, this was down from 14% in the previous year’s survey. However, included in these … [Read more...]
Sweden: the first year By Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, CDC Gaming Reports • December 18, 2019 A lot can happen in a year in this industry, and the anticipation that preceded the re-regulation of the Swedish market now feels like a lifetime ago, despite the re-regulation only just closing in on its first full 12 months. It was always going to be a bumpy ride, with prospective licensees concerned from the outset that they would be hamstrung by the might of the legacy monopoly operator … [Read more...]
Cyber Bowl Sunday and dialing in your bet By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • December 15, 2019 It’s becoming increasing evident how significant online and mobile gambling is becoming in the gaming industry. Atlantic City is the leading case study, due to the fact that online casino gambling and sports betting have been operational there longer than in any other state. But as Pennsylvania and Indiana gear up, the trend will become even more obvious. In Atlantic City, online gaming has … [Read more...]
Circa will add to Derek Stevens’ downtown Las Vegas empire By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • December 10, 2019 Derek Stevens owned a small percentage in the Rat Pack-era Riviera Hotel-Casino when I first became acquainted with him more than a decade ago. He was considered an “activist investor” at the time, a businessman out of Michigan who was sharply critical of the aging Riviera's management and direction. The property was then squarely in the midst of a financial nightmare. The Riviera, which has … [Read more...]
In the new world of legal sports betting, NFL clobbers an obscure cornerback By John L. Smith, The Nevada Independent • December 9, 2019 Until recently even avid NFL fans would have been hard-pressed to give you an in-depth read on Josh Shaw. Although in his fifth season in the league, the cornerback from USC hadn’t made much of an impression in the professional ranks. Selected in the fourth round by Cincinnati in the 2015 draft, he seldom started. He bounced from Cincinnati to Kansas City, and then on to Tampa Bay. This season … [Read more...]
California sports betting legislation needs a traffic cop By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • December 4, 2019 We’re learning the road to legal sports betting in California isn’t going to be an easy path. It’s looking, instead, more like trying to travel on Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles on a busy holiday weekend: a journey fraught with backups, potholes, and delays, leading to a slow, stop-and-go pace. Last month, 18 tribes California tribes said they were backing a ballot … [Read more...]
On the cusp of an election, the UK’s gaming industry braces for more change By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • December 4, 2019 The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its biannual report on the gambling industry in Great Britain. In the year which ended 31 March 2019, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag, with some sectors of the industry seeing growth, albeit fairly anaemic, and others seeing declines in revenue. Land-based casinos were the sector that was hardest hit, with year-on-year revenues declining from £1.18 … [Read more...]
Ameristar is waiting and watching, like Wynn By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • December 2, 2019 In my piece from November 15, Maddox and Wynn Resorts Know When to Hold’Em, I opined that Wynn Resorts was waiting for Las Vegas to stabilize after undergoing some dramatic changes in the casino marketplace. The changes include major expansions of convention facilities, two new mega-resorts, the remodeling and rebranding of some of the older casinos, new casinos owners on the Strip, and the … [Read more...]
William Hill has a large slice of the U.S. sports betting pie, but it’s learning to share By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • November 26, 2019 The late comedian Robin Williams had a hilarious routine about trying to avoid Starbucks, except that he couldn't, because there always seemed to be one on every street corner. Often times, two on every block. “Oh my God, there’s another!” Williams would scream. Lately, we’re starting to feel the same way about sportsbook operator William Hill US. The Las Vegas-based company, a … [Read more...]
When is an Indian casino an Indian casino? By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • November 21, 2019 Indian gaming is not easy to define these days, now that tribes are beginning to move into traditional commercial casino gaming. The legal definition of Indian gaming itself has not changed: Indian gaming is a gaming enterprise authorized by the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (NIGRA) and conducted under the conditions agreed upon by a tribe and state. In the 31 years since 1988, … [Read more...]
Gaming companies find support as debt and leverage reduction take center stage By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • November 20, 2019 Literally two minutes after MGM Resorts International announced Monday that it had closed the $4.25 billion sale and leaseback of the Bellagio, the company sent out a second press release stating it would redeem more than $1.878 billion in debt that is due over the next two years. A portion of the proceeds from the Bellagio deal went right to a reduction of the $15.1 billion in long-term debt … [Read more...]
Italy ‘s first move towards the regulation of remote gambling B2B operators By Valérie Peano, Attorney-at-Law, EGLA – European Gambling Lawyers & Advisors • November 20, 2019 The Italian Government has just issued the Fiscal Law Decree, which is intended to introduce new fiscal measures jointly with the Budget bill for 2020. Not surprisingly, fiscal measures on gambling have also been introduced. One of these has, however, attracted greater attention since it introduces compulsory registration into an official unique Register for all gambling operators active in … [Read more...]
Syndicates, algorithms, and beating the horses in Hong Kong By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • November 20, 2019 In news articles, we occasionally hear about betting syndicates making large bets on races and sporting events, along with accompanying expressions of concern that they bring corruption to sports. But is this true? Are syndicates a malign influence? Do they bring the risk that players will throw matches or that jockeys will pull a horse to make sure it loses? We need to be clear here that there … [Read more...]
Where’s Waldo? And Bernie? By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • November 16, 2019 This year’s Breeders Cup races are over. Only a few key races are still to be run this year. And yet many of this year's Eclipse Awards remain up for grabs, especially three-year-old of the year. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Storm The Court, who won that race at 49-1, was listed at 90-1 to win the 2020 Kentucky Derby in the betting futures before the Juvenile, but he’ll likely soon be among the … [Read more...]
Maddox and Wynn Resorts know when to hold ‘em By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • November 15, 2019 The Las Vegas Strip is among the most dynamic business districts in the world. On the Strip, nothing stands still for long; there, change is the rule. Sometimes it is driven by external factors, like the economy or prevailing trends in the entertainment world. But most of the time, the change is internally driven, as casino and resort operators seek new and creative ways to grow their market … [Read more...]
Harris first to make presidential pitch to gaming industry’s top labor group By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • November 12, 2019 The non-descript Culinary Workers Local 226 complex tucked into the aging “Naked City” area of downtown Las Vegas is front and center for Democratic presidential candidates to lay bare their platforms. It’s become a right-of-passage every four years for candidates to hold a town hall event inside the second-floor meeting hall. The local represents more than 60,000 non-gaming workers in casinos … [Read more...]
Standards, priorities, opportunities By David Clifton, Director, Clifton Davies Consultancy Ltd • November 8, 2019 It is no longer the case, but there was a time – more than ten years ago – when a number of fundamental questions were raised in relation to the standards of the gambling licensing and regulatory regime established in Malta in 2001, when the regulator was known as the Lotteries and Gaming Authority. Since that time, three successive CEOs of the regulatory body – rebranded in 2015 as the Malta … [Read more...]
Industry concerns: public perception, excessive regulation, and eSports By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • November 8, 2019 Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in an Ampersand Assembly, organised by Clarion Gaming, the behemoth behind ICE events and many other things. The idea behind such meetings is to bring together people from the gambling industry to discuss concerns and ideas that are affecting or could impact the industry. In this case, about 50 participants came from across Europe, including … [Read more...]
Full House stock takes a jump after CEO’s somewhat off-color remark By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • November 4, 2019 A well-placed f-bomb during a quarterly earnings conference call seemed to do the trick. Regional casino operator Full House Resorts doesn’t garner big headlines. The company has five casinos, none of which are located in major metropolitan markets. Full House stock, traded on the Nasdaq, has hovered below $3 a share for much of the year. The company averages roughly 72,000 shares traded on a … [Read more...]
Reno has an evolving identity, and a changing narrative By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • November 3, 2019 Reno has always been a city that was conflicted about its identity. Lately in the local press there have been columns and articles, each portraying a different picture of the city’s identity. The president of the local development agency, Mike Kazmierski, wrote in an opinion piece in the Gazette Journal on October 17 that “while the City of Reno has invested in downtown revitalization, and we … [Read more...]
‘Is it prudent?’ Las Vegas Sands has concern over Japan gaming investment By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • October 29, 2019 It appears Las Vegas Sands is not so bullish on the prospective casino market in Japan. The investment community doesn’t seem to mind the shift in strategy. On last week’s third quarter conference call with analysts, Las Vegas Sands President Rob Goldstein said the company is no longer sure investing in a Japan casino pencils out. The starting cost for one of the three integrated resorts the … [Read more...]
A dangerous idea married to dangerous technology By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • October 24, 2019 Forbes recently published an article on Facebook about its potential legal action against a relatively unknown company, The Spinner. According to Forbes, The Spinner has been using Facebook to make money. The Spinner’s technology targets individuals with the intent of changing their opinions and behavior. In the instance that offended Facebook, The Spinner’s customers were online gaming … [Read more...]
AI and Gambling By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • October 24, 2019 intelligence (n.): the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills artificial intelligence (n.): the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages Much has been made of developments in Artificial Intelligence … [Read more...]
Dutch online market to open in January 2021… but not for everybody By Willem van Oort, founder, Gaming in Spain and Gaming in Holland • October 24, 2019 After a long and arduous political process, the regulated Dutch online market is now set to open on January 1, 2021. There is, however, a catch. After a lengthy and torturous political process of almost ten years, the Dutch Remote Gaming Act was finally adopted by the country’s Senate in February of this year, having passed the Lower House in July 2016. The act will come into force on July 1, … [Read more...]
Don’t expect fireworks as Nevada gaming regulators seek to declare Steve Wynn ‘unsuitable’ By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • October 22, 2019 Almost assuredly, the Nevada Gaming Commission will soon hold a public hearing on the five-count complaint against Steve Wynn, in which the Gaming Control Board seeks to have one of the casino industry’s most iconic figures be formally declared unsuitable to ever again hold a state gaming license. Nevada law requires the hearing. It’s doubtful, however, that the 77-year-old Wynn, who was … [Read more...]
Publisher’s Commentary: What I loved, liked and disliked about G2E By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • October 18, 2019 I have attended over a dozen G2Es to this point, and the 2019 event was by far my favorite. This is the fourth year that CDC Gaming Reports brought out special "From the Floor" G2E issues. Thanks to Howard Stutz, Cory Roberts and Jim McGlasson our 2019 experience was smooth sailing editorially, operationally and financially. Our normally widely scattered writing team enjoyed working together, … [Read more...]
Illinois slot route operator about to gain financial strength in time for market expansion By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • October 15, 2019 Illinois caught the gaming industry’s attention in June when state lawmakers and the governor approved the nation’s largest gambling expansion to an existing market in more than a decade. The development also caught the interest of private equity giant TPG Capital. Through TPG Pace, the firm’s publicly traded acquisition company, the investment fund entered into a transaction agreement … [Read more...]
Danville and Its Dream By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • October 14, 2019 The expansion of casino gaming in Illinois is progressing at a measured pace. Chicago is still waiting for new legislation that reduces the taxes and fees for a casino in the city. But, there are bidders for the environs, including the Ho-Chunk Nation in Lynwood Village, Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Homewood and five separate entities pitching the city of Waukegan that lies 40 miles north of … [Read more...]
Casino hubs Macau, Las Vegas, use art to draw visitors from around the world By Cory Roberts, CDC Gaming Asia • October 10, 2019 With the five-month Art Macao event now drawing to a close, the Macau government has been quick to call it a success. The wide-ranging event saw 21 international art exhibitions, 6 outdoor art installations, 11 large-scale performances and 3 international youth festivals presented at more than 50 locations across the city. The gambling industry prominently participated in the event, helping to … [Read more...]
MGM Resorts makes right move in 1 October settlement By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • October 10, 2019 Credit MGM Resorts International for doing not only the smart thing, but also the right thing with its recent agreement to settle the potentially devastating litigation in the aftermath of the October 1 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. By now, the grim statistics have been burned into many memories: More than 1,000 bullets fired from nearly two-dozen assault-style weapons with bump … [Read more...]
October 31st is not just Halloween By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • October 10, 2019 “Brexit” is a word that everyone is fed up hearing, so I will keep this article as short as possible. As most of you are aware, I am sure, the UK could find itself outside of the EU as of the 31st of October, without any arrangement (deal) covering the terms of the UK´s withdrawal - the Benn Act notwithstanding. This outcome would have significant consequences for the land-based and online … [Read more...]
Empire building By Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, CDC Gaming Reports • October 10, 2019 Seventeen months ago, on 14 May 2018, the US Supreme Court struck down The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), opening up the US sports betting market. Back then, all eyes were on which of the major European players would swoop in and create the first transatlantic behemoth. Both William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral were occupied with stabilising their domestic UK businesses, … [Read more...]
Paragon’s Diana Bennett gives new life, and new amenities, to Hard Rock Lake Tahoe By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • October 8, 2019 STATELINE, Nevada – Purchasing the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe three years ago was both a professional and personal decision for Paragon Gaming Chairwoman Diana Bennett. Professional, because it gave the Las Vegas-based casino management company a foothold in the South Lake Tahoe casino market. After a prolonged gaming revenue decline for more than a decade, due to competition from … [Read more...]
Monsieur Gray Dog By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • October 5, 2019 I have written in the past about my first racehorse, Monsieur Leclercq, and the excitement I felt just owning a thoroughbred. I also shared the thrill I experienced watching our colt run his very first race. Earlier that year, Thunder Gulch had won the most prestigious race for three-year-olds in the country, the Kentucky Derby, whereas our three year old had not yet even run his first race, so … [Read more...]
Remembering colorful cab man Ray Chenoweth in an evolving Las Vegas taxi industry By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • October 3, 2019 The Nevada Taxicab Commission last week embarked on a bold set of changes in the McCarran International Airport-to-the-Las Vegas Strip ride fare structure. Setting fares in the tourist corridor makes sense at a time cab companies are losing riders to Uber and Lyft. While not an answer to every challenge facing the business, the new structure sounds like a good idea that’s pro-active and is sure … [Read more...]
New ownership gives older Reno-area hotel-casinos a fresh start By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • October 1, 2019 RENO – The Grand Sierra Resort and Nugget casinos offer a pair of case studies to the gaming industry on how new and dedicated ownership has given two time-tested Northern Nevada properties fresh beginnings. Consider the Grand Sierra. Southern California businessman Alex Meruelo, through his Meruelo Group, bought the property in 2011 for a reported $42 million. Today, after an investment … [Read more...]
Macau casino license expiration dilemma has new boss, old rules By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes • September 25, 2019 Macau gaming concession expiration remains the elephant in the room for the world’s casino capital. In Beijing earlier this month, Macau’s new Chief Executive-elect Ho Iat Seng paraded the elephant around the room and gave those worrying about the 2022 expiration, especially U.S. licensees Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts (via local subsidiaries), more to worry about. Beyond … [Read more...]
Ruffin, others stand ready to join Strip buying frenzy By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • September 25, 2019 Now that Caesars Entertainment has finally unloaded the Rio after more than 10 years on the sales block, the attention turns toward Circus Circus, MGM Resorts International’s slightly awkward, unloved stepchild. According to press reports, a suitor for the aging family-themed Strip hotel-casino has been found – billionaire businessman Phil Ruffin, who owns the TI and has a history with MGM … [Read more...]
Africa: Strong and stable By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • September 25, 2019 “Africa has become the big game of the nation hunters. Today, Africa looms as the greatest commercial, industrial and political prize in the world.” -- Marcus Garvey (1922) When looking for growth opportunities, online gambling companies do not have a lot to choose from. The US is one possibility, but it is starting to look overcrowded and it is difficult to see who the winners will ultimately … [Read more...]
New advertising restrictions looming as Spain’s online market matures By Willem van Oort, founder, Gaming in Spain and Gaming in Holland • September 25, 2019 The regulation of Spain’s online gambling market has been a great success. Since the regulation of online gaming began in the country, the Spanish regulator has issued around sixty general operator licenses. Since 2011, the regulated online market has grown from €200m in annual GGR to almost €800m, with double-digit growth percentages being the norm. However, this spectacular growth has come with … [Read more...]
Bail, Caesars? Asia loses if Vegas giant exits region By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes • September 23, 2019 Caesars Entertainment ended its pursuit of a Japan casino license last month amid a $17.8 billion takeover by Eldorado Resorts, a much smaller company with no international experience. Eldorado management has expressed skepticism about overseas ventures, leaving the fate of Caesars’ $700 million resort under construction in Korea uncertain. It’s up to Caesars and Eldorado management to decide if … [Read more...]
How many casinos are too many? By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • September 22, 2019 Recently, the Press of Atlantic City published an interview with Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City discussing his views on the Atlantic City casino market. In the interview Fertitta said Atlantic City was a seven-casino, not a nine-casino market. The comment was in reference to the addition of Hard Rock and Ocean Resort to the Boardwalk City in June 2018, raising the … [Read more...]
Same story, different day for MGM Resorts, until we hear from the board’s ad-hoc committee By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • September 17, 2019 Monday’s report that MGM Resorts International was considering a sale and leaseback of the Bellagio and MGM Grand Las Vegas to real estate conglomerate Blackstone Group was a little like the movie “Groundhog Day.” We keep waking up to the same news over and over again. At least this time, Bloomberg News attached a name to the speculated transaction. Blackstone’s proposed acquisition of … [Read more...]
Manes & Tails and Odds & Ends By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • September 14, 2019 Now that the summer racing season has ended with both Saratoga and Del Mar concluding their meets, the racing world turns its attention to the Breeders Cup World Championships weekend in November. Usually these Cup races go a long way in determining the Eclipse Award winners, given annually for the most outstanding horse in each of several categories: best 2 year old male and female, best turf … [Read more...]
The sports book goes to the game By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • September 12, 2019 Sports betting handle and win is becoming significant nationally. It has gone from a minor part of Nevada casino revenue to the fastest growing segment of the gaming industry. According to Legal Sports Report, since June 2018, $10 billion has been wagered on sports legally in the United States. Seven states contributed to that number: by the end of the year there will be at least eleven states … [Read more...]
Newest bill calling for federal sports betting oversight is DOA By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • September 11, 2019 The Miami Dolphins stand a better chance of winning a game this season than the latest bill establishing federal guidelines for sports wagering does of getting through both houses of Congress. Yes, win a game, not just cover the weekly double-digit underdog point spread oddsmakers will likely place on the Dolphins all season. Last week, Gambling Compliance reported that a new piece of … [Read more...]
Will there be uniform regulation of igaming in the EU? By Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, CDC Gaming Reports • September 11, 2019 It is with no small sense of irony that I sit in London this week, writing about the potential for greater harmonisation of trading policy across the European Union (EU). Nonetheless, it is an issue high on the agenda of the Brussels-based European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and, despite what may be unfolding on my own doorstep, the ramifications for gaming operators across the … [Read more...]
Europe: a snapshot By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • September 11, 2019 The gambling industry in Europe today is very much a mixed bag - some sectors are under pressure while others are expanding. There does not appear to be a consistent theme across the continent other than the growth of online gambling, though often seen is a tendency of politicians to rein in various parts of the industry. The following is a quick gallop through four countries, selected for no … [Read more...]
Caesars touts company’s sports betting prowess, but William Hill has eyes on the business By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • September 3, 2019 Caesars Entertainment promoted its expanded nationwide reach in sports betting Tuesday. The Las Vegas-based company now has sports books in 29 casinos in nine states, including New York, where it has a branding and marketing alliance at properties owned by the Oneida Indian Nation. The landscape could look much different next year if Caesars’ sportsbooks become William Hill U.S. branded … [Read more...]
Innovation, slot machines and regulation By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • August 28, 2019 The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently published an article on the challenges to innovation in the casino industry. The piece quoted Kent Young of Spin Games. Young said innovation was difficult in gaming because of the heavy costs of regulation. He told the Review-Journal that just the licensing of the company’s executives could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, making it very difficult … [Read more...]
Legal sports betting offers opportunities to heal old wounds By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • August 28, 2019 I’m waiting for the first casino to offer NFL Hall of Famer and Green Bay Packers great Paul Hornung the chance to place the location’s first legal sports wager. Over the next week and a half, every new sportsbook in Iowa, Indiana and New York seems to have scheduled a retired NFL great to kick off the betting action. “The Golden Boy,” now 83, the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner and a four-time NFL … [Read more...]
Weighing in on the slots controversy By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • August 28, 2019 A recent study of the behaviour of slot players has caused some controversy. Anthony F Lucas, Ph.D., and Katherine A. Spilde, Ph.D, furthered the research into whether gamblers would be able to tell what was the relative Return to Player (RTP) of a particular slot machine game and whether they would migrate to a machine with a higher RTP. Why is this important? Well, some casinos have seen a … [Read more...]
Where do we go from here? By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • August 28, 2019 Reading the annual results of some betting and gaming operators, you’d think the picture was quite rosy, with a whole world still out there waiting to be conquered, with virgin territory aplenty, and no clouds on the horizon. In reality the challenges outnumber the opportunities. With new options thinning out, the looming spectre of tougher responsible gaming regulation (as highlighted by the … [Read more...]
Gaming equipment provider AGS moves forward after first serious earnings ‘stumble’ By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • August 20, 2019 Gaming equipment provider AGS went right back to work following the announcement of the company’s first quarterly earnings disaster since going public 20 months ago. There was no sense in dwelling over a 52% stock price decline that began soon after the Las Vegas-based AGS told the investment community that its second quarter cash flow fell 2 percent and it would be cutting its 2019 earnings … [Read more...]
A casino in Chicago’s Millennium Park or slot machines in Midway Airport? By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • August 19, 2019 In June, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill 690; Governor J. B. Pritzker signed it June 28th. The good news is a casino expansion bill finally passed in Illinois, but the bad news is the bill was pushed through at the last moment and has some fundamental flaws. The bill allows for six new casinos, additional gaming positions for existing casinos, more VLTs at each authorized location, … [Read more...]
Really! Players cannot detect differences in pars By Anthony F. Lucas, Ph.D. & Katherine A. Spilde, Ph.D. • August 17, 2019 We deeply appreciate the opportunity to engage in this conversation about one of the key questions of our day. Frankly, we came at this project from a position of skepticism ourselves, as it seems that a player would notice the difference between a 10% and a 5% game. Certainly this is what all of us in casino operations have been told. Players consistently complain that the slots are too … [Read more...]
A short update on Czech gaming law By Anna Všetečková, Associate, Becker & Poliakoff • August 14, 2019 The law that regulates gambling in the Czech Republic is slowly beginning to stabilize after the major changes of 2017. But it seems that we can expect some amendments in the near future, which could open the Czech market a bit more to foreign operators. At the end of June, a bill was proposed that would change some of the provisions of the Act on Certain Measures Against Legalization of … [Read more...]
Changes in gambling and gambling regulation in the UK – lessons learned? By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • August 14, 2019 Much in the news recently has been about the fines doled out by the UK gambling regulator. The amounts are not insignificant – from January through May the UK Gambling Commission levied £19.6 million in fines. And in July, recently-acquired GVC subsidiary Ladbrokes Coral was fined £5.9 million for lapses in duty of care to its customers and anti-money laundering procedures. The fine was for … [Read more...]
AGA’s Casey Clark and company transform americangaming.org into a first-class industry asset By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • August 13, 2019 In the second half of 2018, the American Gaming Association began a very successful effort to resurrect and expand the organization’s primary website americangaming.org into a first-rate online resource for the organization’s members and potential members, elected officials, journalists, influencers, and the general public. As much as I’ve admired the work done by the AGA’s past … [Read more...]
Resort Fees, Full Disclosure and Customer Satisfaction By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • August 12, 2019 The practice of imposing mandatory resort fees has been getting a fair amount of attention lately. The attorneys-general in the District of Columbia and Kansas are suing Marriott and Hilton over them, MGM is raising its fees in Las Vegas and the CEO of Caesars issued a warning that the fees may be approaching a critical tipping point. Several consumer advocate groups are calling for government … [Read more...]
Trying to make sense of Suicide, Gaming and Guns By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • August 5, 2019 I have been formulating this column since I received that sad news early last week that gaming writer and colleague Dave Palermo committed suicide. Two days later Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin made the most ill-informed, insensitive statement I have heard from a public official in recent years (and that clears a very high bar): "Every night somewhere in America, somebody takes their life in a … [Read more...]
Free of federal restraints for more than a year, Connecticut remains unable to establish regulated sports gambling By Mike Anthony, Hartford Courant • August 5, 2019 What is Connecticut doing on the sports gambling front? Basically assuring fat bankrolls for bookies in the seedy underworld and leaving the legal operations our state is sandwiched by in New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island as alternative options. Connecticut is doing nothing for itself. What a joke this has become. We’re losing because we’re not taking bets, folks – two years after … [Read more...]
It’s not a myth; players can detect slot machine hold percentage By Buddy Frank, CDC Gaming Reports • August 3, 2019 I have met and debated Dr. Anthony Lucas several times in the past. I generally applaud his efforts in gaming education at UNLV and his authorship of multiple informative articles about the gaming world. However, his recent studies (done with colleague Katherine Spilde of San Diego State University) proclaiming that it’s a myth that players can’t detect tighter slot machines, in my opinion, can … [Read more...]
Dave Palermo was a consummate journalist and an amazing storyteller By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 31, 2019 Long before Dave Palermo earned his place as one of the most knowledgeable gaming journalists in the country, he made his mark in Southern California as a reporter with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. I learned about his reputation from one of the best – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston. In 1990, when I was covering Nevada’s gaming industry for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, … [Read more...]
Yes Minister! By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • July 31, 2019 If you want a case study in glacial gambling reform and how to “kick the can down the road”, Japan is not the only candidate - Ireland is also a good case in point. The current state of affairs in Ireland is that gambling is hardly regulated, although successive Governments have acknowledged that it needs root and branch reform. The main piece of legislation that covers both gaming and betting is … [Read more...]
The RET funding conundrum By David Clifton, Director, Clifton Davies Consultancy Limited • July 31, 2019 Background GambleAware is an independent UK charity tasked to fund research, prevention, and treatment services to help to reduce gambling harms. The charity asks all those who profit from the gambling industry in Great Britain, whether or not they hold a licence from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), to donate a minimum of 0.1% of their annual Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) directly to … [Read more...]
Once a skeptic, MGM Resorts now seeking ways to benefit from Las Vegas’ $1.9B stadium By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 29, 2019 Based on Jim Murren’s enthusiastic approach last week toward the $1.9 billion Las Vegas Stadium, one might think MGM Resorts International was a long-time supporter of the project. That wasn’t the case. In 2016, MGM executives were dead set against the 65,000-seat stadium if the plan was to siphon away funding for a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation of the Las Vegas Convention … [Read more...]
Hong Kong and Macau: Demonstrations and Celebrations By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • July 28, 2019 Macau is preparing to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of its reunion with Mainland China after four hundred years under Portuguese control. The celebration is scheduled for December; China views it as a significant milestone. Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to be on hand to make speeches, congratulate everyone and celebrate the success of Macau as a Special Administrative Region of … [Read more...]
Dispute between the state, Twin River and IGT could be larger than ‘Little Rhody’ By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 23, 2019 Imagine going into a restaurant and finding just three items on the menu. Or how about browsing a bookstore that offers just three titles, or visiting a large mall with just three brands? Like a lot of things, the value of entertainment is based on choice. Just ask executives at Twin River Holdings, which operates Rhode Island’s two casinos. Under a proposed deal between the governor’s … [Read more...]
John James – fortifying for the casino wars of the 21st Century By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • July 21, 2019 Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal National has hired John J. James as CEO. He is to begin in August. Foxwoods has been without a permanent CEO since Felix Rappaport died in June 2018; the tribal chairman has been the acting CEO in the interim. In the PR announcement of his appointment, James said he was thrilled to be joining a stellar team, … [Read more...]
The unbridgeable gap of the Italian gambling advertising and sponsorship ban By Valérie Peano, CDC Gaming Reports • July 17, 2019 Article 9 of the so-called Dignity Decree (Decree-Law No. 87, dated 12 July 2018, converted with amendments by Law No. 96 of 9 August 2018) prohibits advertising, sponsorship and all other forms of communications with promotional content relating to gambling. The rationale of the blanket ban is to fight against gambling addiction and to strengthen protections for consumers and players, … [Read more...]
Decisions and Management By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • July 17, 2019 A big part of a manager’s role is to make decisions. Making decisions comes naturally to most people although I have come across some who would prefer not to be put in a position where they have to decide. But just making a decision is not good enough - making good decisions is what separates good managers from bad ones. The process of decision making has been much studied, with various … [Read more...]
A new mission: Communications professional turns attention toward mental health By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 16, 2019 Reggie Burton is used to telling stories. Other people’s stories. As a longtime gaming industry communications executive, Burton has spent his career handling corporate matters, casino issues, and gaming diversity topics with ease and professionalism. In his boutique public relations firm, Burton represents a mix of clients from a variety of industries, and he communicates their messages, with … [Read more...]
Who will build new casinos in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Indiana? By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • July 13, 2019 Pennsylvania passed a massive gaming expansion bill in 2017. The bill authorized ten mini casinos, slot machines in truck stops and online gambling. The legislation required a separate auction for each of the ten mini casinos. Lawmakers envisioned a lively competition, resulting in a windfall for the state. The auctions began as the lawmakers had hoped, but with each successive auction the … [Read more...]
The best — and worst — places to put a Chicago casino By Ed Zotti, Chicago Sun Times • July 12, 2019 The best place in Chicago to put a casino? Michigan Avenue and Lake Street, which is a short distance from Millennium Park, the Riverwalk and the Randolph Street theater district. The worst place? The former Michael Reese Hospital site on the Near South Side — or any other isolated, blank-slate location. I base this on conversations with gaming and hospitality industry experts Andrew … [Read more...]
Summer at the Spa By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • July 12, 2019 Now that the Triple Crown races are behind us, the racing world’s attention turns to the summer meets at Saratoga, NY and Del Mar, CA. Both of these “boutique” meets run for around six weeks. Thus, the moniker. Both also have wonderful histories and unusual origin stories, and attending these iconic places at least once should be on every handicapper’s bucket list. Saratoga Race Course is … [Read more...]
$500 million in Eldorado-Caesars cost savings? Analyst says make it $600 million By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 9, 2019 Union Gaming Group’s John DeCree labeled it “the $500 million question.” In the two weeks since Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment announced their $17.3 billion merger agreement, the investment community is still coming to grips with how the companies will implement $500 million in synergies – i.e., cost savings – in the first 12 months after the transaction closes. DeCree told … [Read more...]
Sports betting isn’t a game. D.C. shouldn’t grant a monopoly. By Christian Genetski and Griffin Finan, The Washington Post • July 9, 2019 Months ago, the D.C. Council wisely moved ahead to consider legalizing sports betting. Since the Supreme Court declared the ban on a state’s right to authorize sports betting to be unconstitutional, states across the country have been racing to take advantage of the revenue opportunity sports betting presents and to eliminate — via legalization and regulation — the predatory, illegal, offshore … [Read more...]
4 Ways the Caesars Entertainment Buyout Could Fall Apart By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool • July 5, 2019 When Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) late last month announced it was being acquired by Eldorado Resorts (NASDAQ:ERI), it was a bit of a shock for the gambling industry. Eldorado was a relatively minor player until it began its acquisition spree a few years ago, and Caesars is just starting to get back on its feet after the bankruptcy of its biggest operating unit. It should come as no … [Read more...]
Stack the deck against organized crime at planned Chicago casino By Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times • July 5, 2019 It’s going to be a busy summer for Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City Council if they hope to build a firewall against the influence of organized crime at the planned Chicago casino. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law last week that would give Chicago its first casino, and a massive one at that. It would feature up to 4,000 so-called gaming positions at poker and blackjack tables, slot machines and … [Read more...]
Integrated resorts in Europe, take two By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • July 3, 2019 A while ago I wrote a short piece on why there are no integrated resorts in Europe, to date. That article focussed on the problems with financing. This article will take a look at the political and administrative dimension in developing large-scale projects. On the political and administrative dimension, the reason for the absence of integrated resorts is quite obvious: it is very, very … [Read more...]
Professional Gamblers – a rare breed indeed By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • July 3, 2019 All of us working in the betting and gaming industry will have seen plenty of people who claim to be professional gamblers – it seems to be an intoxicating profession, with the clichéd qualifications of vast intelligence, nerves of steel, encyclopaedic knowledge, and the will to avoid the tedium of a “normal” job. I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s looked with a pretty extreme degree of … [Read more...]
Sahara 2.0: Rebranded Strip casino will pay homage to the resort’s past ‘in our spirit’ By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • July 2, 2019 When 250 specially equipped drones lit up the evening sky and spelled out the name SAHARA over the SLS Las Vegas south parking garage last week, one of Strip’s worst-kept secrets was finally confirmed. Rumors are the second largest industry in Las Vegas behind gaming. But dropping SLS in favor of the iconic name that had been attached to location for 59 years was a foregone conclusion after the … [Read more...]
Come clean on why Mohegan leader stepped down By The Day Editorial Board • July 2, 2019 Something appeared amiss when the startling news came in early February that Kevin Brown had stepped down as chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council with no explanation beyond “personal reasons.” Brown had served as a dynamic tribal government leader at a time of big deals and aggressive expansion, acting in the face of growing competition for its core operation, the Mohegan Sun … [Read more...]
Japan casinos face limitless horizons, plagued by limited groundwork By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes • June 30, 2019 The Japan Gaming Congress in Tokyo last month celebrated the country’s ascent to full-fledged casino legalization. It’s a momentous achievement decades in the making, one that carries nearly limitless possibilities. Research firm CLSA projects Japan’s initial three licensed integrated resorts will generate US$11 billion in revenue, more than double the revenue of Singapore, and in the 2030s, an … [Read more...]
Caesars and Eldorado merge: Icahn and Reno celebrate By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • June 28, 2019 It happened just as Carl Icahn wanted. Eldorado bought Caesars and is bringing the company formerly called Harrah’s back to where its life began. The merger was not unexpected. Still, on Monday, June 24th, when the announcement came it pushed all other gaming stories off the front page, even the opening of $2.6 billion Wynn Resorts’ Encore near Boston. The agreement between Eldorado and Caesars … [Read more...]
A mistake on a betting slip cost a punter £200k. How you react to that is telling By Jack Bernhardt, The Guardian • June 27, 2019 If I had to pick my favourite irrational fear – behind falling into open manholes, snakes coming out of the toilet and the unshakeable belief that my friends’ newborn baby secretly hates me and is going to beat me up as soon as he learns how fists work – it would probably be filling in forms. No matter how long I spend poring over them, painstakingly writing out everything in a black fountain pen … [Read more...]
What’s for sale and what’s not for sale on the Strip as Eldorado-Caesars deal moves forward By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • June 25, 2019 Speculation about what Las Vegas Strip casinos operated by Caesars Entertainment might be for sale was rampant long before the words slipped out of the mouth of Eldorado Resorts CEO Tom Reeg early Monday morning. Reno-based Eldorado is acquiring nine Caesars properties on or near the Strip as part of its $17.3 billion cash, stock and debt merger with Caesars. Eldorado – which has resorts in … [Read more...]
Caesars Deal Catapults Underdog Eldorado to Casino Powerhouse By Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg • June 24, 2019 In the casino business, the minnow is swallowing the whale. Eldorado Resorts Inc.’s $8.58 billion acquisition of Caesars Entertainment Corp. means an underdog from Reno, Nevada -- a town long in the shadow of Las Vegas -- will become the largest owner of casinos in the U.S. In the deal, announced Monday, Caesars shareholders will receive about $12.75 a share, including $8.40 in cash. That’s … [Read more...]
Opposition voices went silent, grew weary or were ignored — and gambling roared in By Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times • June 20, 2019 You might have noticed something missing from this year’s debate on the expansion of legalized gambling in Illinois: any actual debate. Practically without substantive opposition beyond backstabbing within the gambling industry itself, three decades of Illinois lawmakers gradually upping the ante on legalized wagering as a solution to government revenue needs gave way to an “all in” explosion of … [Read more...]
Put the Chicago casino on the East Side By Edward McClelland, Chicago Magazine • June 20, 2019 Thirty years ago, when the Illinois General Assembly voted to allow riverboat gambling, the idea was to help faded river towns bypassed by modern transportation and technology. The state plunked floating casinos in Rock Island, Alton, Metropolis, and East St. Louis, promoting them as modern iterations of 19th Century Mississippi gambling boats. Closer to Chicago, “the boats” were moored on rivers … [Read more...]
Building a diverse casino industry By Jill Griffin, Mary Vogel, Susan Moir and Liz Skidmore, Boston Globe • June 19, 2019 Our legislative mandate is clear: Develop a blueprint to build a gaming industry that creates a more diverse and skilled workforce, and provides opportunities for minority, women, and veteran- owned businesses, ultimately enhancing economic opportunity for all Massachusetts residents. What better way to demonstrate the industry’s long-term commitment to diversity than to start literally with the … [Read more...]
Gambling Regulators – Who is the Best? By David Clifton, Director, Clifton Davies Consultancy Limited • June 19, 2019 I spoke as a panellist two months ago at SBC Events’ Betting on Sports America conference, held in New Jersey, USA, on the subject of “Avoiding the pitfalls – Lessons to be learned from other regulated markets”. The moderator of that panel, William J Pascrell III, partner at Princeton Public Affairs Group, made very clear his view that the New Jersey gambling regulatory model is far superior to … [Read more...]
The Wisdom of Crowds By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • June 19, 2019 The UK does not have a Presidential system - we do not vote for a Prime Minister but for a party. The winning party forms the Government, and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister. And when a governing party chooses a new leader, as the Conservative Party in the UK is in the process of doing, the new leader automatically becomes the next Prime Minister. Sir Francis Galton, a noted … [Read more...]
Century not the only small casino company active in the acquisition market By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • June 18, 2019 Outside of Colorado and Alberta, Canada, only savvy investors knew much about Century Casinos before Monday. Union Gaming Group analyst John DeCree said the investment community will likely be learning about other small, under-the-radar casino companies in the coming months. The $385 million deal between Eldorado Resorts, Century and real estate investment trust VICI Properties wasn’t just … [Read more...]
2020, Stanley Ho’s second headache By João Paulo Meneses, Macau Business • June 16, 2019 The two gambling concessions owned by Stanley Ho end in 2020. Macau’s (via SJM) has been extended until 2022, but that of Portugal (via STDM / Estoril Sol) will not only not be extended (Portuguese law forbids it) but nothing is known about the form of the international tender.The Portuguese Government says it is preparing documentation related to the launch of the contest but has not yet … [Read more...]
What the U.S. can learn from the UK about sports betting By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • June 15, 2019 In the post-PASPA world, the U.S. betting market is opening up, state by state - and if the European market is any kind of yardstick, there is a huge learning curve to be navigated by operators and customers alike.In comparison to the standing start Las Vegas sportsbooks had until perhaps ten years ago, and the pretty gradual progress made since, the European market has been evolving through … [Read more...]
Atop mountain, under cap, Korea’s only casino for Koreans faces uphill fight By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes • June 15, 2019 Management at Kangwon Land, the only casino in Korea you can enter without a foreign passport, has a mandate to limit its gaming revenue. The 51% government owned casino operates under a revenue cap, and in recent years has taken active measures to reduce its take from gaming tables and slot machines. But if you look beyond the revenue cap, Kangwon Land shares key traits with other casinos in … [Read more...]
D.C.’s sports betting contract reeks of cronyism By Colbert I King, Washington Post • June 14, 2019 D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. DeWitt has drawn attention to himself this week, but not necessarily in a good way.First, in a highly publicized dispute with the D.C. Council, DeWitt rode into battle on a mighty steed that turned out to be a hobbyhorse. Next, DeWitt asked the council to approve a $215 million sports gambling contract that reeks of cronyism.What he might do next week is … [Read more...]
PlaySugarHouse.com? Sure, why not? By Justin Martin, CDC Gaming Reports • June 13, 2019 In the wide-open sports betting climate that’s emerged in the U.S. post-PASPA, there are basically two questions that every jurisdiction has been hearing: when are you going to legalize sports betting, and when can we do it online? Brick-and-mortar market saturation and Wire Act uncertainty notwithstanding, we all essentially live online now, and there’s likely no real way a state’s legalization … [Read more...]
Illinois and its neighbors are set to be transformed By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • June 12, 2019 On Sunday, June 2nd, at the last possible moment, the Illinois legislature passed a massive gambling expansion bill. Adding more gaming is a perennial issue for Illinois lawmakers, politicians and would-be operators. Each year, the governor, mayor of Chicago, racetrack, casino and VLT operators have a wish list for the legislature.Each list is usually different from the others. However, not … [Read more...]
Political pressure could be forcing DOJ’s hand in the next Wire Act legal battle By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • June 11, 2019 Proponents of online gaming aren’t yet ready to spike the football. But the end zone is in view.The ruling 10 days ago by a New Hampshire federal judge that set aside the latest U.S. Department of Justice opinion on the 58-year-old Wire Act allows states to continue offering both online casino gambling and online lottery wagering.What is unclear is whether or not the Justice Department will … [Read more...]
Your brain on gambling: Why we keep betting even when the chips are down By Jeff Stibel, USA Today • June 11, 2019 I had a funny thing happen to me the other day. I was in Las Vegas playing baccarat. Turns out, the game is really simple: There is no skill to it, and all you have to do is flip the cards over and pretend to be lucky. I was having a hell of a time with it – great fun and even greater luck, and ended up with a pile of chips on my table.Here’s the funny thing: I was annoyed because I expected to … [Read more...]
Industry needs to take the lead in addressing compulsive sports betting By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • June 10, 2019 There’s lots of good news for advocates of legalized sports betting in America.In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, state after state has embraced the Nevada model of legalization and regulation of bookmaking and sports wagering. Others have legislation under consideration. Even most states that are proceeding cautiously appear to … [Read more...]
‘Roving gamblers’ deserve clean air wherever they lay their money down By Mark Gruetze, CDC Gaming Reports • June 9, 2019 “I am a roving gambler; I’ve gambled all around.“And wherever I see a deck of cards, I lay my money down.”Those lyrics testify to Americans’ long fascination with games of chance. Music researchers trace “I Am a Roving Gambler,” composer unknown, to 1909. Country singer Kelly Harrell recorded it in January 1925, six years before Nevada legalized most forms of gambling. Even when the song enjoyed a … [Read more...]
Will Wynn Resorts stockholder suit generate more than damaging headlines? By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • June 8, 2019 Whenever I write about Wynn Resorts these days, I always wind up sounding like the voice-over for the commercial for “Jaws 2.”You remember that one. It was like the original “Jaws” only not as scary.It starts, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ...”Cue the ominous music. Here we go again.There’s splashing and screaming and overacting. Parts go flying. There’s tomato bisque … [Read more...]
Win, profit and a front-man: Finding the correct words By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • June 5, 2019 The casino industry gets its fair share of media coverage. At times, the coverage is very good and factually correct. The newspapers in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Springfield, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut and in the major cities in California have become expert observers of the industry. In other locations, the coverage is less consistent and often misleading. Even in major gaming … [Read more...]
Table Gaming in the UK By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • June 5, 2019 In the UK, while slots and electronic versions of table games are an ever-increasing revenue stream, the casino industry has always been reliant on revenues from table gaming. The history of the table game offer in the UK is a curious one however – from as tightly controlled a selection as anywhere in the world to, arguably, now the easiest environment in which to try out a new game.The piece of … [Read more...]
What is the Value of a Licence? By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • June 5, 2019 Although this article is mainly about the value of a licence for online gambling, I will start with land-based casinos. Originally, licences were granted to casinos for two reasons: as a means of controlling both who could own a casino and where a casino could be located. With regards to ownership, jurisdictions around the world have tried to control that by demanding that licensees must prove … [Read more...]
Restless billionaire Perelman continues to shake things up at Scientific Games By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • June 4, 2019 Billionaire Ron Perelman shook up Scientific Game’s C-suite a week ago, and Wall Street yawned.Bringing in former Aristocrat Leisure CEO Jamie Odell as a special advisor, as Perelman did, is par for the course for the consummate dealmaker. Perelman said in a statement his one-time gaming equipment rival would offer support to the company’s current growth strategies.Perelman, 76, chairman of … [Read more...]
Construction jobs one of the underrated benefits of casino industry growth By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • June 3, 2019 Check almost any news source and you’ll find plenty to read about the rapidly changing state of American gaming.Whether it’s the explosive growth of legalized sports betting, the remarkable evolution of tribal casinos, the complex politics of Internet-based gaming, or the appearance of yet another multibillion-dollar mega-resort from the heart of the Strip to a suburb of Boston, there’s a lot … [Read more...]
Three lessons Japan and Macau can learn from Singapore’s casino oversight By Muhammad Cohen, Forbes • June 1, 2019 Singapore remains Asia’s gold standard for integrated resort development. As Japan fine tunes its approach to IR regulation and Macau contemplates re-tendering casino concessions, Singapore illustrates what to do – and what to do differently.Lesson 1: Know what you want–and be right. Singapore had clear objectives for its initial IR experiment. It wanted and got a world class theme park, Universal … [Read more...]
On gambling, weigh the pro game only By The Lowell Sun • May 30, 2019 Legalized sports wagering in the not-too-distant future looks like a sure bet in Massachusetts. Whether it will include betting beyond professional sports is a matter currently being debated on Beacon Hill. Legislative hearings have delved into the pros and cons of including collegiate sports in any state-sponsored gambling bill. Eight states, including Rhode Island, have introduced … [Read more...]
Legal Massachusetts sports betting sure to make some ghosts envious By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • May 29, 2019 Massachusetts has a long and colorful history of sports betting, none of it legal.Perhaps its best-known bookmakers were the infamous Angiulo brothers of Boston’s North End. Before being hounded into submission by the FBI and some honest cops and mouthy newspaper columnists, the Angiulo’s “office” on Prince Street was reputed to handle more action than some legal sports books in Las Vegas.The … [Read more...]
A word on the Derby, and a few other things By Bernard Kroviak, CDC Gaming Reports • May 28, 2019 I once heard it said that opinions are like elbows and kneecaps: most people have them, but the only one who cares is the person who possesses them. So with that in mind, I have a few of my own to share, even knowing the above statement is probably true.Let’s talk about the Derby for a minute. In my opinion, the Kentucky Derby stewards got it right when they disqualified Maximum Security. The fact … [Read more...]
Wynn and MGM: Life in a Glass House By Ken Adams, CDC Gaming Reports • May 25, 2019 The biggest news in the gaming world for five days in May was the sale of Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor to MGM Resorts International. The Boston Globe broke the story on May 17th, a Friday, in the late afternoon. By Wednesday morning, May 22nd, both companies had released statements saying the discussions had stopped and no sale was being contemplated. In between those days, hundreds of … [Read more...]
The high-stakes poker game that Wynn Resorts and MGM just lost By Shirely Leung, Boston Globe • May 22, 2019 Imagine a high-stakes poker game involving Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox, MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren, gaming commission chair Cathy Judd-Stein, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. They’re playing with millions of tax dollars, thousands of jobs, and the future of the Massachusetts casino industry on the line.Wait, we don’t need to imagine it. Some version of this … [Read more...]
Forget a paper lottery, the Poarch Creeks have a much bigger proposal for gambling in Alabama By Josh Moon, Alabama Political Reporter • May 22, 2019 The Poarch Band of Creek Indians has an idea for gambling in Alabama. A big idea. One much bigger than a simple paper lottery. One bigger than a handful of gambling machines at a few casinos. “We want something that’s a bit more thought out,” said Arthur Mothershed, who is in charge of the tribe’s business development for its gaming operations. Mothershed reached out to me last week … [Read more...]
Trade war aside, competition stealing away Macau’s high-end gamblers By Howard Stutz, Executive Editor, CDC Gaming Reports • May 22, 2019 It’s not just growing hostilities stemming from the trade war between the U.S. and China over tariffs that could further depress Macau’s gaming results. Competition from other Asian markets, including the expanding casino presence in Russia’s port city of Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan, are syphoning away high-end customers.This is not good news for Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts … [Read more...]
Troubles on land: the case of UK casinos By Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co • May 22, 2019 All is not well in the land-based casino industry in the UK. Whilst the casino industries in other European countries have enjoyed some growth, albeit modest, UK operators are seeing double-digit declines in revenues.Apart from the few casinos operating with 2005 Act licences, UK casinos make the lion’s share of their revenues from table games. The details are interesting.Prior to the 2005 Act, … [Read more...]
Is the Las Vegas Strip finally showing cracks in their pricing policy? By Paul Sculpher, Special to CDC Gaming Reports • May 22, 2019 The cost of a trip to Las Vegas has been increasing almost exponentially for many years, with both highly visible changes (new resort fees, new parking charges) and more subtle increments (lower slot payout percentages, higher drink prices) contributing to the savage attack on the Strip visitor’s wallet.It’s also fair to say that it would be difficult to point to areas where service levels have … [Read more...]
B.C.’s money laundering inquiry will be a media circus By Mike Klassen, Vancouver Courier • May 21, 2019 Four years ago this week, in my first effort as a regular Vancouver Courier columnist, I explained why neither provincial nor municipal politicians would dare intervene in the real estate market in order to drive down home prices.Too much tax revenue was at stake, I argued, not to mention it would be politically risky. When home equity begins to wither away, property owners are quick to blame … [Read more...]
Time to end the fight against Prairie Flower Casino By Ron Cumberledge, Des Moines Register • May 21, 2019 In Carter Lake, Ia., a town of less than 4,000 citizens on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has been working to develop gaming and entertainment options on its sovereign land within our city limits. In November 2018, the Prairie Flower Casino opened to large crowds and excited locals. The opening was a long time coming. For more than a decade, the State of … [Read more...]
Massachusetts is the big loser, thanks to casino board’s bungling By Jacklyn Cashman, Boston Herald • May 21, 2019 The Gaming Commission gambled on two Las Vegas giants — Wynn Resorts and MGM — and Massachusetts lost.Wynn lied to the commonwealth of Massachusetts to get its license when it failed to disclose a raft of sexual-harassment claims against former chairman Steve Wynn. It was rewarded for duping the regulators with a slap-on-the-wrist fine of $35 million — a pittance. But probably fearing the legal … [Read more...]
Could Wynn Resorts really consider quitting close to the end of its Boston marathon? By John L. Smith, CDC Gaming Reports • May 20, 2019 Imagine a top long-distance runner entering the Boston Marathon.He springs to the front of the pack, outpaces the best competition on the planet, manages to survive Newton’s Heartbreak Hill, the downward slope of “Cemetery Mile,” and pounds out 26 grueling miles through the city.With the finish line in sight, he can’t help but smile.Then the marathoner pauses, hails a cab bound for the airport, … [Read more...]
ESPN and other media entities risk their credibility with sports betting deals By Tom Hoffarth, Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2019 There are slippery slopes to continually sidestep on the sports media landscape. And then there’s the bedazzled Las Vegas Slip ’N Slide that ESPN just went barreling down last week, head over billfold. If all the other crazy kids are taking this crap shoot into the green-tainted pool, what’s the problem? They’ve tried to at least present some transparency of this business transaction — … [Read more...]
What I loved, liked and disliked about ICE North America By Jeffrey Compton, CDC Gaming Reports • May 19, 2019 In summary, ICE North America was a good show – not a great one, but for a first-time effort I came away with some great insights and a better understanding of the future of gaming.I loved:The focus of ICE North America: The primary focus of both the conference and the exhibits was gaming technology – sports betting yes, but also eSports, affiliate technology, and (as much as possible in the … [Read more...]
The Slot Club Overhaul: Recommendations from then and now By Nicole Barker, President, Relationship Marketing Solutions • May 18, 2019 Let’s journey back in time to sage advice from Jeffrey Compton of CDC Consulting regarding how to overhaul a tiered club program. Eleven years ago, Jeffrey offered four main factors for consideration. Has the conversation changed in the years since?Consideration of Open-Tiered ClubsIf one card is good, more cards are better, right? Ten years ago, the large commercial casinos were minting new … [Read more...]
