Inside Asian Gaming

April 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 Briefs obstacle to construction. MGM Resorts had said it would seek to build a new highway off-ramp leading to the casino development. “The unique nature of MGM’s plans for an all-inclusive world-class resort on the Brimfield site, and our growing understanding of the needed scope for its infrastructure, simply do not allow us to pursue the comprehensive MGM resort originally envisioned here,” MGM Resorts Chief Marketing Officer Bill Hornbuckle said in a statement. The company had signed a contract with Rolling Hills Estates Realty Trust to buy the remote site. The working name for the development was Rolling Hills Resort. MGM Resorts had not announced the scope of the project, only that it would create an estimated 3,000 permanent direct jobs, several thousand indirect jobs, and several thousand construction- related jobs. Western Massachusetts is where one of three resort-style casino licenses authorised by that state will be located. “MGM remains committed to developing (a) project in Western Massachusetts and we are actively pursuing other potential development sites,”Mr Hornbuckle said. Other companies expected to bid on the single license inWestern Massachusetts include Las Vegas-based regional gaming operator Ameristar Casinos and Penn National Gaming, which owns 25 racetrack casinos, regional casinos in 18 jurisdictions, and M Resort in Las Vegas. Lawmakers and the governor approved three casino licenses; one each in Boston, western Massachusetts and southeastern Massachusetts. Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. are bidding for the Boston casino while a Massachusetts Indian tribe is expected to be awarded the southeastern casino license. Local voter approval for the projects are required under the Massachusetts law.The governor, attorney general and treasurer have appointed a five-person gaming commission to oversee licensing. WMS applies for Nevada online poker licence Slot machine manufacturer WMS Industries announced last month it has applied for an interactive gaming license with the US state of Nevada. WMS joins the more than two dozen casino operators and gaming equipment manufacturers that have filed applications with the state Gaming Control Board. WMS President Orrin Edidin said the Illinois-based company plans to supply content to the online gaming sites planned by casino operators. “Just as we develop and produce innovative gaming content and gaming machines for our customers’ land-based casinos, WMS is committed to assisting our customers in establishing strong interactive gaming relationships with their patrons in the casino, at home or on their mobile devices,”Mr Edidin said in a statement. Mr Edidin added WMS has made “significant progress” in developing content for online gaming. Revel casino opens in Atlantic City The sun rose on a new era in Atlantic City on 2nd April as the US$2.4 billion Revel casino resort opened its doors with a blueberry smoothie toast at sunrise and a rush of gamblers eager to try out the city’s 12th casino, according to a CBS News article. Revel is marketing itself as a lifestyle resort, a vacation and meeting mecca that just happens to offer casino gambling as well. It’s in keeping with the new thinking in Atlantic City, the nation’s second-largest gambling market that has taken a pounding over the last five years from the recession and a slew of new casinos popping up all around it in neighbouring states. Gambling revenue has fallen from US$5.2 billion in 2006 to $3.3 billion last year. Given that, Atlantic City is trying to remake itself into a place where gourmet restaurants, top-name concerts, spas and luxurious hotel rooms are just as important as slot machines and cards. Gambling is only part of Revel; it also has a spa, 14 restaurants, 10 pools and a theater with 5,050 seats that will host Beyoncé on Memorial Day weekend. It has 2,450 slot machines and 160 table games. Its hotel, when fully open later this year, will have 1,898 rooms. Revel will employ about 5,500 full- and part-time employees. It is Atlantic City’s only non-smoking casino resort and the only one to fully embrace the ocean, with floor-to-ceiling views of the coast that are considered a no-no in other gambling halls. Located at the extreme northern end of the Boardwalk, next to the Showboat Casino Hotel, Revel is the first Atlantic City casino to open since its main rival, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, debuted in 2003. With its angular slanted roof and its giant white light-up ball atop the 47-story structure— the second-tallest in New Jersey at 710 feet — Revel is already an iconic presence in the city. Playboy Club to close at Palms in Las Vegas The Playboy Club at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas will close in June. A statement released last month by the casino said the parting was amicable. The club at the Palms opened in October 2006, with women dressed as bunnies dealing cards. It represented the first Playboy Club to open since patriarch Hugh Hefner closed the last one in 1988 in Lansing, Michigan. Meanwhile, the Playboy Club in Macau closed its doors last month. Bowing out— the Playboy Club at the Palms