Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming January 2015 44 Prospects Fade for Barcelona’s ‘EuroVegas’ Plans for a US$6 billion EuroVegas-style gaming complex in Barcelona are looking doubtful after the lead developer declined to exercise an option on the land. Veremonte, the investment consortium behind BCN World, a proposed multi-casino and hotel destination that has attracted interest from Lawrence Ho among other industry heavyweights, has allowed its €380 million option on the 500-hectare site to expire, citing a lack of key approvals from local and regional governments. The government of Catalonia said it would shield the land from speculation so as not to endanger the project, a decision which could give Veremonte upwards of 18 months to decide how to proceed. The government has not, however, indicated when or if the consortium’s plans for the complex would be approved. A spokesperson for Veremonte said the group would soon issue a press release to clarify its position. As an alternative to Las Vegas Sands’ aborted $10 billion EuroVegas in Madrid, BCN World envisions a cluster of six resort-scale casinos, luxury hotels, theme parks, shopping malls, theaters, meeting and convention space, golf courses, a sports stadium and other attractions. Hard Rock International and Caesars Entertainment have joined Mr Ho’s Melco International Development in announcing plans to participate. Veremonte has said the project will create 17,000 construction jobs and another 6,000 jobs for each hotel, an attractive proposition for Spain’s battered economy, but it is expected that significant regulatory modifications will be needed to adapt the project to the urban planning of the area. Critical policies regarding taxation and the scope of the gambling also are not resolved. Google, Russia Clash Over Gambling Ads The Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has instructed Google to remove all gambling advertising targeting Russians or face “administrative penalties” for breaching the country’s advertising standards. The search engine giant has said it does not allow online gambling advertising to display on its Russian pages. FAS, however, complains that it has found them. Google has replied by blaming advertisers that use cyber-bots to bypass its search filters. “Unfortunately, in some cases questionable advertisers attempt to find holes in our filters by various means and sometimes they succeed,” the company said. “We are constantly improving our system and working on the reliability of our filters.” Russia has adopted a stringent policy of prohibition in regard to unauthorized Web gambling, and ongoing monitoring has resulted in the blocking of several unlicensed sites through regional ISPs and by preventing the processing of credit card payments. In July the government created a blacklist of offending sites whose names include global giants such as Sportingbet, Party Poker and Poker Stars. Russia’s national parliament, the State Duma, recently adopted a bill to impose criminal liability for organizing a gambling business in the country without official consent. The measure spells out fines of up to 500,000 rubles (US$8,350) for organizing illegal casinos, betting offices or totes, including online. Individuals found guilty could also face penalties ranging from compulsory community service to two-year prison terms. The bill also stipulates administrative liability for any legal entities with fines of up to 1 million rubles and confiscation of gambling equipment. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS More recently, the ban has been extended to prohibit online poker outside of the four designated gaming zones created in 2009 when the Duma banished casinos from the country’s major cities at the behest of President Vladimir Putin. The bill, which similarly provides for fines and/or jail terms, has passed in the lower house of the parliament and now proceeds to the upper house, the Federation Council. Fearing the Feds, AGA Pushes Code on Money Laundering The American Gaming Association has offered the US government a package of best practices for combating money laundering in casinos in a bid to head off the threat of federal demands for more detailed personal information on their biggest players. “For a number of years, individual properties and companies within the casino industry have made anti-money laundering compliance a priority, but the best practices are really the first time the industry came together as one to tackle this,” said Geoff Freeman, chief executive of the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group. US casinos have long been required to report large cash transactions and suspicious customer activity. But in 2013 they were told to step into line with the more comprehensive requirements Russia’s State Duma