Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2008 46 Briefs International Briefs Caesars Tops Off New Tower The 23-story Octavius Tower was topped off at Caesars Palace as part of Harrah’s Entertainment’s US$1 billion expansion at its Las Vegas Strip resort. The 665-room tower is the sixth at Caesars and is part of an expansion that includes an additional 250,000 sq. ft of convention space and new pools and dining. When finished, the property will have a total of 300,000 sq. ft of convention space and more than 4,000 rooms. Harrah’s reported losses of $285.4 million for the first six months of 2008, compared with profits of $422.8 million in the first half of 2007. Despite difficult economic conditions Octavius remains scheduled to open next summer. “This is all about the future,”Caesars President Gary Selesner said during a recent earnings call. “We’re building our capacity for the turnaround that will come, whether it’s one, two or three years down the road.” Warm Welcome Anyone sceptical about Macau’s ability to offer quality service to tourists can take heart from what’s been happening in Saipan, a US Pacific territory that’s the entry port for the nearby island of Tinian—a place with aspirations to build an international-quality gaming industry. When tour operator Ronald Chan arrived in Saipan from Shanghai, aboard Shanghai Airlines’ inaugural flight, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) subjected him to an intimate body search, he claims. He isn’t alone. A total of 147 of the 187 passengers also claim they got the same going over. One thing they had in common was they were all ethnic Chinese.The remaining 40 non-Chinese weren’t subjected to this degree of scrutiny, according to local media reports. While the DEA is perfectly within its rights on US territory to conduct searches of visitors, the unfortunate thing is that Mr Chan was part of a fact-finding tour includingpotential investors,interested to learn more about Tinian’s casino industry. They had been booked to stay at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, a five-star hotel resort and casino that caters mainly to Chinese tourists. Bridge Investment Group has started construction of a new resort costing between US$40 million and US$60 million on Tinian. Tinian Oceanview Resort and Condominiums will include a casino, a 310-room hotel, a 268-room condominium, a spa, a restaurant and chapel, on 75,000 square metres of land that the group has leased for 55 years. Now, the passengers are looking into whether to file a lawsuit against the body search they described as race discrimination and a violation of their human rights. We will be interested to hear whether Saipan will be more welcoming to Chinese visitors under the incoming administration of US president-elect Barack Obama. Bally Profits Up Bally Technologies, Inc, a leading provider of slot and video machines, casino management systems and gaming networks, announced revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2008 of US$237 million—a 26% increase over the prior year period. “The continued momentum in all of our technology businesses drove first-quarter earnings,”said Richard M. Haddrill, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. “Despite challenging economic and capital market conditions,we continue to grow our businesses through innovation and execution, which are driving market-share gains.” Hippodrome’s Casino Makeover The London Hippodrome in Leicester Square is being given a £15 million (US$22.2 million) makeover to turn it into the city’s first leisure casino, dining and entertainment venue. A number of the building’s original features are to be restored as part of the renovation work, which is expected to be completed in time for the venue to be re-opened in 2010. In addition to a modern casino, the refurbished venuewill offer live cabaret and an assortment of restaurants. “It will be wonderful to renovateit,revealitssplendour and return it to being one of the capital’s leading leisure destinations, like it has been in the past,” said Simon Thomas, chairman of Hippodrome Casino. Aristocrat Targets Greater Market Share The list of new slot and casinomanagement products launched at G2E in Las Vegas is too long to mention in detail here, but Aristocrat’s stood out as significant. Although Aristocrat continues to record strong sales in the US, it’s facing particularly strong competition in its home market of Octavius Tower London’s Hippodrome