Inside Asian Gaming

September 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 59 Briefs State-wide gaming tax income based on July revenues was US$57.3 million, a decrease of 1.6% compared with US$58.2 million a year ago. China hand for Atlantic City China State Construction Engineering Corp has signed a US$1.7 billion agreement with the construction firm Tishman and Revel Entertainment to help the latter build a hotel-casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The project budget is expected to be US$2.5 billion, according to Union Gaming Group principal Bill Lerner. The resort will include a 100,000 square foot casino, plus nearly 2,000 rooms, restaurants, pools and spas. Danes hit Internet poker earnings A ruling by Denmark’s Supreme Court could potentially have implications for online poker players all over the European Union. The court decided a man who earned nearly US$28,000 playing online poker in a single year violated laws against professional gambling, reports United Press International . The court said the man used his poker winnings as his sole source of income. It ordered him to forfeit the money. The ruling stated online poker games are subject to national Danish law, despite being hosted on servers outside of the country, because the computer used to play the games was located inside Denmark Bally profits up on smaller income If a company has to experience a dip in revenue, then it helps considerably if it can make more profit from the services for which it does write invoices. This was precisely the story for Bally Technologies Inc, for the company’s fourth quarter in the financial year ended 30th June 2009. Picking up on the theme of the recessionary squeeze facing slot makers worldwide, Bally’s revenue from slot equipment and systems fell 17% during the quarter. “Improved gross margins and control of expenses allowed us to drive our fourth quarter operating margin to 25% during the quarter from 23% in the same period last year,” the company said in a statement. Bally, which makes slot machines and casino management systems, said it expects to earn US$2.25 a share to US$2.50 a share in 2010. The company said new products and an expected improvement in customer spending beginning in calendar 2010 would offset the sluggish North American gaming machine replacement market and an overall weakness in the economy. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Bally Technologies earned US$33.2 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with US$31.3 million, or 54 cents a share in the equivalent quarter a year ago. That was on falling revenue amounting to US$205.1 million compared to US$247.4 million last year. Green light for Games4You Games4You, a provider of games, engineering, and products for licensed gaming manufacturers, has been awarded its own licence as a manufacturer and distributor of gaming equipment by the state of Nevada. The company received Nevada Gaming Control Board approval without objection and joins an elite group of fewer than 300 companies worldwide that carry this approval. “The licence is a large part of Games4You’s commitment to providing our clients with full service game content development and engineering services,” said Michael Gauselmann, owner and chairman of Games4You, in a prepared statement. “In the past, we could only do those pieces of the game development puzzle that regulations would allow,” stated Dave Tucker, Games4You managing director and joint owner. “Now we can supply cutting edge games and engineering solutions through the lab and onto the casino floor.” Games4You was founded in 2006 as a Nevada-registered company and is based in neighbouring Arizona. The casino at Aliante Station Atlantic City