Inside Asian Gaming

September 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 73 Briefs But that might not be a good thing for the US market as a whole, Moody’s gaming analyst Keith Foley warned investors. “We think this ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ mindset will only further deluge a market that is already saturated and [is] forced to reach out to farther distances to attract the same number of customers,” Mr Foley said in a report. Last month, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and leaders of the state’s House and Senate reached an agreement to expand gaming in the state. The effort is being touted as a way to create jobs and help close a US$1.8 billion budget shortfall. The move needs to be approved by the state Legislature and faces several state-specific legal hurdles, social considerations and political and economic decisions. Under the deal, Massachusetts would have three stand-alone Las Vegas-style casinos and a fourth slot machine-only casino with as many as 1,250 games. The casinos’ gross gaming revenues would be taxed at 25% and the slot machine casino would pay the state 40%. An additional 9% tax would subsidize the horse racing industry. Mr Foley said Caesars Entertainment, whose Chairman Gary Loveman lives in the Boston area and has long-standing ties to the state, would benefit, since his company has a deal in place with the owner of the Suffolk Downs racetrack to manage a casino if the duo can land one of the casino licenses. Mr Foley said the casinos could create the need to add 10,000 slot machines, which would help the bottom line of Nevada-based gaming equipment providers, such as IGT. Las Vegas Sands Corp., whose chairman, Sheldon Adelson, is from the Boston area, is also expected to seek one of the casino licenses. The three casino resort licenses would be auctioned for at least US$85 million and would require developers to invest US$500 million in each project. The slot machine casino licence would be auctioned for at least US$25 million and would require a minimum capital investment of US$125 million. All facilities would be allowed to operate 24 hours a day and would be smoke-free. Nevada gaming revenues jump in June Gaming revenues in the state of Nevada and on the Las Vegas Strip recorded their second-straight monthly double-digit increase, fuelled in part by a 489% increase in casino winnings from free- spending baccarat customers, reported the Las Vegas Review- Journal . The Gaming Control Board said gaming revenues in June were US$885.7 million state-wide—a 16.0% jump compared with US$763.7 million collected by Nevada casinos in June 2010. Strip casinos collected US$506.7 million from gamblers in June, up 32.3% compared with US$382.9 million collected in the same month a year ago. The Strip’s total was the area’s largest single-month percentage jump since February 2010. Much of the credit went to baccarat, where gamblers wagered US$523.3 million, 30.8% more than a year ago. However, the players left US$107.2millionwith casinos. The story was the hold percentage: last June, casinos held 3.5% of the baccarat wagers. In June 2011, the hold percentage was 15.7%. “June’s hold percentage last year on baccarat was the lowest since June 1994,” control board senior research director Michael Lawton said. “It was a complete anomaly.” June is not necessarily a traditionally big month for baccarat wagering on the Strip. Bigger volume usually is seen around the Chinese New Year holiday in January or February. In May, gamblers wagered US$1.1 billion on the game. “Baccarat numbers were strong but should not be extrapolated forward given the month-to-month volatility,” gaming analyst Rachael Rothman said in research note. “We would highlight strong core gaming volumes in the month as a better indicator of the broader Las Vegas recovery.” Strip casinos collected US$231.5 million from slot machines, up 1.6%, which was the largest percentage increase since September 2007 and the fourth-straight monthly increase. Strip casinos also collected US$156.3 million from table games, excluding baccarat, which was a 24.2% increase from a year ago. Clark County as a whole showed a 19.9% increase in gaming revenues during June. Three reporting areas—balance of the county, downtown and North Las Vegas—had declines. Gaming revenues along the Boulder Strip region, which includes casinos in Henderson, were up more than 5.6%. Opposition parties threaten to block Dutch online gaming legalisation Dutch opposition parties say they will try to block proposed legislation designed to open up the country’s gambling market unless Dutch Deputy Justice Minister Fred Teeven does more to combat gambling addiction, according to a broadcast by Radio Netherlands last month. The Labour Party, Green Left, the Christian Union and the Socialist Party are critical of Mr Teeven’s proposals to lift restrictions on the gambling market, including the legalisation of internet gambling. Now, the Christian Democrats, the smaller partner in the coalition government with Mr Teeven’s conservative VVD, are also voicing concern about what they see as a lack of sufficient measures to combat the risks of addiction. The Holland Casino company currently holds a monopoly in the Dutch gambling market. The deputy minister intends to introduce more competition to the market and to establish a new gambling watchdog organisation. MPs say the watchdog would have too little real power when it comes to supervising the industry. The matter will be debated in parliament. Massachusetts Gov.Deval Patrick Dutch Deputy Justice Minister Fred Teeven