Inside Asian Gaming

December 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 Briefs Moon™ andWickedWinnings™ II. Creating play-for-fun mobile app games is one part of Aristocrat Online’s larger strategy, including its new online platformnLive, which powers fully branded play-for-fun virtual casinos for leading brands such as Maryland Live! Casino and Island Resort Casino. Revel may open sooner than announced date of 15th May Revel, a US$2.4 billion casino resort expected to give a huge lift to the slumping Atlantic City market, could open sooner than the previously announced 15th May grand opening, according to a report by The Press of Atlantic City . Kevin DeSanctis, chief executive officer of Revel Entertainment Group, said construction is about a month ahead of schedule, prompting the company to consider pushing up the opening date. “The sooner we’re ready, the sooner we’re going to open this place,”Mr DeSanctis said in an interview last month. Mr DeSanctis did not divulge a new date, stressing that the complexities of building such a large project could pose challenges down the road. He said the company expects to make a decision in January, but for now the official grand-opening date remains 15th May. “We are pushing very hard to get the facility completed as quickly as we can,” he said. Revel’s grand opening has become the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks amid indications the project was moving along at an accelerated pace. Robert Andersen, Revel’s executive vice president of project development, said in September that there were as many as 2,400 construction workers at the site. DeSanctis said there are several major parts of the casino hotel that are “very, very close to completion,” including the hotel lobby, a theatre, meeting rooms and pool areas. Work is also being finished on the 1,100 guest rooms in Revel’s 47-story hotel tower, the tallest building in the Atlantic City skyline at 710 feet high. Revel’s rapid construction now represents a dramatic difference from this time last year. Until February, the casino had been in doubt because of funding shortages after financial backer Morgan Stanley withdrew from the project. However, Revel resumed construction on the stalled project in March after securing US$1.15 billion in new private financing. Separate from Revel’s private financing, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority helped the project by approving US$261.4 million in state tax reimbursements for Revel over a 20-year span. Revel is expected to be the last massive casino built in Atlantic City for years to come. The difficulties of financing such a project, combined with the city’s five-year casino revenue slump, remain major obstacles for development in the nation’s second-largest gaming market. Nevada regulator says online can be policed Last month, a top Nevada gaming regulator assured lawmakers that Internet gambling can be policed with software that ferrets out cheaters and systems that identify underage and addicted players, according to an article published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal . The comments from Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli were aimed at fears that online wagering could spin out of control if legalised by Congress. He said his answer would be “an unconditional yes” if asked whether the gaming industry and states could deal with underage gamblers, betting addicts, money laundering and computer “poker bots” that enable players to cheat. “You can probably get away with trying to cheat a system, but you will be uncovered fairly quickly,” Lipparelli said. “The analytical tools that are being employed are very robust. You might be able to get away with it once, but you will leave big fingerprints behind.” Lipparelli’s testimony came before a House commerce subcommittee studying online gambling in response to a bill to legalize web poker and another that would open the door to a broader array of games. Also testifying were Frank Fahrenkopf, president and chief executive of the American Gaming Association; addiction researcher Rachel Volberg of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago; and Charles McIntyre, director of the New Hampshire lottery. McIntyre came with a specific message: if Congress legalises online poker, states have infrastructure in place through their lotteries to claim a piece of the action. A path for the bills remains unclear. Industry officials say a poker- only bill is more likely to advance, but subcommittee chairman Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., made clear after the hearing that nothing will move fast, if at all. Democrats on 18th November urged Bono Mack to hold another hearing to probe officials from the departments of Justice, Treasury and Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission, which would likely have a role in overseeing online gaming. “For anything to continue to move, it would take more hearings, but at this point I have not said yes or no,” said Bono Mack, who told the audience at the 18th November hearing she was taking a“careful approach.” She said it would probably be early next year before she sets the next steps, if any. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chief sponsor of the poker bill, said “the votes are there” to pass his bill, but “if they want to have another hearing I am open to that.” Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is negotiating a separate online poker bill. Major casinos have held off backing any bill until his version emerges. Screen shot of the Fire Light ™ app Rendering of the upcoming Revel Atlantic City