Inside Asian Gaming

March 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 Video Gaming, and Nevada,” Mr Magno said. Aristocrat launches follow up to popular Tarzan ® Lord of the Jungle™ game Aristocrat has launched a follow up to its successful Tarzan® Lord of the Jungle™ game. The new product is Tarzan® & Jane Forbidden Temple™. Aristocrat says it features a new story line and several unique features. The new game uses Aristocrat’s award-winning VERVEhd™ 31.5” portrait monitor cabinet with Aristocrat’s exclusive LCD button deck, high definition graphics and 3D panoramic digital audio with player- adjustable sound. Tarzan & Jane Forbidden Temple is a dual Reel Power base game, where players play two sets of Reel Power reels, ‘Tarzan’ and ‘Jane,’ for the minimum 50-credit bet. The game is a four-level multi site progressive with a US$100,000 top award and eight high hit frequency bonus features including two Wheel Features. Caesars Entertainment reports loss Despite increases in revenues and operating income, Caesars Entertainment Corp., suffered a US$220.6 million net loss in the fourth quarter, due in large part to higher interest expenses. The Las Vegas-based casino giant said revenues increased 2.4% in the quarter that ended 31st December to almost $2.2 billion. The company’s income from operations grew 61.4%, to $211.6 million through higher revenues and a corporate-influenced cost reduction program. In a statement, Caesars Entertainment said the net loss grew 12.2% from a year ago because gains realised in the previous year’s quarter from early debt retirements didn’t take place in 2011. Caesars said higher revenues from its Las Vegas properties, coupled with a boost from the company’s international and online businesses inEurope, offset adecline innet revenues at the company’s properties in the Midwest and Atlantic City. Caesars operates 10 casinos on or near the Las Vegas Strip, including Caesars Palace, Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino & Hotel, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Bally’s - Las Vegas and the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. For all of 2011, Caesars Entertainment said net revenues were $8.8 billion, up less than 1% from 2010. Briefs since September 2007, every reporting area in Clark County had monthly gaming revenue increases. Baccarat, the game favoured by high-end gamblers associated with Chinese NewYear visitation, had its second-highest month ever for revenues and wagering. Casinos collected $194.1 million from baccarat players, an increase of 199%, on wagers of $1.6 billion, a 163.3% increase. Gaming analysts said theywanted to see howFebruary’s numbers for the state and Strip play out for an equal comparison. “Take Vegas’ strong January print with a grain of salt as results were helped by the Chinese NewYear calendar shift,”said Susquehanna International gaming analyst Rachael Rothman. Still, the Strip’s total, which was the fourth-highest revenue month ever, is hard to ignore. Revenues from blackjack and craps were down 12% and 4.2%, respectively, but roulette revenues grew 27.8%. Smaller games, such as mini-baccarat and sports wagering, each recorded nearly 30% increases. Control board senior research analyst Michael Lawton said gaming revenues would have been up 2.8% on the Strip even without baccarat. GLI to hire 100 additional testing personnel in next six months Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), the world’s leading gaming testing laboratory and technical consultancy, announced last month it is embarking on an initiative to add 100 highly qualified testing personnel over the next 180 days. The additional staff will push GLI’s global employee count to 750 working in the company’s 20 lab locations. The increase will give GLI at least four times the capacity and ability of any other lab. “We have one goal: to ensure that each of the 455 regulators around the globe who use GLI, and the 130 regulated markets who rely on GLI exclusively, will have more than enough testing resources to speed the time to market for products and new technology initiatives destined for their markets,”said GLI Vice President Paul Magno. The new engineers and support staff will be placed mostly in GLI’s laboratories in Nevada and Colorado to provide further support to the State of Nevada for private testing as that becomes a reality in the second quarter of this year. GLI’s Barcelona lab will also see an increase in engineering staff. The drive to add testing staff is a proactive response to increasing demand for GLI’s testing services in land-based gaming in the United States, Asia and Australia, and in iGaming markets in Europe and Canada. The additional staff will also serve to even further reduce GLI’s turnaround time, which is the shortest in the gaming testing industry. “We are proud that today we can report GLI has the shortest turnaround times in the gaming testing industry, having reduced times by nearly 40% over where we were just a year ago. Increasing our staff by 100 will empower us to continue this momentum in existing markets while adding to our abilities in new markets such as Ohio Gaming, Ohio Video Lottery, Illinois Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas