Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2012 46 International Briefs Briefs Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejects Foxwoods license appeal The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appears to have dealt the final blow to efforts by Foxwoods’ investors to hold on to their Philadelphia casino license. Frustrated by delays, the Gaming Control Board revoked Foxwoods license in December 2010. Last year, Commonwealth Court upheld the license revocation, and now the state Supreme Court has denied a petition by Foxwoods investors to hear an appeal of that ruling. But it is not clear whether the city of Philadelphia will ever have a second casino. At legislative budget hearings earlier this year, the chairman of the gaming board said that if the state high court rejected the appeal, the board would move forward with awarding a new license but probably not right away, because state lawmakers are considering legislation that would open up the license to statewide competition. Meanwhile, the chairman issued a statement saying that while current law designates the license for Philadelphia, it would be “prudent and responsible” for the board to allow a bit more time to allow the legislative process to unfold before starting a new license proceeding Rank ends talks with Gala Coral Bingo, casino and online gaming company Rank Group has ended discussions with Gala Coral Group about a potential acquisition of Gala’s casino business. Rank said the talks have ended after it“became clear that the proposed terms of the acquisition would not serve the best interests of Rank’s shareholders”. The two parties have been in talks since January of this year. In a statement, Rank’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ian Burke commented: “Rank remains committed to delivering sustainable growth in shareholder value; the proposed terms of the potential acquisition did not achieve this objective. We will now concentrate on delivering our organic growth plans, including the delivery of 12 more G casinos by 2015.” MGM Resorts to seek alternative Massachusetts location MGM Resorts International has abandoned a proposed casino site in Massachusetts, but plans to seek an alternative location in the western part of the state, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal . In a statement, the casino operator said there were “too many complications”in pursuing a hotel-casino development on a 150-acre site near the town of Brimfield, which is about 65 miles west of Boston. MGM Resorts announced plans to pursue the project in January. While the land is adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike, it does not have any direct access from the highway, which posed a major Aristocrat tops in US survey The results of an independent survey conducted by Goldman Sachs of slot managers from across the United States showed that Aristocrat has the best game and the best slot system. Aristocrat’s Buffalo™ video slot was rated the best slot game. Buffalo’s position at the top of the list marked the first time in the survey where an Aristocrat game ranked number one. Additionally, Aristocrat’s Whales of Cash™ game was ranked in the top 10 of all slot games. Aristocrat’s Oasis 360™ was also named as the best player tracking system. Oasis 360 is the most widely installed system in North America and is now monitoring devices at more than 280 casinos in North America. “What this survey shows in hard, black- and-white numbers is what we knew all along—that Aristocrat has the industry’s top performing games and top performing system. Hearing this from slot operators means even more,” said Aristocrat Americas President Nick Khin. The survey forecast that the future will continue to be bright for Aristocrat, with operators indicating they will buy at least the same amount from Aristocrat this year as they did last year and that the main reason given for buying more was performance. In the systems area, Aristocrat was at the top of the list when asked, “Which manufacturer do you plan on switching to?”Aristocrat earned 38% response, with its closest competitor earning 29%. According to the survey’s methodology, the 12th annual slot manager survey was based on interviews with slot managers from 125 casinos in 24 states. The survey was commissioned by Goldman Sachs and conducted by a third-partymarket research firm. Calls were made over several weeks, starting 4th January, 2012, and ending 8th February, 2012, for a total of 150 calling hours. LVS names global operations executive Las Vegas Sands has brought in a long-time hotel executive to fill a newly created position overseeing the company’s property operations in Las Vegas, Macau, Singapore and Pennsylvania. Chris Cahill, who spent two decades with Fairmont Raffles International, has been named executive vice president of global operations for Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS). He will report to company President Michael Leven. The position runs parallel to LVS President of Global Gaming Operations Rob Goldstein, who oversees the casino side of the company’s business. Mr Cahill led Fairmont Raffles and its predecessor organizations through several mergers as both president and chief operating officer. Top slot—Aristocrat’s Buffalo™ Inaccessible—the proposed MGM Resorts casino site near Brimfield