Inside Asian Gaming

49 June 2013 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS to go online with the launch of full casino-style gambling this fall. New Jersey plans to go live by the end of the year with sites operated by Atlantic City’s casinos. Several other states also are considering legislation. Warnings Are Out on Google Glass Google Glass hasn’t hit the market yet, but already casinos in the United States are serving notice that it won’t be allowed at the games. “Gaming regulations prohibit the use of computers or recording devices by persons who are gambling,” a spokesman for Las Vegas- based Caesars Entertainment said. “Therefore, individuals wearing Google Glass would not be allowed to gamble. If they attempted to do so, [they] would be subject to arrest under various state gaming regulations.” The company is not alone in preemptively banning the wearable computers. Strip club owners have said patrons will be required to check Google Glass at the door, along with other electronics, and movie theaters are concerned the device will be used to record and sell bootlegged films. Glass is still in development and has yet to be addressed from a regulatory or legislative standpoint. The problem is that it doesn’t make it obvious when the wearer is recording video. There’s no red LED indicator or anything similar, though the tiny screen is always on while filming. “New technology always raises new issues,” as a Google spokeswoman told The New York Times . Caesars said initially that Glass will be allowed on its casinos’ floors, and people will only be asked to leave if they’re suspected of using it to secretly film, basically treating it the same as a smart phone or other recording device. MGM Resorts International has taken a similar approach. “It has long been our policy that no unauthorized photography or videography is allowed in our casinos,” a spokesperson said. “If a security officer suspects that a guest is filming, they will ask the guest to turn their devices off.” LVS Owes Suen $101.6M ... and Counting Las Vegas Sands is officially out US$101.6 million to Chinese businessman Richard Suen. That’s the number in the final judgment signed at the end of May in Las Vegas by Clark County District Judge Rob Bare, counting interest that has accrued at 5.25% going back to 20th October 2004, when Mr Suen, a one-time consultant for LVS, first sued the company to enforce an agreement entitling him to a lump-sum payment plus a percentage of the company’s profits in Macau in exchange for having used his contacts and influence in China to help LVS secure the lucrative license that has been the foundation of its profitability ever since. Sands contends Mr Suen did nothing and the company won the license on its own. A LasVegas jury disagreed five years ago, awarding Mr Suen $43.8 million, which grew to $58 million with attorneys’ fees and interest. That verdict was overturned in 2010 by the Nevada Supreme Court and the case was ordered to be retried. In mid-May, the second jury disagreed again, awarding Mr Suen $70 million. This time, LVS wanted the bills for the lawyers omitted, but Judge Bare’s order includes them and gives Mr Suen’s attorneys 20 days to submit a request for payment. As for the $31.6 million in interest, that will grow at a rate of $8,400 a day until the judgment is paid or is overturned on appeal. “We think this verdict will withstand any appeal,” Mr Suen’s attorney John O’Malley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal . “The question we have for Mr [Sheldon] Adelson is, when will he pay this debt.” LVS, not surprisingly, has vowed to appeal. Genting: Down in Singapore, Up in NYC Revenue declines at its Singapore and UK casinos contributed to a 43% drop in first-quarter profit for Genting Bhd. The Kuala Lumpur-based conglomerate, parent company of gaming and resort hotel operators Genting Singapore and Genting Malaysia, said net income for the three months ended 31st March fell to 397.8 million ringgit (US$128.5 million) from 693.6 million ringgit in the same period a year ago on a 2.2% decline in revenue to 4.13 billion ringgit (US$1.38 billion). The company’s listed Genting Singapore subsidiary earlier reported a 44%drop in first-quarter profit to S$115.9million (US$91.9 million). Meanwhile, Resorts World New York City generated a profit of US$26 million in the first quarter, and the company continues to expand aggressively in the gaming space, planning to open a US$24 million casino hotel in Bimini in the Bahamas in the fall and recently buying land on the Las Vegas Strip for a 3,500-room resort casino. On the non-gaming side, profit from the company’s extensive agricultural holdings dropped on lower palm oil prices from 98.5 million ringgit to 45.1 million, while earnings from the power division more than doubled from 33.3 million to 79.9 million ringgit. Resorts World New York City Richard Suen