Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming August 2014 44 Atlantic City’s Slide Continues: Third Casino To Close Atlantic City entered the year with 12 casinos. By the end of September, it could have eight. The unraveling of the seaside gaming market that once was America’s second-largest continued with the news that Trump Plaza expects to shut down. Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press that no final decision has been made on the Boardwalk casino. But the company said it expects to close the doors on 16th September and has notified its 1,000-plus employees. A source told AP a search firm was soliciting buyers, an effort that remains ongoing. So far, no buyer has emerged. The company did not indicate what might become of the building after it is closed. Analysts have long said that Atlantic City, the principal victim of an oversaturated Northeastern US gaming market, needed to lose some casinos to ensure the survival of others. Trump Plaza, the poorest performer of the group, has been up for sale for years. It won less than US$73 million from gamblers in 2013, ranking last of the 12 casinos that operated then. So far this year it has taken in nearly $21 million, down almost 27% from the same period last year. A California company was interested in buying it last year for $20 million—about 10% of what it cost to build 30 years ago—but the deal fell through. Its closure will mean the loss to the market of one-third of its casinos and a quarter of its casino workforce in less than nine months. The Atlantic Club closed in January, the Showboat is closing this month and Revel might do likewise if a buyer can’t be found through federal Bankruptcy Court. The Atlantic Club closure cost 1,600 workers their jobs. An additional 2,100 at Showboat will be unemployed as of 31st August, in addition to the 1,009 Trump Plaza workers. Revel has 3,100 workers who could lose their jobs if the 2-year-old casino resort is not sold. Social Casino Games Forecast to Hit US$2.7B. Online social casino games revenue grew 8.6% in the second quarter to US$663.7 million, according to a new report, which says the sector will generate $2.7 billion this year in revenues worldwide. US-based Eilers Research characterizes the market as mature and stable, as indicated by the fact that growth is shifting to mobile. Facebook’s desktop canvas revenue for social casino games was $329 million in the quarter, up only 0.9%, while mobile games grew 15.7% to $335 million, making mobile the biggest platform for social casino games with 51% of global revenue Eilers identifies Caesars Interactive Entertainment as the biggest player in the sector with a 21.2% market share in the second quarter thanks to its Playtika, Buffalo Studios and Pacific Interactive divisions. The ranking after that saw IGT, owner of DoubleDown Casino, in second place with an 11% share. Third was Zynga, with 8.8%, generated in large part by its core Texas Hold ’Em Poker app, which accounts for 74% of its social casino gaming revenues on Facebook. GSN/Bash Gaming was fourth with an estimated 7.4%. Big Fish Games, which operates Big Fish Casino, was fifth-largest with 6%. Chinese Betting Ring Busted at Caesars Palace State and federal agents joined forces on the Las Vegas Strip to shut down an illegal sports betting operation at Caesars Palace run by Chinese nationals who were taking wagers on the World Cup. The raid on the hotel last month was directed by the FBI with help from the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the US Department of Homeland Security, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal , which said Caesars Palace cooperated with authorities and was not a target of the investigation. It was unclear how much money the bookmaking ring took in, the newspaper said. It was reported that the Chinese nationals running the operation originally had a betting ring in Macau, with high-end Asian gamblers as their target customers. In June, Hong Kong police broke up an illegal betting ring at a Macau hotel that took in an estimated US$645 million in wagers on the World Cup. The hotel was not named in news reports. In was the second such arrest for illegal wagering tied to the tournament. The World Cup, which ended last month, is known to have generated some 18 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) in illegal betting inside China, where all forms of gambling except state-sponsored lotteries are prohibited. But this is believed to represent only a fraction of the total black market, which mostly is conducted through underground Web sites that charge membership fees. In May, police in Shanghai detained 63 people in connection with an online gambling ring that is alleged to have handled more than 113 billion yuan. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS