Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming January 2016 44 UK 2016 Gaming Technopolis to be Biggest Ever? Industry insiders who may (or may not) be fond of damp and cold weather will be converging on east London from February 2 to 4 for the world’s largest gaming show. Held in the depths of the great British winter, the aptly named ICE Totally Gaming is hoping to outdo its biggest ever event held last year, when it hosted 25,497 visitors from 133 countries. While ICE is billed as an iGaming show, most of its exhibitors could be described as land-based. That makes it more of a general gaming show and direct competitor to the US’s premier event, Global Gaming Expo (G2E). ICE’s tilt towards the internet has followed from online gaming being widespread and well-developed in both the UK and wider Europe. In the US, by contrast, iGaming is moving slowly and is widely banned. So it’s no surprise that less than 5 percent of exhibitors at last year’s G2E were listed as iGaming operators, versus nearly 40 percent at ICE. In a recent interview ICE Marketing Director Jo Mayer said her show would feature “the very latest innovations in gaming technology” to “bring together the online and offline gaming worlds in a way that no other event does.” Conferences during ICE will include events covering Cross Platform and Multi-Channel Gaming; Betmarkets; and Cybercrime, Security and Regulatory Compliance. Seminars will cover Women in Gaming and Millennials & Gaming. Once the show’s webinars are also included, there will be presentations on the state of the industry in Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, as well as Brazil, Mexico, India, Colombia and US tribal reservations. The dedicated ICE 2016 app is now available for Android and iOS. Landing International Expands Beyond Asia with London Acquisition Landing International Development has won a bid to acquire London’s upscale casino Les Ambassadeurs for £137 million. Until now the company has focused on properties on Jeju in South Korea, with a casino in the island’s Hyatt Regency Hotel and a partnership with Genting Singapore to develop a second gambling resort there. According to Landing, the new deal will be paid for through the company’s own internal resources and debt financing. “Our management believes that now is the right time to expand and diversify its gambling operations to other markets by investing in a casino with a recognizable brand name, such as Les Ambassadeurs Club and Casino. This acquisition will allow us to INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS increase investment and increase the presence in the gaming industry for further growth in key financial indicators of the company,” said company chairman Yang Zhihui. Les Ambassadeurs operates 45 different tables in roulette, blackjack, baccarat and three-card poker. The casino featured in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No. Last year it gained notoriety for a high- stakes poker game it hosted, after which Dubai-based businessman Iraj Parvizi sued the casino for failing to prevent cheating and collusion against him. He claims Josh Gould and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Roland De Wolfe worked together to con him out of £185,000 in one night, although the total amount he is demanding is to recoup the entire amount of his losses between 2010 and 2013. Wynn Sees Fortunes Return After falling in October and November, Steve Wynn’s star is once again on the rise. On December 8 Wynn Resorts announced its chairman and CEO had bought a little over a million of its shares. The market saw the move as a clear show of faith in the long-term profitability of Wynn’s big new bet, the US$4.1 billion Wynn Palace Macau now under construction on the city’s Cotai strip. Shares in Wynn Resorts surged more than 8% in one day, to close at US$69.91. With 1,700 suites, Wynn Palace will more than double Wynn Resorts’ capacity in theworld’s largest gaming city. Inmid-November the company said the project was running three months behind schedule, and opening would be postponed from March 25 to June 25 because of construction delays. This came after an angry outburst from Wynn, prompting rumors he had fallen out with the Macau government. New casinos in Macau have of late only been told how many gaming tables they can operate at the last minute. Melco Crown’s Studio City, for example, was only awarded its quota of 250 tables seven days before its October 27