CASINO NEWS
Chinese New Year and Super Bowl drive Nevada gaming revenues up, but Vegas visitor worries remain
N
evada gaming revenues scored a double-digit year-on-year increase in February, for the first time in nearly three years.
Across the state, gaming revenues were $946.6m, according to Nevada’s Gaming Control Board – up 13.9 percent on February 2009. The last double- digit year-on-year increase was in July 2007. The Chinese New Year and Super Bowl weekend are believed to have been among the factors driving revenue up, with the Las Vegas Strip doing well from the Chinese celebrations and Baccarat showing particular growth – at $1.2bn, Baccarat wagers during February were more than double the figure a year earlier.
Spending increased on all types of table game in Nevada as a whole. Slot
revenues were down seven percent on the same month a year ago, and spending on slots was down 2.3 percent, although that figure represents a smaller monthly decline than has recently been typical. However, the Nevada gaming sector is far from carefree about future
prospects, and it is feared that in Las Vegas there may be an over-reliance on foreign visitors. “The surge in Baccarat over the past half-year is clearly linked to the
strength of the Chinese economy plus the cross-marketing efforts of the U.S. casinos with Macao operations,” Bill Eadington, Director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada in Reno, was quoted as saying.
“That is the good news. The bad news is that there is little, if any, sign of recovery from the domestic Las Vegas tourist market,” added Eadington.
Wynn pulls out of Philadelphia despite arrival of table games
W
ynn Resorts has cancelled its planned $600m casino development in Philadelphia for reasons that remain unclear.
The firm’s founder, the legendary Steve Wynn, had promised a “Wynn
signature presentation with all the bells and whistles” on the city’s waterfront.
But despite expectations that the recent legalisation of table games in Pennsylvania would position casinos in the state to compete more strongly with nearby Atlantic City, Wynn left fellow investors shocked when it exited the consortium proposing to build the new complex. In a statement, the firm said only that it believed the project was not the right one for it to pursue, although it did hint that Wynn remained interested in the Pennsylvania market. Meanwhile, the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pennsylvania is preparing to install table games this summer after receiving approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. It expects to offer 56 tables on the main floor, comprising Blackjack, Craps, Mini Baccarat and Roulette, four high-end tables on the third floor, and a further 12 Poker tables. Located just 75 minutes from New York City, Mount Airy will be hoping to attract Big Apple gamblers who previously would have headed for Atlantic City. Mount Airy Casino President and CEO George Toth told Casino International: “We had to rearrange the casino floor and open up a couple of spots that had been restaurants, changing them into gaming areas. You see, we have 2,500 slots on the floor along with the 68 tables. “It’s not really a problem to lose the restaurants because the casino floor
produces 85 per cent of our revenue. The other 15 per cent is a mixture of the amenities on the property – golf, restaurants, hotel, spa.” Read our interview with George Toth on page 34, this issue.
4 MAY 2010
News in brief
Asian Sands
Singapore’s second casino has opened. The first phase of the $5.5bn Marina Bay Sands resort, owned by Las Vegas Sands, also features shopping, restaurants, convention and events centres, and 963 hotel rooms. The rest – including further leisure facilities and about another 1600 hotel rooms – will open in late June.
Magic debuts
Italy’s Sanremo Casino has become the first European site with Magic Dreams’ new standalone video Roulette. The game, branded as Magic Roulette and the vendor’s first video Roulette system, has also been installed at Golden Jack Bingo in Buenos Aires. Magic Dreams has also launched Xcalibur, a 50-line, high-volatility multireel game on its new X10 platform with a medieval fantasy theme.
Regional round-up
The conference programme at Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia), held 8-10 June at the Venetian Macao, will include sessions on the gaming markets in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
Weight, not wait
The T-iX weight-based cash- counting system from Britain’s Tellermate can be adapted to handle new coins and notes without an engineer’s site visit, the firm says. The software is upgraded through a USB stick.
Local heroes
British soap-opera and football stars joined a celebrity Poker tournament at Alea Casino in Leeds. The event at the casino, owned by Harrah’s subsidiary London Clubs International, featured performers from TV shows such as Emmerdale and Coronation Street as well as Leeds United players.
Belgian boom
Distributor Suzo-Happ says demand is growing in Belgium for the MEI CashFlow SC bank note
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