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NEWS


Eat, drink and be merry (and there’s gaming on offer too)


Rank Group’s G format puts leisure, not just gambling, at the heart of the casino Who said “downturn”?


Not, it seems, Britain’s Rank Group, which is cocking a snook at talk of consumer belt- tightening by continuing to roll out its G Casino format – and reaping rewards in revenue. Most recently, Rank’s Grosvenor Casino in


Birmingham city centre rounded off 2010 with a £1.2m ($1.85m) relaunch. It's the 13th venue bearing the G marque, and like the rest, it aims to lure leisure-minded customers who might find the prospect of non-stop gambling unattractive. Alternatives include cocktails, Mediterranean- style dining, sporting events shown on plasma screens, and live entertainment. Oh, and there’s gaming, too: the 21,000-


square-foot venue offers six Roulette and nine card tables with Blackjack, different Poker


games, and Punto Banco; 38 electronic Roulette terminals, linked to two live games and an automated wheel; 20 slots with £4000 ($6000) jackpots; and a 100-seat Poker room. But it’s those non-gaming attractions that Rank is betting will bring in consumers who might otherwise consider a nightclub or a bowling alley.


“The G Casino brand is all about giving people a great alternative for a night out,” said General Manager Adrian Frost. “We’re working hard to remove some of those barriers often associated with casinos.” Across Rank’s casino estate that work is paying off. For the nine weeks ending 5 December, the group’s revenue increased four per cent year-on-year, or three per cent on a like- for-like basis (that is, excluding businesses which didn’t exist a year ago). And that’s despite poor weather hitting Bingo attendances. British consumers may be watching their wallets, but G is proving that the leisure pound hasn’t vanished entirely.


The revolution starts here


New Jersey law-makers plan to legalise online gaming despite Washington’s ban, and others will likely follow


New Jersey legislators have challenged the federal government by voting to allow local casino operators to offer online gambling to the state’s residents. Foreign players would also be allowed to use the gaming Websites, although consumers from other US states would not. The enabling legislation, passed


overwhelmingly by the New Jersey senate and now requiring approval – which it is likely to receive during January – from the state assembly and the governor, is structured such that in effect only Atlantic City’s ailing bricks- and-mortar casino businesses will be able to offer online gaming.


The games that would be permitted include Baccarat, Blackjack, Pai Gow, Poker, Roulette, and slots.


It’s not only the Atlantic City casinos that are set to benefit. The state plans to levy a 15 per cent tax on Internet gambling revenue,


expecting to add $210-250m to its coffers each year, and anticipates that online gaming will directly create about 550 jobs as well as a further 1000 in companies supplying the online operators. But the real impact of the scheme could be felt far beyond the state’s borders, if it emboldens other jurisdictions to follow suit. New Jersey’s bold move defies Washington, which in 2006 effectively banned online gambling nationwide by making it illegal for financial institutions to conduct transactions with their operators, although there are a number of initiatives among federal law-makers to change that – and state governments including that of Nevada are reportedly now considering their options in the light of New Jersey’s decision.


Even the council which governs the District of Columbia, where the federal capital lies, is contemplating giving its lottery the right to offer online Poker.


“If this passes it could be a tipping point for online gambling,” David G. Schwartz, Director for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, was quoted as saying. “They’ve already showed that casino gambling could be regulated and successful outside of Nevada.”


INDUSTRYPEOPLE


GAMING LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL Samantha Powell has been promoted to Manager of Compliance and Quality Assurance and Daniel McDougall has been promoted to Group Engineering Manager, both working in Adelaide, while Alvin Foo becomes Business Development Manager in the Sydney lab... GAMETECH INTERNATIONAL Founder Richard T. Fedor has retired as Executive Chairman and left the board, but will continue to advise the company for a transitional period... GALA CORAL Former Marks & Spencer executive Carl Leaver has been named Group Chief Executive, while Rob Templeman, formerly with Debenhams, becomes Non- Executive Chairman... GAMESMAN Danny Chan becomes General Manager of Gamesman in China, based at its plant in Shenzhen... ASPERS Gerald Larcombe is the new General Manager of the Aspers casino in Swansea, where he was previously Head of Gaming... WMS GAMING Jon Lancaster has joined WMS Gaming as Executive Director of Sales, International. He was most recently Sales Director for Atronic International Group... GEXTECH Jamie Maskey is now Managing Director... ATRONIC Marcel Heutmekers has taken the role of Senior Director for Latin America and Asia at Atronic International. Reporting to him as Sales Director for Latin America will be Jessica Luna... INSPIRED GAMING GROUP Inspired has appointed former Octavian CEO Harmen Brenninkmeijer as Senior Vice President of Strategic Market Development, with particular responsibility for casino products in emerging gaming markets... FUTURELOGIC The gaming printer specialist has named Freddy Kim as International Systems Account Manager and Rozina Sajid as European Sales & Operations Support Specialist... INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GAMING ADVISORS The IAGA has announced its 2011 officers. They are Gavin Isaacs, COO of Bally Technologies, who becomes the IAGA’s President; Marc Rubinstein, Senior VP of Law and Administration at Tropicana Entertainment, as Vice President; Julian Harris, a Partner in London law firm Harris Hagan, as Secretary; and Thomas B. Shepherd of Jackson, Mississippi law practice Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis as Treasurer... AMERICAN GAMING SYSTEMS Industry veteran Olaf Vancura is now Vice President of Game Development at American Gaming Systems. His career in the industry has included spells at Game Ingenuity, Progressive Gaming International and Mikohn Gaming. Also recently appointed at American Gaming Systems is Paul A. Lofgren, who takes the role of Vice President of Business Development... DEQ David Pokorny is the new Vice President of Customer Service at DEQ Systems, based in Las Vegas... GAMING PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL Francisco Moreno, formerly General Manager of GPI Mexico, is now Vice President of Global Operations and Justin Woodard, previously Director of Sales and Business Development for the Americas, is Vice President of Global Sales... ENDEMOL GAMES Endemol’s new games division is headed by Managing Director Jurian Van der Meer, formerly Endemol UK’s Head of Products & Brand Exploitation... ZEST GAMING John Connelly, previously Vice President International for Bally, has joined Zest Gaming as Chief Executive Officer. Also recently appointed at Zest are Norma Da Silva, the former Sales Director of IGT Latin America, who becomes Vice President for Latin America, and Madlen Aleksandrova, Zest’s new Director of Sales & Marketing Europe, previously with Euro Games Technology.


8 JANUARY 2011


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