NEWS
The next hot issue, from Europe to NJ: online player protection
The EU issues new guidelines; New Jersey could set precedents
As online gaming grows in popularity, so too does the challenge of player protection for regulators and operators. It’s a question that has recently been exercising authorities on both sides of the Atlantic – and looks like it will now be getting some answers, thanks to new European guidelines and the pioneering legalisation of Internet gambling in New Jersey.
The European Standardisation Committee (CEN) has set out nine policy objectives which it says should form the basis of future player-protection programmes. Developed in consultation with the industry, these are: protection of vulnerable customers, prevention of underage gambling, prevention of fraud, protection of privacy, fairness in gaming, accurate customer payments, responsible marketing, customer satisfaction, and a safe operating environment. “This is self-regulation at its best, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders from across the world for the benefit of the consumer. This agreement can only complement existing industry standards and inform both national and EU regulation of online gambling,” said Andrew Beveridge, CEO of eCogra, a body which accredits online gaming operators for meeting player-protection standards. Beveridge also worked on the CEN project. In the US, meanwhile, the industry is hoping that New Jersey will set the standard for others to follow in player protection
Said Joe Brennan, Chairman of the Interactive Media
Entertainment and Gaming Association: “New Jersey’s regulators are in a position to become the de facto primary regulators for i-gaming in the US much in the same way
Nevada regulators are in the land-based industry. New Jersey regulators are the toughest in the world and those who can make it through the process will increase their value and the value of the industry itself.” And David Pope, Marketing Director of
192.com, agreed (as well he might; his firm provides age-verification systems). “New Jersey’s regulators will no doubt take great care in ensuring that their licensees implement robust age-verification technologies. “Both the regulators and their licensees will certainly be able to draw on expertise built up in jurisdictions in Europe and beyond. In terms of what that might mean to the operators who get licences, the good news is that yes, the technology does exist, it’s proven and tested and will help operators acquire age-verified legitimate players,” said Pope. More red tape, perhaps, but besides being the right thing to do, it may help casinos fend off less-welcome attention from regulators in the future.
Help wanted
There are around 450,000 problem gamblers in Britain, according to the Gambling Commission's latest figures. And the bodies aiding them face their own problems. For example, the Great Foundation, despite sending
out requests for funding to more than 3000 holders of gaming licences, has received cash or pledges from fewer than 600 of them. And the organisation GamCare says that although it
provides help to more than 2000 individuals in the UK each year, nearly a third of the country is still without a dedicated counselling service for problem gamblers.
The game’s not the thing
From museums to condos, casinos seek ways to develop revenue from customers off the gaming floor
Does crime pay? Vegas sometimes downplays its historic mob links, but organised sin may pay better than property development for casinos, or at least Tropicana hopes so. This month it debuts its Las Vegas Mob Experience, a museum featuring more than 1000 artifacts including cars driven by Bugsy Siegel, vintage photos, and videos of gangland figures in reminiscent mode, as well as interactive displays created by former Disney Imagineers. It’s just the latest attempt by casino operators in Vegas and elsewhere to keep visitors as customers even when they’re away from the gaming floor.
8 MARCH 2011
But not all have been the bottom-line boons foreseen. Indeed, whoever suggested that MGM Resorts and Dubai World – the joint-venture partners in the massive CityCenter development – should incorporate 2400 residential property units would, in a past Vegas, probably be sleeping with the fishes by now. CityCenter’s owners last year made $490m from selling condos in the development, which has three high-rise residential towers, the Mandarin Oriental, Vdara and Veer. However, that equated to just 436 of the 2400 units, at an average price of a little over a million dollars – and sales nearly ground to a halt during the fourth quarter, when a mere 26 were bought. Hurt like many property developers by the Great Recession, CityCenter execs are now trying to generate some value from the empty condos by renting them out; so far, only 85 have been filled.
INBRIEF
ON THE MENU Chef Judy Joo is to head the kitchen at the relaunched Playboy Club in London. The Korean cook, who has worked at restaurants including The French Laundry and Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, will oversee the club’s dining room when the venue opens at the beginning of June.
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY Golden Nugget operator Landry’s is buying the Trump Marina Hotel Casino in Atlantic City from Trump Entertainment Resorts for $38m, and plans to rename it as the Golden Nugget Atlantic City. The firm, whose previous Golden Nugget- branded casino in the New Jersey gambling centre closed in 1987, plans to add new bar and restaurant facilities to its new acquisition this year.
HELLO HULL Hull City Council in England has granted a licence for a large casino to Apollo Resorts & Leisure, the only company which applied for it. Work on a £100m ($163m) facility including a 185-room hotel and 23- storey apartment block is planned to start this year on a derelict site. It is hoped the development will help revitalise the long-depressed North Sea port.
POSITIVE PENN Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board says January was the second-best month for table games in the state since they were introduced last year. At $43.3m, revenue was only slightly below December’s $44m and it is speculated that it might have beat that figure had it not been for the effect of bad January weather. The number of tables increased from 783 in December to 841.
NICE LITTLE EARNER Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa casino resort generated pre-tax earnings of about $307m on revenue of about $610m during the fourth quarter of 2010.
PLEASE SIR, MAY WE HAVE SOME MORE? The Sands Bethlehem casino in Pennsylvania is seeking regulatory approval for nearly 30 more table games, including 20 Blackjack tables, eight Baccarat tables and one additional Roulette game.
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