Editorial Team:
Editor: Glyn Thomas Mob: +380 675 482 857
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Asia - Danny Cunninghham
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Bob Ambrose, Independent Gaming Consultant
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Editor’spage W
elcome to casino life. In Asia, gambling shows no indication of
slowing down as in March the Macau revenue surged a further 1.1% from February to a staggering $2.5 billion, culminating in a shift in forecasts for the likes of Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment. Meanwhile in the USA the various States continue to debate whether gambling wll be permitted – Texas being the latest that shows support for gambling with 89% of residents wanting the issue to be made the subject of a referendum and the majority of those being in favour. In Texas alone it is estimated eight destination resort casinos, and eight licenses for slots at race-tracks would provide about $1.3 billion in taxes annually and create 40,000 additional jobs. Switching focus to Eastern Europe and Georgia has become
very focused on exercising a tight grip on its casinos and the threat of competition. Today, as I type this, the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic Committee of Georgia have sent a joint address to various international organizations calling upon them to prevent the construction of casinos and entertainment centers in the city of Gagra, Abkhazia, for the 2014 Winter
Olympics.The statement says that an “entertainment centre and casinos” are planned to be built - clearly contradicting the terms of the Olympic Charter. Meanwhile, again today, the Georgian government has hiked the cost of a slot license from $30k to a staggering $1.64 milion... more on this to follow... And so finally to this issue where we talk to Lyndsey Barrett,
Operations Director at the Ritz; Jenny Williams, CEO of the UK Gambling Commission; John Lindley of VL Holdings; and Lorien Pilling of GBGC who gives a timely update on Middle Eastern casinos. We start with an interview with Drago Podobnik - president of
the HIT group - which is appropriate as next month we will be covering the operator-only Slot Summit to be held in Nova Gorica at HIT’s Perla Casino and Hotel. We hope to see some of you there.
Glyn Thomas
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