News INTERNATIONAL UPDATE Revel underperforms in April
Revel reports $13.4m in earnings in first month, though CEO is confident numbers will improve
Revel, the US$2.4bn megaresort reported just $13.4m in gambling revenue in April during its first month of operation. Revel failed to make an impact on Atlantic City’s No.1 location, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which recorded a US$54m in gambling revenue in March. Based on its April revenue, Revel will rank near the bottom of the pack for Atlantic City’s 12 casinos.
Wall Street gaming
Kevin DeSanctis, Revel’s CEO, said April served largely as a training and testing programme as the casino ramped up toward its formal grand-opening ceremony during the Memorial Day weekend. Revel was hampered in April by a lack of promotional offers for its slot machines, a limited number of hotel rooms and a series of technology glitches that are now being fixed, DeSanctis said.
“The reality is, we didn’t really do anything to promote, and we limited the
30,000 illegal sites closed in Russia
They said the Russian authorities wouldn’t have the resources to enforce its ban on all gambling activities, but since the law banning casinos came into effect in the summer of 2009, nearly 30,000 illegal casinos have been closed down. So far prosecutors have closed over 28,000 gambling houses and 414 underground casinos. The police have confiscated over 450,000 gambling machines and other equipment. The Prosecutor General's Office has confiscated over 53.4m rubles ($1.8m) in illegal proceeds, collected more than 132.5m rubles ($4.5m) in fines and opened over 1,200 criminal cases. One of the highest-profile scandals took place just outside Moscow six months ago when an illegal casino network was uncovered in 15 towns across the region. It has been alleged that businessman Ivan Nazarov operated the casinos with several high- ranking officials of prosecutor's offices and the Interior Ministry involved. The illegal casino network generated $5m to $10m in revenue monthly.
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analysts have been predicting Revel would replace
Borgata as Atlantic City’s top-grossing casino. However, JOE LUPO, senior vice president of operations for
Borgata, said his casino remains confident it will remain No. 1.
number of rooms that were opened,” stated Mr. DeSanctis, who expects revenue to begin increasing in June, July and August. About 464,000 guests have visited Revel since it opened April 2, but DeSanctis characterised many of those as ‘sightseers.’ The casino has also been beset by technical issues including guest room TV sets not working, which restricted guest numbers. Revel is trying to integrate 55 technology systems into the casino hotel’s operations, DeSanctis explained. He anticipated some difficulty in bringing so much technology online.
JCM in the Maine event as Oxford Casino launches
JCM Global is to install its iVIZION bill validators on all 527 devices at the soon-to- open Oxford Casino in Maine. Mark Huse, Senior Director of Operations for Oxford Casino, said: “As we were developing Oxford Casino, our goal was to select only the very best products for our customers. As soon as we saw the iVIZION bill validator, we knew that of all the products we had seen, this was the best option for our customers.”
JCM Global VP of Global Sales Mark Henderson, added: “From California to Maine, casinos of all sizes are catching the ‘VIZION.’ That’s because they understand that the iVIZION bill validator is their best choice today, and thanks to its foundation of intelligent validation, it will continue to be their best choice for years to come.”
The JCM Global group has
also won a contract to install its PayCheck 4 Thermal Printer at the casino. JCM Global will exclusively provide printers for all of the casino’s 527 gaming devices.
Mr. Huse commented: “We carefully reviewed every available printer in the marketplace, and PayCheck 4’s speed and capabilities put it far ahead of the rest, making our decision an easy one.”
Mr. Henderson concluded: “We are delighted to be expanding our relationship with Oxford Casino. The PayCheck 4 printer is the perfect companion to iVIZION bill validator for Oxford Casino and for all casinos, because of its speed and intelligence. PayCheck 4 has been proven to be more than twice as fast, last twice as long and have more standard memory than any printer.”
SPIELO INTERNATIONAL’S WIDE AREA Progressive (WAP) Jackpots system broke national payout records in France May 6th, presidential election day, with the country’s second biggest jackpots payout by Magic Casinos Jackpot of €5,875,836. The lucky winner was a 49-year old father of two at Casino JOA de Gerardmer. France’s jackpot record of €9,420,902 in March 2011 is also held by Magic Casinos Jackpot, which is the world’s largest WAP jackpots system based on the well-known Star JACKPOT software and CRYSTAL WEB floor network solution from SPIELO.
The fact that more than half the casinos in France have joined together to offer the country´s first truly national progressive jackpot also ensures the very high re-start value of €2, 010, 909 after the latest jackpot hit. A total of nearly 300 slot machines in nearly 100 casinos are connected to MAGIC CASINOS JACKPOT. The joint venture includes the five largest casino groups including Lucien Barrière Hotels and Casinos, JOA, Tranchant, Emeraude, COGIT, and 20 independent casinos.
TCSJOHNHUXLEY HAS appointed Jean-Paul Symeonidis to the position of Business Development Manager for Canada, commencing April 23.
Reporting directly to Brad Broderick, COO- North America, Jean-Paul will be based in Montreal, Quebec and be responsible for sales across Canada.
With 12 years of experience in business- to-business Account Management, Jean- Paul has developed a wealth of understanding and knowledge in business development and customer relationship management in the gaming sector, telecommunications and advertising. His most recent tenure with a leading company in the gaming industry has placed him in good stead for this new and exciting role, servicing the needs of TCS John Huxley’s Canadian customers and growing the business there.
Mr.Broderick said: “J.P’s experience in the gaming sector along with the business relationships he has formed with many of the Casino Operators and Lottery Corporations across Canada, will play a major role in developing and strengthening our presence in the region. Please join me in wishing him much success with his new appointment.”
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