News INTERNATIONAL UPDATE Cirsa trumps EuroVegas bid
Cirsa to match Las Vegas Sands’ proposed EuroVegas casino resort in Northern Spain
Spanish operator Cirsa is willing to match the investment of €17bn being put forward by Las Vegas Sands to ensure that any multi-casino development in Catalonia is created by Spanish and not American money.
Leading executives at Cirsa have confirmed that they would be willing to make a similar investment to Mr. Adelson, as long as the local government agrees to grant it the same conditions.
Cirsa currently pays tax of 40 per cent in Catalonia, where it is based in Terrassa. Alongside the manufacturing and sale of slots for casinos and arcades, it manages 33 casinos with five in Spain and 28 in Latin America. It also has 83 electronic casinos, 32,808 arcades, 79 bingo halls, 138 game rooms, 190 sports betting centres, 1,840 lottery terminals and 3,440 VLTs in Spain, Italy and Latin America. It has immense experience of operating in Spanish-speaking markets. What it doesn’t have, however, is the experience of operating casino resorts of the same scale and magnitude as Sands, which has consistently blown local markets away
OMI Gaming sign Every Matrix deal
OMI Gaming, the mobile and multi- platform gaming specialist, has signed a multi-year agreement with EveryMatrix, one of the largest independent ‘white- label’ gaming distributors. The agreement will enable an extensive number of casino players and operators to access high quality mobile casino and social games developed by OMI through EveryMatrix’s renowned GamMatrix gaming management platform via their new Mobile 360 product suite. André Orefjärd, Sales and Marketing Director, for OMI, said: “Our commitment to create fun, high performing, triple-A quality mobile casino and social games has been acknowledge and strengthened our position within the market. With this agreement we are able to deliver mobile games to operators and players across Europe and beyond.”
July 2012 PAGE 18
JOAQUIM AGUT, Director-General, Cirsa.
“With this landmark we have met and improved our
commitment to the market with 25 consecutive
quarters of growth, in a complex economic
environment.”
with its developments in Macau and Singapore. Amazingly though, the Catalan-based multi-national has ridden the storm of the economic downturn with 25 consecutive quarters of growth. It saw operating profit increase by 11 per cent in the first quarter up €77.4m.
Operating income reached €448m, up 2.1 per cent, due to growth in Latin America and Italy along with cost efficiency improvements in its domestic market. In Spain the B2B and sports betting division Sportium has grown in both Madrid and Aragon.
The director-general of the group, Joaquim Agut, said: “With this landmark we have met and improved our commitment to the market with 25 consecutive quarters of growth, in a complex economic environment.
“This is due no doubt to the unconditional support of our owners, the commitment, dedication and motivation of the management team and the optimum execution of our strategy by all our employees in the various places where we operate. Argentina, Columbia and Panama have contributed to the excellent results. In Spain, Casino Cirsa Valencia has now consolidated its position as the third largest in Spain,” he said.
Wynn Resorts joins list for Nevada net poker licence
Having backtracked from its deal with PokerStars last year, Wynn Resorts is now dipping its toe into the online world again, having submitted an application to operate Internet poker in Nevada with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
A crackdown on Internet companies operating in the US by the federal government saw Wynn fast-track out of the deal with PokerStars. The company is now believed to be in talks with Zynga, the provider of perhaps the most well-known poker app on social networking site Facebook. Zynga is not believed to be on the list for a Nevada license. That list which is now some 30 strong includes operating giants such as Caesars and MGM Resorts as well as
manufacturers IGT and Bally. It also now includes M Resort, South Point Poker, Monarch Casino, Boyd Gaming, Fertitta Interactive, ACEP Interactive, Golden Nugget and Z4 Poker on the operator’s side. The list of manufacturers or service providers includes Cantor, 888 Holdings, Shuffle Master, Aristocrat, Net Effect Networks, SG Gaming, Playtech, Global Cash Access, BP Gaming, Spielo, St. Minver and Boss Media. Three testing labs have also applied in GLI, Wyle Laboratories and BMM.
Mark Lipparelli, the Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman, said that once licences had been issued, operators would still have to wait six to eight months before they can launch their offering.
MEI HAS RECEIVED THE HONOUR OF being named the IGT Strategic Supplier of the Quarter. The merit-based award is based on exceeding the platinum standard of 85 points through a graded assessment of quality, availability and customer satisfaction. “This is a tremendous achievement for MEI,” said Eric Fisher, Vice President of Gaming – Americas. “It speaks volumes not only about our commitment to product quality, but also our ability to exceed expectations for customer service.” MEI’s core gaming product, CASHFLOW SC, has raised the profile of bill acceptors and their role in operator profitability by improving upon the attributes responsible for consumer satisfaction and, ultimately, product performance – acceptance, jam rate, security and cost of operation. “MEI’s investment in technical resources, along with their improvement in delivering against the ‘hard’ metrics, has been very impressive,” says Rick Lloyd, IGT Director of Supply Chain. “MEI was the only supplier to earn the IGT award in the first quarter.” The award is a testament to MEI’s dedication to innovation. The ability to enhance CASHFLOW SC with EASITRAX Soft Count, which is now installed in nearly 70,000 games globally, has evolved MEI’s role from being a component supplier to a cash management system integrator. “What makes this distinction truly rewarding is the number of customers that value the MEI portfolio of products and have specified CASHFLOW SC in IGT games,” said Mr. Fisher. “Now that we have introduced EASITRAX, multiple sized cashboxes and a number of additional options, we continue to win loyalty amongst our customer base.”
NEWCOMER TO THE CASINO SOFTWARE sector NEWave is to install all modules of its myCompliance Manager software suite at Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois. As part of the installation, NEWave will be replacing the existing Title 31 processing software at the 1,100-device casino. Grand Victoria Casino is a new client for NEWave and is now one of seven major casinos NEWave serves in the State of Illinois. Grand Victoria Casino Director of Finance Scott Szybilski said: “We carefully considered several software options, including the system we are currently running. The more we considered our options, the more we realized that NEWave’s myCompliance Manager, which includes Title 31 and tax form processing, was the perfect fit for our business and compliance needs.”
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