News INTERNATIONAL UPDATE Taiwan to welcome casinos
The island of Matsu has been targeted as the location for Taiwan’s first casino resort
The latest reports out of Taiwan suggest that a casino resort on Matsu, one of the outlying island chains, could be fully operational towards the end of 2017 with the Ministry looking to select qualified investors by the end of 2014.
Yeh Kuang-shih, Minister of Transportation and Communications, revealed that a draft proposal has been presented and that the Executive Yuan has been mulling over legislative changes to the Offshore Islands Development Act to address the development of a casino resort on the island. Residents in Matsu voted 57 per cent to 43 per cent in favour of casino gambling back in July last year. The vote attracted a turnout rate of 40 per cent from its population of 10,000.
According to the Offshore Islands Development Act, offshore islands can only establish a casino if it is part of an international resort.
Administrative Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications, Chen Chien-yu admitted that Taiwan does not have any expertise in opening casinos, saying that the government will turn to international investors to oversee the project. Several operators fitting the bill are showing interest in the project including resort developer Weidner Resorts Taiwan, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, a casino licence can only be issued once the rest of the resort has been developed. It will include other attractions rather than just a gaming floor.
He also said the opportunity of the project becoming a joint venture partnership between Taiwan and mainland China is dependent on the company who wins the bid. The government said it would take NT$1 from every NT$5,000 that the casino earns to fund a foundation to research problem gambling. Anyone with a criminal record will be banned from investing. An idea put forward by Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou to open a casino in New Taipei or other parts of northern Taiwan on the main island will not go ahead as the government will not revise its legislation to allow it.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah said it would be March 2013 PAGE 10
IM BEMÜHEN UM DIE ERLANGUNG der Betreiberlizenz in der Stadt Ovalle hat sich die argentinische Casinogruppe Boldt mit dem spanischen Unterhaltungsunternehmen verbündet. Ihr geplantes Projekt, das Ovalle Casino Resort, würde die Lizenz in Ovalle belassen, eine Stadt, die 500 Kilometer von der Hauptstadt Santiago entfernt liegt, die der ursprüngliche Empfänger, Casinos Austria International, als Standort geplant hatte. CAI gab die Lizenz im März 2012 auf und machte damit den Weg frei für die neue Ausschreibung.
RANK GAMING ARBEITET WEITER AN der geplanten Übernahme des Konkurrenten Gala. Zuvor hatte die Wettbewerbskommission ihre Zustimmung unter dem Vorbehalt gegeben, dass die Casinos in Aberdeen, Stockton-on-Tees, Bristol und Cardiff nicht in dem Paket enthalten sein dürfen.
“Taiwanese make 1.2m visits to Macau and
contribute between NT$600m and
NT$900m in tourism revenue” to the
Chinese Special Administrative
Region a year. That
money could stay in Taiwan if it had its
own casino resort.” BILL WEIDNER, Weidner Resorts.
some time before gaming zones can be established on Taiwan rather than just its outlying islands. Mr. Gou is one of Taiwan’s richest businessmen. He believes Taiwan should mirror the example of Las Vegas and set up one special casino area with convention and exhibition facilities in the Danshuei district of New Taipei to boost the economy. The concept was welcomed by Weidner Resorts with Julia Lee, Vice President of Weidner's Taiwan Development, saying the development of such a project in New Taipei would not be problematic for a casino sector on the outlying islands.
Work starts to reopen Sahara site as SLS Vegas
Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group has broken ground on a US$415m transformation of the former Sahara Hotel on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip into the SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.
It aims to open in the Autumn of 2014 with over 1,600 rooms, a casino, four nightclubs, a 10,000-square foot branch of the famed Los Angeles clothing store Fred Segal and restaurants including branches of The Bazaar by Jose Andres, Katsuya by Starck, The Griddle Café and Umami Burger.
The Sahara shut its doors on May 16, 2011. SBE chief executive Sam Nazarian said back then that the hotel was not ‘economically viable’.
SBE, a hotel, restaurant,
nightlife and Real Estate groups, is teaming up with equity partner Stockbridge Capital Group, of San Francisco, to complete the makeover of the property.
SBE and Stockbridge bought the hotel in 2007 for an estimated $300m to $400m.
Interior construction is believed to be underway with SBE’s just needing ‘the last piece of the $415m in financing.’ It is thought that this funding will come via a federal EB-5 program, which drives foreign investment into American businesses.
The Sahara operated on The Strip for 59 years and was seen as something of an iconic property as the last remaining Rat Pack casino.
WILLIAM HILL HAT EIN ABKOMMEN mit OpenBet unterzeichnet, das ihm eine Unternehmenslizenz sowie einen umfassenden, gezielten Support für ‘Promote,’ OpenBets nächste Generation von Visualisierungssoftware für Wettinhalte einbringt.
DIE INSPIRED GAMING GROUP HAT wie von AAMS im Februar angekündigt mit dem virtuellen Sporthomologisierungsprozess in Italien begonnen. Inspired hat bereits Lizenzabkommen im Bereich des virtuellen Sports mit sechs der wichtigsten italienis- chen Betreiber unterzeichnet, und zwar mit SNAI, Sisal, Eurobet, Intralot, Cogetech und Lottomatica, die etwa 90 Prozent des ital- ienischen Wettmarktes ausmachen.
CASINOSPIELE ERREICHEN NUN AUCH den unabhängigen Staat Samoa, wo die Konotrollbehörde für das Glücksspiel die ersten beiden Glücksspiellizenzen vergibt. Die Casinos werden auf Upolu, einer winzi- gen Insel im westlichen Teil der samoanis- chen Inseln im Südpazifik, angesiedelt. Die Behörde hat Aggie Greys Beach Resort und der Exhibition Tourism Group aus China entsprechende Volllizenzen erteilt.
DANK EINES VERTRAGES MIT OPENBET machen Bally Technologies ihre Slot-Inhalte online verfügbar. Die ersten Spiele, darunter Vegas Hits, Tiger Treasures, Cupid and Psyche sowie Mayan Treasures werden in diesem Monat online zur Verfügung stehen.
IGT KÜNDIGTE AN, DASS IGT CLOUD im kommenden Monat an 10 Grosvenor Casinostandorten an den Start gehen wird. Grosvenor wird in der Lage sein, Features von IGT Cloud sowohl lokal als auch zentral zu nutzen, so dass rechtzeitige Entscheidungen in Bezug auf den opti- malen Spielemix möglich sind, während die Leistung der analytischen Tools dazu beitra- gen wird, erhebliche Einsicht in die Produktleistung zu gewinnen.
SHFL ENTERTAINMENT HAT PROTEC Games, einen computerbasierten Provider von Inhalten für Casino-Spielautomaten, Tischspiele und Online-Video-Spiele über- nommen. Das im chinesischen Qingdao ansässige Unternehmen wird auch weiter- hin graphische Medienelemente und Software entwickeln und Test an SHFLs Spielautomaten und anderen elektronis- chen Produkten durchführen.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78