News INTERNATIONAL UPDATE Barona takes the Aruze bait
California’s Barona Resort & Casino has installed Aruze’s show-stopping Amazon Fishing
The Barona Resort & Casino has become the first casino in North America to offer the Amazon Fishing slot machine from Aruze Gaming America.
This joystick-controlled interactive slot machine can only be found on the casino floor at Barona Resort & Casino in San Diego. Amazon Fishing is a community game that plays on three 60-inch monitors. Players can individually select the type of fish bait to induce a more personalized experience on the bonus screen. Larger bait ‘attracts’ less frequent but larger wins, while smaller bait result in more frequent but smaller rewards. Reel Feel Gaming Technology has also been integrated into the simulated rod controller. Players can feel resistance from the pull of the fish and a crank feature simulates actually reeling in players’ prizes.
Rick Salinas, General Manager of Barona
Mallorca to open second casino
The Government of the Balearic Islands has approved a new law allowing the development of a second casino in Mallorca and is launching a tender process to evaluate bids from potential operators. It is welcoming bids from both ‘incorporated and unregistered’ companies with a share capital of €4.8m. The government stated: “The combination of a quality tourism offer will complement and improve both the competitiveness and the repositioning of the gaming sector and will attract customers providing greater economic potential. Having a casino as a complementary offer to potential customers attracted by golfing, biking and hiking, will stimulate not only the number of hotel rooms occupied but also the catering industry and commercial sectors.” The island only has one casino, Gran casino de Mallorca, which has benefitted hugely from a recent move from the suburb of Calvia to a state-of-the-art, new €9m home at the Porto Pi Centre, boosting footfall to the casino by 20 per cent.
February 2013 PAGE 32
ROCK GAMING, THE DETROIT-BASED gaming partnership that includes Athens Acquisition, is buying the Greektown Casino-Hotel located in downtown Detroit.
RICK SALINAS, General Manager
of Barona Resort & Casino
Known as San Diego’s loosest casino, Barona also has 2,000 slots and video poker machines.
PokerStars goes all in for land-based Atlantic Club
Rational Group, the owner of online poker giant PokerStars, is moving forward with its planned purchase of the Atlantic Club Casino in Atlantic City, US.
If approved, the deal would signal a new era in the casino industry as the first time an Internet gaming company has bought a bricks-and-mortar casino. With New Jersey lawmakers set to approve online gaming for Atlantic City’s casino licencees, PokerStars strategy is clearly to build the brand stateside. It was forced to leave the online market in April 2011, paying US$731m to the Department of Justice in August 2012 to clear the way for it to apply for a gaming license once any necessary legislation is passed.
Eric Hollreiser, Rational Group Head of Corporate Communications, confirmed
that the company has agreed to buy the property from Resorts International Holdings.
“The acquisition of The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel will secure up to 2,000 jobs and maintain the economic benefits the casino brings to New Jersey,” he said. “During this interim period, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel will operate as normal under current management, who will be retained following completion of the acquisition.”
The Rational Group says it would ‘improve the financial viability of the property.’
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement added: “The division can confirm that an application requesting interim casino authorisation and other relief was received from Rational Group.”
Resort & Casino, said: “We are proud to continually install the newest and most advanced slot machines for our Barona players. Barona is the first casino in North America to introduce Amazon Fishing and in the first few days of play we can tell that our players are making new friends with the interactive tournament aspect of the new game.”
The company is owned by Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans, who ranks at 250 on the Forbes list of Richest Americans and is worth somewhere in the region of $1.9bn. He has so far bought 15 buildings in downtown Detroit, totalling 2.6m sq. ft. of commercial space with the view of revitalising the city’s urban core.
The acquisition, which is subject to Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) approval, is expected to provide Athens Acquisition with majority voting control of the casino, hotel and related assets. Although Rock Gaming has partnered with Caesars Entertainment on other gaming developments, Caesars will play no role at this property.
Rock Ventures LLC CEO, Matt Cullen, said: “A primary focus of our investment strategy over the past few years has been on urban casino development in large Midwest cities, along with significant real estate investment and development in those cities. With a substantial focus on downtown Detroit, the Greektown opportunity could not be more in the epicentre of our business and civic interests.”
Mr. Gilbert, Rock Gaming Chairman, added: “Our plans are in the early phases, however, we envision significant investment in the Greektown Casino-Hotel, as well as the enhancement and growth of the existing entertainment district. We see this unique area extending to Campus Martius and along Woodward Avenue building on the positive momentum already occurring in the heart of downtown Detroit.”
The Detroit operator’s GGR plateaued for the three months from July through to September, generating $79.5n in GGR compared to $80m for the same quarter of 2011, a decrease of 0.6 per cent. Net revenues for the year so far were $254.8m compared to $249.4m for the same period ended of 2011, an increase of 2.2 per cent.
In November 2012, the casino invested in 185 new slot machines to help boost its revenue.
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