Monthly Archives: January 2015

Indiana Lawmaker Introduces Sports Betting and DFS Bills

An Indiana legislator, State Representative Alan Morrison (R-Terre-Haute), has introduced two bills for consideration. One would legalize sports betting and the other would legalize Daily Fantasy Sports in the state.

“Gaming is something that this state has become extremely reliant upon, that revenue,” Morrison told the local Indy Star. “As it’s been trending down, it’s incumbent upon us to figure out how to fix it or to improve on what we have.”

The expanded gaming options proposed by Morrison would certainly act as a lifeline for Indiana’s declining gaming industry. However, his proposals will have to compete with more traditional “fixes” that have been talked about, including adding table games to the state’s racinos and moving the riverboat casinos onto dry land.

Sharp revenue decline

Insider Trading Research for Apple, Twitter, Las Vegas Sands, Google, …

Pennystocksinsiders.com released FREE insider trading reports for US market investors to track the following active stocks and penny stocks : Apple , Twitter , Las Vegas Sands , Google , Arena Pharmaceuticals , and J C Penney . Apple Inc. : By the end of last trading, the Apple shares earned US$1.49 to US$107.75 with about 40.10 million shares exchanged hands for the session, compared to its average volume of 49.87 million shares.

Jenkins Celebrates New Year as Idaho Lottery's Newest Millionaire

Evelyn Jenkins ended 2014 by watching the live announcement of the Idaho Lottery’s $1,000,000 Raffle from the Idaho Potato Drop on New Year’s Eve on television. She’s starting out 2015 as the Idaho Lottery’s 51st millionaire after matching the Raffle winning number to one of the numbers on her five tickets and then claiming her $1,000,000 at Idaho Lottery offices on Thursday morning.

Trends In The Casino Industry — A Shift From The Las Vegas Strip To East Asia

The gaming at Las Vegas Strip peaked in 2007 with revenues of $6.83 billion. However, the figure declined to $5.55 billion in 2009. This can be attributed to the economic recession and consequent fall in consumer discretionary spending. The casino industry at the Strip was worst hit by the economic slowdown and it has still been unable to reach the pre-recession levels. Gaming in the region started to rebound since 2010 and the revenues grew to $6.50 billion in 2013. While this has led to a steady revenue growth for casino operators such as Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts, the industry is experiencing change. We wonder if the Strip can see any significant growth in the coming years as other states have legalized the casinos, providing gamblers with plenty of alternatives. On the other hand, Macau has seen a rapid growth in gaming over the past few years and we believe it will continue to drive growth for casino operators in the coming years. Also, Japan could offer a big opportunity for the casino operators to expand in East Asia. On that note, we discuss below these three markets from gaming prospective and how is Wynn is expanding its casino operations.

Slower Growth At The Las Vegas Strip Gaming Market

Las Vegas Sands has two propertieson the Strip, The Venetian Las Vegas and The Palazzo. The casinos have a combined gaming space of 225,000 square feet. The casino revenues from these properties have increased from $431 million in 2011 to $584 million in 2013. Wynn Resorts also operates two properties in the region, Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Encore. These properties have 230 table games and 1,854 slot machines in 184,000 square feet of gaming area. The company’s Las Vegas casino revenues have increased from $534 million in 2010 to $683 million in 2013.

Looking at MGM Resorts, it operates 15 owned resorts in the U.S. The company offers more than 22,000 slots and 1,000 gaming tables in the region (excluding the slots and tables in JVs). Like other casino operators, MGM has also seen similar growth over the past few years with revenues increasing from $2.48 billion in 2010 to $2.60 billion in 2013.
However, the growth rate at the Las Vegas Strip has been much lower than the world’s largest gambling hub, Macau, which has seen gaming revenues increasing from $24 billion in 2010 to $44 billion in 2014. Las Vegas Sands and MGM have also seen their Macau casino revenues double over the past few years.

There are various reasons why Las Vegas Strip witnessed a slow growth over the past few years. As disposable income declined during the economic crisis, it hit the Strip harder. Meanwhile, other states legalized casinos, which further weighed over the casinos in Nevada. For instance, Pennsylvania legalized table games like poker and blackjack at casinos in a move to generate higher revenues. Similarly, the Delaware senate also passed a bill to allow table games. This had an adverse effect on the number of tourists visiting Las Vegas for gaming activities and we believe this trend will continue in the coming years. Thus, it does not make much sense for these three casino operators to expand in Nevada and accordingly they are bidding to build casinos in other states.

In September 2014, Wynn won the bid to build a casino resort just outside Boston. The company will build a $1.6 billion resort, which is expected to open in late 2017. Massachusetts Gaming Commission picked Wynn over Mohegan Sun primarily due to better paying jobs and Wynn’s plan to clean up the former industrial land at the development site. This is the third gaming license issued by the MGC. Earlier, it approved MGM’s casino in Springfield, and a Penn National Gaming slots parlor near the Rhode Island border. Wynn plans to develop an integrated casino resort at the 37-acre site on the Mystic River. The resort will comprise of a 500 luxury-room hotel, 140,000 square feet of retail space, eight restaurants, a 12,000 square feet nightclub, a five star spa, 150 table games and 3,000 slot machines.

 

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Historic building in line for transformation thanks to A 550,000 lottery grant

FRESH START: Yvonne Robins, gallery co-ordinator at Accrington’s Haworth Art Gallery, in the derelict stable block which is set to become a new art facility HALF-a-million pound plans to further develop the jewel in Hyndburn’s cultural crown have been given the go ahead. Grade II listed buildings in the grounds of the Haworth Art Gallery, in Hollins Lane, Accrington, will be transformed after the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the project A 552,500.

The Rise of Global Mobile Gaming Market

The gaming market in 2014 has seen a steep growth in the aspect of revenue and the number of players where the revenue increased by compound annual growth rate of 8.1% which helps the global gaming market to reach $82 billion. A recent report from Newzoo shows that the impressive growth in the gaming market will extend its healthy phase of growth and will reach $102.7 billion by the year 2017.

The Skillfulness of Online Poker Is Leading to its Downfall

UIGEA and Black Friday are the most often cited reasons for poker’s decline since it reached its apex in 2006. But these are just the most oft-cited among a myriad of potential culprits.

But what if the major reason poker’s popularity has waned has nothing to do with the availability of the game or its legality, and everything to do with the game itself?

Since the rise of Internet poker allowed players to put in a lifetime’s worth of practice in the space of a year or two, the game has become a very skillful pursuit, and like chess it’s possible that this skillfulness is what is keeping new and casual players from participating.

Correlation does not equal causation

Phil Ivey Already Topping 2015 Biggest Losers List

Phil Ivey is already among the biggest poker losers in 2015, according to multiple industry reports. His profile in the poker world has gained him a fair share of both notoriety and infamy. Most know that 2014 was a trying year for the pro, as he faced a highly publicized legal battle amid allegations of […]

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