Monthly Archives: May 2015

Life and Death at Cirque du Soleil

The Cirque du Soleil show called KA opened in 2005 at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, as the most expensive theatrical production in history. Much of the show’s budget of at least $165 million-more than double the cost of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the most expensive Broadway production ever mounted-was spent on technology to produce astonishing visual effects.

Iowa lottery official says lottery profits to top $70 M

A top Iowa Lottery official says profits for the fiscal year that ends June 30 should top $70 million. Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich tells The Des Moines Register reports that for the 10 months ending in April, the lottery had pulled in a profit of $63.2 million on gross sales of $272 million.

Gaming Industry News Weekly Recap – Stories You Might Have Missed

THE AMERICAS

Sportech sold its stake in the SNG Interactive joint venture; a federal judge dismissed evidence against Paul Phua but prosecutors won’t let him return to Malaysia without a fight; California’s online poker ‘shell’ bill cleared another procedural hurdle but conflict of interest allegations claimed another California gaming regulator; the Department of Justice lost control of seized Black Friday poker domains; Delaware’s online poker market got a boost from interstate liquidity sharing; a new study proved the link between sports betting and TV ratings while another study said Facebook use can lead to greater financial risk-taking; daily fantasy sports operator FanDuel released a new ‘full’ Android app while DFS startup ScoreStreak ran out of money; Nevada casinos broke a two-month losing streak; I. Nelson Rose asked regulators to reconsider why certain rules are necessary; Caesars Entertainment got more time to arrange its bankruptcy rescue plan; the 46th annual World Series of Poker kicked off in Vegas; Becky Liggero offered video highlights of the CalvinAyre.com fifth anniversary party and recalled her top 10 memories from five years of greatness.

EUROPE & AFRICA

PokerStars signed some footballer named Cristiano Ronaldo as a brand ambassador while the football world was rocked by the arrest of top FIFA officials on corruption charges;; 666Bet revealed that it needed to raise more money to fulfill customer withdrawal requests; OPAP posted its seventh consecutive quarter of growth; Italian gambling spending fell in 2014; bwin.party announced plans to close WPTpoker.com; Rafi Farber examined how UK bookies were coping with new tax challenges; Kiron Interactive and Vermantia launched virtual gaming in Uganda; Sky Bet announced its interest in re-upping its Football League sponsorship; Binary Options Pty Ltd.’s Chris Morton discussed the options for affiliates in the binary options sector and Lee Davy examined the controversy surrounding new voice activated remote software on PokerStars’ Heads-Up Sit n Go games.

NagaCorp concludes $50m EGM deal; Entertainment Gaming Asia back in black

Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp has concluded a deal to bring 300 new electronic gaming machines (EGM) to its flagship NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh.

The deal, which was hinted at earlier this month, involves four independent third parties, who have already paid a combined $40m and will deposit a further $10m at a later date that will go toward purchasing the “brand new, latest state-of-the-art EGMs.”

The third parties include three Cambodian companies – Top Summit Garment Inc, Jin He Tai Construction Co Ltd and C.M.C. Phnom Penh Import Export Co. Ltd – plus an individual identified only as ‘Jinfu,’ who reportedly owns China Central Asia Group, a Guangdong-based electric light manufacturer.

The new EGMs will be jointly managed and operated by NagaCorp and the aforementioned four parties, but NagaCorp will reap 70% of the revenue. The contract is valid for 10 years and can be renewed on a mutual agreement basis.