Monthly Archives: August 2015

SJM Holdings profit halves as VIPs give Macau a wide berth

Macau casino operator SJM Holdings’ profit tumbled more than half in the first half of 2015.

Macau’s largest casino operator reported revenue down 40% year-on-year to HKD 26.6b (US $3.4b) in the six months ending June 30, while adjusted earnings fell 49% to HKD 2.26b and profit fell 54% to HKD 1.79b.

All but HKD 298m of the revenue total came from gaming activity at the 18 SJM-licensed venues in Macau. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported that SJM’s share of Macau’s overall gaming revenue fell 1.2 points to 22.3%.

Overall VIP revenue fell 48.7% to HKD 14.2b despite hold rising to 3.19% from 2.76% as turnover fell 56%. SJM decreased its number of VIP tables by 11% to 511 from the same period last year. The VIP share of SJM’s total gaming revenue fell 8.7 points to 54.1%. SJM’s share of the market’s overall VIP revenue fell 2.7 points to 21.2%.

Suffolk mother, daughter to share $7M Golden Ticket lottery jackpot

The early bird may catch the worm, but in this case a Middle Island woman who was early for her hair appointment last month ended up winning $7 million for her and her daughter in the New York Lottery’s Golden Ticket scratch-off game. “My hairdresser was really busy so I took a walk,” said Marilyn Looney, 82, who headed over to buy some tickets at the nearby Mili Cards & Smoke shop on Middle… The early bird may catch the worm, but in this case a Middle Island woman who was early for her hair appointment last month ended up winning $7 million for her and her daughter in the New York Lottery’s Golden Ticket scratch-off game.

Studio City forms contingency plan for table allocation

Melco Crown Entertainment’s new Macau casino Studio City has formed a contingency plan covering the possibility that its gaming table allocation will be lower than anticipated.

Studio City International Holdings has involved Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its counsel and Moelis & Company LLC as its investment banker to assist it with contingency planning ahead of any table allocation decision for Studio City, which is set to open on October 27, 2015.

Lawrence Ho, co-chairman and CEO of Melco Crown, which owns 60% of Studio City International Holdings, said that a mass market-oriented strategy for Studio City depends on the number of tables that will be granted by the Macau government’s chief executive Fernando Chui Sai On.

Melco Crown has been consistent with its request of 400 tables from the government.

Ten Years of the North Carolina Lottery

While North Carolina legislators continue to negotiate a budget agreement , one provision is getting only a little bit of attention: a proposal to increase the percentage that the North Carolina Education Lottery can spend on advertising from 1 percent of gross sales to 1.5 percent. The Lottery timely released an announcement that the $2 billion in ticket sales this past fiscal year generated $522 million in revenue for the state, hinting that additional revenue will come from boosted advertising.

Trowbridge pre-school Rainbow Early Years receives Lottery grant for sculptor project

TROWBRIDGE pre-school Rainbow Early Years is celebrating after receiving a grant for almost A 10,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All funding. Rainbow Early Years, which is based at Holbrook Primary School, is one of more than 80 community projects across the south west to benefit, after the Big Lottery Fund awarded a total of A 2.7 million to the region.

Dafabet left with their Wang out as China cracks down on online credit betting

The recent deportation of former Dafabet exec Wang Bo to face illegal gambling charges in China has reinforced the dangers of conducting online credit betting in Asia. ​

Wang fled China for the Philippines this February after local authorities began rounding up members of his illegal online credit betting operation. Following his prolonged and occasionally farcical efforts to sway Philippine immigration authorities to allow him to stay, Wang was escorted back to China this weekend to face his lumps.

Upon Wang’s return, Chinese media began publishing details on a related crackdown in Heilongjiang province involving the Philippines-based ‘Dafa 888′ group. The authorities claimed to have frozen RMB 230m (US $37m) belonging to the operation, which involved gamblers in over 10 provinces. Around 125 individuals connected with the ring have been detained.

The media reports prompted Dafabet’s parent company AsianBGE Ltd, a subsidiary of sports betting technology provider AsianLogic, to issue a statement denying any current connection to Wang, whom they say “severed all ties” with the company in 2012.

Japan gives up casino bill in current session

Japan’s 2020 Olympic casino could be over as lawmakers give up efforts to pass the Promote the Development of Integrated Resorts Bill during the current Diet session.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has decided to sacrifice the bill to make way for other bills such as Legislation for Peace and Security.

In April, the LDP took one more try to bring up the long-delayed casino bill, with the hope that legislators will find time to discuss and approve the bill before the current 150-day ordinary session of Japan’s Diet ends on June 24 but LDP failed again and there is no time frame given for when the legislation may be aired again.

In 2013, Tokyo was announced to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Games, expecting to welcome millions of tourists. Abe saw this as perfect opportunity to try to bring the casino matter to consideration, pointing out that casino would further boost foreign visitors if they were able to place their bets at luxury gambling venues that feature a wide selection of gaming options. This, in turn, would bring the long-awaited economic growth.

Mobile Advertising: What you need to know

There is a growing enthusiasm about mobile optimized ad formats as more people are glued to their mobile phones. In the U.S. alone, mobile has grown faster than all other digital advertising formats. Mobile ad revenues are expected to see a 26.5% compound annual growth rate through 2020. Advertisers spend more money to get in front of the growing class of “mobile-first” users, and are now learning how to effectively use the platform.

As the Internet transitions onto mobile devices, more people are embracing and relying on their devices for information, human connections, entertainment and even daily survival! The growth in the number of smartphone and tablet users has increased the interest to mobile ads as a marketing tool for brands and companies.

If you are one of them, here are four tips you need to know about mobile advertising to help drive your business:

Get moving. Be quick!

SBTech takes a dynamic approach to the in-play experience with the addition of cashout and live-streaming across all verticals

Award-winning in-play innovator SBTech has announced that it will be rolling out fresh cashout features and industry leading live-streaming capabilities to its operators during the third quarter of the year.

The brand new cashout function, which gives players the option to sell their bets back to the operator, is the latest in a series of house-developed solutions to revolutionise the in-play product.

Itai Zak, SBTech’s CEO, said: “With live-streaming and cashout, players can follow the action as it unfolds, changing their betting strategy accordingly. Not only does this encourage a wider outreach and high lifetime value, but it also gives players a real confidence boost.”

As the popularity of in-play betting – with the accompanying thrill of watching the game and making real-time predictions – continues to gain momentum, the firm is also introducing high-quality live-streaming on a huge variety of games. This involves complete technical integration for operators with three of the industry’s leading video-streaming providers.

Full House Resorts wants to bring casino to Indianapolis

Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts is seeking approval to move half of its Rising Star Casino Resort gambling capacity—about 500 slot machines and 15 gambling tables—to a proposed $650-million development at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Full House Resorts wants to bring its gambling business to Indianapolis. The Las Vegas-based casino operator proposed a deal to let its Rising Star Casino move half of its gambling capacity—about 500 slot machines and 15 gambling tables—to Marion County.

In return, Full House will build a $650-million leisure place on a 135-acre parking lot near the old Indianapolis International Airport. The complex, dubbed the “American Place,” will include a 25-villa boutique hotel mainly for “casino high rollers,” a movie theater, a conference center, condominiums and office space, and a high-end creative retail space.

In a statement, Full House Resorts CEO Daniel Lee said the proposed casino resort stands to attract at least 10 million visitors annually, generate $85 million each year in state and local revenues, and create 4,000 permanent jobs.

Pagcor pegs Philippine gaming income at P40.8B for 2015

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is looking at a P40.8 billion ($881.3 million) total gaming revenue for 2015, but the projection is expected to accelerate next year when the City of Dreams enters full operations.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is projecting a small rise in revenue for 2015, but promises that things will be better next year when Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila enters full operations.

Pagcor Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. told local lawmakers the gaming authority is looking at a P40.8 billion ($881.3 million) in total revenues for this year, Business Mirror reported Tuesday.

The state-run gaming firm reported a net income of P293.1 million ($6.33 million) for June 2015, which it said is an increase of more than 200 percent compared to the P96 million ($2.07 million) income from the same period last year.

EiG 2015 to introduce eSports to gambling sector

The annual Exellence in iGaming is just around the corner and this year, it’s gonna be at the Arena Berlin from October 20th-22nd.

The rise of competitive platforms in eSports has seen a number of questions being asked of this contemporary industry. This year, introducing eSports to the gambling sector will be a key theme at EIG 2015.

One of the industry key speakers at the event will be Rahul Sood Co-Founder and CEO of Unikrn—an eSports competitive platfom that plans to lead this exciting and fast growing sector. Sood will detail the progress of the industry, integrity factors and how gambling and eSports can find co-synergies.

The “EiG” acronym has expanded beyond its original “European iGaming Congress” meaning to “Excellence in Gaming” over the fourteen years it’s been in existence. EiG has gone through many changes besides the meaning of its name to keep up with the times, including its location.

Oklahoma Lottery Transfers $2.8 Million More To Education

Officials at the Oklahoma Lottery say they’re transferring $2.8 million more than what was planned to public education. Officials say contributions from the lottery totaled more than $60 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30. More than $685 million has been contributed to education since November 2005.