Philippine-listed Bloomberry Resorts Corp.’s reported net loss for 2015 has reached PHP3.375 billion (US$52.8 million).

In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the casino operator said the net loss—compared with the net profit of PHP4.07 billion from previous year—was due to “interest expenses and additional loan drawdowns made during the year,” and also because the company’s Sky Tower construction faced “large increases in depreciation and amortization.”

Sky Tower is Bloomberry’s latest addition to its Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, Philippines. The company also operates the Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino in South Korea’s Jeju Island.

Bloomberry said its total revenues grew 7 percent from PHP32.11 billion in the previous year to PHP34.36 billion in 2015. However, the company’s total expenses also spiked by as much as 51 percent year-on-year—from PHP17.64 billion to PHP26.66 billion.

A fresh fight is looming between James Packer’s Crown Resorts and rival The Star Entertainment Group.

Last week, reports surfaced that Crown was holding secret talks regarding a contract that will see the casino company operate Chinese-backed ASF consortium’s new $2 billion casino in Queensland.

The Star, refusing to be left behind in the battle to become Australia’s top casino operator, is also negotiating its own deal with state-owned giant China Travel Service, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to the report, The Star is allegedly already “in the final stages of agreeing a deal with China Travel service.” The government-run tourism and travel agency has offices in mainland China and Hong Kong, which could prove lucrative for the Australian casino operator.

A fresh fight is looming between James Packer’s Crown Resorts and rival The Star Entertainment Group.

Last week, reports surfaced that Crown was holding secret talks regarding a contract that will see the casino company operate Chinese-backed ASF consortium’s new $2 billion casino in Queensland.

The Star, refusing to be left behind in the battle to become Australia’s top casino operator, is also negotiating its own deal with state-owned giant China Travel Service, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to the report, The Star is allegedly already “in the final stages of agreeing a deal with China Travel service.” The government-run tourism and travel agency has offices in mainland China and Hong Kong, which could prove lucrative for the Australian casino operator.

This is the third instalment of Martin Owens’ Need for Gambling reform Series. You can read part one here and part two here. If you’re interested in having your opinions and ideas published on CalvinAyre.com please contact Bill Beatty.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest”

 Eli Weisel

Three US states have approved online gambling for their residents. Elsewhere in America, however, the effort to expand gambling online is stalling and flailing. But why? Simply put, it’s because gaming interests, including the customers, have not really stood up for themselves. Are the authorities resorting to unjustified, egregious overreaching, even to the point of violating constitutional guarantees? The answer is yes, but one of the oldest principles of the law is: silence indicates that you approve, or at least consent. Simply put, we are not hearing more about gambling expansion and reform because the people’s representatives are not hearing from the people. And that has to change.

This is a guest contribution by Andrew Egan, writer and editor who covers high risk payment processing including Bitcoin processing on behalf of Soar Payments. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Traditional payment processing is built on the payment processor / bank sponsor model, in which merchants and their transactions are facilitated by payment processors, but ultimately underwritten by the processor’s sponsor bank. This bank sponsor oriented model, which dates back to the origins of Visa and MasterCard, has virtually ensured that risk aversion has taken precedence over payments innovation and technology adoption in the payments industry.

That is not to say, however, that established payment processors and their banks are entirely immune to market pressure, but rather that the case for new technology and payment type adoption must be extremely strong before a large processor will take the leap. To that end, the case for accepting Bitcoins for payment processors has, over the last year, become so strong that it is my contention that it is virtually inevitable that 2016 will see significant increases in payment processor incorporation of bitcoin processing into their platforms.

In this article, I have outlined four stat based arguments that make a strong case for payment processors that have heretofore been on the sidelines, that the business opportunity virtually mandates that they begin accepting bitcoins in 2016.

This is a guest contribution by Andrew Egan, writer and editor who covers high risk payment processing including Bitcoin processing on behalf of Soar Payments. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Traditional payment processing is built on the payment processor / bank sponsor model, in which merchants and their transactions are facilitated by payment processors, but ultimately underwritten by the processor’s sponsor bank. This bank sponsor oriented model, which dates back to the origins of Visa and MasterCard, has virtually ensured that risk aversion has taken precedence over payments innovation and technology adoption in the payments industry.

That is not to say, however, that established payment processors and their banks are entirely immune to market pressure, but rather that the case for new technology and payment type adoption must be extremely strong before a large processor will take the leap. To that end, the case for accepting Bitcoins for payment processors has, over the last year, become so strong that it is my contention that it is virtually inevitable that 2016 will see significant increases in payment processor incorporation of bitcoin processing into their platforms.

In this article, I have outlined four stat based arguments that make a strong case for payment processors that have heretofore been on the sidelines, that the business opportunity virtually mandates that they begin accepting bitcoins in 2016.