MGM Resorts International is apparently not buying Philippines’ ‘open for business’ slogan no matter how hard the government sells it.

“Oversaturated” was how MGM Resorts International Senior Vice-President for Global Development Ed Bowers described the Philippine casino market when asked the reason why the Las Vegas-based casino operator was not interested in opening an integrated resort in the country.

Bowers said that it is in the best interest of the company to skip the Southeast Asian island nation amid the intensifying competition among casinos in Manila’s Entertainment City.

It’s no secret that the Philippines is hoping to capture a slice of the world’s casino market.

Shares of Philippine-listed Melco Crown Philippines Resorts Corp. are selling like hotcakes these past few months as a result of warming relationship between Beijing and Manila.

Melco Philippines shares are so in demand that Bloomberg declared it as the best-performing casino stock in the world. The business news agency reported that shares of Melco Philippines jumped 122 percent as mainland Chinese high rollers descend upon the Southeast Asian island nation.

The casino operator also recorded the steepest gains with an estimated market value of US$500 million – beating other casino operators. This was a turnaround in the 83 percent shares slump in 2015, at the height of Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign.

But what is driving the bull run that sends Melco Philippines’ eight times more than other casino stocks in the world?

Asia’s growing interest in domestic and international football competitions holds the key for daily fantasy sports success in the region, which is considered to be the “promised land” for platform providers like Oulala.

The Malta-based company is testing the Asian waters and keeping a keen eye on China’s potential to become the biggest market for fantasy sports in the world.

“Asia is a promise land. We know that it’s going to be probably the next biggest market for daily fantasy sports,” Oulala CEO Valery Bollier told CalvinAyre.com at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia conference in Macau. “Asia, with the numbers of customers and fans that are looking at European football, it’s going to be quite amazing.”

After Chinese President Xi Jinping made it clear that he is hoping to start the country’s rise as a football power, investments have started pouring in to contribute to China’s growing interest for domestic football as well as other national and international competitions, particularly European tournaments.

The price of bitcoin hit a record of $1,880 during Thursday’s trading as investors look for safety amid reports of potential political scandals in the United States and Brazil.

The digital currency rose 3.5 percent as major stock markets dropped in the last two days following reports of political chaos, particularly in the United States. This week, reports surfaced that U.S. President Donald Trump might face legal issues after he asked recently fired FBI director James Comey to “let go” of the investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

In Brazil, the Bovespa dropped more the 8 percent on Thursday—it’s worst day since October 2008—following allegations that Brazilian President Michel Temer discussed bribing ex-House Speaker Eduardo Cunha to stop him from testifying in a major corruption case. Temer said he will not resign and plans to prove his innocence in the Supreme Court, according to reports.

Aside from political scandals, analysts also credited the increased demand from Japan and South Korea for driving bitcoin’s price higher. Bitcoin trade volume in Japan rose from 36 percent to about 40 percent, while South Korea saw its bitcoin trade volume increase to about 5.6 percent from roughly 5 percent.

Police in India have arrested a notorious online gambling boss whose operations reportedly generated turnover of $31m per year.

On Wednesday, police arrested Ramesh Chaurasia, the founder and boss of Game King Private Limited, which controls gaming parlors throughout the country that ostensibly offer non-gambling games via computer terminals, but which actually offer real-money gambling services. Chaurasia (the glum fellow pictured in white) also controls a network of computers set up in other, nondescript retail businesses across seven Indian states.

Acting on a tip, police in Indore, the largest city in Madhya Pradesh state, raided a business bearing the innocuous name of Mahinder Tour and Travel and Cyber Café, where they discovered six computers set up to allow players to gamble on roulette and other casino games. In addition to Chaurasia, police detained six other individuals, some of whom were apparently only customers.

Chaurasia’s operation was also involved in remote gambling, and once customers had registered in person, they could then gamble from anywhere via their mobile phone or desktop computers. Collection of debts and payment of winnings was handled in person through agents, like a traditional credit betting operation.

Latin America is a market of great potential for the gambling industry and local stakeholders are eager to learn about regulatory and operational best practices.  Clarion recognized a need for an event catering specifically to senior level gambling professionals focused on the Latin American and Caribbean markets and after months of research, Juegos Miami was born.

Now in its second year, Juegos Miami will return to The Biltmore from May 31st until June 2nd with a larger presence and a learning program crafted to address the latest issues in the market.  I spoke with Kate Chambers, Managing Director of Clarion Gaming, to get a few more details on how the event has grown and developed since its first installment one year ago.

Becky Liggero: Thank you for joining me today, Kate.  As an invite-only event, Juegos Miami has a different format and feel than most other Clarion conferences. Can you highlight some of these main differences and why they are well-suited for Juegos Miami?

Kate Chambers: Whenever I’m asked to explain Juegos Miami, I inevitably use the description offered by Charles Hiten, Chief Executive, Merkur Gaming Americas, who said it was ‘not a trade show, not a conference, not a networking opportunity, with a strong social aspect, but all of those things wrapped into one package.’

Contrary to reports, the government of Macau has yet to decide on how the renewal process for concession licenses in the gambling hub will be handled, according to market research firm Union Gaming Securities Asia.

A Chinese-language media outlet recently reported that Macau’s gaming concessionaires may have to rebid for their licenses, potentially as some sort of public tender. The report was based on a short statement made by DICJ chief Paulo Martins Chan, who told reporters at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia conference that the government will announce details on the possible refreshment “in the proper time.” Chan’s brief statement did not include a timeline or any details on the process.

Things are fine

Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen downplayed the report, stressing that there is no upcoming public tender process for Macau gaming license holders—aka the Big 6 operators—as the government “has yet to come to any conclusions on how to best go about renewals at this point.”

Florida’s state Supreme Court has ruled that pari-mutuel dog and horseracing operators don’t have the right to launch slot machine operations without state approval.

On Thursday, the state’s highest court unanimously rejected a lawsuit filed by the operators of Gretna Racing, who had claimed that a voter-supported referendum in Gadsden County had cleared the way for the track to add slot machines to its gaming options.

Under existing state law, pari-mutuel slots operations are confined to Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Legislators have attempted multiple times to shake up the state’s gaming market but always failed to reach consensus, with the most recent effort going down to defeat earlier this month, largely due to the House of Representatives balking at Senate plans to authorize slots operations at tracks and jai-alai frontons in eight additional counties.

Justice Charles Canady, who wrote the Court’s 6-0 ruling, states that expanding gaming operations via a referendum requires “statutory or constitutional authorization” and such authorization was “nowhere to be found’ in this case. Canady said “a county cannot initiate a referendum that will authorize the [Florida Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering] to issue a license any more than the county could itself issue a slot machine gaming license.”

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings (IPI) is trying hard to convince the local government that it already pays enough taxes, thank you very much.

On Tuesday, IPI got one step closer to launching gaming operations at its in-development permanent gaming venue, the Imperial Pacific Resort, via a conditional certificate of occupancy issued by the Department of Public Works.

The DPW certificate essentially states that it doesn’t believe any gamblers will be harmed by falling masonry or the like, which wasn’t necessarily a given after all the bad press stemming from the work site’s dodgy safety record. The only remaining hurdle that IPI has to clear is to ask for and receive official clearance from the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC).

In the meantime, IPI has launched a pre-emptive strike against any move to impose new gaming revenue taxes on its operations. The original 40-year exclusive casino deal that IPI struck with Saipan in 2014 called for the company to pay a $15m annual license fee but legislators are considering a new bill that would impose a 5% tax on IPI’s gaming revenue.