Germany’s 16 länder (states) have approved the latest version of the country’s federal gambling treaty, although the move only postpones the larger decisions that still have to be made.

On Thursday, the heads of the 16 states held their latest conference in Berlin, where they voted in favor of extending the current ‘toleration’ of sports betting operations until June 30, 2021. Operators will be able to apply for licenses later this year, and these stopgap permits are expected to be issued starting January 1, 2020.

However, the new treaty will need to be approved by the European Commission, which has taken a dim view of Germany’s previous efforts at liberalizing its betting market. While Germany has agreed to scrap the 2012 treaty’s controversial cap on the number of licenses, the new treaty retains its equally controversial ban on online casino products.

The northern state of Schleswig-Holstein (S-H) differed from the other länder through its issue of a couple dozen online casino licenses seven years ago. These licenses have since expired, but S-H’s governing coalition recently introduced legislation that will extend the validity of these licenses to the June 30, 2021 expiration of the current stopgap treaty, with an idea that some nationwide consensus on the casino question can be achieved by that time.

The Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) is pretty happy with the effort they’ve put into regulating and cracking down on internationally-licensed operators. The Philippine Inquirer reports there are now under 200 licensed outfits, as opposed to the almost 30,000 unlicensed operations from a few years ago.

This is partly thanks to a recently coordinated inter-agency task force, with PAGCOR and the Philippine National Police (PNP), which has targeted and raided operations suspected of operating illegally. They do so with President Rodrigo Duterte’s blessing, as he admittedly hates gambling. “We are serious about implementing President Duterte’s directive to stamp out illegal online gambling,” PAGCOR chairwoman Andrea Domingo told reporters.

PAGCOR’s revenues has correspondingly gone up. Before the agency took over licensing international outfits, they netted PHP56 million (US$1.07 million) in revenue. Since the introduction of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) license, they are now bringing in PHP6 billion (US$110 million).

A common scenario for an unlicensed operation is to operate out of a home or apartment unit, typically with former employees of legitimate firms, and often with undocumented foreigners. The job of the task force in shutting these firms down has been complicated by Duterte’s inconsistent stance on Chinese undocumented immigrants, as he has recently argued giving them leniency if caught, for fear of Chinese reprisals on immigrants from the Philippines.

The ASEAN Gaming Summit 2019 roundtable discussion on Asia sports betting gave a world tour on the topic, and gave insight on how the Asian region really has an outsized influence on the market.

The discussion was led by John English, managing director of Sports Betting & Technology for Global Market advisors. Contributing quite a lot to the discussion were Pablo Bermudez, operations manager for Betcris, and Michael Maerz, managing director Asia for Sportsradar. Also joining the discussion was Paul Fox, CEO of LeTou.

Fox noted right away that there’s a lot at stake for the sports betting market with the political outcomes of the UK. Regardless of how Brexit goes, if Labour returns to power and puts in more stringent advertising gambling advertising laws, that could affect how the industry promotes itself quite a bit. He stressed though that Asian advertisers, who can often be noticed on sideline LED panels, may be exempt if the government recognizes they are not targeting UK punters.

The discussion then swung to China. The Chinese market, especially for lotteries, is still heavily restricted, but one participant noted that black market operators are getting rich flouting those laws.

Pennsylvania introduced legalized sports gambling late last year and the move appears to be paying off, at least for one casino in the state. March Madness, the name given to the basketball tournament of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is underway and Rivers Casino has already seen an impressive amount of action.

According to the Pittsburgh casino’s director of sports relations, Jimmy Vaccaro, “This has been nonstop already. I knew it would be good, and I’ll say right now I think it’ll be better than I anticipated.” He adds that there are 12 self-serve kiosks located in the venue and explains, “I was there for three hours [Tuesday], and there was never any time where there was one kiosk that wasn’t being used. It’s steady, it just keeps coming, it’s a lot more than I thought I would be.”

Rivers Casino launched its sportsbook on December 13 of last year after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved its license request in October. The Rush Street Gaming-owned property is one of the most recent venues to launch the activity and has since – along with Rush Street’s SugarHouse – been giving Penn National a run for its money in the state.

The NCAA’s March Madness is the most active among sports gambling event after the NFL Super Bowl. In Pennsylvania, about one of every five residents is expected to either place a bet or make a bracket during the tournament this year. As more states embrace the sports gambling industry, it is going to help bring a significant amount of revenue, previously lost to either Nevada or off-shore gambling sites.

In 2001, Nevada lawmakers passed a measure that allowed large corporate users, such as casinos, to switch from utility company NV Energy to alternative providers if the switch, according to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC), wouldn’t impact public interest. The switch would incur an “exit fee” established by the commission, which is used to compensate the utility’s residential customers for NV Energy’s investments. Now, the utility company is looking for larger exit fees in a move that could described as a method of extortion to coerce companies into not switching.

Last week, NV Energy delivered its “alternative impact analysis” to the PUC, arguing that the formula used to calculate the exit fee needs to be changed. It also said that the company stands to lose millions of dollars as more industrial and large commercial customers switch if the formula isn’t changed.

The utility asserted that its remaining customer base would be forced to pay base rates that are $17 million higher during the next general review proceeding and $30.3 million more in the proceeding that follows if the PUC doesn’t allow an update to the formula.

In order to alleviate the problem, NV Energy wants the exit fee increased from its current six-year assessment to 18 years. It is also requesting that the PUC change the timeframe for non-bypassable charges from six years, its current level, to nine years.

It’s your birthday and grandma just gave you a little birthday cash, but you don’t know where to spend it. The Venetian Resort Las Vegas has the perfect answer – a complete VIP package that includes a private jet, a four-night luxurious vacation and much more. Of course, grandma’s gift needs to be more than just a couple of dollars, as the package “starts at” $450,000.

According to Casino.org, the “Want the World” package is meant to be over the top and certainly isn’t for everyone – there are at least 450,000 other things that would be better used by the money. It “provides an experience where no whim is too wild and every desire is anticipated” and includes private jet transportation to McCarran International Airport, luxury ground transportation to the resort in a Maybach, four nights in Venetian’s presidential suite (complete with private butler) and more. The resort doesn’t say whether or not it includes any free gambling markers but, at that price, it could afford to give away a few hundred dollars.

Casino.org has compiled a list of how to blow money in Vegas. Among the options are a $5,000 hamburger at Fleur in Mandalay Bay (to be fair, it’s served with foie gras and black truffles) and, for $250,000, guests can control the fountains at MGM’s Bellagio. MGM is nice enough to throw in a 30-liter bottle of Ace of Spades. The Palms has a new Empathy Suite, 9,000 square feet of luxury accommodations for $100,000 a night. It includes a chauffeured car, a 24-hour butler and $10,000 in credit to use at the resort.

Not everything is over the top in Sin City. Timed properly, there are plenty of opportunities to visit the city for much less. Casino.org points out that it reviewed room rates and discovered that a hotel room on the Vegas Strip – specifically at MGM’s Circus Circus – can be had for about $34. Not a bad deal; however, that rate doesn’t include resort fees or taxes. Tacking those on and the rate goes from $34 to $75.24.

The work on NagaCorp’s Naga Vladivostok integrated resort (IR) in Russia continues and the Hong-Kong listed company expects to have the first phase construction completely wrapped up by the end of next year. The company shared its update with Inside Asian Gaming and shows a deviation from the original schedule, which had the venue completed by sometime this year.

No firm date has been issued for the grand opening of the project. The company had previously stated, in its 2018 financial report, that the IR remained “broadly on schedule for completion in 2019” after it delayed a previous 2018 launch. The 279-room hotel appears to be more difficult than anticipated and the IR’s contractor has had to revise the construction schedule.

Naga Vladivostok is going to be a 592,000-square foot property in the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone (PRIE). It is expected to include a multi-purpose facility measuring 21,500 square feet and the second phase of the project, which includes a water park and outdoor pool, is meant to be completed sometime in 2022.

Phase One construction has been delayed due to archeological digs taking place on the site. About 40% of the area impacted by the digs has been complete, meaning there is still another 60% remaining. On a positive note, all the piling and substructure work for the complex is now complete and 30-40% of the superstructure is in place.

Asia Pioneer Entertainment (APE), the electronic gaming equipment distributor out of Macau, did well for itself last year. The company has released its financial report for 2018 and certainly has the right to gloat a little about its performance. Net profit for the year increased by 361% year-on-year, reaching US$2.63 million.

The company’s improved performance came as it saw increased activity throughout Southeast Asia, primarily in the Philippines and Cambodia. APE’s largest division, technical sales and distribution, reported a year-on-year decrease of 10%, but two lease deals in those two countries are worth a combined $3.87 million.

APE reported that its revenue increased 27% over 2017, coming in at $13.96 million. This includes $8.359 million from technical sales and distribution, $1.083 million from technical service and consultancy, $471,480 from spare parts sales and $318.567 from the sale of refurbished electronic gaming machines.

Markets in Southeast Asia will continue to be a primary target for the company throughout this year. APE indicates that these “are growing quicker than Macau” in terms of activity.

A number of casino dealers in Las Vegas have decided to switch alliances and are giving up their partnership with the Transportation Workers Union (TWU). They have agreed to join the Union of Automobile Workers (UAW), also known as the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, one of the largest and oldest unions in the country.

Casino workers employed at four venues – Wynn, Harrah’s, Bally’s and Paris – voted to make the move, which was brought about, in part, by the TWU’s decision to return to its core transportation roots. The UAW represents over 8,000 casino employees currently and has more than 400,000 members total.

In a statement on the UAW website, company president Gary Jones stated, “We welcome our new UAW sisters and brothers to the UAW family. Gaming dealers at Bally’s, Harrah’s, Paris and the Wynn will now join the over 8,000 UAW members in Casino’s across the country. We expect another successful vote from Caesars’ workers next week. With these votes, the UAW is proud to have organized almost 9,000 new members since June of 2018.”

Vance Person, the UAW Region 5 Director, adds, “Today’s vote gives the gaming workers at Bally’s, Harrah’s, Paris and the Wynn a strong voice in their workplace. We welcome our newest members into UAW Region 5 and we want our new brothers and sisters to know that the over 400,000 members of the UAW and over 8,000 fellow UAW casino workers have their backs at the negotiating table.”