Since the beginning of the year, a number of casino operators on Macau have announced pay raises for employees. On Monday, SJM Holdings Ltd announced that they would be doing so as well, announcing that they would be providing a raise of between 2.5% and 8.3% to employees.

While the statement did not specify how many employees would be receiving a pay increase, it is expected that all non-executive staff members will be included. Those employees who are earning a monthly salary at or below MOP16,000 were expected to see an increase of anywhere from 3.7% up to as much as 8.3%. Those earning more than MOP16,000 would fall on the lower end of the percentage increase.

This is not the only announcement provided by SJM. In addition, the company announced that the local government had extended gaming concessions for SJM that were set to expire at the end of 2020. The extension allowed them to continue operations until June 2022.

SJM also announced that their new Cotai casino would provide as many as 8000 jobs upon its completion. No specific date was provided of exactly when the casino would open, but the Grand Lisboa Palace is expected to be completed in the first half of this year. The construction work on the project appears to be on time, so there could be a summer opening.

The future of gambling is going to have several game changing super forces to manage and capitalize on. Jay Walker, chairman of Walker Digital, and Earle Hall, CEO of AXESNetwork, spoke about these forces at the ASEAN Gaming Summit 2019, held again this year in Manila.

Both men spoke on the topic of future technologies, and what they will mean to the world and gambling. Walker used his key note speech to talk about six super forces that are guaranteed to change the world in ways that only a few of us can really imagine yet. Hall focused hard on blockchain technology, and the do’s and don’ts for operators, regulators and vendors who are considering adopting the technology.

New horizons for technology

Ten super forces will change the way we live, work and play, Walker told the audience. In no particular order, they were: Machine learning, wearable devices, improving data networks, feedback learning loops, synthetic biology, a second industrial revolution, nanotechnology, robotics, urbanization, and a growing middle class.

Cambodia’s gaming market is unlike any other in the world. As a monopoly with easily identifiable risks, until this year it was basically a unipolar investment in Nagacorp almost entirely dependent on tourist flows from China to Phnom Penh. The more people that come to Cambodia, particularly megarich Chinese VIPs, the more money Nagacorp makes. As long as the tourist flows keep increasing, the value of the stock would rise, and so it has. Up 216% since June 2017 and 30% year to date, the stock is on fire. It looks much more risky now than the last time it was covered here.

Back in 2015 I called it a good 5-year hold for a small position:

Overall, NagaCorp is a good pick for a small position as a long term investment, say a 5 year hold. You’ll get high dividends, possibly a nice chunk of capital growth, but positions need to be slowly scaled in on dips.…NagaCorp should grow nicely from 2016 through 2020 as it absorbs more of the Macau junket market and expands. Just keep an eye on the monopoly issue, which shouldn’t become a problem in the foreseeable future, but is something to keep an eye on.

 It’s now 4 years later, the stock has climbed 62% plus dividends totaling 62 cents a share since then on what was around an 82 cent stock. That’s an additional 76% income gain. Looking at the risk concentrations here, profits should be taken on half of the position at least and stops placed for the rest. While it is true that Nagacorp risk has been diversified thanks to its opening up business in Russia later this year, in many other ways risks have increased significantly in its main Cambodian market, which is primarily the Chinese VIP market, primarily. This market could keep growing thanks to continued tourism growth, but the tailrisk is large enough to lock in profits and seek other opportunities.

Cambodia’s gaming market is unlike any other in the world. As a monopoly with easily identifiable risks, until this year it was basically a unipolar investment in Nagacorp almost entirely dependent on tourist flows from China to Phnom Penh. The more people that come to Cambodia, particularly megarich Chinese VIPs, the more money Nagacorp makes. As long as the tourist flows keep increasing, the value of the stock would rise, and so it has. Up 216% since June 2017 and 30% year to date, the stock is on fire. It looks much more risky now than the last time it was covered here.

Back in 2015 I called it a good 5-year hold for a small position:

Overall, NagaCorp is a good pick for a small position as a long term investment, say a 5 year hold. You’ll get high dividends, possibly a nice chunk of capital growth, but positions need to be slowly scaled in on dips.…NagaCorp should grow nicely from 2016 through 2020 as it absorbs more of the Macau junket market and expands. Just keep an eye on the monopoly issue, which shouldn’t become a problem in the foreseeable future, but is something to keep an eye on.

 It’s now 4 years later, the stock has climbed 62% plus dividends totaling 62 cents a share since then on what was around an 82 cent stock. That’s an additional 76% income gain. Looking at the risk concentrations here, profits should be taken on half of the position at least and stops placed for the rest. While it is true that Nagacorp risk has been diversified thanks to its opening up business in Russia later this year, in many other ways risks have increased significantly in its main Cambodian market, which is primarily the Chinese VIP market, primarily. This market could keep growing thanks to continued tourism growth, but the tailrisk is large enough to lock in profits and seek other opportunities.

Iowa continues to make progress toward launching legal sports gambling in the state. This past February, a state Senate committee passed Senate Bill 1168 (SB 1168), which would authorize casinos to run sportsbooks and offer mobile betting, and another bill, House Bill 648 (HB 648), is making progress, as well.

HB 648 has passed a vote by a subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee yesterday after a few changes were made to the bill’s language. It survived by a 4-1 margin and will now go before the full committee tomorrow. It isn’t expected to meet any resistance and, according to Representative Bobby Kaufmann, the bill’s author, should be ready for consideration and approval by the House in the first week of next month.

Kaufmann explained to Legal Sports Report, “I think the momentum is on our side,” Kaufmann said. “I know it’s a priority among leadership of both chambers to get this done. I’m shepherding it through and making the changes I have to make. I’m very confident in getting this done and think we have the wind at our backs.”

When the bill goes before the Ways and Means Committee tomorrow, it will include several alterations. No in-game bets on Iowa collegiate players will be allowed and, of the 6.75% tax on gross gaming revenue, 0.25% will go toward creating programs to prevent problem gaming. HB 648 also now includes a requirement that would force gamblers to register in person to establish mobile accounts and changes a subsidy paid by Prairie Meadows. That facility currently gives 11% of its revenue to subsidize its live horseracing program and that subsidy would be applicable to sports gambling revenue as well.

The idea that Caesars might be seriously exploring the option of offering its hand in a marriage of casino operators continues to make headlines. Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor who seems to be purchasing a larger piece of the company on a weekly basis, fully supports a merger and there is now talk that the casino company could be negotiating a deal with Eldorado Resorts. If the two companies decide to partner up, it would result in the creation of a $9-billion gambling empire that could potentially rule the U.S. casino market.

According to an exclusive report by Reuters, unnamed sources have indicated that the two companies are currently holding talks on a potential merger. Those sources state that Caesars has already turned over certain financial data to Eldorado in order to allow the latter to conduct due diligence ahead of any deal.

Eldorado hasn’t yet made a binding offer and there is no guarantee that it will. However, if Caesars has, in fact, presented information to the company, it is a strong indication that the gambling powerhouse is taking the idea of a merger more seriously than ever.

Eldorado owns and operates 26 properties in 12 states. It recently acquired Tropicana Entertainment in a deal worth $1.85 billion, expanding its portfolio into Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Nevada. Tropicana was previously owned by Icahn Enterprises, a company founded by Carl Icahn.

A rumor began circulating recently that Intralot, a gaming operator out of Greece, was discussing a possible merger with Greek IT and telecom holding company Intracom. It appears that whoever started the rumor has too much free time on his hands and needs a new hobby, as both companies have publicly – and independently – come forward to deny the rumors.

According to Greek media outlet Kathimerini, both companies released separate statements last week that asserted that the rumors do not “correspond to reality.” They added that they have always – and will always – immediately disclose information about events or situations that could impact their respective company’s shares, given that both are publicly traded entities.

The rumor began after it was revealed that Intralot had lost a gaming concession in Turkey to Scientific Games and the merger would have reportedly helped it reestablish its market position. The company has seen its bond’s nominal value slide this year, as well as its credit rating.

Both Intralot and Intracom were founded by Sokratis Kokkalis, a Greek businessman who is still the majority shareholder of both entities. He became the CEO of Intralot earlier this month when he replaced Antonios Kerastaris, who was relieved of his duties for not doing a better job at retaining the Turkish concession to offer sports betting technology to state-owned Iddaa.

Donaco International, an operator of casinos throughout Asia, has ousted its CEO. Joey Lim Keong Yew has been officially removed from his position “with immediate effect,” but will remain on the company’s board as a non-executive director. His brother, Ben Lim Keong Hoe, is going to continue as the interim CEO and managing director, roles he was given when Joey Lim exited due to illness this past December.

Joey Lim has been on sick leave since December 6 last year. At the time, he was serving as managing director and CEO and was expected to only be away for about three months.

The Lim brothers, according to a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange from last October, controlled about 41.13% of Donaco. However, this changed earlier this month when it was announced that a 27% stake previously held by the Lim family had been sold. That deal saw Vincent Prinina and Mitchell Mansfield appointed as “joint and several receivers of approximately 224 shares” in Donaco. It wasn’t clear whether or not that stake was held directly by the Lim brothers, or by an entity controlled by the Lim family.

Donaco is now searching for a permanent CEO to replace Ben Lim and the board is preparing to launch a recruitment action to find the ideal candidate.

The Venetian Macao casino resort is going to be attacked this Friday. Fortunately, it’s only a simulation drill that is being organized by the city in order for the police and public-sector departments, as well as the casino, to understand how best to respond to a real attack.

Among those set to participate are the Judiciary Police, the Public Security Police, the Fire Services Bureau and the Customs Service. The exercise will be coordinated by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym) and the Unitary Police Service. The UPS issued a press release on the exercise, which it has dubbed Wolf Hunting 2019, adding that the Venetian was chosen, in part, due to its proximity to the barracks of the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military branch.

The drill is meant to simulate an assault on the Venetian led by armed assailants. It will include fake bomb threats and injuries, as well as hostage-taking exercises.

This will be the second attack exercise held for the Macau gaming sector in the past 14 months. In January of last year, the city conducted a similar drill at the Galaxy Macau, which is located in front of the Venetian.

A trio of Unibet laced stories with the team picking up three nominations in the forthcoming Global Poker Awards and successful lower stakes tournaments in Milton Keynes and Lyon.

Outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Poker Tour (WPT), Triton Poker Series, partypoker MILLIONS, PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT), there are a myriad of live tours that exist in the long tail, rarely struck by light, so it’s a treat for Unibet to have five minutes in the heat this week.

More than 130+ key poker personnel have recognised the vital role that Unibet play in the poker ecosystem after being nominated for three Global Poker Awards this week.

The Unibet Open will compete with 888Live, RUNGOOD Poker Series, WPTDeepStacks and the WSOP Circuit for the Mid-Major Tour/Circuit trophy. The last Unibet Open took place in Sinai, Romania where Martin Soukoup became the third person to win two Unibet Open titles, beating a 366-entrant field to capture the €71,000 first prize.

The Latvian, Vitalijs Zavorotnijs, has won the record-breaking World Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event beating 1,227-entrants to bank the €600,000 first prize as the partnership of partypoker and the WPT crush the €3m guarantee.

Vitalijs Zavorotnijs has taken a hit of the poker bong.

It feels good, damn good, and he will want some more.

At the start of the year, Zavorotnijs won the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em King’s of Tallinn Main Event in the Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn, Estonia, beating 375-entrants to capturing the €85,300 first prize.