Macau is starting to seriously consider ways it can either reduce, or profit off of, it’s flood of new tourists. The autonomous region’s government is now considering a tourist tax, reports GGRAsia.

The idea was announced by Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, bureau head of Macao Government Tourism Office. She said, “We are conducting a comparative study of [tourist] taxes being implemented in places like Venice [in Italy]… and Japan.”

The purpose of the study, at least for now, is to understand why those locations put tourist taxes in place, and what benefits they’ve realized as a result. She noted though that those jurisdictions were not looking to curb visitor volume, but rather to increase tax revenue for development.

Following the news, MGM China Holdings CEO Grant Bowie declared that if a tourist tax should be put in place, the revenues from it should be used to promote additional tourism. He said, “Frankly, I think the government of Macau is particularly fortunate and has a very sustainable and solid financial position at this point in time.”

Virginia is closer than ever to seeing casinos dot its landscape. Last Friday, Governor Ralph Northam gave his signature to Senate Bill 1126 (SB 1126), which opens the doors to legalized gambling houses in Old Dominion. However, there is still more work to be done.

SB 1126 allows host cities to hold votes to authorize casinos in their back yards. Because of voting schedules, any possibility for referendums to be included on ballots won’t happen until November of next year at the earliest.

The bill authorizes the state’s Lottery Board to oversee gambling and start the process to have referendums appear on the ballots. It also orders a comprehensive study to determine the fiscal and social impact of casino legalization, which is due by the end of this December. Virginia’s lawmakers will most likely have to revisit the bill following the submission of that study and vote again during the next legislative session.

This past January, Northam stated, “We just want to be responsible and do it the right way. The reason I’m open-minded is we have a lot of resources and a lot of people in Virginia that go to other states. If that’s something that they enjoy, we would like to keep that revenue here in Virginia. If we do that, we want to do it correctly.”

Major sportsbook DraftKings has outgrown its current digs in Boston. It has had to relocate its headquarters to a larger building, but asserts that it is committed to maintaining the city as its home. The new location will be unveiled on Tuesday (March 26) in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the new spaces.

DraftKings first announced that it needed new facilities early last year. Its new space is almost twice as large as its previous headquarters and comprises a total of 105,000 square feet new Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. Its previous headquarters was located close to South Station.

DraftKings first launched operations in 2012 and quickly ramped up its activities in the daily fantasy sports (DFS) market to become one of Boston’s largest tech companies. It has continued to expand over the years and, after the U.S. Supreme Court axed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) last May, has seen a number of new deals, including new operations in New Jersey and Mississippi.

Early last year, the company employed about 425 employees. It has plans to expand the workforce to over 700, of which 600 will be based in Boston.

In 2017, Macau had to face Typhoon Hato, one of the strongest storms to hit the city in the past 50 years. In September of last year, Typhoon Mangkhut roared through the area, unleashing its fury and forcing all casinos to shut down. Now, another massive typhoon could hit the region again this year, according to Macau’s weather service, the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (MMGB).

The MMGB issued an assessment on Monday, warning that Macau could see another “super typhoon” this year. It didn’t specify whether or not the storm would become a category 10 typhoon, but the implication that a major disruption of activity in the city was emphasized.

Four to six typhoons are expected to reach as close as a 500-mile radius to Macau, according to the bureau. The first storm could come as earlier as mid-June and the season will continue until early October. This window coincides with the window established by the UN’s World Meteorological Bureau, which specifies the typhoon season as May to November.

A mild category eight typhoon can result in the closure of certain activities in Macau, such as public transportation. This can have an impact on the overall daily gross gaming revenue for the city’s casinos, as gamblers from mainland China and abroad lose access to the gambling venues during the transportation stoppage.

The New England region of the U.S. is beginning to see a lot of sports gambling interest. If things go well, New Hampshire could soon be the second state in the region to legalize the activity. A bill that would authorize regulated sports gambling is making its way through the legislative obstacle course and, if it clears the Senate, will be able to move forward at a rapid pace.

House Bill 480 (HB 480) has already found majority support in the New Hampshire House. The legislative body voted on the bill last week, approving it by 269-82. The next step is for it to be passed off to the Senate and, if approved there, be sent to Governor Chris Sununu for his signature.

Sununu is not expected to put up any resistance. He has already said that he would most likely support sports gambling legislation in order to boost the state’s economy, and said last month that the revenue to the state from the activity is part of his annual budget.

HB 480 authorizes retail and mobile betting. Retail would allow towns, if they choose, to develop sportsbooks at existing commercial locations, including at resorts and bars. The bill would allow a maximum of ten venues across the state. Bets would be allowed on professional and college games, but wagers on local teams would be off limits.

As MGM continues to build its case to compete for one of the three licenses to be issued in Japan’s integrated resort (IR) industry, it has announced a new partner to help smooth the bidding process. MGM has teamed up with ORIX, a Japanese financial services firm, to create the first Japan IR consortium as competition begins to heat up.

MGM has long asserted that it is a prime candidate for a Japanese IR and that Osaka would be the perfect location. The company’s CEO, Jim Murren, has reiterated the position consistently over the past several months and, during a trip to Japan last week, acknowledged to Bloomberg that the company is going to direct all its efforts in being chosen as the casino operator in the city.

ORIX announced the partnership last Friday, stating that it would receive an equity stake in the consortium. The amount to be provided by either MGM or ORIX in the deal has not been released; however, there are indications that the two parties will receive equal shares through the agreement.

In its announcement on Friday, ORIX indicated that the partnership was established last December, but that the two entities intentionally waited until now to make the news public. An official memorandum of understanding has reportedly been signed, according to GamblingCompliance.

As Genting Bhd subsidiary Genting Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) continues construction of the Las Vegas venue by the same name, Fitch Ratings has issued the subsidiary a senior unsecured rating of “A-.” The firm sees a stable outlook for the company and its development and issued an “A-(EXP)” expected rating for the term-loan and proposed senior secured revolver facilities, as well as for the proposed senior unsecured notes that will be issued by RWLV and its subsidiary, RWLV Capital Inc.

Malaysia-based Genting operates casinos in Malaysia, Egypt, the UK, Singapore, the Bahamas and the U.S. It also is involved in palm oil plantations, power, fossil fuels and property investments. Fitch also gave Genting a rating of A-.

According to Fitch’s note, RWLV will pay for part of the construction and operating costs of the venue using revenue generated from the proposed term-loan and secured revolver facilities, as well as from unsecured notes. It sees a stable future for the casino resort, indicating, “We have equalised RWLV’s [LLC’s] ratings with those of Genting [Bhd], based on strong operational and strategic ties between the entities.”

Fitch added, “We assess RWLV’s standalone credit profile to be in the ‘B’ category, based on geographic concentration, limited market share and brand recognition in the first few years after start-up, ramp-up risk from competitive pressure in a mature market like Las Vegas and weak financial ratios in the initial years until earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation [EBITDA] stabilises.”

New UK regulations around fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) are going to have an immediate impact to the bottom line, of not just operators, but landlords as well. William Hill have written a letter to 2,000 landlords, pleading with them to reduce rents, or risk losing their business, reports The Guardian.

The shops are in danger of closing specifically because of the imminent new laws around FOBT maximum bets. On April 1, customers will only be allowed to bet £2 ($2.64), down from £100 ($131.93). That will result in a huge loss of revenue that has operators across the industry considering their options.

FOBTs operators had already pushed to sign up as many customers online as possible, as a work around to the new laws. At least online, players have a bit more freedom of choice and access for their wager.

William Hill’s plan is to beg and pray, it seems. In their letter to the 2,000 landlords, they asked to have their rents cut in half. “The change in regulations will mean that many shops will see costs rise significantly at a time when revenues will decline by in excess of 50% in many cases,” the company wrote.

Pramod Sawant has been named the new chief minister of Goa, and he is already facing a number of issues with the Indian state’s economy. A mining industry crippled by legal challenges has 25% of the state’s population out of work, creating for a very depressing environment for Sawant to try to resurrect.

With several options on the table, one that is gaining steam is a new proposal to allow for offshore casinos to be moved inland. This looks to be going against a plan that was all but derailed back in January, as the new chief minister is clearly keeping his options open.

Earlier this year, the tourism minister for India, Manohar Ajgaonkar, had explained that the legislative assembly for Goa had drafted their tourism plan for the year and that expansion of gambling operations was not seen as part of that plan at all. Ajgaonkar provided a written statement to local media outlets informing them that those involved in the tourism industry had finalized a plan, but did not see new casinos as a part of any long-term vision.

However, that did not mean that existing operations could not be moved to locations that were much more advantageous. This looks to be something that the new chief minister is considering as one of his first official acts since taking hold of the reins of the government. In an interview with the Times of India, the chief minister showed support for a proposal written by his predecessor. He also indicated that he would take a closer look at the possibility of opening new casino operations, something that his party seems to be against at this point.

In a press release issued on March 25, Nektan PLC officially announced that they had reached the break-even point in 2018, the first time the company had done so in its history. This was a major achievement brought about thanks to a double-digit percentage increase in overall revenue for the year.

According to the report, the revenue at Nektan increased by 48% from that of 2017, reaching total revenue of over £13 million ($17.6 million). However, the adjusted EBITDA came in at about £336,000 ($444,000), still a sizable increase for a company that has been treading water since its inception.

To Chief Executive Lucy Buckley, this was a big deal in making it so the company would be able to maintain and improve their profitability. She added that they had reached this mark “due to both increased revenues and operational efficiencies.”

The turnaround came thanks in large part to the company finding traction with its fully managed global casino brand. They have reached 152 casinos across Europe, providing some of the best services, while affording customers a different type of experience.

partypoker has released the finer details of their forthcoming $30m GTD POWERFEST including five Championship events, and Team Online members Matt & Jamie Staples, and Hristivoe “ALLInPav” Pavlovic pick up online victories.

The poker popping piranhas are preparing for a pleasurable POWERFEST on partypoker.

Until this morning, all we knew was the Tom Waters, and the team had pledged $30m in guarantees and asked us all to pencil the dates March 31 to April 14 into our Google Calendars.

We did that.

Marty Mathis wins the partypoker MILLIONS South America Main Event after beating the local lad Bruno Volkmann heads-up for the title and $873,700 in prize money.

partypoker and the hundreds of people who exchanged coal mines, mushroom farms, and impotence treatment centres for the poker tables of MILLIONS South America have now left after Martin Mathis became the latest champion of the new world order.

It’s the first partypoker pow-wow since Rob Yong and the gang decided to turn old school with $10,000 buy-in, $5m Guaranteed MILLIONS Main Event freezeouts, and only the metric makers will know if it was a success.

The event attracted 439-entrants, resulting in an overlay, and the American Mathis took most of that free money, defeating Bruno Volkmann and Matas Cimbolas in the aftermath of carving up a three-handed deal.