Despite the odds that Quezon City’s recent gambling ordinance will likely get struck down by local courts, Mayor-elect Joyce Belmonte is undeterred. In an interview with local outlet Business World, Belmonte said she expects to begin implementing gambling entrance fees for locals when she takes office.

The entry fees, which the city announced on June 10 had been passed by the municipal legislature, will impose a PHP1500 ($29) fee for entrance to a casino, or a $600 a year fee, if the casino offers an annual membership. It also has fees for e-games and e-bingo parlors at $9 and $2 per entrance respectively.

There isn’t a plan to implement those fees yet, and Belmonte is eager to draw up that plan when she takes office. “I think what we have to do is write the implementing rules and regulations and that is the task of the executive department,” she said over the phone. “And the executive hasn’t written the implementing rules and regulations yet, so (I thinks it’s on me, it will be implemented during my term).”

The ordinance has been opposed by the local regulator, the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), who insist that under Philippine law, only they are authorized to regulate gambling operation in any way. They have insisted that if Belmonte were to enforce this ordinance, Quezon City would have a lawsuit on their hands.

In April, Station Casinos-owned Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas saw its workers decide to unionize with two of the gambling city’s biggest unions. It seems that Station employees continue to feel that they need to have an extra layer of protection, as another two venues owned by the casino operator have followed suit. This brings to six the total number of Station properties since 2016 that have seen their employees unionize.

According to a press release from Bethany Khan of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Fiesta Rancho Hotel & Casino is the most recent Station venue to agree to join a union. Workers at the resort voted last Friday on the subject through an election overseen by the NLRB, and 85% of those who participated in the vote said yes.

Around 200 employees at the Fiesta Rancho property will be represented by two unions – the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and the Bartenders Union Local 165, both of which are part of the national UNITE HERE union. These are the same two unions that have been increasing their numbers over the past several months thank to employees at other venues agreeing to unionize.

A cook at Fiesta Rancho, Ronal Portillo, explains his reason for joining the union, offering, “I’m fighting for my families’ future. I’m a child of a Culinary Union guest room attendant, and I saw when my family had good healthcare benefits. My mom had peace of mind because she didn’t have to worry about taking me to the doctor. As a parent myself, I work hard every day to provide for my family and make this company successful – we don’t want to be left behind.”

In 2017, Resorts World Manila (RWM) in the Philippines was the scene of a lone-gunman attack that resulted in the deaths of 38 people. A disgruntled and failed gambler was able to gain entry into the casino in order to rob it, but ultimately decided to set it on fire. The arson heavily damaged the casino’s second floor and it hasn’t been operational since. However, that’s about to change, as the venue is about to reopen the floor.

The venue is owned by a joint venture between Genting Group and Alliance Global Group’s, Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc. Speaking during a shareholder meeting last Friday, Travellers CEO Kingson Sian announced that the second floor will reopen next month and will offer approximately 600 slot machines and 100 table games. He added that it will be “an entire new floor of gaming space,” and, “As we expand the gaming space, we are attracting not only locals but also foreign players to come, and we can develop new junket relationships.”

In that crazed attack in June 2017, Jessie Javier Carlos snuck into the casino around midnight and began firing shots in the high-roller area on the second floor. Perhaps thinking there are gaming tables in Hell, he stole gaming chips before turning the gun on himself. Not before, however, having doused the tables and lounge areas with gasoline and setting them on fire. The result was pure chaos, as patrons and employees tried to make their escape, only to be overcome by toxic fumes.

A subsequent investigation into the incident determined that RWM was to blame, at least in part. However, it only received an admonishment and no charges were filed officially.

Employee bonuses are a great way to reward workers when business is going extremely well. They’re an incentive to keep morale up and retain top employees. In Macau, for the past several years, casinos have been issuing bonuses at the end of the year and in the summer – a type of mid-year bonus – and many in the gaming industry have been pushing for that latter bonus to become a guaranteed part of compensation. However, the downturn in gambling activity in Macau this year may have resulted in the casinos deciding to withhold the bonus, which is normally equal to about one month’s pay, and at least one gaming activity group is hoping the city will force their hand.

Last Friday, New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association (NMGSRA) sent a letter to Macau’s government in an effort to have the government put pressure on the casinos. The group’s principle, Cloee Chao, told local media that the bonuses have been issued every year since 2014 and that the casinos have announced them each year before the end of June. However, this year, there hasn’t been anything mentioned from any casino operator, and workers are beginning to get nervous.

According to Chao, “According to what we saw in the past years, the casino operators usually announced in June their mid-year bonus payout to staff. But so far [this year], we didn’t hear anything of that.” She added that the group would continue pushing for a 14-month annual salary, which would include the two bonuses.

The only operator to have introduced a 14-month salary is reportedly SJM Holdings. It calls the bonuses a “living subsidy,” which is paid twice a year, just like the extra compensation. It was introduced in 2014 and is expected to remain at least until next year. The two living subsidy payments are the equivalent of one and a half month’s salary or two months’ salary, depending on each employee’s status.

At the beginning of this year, Presque Isle Downs & Casino approached the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) in an effort to be approved for a sports gambling license. It didn’t take long for that license to be issued and, four months later, the Churchill Downs-owned property is almost ready to launch its sportsbook.

Presque Isle, which is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, has been meticulously upgrading its casino floor to offer the activity. Several of its regional competitors were able to get their sportsbooks up and running within about two months of receiving approval, but Presque Isle has decided that it wanted to offer something unique, and that required more time.

The new sportsbook will reportedly cover space that was previously occupied by the casino’s slot machines, and which measures 1,275. The slots were relegated to other areas of the gaming floor in order to allow the sportsbook in. It is near the venue’s poker room and simulcast area, but sports gambling won’t be limited to just the one space.

There are going to be 50 self-betting kiosks, of which about 25 are expected to be located inside Presque Isle. These will be managed by KT Group Limited, which received a provisional license from the PGCB last week. That license issuance was one of the last remaining hurdles to be jumped before the sportsbook could go live.

A round-up from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas with wins for Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi, Roman Korenev and Stephen Song.

[Image credit: WSOP]

A Grinder, Roman and Song – it sounds like the beginning of a Marcus Aurelius meditation, but not today. Today, those are the names of three 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winners.

We’ll begin with the one popular enough to have a recognisable nickname. It’s been a long time since Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi stepped off poker’s conveyor belt, and over the weekend he won his third gold bracelet.

A news clip from the 50th Anniversary World Series of Poker containing news of a veteran locking up a third bracelet win, and two newbies experiencing the joy for the first time.

[Image credit: WSOP]

With so many players flooding the World Series of Poker (WSOP) from the mainland it was a pleasant surprise for globalists to see five different nationalities in Event #29: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship, and yet despite the diversity, the bracelet remained on the continent.

Greg Mueller earned his third bracelet, and his first in a decade, after taking down the 172-entrant event. The organisers divided the $1,616,800 prize pool between 26-players and the Canadian banked $425,347 of it.

Triton Poker continues to carve out a different path from the mundane after announcing an innovative new concept for their £1m Triton Million event in London.

The little hand points to the ‘two’, big to the ‘one’. A cadaverous man with gecko eyes, with more grey hair sprouting out of his ears than on his head, munches on a parsnip, Father’s Day card standing like a paper rocket in the middle of the table.

As he gestures with his hands, Italian style, I wonder what he would say if I told him that a bunch of people were preparing to pay £1m to play in a poker tournament. His parsnip would hit his wife like a hammer. It’s as unbelievable as learning the queen’s crown is made out of fingers and toes, and yet it’s happening, and in her backyard.

The Park Lane Hilton in London (the purple space on Monopoly you all want to buy) will supply the decadence and decanters; Triton provides the players.