The fight over VIP gamblers in Asia is heating up. As more casinos come online throughout the region, junket operators are more than willing to go where the money is. Wynn Macau has noticed that its collection of contacts driving traffic to its venues is fallen and is prepared to do something about it. For the first time in 14 years, the Asian casino arm of Wynn Resorts is going to give casino junkets a raise.

Most employees, a category to which junkets could loosely be attributed, would never wait 14 years to see their pay get a boost, and there’s little doubt that Wynn has made the decision out of a belief that an increase was in order. Instead, it comes down to sheer economics. Forbes points out, thanks to a report by analysts with Trefis, that Macau’s VIP segment contributes 40% of the company’s overall casino revenues. That’s a huge chunk that should be rewarded for its efforts.

As of March 1, Wynn is going to give junkets a commission of 42.5%, up from the previous 40%. This should put it in line with what other casino operators offer and allow Wynn to be more competitive in the shrinking junket market.

It took a massive hit in its junket share for Wynn to make the move. The company’s rolling share, according to analysts with Credit Suisse, went from 23% in the first quarter of 2019 to 20% by the end of the year. It continued to fall as the new year rolled around, dropping to as low as 16% last month. The analysts point to the obvious and basic business premise, explaining, “As volume shrinks, junkets will naturally allocate business to operators offering higher commission.”

The news continues to be troubling for the Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs) and for those agencies that are called upon to oversee the operations. Philippines Senator Richard Gordon demanded answers on March 3, asking how the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has been overseeing POGOs in a Senate plenary session.

Gordon expressed his concern that the AMLC has been virtually silent while numerous investigations are going on. In the last two weeks alone, it has been discovered that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials had been working with POGOs operators to assist Chinese migrants to illegally enter the country by providing false documentation. These actions were made to help these migrants to work in these operations despite not having the legal status to be able to do so.

Now comes a recent report that a Chinese POGO employee was killed, shot during an apparent money exchange deal. Two suspects have been arrested and charged with the murder. Both were discovered to have fake IDs for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but their attempt to exchange large sums of cash had Gordon wondering if China was sneaking money into the Philippines to fund espionage.

It also has Gordon wondering what is going on in agencies like the AMLC, which are expected to monitor for money laundering issues. During the March 3 session, Gordon acknowledged that Senator Joel Villanueva’s suspicions about the AMLC covering up suspicious transactions involving Chinese-owned POGOs and POGO service providers is a valid concern.

Despite the coronavirus outbreak shutting down much of China’s industry, Everi Holdings executives are making assurances that their production has not been disrupted.

This statement came as part of a fourth-quarter earnings call on March 2. Everi CEO Michael Rumbolz explained:

“We really haven’t seen any real problems in the supply chain yet. We continue to monitor that carefully and we do continue to look to secondary sources in the event that some of our smaller supply needs end up drying up and being impacted by the coronavirus in Asia. Currently, we think we’re in good shape for the next couple of quarters.”

There has been some impact on the gaming sector overall, but Rubolz noted “Everi has not experienced a discernible impact to date.” He further added that “at the present time, the guidance presented in our earnings release today does not contemplate any impact from the virus.”

With the coronavirus costing MGM Resorts millions of dollars a day, and a recent hack turning some customers sour, the company thought that this was the perfect time to buyback shares. It announced they would plan for a $1.25 billion buyback first announced on February 13, but at a new, lower rate.

The coronavirus has had a detrimental effect on MGM Resorts shares, especially with the recent Macau shutdown that closed all casinos and resorts in the territory for 15 days. This led to a $1.5 million per day loss for the company. Combined with the lower-than-expected revenues for the final quarter of 2019, the stock price took a drastic hit.

On February 12, profits were coming in at just eight cents per share, a third of what analysts had predicted. That was a 43% decline for the quarter in comparison to the same period of time last year.

News became even worse for MGM disclosed that a data breach affected 10.6 million customers and employees at MGM. The hack occurred in the summer of 2019 but was not disclosed until February of this year, prompting one former customer to sue the company.

Casino operator Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) saw its revenue rise while net income plunged in the final quarter of 2019.

Figures released Tuesday show TWRH generated revenue of $130.4m in the three months ending December 31, 2019, up 17% year-on-year, reflecting the company’s acquisition of/merger with rival Dover Downs Hotel & Casino last spring. Dover Downs’ contributions to TRWH revenue in Q4 totaled $27.6m.

Despite that rise, TRWH reported operating income falling 16.4% to $29m while net income slid nearly 40% to $13.35m. The declines came courtesy of $9.8m in share-based compensation expenses and last summer’s opening of Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts, which reportedly trimmed around $2.2m off TRWH’s Rhode Island casino income.

TRWH reported full-year revenue of $523.6m, up nearly one-fifth from 2018, but operating income dipped 5% to $114.6m and net income slid 22.8% to $71.4m.

The parent company of defunct online gambling site MoPlay is reportedly flogging its customer database in the hope of garnering enough money to reunite those customers with at least some of their account deposits.

On February 19, MoPlay’s parent company Addison Global Ltd had its gaming licenses suspended by regulators in Gibraltar and the UK after a key investor pulled his financial support, apparently leaving the company without the wherewithal to carry on operations.

MoPlay customers were originally told that the site was no longer taking any new wagers but days later were greeted with a message informing them that “due to financial difficulties, we are unable to process withdrawals.”

The message ominously warned customers to check their T&C’s regarding the fate of their funds in the event of insolvency. The applicable clause warned customers that “your funds would not be considered separate to the other company assets and you may not receive all your funds back.”

London’s high-end casino crowd will have another luxurious option at their disposal this summer following the reopening of the fabled Clermont Club.

The Clermont Club was founded in 1962 by John Aspinall (whose legacy gaming operations are currently owned by Australia’s Crown Resorts) and quickly became a popular Mayfair hub for people far richer and more attractive than most of you reading this.

Legend has it that the very concept of private equity investing was hatched under its roof by some of its more ambitious private members, some of whom are probably not even in jail at the moment.

The Clermont was later acquired by UK gaming operator Rank Group, which sold it for £31m in 2006 to Malaysian billionaire Quek Leng Chan’s BIL International Ltd, which then became known as Guoco Leisure. In 2013, two years after Guoco took over full control of Rank, Quek launched a new luxury hotel brand that took its name from the Clermont Club.

With Roger Federer suffering an enforced lay-off that will see him miss the entire clay court season, the chance is there for both Rafael Nadal and Novak Dkjokovic to press home their already-commanding lead in the ATP rankings.

In Mexico, Rafael Nadal made it three wins in Acapulco as he smashed all before him, not even dropping a set as he completed a routine series victory that saw him earn the accolade of becoming the third man to win the Mexican Open three times, joining Thomas Muster and David Ferrer to have that honour. Nadal’s record is possibly the most impressive, given that he is now the youngest-ever and oldest-ever champion to win the Mexican Open.

In the final, it was familiar one-way traffic as the 33-year-old Nadal battered his opponent, Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-2 in little over an hour. It was relentless, with Nadal slamming returns down at what must have felt like frightening power to Fritz. As Nadal told interviewers after the game, he found the final enjoyable and felt it was important after failing to win the Australian Open.

“After not competing since Australia, it’s an important week for me and an important moment,” he said. “I played with the right intensity and the right passion, and my forehand worked well. It means another good start of the season for me. It gives me confidence, allows me to be in a privileged position in the ATP Race. Regardless of the result, I am always happy after playing here. Now imagine how I am after getting the title!”

Connecticut’s sports betting hopes appear no closer to the finish line as the state’s governor repeated his opposition to a tribal-only betting bill.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office issued a statement emphasizing that the guv “wants to sign a sports betting bill into law over the next few months.” Trouble is, the bill Lamont wants to sign isn’t the one that has the support of the state’s two tribal gaming operators.

In January, State Sen. Cathy Osten introduced legislation that would give the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes the sole right to offer sports betting and online gambling within the state, along with a few other freebies such as a new casino in Bridgeport, full support for the tribes’ stalled joint venture casino in East Windsor and some smaller satellite venues. The state lottery would get to sell tickets online along with ‘iKeno’.

A separate bill followed that focused purely on wagering but would open up the list of possible licensees to include off-track betting operator Sportech and the state lottery. State Rep. Joe Verrengia said the idea was to streamline the legislative process to a single gaming vertical in the hopes of pushing it through before the current session ends in June.

Gaming technology supplier and lottery operator International Game Technology (IGT) reported another net loss in 2019, although it was a slightly smaller net loss than the year before.

Figures released Tuesday show IGT’s revenue in the final three months of 2019 falling 1.6% year-on-year to $1.25b, and while operating income effectively doubled to $81m, around $102m in unfavorable currency fluctuations meant the company booked a net loss of $167.7m for the quarter.

Full-year revenue totaled $4.79b, down 1.5% from 2018, while operating income also fell 1.5% to $637m while net income dipped 2.5% to $111.7m. However, nearly $131m was owed to non-controlling interests, which left IGT with a net loss of $19m for the year, a slight improvement over the $21.4m loss in 2018.

IGT CEO Marco Sala chose to look on the bright side, saying the company had grown global gaming product sales by more than one-fifth in 2019, thanks to new games and higher unit shipments, while global lottery same-store revenue also improved. Sala noted that IGT had paid $380m of its $7.76b debt, leaving the company in “strong financial condition.” Investors found the word ‘strong’ somewhat subjective, as the stock is currently trading down around 7% on the day.