Despite some level of public opposition, integrated resorts (IR) are still expected to be a key feature of Japan’s future economy. Yoshihide Suga, who took over as Prime Minister following Shinzo Abe’s departure, fully believes that bringing commercial casinos into the country’s landscape will give it a huge economic boost. Talking to the Japanese Parliament’s lower house this week, he reaffirmed statements he made last month, asserting that the IR framework continues to push forward.

Suga told the House of Representatives, “Casinos are there in 130 countries and regions. It is planned that Japan integrated resorts [IRs] are to have international exhibition facilities, convention facilities, and large hotels to entertain whole families.” He added that, by allowing the resorts, Japan will become a greater attraction for international tourists, bringing in a larger segment of travelers that will help the country’s economy expand. Suga believes the IR legislation that was begun during the previous administration deserves to continue advancing, even though COVID-19 has forced the progress to slow to a crawl. 

Not everyone in politics agrees with the Prime Minister. There has already been mounting opposition by some public and legislative figures, who wasted no time jumping on the IR-related bribery saga to support their belief that opening up the country to gambling would be the same as opening the floodgates to nothing but sin and scandal. Politician Renho Saito, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), feels the IR goal is misguided. 

Speaking in Yokohama, Saito stated, “Are casinos really a pillar for growth? They make money from people gambling and losing. It is an embarrassment that this is an element of the national government’s economic strategy.” Saito was formerly with the Democratic Party, which was dissolved in 2017, leading to her becoming a member of the CDP, but not giving up her goal of putting down the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan’s controlling political party, every chance she gets.

In the fast-moving world of gambling, sometimes you might miss news that could be important to you. To make sure you’re all caught up on gaming industry news, be it online or brick and mortar, we’re rounding up the some of the announcements and partnerships from the last week that you might have missed.

Don’t miss out on all of the latest announcements. Our Press Release section is updated constantly.

Pronet Gaming adds Green Jade Games content

Platform provider’s latest partnership expands casino offering

COVID-19 continues to bite into Sin City, with three major Las Vegas Strip casinos announcing another batch of long-term layoffs. The MGM Grand, Park MGM and Tropicana all announced that they would be reducing the size of their workforce in the continued financial pressure brought on by the pandemic.

The MGM Grand, Park MGM and Tropicana sent documents to the Nevada employment office outlining their intention to lay off 1,172 employees. Nevada state law requires that all laid-off employees receive sufficient notice to enable them to look for new employment.

The bulk of the employees are set to be cut from the Tropicana, with 1,110 expected the lose their jobs. In a statement, the management of the Tropicana pointed out the pandemic conditions have forced the business into significant cutbacks:

“Significant drags on our business will likely continue for the foreseeable future. We could not have anticipated when our properties would be allowed to reopen and how restrictive the new operating conditions would be, and the negative impact this would have on business volumes.”

This is a guest contribution by Sergiy Logvynenko, Account Manager at Sigma Software. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

The casino game world is very conservative. This conservativeness is apparent from all sides, beginning with game titles, which have not changed in decades. However, although conservative, it is time for the casino games to adapt to modern technological devices. One exciting way is a topic I’d like to share some of my ideas on casino game play in portrait mode.

Most casino games are created following a landscape-first approach. There are currently games that follow a portrait-first approach, but not many. In fact, just a few years ago, there were almost no casino games in portrait mode at all. However, as technology is always progressing, you can now find portrait mode slot games. Is this a good sign? Yes! Is it enough? Unfortunately, no, because having interacted with most of these games, it is apparent that designers just scale landscape mode and put a “spin” button at the bottom of the screen. The look turns out to be very simplistic, resembling what looks like an unsuccessful version of landscape mode.

Yes, doubling design and development efforts to create a great game in both portrait and landscape modes might be too much. And yes, this may increase development time for about a week or so. But on the other hand, I’m convinced that a game provider can and should spend the money on these advances.

Sometimes, poker can really add a lot to a Hollywood movie. Other times, such as in the subject of this week’s Poker on Screen for example, it can highlight the weakness of the overall film and merely emphasise the problems the celluloid disaster has succumbed to.

In Time was made in 2011, which ironically enough was the year that online poker was sent back in time due to the events of Black Friday. Starring in the movie is Justin Timberlake, who would eventually make an entire movie around poker with the equally inept Runner Runner. Sadly for Timberlake, his poker scene during In Time doesn’t add to his resumes highlights reel.

The scene is a five-handed game between five guys all around the age of 25, the nominal age which humans have been frozen in time at thanks to genetic advances that have been made in this movie’s particular universe. People can only die if killed, that is unless their ‘time’ runs out. Each human is given only one year to live from the age of 25, but true to life if a little far-fetched, the rich hoard all the time just as they hoard money in reality.

Before you know it, Justin Timberlake’s character is tasked with saving humanity while his own time-clock starts to run down in the form of a ticking time bomb of superimposed light on his forearm.

Gambling operator Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) saw profits nearly triple in the third quarter of 2020, thanks in part to record online betting on the rescheduled Kentucky Derby.  

Figures released Wednesday show CDI generated revenue of $337.8m in the three months ending September 30, up 10.2% from the same period last year. But adjusted earnings shot up 38.5% to $121.9m while net income soared to $43.2m from $14.8m in Q3 2019.

Like many of its regional casino rivals, CDI has been furiously adding properties around the country over the past couple years, while also expanding its BetAmerica brand’s online casino and sports betting operations, making direct year-on-year comparisons something Stephen Hawking would find painful, and that’s before throwing COVID-19 into the mix.

The pandemic forced the postponement of the 2020 Kentucky Derby from May to September, which pushed CDI’s ‘Churchill Downs’ segment revenue to $68m, more than twice the $32.7m the segment reported in Q3 2019. Earnings more than quadrupled to $23.9m, thanks in part to a $3.8m boost from the historical racing operations at the Derby City Gaming venue.

US regional casino operator Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) is officially rebranding under the Bally’s name, while its Atlantic City casino of the same name is adding a FanDuel-run retail sportsbook.

On Wednesday, the Rhode Island-based TRWH announced plans to change its corporate identity to Bally’s Corporation effective November 9, with its stock to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol ‘BALY’.

Two weeks ago, TRWH announced its intention to eventually rebrand “virtually all” of its expanding casino portfolio under the Bally’s name and logo, which followed the company’s purchase of the Bally’s Atlantic City casino from rival Caesars Entertainment in April. (Caesars retained the right to continue operating the Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino under its existing name.)

TRWH chairman Soo Kim said the Bally’s brand “embodies a rich history” in America’s gaming market and “aligns perfectly with our current and future growth strategy.” TRWH CEO George Papanier stuck to the script, saying the company aimed to unite “our increasingly national footprint under a singular preeminent brand.”

The return of High Stakes Poker to our multimedia screens will be an extremely welcome one when it comes in December this year.

The news was revealed not in the form of a press release, but wholly organically by Tom Dwan, who posted a video on Twitter lasting 11 seconds, which featured him and plenty of other big poker names at the ARIA table for filming.

High stakes poker coming back guys. Hope I run as good as last time pic.twitter.com/m8auOjG2ic

— Tom Dwan (@TomDwan) October 27, 2020https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Spain’s online gambling operators will get to promote their wares via La Liga football jerseys until the end of the current season.

On Wednesday, Alberto Garzón, Spain’s minister of Consumer Affairs, sent a letter to the country’s top football leagues advising them to wrap up any sponsorship deals with gambling operators before the 2021/22 season gets underway next September.

In July, Spain unveiled its new Royal Decree on gambling advertising, which calls for the elimination of most forms of online gambling marketing, including the presence of gambling operators’ logos on the shirts of Spanish football clubs.

But news of the Decree led gambling operators signing a bevy of new sponsorship deals and/or extending existing deals before the Decree was supposed to take effect this month. Even the state-run SELAE lottery operator got into the act, leading Garzón to eventually concede that there would be an undetermined grace period for existing deals.