There’s a piece of land on the outskirts of Las Vegas that is begging to be converted into a casino resort. It’s been begging for more than 12 years, but has never been able to find anyone to hear its cries. That could be changing, though, as the property’s current owners, Red Rock Resorts, is reportedly now seriously considering expanding the limits of Las Vegas to include the Las Vegas Valley tract of land, according to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ). 

Red Rock, the parent company of Station Casinos, purchased the property in 2000 and there had been plans to see the site become the home of a resort in 2008. However, that was the same year the real estate bubble popped in the U.S., and almost any type of major construction development was put on hold. Then, nine years later, the company was ready to move forward and boasted of a new 1,000-room hotel and casino to be constructed on the site. However, once again, the plans had to be put on hold. 

That is changing now, however, and J.P. Morgan got wind of Red Rock’s intentions of getting the project off the ground. It isn’t clear if the new venue will stick with the same idea that was sought in 2017, which included a casino spanning 120,000 square feet, but the casino operator is apparently anxious to get something going. It sees the location as an ideal spot for a resort, with no other large casino within five miles of the proposed property. 

Like all casinos everywhere, money might ultimately be an issue when the official plans are put in motion. Red Rock has been forced to find ways to reduce expenses because of COVID-19, an exercise that proved successful when the company reported net income of $72 million for the third quarter of the year. However, at the same time, it will also need to continue to keep its belt tightened, as it plans on keeping several Vegas casinos – Texas Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and the Palms – closed until sometime next year. A recent announcement that Station was looking to sell its land in Reno was viewed as a fire sale, but the company later recanted and decided to stick around the city a little longer.

Crown Resorts is finding itself in a losing battle, and it might need a miracle to recover. After being targeted for the past several years for not living up to its legal and moral responsibilities, all hopes of launching gaming operations at its new $2.2-billion casino in Sydney, Australia, next month have now been crushed. Facing an extensive inquiry into how it managed to allow war criminals to gamble at its casinos and how duffle bags of large sums of money could be exchanged for chips with no questions asked, Crown has already been deemed “unsuitable” for a gaming license pending a final ruling. Now, Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) Chairman Philip Crawford has decided that he is “not comfortable” allowing the casino operator to take on more gambling responsibility at the new Crown Sydney next month. 

Suspecting that trouble was right around the corner, Crown just cut ties with all junket operators in an attempt to appease gambling regulators in Australia. However, it was too little, way too late, and the company will now have to wait to see what happens with the still-ongoing inquiry. At the center of the long-running investigation, Crown has been accused of turning a blind eye to real and perceived money laundering, which has now been confirmed by the company’s lawyers. They admitted that two bank accounts controlled by Crown were used to launder money gained through criminal activity, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. 

In denying Crown’s request to introduce gaming to the new property in Barangaroo, a decision that was made during an emergency meeting by the ILGA today, Crawford explained that he was disappointed that Crown didn’t proactively volunteer to put off the venue’s opening in light of the ongoing investigation and added that there were too many question marks surrounding the company’s activities. He explained, “We’re talking about – potentially – drugs, we’re talking about child sexual exploitation, we’re talking about people trafficking and we’re talking about financing terrorism.”

As a result, Crown will have to remain in a holding pattern until next February. That’s the deadline for Commissioner Patricia Bergin to provide her final decision on Crown’s fate and, if her comments during this week’s meeting are any indication, the future doesn’t look very bright for the long-standing, and once respected, casino operator. She showed a great deal of concern over the company’s ability to engage in above-board operations on several levels, and the fact that Crown’s legal team tried to come clean about the alleged money laundering, after having a year to own up to its shortcomings, incensed her even more. The lack of proper legal guidance was of “very serious concern” and is “the face of an inquiry – the seriousness of it cannot be understated,” stated Bergin. She added, “It is a most serious development.”

The gambling industry continues to wrestle with problem gambling, being put in a position to solve an issue there is yet a solution for. Psychotherapist Jason Shiers believes we’ve been looking at it all wrong, and offered a different approach to our Becky Liggero Fontana.

“There’s always room for ingenuity and innovation in this particular thing, the current results have to suggest that it’s worth a look at something new,” Shiers said. “It feels a little bit like we’re spending more money on the same things that aren’t currently working. By working, I don’t mean that they’re not effective in anyone’s life and they’re not making a difference, I mean they’re not really sort of making a huge dent in the problem gambling.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFQPU7yezw&feature=youtu.beVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Jason Shiers has a different way of looking at problem gambling (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrFQPU7yezw&feature=youtu.be)

If we start looking at the root cause, we might find something that works. “A lot of the current way of looking at things is focused on the symptoms,” Shiers said. “There’s diagnosis, there’s illness and the psychiatric help, and the psychological help, talking therapies, undoing the struggles of the past or giving strategies and techniques to deal with problem gambling, and why do people actually make those decisions to spend money that they don’t have. “

Sports betting operator SportPesa’s aborted return to the Kenyan gambling market just got a whole lot messier after the country’s financial watchdog opened a probe into major international financial transfers.  

On Monday, Kenyan media reported that the country’s Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) had opened a probe to determine whether there is any “criminality” in the Ksh30b (US$278m) that SportPesa reportedly transferred from local accounts to international banks over the past three years.  

Allegations of impropriety in the fund transfers were made earlier this month by Paul Wanderi Ndung’u, a shareholder in SportPesa’s Kenya-based parent company Pevans East Africa Ltd.

Ndung’u accused SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri and the company’s Bulgarian investors of transferring profits generated in Kenya to subsidiaries in other countries to avoid (a) paying local taxes and (b) sharing these profits with Pevans shareholders like Ndung’u.

Lithuania’s local gambling market suffered only a modest revenue hit this year thanks to online gambling growth, although land-based slots halls remain the local favorite despite the fact that they keep shutting their doors.

Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority (GCA) recently released statistics showing the local gambling market generated revenue of €75.6m in the nine months ending September 30, a 6.5% year-on-year decline, which isn’t bad considering the country’s retail gambling operators were forced to shut down from mid-March to mid-May due to COVID-19 (foreshadowing alert).

That shutdown allowed Lithuania’s six (down from seven at the end of Q2) online gambling licensees to claim the majority share (50.8%) of the 9M revenue pie, as online revenue rose nearly 38% from the same period last year while retail revenue was down nearly 30%.

Online’s new market-leading status appears set to continue after Lithuania ordered a second retail shutdown to combat rising COVID-19 infection rates. Slots halls, betting shops and bingo parlors were all ordered closed from November 7 through November 29 while online gambling sites were told to carry on as usual.

Sweden’s gambling regulator is mounting an awareness campaign for its Spelpaus self-exclusion program after concluding that Swedes had increased their gambling activity during the pandemic lockdown.

This week, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen regulatory body announced a new campaign to remind the nation that there was a system in place to prohibit access to gambling products. Around 58k individuals have to date signed up for the Spelpaus program, which launched in tandem with the country’s regulated online market in January 2019.

Spelinspektionen spokesperson Anders Sims noted a new market survey indicating that the percentage of online gamblers who are aware of Spelpaus has risen from 54% in 2019 to 71% this year. Sims said this was “fine, but it could be even better.”

The new campaign, which will run through mid-January, features 13 different banner ads across a variety of websites, pushing not only the existence of Spelpaus but also educating viewers as to signs of potential problem gambling behavior. The new messages have a particular focus on women, relatives of problem gamblers and individuals whose first language isn’t Swedish.

Day 2 of the EPT 2020 Online Series Main Event is in the books, and after just 72 players remained at the close of play, it was Toby Joyce who held the chip lead.

 The Irish player, who won the Galway Poker Cup in January 2015 and hasn’t looked back ever since, finished top of the pile after an initial field (including late re-entries at the start of Day 2) totalling 1,304 entries was whittled down to just 5.5% of that number.

The EPT 2020 Online $5,200 Main Event saw a total prizepool of $6.52 million gathered, which meant just 159 players would be paid. Plenty, therefore, would miss out and some of the names who missed out on profit included but weren’t limited to Felix Schneiders, Ben Spragg, Kalidou Sow, Lex Veldhuis, Kenny Hallaert, Christoph Vogelsang, Andrey Pateychuk, Ludovic Geilich, Jens Kyllonen, Samuel Vousden, Andre Marques and Steve O’Dwyer.

Once the bubble burst, players such as overnight chip leader Fintan Hand bowed out, with the Irishman donating over $5,000 to charity. Scott Margereson min-cashed, Robin Ylitalo busted in 138th place and Aliaksei Boika hit the rail in 107th place. Popular EPT player Noah Boeken left in 100th place and suddenly there were just a dozen 8-Max tables between any of the remaining players and the final table.

Pennsylvania’s gambling market enjoyed a double-digit revenue gain in October thanks primarily to “dramatic” rises in online casino and sports betting activity.

Figures released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) show the state’s gaming operators generated combined revenue of $320.2m in October, a 12.9% rise from the same month last year and 12.7% better than the market reported in September 2020.

Land-based casino revenue continues to suffer from pandemic capacity restrictions, with slots revenue falling 17.2% to $154.7m and table games off 13.4% to $63.3m. All Pennsylvania casinos reported year-on-year slots declines while Harrah’s Philadelphia, Valley Forge and Presque Isle Downs were the only casinos to post improved table numbers.

It was a vastly different story with digital gambling, as online slots soared to $40.3m from just $4m in October 2019 (although only $1m better than September 2020). Online table games brought in $17m, up $2.3m from September, while the state’s lone online poker licensee (PokerStars) brought in $2.4m, effectively unchanged from September.

Switzerland’s online casino gamblers finally have another locally licensed option, while land-based operators are being prevented from shutting down their gaming tables during a pandemic.

On Monday, Switzerland’s federal gaming board (ESBK) announced that Group Partouche’s Casino du Lac Meyrin in Geneva had been formally authorized to commence online casino operations via its Pasino.ch site.

The site, which is powered by the Gamanza Group (which also powers Grand Casino Baden’s online casino) is currently offering a variety of online slots and table games (both RNG and live) from the likes of Evolution, NetEnt, LeoVegas’ Red Tiger brand, among others.

Partouche received its initial ESBK approval back in April but the company dragged its feet getting its online site up and running. That created a void that was promptly filled by BC.Game, an operator of Ethereum-based online casinos that chose to launch a Pasino.com site which the ESBK saw fit to include in its latest online gambling blacklist.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has announced stricter guidelines to help his state battle rising Covid-19 infection rates. With restaurants now forced to close at 10:00pm, casinos in Atlantic City are expressing concerns that they will have to pay for someone else’s problem.

Murphy announced the new rules on Monday. “To be clear, the last thing I want to do or any of us want to do is to shut our economy back down, and thankfully, we are not at that point,” Murphy said during a briefing. “No one up here wants to take the type of broad and all-encompassing actions like those we had to take in March. We are acting with more precision-based actions on what we are seeing on the ground.”

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle aren’t happy with the decision. “Businesses in South Jersey are hurting. New blanket restrictions are not what we wanted to hear today,” wrote Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, a fellow Democrat. “These new restrictions were put in place due to soring North Jersey COVID cases.”

Republican State Senator Michael Testa, saw it similarly, calling Murphy’s so called “surgical approach” more like someone wielding an ax, and “a destructive overreaction.”

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his seventh F1 World Drivers Championship, equalling the record held by all-time great Michael Schumacher. Hamilton sealed the win with victory in the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix, over the weekend.

Hamilton only needed to finish ahead of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to claim the title, and Bottas struggled in the wet conditions finishing 14th after an unspectacular start. Hamilton started from sixth on the grid and went on to record his 94th Formula One victory.

It was a bitter-sweet moment for the British driver, who has led the fight against racial injustice this season. Hamilton was visibly emotional as he crossed the line for the win, with his voice cracking over the radio.

“Dream the impossible. You have got to chase it and never give up,” Hamilton said. “That’s for all the kids out there who dream the impossible. You can do it.”

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.

SpaceCasino goes live with Red Tiger

Slot provider’s games launched on growing U.K. brand

2020 and 2021 are the years for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in many industries, including gaming. There have already been several important consolidations seen this year, most notably, the union between Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, and the COVID-19 pandemic has forced more movement in the industry. Two of the largest gaming companies, NetEnt and Evolution Gaming, began talking about the possibility of combining forces several months ago, knowing the process would be arduous and challenging. However, the mega-merger picked up a little steam this week after the anti-monopoly authority in the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), signed off on the deal.

NetEnt and Evolution knew in September that the CMA was scrutinizing the possible merger, but held onto the hope that there would be no red flags. The authority apparently didn’t find any, as it has greenlighted the proposal after completing its due diligence. The investigation included everything from an open comment period to marketplace analysis, but nothing stood out as a reason to stand in the way of the merger.

As a result, Evolution proudly released a statement yesterday, explaining, “The CMA has today, on November 16, 2020, announced its approval of Evolution’s acquisition of NetEnt. Consequently, the condition regarding the receipt of all necessary competition approvals has been fulfilled.”

It added, “The acceptance period for the offer expires on November 20, 2020. Assuming that the offer is declared unconditional no later than around November 23, 2020, settlement is expected to commence around December 1, 2020. Evolution reserves the right to extend the acceptance period for the Offer and to postpone the settlement date.”

The American Gaming Association (AGA) continues to show how important the commercial casino industry is to the US economy. Despite continued efforts to bring about the demise of gambling, opponents are fighting a losing battle, and one that, if they were to succeed, would cost irreparable harm to the US economy. According to the latest figures out of the AGA, commercial casinos took in $9 billion in the third quarter of the year, much of which goes to education programs and state and local government initiatives. 

The figure provided by the AGA is substantial, but it is still 18.9% less than what was provided a year earlier. Slot machine activity, as has come to be expected, was responsible for $5.87 billion of the action, while table games took in $1.57 billion. Internet gambling accounted for $435 million, a figure that is going to increase substantially soon. The results include just commercial casinos and gambling facilities, of which there were 442 open during the quarter. It’s worth noting that all of the venues were operating at reduced capacities that ranged anywhere from 15-50%, depending on local policies. 

The good news about the results is that they represent a quarter-over-quarter increase of 294%, with the second quarter of the year suffering greatly because of COVID-19. The bad news, however, is that casino win is still down 36.5% across the first three quarters of the year. As several states have just introduced new anti-coronavirus rules due to a return of the virus, the figure is likely to move slightly down before the end of the year.

In terms of gaming revenue, Nevada is still the reigning champion. Its casinos reported combined gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $576.3 million in the second quarter, which was just 20% of what they saw a year earlier, but this number jumped to $2.3 billion in the third quarter. That represents a loss of 23.5% from a year earlier, but it is indicative of the potential, and value, of the Silver State’s gambling market. 

As far as Macau leaders are concerned, there is no reason to delay the casino tender process that is expected to take place in 2022. Plans were put in motion a couple of years ago to bring all six operators in line so their statuses could be reviewed simultaneously in two years, but nothing can happen until the city’s new gaming framework is in place. Macau has to prepare new gaming laws ahead of discussing concessions with its casinos, and COVID-19 has made it difficult for lawmakers to allocate enough time to the subject. However, city leaders are still determined to keep on schedule and have reiterated their goal of having the new gaming laws in place next year. However, they most likely won’t be ready until the fourth quarter, according to Macau Business, which is going to put pressure on the tender process in 2022. 

Previously, the goal was to have the gambling laws in place by next summer, at the latest. The requisite groundwork to develop the framework, such as initial studies, has already begun, but has been slowed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Setting that groundwork has to take place before providing a window for public consultation, which has to happen before the Legislative Assembly can be given the final draft of the laws for approval.

Macau’s current Legislative Assembly will be swapped for new members next September, which is going to put more pressure on the entire concession timeframe. There have already been rumblings that adhering to the schedule could be very difficult, and legislators are hoping the air will be cleared so they can start making the necessary preparations. 

However, Macau’s chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, and the Legislative Assembly got together yesterday, and the city’s official policies for next year include provisions for ensuring the concession and re-tender process goes smoothly and as planned. Leading up to that, Macau’s gaming industry can expect to be put under the microscope, as legislators and gaming regulators appear to be ready to pick through all operations.