Category: Gambling

MGM Cotai Finally Opens in Macau As License Renewal Looms

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On Tuesday, MGM Resorts International finally opened its $3.4 billion casino resorts in Macau, a venture that is latest big bet by foreign gaming operators on the Chinese gambling haven. MGM Cotai, the casino, opens after months of delays and will be the new highlight if Macau’s Cotai Strip with its 1,390-room hotel-casino offering. Also, with the Chinese Lunar New Year just around the corner, the casino is expected to draw in massive crowds within the next few days of its launch.

MGM Resorts International is one of the six licensed casino operators in Macau which is the only place in China where the citizens can gamble legally. However, MGM’s operational license in the region is due to expire in 2020 alongside SJM Holdings’ license. The other four operators, that is, Wynn Macau, Sands China, Melco Resorts and Galaxy Entertainment, on the other hand, will be able to operate normally until 2022 when their licenses expire.

While Macau authorities are yet to provide more information regarding the renewal of the licenses, the launch of the new MGM Casino in Cotai is anticipated to hasten the process in one way or the other. In fact, Grant Bowie, the chief executive of MGM China, MGM Resorts International’s Macau unit, believes that the launch was critical for the concession renewal process.

“Concession renewals will be determined on diversifying Macau into more than just a gaming town,” Bowie told a news conference.

Riding the Revenue Boom?

As the license expiration dates draw nearer, MGM Resorts and other operators have worked tirelessly towards diversifying their non-gaming offering in a bid to pacify Beijing which has grown more wary about Macau’s acute dependence and reliance on gambling – 80 percent of revenue in Macau is derived from gambling.

At the moment, Macau gambling revenues are on the upswing having risen by 19 percent in the last year to $34 billion following years of declining fortunes as a result of wealthy Chinese gamblers shying away from the casinos to avoid being probed by an extended corruption campaign by President Xi Jinping. These Chinese high rollers who are making a come-back to the casinos helped to propel Macau’s rapid transformation into what is now considered to be a global gambling powerhouse.

Analysts are anticipating that MGM Cotai will open with about 177 mass gaming tables. VIP gaming is expected to be handled by middlemen junkets that are likely to go live by the end of the first half of year alongside MGM Resorts’ luxury mansion villas.

New Sports Betting Measure Could Favor West Virginia Tracks

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West Virginia is on the verge of allowing sports betting and supposing everything goes well, a hoard of new jobs may come to the Northern Panhandle. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this will be the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort which will get quite a big boost.

According to the Eilers and Krejcik gaming research firm, about 700 full-time jobs will be created at the local tracks within the next five years thanks to sports betting. Also, an estimated additional 930 full-time jobs will be created in the state within the same five-year period – the economic impact from sports betting during this period would amount to $229 million.

The firm further predicted that the state would amass annual tax revenues amounting to up to $13.4 million in the first year based on a proposed tax rate of 10 percent on overall gross revenues from sports betting. By the fifth year, the amount is anticipated to rise to about $28.7 million.

The West Virginia Legislature is currently considering a bill that will make sports betting legal in the state in the likely case that Congress acts to legalize sports betting or the United States Supreme Court acts to permits states to venture into sports betting. These bipartisan measures were crafted by lawmakers who had worked alongside West Virginia Lottery Commission’s officials. The legislation will allow the tracks to be in charge of their own sports books as well as monitoring of sports betting activities. However, they would still be under the Lottery Commission’s vision.

“The casinos have the existing regulatory infrastructure in place, and the experience in the industry to implement sports betting in a secure environment and in a timely fashion,” said Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio. He mentioned that the lottery will be responsible for regulating sports betting in the same way as other casino games offered at the tracks and at the Greenbrier.

With the new legislation, West Virginians will not only be able to wager on sports game but they will also be allowed to bet on specific aspects of the game. Other gaming products like in-game betting will also go a long way in enhancing player experience and hopefully lure them away from the rampant illegal sports betting.

Resorts World Catskills Opens New Casino in Sullivan County

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After decades of waiting, the New York’s newest casino, a $1.2 billion project in the Catskills finally began operating. The Resort World Catskills casino is a 100,000-square-foot behemoth that sits on a site that is approximately 1,700 acres – which was previously owned by the former Concord Resort Hotel. This particular Resorts World Catskill project was spearheaded by Empire Resorts which also happens to be operating the Monticello Casino & Raceway in Sullivan County.

Resorts World Casino & Resorts becomes the fourth state-approved casino to open since December 2016. The state currently hosts three other commercial, non-Indian casinos – the Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, Tioga County; del Lago Resort & Casino in Tyre, Seneca County; and the Rivers Casino in Schenectady.

What To Expect

Already, there are huge expectations being mounted on the new casinos. For instance, the Resorts World officials are projecting that the complex will draw about 4 million visitors every year. Also, the operator’s management held job fairs in Orange and Sullivan Counties this winter in order to fill around 1,400 vacancies the casino would have when it finally launched. As it stands, this has been handled quite well and the state officials have confirmed that about three-quarters of the 1,300 permanent employees that the casino hired were either women or minorities. The number will eventually be bumped up by adding 600 more permanent employees next year when a planned indoor water park, entertainment village and the Concord’s redesigned Monster golf course open.

Resorts World Catskills’ Sullivan County complex boasts of a 100,000-square-foot floor comprising of a whopping 2,151 slot machines, 150 exciting table games as well as a poker room. Also available at the venue is a meeting space and 27,000 square feet of entertainment.

Customers will also be treated to some dining options including the Cellaio – restaurant operated by celebrity chef Scott Conant – which will be offering an Italian-style steakhouse menu. The casino will further host Good Friends Market and Lotus, both of which are outstanding Asian restaurants.

 “Resorts World Casino will be a destination with a variety of gaming, entertainment and dining options for tourists near and far that will boost the region and the entire state,” said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended Resorts World Catskills’ grand opening ceremony on Thursday.

The casino has a hotel that has 336 premium all-suite rooms and another with 324 rooms even though the latter will not be opened until next year.

Pennsylvania Online Poker May Go Live by the End of the Year

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This week, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) announced that manufacturers and suppliers will be allowed to apply for online gambling licenses as from April 2. The development follows the state’s legislation last October to pass the legislation to legalize online poker and other forms of online gambling in Pennsylvania.

Poker enthusiasts are hopeful that this implies that online poker games could be a thing by the end of the year if everything goes smoothly. It took so long for lawmakers in the state to agree on the details of expansion that it came as a surprise when they finally settled on a bill and passed it. It will certainly take a little more time before online casinos and online poker become a reality in the state but since the process has already kicked off, stakeholders will have to be patient and see how it all plays out in the end.

The PGCP is yet to announce dates for when online gaming operators will be able to apply for licenses – this makes the timeline a little uncertain but this is probably because the state is also moving forward in other areas of the planned expansion. This includes applications for the Video Game Terminal Operators and Establishments that the board has placed on their website.

The manufacturers and suppliers who will apply for the online casino licenses are expected to team up with Pennsylvania’s land-based casino operators in coming up with internet versions of the games they offer. Sounds familiar? Well, it should – the same model was implemented in the neighboring state of New Jersey which now boasts of $250 million per annum online gambling market.

The PGCB further outlined that the process for the applications involving Interactive Gaming will require the submission of an application after which it will provide instruction on how to be fingerprinted. After the fingerprint results are provided and all the other steps are followed, the application process will be considered to be complete. Also, background checks and investigations will be carried out for each every individual and entity that will be part of the applications.

Online poker will most certainly boost Pennsylvania’s live poker market which presently stands at about $60 million annually but seems to be stagnated.

Iowa Sports Betting Bill Facing Opposition from NBA and MLB

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As it turns out, the state of Iowa has been preparing a House bill that is aimed at legalizing sports betting in case the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the nationwide ban on sportsbetting, but the Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball League are not too happy about it. Both leagues have officially registered an opposing bill against the Iowa House bill.

However, it is more complicated than it seems – the leagues are not actually opposed to the state’s bid to legalize sports betting, per se. Apparently, the real problem is a provision of the bill that points to a proposed “integrity fee.” The integrity does not guarantee the leagues a piece of the profits that will be amassed from sports betting once it is legalized. According to the Iowa Gaming Association, while the leagues are not being forward about it, NBA and MLB are essentially demanding for major league sports fees.

Members of the Iowa casino industry have unanimously pointed out that the fees that the leagues are demanding is not only unrealistic but will also make sportsbooks unprofitable in the long run.

“It would kill sports betting in any state,” said Iowa Gaming Association president, Wes Ehrecke in an interview with a news outlet.

“It is unfortunate there wouldn’t be a good partnership with all the leagues because they will benefit from people watching games and betting on games,” Ehrecke told the news outlet. “But there certainly doesn’t need to be an integrity fee.”

Ehrecke further pointed out that in case the leagues are allowed to have the 1 percent fee that they are asking for, they would be walking away with about 20 percent or more of what is left after pot money is paid out. In addition to this, he also based his reasoning on the fact that 95 percent of the money wagered would be returned to the gamblers, and the remaining 5 percent is divided among the state, overhead expenses, federal taxes and a small share of the profits for the casinos and community groups.

Iowa’s sports gambling legislation is scheduled for consideration today (Wednesday, 7th )and if passed will establish a framework to legalize sports betting on college and professional sports which would then be regulated by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

DraftKings Hoping to Get Into Legal Sports Betting by 2019

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DraftKings has always argued that its business, a daily fantasy sports game where customers play to win cash prizes in exchange for cash entry fees, is a game a skill and not chance – the former being legal and the latter being illegal in the United States. However, for those who have been looking forward to it, the operator is now officially preparing to cross over to the other side with a new sports betting product that they hope to get off the ground by 2019. Hopefully, by that time the United States Supreme Court will have already delivered a ruling regarding the bill that intends to legalize sports betting in the country. From the looks of it, it is likely that the court will rule in favor of New Jersey and abolish the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

“We’re certainly going to go after it,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in an interview. “I think the Supreme Court — I’m hopeful — will rule that way. You can’t really predict what the government will do, but you have to be prepared.”

“For me, it was always, ‘this is going to happen, it’s just [a matter of] when. We’ll be prepared,” he added.

By branching out from the full-slate, roster-drafting contests that made it the top spot for daily fantasy sports competition the company hopes to achieve the same level of success in the legal sports betting industry. In fact, it has already created a single-game contest which will allow DraftKings’ customers to participate in 2018’s NFL title game. By 2019, DraftKings hopes to have a curved up a solid reputation and attracted enough customer recognition that will be very helpful in securing a portion of the Super Bowl action.

The company will also keep running their daily fantasy sports platform which Robins says will continue to grow, and may even grow faster thus dispelling the need to constantly keep tabs on it. The company thinks that the new venture is just as important as the business they have been running all this while. While DraftKings has always distanced itself from sports betting in the past, it is quite clear that the opportunities that legal sports betting presents are just too enticing to be ignored especially considering the huge revenue potential of the market. After all, it’s business.

Mansion Ventures Into Sports Betting With SBTech

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Renowned sportsbook solutions provider SBTech has unveiled its new sportsbook offering with iGaming operator Mansion Group. The Gibraltar –licensed iGaming operator launched with SBTech’s sportsbook and full platform solution as it makes an entry into the European sports betting market with MansionBet, its new brand. This deal is a pretty huge one for the technology provider as it also comes with such perks as SBTech’s Managed Services that Mansion will have access to alongside the sportsbook platform. The Managed Services solution provides operators with protocols for payment services, compliance and fraud detection, and prevention.

Furthermore, Mansion will be able to access a variety of key tools that will include trading and risk management services, price differentiation, controls for bespoke payouts as well as giving the customer control over their betting limits – this will be through Chameleon360, SBTech’s multi-award-winning iGaming platform. Mansion intends to give a lot more attention to mobile-first products like Action Betting and Add2Bet, both of which are designed to improve the in-play betting experience for the users.

“SBTech’s full platform solution is widely acknowledged as the industry’s leading iGaming product, delivering greater engagement, increased brand loyalty and higher lifetime value to our many clients around the world,” said Richard Carter, the SBTech Chief Executive. “This launch confirms SBTech’s position as the leading supplier of sports betting solutions for the sector’s top operators. We’re anticipating significant growth for all of Aspire Global’s partners, thanks to our expertise in deploying flexible trading and content solutions, with a unique focus on cross-selling from casino to sports.”

Mansion Group chief executive, Karel Manasco, also expressed his appreciation of the all-round strength and flexibility of the SBTech platform. He pointed out that these factors, coupled with the sheer quality of the iGaming provider’s products and the scalability of its solution, influenced the company’s decision to select SBTech as their main provider.

888Poker, Poker Central Partnership Renewed for Third Year

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888Poker continues to be the leading face of American online poker with the extension of the poker operator’s partnership contract with Poker Central for the third year in a row. Poker Central, which is a renowned online poker content hub made the announcement that their huge sponsorship deal had been extended and expanded to allow 888Poker to be the exclusive in-show sponsor of the Super High Roller Bowl that will take place this spring. Furthermore, 888poker will feature, to a very large extent, during several broadcasts of poker events such as the U.S. Poker Open, the ARIA High Roller Series and Poker Masters throughout 2018. The World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker were among some of the most notable events that were not included in the list even though both have partnered with PokerGO before. At the moment, there is nothing but speculation surrounding the choice to leave out both events but a likely scenario is that both prominent series are basking in lucrative sponsorship deals that have effectively taken them out Poker Central’s league. Still, nothing is certain at this point.

“This is our third consecutive year partnering with 888poker, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them on board for our growing slate of prestigious events. Together, we’re looking forward to further growing the sport by offering more tournaments that poker fans and professionals alike will enjoy,” Poker Central Vice President, Sam Simmons said after the announcement.

888Poker is also quite excited about the renewal and expansion of the partnership – they are showing it by offering reciprocal opportunities to Poker Central. Some of 888Poker’s broadcasted events are owned by Poker Central – these include Poker Masters and Super High Roller Bowl. 888Poker will now be giving gamblers opportunities to qualify for some of the exclusive tournament events through highly sought-after packages.

All Thanks to NBC?

Poker Central’s renewed contract with 888Poker coincides with another huge reveal. NBC Sports Group will be incorporating more Poker Central programming into its US schedule all through 2018. This further applies to both NBCSN’s linear and digital platforms and the programming partnership will run through to 2020.

All of the three Poker Central events that we mentioned earlier will be covered by all of NBC Sports Group’s online platforms and will be available for streaming on internet-connected TVs, tablets, desktops and mobile devices. Tournament dates and broadcast schedules are set to be officially announced later in the year.

Great Times Ahead for Luckbox.com As It Heads to Token Sale

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Luckbox is the latest Esports betting venture that is upping its game with its very own initial coin offering (ICO). Regardless of the fact that Initial Coin Offerings have always been known to be quite stormy, the chief executive officer of the Isle of Man-based startup, Lars Lien is quite confident that the company will not back down from the token issuance endeavor. Being a pro in the gambling space, and having previously worked as part of PokerStars operational team, Lien definitely has a great deal of experience and expertise that will help steer the startup out of the choppy waters of ICOs.

Initially, Lien intended to persuade the PokerStars management to let the renowned casino operator branch out and provide a dedicated Esports offering but this particular opportunity flew out the window when a new owner came along. The primary cause for the dismissal of Lien’s proposal was, however, the emergence of newer and wider developments that had huge impacts on PokerStars as a whole.

“I wanted to build an Esports platform,” Lien says. “And it just so happens that my experience means I have helped to build something unique.”

His dream came true when he joined forces with Mike Stevens, a fellow PokerStars veteran, to finally realize his goals which also included a desire to recreate something that he refers to as the “Scheinberg ethic” of business. In essence, this implies that the two poker pros platform will strive to offer better services and use practices that rise above what regular sports betting operators have to offer. According to them, the Esports betting community is a totally different demographic and thus what Luckbox offers is intended to cater specifically to that population – Luckbox is, by all means, a social experience that features a variety of goals, unlockable achievements as well as nicely implemented social interaction capabilities.

The Token Effort

Already, there are a couple of Esports-only offerings available in the mainstream market with ESP.bet and Unikrn having the largest stakes – like Luckbox, both of them also have opted for the token route as a means of attracting more players and gaining liquidity. While it is definitely a bold move for Luckbox, the decision comes at a time when the whole ICO market is undergoing some major issues. For instance, bitcoin’s vicious fluctuations have had huge ramifications on token markets especially in cases where bitcoin is the buy-in currency.

As it stands, Luckbox has already drawn a larger number of users to buy into LuckCash, its utility coin, and raised about $1.8 million in bitcoin via a private sale. During the February sale, the startup hopes to double down and raised up to a further $20 million ahead of its much-anticipated product launch by the third quarter of 2018. Luckbox tokens were designed with a variety of great features that will leave most of the existing tokens in the dust.

Roger Ver Expands His Online Gambling Site to Accept BCH

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Renowned online casino operator and die-hard cryptocurrency champion, Roger Ver has upgraded his online gambling platform to allow wagers to be made using bitcoin cash (BCH). In September last year, Bitcoin.com, which is Ver’s cryptocurrency portal launched Bitcoin Games – an online casino that used the old Segwit Bitcoin token. Owing to its success, the platform is now branching out in a bid to offer the same services to more cryptocurrency users with its newly launched BCH-powered variation that has been named Bitcoin Cash Games and will feature significantly lower prices than those of its older counterpart.

Ver expressed his confidence in Bitcoin Cash as the core reason for his decision to branch out and venture into an online casino that supported the relatively young cryptocurrency.

In his official statement, he pointed out that “the BCH network and currency has proven itself to be reliable while also offering transaction fees ($0.01 or less) they are practically non-existent.”

This is where Bitcoin Cash has managed to best its older counterpart that is currently the market leader in the cryptocurrency world. So far, the bitcoin fork has managed to hold its ground quite well and it is already making waves in the gambling industry as well as in crypto-trading spaces.

Games offered at Bitcoin Cash Games include provable fair video poker, roulette, keno, blackjack, slots, dice, and craps, all of which feature a 99 percent expected return. The platform further has a referral program that allows players to earn themselves up to 25 percent of the platform’s house edge by enlisting new players.

No registration is required for non-US players using the platform since Ver and company are rather serious about anonymity. The only reason why the US is an exception is the government’s rather paranoid regulations – however, the games are still available to US customers in the form of free-play action.