Sydney, Australia - The annual Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE), to be held in Sydney August 19-21, 2007, is shaping up to be a hugely successful show, judging by registrations for the trade show and conference, and bookings for the exhibit space.
Sydney, Australia - The annual Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE), to be held in Sydney August 19-21, 2007, is shaping up to be a hugely successful show, judging by registrations for the trade show and conference, and bookings for the exhibit space.
The 3rd annual European Gambling Briefing (EGB) took place last week in Brussels, Belgium. EGB is the longest running and most established conference tackling legal and regulatory issues in the gambling industry. Over 150 attendees, from 23 European countries, joined the impressive list of speakers.
Atlantic City - Tropicana Casino and Resort's new owner indicated Wednesday that it has completed most of its layoffs after making deep cuts that jolted the property over the last four months. Tropicana's work force has fallen from 4,507 employees on Jan. 2 to 3,818 as of May 1, a 15 percent decline, according to figures compiled by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
The Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG), the largest casino operator in Central Europe and the Baltic states, has acquired a 80 percent stake in Casino Polonia. Over the next two years, the group plans to invest a total of 30 million euros in Poland. The transaction, worth 9 million euros, made OEG the owner of seven casinos in four Polish cities-Warsaw, Wroclaw, Szczecin and Gorzów Wielkopolski.
Groningen – The Holland Casino in Groningen does not need to ban smoking. The court has rejected the demand from a casino worker was calling for a smoke-free workplace. The man says he has respiratory problems after having to work in a smoky environment. The court said it would be too drastic a move to require the casino to ban smoking since it is a part of the hospitality industry.
The Elad Group, which owns New York’s Plaza Hotel, is expected to announce today a USD 5 billion project on the Las Vegas Strip, the Wall Street Journal reported. Elad plans to develop a site into a mixed-use development bearing the Plaza name by 2011, the Journal reported. The group bought the 13.9-hectare site, which currently houses the New Frontier Hotel & Casino, for USD 1.2 billion, the paper said.
The horse breeders, owners, drivers and trainers who fought for Las Vegas-style slot machines at The Isle Casino & Racing at Pompano Park now want the gambling devices temporarily unplugged. The Florida Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association has filed a harshly worded lawsuit against the racetrack casino, alleging that Pompano Park officials refuse to give the horsemen their fair share of the slots revenue.
Providing further evidence of increasing competition from a revived Mississippi Gulf Coast, Louisiana's state-licensed casinos saw their winnings from gamblers in April drop nearly USD 9 million from the same month last year. The state's 12 riverboat casinos, Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s downtown land casino in New Orleans and three slot machine casinos at race tracks took in a tad less than USD 205 million last month, compared with USD 213.9 million in April 2006, state police reported Wednesday.
The founder of the London online gambling firm BetonSports Plc pleaded not guilty on Monday to racketeering and other charges. Gary Stephen Kaplan, who was arrested in March in the Dominican Republic, entered the plea in an appearance before Magistrate Judge Mary Ann Medler of the U.S. District Court.
After six months, Pennsylvania’s casino industry has generated more money than anyone expected. Slots at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, the first slots parlor when it opened near Wilkes-Barre in November, average more than double the money predicted by either the state or the operator during licensing process. And the temporary casino - with little more than half the games - is on pace to make more than the fifth-year projections for Pocono Downs’ permanent slots parlor set to open next summer with 2,000 machines.
The State of Texas currently does not allow casino gambling, but if State Senators John Corona of Dallas and Rodney Ellis of Houston have their way, voters will be able to decide in December whether to allow casinos in the state. The new bill, which has been proposed by these two senators, would allow voters to decide the future of gambling in the state.
Shares of Melco PBL slid 6% Monday after the gaming company delayed unveiling "VIP" rooms at its first casino in Macau, which opened over the weekend. "Crown Macau debuted on May 12 with elegant décor and a packed mass gaming floor. But the VIP rooms have yet to be opened. Slow ramp-up of VIP volume would hurt market share in early months," Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Tang said in a research note Monday.