General Casino News

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada and the United States should legalize and regulate online gambling to contain its potentially harmful effects because players tend to bet more frequently and aggressively than they do in casinos, a study released on Tuesday says.

The study, conducted jointly by academics of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, found that online gambling is readily accessible via the Internet even though it is outlawed or in a "legal grey area" in United States and Canada.

Online gambling is big business, the study said, estimating worldwide spending at more than C$10 billion ($10 billion) a year.

Betting online is a problem, the study says, because it has the potential to be more addictive than casino gambling. Online gamblers can hide their activity more easily than casino gamblers, and betting can quickly become a routine part of their daily lives.

"It brings out the gamblers' more competitive side," said June Cotte, associate professor of marketing at the University of Western Ontario and one of the study's authors.

"When not seen as reserved solely as behavior for an outing or a special occasion, gambling is more likely to become a pernicious, insidiously integrated component of a consumer's life."

As part of the study, 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers were interviewed. Pictures were used as stimuli to find out what gambling feels like and how it is perceived by the participants.

Results show online gamblers bet more frequently and aggressively, the study found.

As one potential solution, the study's authors suggested that governments encourage large corporations like those that run the major Las Vegas casinos to enter a new, regulated online gambling market. The major Vegas operators include MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment Inc

Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Harrah's, said the company has already supported a study looking at the pros and cons of legalizing and regulating online gambling.

Depending on how the government would structure its approach, he said Harrah's would be interested in exploring the market opportunity.

The study also suggested government sponsors in Canada might enter the market and regulate it with measures like more effective age checks when signing up, setting limits on bets and implementing mandatory "cooling-off" periods that force gamblers to stop betting for a set amount of time.
by Wojtek Dabrowski

Categories: News  

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A New Jersey appeals court was just as put off by massive layoffs, bug-infested rooms and uncooperative management at the Tropicana Casino and Resort as state regulators were, and upheld the denial of the casino's license.

Tuesday's ruling affirmed last December's decision by the state Casino Control Commission to strip the former owners of the gambling resort of their license and put the property up for sale.

The Tropicana had appealed the decision, claiming the commission acted wrongly and exceeded its authority in denying the casino a new license.

Last December, regulators cited an affiliate of Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. for laying off nearly 1,000 casino workers, causing problems with cleanliness and service, as well as for poor compliance with state regulations. The appeals court decision reached many of the same conclusions.

"The findings made by the commission that Tropicana lacked financial integrity and responsibility, as well as business ability, are amply supported by the record," the judges wrote.

The judges cited "the massive staff layoffs," replacement of senior executives with less experienced people, "the cleanliness crisis," and "intransigence" on the part of ownership in complying with important regulations in upholding the commission's decision.

The property, which includes New Jersey's largest hotel at 2,129 rooms, is up for sale, but still open. A first round of bids was rejected because they were too low.

Tropicana president Mark Giannantonio is running the day-to-day operations of the casino under the supervision of a state-appointed trustee, retired state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein. Giannantonio said the ruling will have no effect on the casino's operations.

"I work for the judge now; we severed ties (with Columbia Sussex) on Dec. 12," Giannantonio said. "We're just trying to do the best we can in a very difficult market."

Linda Kassekert, chairwoman of the Casino Control Commission, said she was pleased by the decision.

The court ruling allows the thus-far unsuccessful effort to find a new buyer for the Tropicana to continue.

Stein has said it is likely the casino eventually will be sold through a pre-planned filing under Chapter 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. It would allow the eventual buyer to obtain clear title to the property, free from any liens or lawsuits, and would be quickly completed, Stein said.

Categories: News  

A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player.

Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts' decision to roughly 70 disappointed poker enthusiasts gathered for a rally outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

"That's just the way the game is played," said Rousso, an attorney. "The court of law is probably the biggest casino there is." He promised an appeal.

The crowd included men who live with their parents, women with college-age children, parents with sleeping infants, and poker celebrities who showered the crowd with autographs. Most in the group wore crimson T-shirts proclaiming, "POKER is not a crime."

"We are not criminals. We're not people off in the hinterland. We really are average citizens," said Drew Lesofski, the Washington, D.C.-based director of Poker Players Alliance. His group, which claims a million members nationwide, organized the rally. "This censorship can't be tolerated," he said.

In his lawsuit filed last year, Rousso argued that the law is a "protectionist measure" that discriminates against legal, out-of-state businesses -- namely Internet gambling companies -- by forcing local players to frequent the state's brick-and-mortar casinos and card rooms.

He pointed out that the law arose from a bill sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, whose district contains card rooms and casinos that benefit from the law.

State Assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin countered that Congress gives states primary authority over their own criminal laws, and that Washington's law bans online gambling regardless of whether a company operates in or out of state.

Marvin also said the state has a legitimate, federally recognized local public interest in controlling gambling. "We feel vindicated in the position we took."

Rousso, who serves as the Poker Players Alliance director in Washington state, urged players to lobby politicians. "It's incumbent on each of you to be a proud poker player," he said. "Make your voices be heard."

The 2006 statute was an amendment to a 1973 Gambling Act that banned electronic "receipt or transmission of gambling information" through such means as the radio, phone and telegraph. The law added "Internet" to those means. It also upgraded violation of the law from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

Since the statute became effective June 7, 2006, no player has been prosecuted. Last year, the Washington State Gambling Commission investigated a Seattle Internet betting site, which resulted in indictments in Louisiana, but none in Washington, commission spokeswoman Susan Arland said.

"Players do fall under (the law), but the focus of our enforcement is the Web site operators," Arland said. But she also said players should be aware that online sites are largely unregulated.

"You don't know if the games are fair, if you're going to get paid ... or if the money you gamble is used for criminal activities," she said.

Players at the rally didn't care.

"I don't know why the government would want to put me in jail, because I want to relax and play poker a couple of hours a night in the privacy of my home," said Linda McCabe, a Covington mother and real estate appraiser who said she was in her 50s.

Jonathan Scott, a 23-year-old gas station attendant from Kent, said his hobby -- which takes up 60 hours a week -- shouldn't be a crime. "If I'm hurting anyone, I'm hurting myself, and I'm just having fun," he said.

The most original argument for poker rights came from Andy Bloch, a World Series of Poker champion from Las Vegas who enjoyed rock-star status at the rally. His blackjack team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology inspired the card-counting movie "21," he said, and paid for his tuition at Harvard Law School, where he earned a degree.

"I think, therefore I am," he said. "I play poker, therefore I am human."
By VANESSA HO

Categories: News  

California will get their newest casino resort this weekend. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians will open the Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa.

The establishment will be something special for Californians to see. It has a 10,000 square foot conference center, a 340 room luxury hotel, a 10,500 square foot spa, a 2,000 seat theatre, and a 50,000 square foot pool area.

None of that includes the actual casino. The resort is sixteen story's high, and runs right along Interstate 10. The casino resides between the Indian resort casinos in Indio, to the Morongo casino in Cabazon.

Las Vegas style casino resorts are becoming more popular, not only in California, but also in other states throughout the country. Many states have expanded their gambling limits, and the competition is getting tough.

Las Vegas and Atlantic City used to rule the casino gambling market. It is becoming more difficult for those two areas to keep their hold on the nations gambling money. People have began to stay closer to home to spend their money.

Categories: News  

LAS VEGAS — In a town enthralled with its own mythology, Las Vegas would like to hold on to one myth in particular these days: Gambling is recession proof.

It's conventional wisdom characteristic of a city and an industry far more accustomed to boom than bust, but it's just not true, experts say. Gamblers, whether motivated by compulsion or hope, don't necessarily double down when the economy spirals and belts tighten.

"It's an old idea that has very little relevance and maybe no relevance to the United States today," industry analyst Eugene Christiansen said.

Christiansen and others trace the notion to decades old economic research conducted when gamblers' options in the U.S. were limited to horse racing and a handful of Nevada resorts. Such tight supply ensured demand for gambling was steady.

"They fared pretty well," said William Eadington, a professor of economics and director for the University of Nevada, Reno Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. "Part of this was a pent up supply of gaming product."

Not so in 2008, when 48 states have some form of legal gambling and millions of Americans are within driving distance of a slot machine. Casino companies today have moved gambling to the mainstream of the U.S. tourism and entertainment industry and have moved themselves into the competition for consumers' discretionary spending.

MGM Mirage chief financial officer Dan D'Arrigo said his company sees no difference between the way consumers manage their gambling dollars and the entertainment and lodging spending that has grown to make up the majority of casino companies' revenue.

"They're all in one bucket," he said.

With the housing market tanking and gasoline and food prices rising, operators are seeing the effects of that bucket being emptier than it used to be. Still, gaming companies are going ahead with resorts that will add thousands of new rooms in Las Vegas.

A survey of 19 states with casino or race track gambling found about half saw gross gambling revenue drop in December 2007 from the year before. In January 2008, the portion grew to 12 of the 19 states, including Nevada. The state saw gambling revenue fall nearly five per cent from a year ago to $1.06 billion, although analysts note it's too soon to discern a clear downward pattern.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest gambling company by revenue, noted several soft patches in its fourth-quarter earnings report.

Because companies have started to cut budgets for employee travel and conventions, booking cancellations have increased and attendance has dropped at major conventions, Harrah's chief executive Gary Loveman said.

Room rates are "off a bit," he said, and consumers who don't use the company's loyalty rewards card - typically low-rollers - have been the first to drop off.

MGM Mirage noted similar weak spots, despite reporting a revenue increase of four per cent, which was aided by a rush of foreign investment. Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, completed a joint venture giving it a 50 per cent stake in the $8.1 billion CityCenter megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip.

While the CityCenter development remains a bright spot on the horizon, other smaller projects face uncertain futures due to the shaky credit market. In January, the Cosmopolitan, a casino resort under construction on the Strip, defaulted on a $760 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank and appears to be moving toward foreclosure. Questions also have been raised about the future of The Plaza, a 3,500-room resort modeled on The Plaza Hotel in New York.

Atlantic City properties are more clearly feeling the pinch of increased competition from new Pennsylvania slot parlours and tight credit markets.

The city's gambling halls suffered through a 10-month decline in revenue until a much welcomed 1.5 per cent uptick in February. Pinnacle Entertainment recently announced it was considering scraping a $2 billion megacasino project if credit markets don't improve.

Christiansen said such news has precedent. In 1991, when the U.S. was facing a similar mix of economic woes, the casino industry felt the blow. After outpacing increases in personal income for most of the 1980s, the growth in gross gambling revenue fell behind that year.

This time around experts and executives are talking about the industry's resiliency, rather than immunity, to economic downturns.

"Historically, gaming has been extremely resilient, very durable and held up better than almost any other sector during recessions," MGM Mirage president and chief operative officer Jim Murren said recently.

The industry, particularly in Las Vegas, pointed to several factors to bolster the claim.

Compared with other top U.S. tourist destinations, major gambling hubs - Las Vegas and Atlantic City - are still affordable to the bargain traveller.

D'Arrigo said MGM Mirage has seen an increase in comparison shopping for room rates with visitors opting for companies' mid-market properties over high-end luxury resorts.

Meanwhile, the high-end resorts may increasingly fill up with international travellers, thanks to a U.S. dollar so weak that a Las Vegas Strip room at the tony Bellagio can seem like a bargain for tourists from Europe and Asia. Roughly 13 per cent of all visitors to Las Vegas are from outside the U.S. and that number is expected to rise.

But Eadington notes Las Vegas' fortunes are often closely tied to the development of new properties that create buzz and draw repeat visitors. In the past, when gambling revenue in the city has bested economic growth it's been in the wake of a building boom.

It's too soon to know whether the first new resort hotel on the Strip in three years, Las Vegas Sands' $1.9 billion Palazzo which began opening in late December, will be that sort of driver.

Early signs don't look promising. The number of visitors to Las Vegas fell slightly in January compared with year-ago numbers. Daily drive-in traffic has slowed compared with last winter, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Many analysts are looking further down the road to the late 2009 opening of the CityCenter project and its 6,300-rooms for the rebound.

"There are a lot of arguments that this should be a softer market in '08 that it was in '07," Eadington said.

Robbie Hamilton, a regular at the Hooters and Orleans hotel-casinos, makes one such argument. The 27-year-old student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas typically spends at least $40 a week betting on games, but he expects that amount to fall as gas prices rise.

"Gas and gambling kind of come out of the same pocket," he said. "I'll have to have less action because my gas tank needs it."

Categories: News