Автор: bingo

The Chinese casino junket industry - which has been linked to organised crime - will be "crucial" for a VIP casino in Cairns to be a success, a leading gaming analyst says.
Developers of the proposed Aquis resort expect the $8.15 billion project to bring in about 750,000 visitors a year, most of whom will come from mainland China.
Chinese players make up the overwhelming majority of Macau's VIP casino industry, which generates about seven times the gaming revenue of Las Vegas.
Aquis developers Tony and Justin Fung at the Yorkeys Knob site.
Aquis developers Tony and Justin Fung at the Yorkeys Knob site. Photo: Romy Bullerjahn
Macau's casinos rely heavily on the junket system, which involves independent companies earning commissions for bringing in big-spending players.
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The junkets also extend huge lines of credit in order for gamblers to legally circumvent laws restricting the amount of cash that can be brought into Macau from mainland China.
While many in Macau say the junkets have cleaned up their act, in previous decades the junkets earned a reputation for using violence and extortion to collect debts when players returned to China.

SWIMMING champion Grant Hackett has been interviewed by police about allegedly wandering semi-naked through Crown casino­ late one night in search of his four-year-old son.

Hackett’s manager Chris White confirmed yesterday that Hackett had voluntarily attended a Melbourne police station on Friday to answer questions about the incident.

Hackett was in Melbourne for the weekend to spend time with his twins, Charlize and Jagger, now 5, and returned to the Gold Coast last night.

When contacted by The Australian as he boarded a plane, Hackett said there was “little I can say at this stage’’.

In February, the triple Olympic gold-medallist was photographed walking through the hotel foyer in the early hours of the morning wearing only underwear and a singlet around his waist. It is understood he was looking for Jagger, who was found on the 20th floor of the complex, 14 floors above the apartment they were staying in.

Victoria Police confirmed yesterday that officers had interviewed a 34-year-old Queensland man as part of an invest­igation into an alleged incident at a Melbourne hotel on February 22.

“He has been released pending further inquiries,” police spokeswoman Sharon Darcy said. She said police were unable to comment further as the investigation was ongoing.

After the February incident, Hackett released a statement saying he had experienced “every parent’s worst fear” in losing one of his children. “Unfortunately, my adventurous son decided to go wandering in the early hours,’’ the 1500m freestyle champion said.

“Obviously I am embarrassed, but tremendously grateful to Crown for their professionalism and poise. Let’s just say I am going to buy a smaller apartment, with a deadlock.”

Several days after the incident, Hackett checked himself into a Los Angeles rehabilitation clinic.

Crown declined to comment, but The Australian understands the casino is co-operating fully with police, and has provided CCTV footage of the incident. Detec­tives also have interviewed Crown security staff.

Hackett and his former wife, Candice Alley, separated in 2012 and divorced last year.

The Horseshoe Casino Baltimore took a bite out of Maryland Live's revenue in September, its first full month of operation, even as it pushed the state's take to yet another record.
Overall revenues from the state's five casinos reached $82.4 million, topping last month's record of $80.6 million, according to figures released by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency.
The $45.5 million generated by Maryland Live, which is about 13 miles from Horseshoe, was 9.8 percent less than in the same month a year earlier and ended a period of steady gains since the casino, the state's largest, opened in June 2012. Maryland Live, which has become one of the East Coast's largest casinos, reported $57.3 million in revenue in August of this year.
Horseshoe, which opened on Aug. 26, had revenue of $22.3 million in September. Horseshoe produced $5.7 million in its first six days of operation in August.
Chad Barnhill, Horseshoe's general manager, said in a prepared statement that the casino "not only posted strong first-month casino figures but also exceeded revenue expectations in our dining and entertainment venues."
Analysts have long predicted that Maryland Live, adjacent to Arundel Mills mall, would see reductions in its slots and table games output once Horseshoe began operating.
A November 2013 study by Cummings Associates of Arlington, Mass., projected that the Horseshoe's arrival could mean a 16 percent decline in Maryland Live's slots revenue and a 25 percent drop in revenue from table games.
Rob Norton, Maryland Live president and general manager, told a Sept. 25 meeting of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission that the reduction was modest and "far better than what most of the state's analysts projected."
Since the market is finite, Maryland will be expected to eventually hit a plateau in overall casino revenues, said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"It does seem like the new casino is expanding the market if overall revenues are up," Schwartz said Monday. "But you don't want to make a trend from one month."
While the state did garner record revenue from its five casinos in September, the new record is only $4.6 million more than the $77.8 million generated by four casinos in July before Horseshoe opened.
Excluding Horseshoe's September figures, revenues at the other casinos decreased 8.1 percent compared with September 2013.
At Hollywood Casino Perryville, monthly revenue fell to $5.9 million, down $708,433, or 10.7 percent, from a year earlier. Casino at Ocean Downs' revenue decreased 2.8 percent to $4.9 million.
Only Rocky Gap Casino Resort saw revenue increase last month, up 16.2 percent to $3.6 million.
Horseshoe and Maryland Live began a spirited competition even before Horseshoe opened. Each casino dispatched mobile billboards to promote itself near the other's building.
Located near M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards, Horseshoe benefited in September from Ravens games, a college football game and Orioles contests.
Horseshoe has seen a steady of stream of fans walking past and was making "a lot of plans to make sure we get those people through the doors as well," Barnhill said at the commission meeting.
Horseshoe reported drawing more than 50,000 customers over the three-day Labor Day weekend — its first weekend in business. It operates 2,500 slots and 122 table games.
Maryland Live has 4,222 slot machines and 189 table games, according to the state.
MGM Resorts' $925 million casino and resort at National Harbor — about 44 miles from Baltimore — is expected to open in 2016.

10-time World Series of Poker title holder Phil Ivey denies what he did to win almost $22million at baccarat in Atlantic City and London.
In an interview that will be broadcast on CBS 60 Minutes Sports Tuesday, Ivey denies he was cheating when the casino granted him special accommodations they chalked up to superstition.
'I'm viewing the casino as my opponent,' he said. 'It's my job to try to exploit weaknesses in the house and try to give myself the best opportunity to win.'

The Borgata in Atlantic City and Crockfords in London both claim what Ivey did to win millions of dollars from them in 2012 is cheating.
According to Ivey, both casinos agreed to certain conditions before Ivey sat down with a few million dollars to play.
The player asked for a specific brand of playing cards, a shuffling machine, an Asian dealer and stipulated that the same card decks be used.

The conditions helped Ivey use 'edge sorting' to exploit printing errors on the backs of playing cards that offset designs too far to one or the other side.
Ivey's partner, Cheung Yin Sun, was with him at the baccarat table and instructed the dealer in Mandarin to rotate 'good cards' and 'bad cards' in specific ways before discarding them after a hand.
The sorting machine maintained the positioning of these cards, Ivey explains, allowing him to know whether a 'good' or 'bad' card was coming based on small design imperfections.

Back in 2012, when he was CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino, the massive Connecticut gambling complex, Scott Butera knew he needed a career change. He was in the midst of trying to renegotiate the company's Byzantine debt arrangements—while also trying to turn around its operations, which were rapidly declining as gamblers decamped to newly built and more convenient casinos.
An Arena Football League game featuring the new LA Kiss, which is owned by members of the rock band Kiss.
Source: Michael Voorhees | Arena Football League
An Arena Football League game featuring the new LA Kiss, which is owned by members of the rock band Kiss.
"We had a very successful restructuring there," he said, but added, "It's a tough market. Gaming is going to have to transition in many ways."

Two-and-a-half years and a half a billion dollars in debt reduction later, Butera, a former Division III defensive end, has left Foxwoods for a job that may seem to involve even more risk: He's trying to bring arena football to profitability and cultural relevance.
Read MoreLook who just won bidding for bankrupt Revel Casino

This month, Butera will begin his new job as president of the Arena Football League, which started in 1987 and is now battling to prove—again—that it can have a stable, lasting presence in the world of American sports. Top stars like a pre-NFL Kurt Warner were once paid six-figure salaries in the arena game, but the sport's strong following in select cities was never enough to make the overall league into a viable business.

The league went into bankruptcy in 2009, and has since emerged with a leaner business model. Player salaries are down to around $800 per game, plus performance bonuses. The AFL's headquarters, which once had more than 50 employees, now houses only about a dozen. That might seem like a riskier and less desirable gig than running a big-name casino like Foxwoods—but given the state of the gambling industry of late, it might not be.

The casino industry, coping with competition from online gambling and perhaps more real-world facilities than the market can bear, has been hit by a series of high-profile bankruptcies, layoffs and closures. Even overseas gambling meccas like Macau, China, have been forced lately to deal everything from a slowdown in the Chinese housing market to legal pressure from Beijing.

U.S. casinos have tried to diversify by doing things like reaching out to millennials or luring customers to non-gambling attractions.

"There's been a proliferation of gaming," Butera said. "It's gotten very saturated, so casinos have to turn to non-traditional businesses to make up lost ground. It works—but to what degree? Usually it doesn't replace the gaming revenue, because that's your highest-margin business."
Read MoreLifetime ban sought against trader-turned-poker player
A gambler on a slot machine doesn't cost much in terms of labor costs, Butera explained, but a person who primarily brings revenue to hotels or meals side of the business is inherently a lower-margin customer. Some casinos have successfully reinvented themselves—in Las Vegas, non-gaming revenue now exceeds gambling revenue—but regional casinos still get most of their revenue from frequent gamblers.

"We have way too many casinos for our own good," Butera said. "It's very hard in gaming to trump convenience." That leaves resort-casinos—which market themselves as destinations in and of themselves—battling declining revenues, with few good options.

"Arena football has really had this mystical ability to survive kicks to the head and knife wounds to the stomach."
-Jim Foster, founder of Arena Football
On the other hand, Butera thinks that there should be a place in the market for arena football. "We live in a football-crazed country. The league offers a great product. The NFL is becoming very expensive, and I think there's a home for something that's more of a value," he said.

The key, he says, will be getting the game in front of the public with marketing and publicity. He wants to see the league get more publicity on TV highlight reels and in the sports magazines and websites. And he's considering ways to make the games more entertainment-oriented events, perhaps with innovative smartphone experiences.

Read MoreSteve Wynn: I'm 'more scared' about US than China

The AFL can point to some early signs of a turnaround: For the 2014 season, average attendance at regular season games was up 3.5 percent to 8,585; the ArenaBowl, the league's 27th annual equivalent of the Super Bowl, attracted 18,401 spectators.

The LA Kiss, owned by two members of the iconic, proto-metal rock band, are heading into their second season in the league. The location, the brand, and a reality show on AMC have helped that team overcome a 3-15 record in its inaugural season to achieve strong season ticket sales for next year.

"Arena football has really had this mystical ability to survive kicks to the head and knife wounds to the stomach," said Jim Foster, the game's inventor. "The million-dollar question is, 'How do you get it to be a sustainable business?'"

Part of the answer may lie in Las Vegas, the epicenter of the industry Butera just left. Perhaps inspired by the early buzz surrounding the LA Kiss, former Motley Crue front man Vince Neil plans to launch his own team, the Las Vegas Outlaws, next season. With Vegas' gaming revenue down 3.7 percent in August, the city and the Outlaws may need each other.

Florida-based real-estate developer Glenn Straub has filed court papers objecting to the results of last week’s auction of Atlantic City, N.J.’s Revel Casino Hotel, and is requesting a “new, open and transparent” auction directed by an independent trustee.

In an objection filed Sunday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, N.J., lawyers representing Mr. Straub’s investment vehicle, Polo North Country Club Inc., accused Revel of failing to disclose information about competing bids, conducting much of the auction behind closed doors and making “on the fly alterations to deadlines and procedures to assure a successful bid other than Polo.”

“This entire auction proceeding is highly suspect, and, given the appearance of impropriety and lack of open communication, tainted at best,” Mr. Straub’s lawyers wrote in their objection.

John Cunningham, a lawyer representing Revel, disputes that Mr. Straub was entitled to any information about other bidders and said the auction, which was held in the offices of a Manhattan law firm, was both fair and in accordance with court-approved bidding rules.

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“The debtors are very pleased with the result of the auction and gave [Mr. Straub] every opportunity to bid and to continue to bid,” Mr. Cunningham said.

Brookfield Property Partners BPY +0.49% LP, which also owns Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas, won the auction for the 47-story boardwalk property with a bid of $110 million in cash, topping Mr. Straub’s final offer of $95.4 million.

Lawyers for Mr. Straub said that Brookfield placed a condition on its final bid that required him to respond with a better offer by 5 a.m., which Mr. Straub said he was unable to do because of the time of day.

“How do I get any accountants? How do I get anybody to review it?” he told The Wall Street Journal last week.

In court papers, Mr. Straub’s lawyers also said he hadn’t brought a necessary medication with him and was dealing with a “life or death medical situation” that prevented him from meeting the early-morning deadline.

Revel also faces an objection from ACR Energy Partners LLC, which operates the plant that supplies the casino and hotel’s energy needs and stands to lose its contract as a consequence of the sale.

In earlier court papers, ACR said it could be forced to file for bankruptcy.

Judge Gloria Burns will hear these objections and others at a sale hearing on Tuesday.

Mr. Straub said that he plans an appeal if his objection is dismissed or overruled. Should his efforts to challenge the outcome of the auction ultimately fail, Mr. Straub is in line to collect a $3 million breakup fee for serving as the lead bidder.

Revel, built at a cost of $2.4 billion, filed its second Chapter 11 case in as many years in June. Before shutting down, Revel employed more than 3,000 people, and its retail, food and beverage partners employ hundreds more, court papers show.