Автор: blackjack

Grain traders have paid record premiums for shipping slots in Western Australia's southern ports.

The first capacity auction for the 2014-15 harvest by Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) wrapped up late yesterday, with just over 14 million tonnes of capacity offered.

The total capacity rewarded is believed to be 13.062 million tonnes, but it is yet to be finalised by the Auction Review Committee (ARC).

The average premium for a slot at one of CBH's four terminals was $27.99 a tonne, with the highest slot premium at $40.50, both records.

In past auctions, the previous highest average was $26.16 and the highest individual premium is $38.

Once approved by the ARC, $365 million in premium funds will be held in an auction pool on behalf of marketers which is rebated based on tonnes shipped at the end of the shipping year.

CBH recently scrapped plans to offer long term port access agreements (LTA).

With this season's port capacity now allocated, CBH says it can focus on restructuring the LTA proposal once again to present to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"This is not our ideal situation, as we still believe that the LTA system is in the best interests of WA growers," said CBH operations manager David Capper.

"Given the situation, we are taking more time to consider how that will work into the future."

CBH and a battery of international big guns have started a bidding war over the export of this season's grain harvest, which will see millions of dollars gambled to secure individual shipping slots.

The blind auction run by Tradeslot started yesterday, with 20 million tonnes of demand from exporters and CBH offering 14.1mt of shipping capacity at its four WA port terminals.

The huge demand comes amid predictions the above-average harvest will reach 14mt at best and could be as low as 13mt.

CBH raised the auction stakes last week when it abandoned plans to offer grain traders long- term port access agreements in the face of criticism from within the industry about the system for allocating prime shipping slots.

Three newcomers - representing China's COFCO, Japan's Mitsubishi and US co-operative CHS - and eight other traders had agreed to LTAs subject to approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. It is believed all 11 traders and others are now bidding for market share against CBH's trading and marketing arm in an auction set to drag into next week.

Industry experts tip premiums for prime shipping slots at Kwinana could break the $40 a tonne mark. Exporters would have to stump up more than $2 million to secure one 50,000t shipment.

The money is held in a pool and repaid quarterly but the exporter loses it all and is hit with hefty penalties if it cannot buy enough grain from growers to fill the slot.

It is a high-stakes game that contributed to US grain giant Gavilon flying the white flag in WA last year after losing an estimated $50 million over two years.

Traders estimate up to 25 per cent of this season's harvest is pre-sold. Growers are now holding back because of a dip in price.

Industry experts said the auction system, combined with moves by the Federal Government to exempt CBH from a mandatory port access code, would increase the likelihood of overseas investment in port infrastructure in WA.

"If people don't get what they want and it is costing them a huge amount of money and risk, they will look at investing," one said.

Chinese interests and multinationals Cargill, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus have invested in WA grain infrastructure in the past two years, with Bunge opening a port terminal at Bunbury.

Zen Pinball 2 isn’t showing any signs of slowing down after the relentless barrage of Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Walking Dead content.

Their latest collaboration, recently teased through Zen Studios’ official blog, is South Park Pinball, which will see the developer deliver “two totally sweet pinball tables” this October.

Outside of that there are few clues, aside from an accompanying image that sees Kenny splattered by a colossal, metallic pinball. We can expect crude humour galore and plenty of jokes, and we’ll keep you posted as anything’s announced.

Slot machine revenue in Pennsylvania's casinos dipped about 4 percent in September compared to what they brought in during the same month last year, according to figures the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released Friday.
The casinos collected $180 million in gross revenue from slot machines in September, down from $188 million in September 2013.
According to the gaming control board, 10 of the state's 12 casinos experienced a decline in slots revenue, including The Meadows, which led the state with a 12.5 percent decrease. Rivers Casino on the North Shore saw a 2.5 percent decrease.
A gaming trade show in Las Vegas prevented the general manager of Rivers Casino from being available for comment, a spokeswoman said. No one from The Meadows or the gaming control board returned calls.
North Strabane received $2.77 million as the host municipality of The Meadows last year. This year, the township expects about $2.55 million.
“Just look at the competition in this area. You've got five or six different casinos within 100 miles. That's got to cut into the amounts,” said Brian Spicer, chairman of North Strabane's board of supervisors.
Nonetheless, “We have not had a tax increase in over 20 years, and the casino has had a lot to do with that over the last five or six.”
Pennsylvania's two smallest casinos, Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County and Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin in Fayette County, bucked the statewide trend with 13.5 percent and 14.5 percent gains, respectively.
Joseph Weinert, executive vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey-based research firm, said the decline in slot machine revenue is due in part to new casinos in the region.
“There are about 975 casinos in 41 states, and you can only slice up that pie so many ways before certain markets and properties become impacted,” Weinert said. “Just as Pennsylvania benefitted from New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Maryland, so, too, are some of those states benefitting from Pennsylvania residents.”
Slots revenue for Pennsylvania's casinos peaked during the 2011-12 fiscal year, when the machines grossed $2.47 billion. For the 2013-14 fiscal year, the gross dropped to $2.32 billion, according to the gaming control board.
Weinert attributed part of the “leveling off” of revenue in Pennsylvania to Ohio legalizing casinos in 2012. The first casino in Ohio — Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland — opened in May 2012. Ten others have opened since.
“Some of those are going to compete for customers in Western Pennsylvania and the northern part of West Virginia,” Weinert said. “Gamblers, all other things being equal, will play where it's most convenient. A Wheel of Fortune slot machine in Ohio is going to play the same as a Wheel of Fortune slot machine in Pittsburgh.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When more than 200 video gambling machines were removed from the Twin River Casino in 2013 to make way for table games, state officials said the reduction wouldn’t lead to a decline in overall revenue from the video terminals.
But they were wrong. Those revenues did drop in 2013, triggering a separate — and permanent — cut in the state’s share of revenue from Twin River’s table games.
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As of July 1, the state’s cut of table game revenue fell from 18 to 16 percent — a loss of about $1.9 million based on revenue predictions in this year’s budget.
A provision in the legislation allowing table games at Twin River dictated that if the facility ever saw a decline in revenue from the video gambling machines — often referred to as slots — it would trigger a 2-percent cut in the state’s share of table game revenue.
The law calls for that money to be split, with an extra 1 percent going to Twin River and 1 percent, for the first time, going to the Town of Lincoln for four years. After four years, the entire 2 percent will go to Twin River.
House Minority Leader Brian Newberry said he was unaware that the state’s cut of table game revenue had been reduced. He had been critical of the 2012 legislation, sponsored by Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, and Rep. Helio Melo, D-East Providence, and the formula it set for divvying up the revenue stream.
“The bill was essentially written in secret. I could not get an answer from anyone as to how the percentage cuts were chosen for the state,” Newberry said. “There was no reason why we as a state should not get as much revenue for state taxpayers as we could.”
Before table games were added, Twin River heralded a phenomenon known as “companion play,” arguing that couples would come to the casino with one person playing slots and the other table games.
Patti Doyle, a spokeswoman for Twin River, said the casino believes this happened, and without that influx, the hit to slot machine play, which includes games like video blackjack, could have been worse. She said percentage declines in slot revenue were larger at Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos. She also said some decline was expected.
“Naturally, when table games went live in June of 2013, the virtual table games saw a decline, so that is another reason for the overall decline in [slot] win. This was expected,” Doyle said. “I don’t know if [virtual table games] were specifically addressed in legislative hearings … but our regulator, the Rhode Island Lottery, was certainly aware as they track revenue from all games.”
That’s a decidedly different stance than the assessment that Lottery Director Gerald Aubin took prior to the arrival of table games at Twin River. At the time he said, “while there could be a temporary dip in the [electronic terminal] revenue during construction, we do not anticipate any negative impact due to the final removal of the estimated 225 to 265 [electronic terminals].”
Aubin did not return calls or respond to email requesting comment for this story.
In October 2012, Doyle told The Providence Journal that the removal of the 200 machines would not trigger the cut to table game revenue, because even at peak times, not all machines are in play. She also cited companion play.
The slump
Paul Dion, chief of the state Office of Revenue Analysis, said there’s no doubt that the decline is due in part to the removal of roughly 215 of the facility’s collection of 4,750 video gambling machines. The machines were removed to make room for 66 new table games, where the state’s share of the revenue pie is far less.
The state keeps a little more than 61 cents out of every dollar played on the electronic gambling terminals at Twin River and Newport Grand. Last fiscal year — the first complete cycle since the introduction of table games — the amount of money each machine brought in per day went up by a little more than 1 percent, but that was not enough to counter the sliced number of machines, Dion said.
Overall, transfers from the Lottery — the third-largest revenue source for the state — totaled $376 million in fiscal year 2014, down less than 1 percent. This includes money from traditional lottery games as well as slot and table games. Slot revenue from both Twin River and the smaller Newport Grand slots parlor was down 3 percent. Table games yielded roughly $88 million, with the lion’s share — $72 million — going to Twin River.
But in the last fiscal year, overall revenue to the state from Twin River increased thanks to the addition of table games.
The casino, which employs 1,700, will not divulge its profits.
As revenue data trickled in throughout the year, both state officials and Twin River attributed the slump to everything from a cold winter to the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots making the playoffs and keeping customers away.
They have also cited the economy and an oversaturated Northeast gambling market as reasons for declining slot revenue. Rhode Island has been bracing itself for the potential impact of Massachusetts gambling, but all projections called for slot revenue to increase in the absence of Massachusetts gambling.
Downward trend
Still, overall net income from the electronic terminals has now fallen for two straight years. At Twin River alone, the slot revenue dipped by $3.4 million in fiscal year 2013. In fiscal 2014, it took an even greater hit of $10.2 million, finishing at $462.4 million.
Governor Chafee made an attempt to position the state to hold on to its 18-percent stake in table game revenue. An article contained in his original budget for the current year stated that the state’s share of table game revenue would fall to 16 percent if slot revenue dropped after the onset of casino gambling in Massachusetts. However, it would remain at 16 percent for only four years.
“If after four years from the onset of Massachusetts casino gaming, [slot revenue] began to increase, we thought it only reasonable that the state’s share of net table game revenue be returned to the rate that existed before Massachusetts casino gaming,” said Faye Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Chafee.
Asked if the state was misled, Zuckerman cited initial predictions that the addition of table games at Twin River would yield annual increases to the state’s revenues by between $16 million and $20 million.
“The net impact of the expansion to table gaming at Twin River resulted in $5.5 million more [last fiscal year] transferred to the state’s general fund, less than a third of the minimum amount touted by Twin River.”

Aristocrat Technologies didn’t have to sell the producers of the “Sons of Anarchy” television series on the idea of creating a slot machine based on the fictional outlaw motorcycle club.

The show’s top executives approached the gaming company to discuss the concept.

The game, which features images of the main characters from “Sons of Anarchy,” footage from the FX cable network series and a new way for gamblers to collect bonus rewards, will be unveiled next week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.

The annual conference and trade show runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. G2E, which is closed to the public, is traditionally the venue where the slot machine industry unveils its new games and products to casino operators.

Last year, Aristocrat displayed slot machines based on the AMC cable television series, “The Walking Dead.”

The game caught the eyes of the “Sons of Anarchy” producers, who were visiting the tradeshow floor.

“They not only wanted us to come up with a slot machine based on their show, they wanted the same team that produced ‘The Walking Dead’ game to work on their slot machine,” said Dallas Orchard, vice president of gaming operations for Aristocrat.

The idea was turned over to Ted Hase, an Aristocrat vice president who heads the company’s R&D Global Games design studio. Hase said “Sons of Anarchy” is driven by its characters and their story lines, as opposed to “Walking Dead,” which is overrun with zombies.

“We didn’t have zombies to fall back on,” Hase said.

Hase said the slot machine had to appeal to several audiences: the show’s producers, Aristocrat executives, the show’s loyal fan base, and — ultimately — casino gamblers.

“You don’t want to disappoint the constituent fan base because a show like this has a loyal following,” Hase said. “We sat back and looked at the essence of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and what the show is all about.”

The past and present characters — including Jax, Gemma, Clay, Tara and Opie — are included in the game because of what they represent.

“These characters all have immense appetites,” Hase said. “Whatever they acquired, they wanted more.”

That concept was worked into the game’s bonus rounds, which create a new way for the game’s players to rack up additional credits.

Instead of lining up symbols, customers earn bonus points by creating clusters of characters across multiple positions and reels. In one bonus round, players are also given opportunities to “risk everything” for chances of larger prizes.

Hase said the cluster concept, developed by R&D Global’s director of games Ryan Hawkins, has a pending application with the U.S. Patent Office.

The slot machine’s high-definition video screen, graphics and sounds attempt to the capture the “Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club,” which operates out of a fictional town in the California Central Valley. The show’s production team filmed scenes that were specially created for the slot machine.

Hawkins said the game designers still have more content from the series that will be added to the slot machines.

Aristocrat designers said the series story lines were intertwined throughout the game so that it appeals to “Sons of Anarchy” fans. However, they said a slot machine player who was unfamiliar with the show will still enjoy the game because of the machine’s features.

Orchard said “Sons of Anarchy” fits into Aristocrat’s strategy of securing high-profile licensed titles. The company, which is headquartered in Australia but operates its American headquarters out of Las Vegas, was targeting release of the game to casinos for April.

“‘Sons of Anarchy’ is distributed in over 120 countries,” Orchard said. “Given our global distributions, and there are talks of movie and a spinoff series, the longevity is there for us to capitalize on this game.”

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.

G2E SLOTS TO HAVE TV THEME

An outlaw motorcycle gang won’t be the only attraction at the Global Gaming Expo next week.

Slot machine manufacturers will unveil dozens of new game titles, themes and products that should land on casino floors after the first of the year.

The three-day trade show at the Sands Expo and Convention Center is closed to the public. The show will encompass 294,000 square feet and include more than 480 exhibitors. Attendance to G2E is tracking 4 percent ahead of last year’s 16,249 attendees, according to show organizers.

Aristocrat Technologies hopes to capitalize on the popularity of its "Sons of Anarchy" slot machine, based on the FX cable network series.

International Game Technology will feature two slot machines that incorporate aspects of the Ellen DeGeneres Show: "Ellen’s Dance Party Video Slots" and the "12 Days of Giveaways Video Slots."

DeGeneres won’t be at G2E.

Bally Technologies will display slot machines based on the DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman, and will have actress Lynda Carter, who portrayed the character in the 1970s television show, at its booth Tuesday.

Bally will also have 2013 Playboy Playmate of the Year Raquel Pomplun in its booth Wednesday to promote the company’s slot machines based on the Playboy Club.

Bally is also unveiling slot machines based on the television series "Friends," and the reality television show "Duck Dynasty."