Very interesting article from The Japan Times that provides an overview of the junket model in Macau and the massive credit some of the VIP players are extended.
If we are to believe the facts of this article, the debtor in question, Mr. Lou would be by far the biggest gambling debtor of all time with over $450 Million USD owing to the casinos/junket operators.
That’s enough money to build TWO of the original Sands Macau!! Continue reading
Interesting to see what the Ontario Government will do with this.
Presently, offshore operators operate in Ontario (and Canada for that matter) with impunity.
I have always said that with regulation, especially with Government run internet gaming operations, there must be a coordinated effort to crack down on the offshore operators.
Would be interesting to see how this could potentially affect companies like Amaya that operate their Pokerstars brand in Ontario.
Sun News : Ontario looking for ways to control offshore online gambling.
Supporters of federal legalization of Internet gaming could be the biggest losers following the 2014 midterm elections, according to analysts.
The issue is not expected to gain traction in Washington, D.C., come January, after the new Congress is seated.
With Republicans taking control of the U.S. Senate and gaining a larger majority in the House of Representatives, various federal bills to legalize, tax and regulate aspects of Internet gaming have little chance of surfacing.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Las Vegas, will no longer hold the same title in January. Reid had been a supporter of legalizing online poker on a federal level.
Read the whole story at Las Vegas Review-Journal
The author of this article (link below) outlines a very reasoned and logical argument as to why Sheldon Adelson is opposed to online gaming in the US.
While it is easy for the pro-online gambling forces to ascribe sinister reasons to why Adelson opposes online gambling, the author does an excellent job of explaining why the “obvious” is not the case.
Worth the read.
Read the whole story at The Motley Fool
According to this article from Calvinayre.com, NJ regulators are inviting skill-based game developers to bring their games to NJ and find ways to incorporate this type of play into the casino wagering environment. Assuming they pass regulatory hurdles, the games would be fast tracked for approval..
The article states:
“On Tuesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) announced it was “eager” to receive submissions from developers of “social and skill-based gaming options such as Candy Crush and Words With Friends,” in the hopes that they would “find ways to incorporate this type of play into the casino wagering environment.”
And that:
“The DGE believes this expanded gaming palette would “bring more customers to a casino’s slot floor or to their internet website.” Social gamers’ familiarity with these products makes it more likely that they would be “willing to try them out for real money casino gaming.””
On June 3, 2014 in a post on this blog I stated the following when discussing what NJ needs to do to succeed in the i-gaming space:
“Notwithstanding all of this, NJ could be successful if the operators would focus on mobile and tablet gaming instead of PC based gaming and the software providers would develop unique games that people could wager on that were not the typical slot and casino games they currently offer.
Poker is practically a dead horse and the operators should consider pooling liquidity and using one software provider for the entire State with all the operators sharing in operational costs and proportional revenue (based on delivering players).
Faced with all these issues, it is time for some out-of-the-box thinking in NJ if they want to survive and set a good example for the online gambling proponents.
If King can generate north of a million dollars a day with one game (Candy Crush), there is no reason why NJ operators cannot begin to offer unique and fun games for people to play and wager thereby capitalizing on the opportunity they have been given by the state of NJ.”
See my post: http://alexigelman.com/sheldon-adelson-is-winning-his-war-against-online-gambling-finally-someone-agrees-with-me/
Seems like the DGE is finally getting the message.
New Jersey Casinos Want Real-Money Skill-Based Social Games | Gambling News : CalvinAyre.com.