With proposals to expand casino gambling to other parts of New Jersey gaining momentum, Atlantic City is faced with an existential choice: fight to the end to try to keep it from happening, or accept it as inevitable and extract the most concessions it can from new, in-state competitors. It’s a question the city and its political and business supporters need to answer soon. Two bills that would ask voters whether to amend the state constitution and expand gambling beyond Atlantic City have been proposed, and lawmakers are touting casino projects in the Bergen County Meadowlands, Jersey City, Newark and…

Morgan Stanley Research Asia recently completed a detailed study of the VIP casino players, and our industry in Macau. That study concluded that the significant decline in revenue is directly linked to the drop in Macau’s VIP clientele. Macau used to bring in five times the revenue of Las Vegas but does not have a large customer basis like Las Vegas. The report was compiled by analysts Thomas Allen, Alex Poon and Praveen Choudhary and revealed that Macau derived as much as eighty percent of its gambling revenue from these VIP casino players. Initially analysts believed that VIP customers contributed…

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has launched a new forum in an effort to allow punters in the UK to offer constructive suggestions as to how the sport can develop and change for the benefit of the betting public. The ‘Horseracing Bettors Forum’ will deliver proposals and recommendations to both the BHA and BHA Racing Betting Group for developments that would be of benefit to the wider community that wagers on racing in the region. The new Forum, which will meet on a quarterly basis to discuss topics, will also consider proposals provided by the BHA for feedback on how…

Finnplay has moved to strengthen its presence in the African market by entering into a partnership with Ghanaian-based betting agency Simplebet. Under the agreement, the Finnish-based gaming provider will supply Simplebet with its BillFold sports betting kiosk. The solution, which will be rolled out across Simplebet land-based locations, will enable customers to access a range of sports betting services. “Africa is a rapidly expanding market for sports betting both land-based and online,” Finnplay’s vice-presidnet of sales Erkki Nikun said. “Our BillFold Kiosk Platform is designed for any form of gaming at a physical location. “For Simplebet we integrated a betting…

On June 21st 2015, it was reported that in Subang Jaya, police detained 33 gamblers. These gamblers included college students from Singapore, Italy and Iran. The raid came in the early morning after a tip off from the public on the 20th. It has been said by the Oriental Daily that the police seized a total of RM29 000 in chips, cash and gambling tools. The police also confiscated the student cards that belonged to the foreign students. The illegal casino that was being operated on the top floor of the building was stormed by a police team of 18 that…

Nevada casinos confiscate around $40k in counterfeit cash every week, according to a new US government study. Last week saw the release of the Treasury Department’s national money laundering risk assessment, which is viewable here (the casino section starts on page 74), although be forewarned that it often reads like a hypochondriac’s database of things that could go wrong. The counterfeit cash claim comes via the Secret Service, who linked the counterfeiters with ‘minimal gaming,’ where gamblers make major cash deposits but cash out for a casino check or a wire transfer after minimal play. The most commonly reported suspicious…