Macau gambling revenue up 21 percent

From Reuters Gambling revenue in Macau rose 21.1 percent in June year-on-year, buoyed by a steady flow of wealthy mainland gamblers eager to place their bets in the Chinese controlled casino hub. June revenue stood at 28.3 billion patacas ($3.54 billion), according to government data released on Monday. Analysts had forecast June growth in the world’s biggest gambling market, to be up 18-21 percent. Macau is the only place where Chinese people can legally gamble at casinos in the country. Home to half a million people, Macau depends on high spending VIP gamblers, or ‘whales’, who spend 1 million yuan…

US Operators in Macau to face more scrutiny

From Gaming-Awards.com US Operators with casinos in Macau could face more scrutiny on money laundering following a report from a congressional advisory panel which says U.S. regulators should tighten up scrutiny of casino companies operating in Macau because of the risk of money laundering. The panel Commissioner Michael Wessel said there should be stricter scrutiny of Nevada-based companies that operate in Macau. He said regulators need to “go deeper.” Mr Wessel is a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was established in 2009 to examine implications of the trade and economic relationship between the two countries…

Legal or not, gambling is big business in India

From IOL Like many visitors to the Casino Royale Goa on a rainy Saturday night on India’s western coast, Salim Budhwani said that he did not gamble but also had no objection to the betting at the busy tables downstairs. Despite socially conservative India’s ambivalence about gambling, consultancy firm KPMG estimated that $60 billion (R601.2bn) was wagered in the country in 2010. Much of the gambling is illegal, but attitudes are slowly changing as more Asian countries embrace gaming as a revenue generator and tourist draw. Legal gambling in the increasingly wealthy country of 1.2 billion is limited to state…

Asia embraces casinos, India hedges it bets

From Reuters Like many visitors to the Casino Royale Goa on a rainy Saturday night on India’s western coast, Salim Budhwani said he does not gamble but also had no objection to the betting at the busy tables downstairs. Despite socially conservative India’s ambivalence about gambling, consultancy firm KPMG estimated that $60 billion was wagered in the country in 2010. Much of the gambling is illegal, but attitudes are slowly changing as more Asian countries embrace gaming as a revenue generator and tourist draw. Legal gambling in the increasingly wealthy country of 1.2 billion is limited to state lotteries, horse…