Las Vegas Sands Casino in trouble?
November 7, 2008 by mbates
The Las Vegas Sands Casino complex has today admitted it is likely to default on loans owed to Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs group and Lehman Bros Holdings. The casino currently has debts of almost $9 billion and is struggling with reduced cash flow and income from casino gambling, coupled with its expensive expansion plans. The news has seen the companies share price plummet to an all time low.
The owner of the Sands, Sheldon Adelson has already invested hundreds of millions of his own dollars into the Casino. Adelson was recently one of the wealthiest men in the world having a personal fortune in the billions but is thought to have been reduced enormously by the recent global credit crunch.
Wall Street brokers are now looking at the stocks of other casinos as they now fear no company is safe.
VC Bet reverts back to Victor Chandler
November 4, 2008 by mbates
VC Bet the Gibraltar based sports betting and Casino Company is today reverting its commercial branded name to Victor Chandler. The company has gone under the name VC Bet for the last four years but now the chairman; Victor Chandler has felt now it is time to return the brand name to “Victor Chandler” he said “The reasons for the change to VC Bet were all valid, and the brand has proved very successful in its own right. With so many new competitors in the gaming market I thought it was important we highlighted the company history, and the key brand values of trust, honour and integrity. The Victor Chandler name has been synonymous with these values for over 60 years.”
The change will see a new company logo which will feature the chairman Victor Chandler in it, the company’s poker and games brands will be brought into the Victor Chandler name. Mr Chandler went on to comment “I want to communicate to customers that they are betting with a real person when they place a bet with Victor Chandler, rather than a faceless organisation”.
Gala leaves all Associations
October 29, 2008 by mbates
In what may be seen as a shock move Gala Coral Group has ceased it’s membership with four trade bodies the Bingo Association, Remote Gambling Association, the Association of British Bookmakers and the British Casino Association. Gala Coral is one of the United Kingdoms largest gambling operators and insists its decision to leave is to establish an industry wide gambling association.
A spokesman confirmed “This is not us withdrawing from these associations because we don’t think they’re very good,” we’ve got a new Gambling Act and a new regulator but we have separate trade associations where there’s a lot of duplication.”
The Chairman of the the Bingo Association, Sir Peter Fry has expressed his disappoitnment over the descion by Gala Coral to leave the association and to cease its memebership in the other trade bodies. Sir Peter said “The Association has represented the industry in a robust and successful manner, providing a cohesive voice for bingo. Despite Gala`s decision to be outside this important industry forum and platform.”
CEO of Foxwoods Casino Removed
October 8, 2008 by mbates
The Chief Executive Office of the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, Patricia Irvin has become one of over 700 employees who have lost their jobs in a major restructure to reduce operating costs. The Casino is owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and a spokesman said that the position of CEO had been removed and the duties covered by a CEO would be shared by the acting President of Foxwoods and the General Manager of the MGM Grand Facility.
Turnover at the Casino had dropped due to the current state of the financial markets, slot machine revenue at the Casino had fallen by 7 percent since 2005.
Inspired Gaming Group sign 5 year deal with Stanleybet
October 3, 2008 by mbates
One of the worlds leading Open SBG (Open Server Based Gaming) companies Inspired Gaming Group plc has today announced a worldwide five year deal to supply Stanleybet International, with its virtual sports system across the Stanleybet empire.
Inspired’s virtual sports system includes horse racing, greyhound racing, football, speedway and car racing. The product delivers an exciting, realistic gaming experience. The deal will initially start over a two year period and will cover over 500 terminals across at least five countries.
The Director of Finance for Stanleybet International, Adrian Morris commented “We have experienced substantial growth from our core sports betting business in recent years and we are confident that the addition of Inspired’s virtual sports system will contribute additional growth over the coming years”.
Inspired Gaming Group now manages over 50,000 machines throughout the UK, ther machines are based primarily in bars, casinos and bingo halls with major existing customers William Hill and Gala Coral.
Another Spanish football signs casino sponsorship deal
September 2, 2008 by mbates
Another top Spanish La Liga team has agreed a sponsorship deal with an online casino, this time it falls to the premiership team Atletico Madrid and the Finnish based casino PAF. Paf’s casino chip logo will now appear on the teams shorts, training kit and be featured heavily at the training ground for the next three seasons.
The Commercial Director for Atletico, Juan Carlso Moya said “Not only have we secured the needed funds for the club, but we will also create added value for our fans when the online gaming site is launched.” he added “It’s also the first time a sponsor has insisted on distributing money to local charities, which truly makes this cooperation unique and a win-win situation for the club, for the fans and for charity.” Paf have also promised to offer the best online odds available for Atletico Madrid for any fan anywhere in the world.
888.com continue to sponsor Sevilla FC
August 19, 2008 by mbates
The online casino and poker company 888.com has today confirmed that it will continue its shirt sponsorship deal with the Spanish La Liga championship side Sevilla FC. 888.com has sponsored Sevilla FC since the 06/07 season and has now extended this deal until the 2010/2011 campaign. The president of Sevilla FC, Jose Maria del Nido renewed the club’s contract with sponsor 888.com for three seasons.
The deal as well as the shirt sponsorship also allows 888.com a sharing of Sevilla FCs audio-visual rights and other online ventures including a live betting system.
888 Casino On the Up
September 10, 2007 by mcohen
Over the last year the online gaming companies which had a major focus on the US have seen their profits hit badly but like all good businesses such issues are usually a test and those that respond well become much stronger and one such organisation 888, the Gibraltar-based online gambling firm, has posted an excellent set of results for the first six months of the year.
The group which have a very good presence in the UK market saw pre-tax profits almost triple to $19m, on net gaming revenues of $97m, up 24pc.
Following the problems in teh US they let go a quarter of their workforce in October 2006 after the new US legislation as the US accounted for more than half of 888’s revenue.
New measures to impove its revenue and profits stream has seen it refocus its operations by embarking upon a number of measures in teaming up with Rileys Snooker Halls in the UK and Tower Torneos in Latin America, they have also entered into sports betting after obtaining an Italian licence, with plans to extend to other regions in the future.
888 operates in 12 languages, aiming to grow in multiple markets simultaneously. It has launched a new game each month and has recently successfully introduced new 3D poker software.
888 plan to pay first half dividends of 1.8p per share, compared to 4.5p per share for the same period last year, before the legislation hit its American business.
Looking ahead, the company will focus on growth through new game introductions and a new European advertising campaign later this year.
Source: Telegraph
Largest Casino Opens in Wales
September 6, 2007 by mcohen
Wales has now a new casino in the form of the £13m Aspers casino in Swansea and it is expected to attract 10,000 people a week and see £4.5m spent on gambling over the course of the next year.
The casino, which will employ 300 and have a gaming area of more than 45,000sq ft, is in the city centre’s Salubrious Place development.
X Factor runner-up Ray Quinn is headlining the opening night on Thursday, which comes less than a week since new gambling laws were introduced in Britain.
Richard Noble, general manager of Aspers, emphasised the difference between modern and traditional casinos.
He said: “The old-style venues typically were smaller establishments, usually quite smoky - the restaurants and the bars were just purely there to offer a service to keep people at gaming tables.
“We’re looking the complete opposite. All our ancillaries within Aspers, our restaurants, our bars, they’re all businesses in themselves.
“Where the old-style casino, they welcomed people who were there to game, we welcome people here to enjoy themselves.”
Swansea Council leader Chris Holley said people should remember that casinos had existed in Swansea, Cardiff and other cities for more than 40 years.
He said: “We have to remember modern casinos like Aspers are not just a place that you go for gambling, there’s facilities for restaurants, it’s an entertainment venue as well.
“I can understand people’s concerns but I would be a lot more concerned if I was in the government about the online gambling that’s taking place.
“That’s virtually unregulated at the moment you know whereas the casinos are very well regulated and run by responsible people so I don’t have a problem with that and they’re not new, they’re just bigger and better.”
Source BBC
InterCasino Gets Malta Licience
September 4, 2007 by mcohen
InterCasino gets its malta licence and this will now allow them to advertise under the new advertising reulations which have come into force in the UK since the 1st September 2007.
Also InterPoker have been granted online casino gaming and online poker licenses from the government Malta . Pursuant to their licence, the companies have successfully completed the stringent requirements of the Maltese government to operate their online gaming business from Malta .
Recognised as blue-chip brands throughout Europe, InterCasino and InterPoker chose to relocate their servers to Malta due to the country’s progressive policy in online gaming regulation, and because of the operational advantages across Europe that an online gaming license within the EU affords. It has already been recognised by the United Kingdom that InterCasino and InterPoker’s Maltese license places these companies on a white-list of compliant operators allowed to advertise within the UK .
Besides players, the other beneficiaries of InterCasino and InterPoker’s Maltese license are the company’s affiliates and marketing partners, who will be able to continue marketing these brands across the EU. “InterCasino and Interpoker are both top quality brands that have been player favourites for years. They are a first choice brand to market, and their new license means that you’ll see a lot more of them in the future,” according to Michael Caselli, Editor-in-Chief of Europe’s #1 poker magazine, Bluff Europe.
“We are very pleased to confirm that InterCasino & InterPoker now have a full European license in the EU territory of Malta .
Following increased regulation of online gaming across the world, InterPoker and InterCasino have moved our business, servers and official license to Malta . We have done this to ensure that all our customers are able to enjoy playing at InterPoker in the full knowledge that their game play will be with the premier European gaming license jurisdiction,” said InterCasino Group Spokesman Peter Marcus.
