Inside Asian Gaming

45 44 International Briefs Maxim Casino Project US property developer Concord Wilshire Partners has licensed the name of racy British men’s magazine Maxim for use in a US$1.2 billion Las Vegas hotel and casino. The Maxim Hotel and Casino, due to open on the Las Vegas Strip in 2010, will have 2,300 rooms and a 60,000 square foot casino, as well as a luxury spa, conference facilities, restaurants overseen by celebrity chefs and assorted luxury shops. The property will also feature a “Maxim Lounge,” a fledgling chain of nightclubs that the magazine is developing with Rande Gerber, hus- band of international fashion model Cindy Crawford. PBL to Run Russian Casino Australia’s Publishing and Broadcasting (PBL) is set to become the first foreign group to run a casino in Russia, after reaching an agree- ment with Russian developer Crocus to manage a 164,000 sq m ca- sino, hotel and shopping complex on the outskirts of Moscow. Marketed as “Las Vegas in Moscow” and due to be completed in 2007, Crocus City will feature a 24,300 sq m casino and 80,000 sq m five-star hotel. Industry sources in Moscow said PBL’s involvement was focused on the entertainment and hospitality part of the project, which will also include expanding an exhibition centre and develop- ing office buildings on the site next to the Moscow river. Crocus City is due to receive a direct metro link from central Moscow within the next three years as part of a project to extend an existing line. The venture is the latest in a series of overseas projects pursued by PBL Executive Chairman James Packer, who became head of PBL and Australia’s richest man following the death of his father Kerry at the end of last year. James Packer has sought to aggressively expand PBL’s gaming and entertainment interests following the stagnation of the company’s Australian media interests. PBL has also formed a joint venture with Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development. The JV is developing high profile casino projects in Macau, and hopes to pursue projects elsewhere in Asia. New Jersey Investigators to Probe MGM’s Macau Venture New Jersey investigators are preparing to take sworn statements from MGM Mirage executives about their US$1 billion casino project in Macau, following two trips to the city in March and April to meet with American, Chinese and local gaming regulators about the deal. MGM Mirage is building a 28-storey casino and hotel, scheduled to open in late 2007, in partnership with Pansy Ho, the daughter of Macau gambling magnate Stanley Ho, who has been investigated several times over the past 20 years for alleged ties to organized crime – though no proof of any such ties has ever been unveiled. The investigators plan to take statements from Pansy Ho, and to determine whether her business interests are tied to her father. They also plan to interview Ms. Ho’s sister, Daisy, who is involved in the Macau project New Jersey regulators launched a probe into the partnership last year because MGM Mirage is part owner of Borgata casino in Atlan- tic City. Depending on the outcome, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission could force the company to sever ties with Pansy Ho. New Jersey investigators have also travelled to Nevada sev- eral times since last year to meet with MGM executives and gather documents related to the deal.They also seized a computer from the company’s Nevada office so forensic specialists could search its hard drive and retrieve any e-mails related to Macau. Investigators hope to conclude their probe by the end of 2006. MGM controls about half of the casinos on the Las Vegas strip, and filed an application with Nevada regulators in February to clear its Macau project under the state’s stringent licensing standards. Ne- vada’s regulators are famously strict, but New Jersey regulators are regarded as taking a harder line on investigating alleged ties to or- ganised crime. Morgan Stanley to Develop Atlantic City Casino The gambling subsidiary of Morgan Stanley paid US$74 million to purchase 20 acres of land on the Atlantic City Boardwalk to develop the city’s 13th casino.The company plans to build and operate a US$1 billion casino hotel on a site adjoining the Showboat casino and the Bella Condominiums high-rise tower in the city’s rapidly developing South Inlet area. Morgan Stanley is tipped to work with Hard Rock International on the project. Foxwoods and MGM to Team Up on Casino Projects Foxwoods and MGM Grand joined forces to develop gambling ventures around the globe and market a US$700 million hotel-casino complex under construction in Connecticut. The deal gives Las Ve- gas’s MGM Grand access to the Northeast market and Indian gaming, and provides an experienced partner for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe.The complex,expected to feature a hotel,casino,5,000-seat con- cert theatre, spa, and nightclubs, is expected to open in 2008 and be operated by the tribe, which is trying to diversify its operations in the face of rising competition in New England. MGM Grand and Foxwoods also said they expect to jointly devel- op gaming and non-gaming operations and share data for market- ing purposes on the millions of gamblers who visit their respective properties. MGM Grand said it would provide a loan of up to US$200 million to finance the gambling projects. The deal is a reflection of the rapidly consolidating gambling business. Foxwoods faces intense competition from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut and may face a powerful new rival if Harrah’s, the leading casino operator in the US, succeeds in winning approval for a casino it is trying to build in Rhode Island with the Narragansett Indian Tribe. MGM Grand, the number two casino operator in the US, has tradi- tionally built and operated its own properties,but is starting to realize that it needs to partner with other players if it is to bring new gam- blers to its casinos. US Casino Gaming Revenue Rises 5% in 2005 Gambling revenue at US casinos rose 5% year-on-year in 2005 to a record US$30.3 billion as more visitors flocked to a growing number of casinos. The number of Americans who gambled on the Internet also doubled to about 4% of the population last year, according to the 2006 “State of the States” report by the American Gaming As- sociation, the trade body representing casino operators and related companies. Gambling revenue increased in 10 of the 11 US states that are home to the country’s 455 commercial casinos, the report said. Only Mississippi – where the industry was badly hit last year by Hurricane Katrina – saw a drop. Poker was the most popular game on the Internet, where more Americans are gambling now for its convenience despite confusion about the legality of wagering online, according to the report. Al- though the US Justice Department says a 1961 law that forbids inter- state telephone betting also applies to the Internet, the report said only 19 percent of the 552 Internet gamblers polled thought it was illegal in the US. LVS Gets Approval for Mobile Gambling Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) became the first casino operator to get approval for gambling on mobile devices in its Nevada casinos. LVS plans to offer mobile gaming at The Venetian and the Palazzo, which is scheduled to open in late 2007. The bill allowing mobile gambling in Nevada’s casino resorts was signed in June 2005. Cantor Gaming, an affiliate of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald,will be the exclusive provider of mobile-gaming systems at LVS properties. LVS plans to begin field trials of the system at The Ve- netian late this year or early 2007. Once state regulators approve the system, casino visitors will be able to play blackjack, roulette, video poker and slots on handheld devices. Under Nevada law, the devices can only be used in public areas of a resort casino,such as restaurants,nightclubs and poolside.Playing in hotel rooms, or other private areas that aren’t supervised is banned. Encore at Wynn Las Vegas Wynn Resorts broke ground on its newest expansion, Encore, on the site of the original Desert Inn. The resort will be erected adjacent toWynn Las Vegas on the north side of the property and is scheduled for completion in December 2008. Encore will be developed and will mark the second full-scale hotel to occupy a portion of the company’s 240-acre assembly of real estate in Las Vegas. The expansion of the resort will be fully integrated with neighbouring Wynn Las Vegas, containing all the usual resort ameni- ties including additional rooms, convention and meeting space,more casino space, restaurants, nightclubs, spa and salon, retail outlets and swimming pools. Showboat Casino