Inside Asian Gaming

February 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 Briefs properties—MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity, and Caesars across the river at Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. Harrah’s goes Hollywood The Nevada Gaming Control Board has given approval for Harrah’s Entertainment to acquire Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas through a debt purchase, reports Casino City Times . Harrah’s paid around 22 cents on the dollar (US$70 million) to acquire US$306 million of the property’s debt. Planet Hollywood Resort’s outstanding US$554 million debt will remain leveraged against the property, according to the report. Harrah’s Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard told regulators the company plans to spend US$30 million on renovations. The transfer of gaming operations is scheduled for noon on 19th February, pending approval of the deal by the state Gaming Commission the previous day. Harrah’s plans to reduce operational costs by cutting 5% of the 2,300-strong workforce—mainly among call centre, accounting and revenue management staff, where it says there is some ‘duplication’ of posts. Harrah’s took over operation of the 2,496-room hotel and its food and beverage operations in mid-January. Tribal trouble opens door to LVS in Florida Las Vegas Sands Corp chairman Sheldon Adelson says he wants to invest US$3 billion in a beachfront integrated gaming resort in Florida. The likely location for the project would be either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Both cities are holiday destinations with good airport facilities. “We’re not interested in putting up slot parlours or a gambling den. We want destinations and integrated resorts,” Mr Adelson told the Miami Herald . Floridacouldallowuptosevenlargecasinoresortsafterpoliticians previously opposed to an expansion of gaming in the Sunshine State did an about face on the issue. The reason for the change of heart seems to be dissatisfaction over Florida’s negotiations with the Seminole Tribe of Florida over the future of gaming in the state. Under federal law, the tribe is entitled to Las Vegas-style slot machines (i.e., Class III machines with random number generators) at its six Florida casinos because such slots are also allowed at South Florida pari-mutuels. But for the state to get any revenue-sharing from the tribe’s profits, it must enter into a compact with the tribe and give the tribe something the competing pari-mutuels don’t have—namely, table gaming. Currently, Florida has allowed table gaming at only two of the tribe’s casinos. In a tit for tat move, the tribe says unless the state speeds up its table permissions it could hang on to the US$150 million it had previously negotiated to pay Florida annually for the next 20 years. WMS and Novomatic move online The world has already seen global technology companies such as Macintosh expand from one media content and hardware platform (desktop and laptop computers) to another (the iPod) then another (the iPhone) and then come full circle by incorporating all the content and functions on a single platform (the recently launched iPad). Now electronic gaming equipment companies are getting in on the multi-platform act. Major suppliers of hardware and game content to the global land-based casino industry announced plans to move into the online market before and during the International Gaming Expo in London. First US slot machine manufacturer WMS Gaming said it is to launch an Internet gambling business aimed primarily at the United Kingdommarket, with the possibility of moving into other regulated online markets. Then,onthefirstdayofIGE,Austria’sNovomaticGroupannounced its subsidiary Astra Games Ltd has acquired a majority stake in the software and online gaming content provider Greentube. Vienna- based Greentube produces games for telephone handsets provided by customers including T-Mobile International and Hutchison Österreich, as well as online slot, roulette and blackjack games. The WMS and Novomatic moves raise the possibility of game content developed for the land-based casino industry being offered via server to the online industry and vice versa. The creation of a multimedia offer from two traditionally land-based gaming businesses could also create favourable economies of scale in terms of content development and research, and for regulatory approvals for game mathematics. Both companies will be careful to limit their online participation to regulated online markets. This is in order to protect their existing land-based licences in jurisdictions such as Nevada and the UK. WMS Gaming is licensed to sell games machines inmore than 300 jurisdictions worldwide and is part of Illinois-based WMS Industries. WMS Gaming is expected to launch a UK-focused online operation in the next 12 months and may expand it to other European markets such as France, Italy and Spain once the necessary online regulation is in place in those jurisdictions. Novomatic is already very strong in European land-based casino markets, suggesting it will also seek a gaming content presence via Greentube in European online markets. In addition, Novomatic has strong sales of land-based equipment in the Philippines and a close working relationship with that country’s operator-cum-regulator Pagcor (the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation). That raises the possibility of Novomatic launching online content aimed at the Asia Pacific market via an online gaming licence issued by the Philippines government. The country is currently the only Asian jurisdiction to have regulated online gaming. Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas