Inside Asian Gaming

December 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS meeting at The Venetian, his hotel-casino on the Strip. Governors who visited Mr Adelson included Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, John Kasich of Ohio, and outgoing Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia. Mr Adelson, in turn, made the rounds last week on Capitol Hill, seeing leaders of GOP campaign committees aswell asHouse Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. US Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., also had a “courtesy call” from Mr Adelson, whose wife and family contributed at least $35,000 directly to his winning Senate campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. MGM Resorts Battles Penn for Lone Western Massachusetts Casino License Those hoping the next cage match between Penn National Gaming, Inc. and MGM Resorts International will play out in Springfield, Mass., are going to be disappointed, reports Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas-Review Journal. The winner of a lone casino license inWestern Massachusetts will be determined on merit and awarded to the company that can best deliver on its promises. Inundating the Springfield airwaves with millions of dollars in ads, mailing controversial documents to residents and questioning a company’s financial acumen or intentions won’t be tolerated. In fact, Springfield leaders reportedly told officials from both MGM and Penn to play nice: The city doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in Maryland. A month ago, Penn National and MGM Resorts spent a combined US$90 million and were on opposite sides of what might have been the most expensive and venomous casino expansion campaign ever seen. Now, they are facing off in Western Massachusetts in what is the most heavily sought after license among the state’s three potential gaming regions. Caesars Entertainment Corp—in partnership with the Suffolk Downs Raceway—seemingly has a lock on the Boston-area license, although a late entry of Wynn Resorts Ltd. could muddy the waters. In the southeast, the license appears headed to a Massachusetts Indian tribe, though the process could reopen if the tribe can’t get its financing in order. Western Massachusetts drew six prospects. MGM Resorts and Penn National are focused on Springfield, which bills itself as a cultural center. MGM Resorts is planning an $800 million casino on 10 to 15 acres at the city’s south side. Penn National wants to build an $807 million casino on the city’s north end. Nevada Gaming Control Board Approves Caesars for Online Poker Website AWorld Series of Poker real-money website based in Nevada took a step forward on December 5th, 2012. The Gaming Control Board tentatively approved Caesars Interactive Entertainment to operate online poker in Nevada. The company, the interactive arm of the Caesars Entertainment Corp., manages the promotion and advertising aspects of the annual World Series of Poker. Caesars Entertainment general counsel Michael Cohen told the board during a meeting in Carson City that the Nevada website would be run as a World Series of Poker brand. If approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission on 20th December, Caesars would become the 17th company granted an interactive gaming license to offer online poker to players who are physically within the state’s borders. The website will operate using technology provided by 888 Holdings, a European online gaming operator. 888, which was found suitable in Nevada in 2011 to be a business partner of Caesars Interactive, is seeking full licensing as a provider of interactive gaming systems by the state. Caesars and 888 Holdings now operate legal real money World Series of Poker websites in the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Caesars Interactive Chief Executive Officer Mitch Garber told the board the website would go live as soon as Gibraltar-based 888 is licensed by Nevada as an interactive gaming provider, possibly by next spring. Las Vegas Sands Corp Declares US$2.75 Special Dividend Casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp plans to pay a special dividend of US$2.75, distributing about US$2.26 billion to its shareholders by the end of the year. The company says the dividend will be payable 18th December to shareholders of record on 10th December. Chairman Sheldon Adelson says returning capital to shareholders is a priority for the company. The casino operator is the latest company tomove up its quarterly payout or issue a special end-of-year payment to protect investors from potentially having to pay higher taxes on dividend income starting in January. Mr Adelson and his wife, Miriam, control 52% of Las Vegas Sands personally and through various general trusts. The special dividend will pay the Adelsons roughly $1.17 billion. Las Vegas Sands runs casinos in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Singapore and Macau. The company had 823.4 million shares on the market as of 1st November. International Game Technology Announces a 17% Dividend Increase International Game Technology (IGT) announced on 21st November its Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.07 per share on its common stock, a 17% increase compared to the dividend paid in the same quarter last year. This marks the 39th consecutive quarter that the Company has paid a dividend, the longest, current streak in the gaming industry. “We are pleased to announce a 17% increase in the quarterly cash dividend and to continue to distinguish IGT as the only dividend paying, investment grade company in the gaming industry.” said Patti Hart, CEO of IGT. “This action reflects the confidence we have in our business strategy, the sustainability of our cash flow, and our commitment to returning capital to shareholders.” The dividend is payable on 31st December 2012 to shareholders of record on 19th December, 2012.