Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming November 2015 44 Baccarat drives rising September gaming revenues in Nevada Nevada gaming revenue rose 1.5% in September – just the third time in 2015 the state has enjoyed a revenue increase compared to the same month last year. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that casinos won US$916.4 million in September compared with US$902.6 million in September 2014, thanks largely to strong performances on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas. Revenue on the Strip grew 2% to US$504.8 million, while downtown revenue rose 9.3% thanks largely to the Labor Day weekend and the Life is Beautiful music festival both falling in September. Other areas to enjoy a revenue rise included Laughlin, Reno and Washoe County, however North Las Vegas, the Boulder Strip and Mesquite all saw revenue fall. Most encouraging of all was the fact that baccarat revenue rose 21.6% statewide to US$100.7 million and by 23.3% on the Strip. Nevada has felt the impact of Macau’s decline over the past 18 months with baccarat having performed poorly for the most part. However, the Gaming Board’s own senior analyst, Mr Michael Lawton, said the situation appeared to be easing with Nevada having felt the full impact of China’s slowing economy this time last year. “We’re in a good phase now where we’re kind of comparing apples to apples,” Lawton said, although he warned against jumping to conclusions in regards to where the state’s baccarat market was headed. He also attributed a fall in slots revenue, which fell 1.8% to US$572.4 million, to an anomaly in the timing of collections 12 months ago. Nevada collected US$48.1 million in taxes on September’s winnings, down 12.2% on 2014. Interblock appoints Tom Rafferty as General Counsel Gaming manufacturer Interblock, a developer and supplier of electronic table games throughout the world, has appointed Tom Rafferty (pictured) as their new global General Counsel. To be based at the company’s North American headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mr Rafferty brings a wealth of experience INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS to Interblock – having most recently served as Vice President of Intellectual Property at Scientific Games where he managed a team providing legal advice on intellectual property, litigation, immigration, human resources and Scientific Games’ interactive business. “We are very pleased to welcome Tom to the Interblock senior leadership team, a move that sends a clear signal that Interblock is moving to the next level as an organization,” said Interblock CEO John Connelly. “Interblock is moving swiftly and aggressively to expand and protect our portfolio of original game content and other intellectual property, while continuing to build one of the best teams in the gaming industry.” Mr Rafferty served as Vice President and Chief IP Counsel at Vantiv and is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University and a law degree from Emory University School of Law. Mr Rafferty’s appointment is the latest in a string of senior executive appointments for Interblock this year. Mr Connelly was appointed CEO of the company in January and Mr Rob Bone was named North America President in March. The Slovenian-based company has offices in Las Vegas (US), Macau, Sydney (Australia), Halifax (Canada) and Mengeš (Slovenia). Three US states looking to enact legislation to regulate daily fantasy sports Illinois has joined New York and Massachusetts as the first three US states to officially open dialogue with daily fantasy sports websites such as DraftKings and FanDuel over possible regulation of the rapidly growing industry. Daily Fantasy Sports such as fantasy football – in which each user chooses a team of players who then earn points based on their real life NFL performances – have seen user numbers grow by around 500 percent over the past 12 months but have more recently