Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2016 44 Formula 1 eyes gambling revenue Formula 1’s new owner believes the sport is missing out on valuable gambling revenue. US mass media company Liberty Media is currently in the process of purchasing the sport for US$4.4 billion and one of their top priorities is to bring F1’s revenue streams into the 21st century. Among other digital opportunities, that means exploring the potential of gambling with Asia firmly in Liberty’s sights. “There is a huge gambling opportunity in the sport, none of which we capitalize on,” said Liberty media CEO Greg Maffei, pointing to the huge amounts of money being bet on the sport via both land based and online sportsbooks. “Less than 1% of the revenues are from digital, they (Formula 1) really have no organised digital effort. I think there are lots of things that can be done around gaming, VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality). “There’s an enormous amount of video feed and data that we have about the races that we are already capturing that we are not in any way processing incrementally for the dedicated fan, or opportunities around things like gambling. “I think there are a bunch of ways in which digital can play through this, from a service to augmenting other things to providing data that are interesting that we are not capitalising on, that I think will be a part of the future growth.” Liberty Media is in the process of acquiring an initial 18.7% stake in Formula 1 from controlling shareholder CVC Capital Partners and hopes to complete a deal for the remainder by early 2017 subject to approval by the sport’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA). The company will keep 85-year-old Bernie Ecclestone on as Chief Executive for the time being but Maffei will be in charge of exploring new revenue streams which will include expanding the sport’s presence in the United States. Atlantic City’s Revel casino to re-open Having seen all but four of its casinos close down over the past decade, struggling Atlantic City is about to witness a rare sight – a casino opening. The former Revel casino – best known for going bankrupt twice before closing in 2014 having never turned a profit – will relaunch in early 2017 under the new name Ten. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS The integrated resort was purchased from the bankruptcy courts by Florida property developer Glenn Straub for just US$82 million, a fraction of its original worth, with the goal being to reinvent the resort to specifically target high-rolling Chinese players. With that in mind, Straub reportedly wanted to call the property Zen before changing it to Ten instead. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has now given Straub permission to proceed with a new site plan after he signed a 25 year lease with a new management team in May. He will now seek occupancy permits from Atlantic City and a New Jersey casino license ahead of the planned relaunch. Revel’s re-opening comes as another Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, prepares to close its doors. There is, ironically, a good chance that many of those displaced employees will end up at Ten given that it plans to hire 3,000 people as well as inviting former restaurant and club owners back. The property will be run by Connecticut engineer and developer Robert Landino and former Revel CFO Alan Greenstein. “People are yearning for this property to open and they want to be part of it,” Greenstein said. “We’re going to attract a lot of different people of all different ages, including families.” CEO says Alon Las Vegas moving forward The CEO of proposed Las Vegas resort Alon, Andrew Pascal, has denied reports that the project has been put on hold – despite the fact that construction is still yet to begin. His comments come in the wake of news that James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings is selling 35 million shares in Crown Resorts – one of the site’s owners. Crown Resorts and Oaktree Capital purchased the 35-acre space – which was home to the New Frontier Hotel and Casino for 65 years until being demolished in 2007 – two years ago for US$260million but there has been little movement since. Early plans included large areas of outdoor green space between two hotel towers boasting 1,100 rooms between them as well as feature villas, a pool, an event lawn and a public park. “The project hasn’t been suspended and the financing is complicated because it’s a multi-billion dollar greenfield development,” Pascal told the Las Vegas Review-Journal , insisting the project’s design was ongoing. However, he did admit that the pace of development had slowed – a slightly different view than that taken by Packer himself earlier