News

GMA quoted on SportsHandle.com

For Latest California Sports Betting Proposal, Silence May Be Golden

by Jill R. Dorson

When a group of sports wagering operators in August submitted paperwork in California for a 2022 ballot initiative that would legalize digital betting, the response was oddly quiet.  Just weeks before, after a group of four cities that have card clubs offered up its take on the topic, the state’s tribes were vehemently opposed and both operators and tribes were scratching their heads about who was behind it and how it would play out.

But on and since Aug. 31, the response has been, well, crickets, in what would be the biggest sports betting state in the U.S. to offer live sports wagering.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

NAB pulls plug on Las Vegas show; other conventions still coming

by Richard N. Velotta

The National Association of Broadcasters on Wednesday abruptly canceled its October convention in Las Vegas, a decision that disappointed Southern Nevada tourism leaders but is unlikely to snowball into more cancellations, according to analysts.

The event, one of Las Vegas’ top three annual trade show gatherings by attendance, historically has attracted 90,000 to 100,000 broadcasting professionals to the city for several days to celebrate radio, television and streamed content as well as provide educational seminars for engineers and other production personnel.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Downtown hotels’ weekend rates rise as Life is Beautiful returns

by Mike Shoro

The priciest best-available room this weekend in Las Vegas isn’t at the valley’s newest resort or its most upscale.

It’s not on the Strip, either.

As of Tuesday, the title belonged to downtown’s California Hotel, where the cheapest room was listed at $700 a night on Friday or Saturday – excluding taxes and other fees.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Casino stocks drop amid worries over Macao licensing news

by Richard N. Velotta

Stock prices of Las Vegas-based gaming companies with operations in Macao plummeted Tuesday as the market reacted to new travel restrictions imposed by the government and news about future casino licensing.

Share for Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell $11.23, or 10.9 percent, to $92.25 a share in volume more than eight times the daily average.  Wynn operates two resorts on the Macao peninsula and one near the offshore Cotai Strip.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Caesars selling William Hill non-U.S. assets in $3B deal

by Colton Lochhead

Caesars Entertainment is off-loading its non-U.S. assets of William Hill PLC to 888 Holdings PLC in a deal for approximately $3 billion.

When the dust of debt repayments and other capital adjustments settles, Caesars expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $1.2 billion, the Reno-based company said in a news release early Thursday.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Q2 earnings reports offer clues to gaming’s financial direction

by Richard N. Velotta

If you thought second-quarter earnings were good, wait until you see what publicly traded resort and tourism companies potentially have in store later this year.

That’s the outlook from stock-watching industry analysts who viewed the earnings reports of 23 public gaming, real estate investment trust, tourism, airline and entertainment companies.

Of the 23 companies, only five registered net losses in their second-quarter earnings reports for the period that ended June 30.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

BYU-Arizona the start of marquee college games at Allegiant

by Mark Anderson

Putting together the Arizona-Brigham Young game was six years in the making.  The original plan was to play it at Sam Boyd Stadium.

But now that Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti has Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders’ 65,000 seat state-of-the-art facility, as his selling point, he expects Arizona-BYU to be only the start for even more marquee college football matchups.

As last week’s news the Louisiana State will face Southern California in 2024 showed, Las Vegas figures to be home to games that will attract national attention and help the city’s economy by drawing more visitors to the valley.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA interviewed by Akihabara News

Japan Seen Still on Track to “IR 2.0”

Despite setbacks linked to heavy regulation, the pandemic, and electoral politics, some experts within the gambling industry still believe that Integrated Resorts (IR) including casinos will have a bright future in Japan.

In an exclusive interview with Akihabara News, Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs at Global Market Advisors, who has been tracking Japan’s IR policies for about seventeen years, predicted that the current policies will roll forward.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in the Straits Times

All eyes on Tokyo after Yokohama IR pullout upends Japan’s plans

by Walter Sim

With newly elected Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka having halted his city’s bid to host one of Japan’s first three integrated resorts (IRs), attention has now turned to what Tokyo might do.

Yokohama, a city of 3.7 million people just half an hour by train from central Tokyo, was seen as the regional “representative”. Its fervent interest in hosting an IR meant that Tokyo, the bustling capital of 14 million people, had stayed coy about its plans.

But murmurs are emerging among metropolitan officials that the capital city, having incurred massive bills for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, can benefit from the windfall of hosting an IR.  The waterside district of Odaiba has been floated as a potential site.

You can read the rest of the article here

GMA quoted in GGB News

Japan IR Race: All Over for Yokohama?

The Japan Times called it “a stunning political setback for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on his home turf” – the election of opposition party-backed Takeharu Yamanaka as mayor of Yokohama.

Significantly for gaming giants Genting Singapore and Melco Resorts and Entertainment, Yamanaka’s win is also seen as the end of plans to develop an integrated resort (IR) in the prefecture. On August 22, the anti-casino candidate defeated seven others, including current mayor Fumiko Hayashi, who supported the IR campaign.

You can read the rest of the article here