News

GMA quoted on Casino.org

Japan Casino Industry Could Be Smaller Than Lawmakers Originally Hoped

by Devin O’Connor

Japan’s forthcoming casino industry could be just a shell of the grand concept lawmakers envisioned when they passed legislation to legalize commercial gambling in 2018.

Japan’s lengthly process to bring the Asian nation casino resorts, paired with COVID-19, has resulted in little interest among the country’s prefectures and cities.  Local officials’ lethargy has subsequently extended to the major casino operators that once considered Japan the greatest opportunity since China’s Macau authorized new casino permits two decades ago.

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GMA quoted in The Nevada Independent

Indy Gaming: Arizona sports betting fuels the age-old question: ‘Will Las Vegas be hurt?’

by Howard Stutz

A few hours before Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers begin defense of their Super Bowl title on Sept. 9 in the traditional Thursday night start of the National Football League season, Arizona gaming authorities will flip the switch on the state’s legal sports betting apparatus.

More than a dozen operators are expected to go live – primarily through mobile platforms – as Arizona becomes the 23rd state to legalize sports betting.

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GMA quoted on WTTW Chicago

Big Vegas Gaming Operators Decline to Bet on a Chicago Casino

by Paul Caine

The odds of a Chicago casino actually getting built rely on whether or not major gaming operators want to take a bet on coming to the city.

This should been the week when the long-awaited Chicago casino project finally got up and running.

Monday was the initial deadline to submit proposals to develop the much-vaunted project – but after few bidders appeared interested – the city pushed back the deadline to the end of October.

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GMA quoted in GGR Asia

Three Japan IRs not a done deal, say observers

Japan’s national government might not grant three licenses for integrate resorts (IRs) in the country’s first phase of casino gaming liberalisation, say several industry observers in comments to GGRAsia.  That is after the election on Sunday of an anti-IR mayor in Yokohama, Takeharu Yamanaka, who said he would soon clarify that the city would not apply to join the bidding process to host a casino complex.

A maximum of three IRs are permitted nationally in Japan’s initial phase of market liberalisation.  Yokohama, near Tokyo, is Japan’s second-most populous city, and its likely withdrawl from teh IR race leaves three interested cities bidding for the same number of licenses.

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GMA quoted in Nikkei Asia

Yokohama mayor-elect deals Japan’s casino dream a fresh blow

by Eri Sugiura

The result of the Yokohama mayoral election on Sunday has cast another shadow over Japan’s ambitions to build massive casino resorts, a drive that was already under strain due to the withdrawl of interest by key foreign players amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takeharu Yamanaka, a former professor at Yokohama City University, will become mayor on Aug. 30. On Monday he told news outlets he intends to make a declaration “at an early stage” that the city of Yokohama, next to Tokyo, will not apply to join the bidding process to host a casino.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

High tax rate, competition thwart Chicago’s casino plan

By Richard N. Velotta

If everything had gone according to plan, we would all be buzzing this week about which company would have the best opportunity to build a casino resort in Chicago.

But it hasn’t gone according to plan.

When Chicago started hearing crickets in response to its request for proposals, the city’s leadership hit the brakes and pushed back the deadline for responses.  Proposals now must be submitted to the city by Oct. 29.

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GMA quoted in Straits Times

Yokohama picks opposition candidate over Suga’s ally for mayor

By Walter Sim

Japan’s second-most populous city Yokohama elected an opposition candidate as its mayor on Sunday (Aug 22) in a major setback for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga going into a general election later this year.

Mr. Suga’s Lower House constituency covers the bustling bayside city of 3.8 million people, and the repudiation by voters of his backed candidate on his home turf serves as a clear warning to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that it will face a tough electoral battle in the months ahead.

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GMA quoted in CasinoReview.com

WarHorse Gaming seeks TIF for Horsemen’s Park project

Ho-Chunk Inc. subsidiary WarHorse Gaming Omaha has applied for tax increment financing for its $220m Horsemen’s Park redevelopment.

The developers behind a plan to transform Omaha’s Horsemen’s Park into one of Nebraska’s first casinos have requested $17.5m in tax incentives from the city to realise the project.

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GMA quoted on CDC Gaming Reports

Nevada starts process for esports wagering expansion

by Buck Wargo

Nevada gaming regulators moved Wednesday to start the process for opening up esports wagering to a wider array of events to match the growing popularity of the video-gaming sport across the world.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board held a workshop to start building the framework for an esports technical advisory committee, in accordance with Senate Bill No. 165 passed in the Nevada Legislature this year.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Off-Strip properties, taverns oppose expansion of online gaming

by Richard N. Velotta and Mike Shoro

More than two dozen gaming and tavern operators across Nevada are urging regulators not to expand online gaming.

A total of 28 executives representing 26 companies or establishments signed onto a letter expressing concern that a larger online gaming presence in the state would discourage Nevadans from visiting their brick-and-mortar businesses and undermine existing gaming policy. Nearly all of the names listed on the letter represent off-Strip Norther Nevadan and rural licensed gaming establishments.

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