News

Steven Gallaway quoted in the Boston Globe

Plainridge’s recent revenue surge may be a mirage

by Sean P. Murphy

After a strong opening last summer, Plainridge Park Casino saw its revenue drop for five consecutive months, a downward spiral that raised questions about its competitive viability.  But business at the Plainville slot parlor surged in January and February, stirring hopes for a spring rebound.

Plainridge’s recent revenue surge may be a mirage

Shaun McCamley and Andrew Klebanow quoted in Inside Asian Gaming Magazine

Full Steam Ahead

by Muhammad Cohen

Shipboard gaming undoubtedly developed as soon as two sailors weren’t yanking an oar or pulling a sheet – that’s a rope for you lubbers.  The riverboat gambler is a staple of American folklore, and the phrase resides in the American lexicon as a synonym for big risk taker.  After New Jersey became the second US state to legalize casino gambling in 1976, some Midwest jurisdictions bet on a revival of riverboat gaming with mixed results.  In India’s Goa state, table games are only permitted on ships.  Grand Korea Leisure floated the idea of gaming cruises and got torpedoed by South Korean authorities.  Floating casinos that didn’t leave the pier were fixtures of pre-liberalization Macau and gave NagaWorld in Phnom Penh its start in 1995.

Full Steam Ahead

Andrew Klebanow quoted in Inside Asian Gaming Magazine

Money in the Middle

By Muhammad Cohen

Inside Asian Gaming Magazine

The opening of Melco Crown’s Studio City in October heralded Macau’s pivot away from focusing overwhelmingly on the high end of the market and turning toward the middle class.  The resort opened without VIP gaming and features an array of non-gaming attractions, including theme park style rides, magic shows, international nightclub brand Pacha and a 5,000 seat arena hosting the likes of Mariah Carey and Aaron Kwok on opening night and Madonna this month.

Money in the Middle

Steven Gallaway quoted in EJ Insight, Hong Kong Economic Journal

Vladivostok gambling zone: Opportunities and challenges

In 2009, Russia declared gambling illegal except in four (later expanded to five) integrated entertainment zones, including one near Vladivostok.

Vladivostok gambling zone: Opportunities and challenges

Kit Szybala quoted in Global Gaming Business Magazine

Ten Trends for 2016

#8 India: The Next Great Opportunity

by Kit Szybala

As Macau can attest, relying on the Chinese gamer is both extremely rewarding and volatile. While operators in all Asian markets continue to enjoy the fruits of Chinese patronage and work to grow this segment, savvy operators are always looking for the next big casino opportunity.  The next new opportunity could in fact be a sleeping giant: India.

Ten Trends for 2016

Taiwan’s likely first woman president keeps cards close on China game plan

Taiwan’s likely first woman president keeps cards close on China game plan

Reuters UK

by J.R. Wu

Taiwan’s elections are just weeks away with little clarity about how a likely win by a party that traditionally favours independence from China will go down with a neighbour that has threatened force to ensure the island never goes it alone.

KNPR radio interviews Andrew Klebanow about what could be the key to the future of Las Vegas

Click here to listen to the radio interview.  Please note that you must click the ‘Listen’ link on KNPR’s webpage to access the audio.

Steve Gallaway’s predictions for 2016 appear in Asia Gaming Brief Magazine

Global Market Advisors’ Predictions for 2016

The pain in Macau is far from over, but the strong will survive

by Steven Gallaway

With the number of properties opening up on the Cotai Strip from now through the end of 2016, and the expectation that the VIP segment will continue to struggle due to PRC policies and an overall contraction in China’s economy, sufficient demand will not be there to support additions to supply (a basic concept taught to every student in Economics 101 class). While various Wall Street and Hong Kong analysts have correctly estimated 2016 gaming revenues (at least as much as possible when trying to project revenues based on a political policy rather than market demand), large contractions in EBITDA margins are to be expected.  Operators now have much larger properties to feed in a market whose gaming revenues will at best be flat.  The situation in 2016 will be analogous to the situation MGM faced with it opened City Center in the midst of the Great Recession.  Put simply, 2016 is going to be a rough year for Cotai 2.0.

Global Market Advisors’ Predictions for 2016

Andrew Klebanow quoted in Marianas Variety News and Views

Consultant: ‘Gaming industry’ is good tool for tourism growth

By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa

The gaming industry is good for tourism growth but if Saipan wants to compete as a world-class destination it should improve its current hotel facilities and build more rooms, casino consultant Andrew Klebanow told Variety.

Consultant: ‘Gaming industry’ is good tool for tourism growth

Andrew Klebanow quoted in Forbes Asia

Sports Book Lounges Could Bring New Life to Macau Casinos; Asia Can Save Daily Fantasy Sports

Macau is the undisputed global casino capital, but one staple of the Las Vegas Strip is absent, besides the sequined, feathered showgirl.  Macau has no sports betting lounges in its casinos.  That’s the result of a quirk in the law that the government seems in no hurry to fix.  At the cutting edge of sports wagering thanks to another legal quirk, Daily Fantasy Sports betting is coming under siege in the US.  but Macau and the rest of Asia could become the natural spot for DFS to continue its extraordinary growth run.

Sports Book Lounges Could Bring New Life to Macau Casinos