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March 9, 2013

Wynn Announces Growth Along With Planned $3.5 Billion Macau Resort

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:40 am

Wynn Resorts Ltd. Is a company that has received a lot of good news as of late, with record earnings reported throughout the state of Nevada, a number that has not been reached in the history of the company within the state. However, upon this news, the company estimated number of recent announcements that show that they are looking to continue to grow, including offering new facilities within their current establishments, and the announcement of the new facility that will be built in Macau. The facility will reportedly cost upwards of $3.5 billion to build, including the possibility of opening it up sometime around the holiday season of 2016, which would put a 3 1/2 year build time on the operation.

The announcement was made by the chairman Steve Wynn, who confirm that a lot of stabilization work had been done on the site in which the resort was planned to be build on. The land was reclaimed land that was once a waterway between two different islands. The foundation will be as deep as the length of a football field, and is the first construction job before work is begun. The announcement came swiftly after excellent earnings reports were announced for the company, and it will be interesting to see if these reports were the reasoning behind the announcement at this time. The resort that they are planning to build is going to be roughly the size of the Bellagio, according to the reports that were later released. Steve Wynn went on to talk further about the planning that they have done for the resort, in the announcement.

“At the bottom of the escalator from that light-rail system, we have put a Doppelmayr gondola car that has music and is air conditioned. People will get into the gondolas and they go around the fountains into the hotel, looking at the fountains and down at our pool area while music plays and fountains dance,” Wynn said. “We are meeting in many, many new ways the challenge of our neighbors and hoping to get the folks in the other hotels to experience our own.”

It sounds as if they are going to be modeling the new $3.5 billion Macau resort off of some of their previously built resorts that have done well for the company. Steve Wynn has admitted that he admires the competitors that he has in China, but also went on to say that the competition will keep him at the top of his game. The public still hasn’t seen the full potential of what they are going to offer, and many more announcements about the property are expected to be made at some point here in the near future. The Las Vegas casinos have had double-digit increases in revenue over 2011, which has allowed the company to seek out additional investment opportunities in order to grow their company.

It will be interesting to see if the company is going to be able to capitalize on the Macau region, a region that has continually grown in gambling presence in recent years, and continues to be a popular choice of expansion areas for casinos.

March 7, 2013

Nevada Ends Official Investigation Into Wynn Properties

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:38 am

Nevada gaming officials have been investigating Wynn Resorts Ltd. Over the course of the last several years, and that investigation has finally come to an end. It was originally asserted by a Japanese billionaire that the casino operator and made improper donations to the University of Macau, and complain that unfair practices were being conducted by the company. However, at this time there was no evidence of wrongdoing. In addition to this, the company stated in federal court granted its motion to dismiss the shareholder complaint against the company related to the donation, and no wrongdoing was found at the time. The regulatory body stated that there was no legal basis for the investigation to continue.

The accusations actually come from an ongoing personal battle between two former friends and business partners. The previously mentioned Japanese billionaire is Kazuo Okada, who had a very well known falling out with the company CEO Steve Wynn. At one point, Okada used to be the single largest shareholder in the company. He tried to forcibly purchase back all of the shares after it was found that the Japanese billionaire had made unlawful payments to overseas gambling regulators, in an effort to distance the company from those activities. Since that time, the two have continued to trade accusations with one another, alleging nefarious activities and improper payments across the board. This, combined with several ethical complaints, have made this a very heated battle between the two former friends.

At this point, Wynn is looking to remove Okada from its board, a position that he still holds from when he was the largest shareholder within the company. With a meeting coming up on 22 February, the company is looking to have him removed from the board before that time. Okada have filed suit in the Nevada federal court to halt the meeting, while the other issues play themselves out. The company responded by saying that they had already deemed him unsuitable for the board, after a lengthy investigation by the former director of the FBI Louis Freeh, uncovered evidence of improper conduct in connection with a number of companies in dealings that he had dealt with previously. On Monday, Wynn stated that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc, which operates as a major proxy advisory firm, issued a report recommending that the board was able to remove Okada from all future proceedings. Shares for the company fell $.11 to a total of $126.26 in morning trading after this news was released by major media sources.

It will be interesting to see how the argument between the company and their former lead investor, play out in the future. It is clear that the two have had a bitter rivalry since the original findings, and it will be interesting to see if Okada is able to salvage his reputation in the wake of these findings. Although there have been many accusations of unethical conduct in the past by individuals connected to this industry, it has never pitted two industry giants against one another in the same way that this circumstance has.

March 5, 2013

Super Bowl Draws Record Gambling Numbers Across The State

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 3:37 am

Shortly following the Super Bowl, ratings were released that showed that the Super Bowl was the most watched television event in American history. Along with this, the numbers of gambling within Nevada have been released that show that the Super Bowl was able to shatter records regarding gambling within the states. The crowds that were able to turn out in Las Vegas were legendary, with oddsmakers scrambling to find the perfect odds for the game.

A total of $98.9 million were spent betting on the Super Bowl in Nevada this year. This shatters the previous record. In the sports gambling sectors of the casinos, crowds at large had never been previously seen, and analysts were betting for several days that the state would be able to shatter the previous records that were in place. The Baltimore Ravens goal line stand help them to a 34 to 31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, amid cheers and boos in the sports gambling rooms in the casinos.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has announced that betters wagered more than $98.9 million on the 2013 Super Bowl, the 47th in the history of the game. This was by far the most in the history of the state, with the previous record being $93.0 million on the 2006 Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks. In that game, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks in a sloppy game that ended in a 21 to 10 victory for the Steelers.

Sports books held a total of 7.3% over the total handle, which calculated to a Windows $7.2 million. That is the largest total win since the 2007 Super Bowl, when Nevada was able to generate a win of $12.9 million when the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29 to 17. This was the 20th time in the last 22 years, and the sixth time in the row that casinos were able to make money on the Super Bowl, outpacing the win amounts.

With increased attention placed on the Super Bowl in recent years, it is clear that casinos can bet on the big day being huge for casinos in the years moving forward. With each year seeming as an opportunity for these casinos to set new records, increased attention will be placed on the Super Bowl in the sports books in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. As the game continues to grow in popularity in the United States and across the world, individuals will go out of their way to place bets on the game in Las Vegas and in the casinos that have sports books.

There are wide variety of different betting options available for wagers during the Super Bowl, and as this has increased, so has the likelihood of placing a bet. It will be interesting to see if next year’s Super Bowl is able to reach the same numbers that this year’s date, although that is heavily dependent upon which teams make it to the big game, and the type of August that are finalizing the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Although they were able to set the record this year, the two teams playing and the Harbaugh brothers to coach the opposite teams resulted in increased interest in the game, which is one of the reasons why it has become increasingly popular in recent years.

March 3, 2013

Nevada Governor Wants To Clear Path For Online Poker Plans

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:36 am

It has become increasingly clear in recent years that we can expect online poker legislation to come down, either on the state level, or on the federal level. There are many different situations that companies and regulatory bodies are planning for. Although, many regulatory bodies feel that state legislation is going to come down first, there is also some movement in several areas of the federal government that show that perhaps we can expect federal legislation to come down at some point. In preparation for this, the governor of Nevada, Brian Sandoval, has asked state legislators to act within the next 30 days on an assembly bill that would allow the state to join other states and offer online gambling programs. Of course, with Nevada being the center for gambling in the United States, it almost comes as an expectation that they will be able to pass the legislation, which would generate huge tax dollars for the state when passed.

The bill would permit the governor to enter into agreements with other states. This would allow online poker and would repeal an existing law that would bar interstate gaming until the federal laws passed. It would be certainly interesting to see whether not state laws would be able to acton their own for a period of time. The bill would permit the governor to enter into agreements that would act in the best interest of the state. It is clear that Gov. Brian Sandoval would like these laws to be passed now, rather than later, in order to avoid this federal legislation that is expected to come down at some point over the course of the next two years. It is also clear that he would like Nevada to be the leading state in online gambling, just as they were in physical gambling in previous years.

In the message that was delivered to the legislator, Gov. Brian Sandoval stated, “Nevada has always been the gold standard of both gaming regulation and agreements, and I intend to see to it that our state will lead the world into this new frontier.”

The state has already released a total of 20 licenses to a variety of different casinos and companies that would allow them to conduct online poker within the state of Nevada. However, none of the computer systems that these systems are going to be running on have been approved by the state of this time. It will be interesting to see if these laws are approved moving forward, and whether or not the Nevada Gaming Control Board is going to run into federal legislation that could limit their ability to appropriately legislate these issues.

It is clear that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval would like for the state legislature to act swiftly on online gambling, and begin to allow more companies to receive licenses, give him the ability to make deals with other states, and allow the software that the systems are going to be running on to be approved. It will be certainly interesting to see how this plays out moving forward.

March 1, 2013

Gaming Control Makes Online Poker Testing Recommendations

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:33 am

With it being clear that online gambling is going to be coming to in number of different states and sometime in the near future including Las Vegas, New Jersey, and possible Federal regulations coming down, number of different agencies are looking to start to put regulations in place in order to oversee the operations and the shift to online gambling. The state Gaming Control Board of Nevada conducted its monthly meeting in Carson City, and a number of plans were laid out. During the meeting, three companies requested extensions to complete laboratory testing of interactive gaming licenses that were approved last year. This measure passed 3=0, and all three companies received the extensions that they requested. Representatives of the three companies said that they were in various stages of testing and some said that there were many new variables that they were going to have to consider before reaching a final decision, including whether or not federal lawmakers would consider legislation that would govern online poker and online gambling in general. With states looking to pass their own laws, and federal legislation possibly on the horizon, companies are making sure that they have all of their ducks in a row in regards online gambling and are prepared for any outcome that may come in the near future.

Also during the meeting,TravelCenters of America, a company that operates twos truck stops in southern Nevada and three in northern Nevada, requested the licensing of a publicly traded corporation. This would give them a number of different options for expansion of their gaming facilities, which would allow the company to grow at it swifter pace. It is also seeking licensing to receive a percentage of gaming revenue at the northern Las Vegas Nevada properties. This phone also past 3 to 0. Currently, there are no expansion plans for the company in southern Nevada, but they may be looking to at some point in the very near future.

With the online gambling legislation coming at some point in the near future both for states, as well as for federal legislation, it will be interesting to see how these companies continue to react. Most of them seem to be acting in self preservation, which means that they are going to be looking at how they are going to be able to make the appropriate decisions that can safeguard their companies when this legislation comes down. Already, number of companies have launched online gambling solutions that are completely free at this time, in order to put together a user base for their future solutions. It will be interesting to see if these companies are able to appropriately deal with the legislation as it comes down, and make the most of the online gambling services that will be allowed at some point in the near future.

However, it is not only companies that are scrambling to get ready for this legislation. Even the regulatory bodies are unsure of how everything is going to play out in as a result are preparing for multiple different circumstances. Although it is not thought that heavy federal regulation will come down, and instead we will see slight oversight on the federal level, and allowing states to govern themselves on this issue, it will be interesting to see how to sides reach amicable terms that will benefit both the nation federally and the states individually.

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