internationalcasinoreview
Macau to curb table growth at three per cent
News INTERNATIONAL
Currency of celebrity helps
celebrate The Star
The red carpet was as well trodden as any in casino history; the celebrity A-List as sparkling as any before it. Owners of the renamed Star City wanted to put The Star firmly on the map at its reopening; the publicity it drew, however, left it shining high in the sky over the Sydney harbor.
starisreborn AUSTRALIA
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ronan Keating, Russell Crowe and Olivia Newton-John were amongst the stars shining brightly at the relaunch of the Sydney’s newly renamed casino The Star. With other guests includ- ing Channel Seven boss David Leckie and his wife Skye, the Qantas chief, Alan Joyce, and actress Kate Ritchie, there was no doubt- ing the celebrity angle owners Echo Entertainment were hoping for in the media coverage the next morning. They graced the red
carpet to celebrate the A$860m transformation of Star City which included the re-orientation of the build- ing allowing it to view Sydney Harbour and the city skyline. Once the transfor- mation is complete, The Star will offer more than 20 restaurants, bars and cafes. There will also be a luxury boutique hotel and 16 room spa, an upscale retail collec- tion, a 4,000 capacity enter- tainment centre and international class gaming areas, including private gaming facilities on the top floor of its newly renovated main building and two private aircraft to bring high
rollers to Sydney from Asia. By 2013, the venue’s 4,000- seat events centre will host top international music acts as it also aims to become the main entertainment centre in Sydney’s portfolio of bustling nightlife. Star’s chief executive,
Larry Mullin, said: “Our aim is that The Star becomes Sydney’s main entertain- ment precinct. The hardest part was getting here. We are here now with almost $1bn worth of fun coming through the market.” Mullin believes that Echo
can wrestle 50 per cent of the VIP market in Australia, following the re-launch,
growing from around 30 per cent where it currently sees itself.
Opening night saw inter- nationally acclaimed events producer David Grant behind the ceremonial opening which featured a light and visual arts display projected onto The Star’s new glass façade harbour- side entrance. Around 250 VIP guests
were picked up by motor yachts from The Rocks and brought across to Pyrmont Bay where they walked the red carpet.
As she opened the venue, Olivia Newton-John said: “I feel like I’m in Vegas in the
good way. I don’t like to gamble but I’m willing to put a bet on this place.” Analysts, too, are opti- mistic. Nathan Gee, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said in a note to clients: “Tabcorp has historically performed below its potential in VIP. Doubling revenue at Star City from A$100m to A$200m after the renovation is not unreasonable. To get these customers you need to have the right offer, with the prop- erty, restaurants, entertain- ment service, which is what we are now doing. Sydney has got a tremendous reputa- tion as a destination and that really plays in our favour.”
ECA welcomes CJEU’s monopoly stance
byassociation AUSTRIA
Ömer (C-347/09) on 15 September, the European Casino Association (ECA) has welcomes the judg- ment.
The Court once again
With the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) publishing its judgment in the Austrian online gam- bling case Dickinger and
reaffirmed that a monop- oly for online and offline casino games is justifiable and appropriate if it seeks to combat the risks con- nected with such games in a consistent and systematic manner. The Court also repeats the freedom of the Member States to establish a monopoly, as a means to prevent gambling addic- tion and fight crime and fraud - Paras.48-49 of the judgment. Furthermore, according to the Court, a gambling
2 October 2011 • internationalnews
operator is allowed to pursue an expansionist commercial policy insofar as it is limited to channel- ing consumers towards a legal gambling offer - Para.68 of the judgment. For the first time, the Court makes a distinction between solely informing consumers (“restrained commercial policy”) and encouraging their active participation in gambling (“expansionist commercial policy”) - Para.69 of the judgment. The Court rejects the mutual recognition princi- ple and the way it rejects it in this judgment is categor- ical. The Court stresses that Member States are not
obliged to allow operators holding a licence issued by another Member State into their territory since there is then no guarantee that national consumers will be protected against fraud and crime - Para.96 of the judg- ment. The Court goes even further by emphasising that Member States are not obliged to consider the monitoring and control systems applied to gam- bling operators in other Member States, since there is no guarantee that the same level of consumer protection will be achieved due to the particularities of the checks concerned - Para.98 of the judgment. Ron Goudsmit, chairman
of the ECA, notes: “We absolutely endorse the clear rejection by the Court of the mutual recognition principle which has been put forward by Malta”, adding that “it is crucial that Member States can ensure the same level of protec- tion to the consumers they afford in their territory”. This is yet another judg- ment which clearly expresses the importance of the Member States’ ability to prevent crime and protect vulnerable players. It is now up to the national court in Austria to decide as to whether the Austrian online company offers its services in a consistent and systematic manner.
Nevada emerging from
The Macau government will restrict the rate of gaming table growth to no more than three per cent per year after 2013. Secretary for economy and finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, confirmed that the restrictions will last at least 10 years, coinciding with when the current gaming concessions run out. Last year, Tam announced a gaming table cap of 5,500 until 2013. The region currently has a total of 5,237 gaming tables.
doldrums
improvingpicture UNITED STATES
Nevada has now seen its third month of consecutive gains for a sector that saw double- digit declines following the Great Recession. Nevada’s casinos reported
a year-on-year increase in gross gaming revenues of 3.7 per cent in July, reaching $860.1m (E629.6m). Strip casinos lagged behind the pace to generate $468.5m (E342.9m), an increase of 1.6 per cent over July 2010. However, the downtown and north Las Vegas venues saw big surges of just over ten per cent with revenues of $35.4m (E25.9m) and $19.9m (E14.6m) respectively. Else- where in the state, south Lake Tahoe saw a jump of more than 25 per cent to $29.8m (E21.8m), but north Lake Tahoe dipped 10.5 per cent to $3.4m (E2.5m). The gradual increase in rev- enues, with the odd bumps in the road, has been the pattern for much of the year, helped by an increase in visitors to Las Vegas, which in July was 4.3 per cent from a year previ- ously to 3.5m. Hotel occu- pancy in the city rose 4.3 points to 88.3 per cent, with the average room rate up 9.9 per cent in line with the year’s trend to $104.59 (E76.56). Visitor levels continued to climb out of recession in July with the Las Vegas Conven- tion and Visitors Authority, reporting that nearly 3.5m people came to town during the month equating to a 4.3 per cent gain from a year ago. The pace of increase is the same as that set during the first seven months of 2011. Hotel occupancy increased to 88.3 per cent with Las Vegas on course to match its peak of 39.2m visitors set in 2007. Spend per head continues at a slower pace than in the boom times however.
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