Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. Read on to discover further updates in Japan which could come at a huge cost, acceptance of a bumper fine in the US and online gaming growth in the UK.
$2.6bn
Wynn Resorts is to forego an appeal regarding a recent Massachusetts Gaming Commission investigation into how it the company handled sexual-misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn, its founder and former chief executive.
Issuing the response to ensure that its $2.6bn Encore Boston Harbor development meets its opening date of Sunday 23 June, the company did voice objections to findings concerning its CEO Matt Maddox.
In it’s report published last month the MGC said that a vote on Maddox’s suitability was split, stressing a concern that he failed to exercise the proper diligence, express the requisite level of concern and understand the magnitude of the risk.
Paying its $35.5m fine alongside the $500,000 levied against its CEO, which has been confirmed by a spokesperson on behalf of the regulator, Wynn pointed to a year-long investigation within Nevada as to why he would have come on top of any potential appeal.
1.3
Should the Japanese city of Yokohama triumph in the race to secure one of three integrated resort approvals up for grabs, it will come at a huge cost for operators, reports GGRAsia.
A request for information conducted by Yokohama City reveals that capital investment could reach JPY 1.3tn (US$11.9bn), however it hasn’t deterred interested parties, with six firms, four of which have interests in Macau, still holding an interest in a potential construction.
The lowest figure mentioned was in the JPY 620bn (US$5.66bn) region, with it also determined that revenue gleaned from such a facility could be in the JPY 350bn (US$3.2bn) to JPY 880bn (US$8bn) ballpark, with annual earnings before EBITDA potentially reaching JPY 80bn (US$730m) to JPY 210bn (US$ 1.9bn).
Nine of the responds to the request for information by Japan’s second most populous city were willing to be named, and are Caesars Entertainment, Capital and Innovation, Galaxy Entertainment, Genting Singapore, Melco Resorts, MGM Resorts, Sega Sammy, Sotoku and Wynn Resorts.
2.9
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has published its latest statistics on each sector that it regulates, revealing that online continues to go from strength to strength within the region.
Bringing in a gross gambling yield of £14.5bn for the October 2017 to September 2018 period, representing a slight 0.4 per cent dip, the online industry made up £5.6bn of the headline figure, increasing 2.9 per cent for the period, and holding a 39 per cent market share, also up 1.2 per cent.
Other headline findings saw a series of decreases across employee numbers (falling 1.4 per cent to 106,670), as well as the amount of both betting shops and bingo premises, which declined 1.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively to 8,423 and 650, with 152 casinos in existence across Great Britain, an increase of one.
The number of gaming machines across the region was boosted by 2.4 per cent to 183,813, as the National Lottery contributed £1.5bn to good causes, a 0.3 per cent rise.
$1.3bn
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has approved the $1.3bn sale of the state’s Sands Bethlehem property, confirmed the PCI Gaming Authority which does business as Wind Creek Hospitality, an instrumentality of the Poarch Creek Band of Creek Indians.
Securing the sale from Las Vegas Sands, the closing of the transaction follows approximately 14 months of regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
Lauded as a “landmark transaction” for the tribe, Jay Dorris, Wind Creek’s president and CEO, commented: “We are pleased with the decision of PGCB and anticipate moving quickly to close the transaction. I look forward to welcoming all the Sands Bethlehem employees to the Wind Creek family.”
The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, located in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, which sits roughly 80 miles from New York City, is to be renamed Wind Creek Bethlehem upon integration into the WCH portfolio.
