Japan hasn’t issued requests for proposals for casino megaresorts — not that it has stopped companies like Hard Rock International from pitching their product to prefectures. However, the Japanese government is rolling out advertising regulations 
and they are stringent. The only places advertisements will be allowed will be in the passenger terminals of airports and seaports. No ads on buses on trains, let alone visitor centers (even though the casinos are primarily targeted at tourists). More rules are expected to be promulgated, as the second phase of casino legalization in Nippon continues. The Land of the Rising Sun seems to be in no hurry to issue RFPs even though top gaming developers are champing at the bit.
* If Rush Street Gaming thinks it has a slam dunk for Brockton, now that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is considering reopening the stalled southeastern Massachusetts market, think again. Rush Street, if bidding is reopened, will have to vie competitively for the license, same as before. It will also have to upgrade a pitch that, the first time around, the MGC found to have been lacking in the quality it desired for a casino resort.
* In 2015 voters in Palatine, Illinois, nixed slot routes with 60% of the vote. But that was only an advisory referendum and the city council may move to reverse its previous stand against VGTs. So far the council has only voted to reopen debate but it came in response to bar owner Dave Gagner’s request that the issue be given second thought. And where there’s a Gagner in the business community, there are surely many others in the business community who will second his motion, as it were.
* “Gamers are comfortable with the dark web, they have great computer skills, and they operate anonymously. So it stands to reason that they have the skills and the motivation to hack into other games in order to steal valuable data like credit card information or other PII,” says Michael Bruemmer of Experian, identifying online gaming as one of the top three data-security threats of 2019. He says “don’t be afraid to be suspicious,” to avoid using public WiFi and be wary of relying on biometric identification (which can be faked now) when making financial transactions.
* A Versace-branded hotel-casino? It (or something like it) could easily happen, as luxury brands increasingly align themselves with the hospitality industry.
