I never would have believed it after a recent change of CEOs and a major redirection of Revel Resort‘s marketing efforts, but the casino could be put up for sale. The bottom having fallen out of the resale market for Atlantic City casinos, the pressing question is, “Why?” Restructuring of debt is another possibility, perhaps the likelier one, but the casino’s ownership isn’t giving any guidance at this point. (Perhaps Revel’s continuing abstinence from ‘Net betting was a “tell.”) Meanwhile, the approval of New Jersey online casinos continues apace, with each casino receiving five Web sites apiece. Borgata/bwin.party is already approved and now is joined by Trump Taj Mahal Casino & Resort/UltimatePoker.com, Tropicana Casino Resort/Gamesys, Bally’s Atlantic City/888 Holdings and Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino/Betfair now join it. Incidentally, if you’re on the state’s roster for self-exclusion from regular gambling, that status automatically rolls over to Internet play, too.
Would you believe that the nation’s fastest-growing casino market is … Alabama? The spike in popularity of electronic bingo has had the pleasant side effect of ending dog racing at a couple of privately owned tracts. The Cotton State is still one of America’s smaller gambling markets but the Poarch Creek Band is sitting on a gold mine nonetheless.
James Packer scored one important victory, winning permission to build a VIP-only casino in Sydney in return for $62.5 million in tax payments per year. This breaks a Sydney monopoly held by Echo Entertainment Group. The property will have only 430 hotel suites and apartments, no video poker machines and no low-limit table games. But while Packer may have had cause to celebrate in Australia, he continues to get grief in Sri Lanka. Leaders of the Buddhist opposition are demanding Packer’s unrest, saying he is operating without a license (even though aforesaid casino has yet to be built) and will “pollute” Colombo with his gaming product. Packer’s tax holiday on his hotel operations is also drawing criticism. “We have reliable information that Mr Packer and his team have arrived here to plot, to commit this crime,” seethed opposition-party member Harsha de Silva, but we think it unlikely Packer is losing sleep over these threats.
