We had a gut feeling this was coming. MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren has given the sack to MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis, replacing him with MGM Northfield Park prexy Chris Kelly. Northfield Park hasn’t missed a step since being taken over from Hard 
Rock International and continues to lead Ohio in gambling grosses despite the seeming handicap of having no table games. Mathis, who had shepherded MGM Springfield to completion, had little answer for its subsequent revenue struggles other than happy talk. Last month, when Encore Boston Harbor was reporting best-ever revenues MGM Springfield announced its worst. So much for casino resorts taking time to ramp up. Boston College casino expert Richard McGowan blamed Mathis for his own demise, saying he “was much more focused on gambling, period. Clearly, if Springfield is going to make it, they’ve got to somehow, one way or another, make themselves much more of an entertainment center than a gambling center. I would imagine MGM figured they had to bring in somebody new to do that.”
Added McGowan, “Let’s face it, you have Encore announcing they just had their best month, period, and Springfield just had their worst month, so clearly they had to do something different … let’s be perfectly blunt about where the money is, and the typical person is not going to be going from Boston to Springfield when they can go to 
Encore.” He also blamed an intense competitive environment with Connecticut casinos for Springfield’s struggles. MGM stated that one of Kelly’s top briefs would be “rebranding and integrating” MGM Springfield. Kelly himself was ecstatic about the change, saying, ”It is wonderful to be heading back home, having grown up in New England.” Until Kelly can be licensed in Massachusetts, the casino will limp along under interim leadership. At least Mathis isn’t out of a job: Murren thought highly enough of him to reassign him to the vice presidency of business development at the mothership. That should put some salve on his public humiliation.
* Macao casinos have to be eyeing the health reports out of China with a degree of concern. Coronavirus has killed six and sickened 300 people on the mainland. Lunar New Year celebrations are being canceled and travel restrictions within China are being imposed. A relative of SARS, coronavirus is resistant to vaccination and can lead to pneumonia. Blame it on Chinese scientists who initially scoffed at the notion that it could be spread among humans.
* Crown Resorts didn’t tell Australian regulators that it was selling 20% of the company to Melco Resorts & Entertainment and that could spell trouble 
for James Packer‘s old casino firm. How bad is it? It could be construed as a breach of Crown’s license, leading to investigation of its suitability as a casino operator. Packer and Melco CEO Lawrence Ho are expected to testify. The probe could also reopen old PR wounds about mob infiltration of Crown casinos and possible money laundering therein. Crown’s defense of the top-hush share transfer is a pretty weak one: It ‘needed time’ to determine Melco’s suitability for itself. If Crown had such strong doubts, why was it selling a plurality of stock to Melco in the first place?
It also claims that the sale, by investor CPH Holdings, was made unbeknownst to Crown … despite the presence of four CPH directors on the Crown board. This whole line of defense isn’t passing the laugh test, at 
least not for now. At least Lawrence Ho has already been deemed suitable to operate in Australia, unlike mobbed-up father Stanley Ho. However, the investigation will probe the role of a Melco 20% shareholder, Great Respect, whose beneficiaries include old Stan himself. Another branch of the inquiry will delve into the role of VIP junkets, which are accused of using third parties (read: organized crime) to collect bad debts. The Crown 18 will also be back in the news, as regulators examine Crown’s efforts to recruit players on the Chinese mainland. Crown has a huge appetite for risk and may have consumed too much this time.
* New Jersey will be the venue for a class-action lawsuit against 500.com. Shareholders are suing the Chinese betting firm over allegations that it has been spreading bribes around Japan. 500.com is accused of paying $65,370 to Nipponese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto, in the interest of 
getting the number of Japanese casino megaresorts bumped up from three to five, improving 500.com’s chances of getting one. Also under indictment are 500.com advisors Katsunori Nakazato and Masahiko Konno, plus former exec Zheng Xi. These events were preceded by the resignations of Chairman Xudong Chen and CEO Zhengming Pan. We won’t call them rats but they are fleeing a sinking ship nonetheless. Share prices of 500.com fell 12% in a single day and the plaintiffs say they’re out of pocket due to malfeasance. Plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Delaney is trawling for additional clients, so we don’t know if this will actually go anywhere, although it won’t play well in the Japanese court of public opinion.
* Here’s the economic rationale behind Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro‘s seemingly wacky idea to have cryptocurrency-only betting at casinos (Venezuelan money being essentially worthless.) It is said that “history could make Venezuela unattractive to multi-national gaming companies.” Ya think?
