What do you do if the cops try to bust you for having $115K in phony casino chips (allegedly)? Throw them in the nearest body of water, naturally. “Fortunately for police, the chips floated.” Vuong Q. Truong and wife Rosa A. Nguyen supposedly bought $150,000 worth of fake chips over the Internet (for 12 grand) and tried to play them at Maryland Live. They weren’t the only ones, apparently. Another couple is charged with winning $1 chips at a West Virginia casino, altering them and trying to palm them off as $100 Maryland Live chips. Good luck with that. And was the reporter being just a wee bit snarky when he referred to the Cordish Gaming casino as a “Hanover gambling palace”?
Congratulations to Steve Lambert, who recently escaped from his position at Penn National Gaming‘s nearby, floundering Hollywood Casino Perryville, to take a position as general manager of Hollywood Casino Tunica. Kudos also to Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis GM Chett Harrison, who has also been named general manager of Boomtown Casino Biloxi. Good luck to both men in their new assignments.
Sheldon Adelson‘s obstreperous ways are already rubbing some in Japan the wrong way, particularly his disdainful attitude toward joint ventures, as well as his one-(gargantuan)-size-fits-all attitude toward casino development. Marina Bay Sands is the general idea of what the Japanese government wants — but not a clone. Everyone else who’s anyone in international gambling is wooing potential Japanese partners. Melco Crown Entertainment is taking it a step further. It “is trying to distinguish itself from the pack by incorporating Japanese culture and philosophy in its resort instead of replicating the Las Vegas experience.” Of course, if the Japanese want to bring Vegas to their shores that’s a foredoomed concept. Too bad it will be years before we find out.
Sociedade de Jogos de Macao beat analyst expectations like a drum, posting a $993 million profit for 2013 — a 14% increase. Impressively, Stanley Ho‘s company managed to do this in the face of shrinking market share. It is also handicapped by having no presence in the Cotai Strip, where it broke ground on $3.9 billion Lisbon Palace only days ago.
