This goes in the Not A Great Idea file. Macao, still down from its go-go years, is thinking of implementing a tax on tourists. No kidding. It’s even gathering 
poll data on how the money should be spent, even before it’s collected. Wouldn’t the Macanese city fathers being wanting to incentivize tourism? Apparently not. They’d rather bite the hand that feeds them.
Pacific Rim casino moguls might be given pause by a report from Union Gaming Securities that wonders if the critical economic mass exists to support $65 billion in new casino development. Observed the report, “Approximately two-thirds of this pipeline is in existing gaming jurisdictions, while the remaining one-third is in a solitary, green-field jurisdiction” i.e., Japan. Given the amount of cash flow required to buttress all that investment “the amount of new supply is simply too much over too short a period.” GGR Asia reports, “numerous projects and even whole companies could fail. The current volume of projects was more suited to a 15-year timeframe, rather than the next five years, wrote analysts Grant Govertsen and John DeCree.”
Leaving Japan aside, they say that the current timetable of development requires cash flow in Asia to double, even though China has probably peaked 
economically and “as so many of Asia’s wealthy individuals have already been captured. The math simply doesn’t work from a GDP perspective (excepting Japan).” Leaving Japan aside, planned casino investment requires double-digit GDP increases through 2025 to be sustainable. “We think 6.5 percent is a more realistic, if not somewhat ambitious, Asia-wide annual GDP growth forecast,” Govertsen and DeCree wrote.
“For too long Asia has been an unbelievably forgiving place to be a casino operator, thanks primarily to China’s rise. Even in Macau we think history can no longer be a guide, with blanket 20-percent-plus returns for all.” This means more emphasis will have to be placed on VIP play, even as casino companies are trying to improve their mass-market appeal.
* Sheldon Adelson‘s Sands Bethlehem fell a fair measure short of what it promised to the citizens of Bethlehem and to Pennsylvania regulators. 
Prospective new owner Wind Creek Hospitality is making up for that by purchasing an abandoned machine shop and proposing to repurpose it as a giant, indoor water park. Expect 105,000 square feet of aquatic rides, plus zip lines and other amusements. Wind Creek has budgeted $250 million for the water park, plus $90 million in improvements to the Sands Bethlehem hotel, which then-COO Michael Leven finished in quick-and-dirty fashion. The water park better be up to snuff: The Poconos are chock-full of them, some exponentially bigger than what Wind Creek is pitching.
* Kudos to Mohegan Sun, named “Casino of the Year” in the Country Music Awards, large-venue category. The arena has been one of Mohegan 
Sun’s not-so-secret weapons in staying at the forefront of tribal gaming. “We have such a strong calendar of Country music throughout the year, and it’s in no small part due to the incredible relationships we have with so many great acts, many of which started here in the Wolf Den,” said Senior Vice President of Sports & Entertainment Tom Cantone. Keep up the good work.
* St. Louis has no shortage of casinos but “John E.” had to come to Las Vegas to strike it rich, which he did to the tune of $1 million in M Resort‘s mychoice Millionaire Slot Tournament. Congratulations, John, and spend it wisely: a million bucks doesn’t go very far in this economy.
