{"id":13584,"date":"2014-05-15T10:32:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T18:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13584"},"modified":"2023-02-19T05:58:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T13:58:39","slug":"japan-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/japan-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"japan_flag_01-300x300\"<\/a>As the window slowly closes on casino legalization during the current session of the Japanese Diet, a fever seems to be overtaking the casino industry. Normally reasonable people are suddenly hyper-exaggerating their projections<\/a> for gambling in the Land of the Rising Sun. Bloomberg News<\/strong> quotes MGM Resorts International<\/strong> CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> to the effect that MGM could make more money in Japan<\/strong> than in Macao<\/strong>. That’s difficult to envisage, but fair enough. However,\u00a0gaming-analyst projections of a $10 million\/year Japanese gaming market — the previous consensus — have gone out the window and giddily sky-high. CLSA Ltd<\/strong>. is projecting $40 million by 2025.<\/p>\n

Murren’s not prepared to wait that long, saying, “In Japan, the market has potential of being $20 to $40 billion and there would be far fewer integrated resorts than in Macau.\u201d Really? So soon? Former Japan Tourism Agency<\/strong> boss\u00a0Hiroshi Mizohata<\/strong> predicts that visitation, sparked by casinos, will triple by 2030.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any event, the casino bill has to be introduced in the Diet by June 2, as all legislation must be on the docket 20 days before adjournment. There’s an autumn extraordinary session, so everything isn’t necessarily riding on the next month or so. But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party<\/strong> has a less-than-enthusiastic partner in the\u00a0New Komeito Party<\/strong>, which has ties to\u00a0Soka Gakkai Buddhists<\/strong>, who oppose gambling. So the odds don’t look great.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jim-Murren\"<\/a>In the event of legalization, both Wynn Resorts<\/strong> and Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> are contemplating IPOs<\/a> as a means of financing their budget-busting projects. MGM is contemplating\u00a0it, but playing its cards closer to the vest. Showing a bit of ankle, MGM did allow that it had talked to Panasonic<\/strong> and Sony<\/strong> as potential joint-venture partners.\u00a0\u201cThe idea of partnering is critical and it\u2019s not for the money. It\u2019s more for the intellectual capital of what they bring to the relationships in terms of ideas, context of social sensitivity,\u201d Murren said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, Steve Wynn<\/strong> is seeking expansion into Japan partly out of fear of a too-great dependence on Macao. Delegated as proxy\u00a0for the great man, Wynn prexy Matt Maddox<\/strong> emphasized the compatibility between Wynn culture and Nipponese culture: \u201cJapan is known for hospitality, high quality and precision.\u00a0The culture of almost perfection here fits very well with Wynn and its details-oriented focus.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Can’t argue with that.<\/p>\n

* Rhode Island<\/strong> lawmakers are considering \u00a0a bill that would prevent casinos from putting \"Ruggiero\"<\/a>liens on private residences (which was something of a cottage industry for struggling\u00a0Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong>). State Rep. Deborah Ruggiero<\/strong> (D, left<\/em>), the bill’s sponsor, said players and their family members are sometimes unaware that home sweet home is “being used as a bargaining chip at a blackjack table.” A related bill, slipped into the docket by Rep. Raymond Gallison<\/strong> (D), would allow\u00a0Twin River Casino<\/strong>\u00a0to raise lines of credit to $75,000<\/a>, unsecured and free of interest. Twin River assures lawmakers it would never put a lien on anybody’s house but, according to the bill text,\u00a0\u201cThe extension of credit to table game and video lottery players \u2026 is a vital customer service function that facilitates a gaming program\u2019s long-term success.\u201d If passed, it would enable Twin River to offer credit for the first time … and somewhat level the playing field with Mohegan Sun<\/strong> and Foxwoods.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
* Benfen Zhang<\/strong> is looking at 10 years in the clink for a little credit-card scam he perpetrated with three Chinese co-conspirators. The four used counterfeit cards to obtain cash advances from the casino, played a little, then absconded with the money. Coushatta Casino Resort<\/strong>, L’Auberge Lake Charles<\/strong>, Horseshoe Bossier City<\/strong> and El Dorado Casino<\/strong> all got taken, for a grand total of $103,624.81. The fate of Zhang’s confederates remains to be seen.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the window slowly closes on casino legalization during the current session of the Japanese Diet, a fever seems to be overtaking the casino industry. Normally reasonable people are suddenly hyper-exaggerating their projections for gambling in the Land of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,171,84,11,30,141,12,32,20,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13584"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32362,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584\/revisions\/32362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}