Online Casino Edition – Casino News News about online casinos and gambling

February 27, 2013

Slot Machine Company WMS Reports Fall In Earnings This Year

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 3:21 am

Although Las Vegas, and the gambling industry in general have seen a huge boom over the course of the last year, the same is not true for all companies within the industry. In fact, a few select companies have also reported a fall in their overall earnings, which comes as a bit of a surprise given the fact that so many companies have done so well in recent years. Recently, a Chicago slot machine maker, known as WMS reported that they had a dip in revenue and stockholder earnings. The good news, is that certain divisions of the company have started to make money, which is going to be a huge concern moving forward.

The company is responsible for launching a number of games including the Jackpot Party Social Casino, one of the most popular gambling games on Facebook. The revenue that the game is able to bring in exceeds more than $100,000 a day, and players continue to pay in order to increase the overall playing time that they have. The company reported this revenue to investors, and is looking to restructure certain areas of their company in order to capitalize on the smart investments that they have made in recent years. The company also said it will be releasing a mobile version of the game as an application for both android and iPhone’s, which can really help to boost the company’s revenue as well.

“The early success of Jackpot Party Social Casino contributed to $12 million in year-over-year revenue growth from interactive products and services,” Brian R. Gamache, chairman and chief executive officer, said.

The company reported a number of different things including revenues that were a total of $175.5 million for the quarter ending in December. During the same quarter of 2011, the company reported earnings of $162.2 million. This is a significant different the company, who was hoping to really improve upon their offerings. Stockholders are earnings ended the quarter at a total of eight cents per share, which was down a total of $.29 per share from the previous year. This is a huge concern for the company who is looking to grow, with their successful online gambling games moving forward. The sales of games and interactive products reached a total of $72.7 million, which was an increase of $8 million over the previous year. The company, which does have a office that is located in the Las Vegas area, had income and earnings per share reflected by the acquisitions that the company made in the previous year.

The company canceled and earnings call, because of a recent acquisition. They recently required the company Scientific Gaming, which is a creator of lottery tickets and software, which purchased the company for total of $1.42 billion. They agreed to pay $26 per share in cash for the company, which shows that there is still an interest in what WMS has to provide, and will be interesting to see how they make changes within the company in order to grow them moving forward.

February 25, 2013

Nevada Casino Revenue Reaches $10.8 Billion In 2012

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:19 am

Although casinos had a rough time in 2008, they appear to be rebounding based on a number of recent reports. It is now estimated that Nevada casinos were able to put together a total revenue of $10.8 billion in 2012. This is a huge increase over the previous year, up a total of 1.5% over the previous year. This was originally reported by the Gaming Control Board. The casinos on the Las Vegas strip alone had a revenue of $6.2 billion, which was a gain of 2.3% over 2011, showing that the strip in Las Vegas in general are both receiving much better overall totals of May had in previous years. It will be incredibly interesting to see if they are able to continue this momentum moving forward.

“The revenues on the Strip spilled over into other areas” of Clark County, said senior research analyst. “It’s driving the economy,”

As of right now, the analysts are being described as cautiously optimistic that the casino business will continue to grow in the years moving forward. For the year, downtown Las Vegas saw that there casino revenue grew a total of 2.5%. In Laughlin, casino revenue fell a total of 0.6%, which was a disappointment to the individuals in that area. The Boulder strip had an increase of 2.3%, and North Las Vegas was up a total of 1.9%. In fact, all of Las Vegas was up across the board, aside from Laughlin, which is the only area that site did. Some have guessed that Laughlin saw dips in their total overall revenue, because they were seen as a legitimate alternative to going down to the Las Vegas area.

In the month of December alone, the overall revenue for downtown Las Vegas casinos was up 2.5%. The board said that downtown Las Vegas casinos reported to wind of $36.9 million, which was up 19.6% in December. Laughlin had a wind of $33.2 million, which was 1.7% increase. Mesquite fell 5.5% with the wind of $9.1 million. It will be interesting to see if these gains and winds continue to become the norm for an area that has been suffering over the course of the last few years. With the area still looking for ways in which they can increase their revenue, there’s been a lot of speculation regarding exactly how they are going to go about doing so, and with the economy seemingly in a state of recovery, many people are returning to the Las Vegas area for their vacations. It will be incredibly interesting to see if Laughlin is able to rebound from this unexpected fall, and be able to report some of the same statistic that have been seen in other areas of the state, and gains, during the next year.

As the Las Vegas area continues to recover at a rapid rate, signs from around the country are that things are going to continue to improve moving forward, especially with all of these excellent earnings reports that have been released by high profile ocmpanies in recent days.

February 23, 2013

MGM Seeking To Re-Establish 50% Ownership In Borgata Once Again

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 3:17 am

The MGM Grand is looking to re-establish the 50% ownership that they previously had in the Borgata. However, three years ago the company agreed to surrender half of its ownership in the top casino in Atlantic City, rather than to cut ties with the family that has suspected links to Chinese gangsters. The Las Vegas company is now asking regulators in the New Jersey area to consider allowing it to keep its 50% stake in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The request was made in the petition to the Casino Control Commission, which was filed on Friday. MGM was asking for permission to reconsider its status, and see if it was fit to hold a license to a casino in the New Jersey area again. The company released a statement about the incidents shortly after.

“MGM Resorts International is, and always has been, committed to the highest standards of operation and regulatory compliance,” the company said. “If our petition is successful, we would welcome the opportunity to once again be an active, contributing member of the New Jersey gaming marketplace through our 50 percent ownership of Borgata.”

The MGM originally reached an agreement with the gambling enforcement division in March of 2010. It was instructed to sell half of its current interest at the time in the Borgata, because the company was not faith deemed to continue to hold at stake in the casino. The Atlantic Casino market plunged in 2008, just like it did in Las Vegas. Currently, the other half of the stake in the company is owned by Boyd Gaming, and they are not keen to selling the rest of the property back to the MGM. In the petition to the New Jersey regulatory bodies, the MGM spelled out several changes that it has made to its structure in order to justify them keeping their half state ownership in the casino. The MGM Macau is a casino that has fallen under a lot of scrutiny as of late, and its connections to Chinese gangsters as well known. MGM argues that they are no longer connected to those individuals in that they now control the Board of Directors, and have the ability to break any ties with the individuals that once cause them to be kicked out of their stake in the Borgata.

“Stanley Ho is 91 years old and his health has declined precipitously in the last three years,” the company wrote in its petition. “Since July 2009 Stanley Ho has divested most of his business interests,” including a company in which his daughter is now the controlling shareholder.”

It will be interesting to see how the regulatory body response to the petition that the company put forward. Although it is thought that they will turn it down, there were some interesting points that were put forward in the petition, and the regulatory body is going to be considering it in the coming weeks. If approved, the MGM will be able to reestablish their 50% stake in the company, despite the hardships that they have felt as of late.

February 21, 2013

New Jersey Casinos To Offer Bet Placing From Hotel Rooms For First Time

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 3:16 am

If you have ever had a casino and wish that you could place bets straight from the comfort of your own bed, you might be in luck. A casino recently announced that they are going to be giving that exact feature to patrons of their casino and hotel. It was announced that at The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, patrons of the hotel are going to be able to place bets from the comfort of their bed, utilizing their remote control and television set, starting on 18 February. This casino will allow guests with players cards to set up electronic accounts, and that up to $2500 per day, from the comfort of their hotel room. There will be slots available to them, as well is four different types of video poker, as the first games offered, and the company is expected to expand their offerings at some point in the near future. The casino also said that in the future they would like to expand their offerings to include handheld devices which would allow the patrons of the hotel to continue to gamble while they are walking around the location. It is not that this will give the patrons of the casino more opportunity to gamble, and the casino itself the ability to attract new business to the area on a more regular basis.

“This puts us in a position to leverage the technology into true mobile gaming and Internet betting later on,” said Tom Balance, the Borgata’s president and chief operating officer. “We’re moving forward with the future of gaming, and this is that first step.”

John Forelli, who is the casino’s vice president of information technology, stated that the technology had been design not only as an added amenity, but one that they thought could become a core marketing point for the company. They are preparing for the day when Internet wagering, and online gambling becomes acceptable, after either the states begin to pass their own legislation, or the federal authorities begin to pass their own as well. He went on to say that he did not expect the in room gambling to completely do away with the in person gambling at the physical locations.

Recently, the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie vetoed an Internet gambling bill, but went on to say that he would be willing to sign another one that came across his desk of some moderate changes to the bill was made. It will be interesting to see if online gambling becomes the norm over the course of the next decade, with many different companies scrambling to offer their own online solutions. With The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City developing their own hotel room gambling solutions and handheld devices, you can expect to see the space continue to grow over the course of the next two years and offer a high-quality service to many different people.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City is establishing their presence, as they prepare for online gambling to come to New Jersey, likely when the next bill reaches Gov. Chris Christie’s desk.

February 19, 2013

Stratosphere Owner Launches Completely Free Online Poker Website

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 3:15 am

It is absolutely no secret that online gambling is going to be the way of the future, whether it is done through the states, or done through free enterprise and allowing businesses to capitalize on the opportunities that are available to them. However, depending upon the company, there are multiple ways in which they are going about capturing a user base on the Internet in order to expand well in the future. Recently, the owner of the Stratosphere, who also owns Arizona Charlie branded casinos in the Las Vegas area have taken their first dip into the online realm. They recently launched a website which is going to allow anyone that would like to the ability to play online poker, completely for free on their website. Although this is a unique strategy, especially for a company that has made their living from paid poker, it certainly will be a great way for the company to attract a user base that is going to be interested in the services that they offer.

The company, American Casino & Entertainment, which owns the Stratosphere and various other properties throughout the Las Vegas area have announced the launch of their new online website, acePlayPoker.com. The companies have launched a number of different poker sites over the course of the last year, in anticipation of laws within Las Vegas that are going to allow for companies to conduct a limited amount of online gambling. Although nothing is set in stone at this time, it is thought that after some deliberation the laws will be approved in some manner, allowing companies to utilize the user base is that they are able to generate now by offering free games, and offer them upgrades into paid poker games, generating revenue for both the state, as well as the companies themselves. There’s also some word out there on the horizon about federal legislation that could be coming down at some point as well. Although many companies are in the dark at some point, most are expecting some form of legislation to come down the gives them the ability to offer poker and some other games with limitations attached to them. This is because the states themselves are not going to want to develop the poker software, and if the companies are able to put themselves in a good place with a solid user base, the transition to the legal online gambling is going to be a simple one.

Players are going to be able to win prizes including tickets to a variety of different shows and rides at the Stratosphere. Other prizes that are going to be offered include free hotel stays, and a variety of other prizes that are going to entice players to utilize the website. Although there’s no way to earn money by playing on the website at this time, it is thought that after legislation is passed that will be something that the company is looking to do in the future. The Nevada gaming commission has approved American Casino & Entertainment Properties as an interactive gaming operator, which means that once the legislation comes that allows them to utilize the online poker to their advantage, they are going to be one of the first companies that is allowed into the space.

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