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Latino America
Ricki Chavez Munoz reports on what’s happening in South America
As we move fast and furious and make our way to Dominican Republic to visit the Caribbean Gaming Show & Conference, which will be ready to open its doors on Mach 3-4 2011 at the Sans Souci Port Expo centre in Santo Domingo, the organizers have ensured more than 30,000 sq. ft. of expo space to accommodate the best industry brands.
Manufacturers and service providers for casinos, lottery, iGaming, online betting and gaming, affiliates, conference and workshops will be available at “The Biggest Caribbean Exhibition”, as it gets ready to open de Latin America Gaming Calendar.
Soon after, we shall make our way to Colombia, to get everything ready for FADJA 2011, the first major event in the first half of the Latin American year, at Bogota’s expo centre Corferia, on April 13-14. Still, if by now you’re wondering on our report on the London Show, it is because ICE 2011 will start a few days after we go to press, but I’ll have all the new, and will gladly spills them over personally, when we meet in Santo Domingo!
Cheers,
Ricki.
Florida Governor back casinos for Miami Beach and Tampa
Florida Governor, Rick Scott, has gone public backing casinos for cities like Miami Beach and Tampa. However, before this happens, state legislation has to change in a similar way to the legislation amendments a few years back in Dade-Broward-County, that enabled casinos at race tracks and sports venues.
Scott, who opposed casinos during his electoral campaign, said: “As you all know, I stated during my campaign that I did not want to have state revenue linked to gaming. But, as we have already authorized gaming in the state, we must consider the idea to develop (the industry) further”.
Fort Lauderdale Republican senator, Ellyn Bogdanoff, said: “This is gonna be a transformation in state politics. I am not in favor of gaming expansion, but as that train is already running and there is no one to stop it, I believe that what we have to do is to take advantage of this, creating the proper infrastructure for better control designing a better model.”
The general idea is to create integral resorts as tourist destinations with a minimum 75 miles distance between them, in cities like Miami Beach and Tampa with multimillion dollar investments. Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts are two major operators already interested in such projects, as they run similar ventures in Las Vegas, Macao and Singapore.
Republican Senator Dennis Jones, representing the Seminole nation, who is president of the State Senate Commission Regulating Industry, in charge of gaming control at the Seminole casino operations in Florida, said that he is already drafting legislation to authorize four or five tourist casinos in Florida, as well as the creation of a gaming commission to control the new industry.
One of the legislation projects include licensing cost of at least US $50 million per casino, as well as all other tax and levies payable by a gaming operation. Something where everyone agrees upon is the fact that states gaming revenues would go a long way to finance state budget deficit running at present at US $3.5 billion.
Panama casinos gross over US $1 billion per annum
The new regulators at the Panama Gaming Control Board (JCJ), announced Gross Revenue for the ten year period 2000-2010 for casinos and class III slot machines operations at US $6.56 billion, with US $1.64 billion Gross Gaming Win.
With Gross Revenue for the first half of 2010 for the gaming industry excluding lotteries and amusement machines at US $662.3 million, and GGW at US $141,5 Panama’s operations achieved modest growth at 4.3% and 0.94% respectively for above items year on 2009, compared to other countries in the region where growth doubled these ratios in some cases.
Since 2008, yearly gaming revenue in Panama has exceeded the billion dollar number and projections for 2010 indicate a similar trend. However, Panama authorities have let it be known that the state is not benefiting much from the gaming bonanza in the country since they went private in 1997.
JCJ reported gaming receipts at US $38 million, on top of state tax at 12.5%. At present, there are some legislation projects aiming to increase gaming tax to 15% for casino games and 19% to slot machines, from the current 15%.
With the opening of two new casinos this year and construction of five new 5-star hotels in the country, the government does not seem to be any restrictions planned on the development of gaming operations into popular zones and away from the tourist destinations.
At present, two Spanish companies control almost 90% of gaming operations in Panama. Madrid based Codere operates the Crown and Fiesta brands with five and six casinos respectively, and Barcelona based Cirsa, operates the Majestic Casino in Panama City as well as 17 electronic casinos throughout the country.
IGT installs sbX and Casinolink in Dominican Republic
International Game Technology (IGT), announced the installation of sbX, Casinolink and three popular progressive game titles at the Empresas EE properties Casino Diamante and Casino Matum, both located in the Dominican Republic.
“We are excited to be the first customer in the Caribbean to adopt the Casinolink and sbX systems to facilitate better floor management at our properties,” say both Edmond Elias Yunes, president of Empresas EE. “We know this combination of new network system technology and progressive games will allow us to differentiate ourselves from other properties.”
The sbX Experience Management System provides the Empresas EE properties with a library of games through the sbX™ Floor Manager including more than 180 international game releases with multi-denomination and multi-percentage capabilities. With the sbX Media Manager, Casino Diamante and Casino Matum will be able to communicate directly to their players and send targeted messages and promotions directly to them through the Service Window. IGT Casinolink will allow the properties to manage their slot machines, table games, account-based wagering and property marketing, as well as cash and credit management by using one comprehensive management resource system.
In addition to sbX and Casinolink, the popular Fort Knox™ II, Party Time! 2 and Sex and the City progressive slots are part of the installation package at both casinos. Party Time! 2 Mystery Progressives is the newest version of Latin America’s most popular multilevel progressive. Fort Knox and Sex and the City progressive slots continue to be player favorites in the region.
Latest CGS 2011 – Latest news!!
The International Market´s preference is consolidating this regional trade show designed for the entertainment and leisure industry, and the organizers of CGS 2011 have announced some deals from sponsors: COPA AIRLINES up to 15% discount (Discount Code: C3365), and SOL MELIA HOTEL (Group Rate US$85.00 + tax: CGS2011). Gaming Sponsors include: MEI, Gold Club, Sielcon, Unidesa, Spin, Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
