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CCA in the News
Casino Future Not So Hard to
Predict
In 1996
casino consultant Eugene Christiansen made a bold claim:
“... look carefully at Treasure Island. You’re looking at
the future—the future of Las Vegas.” He was more right than
we ever could have imagined.
Directs Center for Gaming Research, teaches history at UNLV, gaming/hospitality ed. 2014 Trippie Awards Person of the Year, 6-time NPA award-winner.
Four applicants for Chicago Southland casino license to make their pitch next month
The four applicants will make their pitch at a special Illinois Gaming Board meeting in a session in which the regulator will also hear presentations from three applicants to build a casino in Waukegan. The board is expected to narrow the list of south suburban contenders from four to three, and make a decision on licenses for both casinos by early January. The current timetable proposes a decision being made within six months of outside firm Christiansen Capital Advisors being hired to assist in the vetting. As the firm was hired on July 9, the new deadline would put the timing in early January. Last month, the extended delays saw five area state legislators sending a letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker asking him to move the decision-making process along, citing that each day without license meant another day in which families in the area were denied “chances to win better jobs and better incomes.”
New RI House leaders won't commit to IGT deal
The stakes are high. State-sponsored gambling — including the live table-game action and video-slot play at the two casinos — is Rhode island’s third-largest source of state revenue. It had been producing nearly $400 million a year for the state treasury until competitors in the region took a bite out of Rhode Island's gambling revenue and COVID-19 forced temporary casino shutdowns. In its report, Christiansen said: “It is important to remember that, in 2020, this is more than just a contract extension. By entering into this contract, the [Rhode Island General Assembly] would also be locking in gambling policy for the next 23 years.” The consultant questioned why Rhode Island continues to lease the machines at all, at a percentage of gambling revenue, when the vast majority of slot machines in North America are purchased. Of the IGT-run “central monitoring system” for the thousands of video lottery terminals at the state-run Twin River casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton, the report said: “Based upon our analysis of comparable jurisdictions, Rhode Island is paying considerably more than its peers for a VLT Central Monitoring System [CMS] only covering two facilities."
Downtown is where the action should be, casino developers tell Lightfoot
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office asked casino developers this summer to show at least some of their cards on how — and where — they’d want to break ground on a Chicago casino. Eleven groups submitted responses to the nonbinding request for information that Lightfoot’s office put out in August, which asked for their input on everything from how big the venue should be to how gaming plans might coexist with other city attractions. Four of the 11 responses received by the city came from major casino developers: Hard Rock, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Related Midwest in partnership with Rush Street Gaming, the company chaired by Chicago billionaire and Rivers Casino Des Plaines magnate Neil Bluhm. Four responses came from real estate developers D3 Realty, Development Management Associates, JDL and R2 Companies. One response each came from casino financier MGM Growth Properties, casino feasibility consultant Christiansen Capital Advisors and the Chicago Neighborhood Initiative.
Taiwan unfazed by China warning on casinos in Kinmen
The president of Taiwan’s legislature, Wang Jin-pyng, has pledged to move forward with plans to allow a casino to open in the Kinmen Islands, reported the government-run Radio Taiwan International. The success of Taiwan’s casino industry could depend on mainland China’s visa policies, Eugene Christiansen, chief executive of Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC, said in a conference panel at the Macao Gaming Summit in November. “The industry there [Taiwan] could be heavily influenced by visa policies in mainland China and on whether Chinese will be able to visit casinos in Taiwan,” warned Mr Christiansen.
Independent reports suggest govt. used false comparisons in proposed tax hike
Two independent reports from international firms suggest that government used false comparisons and assumptions to justify its proposed tax hike on the gaming industry, which could see operators taxed up to 50 per cent on their profits. The reports by Christiansen Capital Advisors and Oxford Economics also suggest that the cost of the tax will not only result in significant jobs losses, but the loss of a major contribution to the local economy.
"The
Future is Here" Early tech adopters in gaming seen through
the Christiansen Papers (UNLV Special Collections &
Archives)
The widespread use of computers and the internet made an
indelible mark on the world of gaming, as it did on numerous
other aspects of our lives. The Eugene Martin Christiansen
Papers held in UNLV Libraries Special Collections document how
gaming companies, gamblers, race tracks, and casinos began
looking into the forerunners of internet gaming as early as
the 1970s and had been using networked computers as a resource
decades before most people were online.
Notos Group names team to guide Massachusetts racetrack venture
The Notos Group LLC on Friday announced a team of experts that will help guide the development of a state-of-the-art thoroughbred racing facility in Wareham, Massachusetts, with the highest in equine safety and welfare measures.
The facility is part of a proposed $300 million economic development project designed to revive the state’s thoroughbred racing industry. An important goal of the project is to revive the state’s thoroughbred racing and breeding industry, which generated $116 million in annual economic impact and 1,500 jobs, according to a study, “The Economic Impact of the Massachusetts Thoroughbred Equine Industry" conducted by Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC.
Web
Shop Patrons Face $20m Tax Bill (Bahamas Tribune)
Christiansen Capital Advisors, in a study commissioned by the
Association, predicted that the two five percent levies will
suck between $13.3m and $19.9m annually from the pockets of
Bahamian gaming patrons.
Japan
looks to Singapore for ideas as Diet debate over new casino
law looms (The Japan Times)
Christiansen warned that simply building a casino and waiting
for people to come is wrong. “Integrated resorts are not for
amateurs. Anyone can build a casino. But true IRs are the most
complicated leisure entertainment products ever brought to
market."
High-Tech
Wagering Sees Gateway Into America: The Horse Track (The New
York Times)
“They [Paddy Power/Betfair] already got very robust services
in place,” said Sebastian Sinclair, president of Christiansen
Capital Advisors, a research and consulting firm that
specializes in gambling and entertainment. “They also have
gone through the regulatory process in England and Ireland and
have passed rigorous examinations. It gives them a leg up.”
Twin
River wants to move Newport Grand to Tiverton; then expand
(The Providence Journal)
At the state’s revenue estimating conference in November, a
report by Christiansen Capital Advisors suggested that gross
gambling revenues could drop by nearly 38 percent in five
years if a casino was built in Taunton, Massachusetts.
In
New Jersey, New Gamblers Being Sought (The Wall Street
Journal)
But whether that model can succeed in working-class Bayonne is
unclear, said Eugene Christiansen, CEO of Christiansen Capital
Advisors.