George Hasselback is done with Imperial Pacific International (IPI). The attorney has been representing the controversial and incompetent casino operator as it defended itself in a lawsuit filed by Fox Financial, as well as others, but has now washed his hands and stepped away. He had filed a request to withdraw from representing the company on February 12, and a judge granted his petition yesterday. Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy agreed with Hasselback in his assertion that continued representation would put him in an ethical conundrum. Judge Kennedy explained in her ruling, “The ..read more

After Virginia agreed to usher in a new era of casino gambling last year, the race began to see how quickly the state’s market could be developed. Five cities were designated as potential targets for gambling houses, as long as local residents agreed, and projects in three are rapidly advancing. Richmond voters will determine whether they want a casino in their backyard in November, and several casino operators are now trying to win them over, submitting large proposals to the Richmond Department of Economic Development (RDED) in anticipation of the final leg of the race. The RDED i ..read more

The Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday that just wrapped up may not have brought a lot of great news to Macau, but it looks like to was able to give a much-needed boost. Visitation and hotel occupancies were well below expectations as COVID-19 concerns and travel restrictions continued, preventing Macau from using the annual celebration as a springboard for recovery. However, as CNY started to wind down, things began to improve for the city’s casinos and there could soon be substantially greater growth as coronavirus restrictions are lifted.  Gaming analysts point out that gross gaming ..read more

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts is facing a new regulatory probe into its Crown Melbourne operations, while losing yet another member of its board of directors.  On Monday, Crown announced that the state government in Victoria had established a royal commission to determine Crown’s suitability to hold a gaming license for its Crown Melbourne casino. Queen’s Counsel Raymond Finkelstein has been appointed to lead the commission, the findings of which are scheduled to be submitted by August 1.  The Melbourne venue was the site of most of the regulatory shenanigans detailed in ..read more

Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has already acknowledged that it doesn’t have the financial resources to cover all of its debt. It still owes millions of dollars to various government and private entities, as well as former and current employees, and has been threatened with receivership if it can’t take its responsibilities more seriously. As the operator behind Saipan’s troubled Imperial Palace casino continues to bring trouble on itself, a receiver has now been nominated in case IPI has to sell some of its assets in order to comply with court orders. The US Department of Lab ..read more

The final numbers are in for how the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday period treated Macau and they’re not too impressive. Despite increased travel options as certain COVID-19 restrictions were eliminated and lower prices at the city’s hotels, average occupancy rates were substantially lower than they were last year. Given that last year also saw a year-on-year decline, Macau is going to have more difficulty launching a major recovery in 2021. Last year, visitation to Macau during the CNY period was as much as 60% less than it was in 2019 and some hotels were scrambling for guests. CNY of ..read more

Despite a global pandemic and massive revenue losses in Macau, Galaxy Entertainment isn’t going to be deterred from fulfilling one of its dreams. The Galaxy Macau resort project has been in the works for years, developing in phases to become one of the cornerstones of the city’s gambling industry. After having overcome a series of delays and tragic, and deadly, accidents, the project is ready to move forward once again and construction of Phase 4 of the property is going to begin in the near future. Galaxy Entertainment announced that it has signed a preliminary contract with a cons ..read more

Japanese House of Representatives member Kenji Eda is worried. He wants to know if Japan’s push for integrated resorts (IRs) will put Japan on a Chinese travel blacklist, and nobody’s giving him an answer just yet. On his personal webpage, Eda posted questions to the Japanese parliament raising several concerns about the viability of an IR industry. Eda has posted several criticisms of the push, and this latest effort doesn’t just strike at local opposition, but at the overall value the industry would bring: “…the casino business is already saturated with excessive competition in both Europe ..read more

At the beginning of the week, it was revealed that Universal Entertainment Group is now seriously in the hunt for a special acquisition company (SPAC) it could partner with to take Okada Manila public in the U.S. It’s an idea the company has been tossing around for about three years, and Universal believes the time is right to move forward with an initial public offering (IPO). It isn’t alone, as Smartkarma Innovations, an independent investment research group, agrees, saying that the concept should be attractive to investors. Singapore-based Smartkarma’s Howard Klein gave his thoug ..read more

Macau’s government and casinos would have likely preferred that this happen two weeks ago, but there’s no turning back the clock. The gambling city is actively talking with China about getting the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) e-visa program back in place, which would allow Chinese residents from the mainland find it easier to visit the city. The program has been on hold since January of last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and previous attempts to relaunch the system haven’t been successful.  The e-visa is essentially an electronic method of filing for an IVS, but an ..read more