Inside Gaming: PA Casinos Apply for Online Licenses, Japan Enacts Casino Bill
This week's installment of Inside Gaming begins with news of a number of Pennsylvania casinos taking the plunge to begin offering online options, reports how Japanese lawmakers have just today enacted a bill to authorize casino resorts, and tells of a Las Vegas company's purchase of two Laughlin casinos.
Nine of 12 Pennsylvania Casinos Apply for Online Licenses
Nine of the 12 casinos in Pennsylvania made the move earlier this week to apply for online gambling licenses, just beating the deadline for doing so at a discounted rate of $10 million for the fee to do so.
As Philly Voice reports, casinos submitting applications to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and paying the fee included Harrah's Philadelphia, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, Mount Airy Casino Resort, Parx Casino, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, Sands Bethlehem, SugarHouse Casino, Valley Forge Casino Resort (pictured above), and the yet-to-be-built Stadium Casino.
If approved, the licenses will allow each casino to conduct interactive games online that simulate slots, table games, and poker. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has 90 days to approve or deny the applications.
Parx, Mount Airy, and Stadium had all submitted their applications by the end of last week, while the other six got their applications in just before the deadline. The state's remaining three casinos — Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin and Presque Isle Downs, Meadows Racetrack and Casino, and Mohegan Sun — still have until mid-August to apply for online licenses, although for them the total price tag will be $12 million ($4 million per gaming category).
There had been some speculation that fewer casinos might apply given the state's 54-percent tax rate on all online revenue, more than twice what some operators had said they would be comfortable paying according to Online Poker Report. The $10M fee was also much higher than the $400,000 fee paid by operators in nearby New Jersey to apply for online gambling licenses.
Last fall Pennsylvania passed wide-ranging legislation allowing for numerous types of gambling expansion in the state, including online. By doing so Pennsylvania became the fourth state to legalize online gambling, joining New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Japan Lawmakers Enact Integrated Casino Resorts Bill
More than a year-and-a-half after first passing legislation to enable casinos in Japan, today the Diet, Japan's bicameral legislature, have at last enacted a bill to authorize the opening of casino resorts in the country amid continued debate, reports the Japan Times.
After having passed through the House of Representatives last month, the House of Councilors followed suit by also passing the legislation following a nearly three-hour long filibuster by an opposing lawmaker. The current session had been scheduled to end in June, but the term was extended in order to ensure the enactment of the legislation.
This means Japan has cleared the final legal hurdle to begin bringing international operators to open the newly approved "integrated resorts" in which casino space will be limited to just 3 percent of the total resort floor area.
Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that both MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands have already "pledged to spend as much as $10 billion to tap into the island nation's potential for mass gaming."
Still to come, however, will be the creation of a national regulatory body and further decisions regarding possible locations for the new properties. So far Nagasaki, Osaka, Wakayama, and Hokkaido have all expressed interest in hosting casinos.
"There are many, many steps that need to be taken before construction takes place," analyst Jay Defibaugh explained to Bloomberg. Observers speculate the first casino resorts will not open until 2023 at the earliest.
Japan currently allows some forms of gambling, including horse racing and boat racing, though nothing on the scale represented by the introduction of the integrated resorts. The law allowing integrated resorts was first passed back in December 2016, although further legislative actions were still needed in order to authorize the resorts.
Golden Entertainment Expands Nevada Holdings With Purchase of Two Laughlin Casinos
On Monday, Las-Vegas operator Golden Entertainment Incorporated announced via a press release it had reached an agreement to purchase two Laughlin, Nevada casinos — the Colorado Belle Hotel and Casino Resort and the Edgewater Hotel and Casino Resort.
The agreement between Golden Entertainment and Marnell Gaming sets the purchase price at eight times the two casinos' adjusted EBITDA (i.e., earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) for the 12 months leading up to November 2018, with a minimum price of $168 million and a maximum of $190 million.
"The acquisition... provides us with an exciting opportunity to expand our portfolio to nine wholly-owned casino resorts in Southern Nevada, solidifying our presence in this growing and attractive gaming market," explained Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO of Golden Entertainment.
The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2019, pending approval by Nevada regulators.
The two properties combined offer more than 1,400 slot machines, 40 table games, and 2,150 hotel rooms, plus restaurants and entertainment venues, including the Edgewater Casino's 12,000-seat Laughlin Event Center.
Golden Entertainment already owns and operates the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, which when combined with the two new acquisitions means "these three properties will be situatied on 55 continguous acres along the heart of the Laughlin Riverwalk," explains Golden Entertainment.
Photo: "Valley Forge Casino Resort,” Valley Forge Casino, CC BY-SA 2.0.
