Remarkably bad timing. Some casinos in Las Vegas are imploding.
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The city of Sasebo and nearby municipalities proposed Monday that a designated structural reform district be established to enable the opening of a casino for foreign tourists at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. The Cabinet Office is expected to decide on whether to approve the proposal, made by four cities in Nagasaki Prefecture and two municipalities in neighboring Saga Prefecture, by the end of September. Under the proposal, the city of Sasebo alone or a consortium of Sasebo and other local governments will set up a casino, and the private sector will operate it under the supervision of the central government. The city of Sasebo estimates that the annual number of visitors to the casino would total 220,000 and expects the casino to generate an economic impact worth 100 billion yen as well as 7,700 jobs in the first fiscal year. The Cabinet Office has so far received 15 proposals for casinos but all of them have been rejected as the Justice Ministry said it would be difficult to exempt such special zones from the prohibition of gambling.
Russia closed down its casinos overnight as gambling was banned nationwide, a move the industry says could throw a third of a million people out of work. The July 1 ban shut gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines. "I feel terrible. We just let 1,000 people go," said Yuri Boyev, general director at Metelitsa, an upmarket casino where billionaires rolled the dice and Russia's gas giant Gazprom held a lavish Christmas party. Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, came up with the idea in 2006 when he was president after the Interior Ministry linked several gaming operations in Moscow to Georgian organized crime. The Kremlin plans to restrict gambling to Las Vegas-style gaming zones in four rarely visited regions deemed to need investment, including one near the North Korea border, but nothing has been built and critics say the zones will fail. Though gaming establishments knew the shutdown date for at least a year, few thought the government would go through with it, but officials moved in overnight to close them down. The industry says the ban will axe at least 300,000 jobs but officials in Moscow put the national figure at only 11,500.
Rows of slot machines, usually blinking around the clock in smoky, crowded halls, lay dormant and wrapped in cellophane. Moscow deputy mayor Sergei Baidakov, watching men dismantle poker tables and lay roulette wheels on the floor, said the state was ready to thwart any big to move gambling underground. "We are confident we will control the situation," he said. He said the ban was to protect the health of society. Many critics in the gambling industry say it has more to do with Russia's poor ties with Georgia. Georgians are thought to run many Russian gaming halls. City police stood on guard in case of protests by disgruntled former workers in the popular gaming halls that have sprouted since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and now pepper Russia's cities. A hotline was set up Wednesday to report on those suspected of operating illegal gambling, Itar-Tass reported. Moscow had around 550 gambling places, including 30 casinos in prime spots, symbolizing the capital's love of excess. Midnight on Novy Arbat street, the heart of the gambling scene, was muted as its flashing lights and loud music were turned off for the first time in over a decade. "I'm upset but I guess I'll have a little rest and re-visit my job situation in August," said Elena, a slot machine operator who has worked in the gaming business for five years.
Each year gaming brought in up to $7 billion and paid $1 billion in tax, a gap the industry says will cause the state a budget headache. The development replacement zones -- in southern Krasnodar, the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, east Siberia's Altai region and the Far East -- require investment of up to $40 billion and have not been built. "The zones have no roads, water or electricity. We fulfilled the law by shutting, the government did not fulfill it as the zones are not ready yet," said casino director Boyev. The industry has raised eyebrows at government guarantees of work in restaurants and shopping centers that are to replace casinos when unemployment in Russia has hit an eight-year high. But some addicted gamblers thought the ban might help them. "Maybe this is all a good thing. I'm a family man and I come here every day and lose all my money. I'll be happy to see them go," said a 40-year-old Muscovite near the flashy Shangri-La casino in the city center.
Number11 wrote:I think the idea has been trotted out about five times in the last 30 years, but the boat/bicycle/horse racing cartel joins hands with the pachinko cartel to get the lottery cartel to have the Diet cartel squash it every time.
That's the North Korean side and the South Korean side?Mulboyne wrote:However, the casino lobby thinks it has both sides of the pachinko business onside now.
Mulboyne wrote:I don't believe casinos are imminent in Japan and, as you say, there are plenty of vested interests opposed to the idea. However, the casino lobby thinks it has both sides of the pachinko business onside now.
Slot machine giant International Game Technology said Thursday it will close its operations in Japan later this year. In a brief statement, the Reno-based company said the closure would include severance charges of about $20 million. IGT said the decision was made because of "ongoing difficult market conditions and lack of strategic fit." Japan's slot machine business has been volatile over the past few years. In fiscal year 2007, IGT shipped 29,800 machines to Japan. That figure fell to 6,000 machines in 2008 and 3,775 machines in 2009. JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff estimated the company would ship just over 2,000 machines this year. "Given the capital investment required for this business, as well as the minimal earnings impact, we do not see the decision to end operations as a negative aspect of the IGT story," Greff told investors. Analysts said the Japanese slot machine market has experienced several legislative changes over the past few years, which has made the games less desirable to customers. "Japan has always been an erratic, hit or miss, low margin market for (IGT), and we believe making the conscious decision to stop trying to be all things to all customers is the right move by new management," Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Joel Simkins said in a research note.
Kaiju wrote:What's this, a 'Gaijin Only' establishmet in Japan? That is something new.
Level3 wrote:except gaijin can't collect welfare
Kanchou wrote:panchinko, kyoutei, keiba, keirin, auto race, takarakuji...
RIIIIIGHT...
Mulboyne wrote:The fact that there are popular forms of legal gambling in Japan doesn't mean there aren't strong constituencies in Japan opposed to casinos.
Yokohammer wrote:Melbourne introduced casinos a while back in an attempt to boost the economy. The strategy worked to some degree, but it has also introduced plenty of fresh problems. Rampant gambling addition and crime (organized and otherwise) being the two most obvious.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:A lot of those problems can be avoided by only letting non-resident foreigners use them, which seems to be the plan.
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