Author - Ben Blaschke

Lifestyle Travel

Nagacorp to boost Chinese visitation

Naga Travel, the fully owned subsidiary of Nagacorp, has signed an agreement with Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism aimed at boosting Chinese tourism to the company’s NagaWorld resort in Phnom Penh. Nagacorp said it would actively support the...

Football Sport

Reigning champions in real trouble

After losing to Swansea 2-0 last weekend, the reigning English champions Leicester City are now in real trouble. The Foxes sit just one position above the relegation zone, leading bottom club Sunderland by only two points. Relegation is now a real...

Gaming Gaming insights

Macau on track for solid February growth

Macau’s gross gaming revenue for February is on track to grow by between 8 and 12 percent year-on-year, according to analysts. Early indications for the first 12 days of the month have average daily rate (ADR) up to MOP$1 billion – a 61 percent...

Gaming Gaming insights

NBA to launch eSports league

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced its involvement in a new eSports league expected to field 30 teams – each representing one of the NBA’s 30 franchises. In a decision that promises to have significant implications for both...

Lifestyle Travel

Macau to hit 40 million visitors by 2020

Macau’s annual visitation numbers are expected to grow by around 30 percent to 40 million visitors per year by 2020, according to a report by brokerage Sanford C Bernstein. Citing the increasing availability and decreasing costs of hotel rooms in...

Poker Tournament coverage

Macau Poker Cup attracting big numbers

  The popular Baby Dragon – one of the flagship events of the series – has attracted a record field to the PokerStars LIVE Macau room in what shapes as a hugely positive sign for this week’s Macau Poker Cup Main Event. The HK$8,000 Baby...

Gaming Gaming insights

SkyCity sees VIP play tumble

SkyCity Entertainment Group, which operates five casinos in Australia and New Zealand, has reported a 5.8 percent decline in revenues for the second half of 2016 on the back of a huge fall in Chinese VIP visitation. VIP turnover fell a whopping 38.7...

Gaming Gaming insights

Super Bowl sets Nevada betting record

It will be remembered as the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time, but Sunday’s incredible victory by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots also set a new mark for Nevada betting turnover. According to early figures from the Nevada Gaming...

Gaming Gaming insights

AGEM Index continues upwards trend

The AGEM Index – study of the stock prices of global gaming equipment manufacturers – has reported a strong start to 2017 with a year-on year composite index increase of 75.2 percent in January to 330.14 points. It included a 2.8 percent...

Gaming Gaming insights

ICE Totally Gaming starts today

The world’s largest gaming industry trade show, ICE Totally Gaming, gets underway in London today. Covering a massive 40,925 square feet of exhibition space and with almost 500 companies exhibiting the latest land-based and iGaming products...

Gaming Gaming insights

Tak Chun issues generous staff bonuses

Tak Chun Group has paid its staff a series of annual bonuses worth up to 19 months’ salary for some employees. In a statement, CEO Levo Chan said Tak Chun was carrying out the concept of “Sharing the fruits with the staff”...

Gaming Gaming insights

More visitors good but luck bad for Macau

A seven percent year-on-year rise in Chinese visitation during the second half of January suggests that Macau’s recovery is still well underway, despite gross gaming revenue falling below expectations for the month. Macau’s GGR grew 3.1...

Football Sport

China rocks football transfer window

Neither Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur nor Liverpool made any attempt to bring in more players to rescue their title hopes during the January transfer window, despite Chelsea taking a stranglehold on the Premier League this season – leading...

Poker The poker industry

WSOP releases full 2017 schedule

Poker’s most prestigious tournament series, the World Series of Poker, has released its full 2017 schedule with a record 74 events to be played at the Rio in Las Vegas between 30 May and 18 July. The schedule includes eight brand new events...

Gaming Gaming insights

Sydney to host world’s richest turf race

Sydney is set to play host to the richest turf race in the world with the announcement of “The Everest.” The 1,200-metre sprint will be held at Royal Randwick in October and will boast a huge AU$10 million prize pool. The winner would...

Gaming

Macau January GGR up 3.1 percent

Macau’s gross gaming revenue rose 3.1 percent in January to MOP$19.26 billion, representing the sixth straight month of year-on-year growth. However, it fell below expectations of a rise between 8 and 10 percent and was significantly lower than...

Gaming Gaming insights

Macau management quota can’t be rushed

A respected Macau gaming industry academic has warned against rushing locals into upper and middle management positions after the city’s Labor Affairs Bureau announced last week that it would not renew work permits for some high-ranking...

Gaming Gaming insights

Shun Tak expands Singapore interests

Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong conglomerate whose interests include VIP gaming in Macau, has expanded its Asian property portfolio by acquiring a 70 percent stake in a premium commercial development in Singapore. In an announcement, the...

Boxing Sport

New year boxing bonanza

  If you’re looking for some thrilling sporting action during Chinese New Year holiday, the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena will host the 5th CCTV Chinese Lunar New Year Cup IBF World Championship on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 January. Jointly...

Lifestyle See and do

Great Firewall of China grows bigger

China is upping the ante in its long-running censorship campaign after it announced a crackdown on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), which are commonly used to access overseas websites blocked by the government’s famed Great...

Gaming Gaming insights

Macau January revenue slows ahead of CNY

Macau’s average daily rate (ADR) fell 14 percent last week from the first two weeks of the month, but total gross gaming revenue for the month of January is still on track to rise in the vicinity of 10 percent from 2016 levels. ADR is current...