Casino News Today

LOS ANGELES—Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands Corp. continues to build out a casino empire in Macau, was given $3.1 million in compensation in 2007, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The 74-year-old Adelson, listed third on the Forbes list of richest Americans, saw his compensation as CEO of Las Vegas Sands dip from $5.6 million the previous year, according to the filing.

His 2007 earnings consisted of $1 million in salary, $1.9 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and about $242,000 in other compensation such as health insurance premiums, the use of a car and driver, and security.

Shares in the Las Vegas-based casino company rose 15 percent over the year to close at $103.05 on Dec. 31, 2007, up from $89.25 on Dec. 29, 2006.

Adelson controls 184.9 million shares, or 52 percent of the company. Given the share price of $74 on Tuesday, that pegs the current value of his stake at $13.7 billion.

Casino share prices have tumbled since October last year on concerns about the slowing U.S. economy and inflated expectations about the Macau gambling market.

Las Vegas Sands is set to report its first quarter earnings on Wednesday. It is expected to post a 97 percent increase in revenue to $1.24 billion, with earnings per share up 11 percent at 36 cents, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Las Vegas Sands is in the midst of investing $12 billion to $14 billion to build 20,000 hotel rooms on an area of reclaimed land in Macau called the Cotai Strip by 2010 under such brands as Four Seasons, Sheraton and St. Regis. It already runs the Sands Macao and Venetian Macao in the Chinese territory.

It also plans to open the $1.4 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and the $600 million Bethworks Casino in Pennsylvania next year. It officially opened the $1.9 billion Palazzo in Las Vegas in January.

Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation, and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they often differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Michigan — WAYLAND — Proponents of a casino in Wayland say they’ve won the jackpot — but opponents say a ruling today gives them another hand to play.A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday upheld a decision by the federal government to set aside 147 acres of land for a proposed Indian casino in southwest Michigan.

“This is fantastic news for the people of the tribe and for West Michigan,” said tribe spokesman James Nye.

“This is the end of a legal challenge that has lasted for years. Clearly the opponents have had their day in court, and now we look forward to construction of the casino, hiring thousands of local residents and sharing tens of millions of dollars with local and state governments.”

A groundbreaking will be scheduled soon, Nye said.

The Gun Lake tribe has been working for more than a decade to develop a new casino in Allegan County, about 20 miles south of Grand Rapids. The site includes the former Ampro Products building, which tribal leaders plan to convert into the $200 million Gun Lake Casino.

But don’t bet against an appeal.

John Bursch, a partner with Warner Norcross & Judd in Grand Rapids who is representing the group Michigan Gambling Opposition (MichGo), said the ruling was a disappointment.

“But we are extremely encouraged by the dissent of Judge (Janice Rogers) Brown,” he said. “She excoriated the majority and agreed with us on the major issue in this case, the constitutionality of the statute that gives the federal government the authority to take this land in trust for a casino.”

“We plan to file a cert. petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear the issue. And given that the Supreme Court majority’s judicial philosophy aligns with that of Judge Brown, we are very confident they will take the case.”

Todd Boorsma, long-time opponent of the project, called the decision a “huge victory for the opponents” because the dissent sets the stage for the appeal.

“It allows us to go to the next level,” said Boorsma, the opposition group’s long-time leader who stepped down a few months ago to run for state representative for the 88th District. “This is what we had hoped for because we knew two of the panel members were not on our side.”

Proponents have said the casino would employ about 1,800 people and have about 2,500 electronic gambling machines and 80 gaming tables.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the decision by the Interior Department to take the land in Wayland Township into trust for a casino.

MichGO sued in 2005 to block the government from taking the land into trust. The case has been winding its way through the court system since then.

Early in 2007, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington sided with the government. However, he issued a stay preventing the land from being taken into trust pending the outcome of MichGO’s appeal.

MichGO is a group of local residents and business people who formed at least six years ago to oppose the casino.

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Pittsburgh casino developer Don Barden will honor a commitment to invest $3 million in the Hill District, but that the money will not be spent on the area around the new Penguins arena, a spokesman for Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said.

Barden, who is building the Majestic Star Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, could not be reached for comment.

But Kevin Evanto, spokesman for Onorato, said Barden withdrew a petition to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, requesting that he be allowed to drop a plan to spend $3 million on economic development in the Hill.

Instead, Evanto said, Barden will invest the money over a five-year period, rather than three years, and will put the money into “various development projects that have not been identified yet.”

Evanto also said Barden “committed to completing the ballroom and amphitheatre in year three of the casino’s operations,” and that Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will co-sign a letter to the gaming control board supporting Barden’s $3 million development fund and the timeline on completion of the ballroom and amphitheatre.

Barden won the right to build Pittsburgh’s first casino in December 2006. He has said the casino will be operating by May 2009.

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Jamaica –

One local hotelier has expressed an interest in applying for a casino licence, the Business Observer has learnt. However the hotelier, tourism sources say, does not have the required 1,000 rooms, even though he has the US$1.5 billion which the government requires for investment.

President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Wayne Cummings yesterday declined to name the hotelier. However he said the hotelier is hoping that the criteria is reviewed and that he be given special consideration.

“I know there is one other entity that has a hotel of almost that number of rooms that already exist that feels that maybe they would like to request some kind of revision and special consideration because they are an existing product,” Cummings told this newspaper yesterday.

Outside of the Fiesta hotel with its near 2,000 rooms currently under construction, the JHTA head said the hotels which come closest to the required amount only has between 700 to 750 rooms.

” We have always existed in Jamaica on a smaller scale but now a main avenue of investment may have been opened up and there are people who may want to consider it,” he said.

He explained, however that other hoteliers who do not currently meet the criteria are looking at the option of expanding their investments.
“If I had the land and the money and I wanted to increase to reach that threshold then here is an opportunity for investment which should be taken advantage of by Jamaicans and others,” he said.

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said when the legal framework is completed and licenses are ready to be granted by mid-year, there will be opportunities for all who meet the established criteria.

“The reason for those two stipulation is that Casino must not be more than 20 per cent of total investment and experience of the project,” he explained. He added that they are making casino gaming an entertainment value added because Jamaica can never become a Casino destination.

He said the market can only facilitate a limited number of casinos, because Jamaica has no track record in this. As such he said it is not likely that they will be receiving a flood of applications.

“We also have to determine how many of these we want in a small country like ours,” he said.

As for the eastern end of the island where it is being developed to reflect the top end of the Jamaican product, Bartlett said he would not rule out a license being granted for that area.

“We will see how that works because in terms of capital outlay for development, the criteria will maintain because 1500 rooms don’t have to be up but across the development to include villas as well,” Bartlett said.
In the meantime Cummings said what the JHTA is most interested in now, more than its members qualifying for a license, is to ensure that the coming legislation is coherent.

“What we want to make sure is that the regulation that governs casinos in Jamaica ,whether it be the size of the investment, the number of rooms, due diligence and legality that it is coherent and is abided by,” he said.

Meanwhile Bartlett said whatever legislation are to be enacted to govern the operation of casino gambling in Jamaica would not exclude the locals from participating. “We will make no legislation that our people would be unable to benefit or participate in and so we will not preclude our locals,” he said.

However the tourism minister said it is yet to be finalised whether a special commission will be put in place to vet the application process for casino applicants.

Cummings has also expressed optimism that the other hotels who do not receive a casino license will be able to benefit indirectly from Casino operations at the entities which are granted license.

“We have probably been the loudest voice in respect to the opening of this window and we have always supported the fact that casinos are not necessarily a means to an end they represent the linkage between entertainment, the free movement of people between hotels, products and restaurants,” he said.

Last week prime minister Bruce Golding announced that approval has been given to proposals from the developers of the Palmyra Resort and Spa operating under the company Celebration Jamaica Limited for a major new investment which is predicated on the granting of a casino license.

This he said involved the development of a 65 acre property consisting of 2,080 new hotel rooms and a total investment of US$1.8 billion.

Meanwhile the Tavistock Group, developers of the Harmony Cove resort project is to increase the size of the project from 4,500 rooms to 8,500 rooms with an additional investment of US$1-2 billion based on the undertaking that it will also be allowed to operate a casino.

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