| And just as a reminder for those wondering why Indian gaming has become such a big topic, even a major issue in the recall election in California, here are the numbers from just two Indian casinos. Slot machine players fed record amounts of money into the machines at Foxwoods Resort Casino in August, giving the Mashantucket Pequots their highest ever monthly slot "win" of $77.3 million. Gamblers also left $75.8 million in the machines at Mohegan Sun, enabling the Mohegan Indians to improve their slot machine win by 4.6 percent over the same month last year. The Mashantucket Pequots "won" $77,312,590 for the month at Foxwoods, keeping 8.2 percent of the record $940.8 million "handle," which is the total amount wagered in their 6,651 slot machines. They turned over $19.3 million to the state, setting another record. Their win was 5.4 percent better than last August and their handle 2.2 percent higher. The casino's average daily win per slot machine unit was $375. Karen Florin, New London, Connecticut Day, 9-16-03 Granted Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are as big as a casino gets, but the potential for casinos nearly as large exists on the fringes of every major population center in the United States. Indian gaming is complex; the rules change in every state. A tribal-state compact sets the rules; take away the tribes need to negotiate with the state and you take away those rules. A national "Class II" game that produces revenues equivalent to regulated "Class III" slots would make Class II, non-compacted, gaming profitable in a way it has not been up to this point. The NIGC's opinion goes a long way to radically alter the landscape, and, dare I use the word, revolutionize the entire industry. Canada is leading the way in another way, addictive gaming lawsuits. It is too early to predict the impact on gaming in Canada, or the implication for American jurisprudence, but it is certain to have implications for the industry in general. A high-profile Hamilton official who lost his job to a gambling addiction is suing the Ontario government and Casino Niagara for allegedly sending a limousine to take him back to the blackjack tables following a $500,000 loss. Gabe Macaluso, former chief executive of Copps Coliseum, Hamilton Place and the Hamilton Convention Centre, lost $1 million over five years….joins a small but growing number of recovered gambling addicts in Ontario and Quebec who have filed lawsuits demanding government-run casinos stop them from ruining their lives. Heather Sokoloff, Canadian National Post, 10-14-03 Asia, Canada and the United Kingdom are showing the gaming industry how to expand its base and that is really the story this month. The focus of the industry may be shifting from the United States to the United Kingdom and other "foreign" jurisdictions. As American companies become more experienced in the culture, regulation and trends in other countries, they are sure to try and bring ideas, methods and managers back to the home base. The trends are toward much higher levels of technology, technology that will challenge regulation at a national level, much less for individual states. Where will all of this lead us? I haven't a clue, but it is clear, that as the industry matures and profits flatten as is happening in Atlantic City and Reno, for example, there will be increasing pressure to find new jurisdictions and opportunities for expansion. |
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