British casino and bingo operators have been left bemused after the government announced plans to raise an estimated $89 million in extra revenues over the next year through a series of tax increases. The rises could seriously harm businesses already struggling to cope with a recent reduction in the number of high-stakes jackpot machines alongside a public smoking ban and the global economic downturn.
“Buy low and sell high.” It’s no secret that is how to make a fortune in the stock market. Yet, how many of us can actually do it? We do exactly the opposite; we love to keep things when they are valuable and are afraid to buy things when they are being discarded by others. It’s hard to swim upstream when all the fish appear to be gliding downstream.
The growth of digitally stored data volume in the world is staggering—it is estimated that by 2010, the world will be storing more than 1021 (10 with 21 zeros) bytes of data, or 1 zettabyte (ZB) of data. This is roughly the number of stars in the universe.
Welcome back. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable as we continue our journey through the vicious cycle. Last month we saw how the number of symbols on each reel, as well as the number of reels in the game, affect the cycle size. To calculate the size of the cycle, you simply take the number of stops for each reel and multiply the numbers together.
Take a look at the newest Class II slot titles from June 2009. Cap’n Seamore Cash™ floats to the top of Cadillac Jack’s 50 Line series in an aquatic inspired voyage. Sirens™ Bingo is an innovative three-level game only available through IGT.
By almost any economic indicator, we are facing unprecedented times in the modern casino industry. The mega casinos in Las Vegas and the Vegas-style casinos across the U.S. and the Bahamas have heretofore been relatively insulated from the economic downturns of the recent past. But this recession is different; it has squarely struck the casino industry.
Nomenclature is one of the most powerful forces in business. Often it doesn’t matter what something actually is; it matters what we call it. “High yield debt” sounds much better than “junk bonds,” which sounds better yet than “toxic paper.” In our industry, we’ve got plenty of fancy names. But there is probably no term less understood by industry insiders than that which we tend to call “free play.”
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to the destination gambling-center of Macau. This pennisula, adjacent to the Chinese mainland, has provided gamblers with an opportunity to wager on games of chance for more than a hundred years. Most recently, Macau has reverted back to the Chinese government from which it originated.
On April 1, 2009, a divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ability of an employer and a labor organization to agree that employees can be required to arbitrate their statutory employment discrimination or retaliation claims in accordance with a bargained-for collective agreement. What does this mean for your organization? Read on.
