This week’s casino headlines start off with a brief scare on The Strip in Las Vegas following the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor boxing match this past weekend. We’ll start there as we recap the casino news of the week:
SWAT Squads Storm Cromwell Following Fight
While there were some tense moments during the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor megafight this weekend, the biggest scare came afterwards. Boxer Chris Eubank Jr. posted a video of police SWAT teams busting into The Cromwell Hotel, yelling and shouting for people to get down or leave.
There were reports of gunshots and an active shooter as police rushed the building as superstar singer Chris Brown was set to perform at the night club at the top of the hotel. The building was evacuated and in the end everyone was safe. Las Vegas is a madhouse at the best of times, but on the night of a big fight it is insanity with so much testosterone flowing through The Strip. In the end, it was a brawl that supposedly started all of the commotion.
Record-Setting Payouts for Canadians in July
It’s been a record-setting month in July for casino bettors as several players hit it big. In the province of Quebec, a player having some fun on Loto-Quebec website Espacejeux won approximately $1 million (CAD), which is $802,600 in US funds. The payout came while playing the IGT-created game called Crown of Egypt, which is connected to Powerbucks. This win was the website’s largest payout ever.
That record didn’t last long, though, as it was broken a week later. Playing the same game, another player hit the jackpot again, collecting over $1.2 million (CAD), which translates to just over $960,000 in American money. It seems like July was a good month to play Crown of Egpyt. We’ll see if anyone can break the record in August.
Japan Casino Resort Competition Heats Up
The casino competition in Japan is heating up. While there are a number of casino and gaming companies clamoring to make their way into the country, this competition is actually amongst the cities to see who will be the first to host a casino resort. Osaka and Wakayama seem to be the leaders right now, with reports suggesting that Yumeshima in Osaka Bay has the inside track. However, Rinku Town in Osaka Prefecture and Wakayama Marina City in Wakayama Prefecture have been gaining steam.
Rinku Town is intriguing as it is close to Kansai Airport, which means it would be easy to get to for tourists. Remember that Japan’s casino ventures not only want to allow Japanese players to play but they are hoping to pull away players from Macau and other gaming resorts in South Asia as well.
Wakayama Marina City would be a good place as well as they could start construction of the casino resort facility right away, unlike Yumeshima. But Yumeshima is still very much in the running and some would say at the front of pack. The likes of Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International have both been involved in plans for Yumeshima, as well as Melco Resorts and Entertainment, which wants to build in Osaka.
But it is still early in the competition as Japan only legislated legal gambling in December. The truth of the matter is that while there is a rush to be first, Japan figures to have a number of casinos and gambling outlets in no time as they look to service the 11th-most populated country.