Preemont had placed a bid in 2007 for the Mauritian group, and were however not the preferred choice by the Mauritian Government. They were asked to submit the bid once again a few months ago, the reason being the preferred bidder’s terms and conditions were not accepted by the government.

Preemont currently owns property outside of SA and still runs The Grand Palm Hotel Casino Convention Resort and the Mondior Hotel in Gaborone, the Metcourt hotel and the Sedibeng Casino in Francistown and Syringa Casino in Selebi Phikwe.

CEO of Preemont, Anthony Puttergil said that this deal would reduce their dependency on The Emperor’s Palace and would be a significant expansion geographically, and the challenge would be fun.  Last year the Casinos in Mauritius churned out around R250 million which is just 10% of Peermont’s revenue.  When asked, Puttergil did not disclose the bid amount, stating that it was confidential.

Peermont will be financing the deal by pooling in their cash and through their credit lines, by a group of Banks in Mauritius after the deal is finalized in July.

With the Casino of Mauritius owning and operating five casinos, 85 gaming tables, 543 slot machines as well as a casino in Port Louis’s Le Caudan Waterfront and another in Trou-aux Biches.  Puttergil aims to take up the management of casinos by next year.

Puttergil sees well for the gaming industry in Mauritius and looks at getting in newer machines as the ones currently in use are totally outdated.  He also plans on introducing and imposing the operating standards they follow in casinos as well as tighten up the laws a great deal. This will see a significant improvement in the Mauritian gaming industry with better service and the latest technology in gaming machines.

Although these reforms will definitely take a while, Puttergil is all game for it, as he feels that this is the only way to improve the operations.

Here’s hoping to see the gaming industry to boom in Mauritius.

 Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts mentioned that the gunman Magee, was carrying a gun and intended to either shoot himself or throw himself down from one of the floors. Mark also confirmed that there was no grudge or fight between the Raymond Knot the supervisor and Magee. However the gunman meekly surrendered when the cops got to the place.

It has come to light that a suicide note was sent to the Philadelphia Television station two days prior the shootout took place. The note accused casinos of cheating people for the past 20 years. The letter was traced back to Norristown Pa which of which Mark Magee is a resident.

Julinano confirmed that Magee was a regular at that particular resort and would interact with Knot always who was an employee for several years that the Trump Casino. He was friendly enough and he did not display any anger or contempt towards Knot, therefore Knot could have been just a random victim of Magee’s outburst. Magee could have been planning the shootout all along but did not consider Knot as his victim, Knot probably just happened to be in the way.

Knot’s body was found on the casino floor which is not visible to visitors with several shots in his abdomen. According to colleagues and employers at the Trump Casino, Knot was a peaceful man always found stopping people from getting into a fight. The employers at the casino and Juliano expressed grief over Raymond Knot’s death.

On Thursday a disoriented 57 year old Magee appeared at the Superior court at Mays Landing, agreeing to the murder and possession of weapons. Since he couldn’t afford a lawyer himself he asked the court for a public defender. The Superior Court held him on bail for $ 1 million.

Macau is now the next big gambling and casino destination and this is all a result of the global recession. Macau has dismantled Las Vegas as the gambling and casino scion, surprising it wasn’t even a close battle!

 The two main contributing factors; firstly the Chinese Government had reduced the influx of Chinese residents to Macau from the mainlands. The second contributor is the slowdown in the Global economy which has hit the US really bad.

Barry Grubel an observer said that Macau almost lost the top spot because the Chinese Government was beginning to tighten the restrictions for Chinese locals. However it gained the top spot because of the crash in the US economy, and this definitely kept Macau on top of the game for a while.

Although there has been a considerable drop in both the gambling venues because of the recession, Macau doesn’t seem to have been hit so hard! Their revenue figures are still good, all thanks to the Chinese visitors.

Las Vegas on the other hand seems to be in financial turmoil as the casinos are almost empty and fail to attract the attention of the US people who are now skeptical in spending on gambling trips. The Chinese visitors that used to visit Las Vegas are now heading towards the gambling and casino destinations in Macau.

Gabriel Chan, analyst for Credit Suisse says “We’ve seen better than expected performance in the overall gaming markets in Macau”. He also states that “Vegas is still reeling under the recession and it will take a long time to recover, but in Macau, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel”.

The Macau market is however hoping that the Chinese Government loosens its rope on the restrictions laid against its Chinese influx. If it so happens, the Chinese people will be able to spend atleast some of the $586 billion stimulus package that the Government had approved.

What can we say, but wish Vegas the best to take away Macau’s well deserved crown.

 
Ukrainian Lawmakers passed a law banning the gambling/casino industry in response to a fire in Dnipropetrovsk’s gaming area that injured 11 and killed nine. It came to light after ignoring the ever increasing problems due to gambling.

President Victor Yushchenko voiced it as the ‘populists’ way of winning the peoples votes. He suggested sending the bill back to Verkhovna Rada for amendments as well as vetoing the legislation since this could result in almost 200,000 people loosing their jobs.

This industry is growing at an alarming rate thereby corrupting the youth and harming the society at large. Vice President of the Ukrainian Association of Gambling Industry Personalities, Grigory Trypulsky states that ‘We need better regulation, but this is not the way to do it’.

Recent statics show that casino owners are not very keen on shutting down their businesses and are protesting against the ban. Ukrainians are protesting to shut down slot machines and almost 100,000 casinos. On May 19^th the Presidents office saw a gathering of 2000 businessmen from the gambling industry, warning of the additional job losses that the law may pose if the bill was passed.

It’s been two decades that the Russian regulatory board decided to move all gambling games out of the cities and concentrate them in restricted areas. Ukrainian’s tourist refuge was found to be the best choice by many businessmen, and now the gaming/casino industry is a whooping $1 billion strong, with millions of dollars being paid as taxes.

The law imposes on banning casinos, slot machines and betting offices. Anyone violating the law will be severely punished, and machines will be confiscated. The law states that anyone found to be secretly operating will face imprisonment upto 5 years.

The law asks the Ukrainian government to relocate all its gambling business or form strict rules. The law authors plan on creating entertainment zones like the ones in Las-Vegas concentrating in tourist centers and economically-depressed areas. The Crimean peninsula is everyone’s best bet as the next gambling destination.

With gambling licenses being taken away, and 1.5 billion being lost on social funds and taxes, let’s hope for the best to happen on the gambling front.