This week's installment of Inside Gaming reports the most recent development within the battle over Atlantic City where New Jersey legislators have voted to rescue town from default, tells of SkyCity's plans to expand its casino in Adelaide, and offers an update at the name changes to Ohio casinos.
New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Atlantic City Rescue Legislation, Send to Christie
On Thursday New Jersey lawmakers passed measures designed to maintain Atlantic City from running out of money, with the state Senate and Assembly overwhelmingly voting in favor of legislation to grant town temporary loans to bypass facing default. Governor Chris Christie still has to sign the legislation to ensure that it to take effect.
The legislation comes after several months' worth of heated battling over the fate of the state's gaming center, a fight that at one point saw Christie supporting a bill to permit the state to take over Atlantic City's finances altogether.
The bill currently on Christie's desk stops in need of that extreme, reports ABC News, granting Atlantic City temporary loans of $30 million for the remainder of this year, then another $15 million in 2017. Beyond that, town "could be in a position to get a minimum of $120 million every year from casinos under a payment-in-lieu of taxes bill that may last for 10 years."
Not included within the legislation that was passed were provisions for the state to have taken over control of the city's finances, including giving the state the ability to wreck union contracts. However, the state could still potentially "wield that power, but only after its Community Affairs department determines that the plan Atlantic City comes up with isn't workable."
"It's huge," said Atlantic City mayor Don Guardian who had strongly opposed the state-takeover option supported by some lawmakers and Christie. "WE WOULD LIKE people to understand the shore is open for business."
The news comes a few weeks after New Jersey regulators reported the city's eight casinos have shown a revenue increase year-over-year throughout the first four months of 2016. The $812.8 million in gambling revenue taken in by the casinos from Jan.-Apr. 2016 represents a 4.4% increase over the similar period in 2015.
On Thursday Christie "stopped wanting saying whether he's going to sign the bill, but said he'll decide quickly."
Read more concerning the impasse, the breakthrough, and what may happen next at the Boardwalk at ABC News.
SkyCity Gets Popularity of Adelaide Expansion
As we reported on this space last month, the point of interest of the gaming industry in Australia recently concerned The Star Entertainment Group possibly taking on SkyCity Entertainment Group, with the latter having indicated a willingness to go into such talks.
No new developments have occurred on that front, but there has been news this week regarding SkyCity's planned-for expansion of its Adelaide Casino being given the go-ahead by the South Australian Goverment. The growth of the casino — the one one with a gaming license from the South Australian Government — is anticipated to commence through the second 1/2 2016.
The Adelaide is certainly one of five casinos operated by SkyCity in both Australia and New Zealand (where SkyCity is the one casino operator at present).
Costs for the brand new Adelaide expansion can be split between SkyCity and the South Australian government, reports NZ-based Scoop. SkyCity's interim CEO John Mortensen, currently within the position after Nigel Morrison's eight-year tenure as CEO officially ended late last month, expressed enthusiasm over the agreement.
"We're delighted that we have got agreement at the first phase of labor on what's going to be an awesome rejuvenation of the Riverbank Precinct," said Mortensen. "SkyCity's Adelaide Casino expansion will bring high-net-worth visitors to South Australia, providing a vital boost to the tourism industry."
Go get the inside track for more on SkyCity's plans in Adelaide.
Goodbye Horseshoe, Hello JACK
Back in February we shared how Rock Gaming LLC had indicated a plan to rebrand as JACK Entertainment LLC, a move that still would mean changing the names of its three properties in Ohio, the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, and the Thistledown Racino in North Randall, in addition to the Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit.
The renaming process has begun in earnest now, with the Cleveland casino's rechristening as JACK Cleveland Casino having taken place earlier this month. Now the Cincinnati property goes throughout the change, which can require the casino to near temporarily as a way to create new signage and decor. As Cincinnati.com reports, the brand new JACK logo has already appeared at the 80-foot tower in front of the casino, viewable from the nearby I-71 interstate.
The transition is anticipated to be completed in full by June 9 when the casino officially becomes JACK Cincinnati Casino. The Thistledown Racino, meanwhile, became the JACK Thistledown Racino in March, while the Detroit property awaits its name change later this year.
The rebranding functions to assist Rock Gaming distance itself from Caesars Entertainment Corp. after having acquired from Caesars its 20% share within the Ohio properties last year. The transition also involves the properties moving clear of Caesars' Total Rewards program to a brand new loyalty program, dubbed ClubJACK.
The company's chairman and founder Dan Gilbert also operates Quicken Loans Inc. and is almost all owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchise. Gilbert started to assume day-to-day operations over the corporate shortly after the buy-out of Caesars in late 2015.
See Cincinnati.com for more at the changing skylines in Ohio, jack.
Photo: "Absecon Inlet Seawall & Boardwalk Reconstruction," U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Creative Commons Attributions 2.0 Generic.
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