Tuesday, April 19, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.
Credit rating raised
Aristocrat Leisure Ltd., the world's second-largest maker of slot machines, had its credit rating raised one level to 'BB+' from 'BB' by Standard & Poor's, which cited improved cash flow, cost management and lower debt.
Australian market leadership, increased sales in the U.S. and potential growth from developing markets like Macau help to support the higher rating for Sydney-based Aristocrat, S&P said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg. BB+ is S&P's highest noninvestment grade, or junk, rating.
Casino operator created
Hong Kong tycoon Lui Che-woo plans to turn his K. Wah Construction Materials Ltd. into the city's first publicly traded casino operator by selling a Macau venture to the company for HK$18.4 billion ($2.4 billion).
K. Wah plans to pay shareholders led by the Lui family new shares and debt securities for Galaxy Casino SA, which has one of three licenses in the world's biggest gaming hub after Las Vegas, the company said in a statement today. K. Wah proposes changing its name to Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. and may sell shares to the public to fund a HK$5.7 billion expansion.
The deal allows Lui to take his casino business public without an initial share sale, boosting his ability to compete in the southern Chinese city with Macau's Stanley Ho, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, said gambling revenue rose 44 percent to $5 billion last year, driven by visitors from China.
Navajos advance casino
The Leupp Chapter of the Navajo Nation is seeking to build and control a casino partially independent of the nation.
The chapter is asking the tribe's legislature to rewrite laws approved last year that decriminalized gambling and allowed for casinos.
If the casino is built, it'll be the closest one to Flagstaff in the foreseeable future and a potential new source of income for a tribe that is anticipating severe losses in mining revenue.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. has said previously that the tribe must be in charge of the casinos and that individual Navajo communities won't be able to sign contracts with casino operators. He said he'd like to see construction begin on nation-operated casinos in mid- to late summer.
House panel OKs card clubs
Down-on-their-luck backers of state-sponsored casino gambling are trying to shortcut the committee process, House Democrats charged Monday.
Over their objections, a powerful House committee approved a bill that would allow card clubs, including the one at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn.,to raise the number of gaming tables from 50 to 90. It could enable supporters of two other gambling bills to win votes on their proposals as House floor amendments.
Canterbury Park happens to be the proposed site of the so-called racino. The other is Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal for a state-tribal casino in the Twin Cities area, with some proceeds benefiting the state. The two proposals might be combined by siting the state-tribal casino at the racetrack.
Lawmakers look at limits
Lawmakers were urged Monday not to reduce a limit on how much money bars, taverns and other video poker outlets can make from gambling.
At the same hearing, horse racing representatives asked legislators to boost the number of the state lottery's video poker machines allowed at the Portland Meadows track from 10 to 50.
The House Revenue Committee is considering the race track bill as well as a measure to shave -- from 60 percent to 50 percent -- the maximum share of business income that establishments that offer video poker can make from lottery games.
Lottery Director Dale Penn told the committee that cutting the poker-income limit could throw out of whack the lottery's revenue estimates for the 2005-07 budget.
Penn said Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget is based on the lottery increasing its revenue by 22 percent, mostly by offering slot-machine type games on the poker terminals.
Lowering the share of overall income that retailers can make from poker commissions would likely result in less revenue for the more than 50 outlets that make more than half their income from lottery games.
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