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Featured Editorials

Seaside Gaming in Northern Vietnam at the Royal Casino HaLong

 Platinum-Entertainment-Limited

Bill Healey chats to Paul Simmons and Tim Nguyen, founders of Platinum Entertainment Limited, the management group for Royal Casino HaLong

Emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone karsts draw tourists to HaLong Bay, an enchanting UNESCO seaside community in northern Vietnam. As one of the leading tourist destinations in the north, expats and tourists typically journey to HaLong for a 2-3 day scenic cruise.

Recreation, leisure and entertainment have been growing in this coastal city with golf, nightlife and casino gaming. One of the few casinos in northern Vietnam is the Royal Casino in HaLong. Casino Life has been fortunate to catch-up with Paul Simmons and Tim Nguyen, founders of Platinum Entertainment Limited (PEL), the management group for Royal Casino.

Dr Stanley Ho Obituary by Niall Murray

Stanley-Ho-remembered

Dr Stanley Ho (1921-2020), the Legendary Emperor of Gaming, passed away on Tuesday 26th of May 2020 at the age of 98.

Stanley Ho Hung Sun was born on 25th of November 1921 in Hong Kong. His father left when he was a young man, leaving him to struggle to take care of his mother and siblings. He worked hard and was awarded a scholarship to Hong Kong University. He moved to Macau in 1942 during the Japanese occupation and quickly made a solid reputation for himself as a very clever, tough, street smart businessman. His warm and charismatic personality made him a popular favourite among Macau’s Portuguese and local community leaders.

Dr. Stanley Ho and his partners Teddy Yip, Yip Hon and Henry Fok founded STDM in 1962. STDM was granted Macau’s casino monopoly, which it held for 40 years. During this time Dr. Ho played a fundamental role in the development of Macau and made himself a multi-billionaire along the way.

It’s a hot, hot, hot, hot world

California-Resort-Casino

Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage is basking in unprecedented honors. By David McKee

Pier Nine Brighton

 Amy Culora, Head of Marketing, Grosvenor Casinos chats to Peter White

 Grosvenor Casino Brighton has been reinvented by the Rank Organisation as a bigger, better Pier Nine Casino. Not many people would think of Doctor Who as a gambler but the old casino was “a bit of a Tardis,” in the words of Rank marketing chief Amy Culora. Part of that reworking of Casino Brighton was to rebrand it as Pier Nine Casino, cashing in on Brighton’s historical cachet as a seaside resort. Rank poured $6.8 million into the makeover, one that resulted in a two-casino facility with 24-hour bars, among other amenities, which include private cinemas and karaoke lounges. Not missing a step, Pier Nine remained open throughout the conversion process. In conversation with Peter White, Culora explained the rationale behind the name change, what customers want and how being started in the casino industry in Stoke was the best thing that could have happened to her.

Caesars Entertainment’s Thinking outside the X Box

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Caesars Entertainment’s Eileen Moore-Johnson caters to different, evolving audiences on the Las Vegas Strip by David McKee

Some casino executives are sprinters, zipping from property to property and company to company. Caesars Entertainment Regional Vice President Eileen Moore-Johnson is a marathon runner, having been with the casino giant since 1999. In her present capacity, her portfolio encompasses resorts, great (Flamingo Las Vegas and its 3,400-plus rooms), small (The Cromwell, 188 rooms big) and somewhere in between (The Linq). Moore-Johnson got her start in hospitality at the age of 15, at the Hotel Thayer at West Point Military Academy, in upstate New York.

SUZOHAPP The natural choice in Gaming Technology

 

Sim Bielak, President of Global Gaming & Amusement Business, SUZOHAPP Interview by Damien Connelly

Nobody makes more game parts than SUZOHAPP, founded in Mount Prospect, Illinois, with manufacturing facilities in China and Poland. Fresh off the ICE show in London, SUZOHAPP had a wealth of new technology to showcase, which it does in this conversation with Damien Connelly. With sports betting on the upswing, this is a particularly opportune time for technology companies to turn their attention to that sector and capitalize upon it. As company President Sim Bielak says, “it’s a very exciting time.” SUZOHAPP was ready with sports-betting terminals and a line of replacement parts.

GeWeTe’s Star Performers

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Aristidis Tsikouras, Managing Director, GeWeTe. Interview By Peter White

Continental casinos seeking an end-to-end solution for cash handling often as not turn to GeWeTe, a German-based firm with a wide European reach—and ambitions in the North American sphere as well. The company began modestly enough, making change machines 27 years ago. GeWeTe saw an opportunity within the casino industry, where the change person on the floor used to be omnipresent. GeWeTe’s change machines rendered that function largely superfluous, freeing up casino staff for other customer interactions. The company’s technology gradually evolved to enable debit-card transactions and hopper refills. Under the direction of founder Aristidis Tsikouras, GeWeTe captured 75percent of German market share and began marching toward domination of the European Union.

The STRAT Las Vegas Standing Above the Rest

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Bill Healey chats to Brian Stanton VP of Table Games Stratosphere Resort Casino Las Vegas

Standing tall between the Las Vegas Strip and the city’s downtown casinos is The STRAT, an iconic gaming, shopping and dining resort formerly known as the Stratosphere.  Casino Life Magazine recently toured the remodeled property with Brian Stanton, the casino's VP of Table Games.

What led you to get into casinos & gaming?

Around the time I was about to take a semester off from school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee was opening. I had recently learned to deal cards from an Atlantic City dealer and was always drawn to the exciting casino environment. I loved the nuances of the business, the math behind it and the new situations coming up every day. I took the job as a dealer at Potawatomi.

DR Gaming Technology™: 10 Years On African Soil

 

In March 2020, DR Gaming Technology™ (DRGT™) proudly celebrates a decade of operation in Africa. From humble beginnings in a small office in Corporate Park North, Midrand and a staff compliment of 3, the Company has grown to a staff compliment of almost 10 times that, and now operates out of a far larger premises comprising offices, an R&D development hub, a showroom and a warehouse in the heart of Sandton.

Hard Rock sets out to change Casino culture

Casino Life magazine recently had the opportunity to interview Paul Pellizzari, Vice President of Global Social Responsibility for Hard Rock International, which is the first US-based gaming company to develop its own fully-immersive, branded casino-and-player interactive program for responsible gaming, called the PlayersEdge.

This program is intended to not only educate players about their own gaming decisions and choices, but to also educate the Hard Rock casino staff and managers on how to interact effectively with casino players on the topic of responsible gaming, including how to spot potential problems in players who may benefit from this educational program.