Katrina Recovery Still Continues Ten Years Later, and Casino Industry Does Its Part
Hurricane Katrina dealt a bad hand to casinos in Biloxi and the sleep of this Gulf Coast, but those businesses have played a major role in getting the whole region back on its foot now.
Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast ten years ago, as well as for obvious reasons, most of this discussion about the storm, its aftermath, and its own impact on the area has been on the very real stories that are human impacted those in brand New Orleans, Mississippi, and past.
But there is another story that is equally real be told, one of the gaming industry which was impacted dramatically by Katrina, only to not just rebound itself, but also help those in need of assistance during and after the storm.
Gambling played a significant economic role soon after Hurricane Katrina, and it did much more quickly than might have been expected offered the circumstances.
After the harm caused to many casinos in Biloxi, Gulfport, and elsewhere, local officials weren’t even sure they will be able to convince gaming that is major to keep coming back to the spot, considering the high costs of rebuilding or restoring their operations.
Casinos Return to get Success
But sooner or later, those operators and their casinos did keep coming back.
‘I do not think anyone ever thought about not rebuilding,’ Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast and Boomtown Biloxi CFO Wade Howk told the nevada Review-Journal more chilli slots. ‘People took their time deciding how to proceed, but this is a place no one was going to give up on.’
Aided by changes in Mississippi legislation that allowed casinos to be built slightly offshore to better protect themselves against future storms, the operators decided to reconstruct. Now, 11 gambling enterprises are in operation in Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis, simply two fewer than prior to the storm.
The casinos are not exactly the same as these people were before Katrina, nevertheless. The majority are smaller, and the Gulf Coast casinos now use only only a little over fifty percent as a decade was done by them earlier in the day. But there is no doubt why these businesses have provided enormous economic benefits to the spot that few other industries had been able to do.
In accordance with a 2014 study by Oxford Economics, the gaming industry contributes more than $4 billion to the economy in Mississippi. But what no one could have anticipated ended up being that, in the years immediately following the hurricane, video poker revenues spiked in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana.
Stress May Have Driven Surge in Local Gambling
The drive back to video gaming may appear astonishing to some. But in accordance with gambling addiction specialist Deborah Smith, it was very nearly predictable.
‘Anytime there exists a disaster that is natural people are likely to experience PTSD,’ Smith told ESPN.com. ‘They feel terrible, in addition they want to feel much better. Gambling actually assists them feel better for the brief moment.’
Of course, a number of these people may have gambled more than they needs in the wake of these a tragedy. Maybe Not surprisingly, both Louisiana and Mississippi saw surges in calls up to a national problem gambling hotline following disaster, though that trend leveled off after having a couple of years.
The general success of the gaming industry is not a tale that is fairy ending for the location, though. Katrina certainly left a mark that is still being believed today, with many lost lives or livelihoods, particularly in New Orleans, and more particularly in the city’s African-American community, which in many ways is nevertheless rebuilding a good decade later.
But the video gaming industry remains of vital importance to the Gulf Coast. And today, the threat that is biggest isn’t another hurricane, but rather the expansion of gaming in neighboring states.
‘Everyone in Biloxi [acknowledges] an expansion in Alabama will be a major negative, because it would cut the business off from Cellphone and the Florida Panhandle,’ wrote gaming analyst Alex Bumazhny of Fitch Ratings Service previously this year.
For the present time, that’s one hurricane who hasn’t landed yet, much to everyone’s relief. But it still could into the future that is not-too-distant as well as the impact of nearby gambling might be just as hard to combat in the region as any Cat 5 storm.
Macau Gambling Revenues Continue Sharp Decline
Macau casinos are hoping to earn more cash through non-gaming activities, but some doubt whether the Las Vegas model will work here. (Image: BBC)
Macau had been supposed to be recovering from its casino struggles chances are, with the Chinese territory now more than a 12 months into decreases brought on by an anti-corruption drive in Beijing and other factors.
But there appears to be no improvement in shop for the gambling hub anytime soon, as gross gaming revenue dropped by another 35.5 percent in August to mark the 15th straight month of decline for Macau’s casino industry.
Revenues for the month dropped to 18.6 billion patacas ($2.3 billion), nevertheless a figure that makes Macau the biggest gambling center in the globe.
However, this is a cry that is far the types of numbers seen up through very early 2014, when the city earned as much as 38 billion patacas ($4.8 billion) in a month.
New Casinos Do Little to Improve Revenues
August’s decrease ended up being anticipated to be even worse in some circles, by having a study of analysts by Bloomberg finding they expected about a 38 percent autumn.
But that will come because comfort that is little casino operators, who had hopes that newly opened resorts in the city would provide a boost to tourism.
But while those projects, such as the latest phase of expansion by Galaxy Entertainment, opened in May, they have inked absolutely nothing to improve revenue in the city.
Travel from China, that is the biggest driver of business in Macau, ended up being actually down just as before this summer, with July’s tourism figures showing a six percent decline compared to the year before.
Decline Causes Austerity Measures to Activate
The decline that is continued gotten to the stage where Macau’s government can no much longer ignore their effect. About 80 per cent of this neighborhood governmental budget comes from gambling taxes, meaning that the razor- sharp falloff was eventually going to require some cutbacks.
Those austerity measures were finally established on Tuesday, though they’ve been modest, at minimum for now.
General Public spending will be reduced by about 1.4 billion patacas ($180 million) for the 2015 fiscal year, mostly impacting the purchase of day-to-day supplies plus some third-party solutions.
The near future isn’t looking particularly promising for Macau’s casinos, either. The present devaluation of the Chinese yuan and trouble within the Chinese stock market could continue to hurt profits at gambling enterprises there, particularly by reducing the already declining VIP player base that operators long relied on.
Some Question Diversification Will Help
All among these concerns have actually led to renewed calls for Macau to diversify its offerings, with both mainland Chinese authorities and government that is local strain on the industry to get new ways to derive revenue.
The theory is find a means for Macau to emulate a model more like compared to Las vegas, nevada, where non-gaming tasks will be the biggest source of revenue, or at least an important contributor to the bottom line.
The problem is that Macau features a good way to go in that regard. At the minute, casino operators make not as much as ten percent of all of the revenues from non-gaming sources, compared to significantly more than 60 percent in Las Vegas.
Even though Macau could possibly improve in this regard, one or more executive with an abundance of experience in Asian video gaming areas states it shall never change considerably.
Betting on US Presidential Campaign Outcome for 2016: Okay Anywhere Except in the us
GOP candidate Donald Trump has garnered nearly all of the wagering from gamblers in the UK looking to put bets in the 2016 US presidential election. (Image: Christopher Gregory/Getty)
The current US presidential campaign is anything but boring, that’s for certain. And you can bet it continues to unfold in an interesting way. Well, you’ll bet anywhere except in its country of origin, that is.
The battle for president regarding the united states of america won’t be determined for a 12 months, if you forgot it was that far away: coverage of the race has been pretty intense this summer, even with the first primaries still months off though you could easily be forgiven.
But it’s not merely Americans interested within the rise and fall of various prospects, as bookmakers in many international countries are additionally seeing a rise in interest when it comes to betting on the 2016 election season.
A look that is quick Oddschecker, a web site that compares betting chances at numerous various sportsbooks across online, shows exactly how many different companies are offering bets on both the ultimate winner of the presidential race and both the Democratic and Republican nominees. It is a market that’s certain to own just as much twists and turns as the events themselves, with chances already shifting significantly in just yesteryear few months.
Bush, Clinton Pegged as Betting Favorites
On the Republican side, for instance, previous Florida Governor Jeb Bush came in because the favorite to win the nomination, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio additionally seen as likely picks. But that trio is joined by way of a fourth top-tier prospect: larger-than-life personality Donald Trump, whom is beginning to be observed as a real contender, at least in the eyes of numerous bettors.
At most sports betting websites, Bush is still the favourite, provided by odds of about 6-4. But Trump is often listed since the second choice at 7-2 odds, while Rubio and Walker are available in at around 6-1 each.
On the side that is democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is still an overwhelming favorite, but at the very least two other candidates are now being provided a fighting chance by oddsmakers. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is pegged as a choice that is 6-1 numerous sportsbooks, while Vice President Joe Biden, who may haven’t even declared for the race at the time of yet, is listed at 5-1 by many websites.
British wagers on the Colonies and Trump
Great britain in particular has taken a strong desire for the 2016 race that is presidential. According to Matthew Shaddick, mind of political odds for Ladbrokes, it’s change for a slice of the company that always wasn’t taken extremely seriously.
‘In yesteryear, political bets were largely loss leaders for betting companies, and they had been primarily beneficial to drumming up a bit of publicity,’ Shaddick told USA Today. ‘ Now it is being taken by us more seriously, and we anticipate the quantities will increase dramatically the closer we get to election time.’
Simply as coverage of the election so far has concentrated heavily on Trump’s campaign, so gets the betting far away. Based on a spokesperson for Paddy Power, over fifty percent associated with the bets they have taken to date have are available in in the continuing business magnate and reality television star.
Simply because Americans generally can’t bet on the election does not mean that they’ren’t taking part in the gambling in some ways, though. The Iowa Electronic Markets give People in the us an appropriate means to bet regarding the result through futures contracts, and a site called PredictIt, operated by Victoria University in New Zealand, provides a similar solution.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers in Nevada say that sportsbooks in the Silver State should manage to take bets on elections just as they do on a variety of sports.
‘Why perhaps not bet in Nevada while making some cash on it?’ State Senator Richard Segerblom (D-Las Vegas) told the Boston Globe. ‘People say it’s planning to ruin our reputation. This is certainly Nevada. The type of reputation are you speaking about?’
