Kazuo Okada is butting heads with the Philippine government again. The latter says Okada has to have Marina Bay Resorts open by March of next year 
or forfeit a $2 million guarantee. Okada, whose project has been dogged by regulatory problems, is sticking to a late 2015 deadline. “We are still doing our utmost to be open by the end of 2015,” said Executive Vice President of Gaming Operations & Marketing Matt Hurst, making it sound as though that two mil is as good as gone.
The casino, when it opens, will be a behemoth that sports 3,000 slots and 500 table games. Okada, however is shopping for the mandated Philippine majority partner. The courts are enforcing a shotgun wedding between Okada’s companies and retail/condo developer Century Properties. No local partner, no casino. Fortunately for Okada, Century has chosen this moment to make conciliatory noises about resuming the nuptials. Said a Century spokeswoman, “if it will be the same terms we’re amenable to do that but there is no formal agreement yet.”
That doesn’t get Okada out of the woods, however, as he needs a real estate partner, too. Lacking that, he only gets a temporary casino license. At least that’s a quantifiable goal, unlike the nebulous “condition imposed on the licensees is that they create properties that compete with the best that Macau, Singapore and Las Vegas have to offer in order to attract overseas players.”
* There’s a silver lining inside Indiana‘s dark, -8.5% decline in gaming 
revenues for September. Eleven percent fewer people played but they spent 2% more apiece. Leading the state in percentage was Tropicana Evansville, up 7% on revenue of $10 million. Ameristar East Chicago was flat but main competitor Horseshoe Hammond took a 12% dive (but still grossed a state-best $34 million). The two Majestic Star riverboats were off 4% and 18.5%, respectively, while over in Michigan City, revenues took a 3% dip aboard Boyd Gaming‘s Blue Chip.
Indiana Downs did the better of the racinos, down 1% to Hoosier Park‘s 7%. As for those casinos fighting the Ohio market, Hollywood Lawrenceburg is a shadow of its former self, off 25% and grossing only $14 million. Despite the existence of a Belterra-branded property in Ohio, the original is steadying itself, off only 6%. Would that the same could be said for Rising Star, grossing a miserable $4 million and 26% off last year’s pace. Relatively removed from the Ohio/Indiana wars, Horseshoe Southern Indiana gave an average performance, down 8%. Cincinnati-area casinos may be giving a mixed performance but they’ve definitely torn a strip off southern Indiana.
