U.S. senators put the squeeze on the National Indian Gaming Commission and allies like the National Indian Gaming Association at a recent hearing. Sen. John Barrasso (R) put the 
gripes in a nutshell when he said, “The commission is not effectively promoting voluntary compliance with federal guidelines related to gaming regulatory standards.” NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens‘ defended the tribes’ plethora of self-regulatory regimes by saying, “I challenge anyone to find a better regulatory system worldwide.” (I can think of a few.)
That wasn’t good enough for Sen. John McCain (R), who noted that the General Accounting Office found 25% of tribal casinos to be at elevated risk of audit. When NIGC Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri tried to dance around the issue, McCain unleashed some of his trademark asperity, zinging, “Obviously you’re not going to answer the question.”
* Good news for casinos: home affordability is at its greatest in some of the jurisdictions where the industry is expanding, implying greater discretionary income. Now, the bad news, the Rust Belt continues to be ravaged by negative home equity, suggesting continued stasis in those markets.
* Macao took another dive last month, down 34.5%, a number that Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli pronounced “no better or worse than expected.” Macanese casinos grossed $2.3 billion, with Las Vegas Sands regaining the top spot (24%) in table-game market share.
* In a move sure to piss off the Filipino government, Kazuo Okada has pushed the completion of Tiger Resort out from an already-missed March 2015 to the end of 2016. Okada’s inability to make deadlines has been a source of vexation to Philippines gaming regulators. 
Perhaps they’ll be mollified by his infusion of an additional $2 billion into the project. According to Global Gaming Business, the initial phase of Tiger Resort “will include two hotels, 1,000 rooms, 500 gaming tables, a nightclub and a man-made beach underneath a glass dome.” Already, Bloomberry Resorts‘ Solaire (pictured) and Melco Crown Entertainment‘s City of Dreams of Manila have long since beaten Okada to the post. If he drags out Tiger Resort long enough, he can compete with Genting‘s 2019 Bayshore City Resorts World for tail-end status.
