AGBrief Editorial

The Grand Suites at Four Seasons, the new all-suite tower of Four Seasons Hotel Macao, is now open, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

Indian online poker operators PokerStars.IN, Adda52, Spartan Poker, and PokerBaazi have all withdrawn their services from Andhra Pradesh state in the wake of the local ban on online gambling.

The Tokyo District Court has rejected former Senior Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office Tsukasa Akimoto’s request to be granted bail. Akimoto is facing charges of witness tampering after his previous release from detention.

Shukan Bunshun, one of Japan’s weekly magazines that focuses on scoops and scandals, suggests in a recent article that Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai may intend to personally profit from a land acquisition near the proposed site for the Wakayama IR.

Mikio Shimoji, forced to leave the Japan Innovation Party (Osaka Ishin) after admitting to receiving a bribe from then-IR hopeful 500 Dot Com, has been attempting, so far unsuccessfully, to join the ruling LDP, which has not punished any of its lawmakers for taking the bribes.

A labor union representing workers at Shinhwa World in Jeju is demanding that the company enforce protections vis-a-vis cigarette smoking, pointing out that even in Macau smoking is now prohibited in casinos.

Auckland Council has voted to keep its sinking lid policy for pokie machines in the region. Deputy Chair Josephine Bartley said it was the only option the council had to prevent new pokie machine venues from opening.

Acting Executive Director Andrew Yeom of the Commonwealth Casino Commission has filed another complaint against Imperial Pacific International, this time over the firm’s failure to pay the US$3.1 million annual regulatory fee that was due on October 1.

The Taiwan Supreme Court upheld guilty verdicts for three Kaohsiung police officers convicted of receiving more than $300,000 in bribes from operators of electronic gaming and gambling businesses.

Suncity has now increased its stake in Summit Ascent from approximately 24.7 percent before the recent rights issue to approximately 69.7 percent, taking a controlling stake in the operator of Tigre de Cristal in the Russian Far East.