This week’s casino news starts us off in Atlantic City, where the forgotten gambling haven maybe hasn’t been neglected by everyone. Here’s a look at the latest casino news of the week:
Atlantic City Casinos Report Strong Profits From 2017
First, Jersey Shore makes a comeback and now Atlantic City is rebounding too. There was some good news coming out of Atlantic City as it reported a positive 2017 in terms of profit coming out of its seven casinos. Their gross operating profit went up by 22.5 percent from 2016, coming in at almost $723.3 million. The net revenues of the seven casinos increased by five percent to almost $2.7 billion. For a place that is viewed as downtrodden, that’s fairly impressive.
A major part of a good year for Atlantic City was due to the Tropicana Casino and Resort Atlantic City, whose gross operating profit went up by a whopping 71 percent. It pulled in over $91.9 million with net revenues increasing by 12.1 percent to over $385.9 million. The Golden Nugget Atlantic City had its gross operating profit go up by 38.3 percent to over $40 million, and net revenues increased 6.9 percent, coming in at over $234.1 million. In fact, only one casino in the city saw a drop and that was Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, which had its gross operating profit go down 2.7 percent. It still reeled in $115.9 million with the net revenues just slightly down by one percent. Overall, it was a very successful year for Atlantic City casinos and they’ll look to build on that.
Sweden Proposes To Legalize, Regulate Online Gaming
There appears to be some positive news coming out of Sweden for those who like to game online. The government believes that underground online gaming is rampant in the country and controlling it simply hasn’t had the effect that was proposed. As a result, the government has now shifted its strategy toward legalizing and regulating it. The plan could take effect as early as January 1, 2019.
The idea would be that companies would have to get licenses and if they were busted operating without one, they would be hit with a fine of around $80,000. Beyond that, it wants the companies to keep an eye on players and cut them off when they get out of control/lose too much. Also, companies will not be allowed to offer reload bonuses; they can only allow first-time deposit bonuses.
We’ll see if this actually takes effect but as of now, it is a positive step for the gaming market in Sweden.
Hackers Break Into Database Via Smart Thermostat
Finally, one of the wackier headlines is something that many casinos around the world are going to have to think about. A group of hackers cracked into a casino’s high-roller database, sneaking in through a smart thermostat connected to a fish tank. They use the thermostat to get into the network and then managed to gain access to the database. The unnamed casino said that the smart thermostat was used to regulate the water temperature in the tank.
As things like smart thermostats, light bulbs and other devices become more used in day-to-day life, casinos will have to close off the loopholes in their networks to prevent these types of breaches. Luckily, in this case, it didn’t cost the casino other than the privacy infringement.