Monday, September 21, 2009

“EXCLUSIVE-China eases Macau visas; casino shares mixed - CNN Money” plus 4 more

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“EXCLUSIVE-China eases Macau visas; casino shares mixed - CNN Money” plus 4 more

EXCLUSIVE-China eases Macau visas; casino shares mixed - CNN Money

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 06:39 AM PDT

* China allows monthly visits to Macau - casino executive

* Record gaming revenues expected in October - exec

* Visitors up noticeably in last two months

* Some casino shares soar, but U.S. casino stocks softer

(Adds U.S. casino stocks' movement, analyst comment)

By Doug Young

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China has quietly eased restrictions on its citizens travelling from Guangdong province to Macau, sending casino stocks soaring Monday as industry executives bet on record October earnings in the world's hottest gambling market.

Shares of Galaxy Entertainment and Melco International jumped around 9 percent, and SJM Holdings was up more than 6 percent, while the broader Hang Seng stock index fell 0.7 percent.

But shares of U.S. casino companies were weaker, with Wynn Resorts down 2.3 percent at $67.51 in premarket trade. Las Vegas Sands was down 1.9 percent at $18.49, and MGM Mirage was off 2.8 percent at $12.85.

Robert LaFleur, a U.S. analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, said the U.S. shares may have been hurt by a weekend Wall Street Journal report suggesting casino stocks may be a bad bet at current prices. He also noted that U.S. casino shares have rallied strongly in recent weeks.

The easing of the Macau visa restrictions is "something that everybody's really been looking for," LaFleur said. "The fact that it's actually coming to pass should come as a surprise to no one; it's been part of the basket of expectations for Macau for many months now."

Alarmed that some Guangdong residents were gambling too much in neighbouring Macau, China last year imposed new rules limiting them to two trips a year to the former Portuguese enclave.

But the authorities began easing up on the rule as early as two months ago, and noticeably loosened the restriction at the start of this month, said top executives at two of Macau's six casino licensees, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

"The latest version is (they can travel to Macau) once a month out of Guangdong," said one of the executives. "Gaming revenues for the first two weeks of the month have been good."

The other executive forecast that October -- a high travel season for Chinese because of the Oct. 1 Golden Week holiday -- could see record monthly casino revenues, in part due to the relaxing of the visa rules.

Macau's six casino operators include U.S. giants Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, along with home-grown players Galaxy and SJM Holdings and joint ventures Melco Crown and a casino jointly operated by MGM Mirage.

"We're seeing repeat customers coming back more regularly than previously," said an executive at one of the six operators. "It's been occurring for two and a half months, but they probably lightened up even more since Sept. 1."

Macau has rocketed on to the global gambling stage in recent years following reforms earlier this decade that saw an end to a previous monopoly and awarding of licenses to multiple players, boosting competition.

The market grew 57 percent in 2007 alone, fuelled by a huge influx of mainland Chinese, who now make up about 65 percent of casino visitors.

GOLDEN OCTOBER

Macau generated HK$105.6 billion ($13.5 billion) in gross gaming revenues in 2008, more than double the HK$46.7 billion generated by the Las Vegas Strip during the same period, according to a prospectus from Wynn Macau, the Macau assets of Wynn Resorts, which is preparing an IPO in Hong Kong.

But Beijing clamped down on mainland visitors to Macau in the middle of last year amid a proliferation of stories of officials illegally gambling away millions of dollars in government funds.

That clampdown, combined with the global financial crisis, sent a chill through Macau, with gaming revenue down 12.5 percent in the first half of the year.

The return of Chinese tourists and an improving economy helped Macau post record casino revenue in August.

"September will be very good, but not a record," said one of the executives. "October will be the highest because of the eight-day Golden Week." (Reporting by Doug Young with added reporting by Kyle Peterson and Karen Jacobs in the United States; Editing by Chris Lewis and Valerie Lee)



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Industry watchers: Cruising regulars are trading up to avoid influx of ... - USA Today

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 10:14 AM PDT

JUST POSTED: Alaska defends $50-a-head tax on cruisers. Click HERE for details. 

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Call it class warfare, Love Boat style. Industry watchers say the heavy discounting at mass market cruise lines over the past year has brought a new type of low-income customer to cruising -- one that's got some higher-income cruising regulars turning up their noses.

In a story posted over the weekend, Seatrade Insider quotes several luxury leaders as saying luxury lines are seeing an influx of passengers who have traded up from mass market lines to steer clear of the newcomers.

"We have new clients now who - unhappy with the kind of people the low prices have attracted to the larger brands - have decided to pay the extra for a luxury cruise to get away from them," the news outlet quotes Stefan Shillito, managing director of luxury-focused cruise seller Sovereign Cruise Club, as saying.

ALSO ONLINE: Cruise industry to sue Alaska over tax on cruisers
ALSO ONLINE: Carnival to debut first year-round cruises from Charleston
ALSO ONLINE: Carnival fan closes in on sailing record

Seatrade Insider quotes another industry veteran, Sea Cloud Cruises president Konstantin Bissias, as saying more affluent consumers "dislike discounted cruises as they do not wish to share their precious leisure time and expensive holidays with a lower class of discount shopper."

Shillito and Bissias made the comments during the Seatrade Europe conference in Hamburg. 

Shillito noted the mass market cruisers trading up to luxury lines could, in turn, encounter friction with luxury line regulars. "As yet, we have not had any feedback from (luxury line regulars) about the newcomers, but it would not surprise me if it we did before too long," Seatrade Insider quotes him as saying.

Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.



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Internet 'net neutrality' endorsed by FCC chief - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 10:21 AM PDT

Reporting from Washington - The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission today called for more aggressive action to keep online traffic moving freely, proposing two new government policies to prevent telecommunications companies from restricting websites and other services on the Internet.

The two new FCC rules would govern how Internet service providers such as AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. manage their networks, enshrining so-called "network neutrality" into the agency's policy. Under the proposal from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, network operators would be prohibited from discriminating against the type of data traveling through their systems and would have to be clear about how they manage their networks.

The rules would apply to Internet access no matter how it is delivered -- over coaxial cable, fiber-optic lines or wirelessly on mobile devices.

"The rise of serious challenges to the free and open Internet puts us at a crossroads. We could see the Internet's doors shut to entrepreneurs, the spirit of innovation stifled, a full and free flow of information compromised," Genachowski said today in a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank. "Or we could take steps to preserve Internet openness, helping ensure a future of opportunity, innovation and a vibrant marketplace."

Genachowski's proposals, which would have to be approved by the FCC, follow President Obama's support for network neutrality during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The issue has become a major cause in recent years for Internet activists and many Democratic lawmakers who worry that large telecommunications companies will squeeze out competitors offering video and other services or charge websites fees to have their pages delivered faster to users.

Since 2004, the FCC has had four Internet principles, assuring that Internet users can access any legal content, application or service and allowing them to attach any device to the Internet as long as it doesn't harm the network.

Genachowski proposes to strengthen those guiding principles by making them formal rules and add the two new rules prohibiting network operators from slowing certain applications or website access and mandating that operators clearly state their policies. He also wants to extend all the rules to wireless Internet service.

Genachowski, a former Internet industry executive appointed by President Obama, said the Internet has become "such a powerful engine for creativity, innovation, and economic growth" because its original architects decided to make it "an open system."

Telecommunications companies oppose nondiscrimination rules for the Internet because they believe those rules will limit their ability to manage their networks to keep them running smoothly, such as preventing some large users from eating up so much bandwidth that it slows down service for others. Restricting how networks run will make it harder for companies to get the funding they need to expand their networks, they said.

But Genachowski dismissed those concerns, saying history has shown that a fully open Internet promotes investment. And he cited some recent incidents that have raised concern about how telecommunications companies run their networks, including FCC action last year to order Comcast Corp. to stop blocking customer access to file-sharing technology.

"This is not about government regulation of the Internet. It's about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet," he said. "This is not about protecting the Internet against imaginary dangers. We're seeing the breaks and cracks emerge, and they threaten to change the Internet's fundamental architecture of openness."

Genachowski said the FCC would deal with online discrimination of content case by case. When networks are congested, for example, telecommunications companies might be allowed to limit use by "very heavy users" so other customers would not be prevented from using the Internet.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com



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Quake kills at least 11 in Bhutan, shakes India - NPR News

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 10:07 AM PDT

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan on Monday, killing at least 11 people, damaging an ancient monastery and forcing hundreds to flee, officials said. At least 15 people were also injured.

The afternoon earthquake was initially reported in Gauhati, the capital of India's northeastern Assam state, but it was centered in a little-populated eastern region of the tiny nation of Bhutan.

Much of Bhutan, a Himalayan nation sandwiched between India and China, is sparsely populated, reachable only by walking paths and without electricity or telephones.

"We're trying to piece together information to assess the damage," Ugyen Tenzing, the country's director of disaster management said from Thimphu, Bhutan's capital.

He said at least seven people were killed when their houses collapsed in the eastern districts of Munggar and Trashigang, and rescuers were searching for survivors under the debris of other buildings. Most buildings in that region are small farmhouses made by hand from mud and stone.

Four Indian highway workers were also killed in Bhutan's Samdrup Jhongkar district, near the border with India, when the road they were working on collapsed, Tenzing said, adding that at least 15 people had been injured across the earthquake zone.

In the Trashigang district, more than 200 Buddhist monks and 100 local officials were forced to flee an ancient monastery when it was left damaged by the quake. For centuries, much of Bhutan was governed from fortified monasteries, and today many of those buildings are also used as government offices.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake's magnitude as 6.3 and said it was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) north of Gauhati and 115 miles (180 kilometers) east of Thimphu at a depth of 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers).

"I dragged my family out. ... We ran down the staircase from our third floor apartment," said Sadeq Hazarika, an Assam state official who lives in Gauhati. "We saw our building developing a big crack. This was the biggest tremor I felt in many years."

The region has been hit by major earthquakes in the past, including in 1950 and 1897. Assam has been shaken by a series of small quakes in recent weeks.

The quake briefly rocked Bhutan's capital.

"We felt a strong shock for a moment — one second. People panicked and rushed out of their homes and businesses," said Tashi Dhendup, who runs a travel agency in Thimphu. He was not aware of any damage to buildings in that city.

The quake was also felt in Bangladesh and Lhasa, the Tibetan capital in southwest China, but there were no signs of damage in either place, officials said.



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Obama Criticizes Banks Over Student Loan Subsidies - New York Times Blogs

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 10:00 AM PDT

TROY, N.Y. — President Obama sharply criticized the nation's largest banks for trying to stop legislation that would overhaul federal student loan programs.

Mr. Obama, speaking at a community college, said that American banks had received bailout money from the federal government, and yet were still fighting against a proposal that would eliminate an unwarranted subsidy which the banks receive for providing student loans.

"Ending this unwarranted subsidy for big banks is a no-brainer for folks everywhere," Mr. Obama said, before lashing out against his favorite target of late. "Everywhere except Washington, that is. In fact, we're already seeing the special interests rallying to save this giveaway."

Mr. Obama's trip to Troy, in advance of his appearance this week in Manhattan for the United Nations General Assembly, was fraught with political tension that had nothing to do with the education reforms that were originally supposed to be the reason behind the trip. Instead, political watchers in New York and the media were fixated on the interaction between Mr. Obama and New York Gov. David Paterson, who the White House famously urged recently to abandon his plans to pursue election in 2010 lest he be a drag on the Democratic ticket.

Earlier, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One, "Look I think everybody understands the tough job that every elected official has right now in addressing many of the problems that we have. I think people are aware of the tough situation that the governor of New York is in. I wouldn't add a lot to what you've read, except this is a decision that he's going to make. The president understands the tough job that everyone has and the pressure that they are under."

Mr. Paterson met Mr. Obama's plane at the airport Monday morning, and the two men exchanged brief words and an even briefer hug before traveling — separately — to Hudson Valley Community College for Mr. Obama's speech.

Interestingly, Mr. Paterson's likely Democratic rival for the governor's job, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, was also on hand for Mr. Obama's education speech. The two rivals sat in the first row, separated by two state politicians, as they listened to Mr. Obama's speech.

Mr. Obama gave both of them a quick shout-out at the beginning, before returning to his prepared remarks.

He said that the country is emerging from its economic crisis, adding that "our great challenge will be to ensure that we do not just drift into the future."



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