JAMES PACKER’S Crown Limited insists it is still committed to its promise to buy a suite of US casinos, but has warned that the earnings they will produce will be up to 30 per cent lower than previously anticipated.

The Crown chief executive, Rowen Craigie, yesterday emphasised the company was working on finding a solution to save the deal from collapsing. Read the rest of this entry »

HARNN & THANN, the leader of Natural Home Spa products in Asia from Thailand, announced the official opening of the second concept shop in Ottawa, at Bayshore Shopping Mall.

This milestone adds to the existing global network of retail stores in Europe (Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Estonia & Portugal), Middle East (Kuwait, Cyprus), Americas (Canada), Asia (Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam) and Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Bhd’s net loss widened to RM120.78 million in its fourth quarter (4Q) ended Dec 31, 2008, from RM40.38 million in the preceding three months due to an impairment loss of RM781.5 million posted by its unit Resorts World Bhd from its investment in Star Cruises Ltd.

Revenue rose to RM2.39 billion from RM2.25 billion a year earlier, and was relatively flat against the RM2.37 billion in the preceding quarter. Read the rest of this entry »

NEWTON, Mass., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ — Southworth Development LLC, a leader in the development of residential resort and hospitality-branded real estate communities, has combined the Golf Construction and Golf Management components of the company to form Southworth Golf. Gregory Sherwood, Partner and former President of Southworth Golf Construction, will assume the role as President of Southworth Golf. Read the rest of this entry »

Gambling supporters hope the new analysis prepared by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers will help propel efforts in Congress this year to repeal the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

“There is a dramatic need to have a regulated system that protects American consumers. Right now, it’s the Wild West,” Jeffrey Sandman, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, told Reuters on Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »

For the fourth quarter of 2008, Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MPEL) net revenue  amounted to 253.5 million US dollars, up from 179.7 million US dollars for the comparable period in 2007 and the revenue increase was primarily driven by substantially improved operating performance at Crown Macau, according to a company statement released yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

Tiger Woods is returning to golf after an eight-month hiatus, and a gaggle of marketers is lookingfor a boost from the comeback of the endorsement king.

Gatorade, which has had a formal relationship with Mr. Woods since 2007, is set to run a print ad in Sports Illustrated featuring a fan in the gallery holding up a homemade sign that reads: “Welcome Back Tiger.”

Pepsi Co. Gatorade is among the marketers running ads tied to Tiger Woods’s return.
The ad hits newsstands Wednesday, to coincide with Mr. Woods’s triumphal return, which starts with the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The PepsiCo sports beverage is planning to relaunch its Tiger Focus drink in the coming weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

British horse racing should brace itself for a 40 percent drop in sponsorship during the recession, a senior executive has warned.

David Thorpe, chairman of the Racecourse Association, described the diminishing interest of big-money backers as “very serious.” Read the rest of this entry »

Six Senses has appointed Samir Patel as managing director of its Spas division. His appointment supports the planned global expansion of Six Senses Spas throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

Samir has specific responsibility for overseeing financial and operational performance and reports directly to the chief operating officer of Six Senses. Read the rest of this entry »

The PGA Tour is suing Ginn Development, citing breach of contract, after the resort company dropped sponsorship of the Champions Tour Ginn Championship. Ginn had planned a $2.5 million purse for 2009. The company also offered a $2.5 million purse for its LPGA event last year, the third largest on that tour.

But the troubles in the golf industry go much deeper than just the loss of the television exposure for the game’s upper echelons. Read the rest of this entry »