How will the chips fall in China's cashless casino bar?

SANYA, China (Reuters) - Placing bets on green-felt baccarat tables in a new casino bar on China's southern Hainan island, punters seem oblivious to a huge wager quietly being placed around them, one that could potentially siphon business from the world's largest gaming hub in Macau an hour's flight away.

For now, players at Jesters casino bar, part of the newly opened Mangrove Tree Resort World on Sanya Bay, cannot win cash - only points that they can use to pay for accommodation, luxury goods, jewelry and artwork for sale at the resort.

Owned by art, film and real estate mogul Zhang Baoquan, the casino bar marks the Chinese government's first tacit approval of a gaming concept outside of Macau. Global investors, including some of the world's biggest gaming companies, are watching to see how the chips will fall.

"Our casino bar is the first in the country. The government is monitoring, it's a test," Zhang told Reuters in a recent interview at his 23rd-floor office overlooking his sprawling 173-acre property that opened late last year.

"Right now we are not at this stage (legalising casino gambling), but my personal opinion is, in future, there is a big possibility that they will have."

The stakes are enormous -- China's monopoly gambling site, Macau, raked in $38 billion in gaming revenues last year, primarily from Chinese gamblers. If Beijing were to allow gambling elsewhere in the country, cash would follow.

It's not just the Chinese government that is watching the development. MGM Resorts International opened a hotel in Sanya last year and fellow U.S. casino operator Caesars Entertainment is set to open a hotel in 2014.

An MGM spokesman said the company had no plan to introduce "anything of this kind". Caesars did not respond to requests for comment.

Dressed in jeans and a black-and-white Hawaiian shirt during his interview, the 56-year-old Zhang said he aims to create an integrated resort similar to those in Las Vegas and Singapore where gaming, convention space and retail outlets are offered together.

Mangrove Tree Resort World, the newest addition to Hainan's rapidly developing hotel scene, will be China's biggest resort when construction is completed next year. It will have more than 4,000 rooms, a convention hall accommodating 6,000 people and facilities including a water park.

It is one of 10 integrated resorts that Zhang is developing around the country, including one more in Sanya and others stretching from Lhasa in Tibet to the eastern coastal city Qingdao.

While the Chinese government does not permit casinos in the country outside of Macau, Zhang - ranked by Forbes as one of the country's 300 richest people in 2012 with $600 million - said Hainan could become an exception.

Sensitive to existing restrictions, the soft-spoken businessman emphasized cultural attractions such as his art gallery that, along with the casino bar, will be incorporated into the planned resorts.

WINNING "MANGROVE" POINTS

Inside Jesters, which models itself on Macau's casino halls with garish chandeliers and a giant roulette wheel ceiling, players buy tickets costing 500 yuan ($80) each. Bets range from 20-2,000 yuan in the mass area, while the high-limits area is set at 2,000-100,000 yuan. Big whale punters will be able to bet over 100,000 yuan once the VIP room opens on the second floor.

The casino bar, with 50 gaming tables now, is currently open only to hotel guests, but when the resort is completed, local residents will be allowed in.

When players win, they receive "Mangrove" points that can be used to buy products available in the casino such as an iPad 3G or a Rimowa suitcase. Once luxury brands open outlets within the resort, customers will be able to spend their points in those stores. Art work from Zhang's Beijing art gallery is also available for purchase.

Retail stores including Prada and Louis Vuitton will be part of a network of 20 luxury stores that will open at the resort next year, Zhang said.

Zhang, president of Beijing conglomerate Antaeus, has the financial backing of China Development Bank. The state lender invested 70 percent of the cost of the Mangrove Tree expansion.

"The local governments are very supportive," says the boyish-looking Zhang, who started off as a carpenter in his hometown of Zhenjiang in eastern Jiangsu province, and now is well known as an arts philanthropist and prominent film investor.

Married to Wang Qiuyang, a mountaineer whose father Wang Chengbin was a former army commander, Zhang said any potential change to gambling restrictions would take time, adding that the government would need to decide whether to let other operators open similar casino bars.

"Gambling culturally is a very bad thing, but today there is a difference -- gambling is a financial tool," said Zhang.

"In Asia, even North Korea has two casinos. The richest country, Singapore, before you would never think society would accept it there. All over the world the attitude towards casinos is different from what it was traditionally."

SANYA AND BEYOND

China is positioning Hainan as an international tourist destination, approving the construction of 15 large resorts and 63 five-star hotels as part of the country's five-year plan.

As Chinese spend their money in new casinos across Asia from the Philippines to Vietnam, pressure is growing on Beijing to keep more gamblers at home.

"To some extent, the approval of gaming on Chinese soil is inevitable," said Gary Pinge, analyst at Macquarie Group in Hong Kong.

"With regional markets already vying for a share of the Chinese gambling wallet, unless China brings gaming onto its own shores, it will not only lose tax revenues to other countries, but also the 'multiplier effect' from the consumption spend."

In the meantime, Zhang is pushing ahead with his expansion plans. Aiming to list the Mangrove Tree brand on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2015, Zhang hopes to use the capital raised to take his Mangrove Tree brand outside of China.

"Sydney, the Maldives, the United States, England, Paris and Turkey" would all be good, said Zhang with a shy smile.

(Editing by Ken Wills)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/global-investors-watch-chips-fall-chinas-cashless-casino-013423198--sector.html

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John Kasich Getting Mixed Reviews

Dayton Daily News:

Shortly after he was elected governor in November 2010, John Kasich told lobbyists they needed to get on ?the bus? now that he was driving it, lest they be run over.

Read the whole story at Dayton Daily News

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/john-kasich-_n_2708608.html

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Foreclosure Crisis may be coming to an End | THE REAL ESTATE ...

In a report out of ABCNews.com, experts believe the worst is over in the foreclosure crisis that has been wreaking havoc on distressed homeowners over the past six years.? Foreclosure numbers are trending downward as the national foreclosure rate fell 28 percent in January compared to last year.? Lenders also took control of fewer houses in the past year.? Many states are facing this issue head on with both legislation and programs put in place to curb foreclosure starts and give resources to struggling homeowners.

Get this: California, a state that has taken quite a beating throughout the foreclosure crisis, had a 75 percent decrease in foreclosures from a year ago. If that isn?t a sign that things are finally turning around then I?m not sure what is.

However, we haven?t fully turned the corner just yet.? Florida still leads the nation in foreclosures with one in every 300 homes slated for foreclosure.? That?s more than twice the national average.? See the full report here.

*Photo courtesy of howstuffworks.

Source: http://investorsedgeuniversity.com/blog/2013/02/16/foreclosure-crisis-may-be-coming-to-an-end/

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Live Blog: FSU men's basketball and baseball

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Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130216/FSU05/130216001

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Libya's struggle to deliver justice fuels violence

Libyan gunmen celebrate on the early morning of the second anniversary of the revolution that ousted Moammar Gadhafi, in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17 2013. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Libyan gunmen celebrate on the early morning of the second anniversary of the revolution that ousted Moammar Gadhafi, in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17 2013. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Libyan interim president, Mohammed el-Megarif, flashes the victory sign to crowds during the celebration of the second anniversary of the Libyan revolution in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17, 2013. Addressing thousands of flag-waving Libyans, El-Megarif called on Sunday for unity in the North African nation as it celebrates the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi but plunged the country into lawlessness and economic woes. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

A member of the Libyan security forces pats the head of a little girl during the celebration of the second anniversary of the Libyan revolution in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17, 2013. Libya's interim President Mohammed el-Megarif called on Sunday for unity in the North African nation as it celebrates the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi but plunged the country into lawlessness and economic woes. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

An elderly Libyan fighter who fought in the Libyan war of independence against the Italians, between 1928 and 1932, Mohammed Darsi, 85, right, flashes the victory sign along with his son, Khalifa Darsi, center, who was one of the rebels that fought in the Libyan revolution in 2011 that ousted Moammar Gadhafi, during the second anniversary celebration of the revolution in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

A Libyan military helicopter flies overhead at Tahrir Square during the celebration of the second anniversary of the revolution in Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, Feb, 17, 2013. Libya's interim President Mohammed el-Megarif called on Sunday for unity in the North African nation as it celebrates the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi but plunged the country into lawlessness and economic woes. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) ? Col. Faraj el-Dersi, who defected to the rebel side from Moammar Gadhafi's police force, was gunned down late last year on the streets of Benghazi, and he bled to death in the arms of his teenage daughter.

As Libya on Sunday marked the second anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Gadhafi, the death of el-Dersi and nearly 40 other similar slayings are seen as evidence that some in the country are too impatient for a political system that has yet to deliver justice and national reconciliation.

Suspicion in many of the killings of senior security and military officials has fallen on Islamists who were brutally suppressed under Gadhafi. Now, they have become among the most powerful groups in the new Libya, particularly in the east, with heavily armed militias at their command.

And they are settling old scores themselves, rather than wait for transitional justice ? the process of society punishing or forgiving the abuses of the old regime.

Mustafa al-Kufi, a 59-year-old former prisoner and political activist, said the various post-Gadhafi governments and the current parliament are all fearful that if they head down the path of transitional justice, many members of the ruling class would be among those punished for past wrongdoing.

"This is a very pressing issue and a core demand in the street," said al-Kufi, who spent 12 years in prison under Gadhafi.

"We need to know who did what and then ask families of the victims for forgiveness. But since this didn't take place, violence will continue because there is no justice.

Like other Arab countries that ousted authoritarian leaders, Libya is now mired in a chaotic and violent transition to a new society. It is plagued by unruly and heavily armed militias that have slowly come under a unified command but remain filled with hard-liners who were in the front line in the war against Gadhafi.

The transition is further complicated by an autonomy movement in the oil-rich east, a central government too weak to exert its authority across the vast desert nation, and heavily armed Islamic extremists who are pressing to fill a power vacuum.

The civil war swept Gadhafi from power, but the bitterness and rage lingers in a country where the authoritarian government imprisoned, tortured and killed its opponents.

Hana al-Gallal, a prominent Benghazi lawyer, said allowing old regime figures to be part of the new order will only fuel more violence.

"Those whose sons were killed, their dreams shattered by the Gadhafi regime, will seek revenge when they see them back in power," she said. "The result is assassinations."

Some of the anger is directed at those who were in the old government ? from low-level police officials to ex-ministers who are now police chiefs and lawmakers. That has prompted a push to prevent those with ties to the former leadership from serving in positions of power.

Libya's parliament, the General National Congress, is debating a draft bill that would bar anyone deemed to have had ties to the former regime from state institutions for 10 years. A version of the draft law published on the GNC's website last week listed 36 reasons for excluding Libyans from political life.

They include those who participated in Gadhafi's coup in 1969; members of the notorious Revolutionary Guards, which were formed to hunt down the dictator's opponents; those who took part in reform efforts in the 2000s led by Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam; and those who worked for leading magazines, newspapers, news agencies or served as an ambassador under Gadhafi.

The bill's supporters say such sweeping measures are needed to allow the ministries and state institutions in the fledgling democracy to develop free of the toxic influence and corruption of the Gadhafi era and to stop the cycles of bloodshed like what happened in Benghazi.

Al-Gallal says the risk is worth the potential payoff.

"We have lost youth like budding flowers for the sake of the country. We have young men who lost their limbs for the sake of the country. Can't you just lose a post, not become a minister or a lawmaker, for some time?" she said.

"If two out of 10 decisions to oust regime members are not right, it doesn't matter. The most important is to get rid of the eight others."

For critics of the bill, however, such a ban perpetuates the Gadhafi regime's practice of excluding a large bloc of the population from political life.

Mohammed el-Mufti, a historian and veteran political analyst, said such tactics will not lead to reconciliation but will fuel more turmoil.

"The revolution won. We got rid of Gadhafi. So why chase these people now?" he asked. "Why create a scarecrow and new ghosts of the loyalists?"

If implemented, the law would bar a chunk of current lawmakers and government officials, regardless of whether they defected to the rebel side during the eight-month civil war that ended with the killing of Gadhafi in October 2011.

Many of the leaders of the rebellion, including the head of the opposition National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, as well as the rebel's wartime prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, would be barred. Abdul-Jalil was justice minister under Gadhafi, while Jibril, who is the leader of the largest political party in parliament, was a top strategist with Seif al-Islam's Libya Tomorrow project.

Even the country's current president, Mohammed el-Megarif, would be eliminated because he served as Libya's ambassador to India in 1980.

Another body, called the Supreme Agency for Standards of Integrity and Nationalism, vets Libyans for links to the regime. Sifting through thousands of pages of documents culled from the archives of the regime's Revolutionary Committees, the agency's workers search for evidence of links to Gadhafi's government or security agencies by current officials.

Spokesman Omar Habasi said the agency has disqualified hundreds of people nominated to government posts after finding links to the former regime.

Among those scratched was Ashur Shway, a popular security chief in Benghazi who was nominated by the current government to become the interior minister. Shway appealed to the Constitutional Court, which ruled in his favor and overturned the ban.

"It's impossible to start reconciliation without first presenting those implicated in crimes to justice and then start reconciliation," he said.

But there indications that some people have not waited for the political system to deliver justice.

Such is the case of el-Dersi, whose killing was the last in a series of assassinations in Benghazi that has shaken the city and prompted residents to set up tents in city squares and man checkpoints in their own neighborhoods.

As Libyans filled the streets Sunday, dancing and celebrating the anniversary of their revolt, el-Dersi's 17-year-old daughter remained shaken by her father's death.

"When I hear shooting, I remember the whole thing all over again," she said, choking back tears.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-17-ML-Libya-Transitional-Justice/id-a837427dd22d4b6ab177bebed7ab1c40

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Ben Stiller Called 'A Good Day To Die Hard' Back In 1992

In a time when most of the comedy shorts online have a shelf life of about two days, it's something special to find a bit still relevant more than 20 years later. Especially when the message is this: "Die Hard" sequels are ridiculous. In 1992, even before "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" hit theaters, "The [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/14/ben-stiller-die-hard/

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