谢尔登.埃德森，拉斯维加斯金沙集团股份有限公司董事长兼首席执行官，他在拉斯维加斯、澳门和新加坡等地都拥有广泛的赌博业务。

　　拉斯维加斯赌博研究中心主任戴维施瓦兹说：“谢尔登.埃德森是一个绝对的赢家，因为他们在拉斯维加斯市中心的收入非常可观；在拉斯维加斯广场中心，他们的老虎机形成一阵巨大的嗡嗡声。他们在去年还建成了科尔特斯酒店，而他们的史密斯表演艺术中心也计划在明年开幕，而且托尼谢已经被任命为首席席执行官。所以我认为埃德森不仅在赌博行业方面是个大赢家，在酒店、娱乐、旅游等行业也是一个赢家。”

　　而戴维施瓦兹评定的输家是当前陷入大西洋城博彩市场困境的负债累累的赌场运营商们，他们五年前就没有把握到澳门和新加坡博彩市场的动脉。

　　澳门和新加坡的博彩行业只经历了短短几年的发展就快速赶超了世界著名的美国拉斯维加斯赌城。澳门的华人聚集区的月博彩收入有29亿美元。此外，有专家预计，新加坡今年的博彩总收入将超过拉斯维加斯赌场的收入，成功跻身为世界第二大博彩市场。

　　埃德森在澳门永利集团和美高梅国际度假集团拥有丰厚的股份，他几乎控制了澳门大部分的博彩市场。埃德森从亚洲获得的博彩收入超过80％。在经济萧条时期，埃德森投资1亿美元来提高其股价，现在他的拉斯维加斯金沙集团股份有限公司正处在健康的经营状态。

　　Cantor Gaming公司是博彩行业的另一个赢家，它与华尔街投资公司Cantor Fitzgerald已经达成了合作协议，以扩大其在移动赌场市场份额。该公司不仅把投资目光定位在了移动赌场，它还准备投资体育书籍行业。今年Cantor Gaming公司和英国体育图书运营商威廉希尔宣布了一项价值1800万美元的合作项目。Cantor与威廉希尔的合作可能会促使越来越多的博彩公司改变他们的业务结构，特别是当网上体育投注在美国得到合法化以后。

　　美国司法部今年发出了多个反对外国网络游戏运营商的起诉书，司法部认为他们违反了联邦禁止网上投注的法律规定。他们重点起诉的博彩公司是互联网博彩行业的领头羊：Full Tilt Poker和Poker Stars ，以及Absolute Poker。美国司法部的起诉项目包括经营非法赌博业务，串谋银行和电信欺诈，洗钱以及违反2006年制定的互联网赌博执行法案。该互联网赌博执行法案明确规定禁止网上投注。据估计，美国有10万人参与了在线扑克网站下注，在线扑克网站每年有高达5亿美元的收入。根据纽约时报报道，美国一些国会议员，包括参议院多数党领袖里德，从在线扑克网站获得了数十万美元的竞选捐款。一些国会议员甚至参与开发了一些顶级赌场业务，永利度假村联盟就是其中之一。

　　移动赌场行业前景目前暂时是不清晰的，但其必将是未来的网上投注趋势。一些主要的拉斯维加斯赌场经营者，特别是凯撒娱乐，早已计划好进军移动赌博市场。一旦移动赌博市场获得合法化地位，他们将大举开始进军。有许多观察家认为，移动赌博市场的合法化是必然趋势，只剩时间早晚问题。

　　博彩市场的积极扩张主要表现在一些东欧国家，包括宾夕法尼亚州，俄亥俄州，马萨诸塞州以及佛罗里达州。博彩市场的扩张足迹加剧了内达华州的竞争压力。内达华州博彩市场正面临前所未有挑战。美国云顶集团的高层管理人表示，迈阿密的海滨上建立的新的拉斯维加斯式的赌场度假村，每年会削减内达华州大约2亿美元的博彩收入。

　　译文：

　　Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., speaks during the news conference of the opening ceremony of the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in Macau Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007.

　　“I would say downtown is a winner because they had a couple of good revenue months; the Plaza’s generating a bit of the buzz, El Cortez and its new hotel rooms, the Golden Nugget with the hotel tower they completed last year,” said David G. Schwartz, director of the UNLV Center for Gaming Research. “There’s next year’s opening of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and Zappos Chief Executive Officer Tony Hsieh, who’s generating a lot of buzz. I think downtown is a winner from all aspects, not just gaming.”

　　The panel’s losers included the troubled Atlantic City gaming market, debt-laden operators largely owned by investment-wary hedge funds, and anyone who five years ago failed to grasp the wisdom of investing in Macau and Singapore.

　　The casino floors of Macau and Singapore have come to dwarf the revenue-generating ability of the Las Vegas Strip, all within eight years of ramping up their operations. The Chinese enclave of Macau recorded November gaming revenue of $2.9 billion, or about half of what the Strip will record for all of 2011. Singapore is expected this year to surpass Las Vegas as the world’s No. 2 gaming market in terms of casino-revenue generation.

　　Adelson is in both markets and controls much of the land in Macau, where Wynn and MGM Resorts International have lucrative holdings. Adelson generates more than 80 percent of his corporate revenue from Asia. On the verge of what appeared to be financial collapse during the depths of the recession, Adelson invested a reported $1 billion of his own money to boost his stock price, and now his Las Vegas Sands Corp. is considered among the industry’s healthiest operators.

　　Other winners include Penn National Gaming and Caesars Entertainment, which pushed for ballot measures that are expected to lead to the opening of gaming properties in Ohio cities Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and Columbus.

　　Cantor Gaming, the casino industry arm of Wall Street investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has expanded its hold on mobile betting devices with its recent agreement to remodel and operate the Palms sports book. The company operates sports books at M Resort, Hard Rock, Tropicana and Cosmopolitan. England-based sports book operator William Hill this year announced an $18 million deal to purchase American Wagering Inc., operator of the Leroy’s chain of Las Vegas sports books. The Cantor and William Hill strategy could prompt an increasing number of gaming companies to outsource their sports betting operations, providing a lucrative niche for Cantor and William Hill while reducing the cost structure of Las Vegas companies, particularly when and if online sports wagering is legalized in the United States.

　　The U.S. Justice Department issued multiple indictments against foreign Internet gaming operators, arguing that they had violated a federal law designed to prohibit online wagering. The companies were among the leaders of the Internet betting world: Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet and UB.com. Charges included operating illegal gambling businesses, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, money laundering and violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which prohibits businesses from knowingly accepting payments for online wagers. An estimated 10 million online poker players in the United States wagered on the sites, generating as much as $5 billion in annual revenue. The companies reportedly had made hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to U.S. lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and had developed business alliances with top casino operators, including Wynn Resorts, The New York Times reported.

　　The move muddied, at least temporarily, the future of online betting, which major Las Vegas casino operators, particularly Caesars Entertainment, have long positioned themselves to tap into once it’s legalized, as many observers say will someday happen. Skeptics say the indictments cleared the path for U.S. gamers to eventually gain online betting dominance from foreign companies, which have driven the market over the past decade. Yet the move has also slowed momentum, at least temporarily, toward the legalization of Internet betting.

　　“Internet poker, the existing companies that are the renegades — the Full Tilts, Ultimate Bet, Poker Stars — they got run out of the United States. That was their biggest market,” Curtis said, “and also a negative development for all of the tens of thousands of Internet players, but I think it’s a short-term negative.”

　　The expansion or potential growth of casino gaming to major eastern states — including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusetts — and the expansion of Florida’s gaming footprint could divert a significant percentage of tourists who would travel to Southern Nevada, exacerbating the economic challenges faced by this region during the past four years. The top executive of Genting USA, which is seeking to build a Las Vegas-style resort on a waterfront site in Miami, has estimated that South Florida gaming could cut into the Strip gaming market by as much as $2 billion annually.