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How to play Balloons
Merkur has agreed to pay an effective price of €6.19 per SFC share for the stake, representing a substantial premium over recent market valuations.
The premium reflects both the control premium paid to the sellers and Merkur’s valuation for majority ownership.
As Merkur’s acquisition of Casigrangi would grant indirect control over SFC, French regulations require Merkur to launch a simplified mandatory tender offer for the remaining SFC shares it does not already hold.
How to play Balloons
That line got repeated as part of “Wizard 2.0,” with most media outlets assuming it was to be among the production’s new effects.
Our suspicion is that Dolan was referring to an immersive video simulator—likely intended for the lobby before the movie begins.
Either way, the idea was apparently delayed or scrapped.
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Among the opposing forces was Kenji Eda, a prominent House of Representatives lawmaker from Yokohama and a senior figure in the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Eda has been a vocal critic of the government’s IR push, raising concerns over gambling addiction, the economic impact on local businesses and whether the casino-led model would deliver the promised benefits.
The prospect of international operators snapping up Japan’s coveted IR licences gradually lost its lustre, as the likes of Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Genting Singapore and Caesars Entertainment balked at the demanding regulatory framework, hefty investment requirements and uncertain returns.
Although the late LVS chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson hailed the Japanese market as “a holy grail” and the “ultimate of business opportunities”, the company dropped out of the game, scrapping its pledged $10 billion project.
