{"id":175840,"date":"2021-06-08T10:54:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T17:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=175840"},"modified":"2021-07-19T01:27:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T08:27:35","slug":"wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/","title":{"rendered":"Wakayama Casino Developer Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The company behind the Wakayama integrated casino resort proposal has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.<\/p>\n

\"Wakayama
William Weidner is pictured in 2008 while still president of Las Vegas Sands. The longtime gaming industry veteran is joining an effort to build a large casino complex in Wakayama, Japan. (Image: Las Vegas Sun)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

William Weidner served as president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands for 15 years before his departure in March of 2009. He has partnered with Canada-based private equity firm Clairvest Group in its effort to win one of Japan’s three<\/a> commercial casino licenses. Through its subsidiary, Clairvest Neem Ventures, Clairvest has proposed building a large-scale integrated resort with an “initial investment” totaling JPY470 billion (US$4.3 billion).<\/p>\n

In a statement, Clairvest Vice Chairman Jeff Parr said the company “shared a common vision” with Weidner and his firm Global Gaming Asset Management (GGAM). Along with Weidner, Clairvest Neem Ventures announced the partnering of Group Partouche, a French casino operator that has more than 40 locations across the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wakayama Development<\/b><\/h2>\n

Weidner exited Sands not on good terms with the casino empire’s late founder Sheldon Adelson. Weidner and his billionaire boss had differences of opinions during the Great Recession regarding how to make sure the company was primed for recovery in the economic slump’s aftermath.<\/p>\n

\n

Weidner and Adelson’s relationship deteriorated to the point that the Sands board felt it was beyond repair. Weidner resigned, only for Adelson to later tell him he had been fired, and there would be no compensation package.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The former Sands executive then founded GGAM, a company that helps firms develop integrated casino resorts. GGAM clients include Solaire Resort and Casino in the Philippines, and Baha Mar Resort Casino in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

GGAM’s brass includes several power players in the global gaming industry. Along with Weidner, the company is led by Bradley Stone, former president of international operations and construction at Sands, and Garry Saunders, former chief operating officer of Melco Resorts and vice president of Sands. GGAM also has Mario Ho on its payroll. Ho is the youngest son of the late billionaire Stanley Ho, the so-called “King of Gambling” who, for decades, held a monopoly on casino gambling<\/a> in the Chinese enclave of Macau.<\/p>\n

More Attractive Bid<\/b><\/h2>\n

Wakayama selected the $4.3 billion casino pitch from Clairvest after Suncity Group<\/a>, the only other company to submit the city a resort proposal, exited the race. Clairvest and Wakayama must still beat out at least one other Japanese city’s casino pitch to the national government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, four cities are forming bids. Along with Wakayama, they are Osaka, Yokohama, and Nagasaki.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We share with our two partners a common vision of the national IR program in Japan and are convinced that this partnership will help strengthen the economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to an increase in international customers, as well as a significant influx in Wakayama Prefecture and the Kansai region,\u201d Jeff Parr of Clairvest Neem Ventures, said of the two consortium partnerships.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clairvest’s integrated resort plan features 2,700 hotel rooms, conference space, an eSports arena, an amusement park, and casino.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The company behind the Wakayama integrated casino resort proposal has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience. William Weidner served as president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands for 15 years before his departure in March of 2009. He has partnered with Canada-based private equity firm Clairvest Group in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":175850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,33810],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-08T17:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-19T08:27:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"772\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/\",\"name\":\"Wakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-08T17:54:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-19T08:27:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":772,\"caption\":\"Wakayama casino William Weidner Japan\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gaming Business\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gaming-business\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Wakayama Casino Developer Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner","description":"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner","og_description":"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-06-08T17:54:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-19T08:27:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":772,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/","name":"Wakayama Casino Firm Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-08T17:54:27+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-19T08:27:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"The company behind the Wakayama integrated resort has brought on a longtime gaming industry executive with global development experience.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/003adelson_t653-2.jpg","width":1200,"height":772,"caption":"Wakayama casino William Weidner Japan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wakayama-casino-developer-taps-former-sands-executive-william-weidner\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gaming Business","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/gaming-business\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Wakayama Casino Developer Taps Former Sands Executive William Weidner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}