ASIA & OCEANIA
MACAU–MGM China is delaying the debut of its new MGM Cotai Casino Resort by three months to mid 2017. MGM added that the investment would also be slightly more than expected.
Jim Murren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We have decided to push out the opening date a bit for the MGM Cotai Casino Resort into the second quarter of next year. Recall that we’ve said, we [were] looking for March.
This will give us just a little bit more time. It does increase the budget slightly by one per cent to $3.1bn but we think the time is worth it.”
MGM China reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization for the three-month period of nearly $119m, down ten per cent whilst operating income dropped by 11 per cent to $51m. It blamed smoking restrictions and ‘certain political initiatives’ for the decline.
“This particularly affected the numbers of high-end or premium players visiting the group’s VIP, main floor and slot machine gaming operations,” it stated. “In response to the volume decrease since 2015, we worked with our gaming promoters to optimize casino space and enhance table yield. All components of gaming revenues in the Macau market were adversely impacted by these changed circumstances as well as the slower economic growth in China,” commented Mr. Murren about the latest results.
PHILIPPINES – Belle Corp. is ten per cent ahead of last year’s figures having improved its net profit in the first six months of the year by that amount. Net profit reached P917m (US$19.5m) due to the improved performance of City of Dreams Manila. The company said: “Premium Leisure Corp’s income share for the first half of 2016 almost doubled to P702m, from P361m for the first half of 2015. This was attributable to the ramp-up in gaming operations of City of Dreams Manila, which held its grand opening in February 2015.”
Belle Corp’s partner in the project; Melco Entertainment recently reported that for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, net revenue at City of Dreams Manila was US$120.2m compared to US$75m in the second quarter of 2015. City of Dreams Manila generated Adjusted EBITDA of US$36.5m in the second quarter of 2016 compared to US$12.6m in the comparable period of 2015. The year-over-year improvement in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily a result of increased casino revenues, including from the junket operations which began in the middle of 2015.
Mass market table games drop increased to $134.3m compared with US$116.6m in the second quarter of 2015. The mass market table games hold percentage was 29.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 compared to 25.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2015. Gaming machine handle for the second quarter of 2016 was US$515.4m, compared with US$465.1m in the second quarter of 2015. The gaming machine win rate was 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 versus 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2015.
P34 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
Philippines’ President succeeds in mission to crackdown on the country’s oligarchs with closure of online provider, PhilWeb, owned by Roberto Ongpin
PHILIPPINES ONLINE GAMING PAGCOR Rejects Bid and Closes PhilWeb
PhilWeb Corp. has closed its doors after gaming regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) refused to renew its license. PhilWeb is a listed gaming technology company majority owned by businessman and former trade minister Roberto Ongpin, whom President Duterte has singled out in recent months in his war against oligarchs in the country.
PhilWeb president Dennis Valdes told local press that the company was winding down operations the day after its licence expired on August 5. Roberto Ongpin and his daughter Anna Bettina Ongpin resigned as PhilWeb’s chairman and vice-chairman, soon after Duterte’s vow to destroy oligarchs and offered to sell 49 per cent of his shares to PAGCOR in return for a new PhilWeb licence. Te offer, however, was declined by PAGCOR.
PhilWeb is the company behind e-Games stations, which are Internet cafes exclusively dedicated to casino games. With technology provided by PhilWeb, patrons can choose from more than 300 casino games, including baccarat, blackjack, various slot machine games, video poker and sports betting. Tere are currently 268 operating e-Games cafes across
the country, a majority of which are owned and operated by independent entrepreneurs.
Valdes said without a license to operate, PhilWeb was shuting down all operations, including 286 e-Games outlets operated by PAGCOR licensees. Te e-Games network had at least 5,000 employees. In addition, small and medium enterprises that supply goods and services to each e-Games outlet have also suffered from the shutdown, Valdes said.
In 2015, the e-Games network contributed P2.1 billion to Pagcor and over P14 billion in the past 14 years. “PhilWeb is merely a software provider to PAGCOR for its network of e-Games outlets,” Valdes said. “We are not online gaming. Our software cannot be played from homes or offices.”
"Te issue is not Roberto V. Ongpin or PhilWeb per se. It is the President's and his government's opposition to online and onsite gaming because of the social ills and decay they foist on our communities as they cater to the more economically vulnerable portion of our population," PAGCOR Chairman Andrea Domingo clarified.
Singapore
Russia Kangwon Land to invest in Tigre de Cristal
Summit Ascent Holdings, the Lawrence Ho funded operator behind Tigre de Cristal in Russia’s Far East, has formed a strategic partnership with Kangwon Land, the largest operator by revenue in Korea. Kangwon Land will invest in Phase 2 of Tigre de Cristal as well as other future projects.
Te two casinos will look to exchange staff and training programs, develop a mutual marketing program with travel agency cooperation and develop a cruise line routing between Kangwon Land Casino and Tigre de Cristal as well as charter flights between the two. Phase 1 of Tigre de Cristal held its grand opening in the Primorsky Krai Integrated Entertainment Zone on November 11, 2015 , opening with 35 VIP gaming tables, 33 mass market gaming tables, and 321 slot machines. Phase 2 will be much grander in scale and is expected to have 100 VIP gaming tables, 70 mass market gaming tables, 500 slot machines, a shopping mall, F&B outlets, a spa center, night club, auditorium and conference facilities and 500 rooms.
Te deal with Kangwon Land could even see the Korean operator managing and operating Summit’s Phase 2 hotels with potential for a Korean contractor and Korean project finance. Te Phase is expected to cost US$500m. Kangwon Land could also operate a golf course, clubhouse, and sporting club development; and develop the duty free shopping in Phase 2.
The Casino Regulatory Authority Of Singapore wants casinos and regulators all over the world to work together to stop trans- national crime in the casino sector. Speaking at the fourth-annual Singapore Symposium On Casino Regulation And Crime, Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman for the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore, said: “The industry is dynamic and continues to change. Asia continues to be a source of growth for the industry. While many Asian countries plan for legislation, the entities they seek to regulate are often part of larger regional or international organisations, which are already operating in other jurisdictions. These have associated risks such as money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit flow of funds and syndicated cheating. Regulators can better learn and adapt through discussions with like-minded counterparts.”
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