Could Sands Break the Thai Market?
MACAU – Spintec’s Karma GEN2 Sic Bo/Craps has been installed on the gaming floor of one of the largest integrated resorts in Macau though its distribution partner, Asia Pioneer Entertainment.
“It has been 10 years since Spintec started the partnership with APE in 2012. APE is our exclusive distribution trusted partner in Macau and Singapore’s new cooperation project,” said Regional Sales Manager, Mitja Dornik at Spintec.
“We will keep eyes on the performance of the newly installed SicBo/Craps multigame cabinet. Moreover, as a long-term ETG distributor of Spintec in Asia, we will keep seizing opportunities to bring the innovative products into different markets,” stated Assistant General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Vicky Chan, Asia Pioneer Entertainment.
VIETNAM- Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance wants to add two more casinos; those in Da Nang City and Khanh Hoa Province to its pilot scheme that allows locals to place bets. It is also looking at extending the trial period by two more years.
Currently only Corona Resort & Casino in Phú Quoc, is involved in the scheme with the other casino in Van Don not yet open. The onset of the pandemic has hampered the success of the pilot scheme meaning the government will need longer to collect data. Vietnamese people wanting to gamble must be over 21 and paid at least VND10m a month (US$431). The Grand Ho Tram Strip and Hoiana remain out the scheme. The pilot scheme was to be reviewed in 2022, but the effects of the pandemic on gaming and tourism have convinced the Ministry that an extension until 2024 is necessary.
AUSTRALIA – An explosive start to the New South Wales’ inquiry into Australia’s Star Entertainment Group could see major board room changes take place as the company restructures in order to keep its licence. The Centre for Public Integrity Director, Geoffrey Watson SC, believes a major overhaul akin to that seen at Crown Resorts after its inquiry is on the cards. Shares in Star plummeted by seven per cent following revelations that the casino operator facilitated the transfer of A$900m in gambling credit from China, allegedly as hotel expenses.
Mr. Watson accused The Star of acting ‘very deliberately’ as it repeatedly facilitated the transactions. He said: “Casinos have got to run at the highest level of probity. There are sure signs now that the company was not doing that. The company needs to explain how its practices were not facilitating serious crime.”
He added that The Star needed an overhaul of the scale of Crown Resorts’ board room changes too.
P32 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
Brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein believes that Las Vegas Sands’ new Asian project is probably focused on Tailand.
Sands Chairman and CEO, Rob Goldstein, has confirmed that the operator has been in talks with a ‘major country’ in Asia where it wants to build a casino resort similar in size to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
Bernstein analyst, Vitaly Umansky, commented: “We believe LVS is hinting at a potential opportunity in Tailand, which has seen an increase in interest from the government on looking at gaming legalisation. Tis is not the first time Tailand has been talked about as a gaming opportunity. Te market potential could be substantial; however, as with all gaming legalisation, the devil is in the detail.”
Last year, the House of Representatives set up an extraordinary committee of 60 people with the task of evaluating the benefits of a casino to boost tourism and the local economy.Tai Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, claimed in January that casinos could ease the country out of pandemic with Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) leader, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon, saying: “Look at the countries around us. Our people visit those casinos too.”
Back in 2015, Sands went public on its
ambitions for Tailand with plans to develop a casino and convention complex in Tailand, close to the airport in Bangkok.
Krist Boo, the company’s Vice President for Communications, was quoted as saying: “We want to invest in Tailand if we are given permission. It must be the kind of integrated resort as in Singapore. We have been searching for new investment, not only in Tailand, but also all places. Although Tailand has no casino act yet, if this about to happen, it is very interesting. We would love to have an integrated resort at a place close to the [Bangkok] city centre or financial centre, near the international airport.”
Media reports linked Las Vegas Sands with developing an old railway depot site in Bangkok. Projections pitched the introduction of casinos in Tailand as being able to generate yearly tax revenues of over US$2.8bn to the country, according to research carried out by Rangsit University’s College of Social Innovation.
Te study showed that a foreigner-only casino sector would reach gaming tax of TH$100bn far quicker than Singapore, which took three years.
Russia NagaCorp suspends operations in Russia
NagaCorp will continue building its third casino, Naga 3, within the NagaWorld complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, while suspending operations in Russia following the war with Ukraine.
Te Cambodian hotel and casino complex operator announced in March that it had halted construction of the Naga Vladivostok gaming and resort development complex in Russia, which was expected to cost more than RM1bn, due to ‘uncertainties’ about the project.
Tan Sri Dr. Chen Lip Keong, a Malaysian billionaire, who founded NagaCorp 27 years ago, agreed in 2013 to invest a minimum of US$350m in the Naga Vladivostok complex, which
would be built on land with dual frontage and commanding views of the sea and an inland lake flanked by two hills.
In 2016, site clearing began, and an office was established in Vladivostok's city centre.
As of September 2021, NagaCorp had reportedly invested US$84m in the Naga Vladivostok facility as part of the first stage of construction, which included a four-star hotel with 279 rooms, a casino, and a multipurpose concert hall with 2,000 seats.
In a recent update, the company said that the delayed integrated resort project was progressing, with the structure of its hotel building now complete.
Macau
Chan Chak Mo, Head of the Macau assembly’s second standing committee, has revealed that all members of staff for junket operators will need to live in Macau.
Junkets will have to give casino operators the names of every employee they want to work with in Macau, with the list needing to be handed over to the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ).
Chak Mo said: “Some legislators questioned that this could make it more difficult to attract gamblers from abroad, however, the government responded that this matter involves the oversight of the industry. If the junket staff are not residents it would be more difficult to oversee.”
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