Goa Minister Makes Case for Casino Strip
Goa's Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai wants to create a casino strip in Goa similar to Hong Kong harbour (maybe confusing it with Macau?)
Te State government has drafted a Goa Public Gambling (Restriction) Bill to replace the current Goa Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act 1976
INDIA GOVERNMENT
Goa's Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai wants to create a casino strip in Goa similar to Hong Kong harbour. Mr. Sardesai said: "Te casinos housed in ships should be removed because it causes pollution and the harbour should be developed on both sides like the Hong Kong harbour. Tere should be a tourism circuit. Tis has always been our demand."
Te State government has drafted a Goa Public Gambling (Restriction) Bill to replace the current Goa Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act 1976, that allows for such a town although the word casino has been omitted from the bill. Instead it refers to a ‘common gaming-house.' Te bill would allow casinos on ships to continue to operate for four years after the Bill is enacted, and if they apply for a licence for a new land-based casino, they will get a further extension.
It would allow the big casino operators currently operating in offshore boats to build casino buildings without needing to operate a 5-star hotel. Interestingly, the recent passing of the Mopa Airport Development Authority Act, could see it converted into a designated casino zone. Te Bill also prohibits Goans from playing at a casino with prison sentences for locals caught doing so.
Macau's October gaming revenues hit four year high
China
Macau’s GGR has reached its highest amount since October 2014 with revenue increasing by 2.6 per cent from a year earlier in October to 27.3bn ($3.38bn), according to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination bureau.
October represented the 27th straight month of revenue growth in Macau although growth has slowed since the second quarter with the VIP sector affected by China’s drop in property price and falling stock market.
Analysts predicted a flat-to- five per cent growth in revenue but the four year high has meant that the total for the
India's leading casino operator Delta Corp, who operates four casinos in the state of Goa alongside the Casino Deltin Denzong in the state of Sikkim, has already said it would float to fund the development costs in building a resort casino.
Delta Corporation Chairman Jaydev Mody commented of the government's policy change: “It is a win-win for everybody, for the government, for the people and for the industry. It makes a lot of sense…I do not see any reason why we cannot keep growing at that pace in the future. Te business is there and we will keep growing. We just have to keep innovating and keeping our product and quality of service right up there.
"We are planning to invest, subject to the new land policy coming in," he added. "We are planning to do an integrated resort which would have much more than hotels and gaming, it would have a water park and a lot of retail and a convention centre kind of a destination, an integrated resort. But all that depends on the casino policy and based on that, we structure our investment and our plan etc only after that. It would make sense politically because the chief minister has been asked by the people to get the ships moving out of the Mandovi.”
year so far, MOP251.38bn is up 14.3 per cent from the previous year and is at its highest ever rate by the end of October.
Te results were boosted by China’s Golden Week holiday which boosted visitation by 7.2 per cent reaching a total of more than 895,000, according to the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO).
JP Morgan Securities Analysts DS Kim and Sean Zhuang said: “Total GGR’ during Golden Week grew high-single-digit year-on-year. Tis is not an apples-to-apples comparison, as we are looking at seven-day GGR versus eight-day GGR last year. Tis is better than our expectations of approximately five per cent growth, and likely ahead of the market’s.”
Analysts are also excited by the opening of the Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
Singapore
A record $7.4bn was wagered on lotteries, such as 4-D and Toto, and sports bets in the Tote Board's last financial year, the highest sum in Singapore for almost a decade.Te lure of multimillion-dollar Toto draws and the ease of betting with lottery operator Singapore Pools introducing online betting in 2016 could be reasons behind the rising sums of bets. Meanwhile, horse racing and casinos have lost their shine among gamblers. In the board's last financial year, which ended in March, a total of $131m in casino entry levies was collected. Tis was a plunge from the $223m in the financial year ended in March 2011, the first full financial year after the casinos opened in 2010. Analysts believe fewer locals are visiting Singapore’s two casinos because of the levy placed on entry by the government.
MACAU – September’s Typhoon Mangkhut caused an estimated $119m worth of damage to Macau’s casino industry, according to new figures from the enclave’s Statistics and Census Service. The total economic hit to the enclave — both directly and indirectly — across all sectors was around $192m. But these figures are lower than some analysts predicted and a drop in the ocean compared with the $1.55bn estimated damage caused by Super Typhoon Hato one year earlier.
Mangkhut made landfall in China’s Guandong Province on September 16, about 40 miles from Macau, having laid waste to large parts of the northern Philippines, where at least 127 people died. The entire estimated cost to the casino industry is classed by the MSCS as “indirect,” which means it did not come as a direct result of storm damage but through other factors, like the 33-hour shutdown of gaming operations and the large-scale cancellation of flights and ferries into Macau.
In Saipan, Imperial Pacific confirmed the recommencement of operations of its casino after Typhoon Yutu hit the island mid-November. The casino had taken the decision to temporarily shut down casinos operations for two days as the typhoon struck the island.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P31
AUSTRALIA – Australian and New Zealand casino operator SkyCity has struck a $188 million deal to sell its Darwin casino to US hospitality giant Delaware North. SkyCity will sell the Darwin casino to New York-based Delaware North, a major operator of gaming venues, pubs and food outlets in airports and sports stadiums. In Australia, Delaware North is best-known for operating the food and hospitality services at capital city airports, the Sydney Cricket Ground, Marvel Stadium, and at the annual Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
“Australia has been a second home for Delaware North for 30 years,” said Lou Jacobs, the company’s co-chief executive. “We are thrilled to have grown our business into a diversity of operations across the country.”
The sale of SkyCity Darwin was “not an easy decision”, SkyCity said, but it was part of a wider corporate strategy to focus on its more-profitable casino assets in New Zealand and Adelaide. SkyCity bought the Darwin casino from US casino operator MGM in 2004. The Darwin complex today has 600 poker machines, more than 30 table games, four restaurants, five bars, VIP ‘super villas’ with gaming suites, a day spa, conference spaces and Darwin's only five-star hotel and resort. The 650 staff at SkyCity Darwin will be retained once the change of ownership takes effect, the company confirmed.
ASIA & OCEANIA
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