Wire ASIA & OCEANIA
Supreme Court Denies Kazuo Okada
SINGAPORE – Marina Bay Sands has successfully thwarted a foreign syndicate that produced a baccarat formula to record cards dealt and won a sum of S$324,100 (€300,000) over eight days in December 2022.
Tan Kian Yi, a 35-year-old from Malaysia, recieved a three years and four months jail sentence, having pleaded guilty to four counts of recording cards dealt during a game provided under the Casino Control Act. Tan was believed to have been part of a five- person syndicate who used a formula to improve the odds of the game in its favour using an an Excel sheet, card counting a secret formula.
Each of the group were given roles from marksman, a sorcerer, a tank and an auxiliary. The marksman was located in a hotel room where he received information regarding the cards that he keyed into the formula and told the sorcerer what bets to place. The female in the group played the role of sorcerer using her long hair to cover Bluetooth earphones so she could listen to the marksman.
Casino employees began to take notice of the syndicate’s behaviour, by going through closed- circuit television footage with police arresting one man at the casino and Tan in Kuala Lumpur. Casino chips worth around S$790,730 were taken from hotel rooms reserved by the syndicate. This case was the first prosecution for an offence under Section 171 of the Casino Control Act for using a device to count or record cards dealt in a casino game.
The prosecution said the crime ‘struck at the heart of Singapore’s engine for growing tourism – the MBS casino.’ Tan’s lawyer stated that “from the statement of facts that none of the accused persons understood how the formula worked.”
SOUTH KOREA - Paradise Co, South Korea’s foreigner-only casino group, surpassed pre- pandemic revenues in the third quarter, setting new records in revenues, EBITDA and profit.
Its flagship Paradise City in Incheon, which it runs alongside Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings, also generated all-time highs in EBITDA and profit due to an influx of Japanese VIP players. Paradise City generated gaming revenues of US$97.8m, an increase of 19 per cent quarter on quarter with revenues from Japanese VIPs reaching 149 per cent of pre-pandemic revenue. There is still more in the tank too with Chinese VIPs currently up to just 68 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Group revenues increased by 50.7 per cent year-on- year and 3.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter to US$217m. This was despite casino revenue falling by 13.8 per cent to US$88.1m.
A court order that facilitated the takeover of Okada Manila by a group representing its founder, Kazuo Okada, has been kicked out.
Universal Entertainment has confirmed that a 2022 court order that prompted an unruly takeover of Philippines casino Okada Manila by a group representing its founder Kazuo Okada has been kicked out by the Supreme Court.
Te Court denied a petition by Mr. Okada filed against Okada Manila operator Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI).
Universal stated: “On April 27, 2022, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, in a lawsuit filed by Kazuo Okada, former Director of the Company, that the parties should observe the ‘status quo ante’ in 2017 before he was removed from his position as officer, etc. of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, which operates Okada Manila integrated resort facility in the Philippines.
“TRLEI has filed a motion to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider or revoke SQAO. Te Supreme Court recently issued a resolution denying the petition of Kazuo Okada in the intra-corporate case he filed against TRLEI. With the denial of Kazuo Okada’s petition, the Supreme Court also lifted immediately the
SQAO that it issued last year.” It added: “Te resolution ruled that Kazuo Okada’s action had prescribed or was filed beyond the period for filing an election contest. It also ruled that Kazuo Okada was properly removed as shareholder, director, chairperson and CEO of TRLEI.
“Te Supreme Court confirmed that he was a mere nominal shareholder in TRLEI with only one nominal share which had already been revoked in 2017 by parent company Tiger Resort Asia Limited.
“Te resolution further stated that contrary to his claims, Kazuo Okada is not the controlling stockholder of the ultimate parent company, Okada Holdings Limited (“OHL”). Tis is based on foreign judgments issued by Japanese and Hong Kong courts, which are final and recognised in the Philippines. Said foreign judgments effectively recognised that Tomohiro Okada is the majority shareholder of OHL.”
“With this resolution, this litigation has been concluded and the SQAO by the Supreme Court has also been immediately lifted.”
Macau Mass gaming revenue near pre-pandemic level generated GGR of US$747m.
Mass gaming revenue in Macau is closing in on pre-pandemic figures, reaching 95 per cent of pre-pandemic revenues in the third quarter, up a remarkable 771 per cent on last year.
Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli said that overall revenues for the quarter were now up 69 per cent of thr third quarter results of 2019, hampered only by VIP which has so far only reached 23 per cent of pre- pandemic figures. "Net revenue was down 21 per cent from Q3 2019 levels, while non-gaming tax related operating expenses declined nine per cent versus Q3 2019,” he said.
Macau’s GGR came in at $2.42bn in October, representing a 30.6 per cent increase from September. Te first 12 days of November
Citigroup stated: "Te implied daily run-rate of last week was MOP543m, which was three per cent lower than that of the first five days of November 2023 at MOP560m per day.
“We believe that the slightly slower daily run-rate likely has to do with some big players avoiding going to Macau during the Grand Prix weekends. History shows that peninsula casinos would suffer from the road closures during the race.
“We conservatively keep our November 2023 GGR forecast unchanged at MOP16bn, which is 70 per cent of the November 2019 level for now, implying GGR to average at MOP522m per day for the rest of the month."
Timor-Leste
Southeast Asia’s youngest country is progressing towards becoming the newest hub for licensing and professional support services for the global iGaming industry.
Tis development will see the establishment and incorporation of the Virtual Gaming Association (VGA) of Timor- Leste to create a policy of best practices for the licensing and regulation of iGaming in the country. Timor-Leste’s potential, with two thirds of its entire population under 30, will open significant opportunities for the creation of call centres, data centres and the development of a luxury resort and casino. Partners involved in the implementation of this process recently met in Malta with global gaming operators to receive industry feedback that will influence policies.
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P19
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