ASIA & OCEANIA
PAGCOR Grants First Online Gaming Licence
PAGCOR grants the Philippines’ first licence to operate an online gaming platform to DFNN subsidiary, InterActive Entertainment Solutions Technologies Inc. (IEST)
IEST is the owner and operator of multiple gaming PAGCOR licences that provides betting and gaming technologies as well as creating and supplying proprietary systems and technology platforms inside partnered gaming outlets.
InPlay, IEST’s new remote gaming platform, has been developed to be an extension of its current land-based system, allowing a certain part of gaming to take place in the privacy of the client’s home. However, this service is only available to VIP players who must meet strict eligibility and registration procedures, as well as rigid KYC protocols; including a two-way video call, personal registration and fund deposit & withdrawal at the outlet. DFNN’s suite of technology capabilities ensure that these security protocols are successfully executed.
Aside from providing remote gaming capability, InPlay represents a significant measure towards regenerating revenues for the government. DFNN Chief Executive Calvin Lim said: “Te main focus now should be combating illegals
Singapore
Maybank predicts full recovery in mass gaming within two years at Resort World Sentosa
Maybank IB Research believes that Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa will see a full recovery in mass gaming in two years, with VIP gaming reaching 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by 2022.
With Phase 3 of Singapore's reopening plan expected to come into effect by the end of December, Genting Singapore is preparing to up its operating capacity from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. Te added expectation that the Government will give access for certain foreign nationals to visit from early next year has seen Maybank say the operator is well placed to continue its growth out of the pandemic. Te casino reported a profit of SG$54.4m (US$40.4m) in its last quarter building from a loss of SG$163.3m.
Maybank Analyst Samuel Yin
Shao Yang said: “Genting Singapore’s 3Q20 earnings outperformance was largely based on 25 per cent operating capacity. Attractions were allowed to increase operating capacity to 50 per cent from September 18 2020 onwards. RWS casino was also open to all guests from October 9, 2020 onwards (previously only to Genting Rewards members). Tus, 4Q20 earnings ought to be better quarter-on-quarter.”
Players from Malaysia, China and Indonesia, which collectively account for 80 per cent of VIP revenue and 50 per cent of mass gaming GGR at RWS, should be allowed back into the country in 2021. Maybank believes this will see VIP gaming reach half of the revenue levels generated before the pandemic and 75 per cent in 2022.
and the industry should work in unison to do so. Illegal online casinos have been flourishing, becoming so creative as to engage agents/affiliates in order to differentiate themselves by forming clubs to recruit players. In many countries, both online and land-based, gaming has co-existed for many years and all remained profitable.”
“A search on social media shows countless old and newly created groups with some having close to 200,000 members. So many people have been scammed falling prey to identity theft and credit card fraud by illegal operators using social media platforms, even plastering the logos of government agencies such as DTI, DOF and PAGCOR to lure players. Anything illegal is unsafe and detrimental to the economy.”
“Tese illegal operators take the government’s business and revenue allotted for charity and social services. Worse, it siphons money overseas to the detriment of the economy taking away much needed aid for indigent Filipinos.”
India
Delta Corp has been given the green light to build and operate an integrated casino resort in Goa from the local tourism authority. Te resort, which will only be allowed an electronic casino, will include hotels, shopping, a convention centre, cinemas and a water park in Pernem, in the north of Goa. Dilip Vaidya, Company Secretary and GM Secretarial, said: “Te company has received an Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board for setting up of an integrated resort consisting of hotels, convention centre, multiplex cinema, retail facilities at Pernem, Goa. Te integrated resort is expected to be one of its kind in the country. Te project is expected to boost tourism, employment and infrastructure of the state of Goa.” Delta Corp owns three land-based casinos in Goa and Sikkim along with three cruise ship casinos on Goa’s Mandovi River. It also operates a casino at the Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal.
MACAU – Analyst Sanford C. Bernstein is predicting that Wynn Macau’s mix of VIP and mass gaming, along with its expansion at Wynn Palace in Cotai, should see it explode out of the COVID-19 slowdown. It has highlighted that Wynn Macau’s strength and diversity in operating efficiency should help its rebound.
Sanford Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Tianjiao Yu and Kelsey Zhu said: “While still viewed as a VIP operator, the reality is Wynn is largely premium- mass driven, with 85 per cent of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) generated by mass gaming and non- gaming in 2019.”
It believes that by 2023 the company will be able to seize ‘outsized premium mass share’ due to room quality and product offerings with the ‘second highest table yields’ in Macau.
Wynn’s gaming tables generated 23 per cent above the average for VIP gaming tables in Macau in 2019 whilst in mass this was 30 per cent above the average. “Wynn is targeting a return-on-invested capital (ROIC) of 15 to 20 per cent, which we see as reasonably achievable – assuming no change on gross gaming revenue tax – and we view the expansion as a long-term driver for Wynn.”
AUSTRALIA – Nicole Rose, CEO of Australia’s financial fraud squad AUSTRAC has stated that the responsibility of governing junket operators should remain with individual casinos rather than being passed over to regulators.
Ms. Rose said: “AUSTRAC does not regulate junket tour operators. The onus is on industry to ensure it complies with its AML/CTF obligations. The Federal Court has also reiterated this view. Domestic regulation won’t address the issues. The industry is well placed to manage and assess its own risks.”
AUSTRAC said it was launching an official investigation into if Crown Resorts broke anti- money laundering rules with Crown’s Own Chairman, Helen Coonan, recently conceding the company’s ‘ineptitude’ on AML laws.
AUSTRAC’s Regulatory Operations branch said the non-compliance refereed to ‘ongoing customer due diligence, and adopting, maintain and complying with an anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing programme.’
It noted that problems arose ‘in the course of a compliance assessment that commenced in September 2019 and focused on Crown Melbourne’s management of customers identified as high risk and politically exposed persons.’
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P23
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