Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed her support for a second casino licence in a letter to Queensland Mayor Tom Tate
AUSTRALIA LICENSING Hunt Begins for Next Queensland Licence
Having recently kicked a previously approved resort casino licence into touch, the Queensland government has now come out in support of a second casino being built on the Gold Coast. It will launch a ‘worldwide expression of interest’ campaign to choose a developer.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed her support for a second casino licence in a letter to Queensland Mayor Tom Tate.
Ms Palaszczuk said: “As I advised Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, the Palaszczuk Government is currently considering the next steps for the integrated resort development process for the Gold Coast. Te Queensland Government has been clear that its decision to terminate the ASF Consortium proposal for the Gold Coast Spit does not rule out a future Integrated Resort Development on the Gold Coast.”
Mayor Tate added: “When we get knocked down, we get back up. I don’t believe in monopolies. Council will withdraw its proposal (to build the integrated resort on the Southport Bowls Club site) to ensure everyone has an even
playing field and we’ll have a look and test the market to see who’s got the best option for the city. When you put that together initially, you’re trying to go ‘well this will activate our CBD’. I’d say to everyone now — to give certainty to the bowls club and tennis club — that it’s opened up to the whole of the city and that site is no longer necessary.”
ASF Consortium was to invest A$3bn in a resort casino having won the rights of preferred operator during the former Government’s 2012- 13 expression of interest, however its plans to build the Integrated Resort at Te Spit, were recently rejected by the State Government. Las Vegas operator Caesars Entertainment had been keen to invest in that project and could yet launch a solo bid whilst Crown, the operator behind Te Star, formerly Jupiter’s was also involved in talks with ASF.
Te Chinese-backed group of investors behind ASF Consortium are considering legal action against the government of Queensland acclaiming it lost A$12.1m due to the project’s cancellation.
Nepal
Vietnam Suncity provide ‘technical services’ for Van Don
Macau junket firm Suncity Group Holdings has confirmed it provide technical services to Van Don Sun Joint Stock Company, in the run up to it opening a casino resort project in Van Don District, Quang Ninh Province, in Vietnam.
Te project owner Van Don Sun Joint Stock Co. has appointed Suncity Group to provide pre-opening services and technical services to the project owner in an advisory capacity and subject to and in consideration of receipt of the services fee.
SunCity said: “Te project owner anticipates that the opening date of the project will be March 31, 2019 or another date which shall be prior noticed by the project owner. Entering into technical services agreement represents the first step of the group to provide consultancy, advisory and technical services for large scale resorts with gaming and entertainment facilities. Te company will continue to expand its business scope in order to maximise returns for its shareholders.”
Suncity Group Holdings will charge a fee of US$500,000 for its services. Suncity Group Holdings is already involved in one casino project in Vietnam having bought a 34 per cent share in Hoiana a casino resort destination destined for the south of Hoi An in central Vietnam, for US$76.8m.
Silver Heritage, the promoter of a purpose-built casino resort in Nepal that’s due to launch at the end of this month, has indicated that the business is considering a second potential site for a casino in Nepal. Te second site would be further east for Silver Heritage’s current location, near Nepal’s border with the Indian states of Bihar and Sikkim, and a relatively short distance from India’s border with Bangladesh. Te company’s soon to launch casino, Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa, soft launched with hotel facilities, offering 100 rooms in September, having cost around US$51.8m. Australia-listed Silver Heritage Group Ltd said the effort to promote Tiger Palace Resort Bhairahawa had also involved hosting press and cocktail events across northern India, and “building relationships with social influencers and large travel agents” in that country. Te new venue is near Nepal’s border with the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, one of that country’s wealthiest.
AUSTRALIA – Morgan Stanley has said that Australia’s two leading casinos have seen a surge in VIP play during the first three months of the current fiscal year.
The high-roller segment suffered in Australia following the arrests in China of 19 members of staff at Crown who were found guilty of improperly promoting casino gaming. In 2017 Crown saw its VIP play slump by 48.9 per cent to A$33.3bn whilst Star suffered an 18.6 per cent VIP decline to A$554.7 m. Having previously predicted a six per cent decline, it now said it believed Crown’s VIP business would increase by about 9.4 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017.
Morgan Stanley said: “Junket operators spoke to a material improvement across both Crown’s Melbourne and The Star’s Sydney properties in recent months versus the VIP volume lows seen in 2017. Since the Crown detentions in October 2016, Australia’s share of the VIP market has halved from six per cent to three per cent as at 30 June 2017. With the casinos to cycle the significant declines from the second quarter of 2018 onwards, combined with the recent positive commentary of a pick-up in volumes, we expect 2017 will mark the bottom for Australian VIP. With the market focusing on the weak domestic environment and not factoring much in the way of a recovery for VIP in 2018, we believe any rebound in growth would be taken positively.”
JAPAN –Melco Resorts Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho believes the opportunity in Japan will see ‘artificial intelligence and technology’ create a new style of casino experience.
Talking to South China Morning Post, Mr Ho said: “In our industry, there are so many legends like my father, Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn, they all created something. It is time to improve the guest experience and to incorporate more technology into our services to use artificial intelligence and technology to customize the experience for customers.”
“Japan is an amazing place but it just got 20 million visitors a year,” he added. “Look at Macau, it got well over 30 million visitors. Hong Kong got more than 40 million visitors. There is a lot of potential in the market. We had many opportunities go into Las Vegas, but every time we shied away from that. The greatest development opportunities for years to come will be in Asia. We have a strong Asian focus, and we are a brand that is well known in China.”
In terms of who will operate it, Mr. ho said: “We will probably know by June.”
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