Author: Admin VietNamGaming

Việt Nam

MoF reports on casino businesses’ financial losses

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

The report outlines that the accumulated revenue from 2019 to 2023 of this project reached more than VNĐ6.4 trillion (US$259.1 million), contributing roughly VNĐ3.8 trillion ($153.8 million) to the State budget.

Illustrative photo by VNA

The Ministry of Finance has reported on the casino business situation in Việt Nam, indicating that the pilot project allowing Vietnamese individuals to gamble is experiencing financial losses due to a decreasing number of players.

In the report sent to National Assembly (NA) deputies ahead of a question-and-answer session at the NA’s Standing Committee on March 18, Minister of Finance Hồ Đức Phớc states that this type of activity is exclusively reserved for foreigners.

In 2016, the Politburo allowed a trial for Vietnamese people to gamble in casinos on Phú Quốc Island in the southern province of Kiên Giang and in Vân Đồn District in the northern province of Quảng Ninh for a period of three years.

Currently, only the casino project on Phú Quốc Island has been operational since January 2019.

After more than two years of trial, the ministry actively coordinated with ministries and sectors to report to the Prime Minister about the trial process since May 2021.

In August 2023, the ministry reported to the Politburo on the trial results. It is in the process of soliciting directives from the Politburo.

The report outlines that the accumulated revenue from 2019 to 2023 of this project reached more than VNĐ6.4 trillion (US$259.1 million), contributing roughly VNĐ3.8 trillion ($153.8 million) to the State budget.

In 2023, the casino business performance excelled compared to 2022, with revenue reaching nearly VNĐ2.2 trillion, an increase of 45.7 per cent, contributing VNĐ1.23 trillion to the State budget.

Ticket revenue from Vietnamese people in 2023 exceeded VNĐ32 billion($1.29 million), accumulating VNĐ242 billion ($9.79 million) from 2019 to 2023.

Although the casino business performance has improved compared to 2022, the report specifies that the overall project is still accumulating losses of more than VNĐ3.72 billion ($150,600) due to depreciation costs and large initial interest payments.

Regarding the number of visitors, from 2019 to the end of 2023, Vietnamese visitors numbered 295,943, accounting for 62 per cent of total players, while foreign visitors numbered 179,507, accounting for 38 per cent of total players.

In 2020 and 2021, the proportion of Vietnamese visitors was higher due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no foreign visitors.

In 2023, the number of Vietnamese players significantly decreased, accounting for only 39 per cent of total visitors.

The report clarifies that the company basically complies with the conditions of the business licence and regulations on organising casino business activities.

There are nine casino projects in Việt Nam with six small ones in Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, Lào Cai and Đà Nẵng and three major casinos in Hội An of Quảng Nam Province, Hồ Tràm of Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province and Phú Quốc of Kiên Giang Province.

In 2021, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenue dropped sharply. Since 2022, foreign visitors started to return.

In 2023, the State budget contributions from casino business reached more than VNĐ2.54 trillion ($102.8 million), a 56 per cent increase compared to 2022, 1.8 times higher than before the outbreak of the pandemic.

This helped create about 8,500 jobs.

Regarding supervision work, the ministry has coordinated with ministries and the provincial People’s Committees to inspect casino business activities at 12 enterprises. Among them, five were fined with a total amount of VNĐ980 million ($39,680).

Phớc suggests in the near future, the ministry will only grant licences to casino businesses with large-scale service, tourism, commerce, and entertainment areas with a minimum investment of $2 billion.

Casino business can only be organised after the project has disbursed at least 50 per cent of the total investment capital. The location of the casino business must be approved by the Politburo for each specific project and must be approved by the Prime Minister for investment policies. — VNS

Source: VietNamNews

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Việt Nam

$4B Ho Tram casino developer seeks postponement again

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Inside Ho Tram casino. Photo courtesy of the casino

The developer of the US$4.23-billion Ho Tram casino and resort complex in southern Vietnam has sought to postpone its completion to 2027, the 11th time it is delaying it.

Ho Tram Project Company Ltd received a permit in 2008 to build a casino, a five-star hotel with 9,000 rooms, an 18-hole golf course, villas, and a shopping area. The casino and the golf course are now open.

As of June the developer has spent $1.3 billion, or 30.9% of the cost, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The company has delayed the project citing the effects of Covid-19, inadequate transport infrastructure between Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province, where it is being developed, and bureaucracy.

Ho Tram Project Company has said that if the number of hotel rooms is less than 9,000 by the fourth quarter of 2027, it will reduce the number of casino tables to less than two per 100 rooms.

Source: E.VnExpress

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Macau casino shares fall amid 11 arrests, Chau believed detained

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Macau casino shares have plunged amid the arrests of 11 people over alleged links to cross-border gambling and money laundering, with Suncity Group Holdings Chairman Alvin Chau believed to be among those detained.

Suncity is Macau’s biggest junket operator, and its Founder Chau is widely believed to be the 47-year-old businessman that police said they were questioning on Sunday. An arrest warrant was reportedly issued for Chau on Friday by eastern Chinese city Wenzhou, for operating gambling activities in mainland China, where gambling is illegal.

MGM China shares fell by 11%, with Wynn Macau and Sands China shares falling by 9% and 6% respectively, as investors fear both the short-term and long-term consequences of the arrests. Short-term issues involve potential loss of business, while long-term worries centre around the potential hardline stance that will be taken by authorities in Macau and mainland China to ensure such a situation doesn’t occur again.

Suncity Group shares meanwhile have been suspended from trading.

“Suncity accounts for over 50% of junket revenue in Macau, which accounts for roughly 50% of gaming revenues, so Suncity accounts for 25% of gaming revenues,” said Carlos Lobo, a Macau-based gaming consultant, as reported by Reuters.

“The impact on the gambling industry is huge… But Suncity is no longer too big to fail, the system will not collapse.”

Source: GamblingInsider

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Seminole Tribe appeals decision to block Florida sports betting

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has moved to appeal a federal judge’s decision to block its deal with the state, which would expand gambling and online sports betting throughout Florida.

US District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich found that the agreement between the state and the tribe, which allowed online betting, was in violation of a federal rule that required a person to be physically on tribal land when wagering.

The lawsuit was filed by non-Indian casino owners in Florida who challenged the approval of the agreement by the US Department of the Interior, which oversees tribal gambling operations.

Both the state and the tribe argued that since the computer servers that processed the bets were on tribal lands, bettors could wager using their phones or kiosks at racetracks and non-Indian casinos anywhere in the state – while meeting the federal standard.

Judge Friedrich, in her ruling, noted that argument is a “fiction” and added: “When a federal statute authorises activity only at specific locations, parties may not evade that limitation by ‘deeming’ their activity to occur where it, as a factual matter, does not.”

The judge recalled a 2018 state constitutional amendment that required any expansion of gambling outside of tribal lands to be approved by voters; her decision blocks the tribe from adding roulette and craps to its casinos in Florida – which may have allowed non-Indian casinos to do the same.

In a statement filed with the court, Marcellus W. Osceola, Chairman of the Tribe, said: “The tribe’s online sports betting authorised by the compact is now in operation, and is generating millions in revenue per week.

“The tribe is using these funds to pay back the development costs for its online sportsbook, make revenue-sharing payments to the state and fund important tribal programs.”

Source: GamblingInsider

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Atlantic City casino revenue figures down but profits up in 1st quarter 2021

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

The Atlantic City casino industry’s net revenue figures were down in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, according to financial results released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. But gross operating profit increased 221.9% for the quarter to $95.5 million.

Borgata posted a quarterly profit of more than $29 million, a 28 percent year-over-year increase.

Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show eight of the nine casinos posted increases in their gross operating profit, with only Bally’s posting an operating loss.

Gross operating profit includes earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other charges, and is a widely-accepted measure of profitability in the Atlantic City gambling industry.

According to financial reports filed with the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), the casino licensees’ Net Revenue decreased 5.4% to $564.7 million for the three months ended March 2021.

Additionally, Gross Operating Profit for the industry increased 221.9% for the quarter to $95.5 million.

The market-leading Borgata posted an operating profit of more than $29 million during the quarter, up more than 28% from the same period last year. The Tropicana earned $16.2 million, up nearly 128% from last year, and Harrah’s earned $9.5 million, up 224%.

Hard Rock earned $8.5 million, compared to a $4.2 million loss in the first quarter of last year; Caesars earned nearly $8.2 million, up from a loss of $593,000 in the first quarter of last year. and the Ocean Casino Resort earned $7.94 million, compared to a $574,000 loss in last year’s first quarter.

Golden Nugget earned $4.7 million, up over 406%; Resorts earned just over $1 million, compared to a $3.4 million loss in the first quarter of 2020, and Bally’s reported a loss of nearly $6.5 million, compared to a loss of over $8 million last year under previous ownership.

Among internet-only entities, Golden Nugget Online Gaming earned over $7.9 million, up nearly 24%; Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ earned nearly $4.5 million, up nearly 20%; and Resorts Digital earned nearly $4.3 million, up over 59%.

Hotel Occupancy
The occupancy rate in the industry’s casino hotels for the three months ended March 2021 was
52.4%, which is 15.7 percentage points lower than the comparable period last year. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the casino hotels were closed on March 16, 2020 and began to reopen on
July 2, 2020. The occupancy rates for 2020 excluded the duration of the shutdown period.

Source: Yogonet

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Việt Nam

Locals program unlikely to be expanded, despite Covid

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Appeals from Vietnam’s casino owners to allow locals to gamble are likely to fall on deaf ears despite plummeting revenue due to the closure of international borders.

Vietnam Ha Long Bay

Although foreign investor interest is strong in Vietnam, the market is complicated, with government regulations mandating a minimum $2 billion investment, a figure seen as too high for a resort that will be wholly reliant on foreigners.

Some of the biggest names in the gambling business, such as Las Vegas Sands, have been known to have looked at Vietnam and then walked away due to restrictive operating conditions.

The government  is currently running a three-year pilot program, allowing locals to gamble in the Corona Resort on Phu Quoc island in the south and in a yet to be opened resort in Van Don in the north. However, it has remained silent on the petition from local casino owners earlier this year for the program to be expanded.

“The government’s main concern would be not to expose the local population to potential social risks from gambling and so I do not think there will be a significant shift in government policy in the near term,” said Saponti Baroowa, associate director of business intelligence at Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City.

“There are these pilot programs, but that gives us the view that it’s something the government is experimenting with, but I think it’s highly unlikely to be opened up to domestic big spenders any time soon.”

Ben Lee, managing partner of iGamiX Management & Consulting, agrees saying any such decision would need to be taken by the ruling politburo, which is “vehemently anti-gambling by locals.”

Prior to the pandemic, Vietnam was experiencing a tourism boom. It welcomed a record 18 million visitors in 2019, an increase of 16 percent on the prior year, with Chinese tourists making up 5.8 million of that total.

The country has been developing its tourism offering to cater for high-end travellers, with its multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites and unique culture.

As a result, Lee says he believes that Vietnam is a “sleeping giant” as a destination, which will continue to be popular with the Chinese once borders reopen.

“One of the things we observed is that the Chinese love Vietnam,” he said.  “It’s a culture that has a lot of familiarities, the food is almost the same, but there’s a twist, with the French influence.”

Still, for analysts the regulatory environment will continue to be a significant deterrent.

“The problem you have in Vietnam is that the government has unrealistic expectations around what needs to get built and what they are putting on the table regulatory wise,” said Bernstein Research analyst Vitaly Umanski on a recent SIGMA webinar.

“Without a local market, a multi billion dollar resort doesn’t work. You can get away with $100 million – $150 million property if you can target foreigners and it’s easy to get there, the tax looks good and the regulatory environment is loose, that works, but if you don’t have those things and you have a multi billion dollar property without a local market there’s no way it works.”

Particular interest has been focused on Suncity Holding’s more than $4 billion resort in Hoiana, which held an opening preview last year, with its full opening delayed by Covid.

The upscale property was expected to leverage Suncity’s deep database of high-end Chinese players. However, China’s repeated warnings over cross-border gambling may mean few high rollers will be prepared to make the trip.

“With a crackdown on VIP there’s going to be very few people from China who are going to go all the way down to Vietnam to have an experience that’s not the real Macau. It’s going to have challenges,” Alidad Tash, managing director of 2NT8 said on the SIGMA webinar, referring to Hoiana.

Lee agrees in principle that a $2 billion investment in a foreigner-only market would make most resorts unviable.

However, he points out that for both Hoiana and Van Don, real estate sales will be the main drivers for return on investment.

“Gaming is not the profit driver for the Hoiana project nor the Van Don project. It’s the anchor and the draw card, but it’s the real estate development card where they will make the majority of their return on investment.”

Source: AGBrief

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Resorts World Las Vegas ramp up could take two years

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Genting Berhad’s Resorts World Las Vegas could offer long-term growth prospects for the company, but will incur losses in the first two years before turning a modest profit in its third year, according to analysts from UOB Kay Hian Research.

“With the lingering uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic, we expect RWLV to initially operate at 40%-50% capacity – we expect RWLV to achieve optimal capacity of 85%-90% from 2024 onwards, ” said the brokerage, quoted by The Star.

The note is in line with a note from Fitch Ratings in late March, which said it sees Resorts World Las Vegas is seen as achieving fully ramped up EBITDA by 2024, three years after its opening.

The $4.3 billion resort will be the Genting group’s third-largest after its properties in Malaysia and Singapore and is on track for a summer opening.

The resort will be the first new resort to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in more than a decade and property president Scott Sibella says that may give it the edge over neighboring premises.

The first quarter of this year saw Las Vegas visitor volume down 51 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. However, the widespread vaccination rollout has sparked an in-flow of domestic visitors. Foreign visitors are expected by next year which will further push up revenues, said the brokerage.

Las Vegas’ strip’s total revenue prior to covid had been growing at around 1.3 percent CAGR to US$6.6 billion in 2019.

Last month, AGB spoke with property president Scott Sibella about the latest developments of the resort and the recovery he expects in the Las Vegas gaming market.

Source: AGBrief

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Travellers Q1 revenue up on premium mass and VIP ops

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Travellers International, the owner and operator of Resorts World Manila, saw its Q1 revenue decline 24 percent from the prior year, but gained 13 percent sequentially.

The company posted a loss of PHP1.1 billion, roughly unchanged from the prior year, parent company Alliance Global said in a release.

Its gaming segment also managed to deliver 15 percent higher gross revenues on a quarter-on-quarter basis, which it said was driven by its reinvigorated premium mass and VIP operations.

It’s hotel operations saw further improvement in its occupancy rates, which went up to 65 percent compared to 54 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“We are very optimistic for the next three quarters as we look forward to an accelerated vaccine rollout that would allow business activities to pick up. This pandemic taught our Group to be relentlessly creative and innovative in executing and modifying some of our strategies to help our various businesses recover fast and strong,” said Kevin Tan, chief executive officer of Alliance Global.

Casinos in Entertainment City have been operating under highly restricted conditions, opening only to invited guests since they reopened in August last year.

Earlier this week, the Philippines’ capital city announced an easing of its covid-19 lockdown to “General Community Quarantine”, down from “heightened restrictions” until May 31, though casinos have remained closed.

Source: AGBrief

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Twin Casino launches in Japan market

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Malta-based Twin Casino has announced that it is the latest entrant to the Japanese online casino market.

Kasper Bach, head of Casino at Twin, commented, “We are incredibly excited to be launching Twin to the Japanese market. We are confident that our clear-cut online casino will offer players a rewarding online casino experience. Through integration with powerhouse software providers, we can confidently deliver Japanese players unrivaled online entertainment. We see this latest global launch as a chance to firmly establish Twin as one of leading online casino sites in Japan.”

Twin is putting emphasis on the wide range of games that it is making available to its Japanese customers, including online pachislot themed games.

The press release notes, “Japanese players can benefit from many popular local payment options for deposits and withdrawals, including VenusPoint, Sticpay, AstroPay card, EcoPayz, Jeton, Muchbetter, and InPay. Twin is also pleased to announce the addition of AstroPay OneTouch to its payment options, enabling players in Japan to make deposits and withdrawals through four cryptocurrencies to date: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple.”

There is also a 24/7 customer service hotline to handle any questions or problems.

Twin Casino is regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

Although online casinos remain illegal in Japan, the National Police Agency has so far made little effort to enforce the laws, and the industry is, in fact, booming.

Among the most prominent brands that Twin Casino will be competing against are
Vera & John and bitcasino.io.

Source: AGBrief

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Genting Singapore in strong position for Yokohama IR: Maybank

Posted on by Admin VietNamGaming

01-10-2020 |  

Genting Singapore is in a strong position to win a license for an integrated resort in Yokohama, which has the potential to generate gross gambling revenue of about $7 billion a year, Maybank Research said.

Such a resort would be likely to generate $2.7 billion in net profit for Genting and would be worth S$0.60 a share, which “translates into substantial earnings and valuation upside” for the operator.

Maybank argues that Genting scores highly when it comes to the government’s criteria of success in promoting tourism, management and financial ability and responsible gambling initiatives relative to the other IR RFP respondents.

The Singapore-listed group also saw its chances improve this week after Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment said it was pulling out of the race. As far as is known, that just leaves competition from Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Japan’s Sega Sammy and Shotoku.

Maybank however warned that there is a major potential caveat and that relates to the political situation, with mayoral elections coming up on August 22. All of its “efforts may come to naught if an anti-IR mayor is elected,” it said.

Genting Singapore, which is part of the sprawling Genting Group, operates Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, which is one of the most highly regulated casino jurisdictions in the world and one to which Japanese authorities were drawn when they began studying the potential to introduce IRs.

In a 30-page review of the potential of the Japanese casino market, Maybank provides simulations for the likely level of GGR to be generated. In its first calculation, derived from the penetration rate of local GGR in Singapore of 0.58 percent to Japan’s nominal 2020 gross domestic product, the market would be about $28 billion.

However, the firm notes that would only happen if an IR were allowed in each of the country’s eight regions.

Based on a different model, using calculations based on the size of Japan’s non-casino market, which would include lotteries and pachinko, casino GGR could hit $65 billion. That would require an IR in 47 prefectures, which at this point in time seems like a pipe dream given the government’s caution in opening the market.

The most likely level of local GGR is about $9.3 billion, it said, which is an attractive pull even without the benefit of growing tourist arrivals. Adding in tourists, Maybank arrives at a market size of $11.7 billion, with the mass market dominating.

Source: AGBrief

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