Paradise Entertainment Limited Chairman and Managing Director Jay Chun says that new Technical Standards governing Dealer-Operated Electronic Table Games (DETG), announced by the government in December, will benefit the company by accelerating the replacement cycle of older installations.
The Technical Standards, which set out the specific technical requirements for ETGs deployed in Macau, are the first to focus specifically on the live dealer games developed by Paradise for the Macau market. Technical Standards Version 1.0 came into effect on 1 January 2018 but provides a two-year grace period through 31 December 2019 for necessary updates to be made.
Commenting on the new regulations while announcing the group’s 2017 financial results on Monday, Chun said that Paradise “is technically competent and in a position to provide ready-made services to provide support to casinos currently equipped with DETG machines and assist them in meeting the requirement of the Technical Standards.
“The publication of the Technical Standards has brought business opportunities to the group and has accelerated the replacement cycle of those deployed DETG machines of the group in Macau,” he added.
Chun will certainly be hoping that proves to be the case after Paradise saw total revenue decline by 13.0% to HK$1.01 billion in 2017, largely due to reduced electronic gaming machines sales as a result of fewer major casino openings.
Revenue from Paradise’s electronic gaming equipment and systems segment tumbled 80.6% to HK$37.9 million for the year, with just 78 live multi game terminals deployed compared with 893 in 2016 when both Wynn Palace and the Parisian Macao opened their doors.
The decrease was also partly due to a change in the cooperation mode at Casino Macau Jockey Club, which saw Paradise revert from the provision of casino management services to basic revenue sharing from its LMG terminals as of 1 January 2017.
However, the company’s other casino operations enjoyed a slight increase with gross gaming revenue up 1% at Casino Kam Pek Paradise to HK$1.25 billion and up 6% at Casino Waldo to HK$513.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA from casinos under the group’s management grew 80.7% to HK$132.1 million.