Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | November 2008 44 Briefs Regional Briefs Singapore Government Working to Avoid Resort Delays The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said itwasworking with the developers of two casino resorts in the city- state to resolve any potential delays and facilitate their completion. In a statement issued to the press, STB said it was “aware that the current uncertain economic climate may give rise to concerns on the opening” of the casinos and was monitoring the situation. The statement followed a report in The Straits Times newspaper that Marina Bay Sands, which is being built by Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), may not open fully at the end of next year, as scheduled. The report also said that Resorts World at Sentosa, the second casino resort which is being built by Malaysia’s Genting International, was in talks with the government to defer the opening of some facilities. LVS and Genting both said their projects were on track to open as scheduled. “STB has been informed by Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World that they expect the respective IRs (integrated resorts) to open in 2009 and 2010 respectively,” the tourism board said. “Together with key agencies, we are working closely and are in regular dialogue with both companies to resolve any potential delays that may arise, and to facilitate the completion of the projects.” Singapore hopes the integrated resort complexes,which will also include hotels, convention centres, family attractions, restaurants and shops alongside the casinos, will boost the city-state’s appeal to foreign tourists. Online Gambling Bust Agence France Presse reports that South Korean prosecutors have busted an online gambling ring operated by Koreans from Manila, the Philippine capital. Officials said the operation earned some US$100 million over 18 months until it was busted in August. The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said four South Koreans have been charged.Two others have fled abroad but prosecutors will seek to have them extradited. Online gambling is illegal in South Korea and regular gambling is strictly limited, with only one of Korea’s 17 casinos open to locals. The ring allegedly opened a casino in Manila in February last year. They hired 30 Filipino dealers and webcast baccarat games were being staged at the casino to domestic online participants. In order to assure online gamblers they were taking part in real- time games, the ring depicted CNN broadcasts in its online coverage. Some online gamblers wired more than US$100,000 for a single bet. Macau Casino Revenue Declines According to unofficial data, Macau’s gross casino revenue in October amounted to 8.9 billion patacas (US$1.1 billion), down 3.5% from the same month last year. It was the second consecutive month of year-on-year declines in casino revenue, with September seeing a 0.8% contraction, which came in stark contrast to the 51.6% year-on- year growth in revenues over the first eight months of the year. According to a report in Hong Kong-daily South China Morning Post, the sharp slowdown is almost entirely due to declining revenue and betting volumes from VIP gamblers in Macau’s private baccarat rooms, resulting from increasingly stringent government restrictions on visitors from the mainland. A report from Citigroup outlined a bearish outlook for the sector. It stated: “The next negative catalyst for Macau will come from the commission caps expected by year end. This should affect those operators who have started to extend credit to junkets and [should] also drive down junket rebates to VIPs.” The government announced it would impose a cap on commissions on VIP chip sales at 1.25%, down from the current maximum of as high as 1.4%. Although the cap would improve casinos’ currently wafer-thin margins, analysts fear it would lead to a further decrease in VIP gaming revenue, as it would reduce the amount of credit and the size of rebates that junkets were able to offer to players. Weike Announces New Cabinet Range Weike Gaming Technology, Singapore’s only licensed Gaming machine manufacturer, has announced the impending market launch of a new range of cabinets for its WP30 gaming platform. Commenting on the launch, David Kinsman, Weike Gaming’s CEO, said:“This new range of cabinets is our first major product upgrade for the WP30 platform launched earlier this year. We have designed a new range of cabinets to meet client requirements across the Asian market, and deliveries will commence in December 2008, with the first of this new range being delivered to a major Macau-based operator.” The new WP30 cabinets are available in both “Lowboy” and “Hightop” versions and they accommodate all major monitoring and player tracking systems, include dual LCD screens with high quality touch screens, TITO, a range of Bill Acceptors, Dolby surround sound with stereo speakers and sub woofer,“Gamesman” button panels and other client facilities and requirements across Weike’s markets in Asia. “This new cabinet range was designed in-house by our product development team and heralds new standards of both quality and technical facilities,” said Mr Kinsman.“We have incorporated facilities for all markets in Asia, from Singapore through to Indochina and Macau. The cabinets come in a standard version without coin trays, The new WP30 cabinet Rendering of Marina Bay Sands