Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | May 2009 44 Briefs Regional Briefs Turning tide? Macau’s bad luckmay have started to turn, as first-quarter gaming revenues jumped 8.1% from the previous quarter after a dismal second half in 2008, official figures showed. Revenues in Q1 ’09 were 26.02 billion patacas (US$3.26 billion), up from 24.08 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) said. The upturn follows three straight quarter-on-quarter drops in revenue in the former Portuguese-administered territory, after tighter visa restrictions on visitors from mainland China hit operators. But the figure was still down 12.8% compared to the record first quarter of 2008, according to the statistics released last month. The market for VIP baccarat was 16.83 billion patacas in the first three months of the year, down 19.1% from the first quarter of 2008, but up 7.8% from the fourth quarter. On the books News reaches IAG that the official Sports Lottery in China is running trials of live football betting to coincide with the excitement of the end to the European soccer season. It is one of only two bodies (the other being the Welfare Lottery) authorised under current rules to organise gambling in order to raise money for social causes and sport development. The finale of the European football club calendar includes not only the clinching games of the major domestic leagues such as England’s Premier League and Italy’s Serie A, but also the semi-finals and final of the UEFA Champions League, the premier club championship in the world. There had been speculation in the run up to the Beijing Olympics last year that China would authorise some kind of live sports betting during the games itself, but that proved premature. BLUEBIRD ® 2 on song for WMS One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but things may be looking up in the gaming equipment supply sector after WMS Industries broke several quarterly records in its fiscal 2009 third quarter results. Only a few weeks ago, Stuart Gribble, WMS’s Sales Manager South-East Asia, was telling Inside Asian Gaming that the company was actually putting on sales in Macau and elsewhere in the region. This was despite some reports of doom and gloom elsewhere in the gaming equipment world. Now the proof of the pudding is in the company’s results. Diluted earnings per share rose a whopping 34% to US$0.43, beating estimates by US$0.06 per share. That was achieved off the back of multiple winning lines on the corporation’s balance sheet—to borrow some terminology from WMS’s award-winning slot machine product range. Total revenues increased to a fiscal third quarter record US$180.8 million. Average installed participation footprint grew 10% to 9,785 gaming machines and the installed base increased 160 units to 9,901 gaming machines at March 31st, 2009 from 9,741 units at December 31st, 2008. Average daily revenue rose 10% to a quarterly record US$70.37 per participation unit. Product sales revenues totalled US$114.0 million, as average selling price improved 18% to a record US$14,854 on 6,431 new units shipped, with Bluebird2 units accounting for 47% of global unit shipments. Total gross profit grew 16% to a record US$117.3 million, as gross margin increased 620 basis points to an all-time quarterly record 64.9%, including a 520 basis point improvement in product sales gross margin to a record 53.2%. You get the picture. As a bonus feature, operating margin rose to 21.1%, up 400 basis points from 17.1%, while operating income grew 29% to a quarterly record US$38.2 million. Asia played a part in that good performance. “While economic challenges are evident in some regions, principally Western European markets, our opportunities are broadly based across the globe and we expect to realise year-over-year unit shipment growth in international markets for fiscal 2009. Customers in Eastern Europe, Latin Europe and in certainAsianmarkets continue to indicate strong demand for WMS products,” Orrin Edidin, WMS’s President, told a conference call for analysts to discuss the results. “We are directly focused on themacro- economic climate and our ability to deliver high-revenue generating products to our customers provides a clear competitive advantage in any economic environment,” added Brian R. Gamache, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, explaining he was aiming for more of the same in 2010. “Reflecting our continued innovation, product differentiation and clear operating momentum, WMS is targeting revenue growth in fiscal 2010 similar to fiscal 2009, which will lead to further earnings growth based on the significant leverage we are realising from improved operating margins,” stated Mr Gamache. Straits talking FutureLogic is one of the leading exhibitors at Game Time International’s (GTI’s) Asia Taipei Expo 2009 in Taiwan. FutureLogic, of Glendale, California, recently marked its quarter