Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2010 62 Briefs Regional Briefs built by Las Vegas Sands Corp, will have on visitor flow to RWS. Note: Genting Singapore’s total revenues for Q1 2010 were S$460.4 million, but that includes revenue from the unit’s UK casino operations. Former MacauSlot shareholder convicted of money laundering The fact that an illegal bookmaker convicted in Macau and subsequently found guilty of money laundering in Hong Kong managed to acquire a 4% stake in MacauSlot, the monopoly sports betting service in Macau for gambling on soccer and basketball games, clearly wasn’t enough to prevent the Macau government from renewing MacauSlot’s operating licence for another year last month. MacauSlot—full name Sociedade de Lotarias e Apostas Mútuas de Macau, Limitada—is majority owned by Dr Stanley Ho’s investment holding company, STDM. It had its sports betting licence renewed via a low-key announcement in the Boletim Oficial, Macau’s government gazette, last month. The extension runs until 5th June 2011 and comes in time for MacauSlot to offer soccer betting services for this summer’s FIFAWorld Cup in South Africa. At the time of the MacauSlot franchise extension announcement, the Macau government must have been aware of the fact that Yeung Chun, a former shareholder of MacauSlot and a former manager of a VIP gambling room at Dr Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa, had been convicted and was awaiting sentence in Hong Kong for laundering via Hong Kong’s HSBC bank the proceeds from a Macau-based illegal horse-betting operation estimated by authorities to have turned over HK$400 million. The Macau authorities must have known in particular because Mr Yeung originally came to their attention in 2002, when he was arrested in Macau and subsequently convicted and jailed there for unauthorised bookmaking. Macau prosecutors said at the time that this particular illegal sports betting operation had brought in HK$187 million between 1999 and 2000. For such a person to have been able to become a shareholder of MacauSlot calls into question MacauSlot’s own internal controls and vetting procedures for approving shareholders. Questions must also be raised about the management of Macau Jockey Club, given that Mr Yeung had a documented external business relationship with a senior official of the MJC at the same time as he was running illegal bookmaking on horse races. The South China Morning Post reported that Mr Yeung was described in documents and Hong Kong Companies Registry papers submitted to a Hong Kong court—prior to his sentencing on the money laundering conviction—as a former business associate of Dr Ho’s wife, Angela Leong, and of Li Chi, managing director of Macau Jockey Club. The documented connection was that all three were shareholders in a company called Onshine Securities. In an unrelated matter in October 2005, Onshine Securities was reprimanded and fined HK$100,000 by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission for breaches of SFC financial rules, weaknesses in internal financial controls and insufficient supervision of staff. Mr Yeung had in the process of his business dealings also managed to acquire stakes in Casino Lisboa’s Club VIP betting room and the New Club VIP room, the Hong Kong court heard. Hong Kong District Court sentenced Mr Yeung to 36 months in RWS Q1 revenues average US$5.3 million per day Genting Singapore, the Genting unit operating Resorts World Sentosa, has reported its first quarter 2010 results, posting revenues of S$334.9 million (US$242.2 million). On average, daily revenues for the period were S$7.3 million (US$5.3 million). Given that RWS, the first of Singapore’s integrated casino resorts, only opened on 14th February, the Q1 results are more a snapshot than a comprehensive portrait, showing revenue for only 46 days. If, however, that daily revenue figure were annualised, it would put RWS on course for revenues of around S$2.66 billion (US$1.92 billion) over 12 months, or S$2.33 billion (US$1.69 billion) in calendar year 2010. The company said in a filing with the Singapore Stock Exchange that its adjusted Singapore EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) for the period were S$109 million (US$78.8 million), giving an EBITDA margin of 32.5%. Extrapolated on a daily basis, that would provide EBITDA of approximately S$2.37 million (US$1.71 million) per day. If that figure were then annualised, it would provide RWS with EBITDA of S$865 million (US$626 million) over 12 months, or S$756 million (US$546.8 million) in calendar year 2010. There are, though, a number of variables that could count against projecting the 46-day snapshot across a whole year. One is the opening ‘bounce’ associated with most new properties, even in established casino gaming markets such as Macau and Las Vegas. Another is that because RWS opened on the first day of the Chinese NewYear holiday, that could have had an additional distorting effect in terms of mass-market traffic to the resort. A third is that it’s not yet clear what impact, if any, Marina Bay Sands, the rival casino resort Resorts World Sentosa