Inside Asian Gaming

42 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2013 REGIONAL BRIEFS Indian Businesses Want Betting Legalized The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is calling on the government of India to establish a commission to oversee a legalized gambling industry. In a presentation to officials, federation Chairman Sanjiv Paul said India is losing “billions of dollars” in taxable revenue through black- market sports betting. Betting is illegal in India as is casino gambling, except in the tiny state of Goa and a couple of other small enclaves. Businesses represented by the federation want to change that and argue that a commission with special powers to license and regulate a legal industry would realize “significant taxable income” for the country. An FICCI report says a body based on the UK Gambling Commission would also help to reduce money-laundering and match-fixing, which has been the bane of professional cricket, the subcontinent’s most popular sport. Macau Legend IPO Squeaks Through Casino, leisure and hospitality operator Macau Legend has held its significantly downsized public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising a reported HK$2.2 billion. The stock was listed on the HKSE on 5th July. The Wall Street Journal says 934.8 million shares were sold at a price per unit of HK$2.35, which is near the bottom of the offering’s expected range of $2.30-$2.98. The sale, equivalent to US$282 million, works out to only 36% of the HK$6 billion-plus (US$770 million) the company targeted in a filing last month as it apparently was swept up in global fears of a credit crunch in China which have battered Asia listings over the past few weeks, among them Macau’s leading casino operators. The company had delayed the offering at first, hoping not to have to lower it by more than half. Macau Legend owns the Fisherman’s Wharf entertainment complex along Macau’s Outer Harbour and operates two casinos and a hotel in the city. The bulk of the offering’s proceeds initially were earmarked for a refurbishment and expansion of Fisherman’s Wharf with the addition of three tourist hotels, one of which calls for a 117-table casino. The complex already contains a casino, the Babylon, with 23 public tables and an undisclosed number of VIP tables. The company also operates the Pharaoh’s Palace Casino at the Landmark Hotel downtown, with 123 table games, and says it wants to increase table inventory across all its properties from 147 to 500. Pharoah’s Palace and Babylon are run as third-party-promoted “satellites” under the casino concession of HK-listed operator SJM Holdings. SJM has fee-based or revenue-sharing service agreements with outside operators at 17 casinos around the city. Macau Legend is partly owned by SJM, and SJM and members of the family of its founder, Stanley Ho, reportedly have bought into the IPO. Japanese pachinko operator Dynam Japan is also reported to be a major investor. Dynam is interested in pursuing a casino license in Japan if the government there decides, as expected, to legalize the industry in the next couple of years. Market Woes Nix Resorts World Manila IPO Joining Macau Legend, Resorts World Manila has also fallen victim to the recent slump in the Hong Kong and Philippine stock markets. The Wall Street Journal reports that RWM, a popular mixed-use gaming complex adjoining Manila’s international airport, has put a proposed US$500 million initial public offering on hold as investors across the region have turned lukewarm on new share issues and are pulling out of developing economies. Resorts World Manila, a joint venture between a Hong Kong subsidiary of Malaysia’s Genting Group conglomerate and Philippine property giant Alliance Global, filed a prospectus for an IPO last month with a view to gauging investor interest in their expansion plans, which include a US$1.1 billion mixed-use casino and leisure complex, Resorts World Bayshore, under development at Manila’s new Entertainment City casino district. RWM, which opened in 2009, comprises three hotels, a shopping mall, cinemas and a performing arts theater. The site of the country’s largest casino, it has been far and away the Philippines’market leader in gaming revenue. A successful listing would have been the biggest offering in the Philippines this year. Travellers International Hotel Group, as the joint venture is called, says it is still shooting for an IPO later this year, sources told the Journal . Vietnam Plans To Tax Winnings Vietnam’s Finance Ministry is proposing a 10% tax on casino winnings over US$475 (VND10 million) despite a warning from a top official that it will discourage gamblers from patronizing the country’s foreigners-only casinos. A report on the English-language Web site of Tuoi Tre News says the levy is included in a draft revision of the tax code being circulated by the ministry and took effect on 1st July, so it will apply to the new Grand – Ho Tram Strip casino opening later this month on the South China Sea coast about 70 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City. The tax has come under fire from the top revenue official in the northern province of Lao Cai, home to a casino located in the Lao Cai International Hotel that caters to Chinese gamblers. Speaking The Fisherman’s Wharf entertainment complex Resorts World Manila