Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming May 2014 90 Sri Lanka Rejects Casinos Fewer Whales, Lower Profits for GKL Grand Korea Leisure reported an 11% drop in net profit for the fourth quarter as fewer Chinese and Japanese high rollers patronized the company’s three foreigners-only casinos. GKL, which is 51% owned by the Korea Tourism Organization, an agency of the South Korean government, and trades on the Korea Stock Exchange (114090) saw 4% fewer VIP players over the 12 weeks ended 31st December than in the same period in 2012. The Chinese contingent was down 2%, the Japanese down 4%. The result was a 13% decline in table drop to 932 billion won (US$893 million). But the company played lucky at a higher than average hold ratio of 15.2%, and total revenue increased year on year by 4% to KRW142 billion. Operating profit was up 30% to KRW39 billion. However, higher expenses, including retroactive overtime costs and accounting changes that resulted in a higher tax rate (34% versus the normal 24%), combined to offset the gain, and the bottom line was down 11% to KRW26 billion. GKL operates two casinos in the capital of Seoul and one in Busan. India’s Largest Casino Set To Open Buddhist monk and legislator Athuraliya Rathane Bowing to political and religious opposition, the government of Sri Lanka will not allow casinos at US$1.3 billion worth of luxury resorts planned for the capital of Colombo. The announcement was made by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and comes days after the main opposition United National Party staged a demonstration in Colombo accusing the government of encouraging vice. Casinos are also opposed by political parties controlled by the island nation’s powerful fundamentalist Buddhist clergy. “We voted against these concessions as a warning to the government to correct its course,” Buddhist monk and legislator Athuraliya Rathane said. “We will not allow casinos. That we say very clearly,” Basil Rajapaksa told parliament. “They [the promoters] asked, we did not allow, nor will we allow [in the future].” He made the statement in conjunction with the government’s approval for the three projects to go ahead, minus casinos, and with 10-year corporate tax breaks which the UNP also opposes. It is not clear how the news will affect the developments proposed by James Packer’s Crown Resorts and by local hospitality giant John Keells Holdings and Sri Lanka businessman and casino owner Dhammika Petera and his rumored partner, Genting. There was no immediate comment from any of them, according to Agence France-Presse. A casino figures prominently in Mr Packer’s proposed $400 million, 450-room Crown Sri Lanka, a joint venture with the country’s largest casino operator, Ravi Wijeratne, and the subject of “detailed discussions” with the government, according to Melbourne, Australia-based Crown. John Keells, the country’s largest listed company, is proposing a US$650 million casino and hotel. Mr Petera’s project is pegged at US$300 million. Sri Lanka is home to a handful of small foreigners-only casinos. These were granted recognition by legislation sponsored by the Rajapaksas in 2010 but never formally organized in a regulatory framework. The government had hoped expanding the industry with high-end destination-scale casinos would promote economic development by boosting tourist arrivals and generating badly needed foreign investment for rebuilding the country after decades of civil war with Hindu separatists. The casino at the Deltin Resort India’s Delta Corporation has opened its flagship Deltin Resort in the district of Daman on the Arabian Sea coast, where the country’s largest casino is awaiting licensing. Delta Chairman Jaydev Mody called the opening a “milestone,” saying it “underlines our efforts to provide luxurious yet accessible gaming and hospitality destinations in the country”. “I am confident,” he added, “that it will reshape the face of the industry in India.” The 60,000-square-foot casino attached to the resort will open “very shortly,” said a Delta spokesman, who declined to elaborate, according to English-language press reports. It will be India’s largest casino and the first in the country to operate outside of Goa, which is located farther south on the coast and like Daman once was part of Portugal’s Indian colonies. Daman and its neighboring district of Diu are known as Union territories and administered directly by the federal government. Nepal Orders Casinos Closed The Nepal government has declared the country’s 10 casinos illegal and ordered them closed for failing to pay past-due royalties and obtain new licenses. “The ministry didn’t renew licenses of the ten casinos operating REGIONAL BRIEFS