ASIA/PACIFIC
March 1, 2010
Early line on Resorts World: Too early to tell
The early going
was a little bumpy for Singapore’s first casino, but owner Genting Singapore is
confident in its visitor projections, and the consensus among analysts seems to
be bullish as well.
As it stood last month,
though, the company’s stock had turned in a dismal performance on the Straits
Times Index, according to news reports, amid concerns that its S$6.6 billion
(US$4.7 billion) Resorts World Sentosa was not drawing enough visitors
The casino, which opened
February 14, had 60,000 patrons in its first three days, according to Resorts
World — well below the daily turnout Hong Kong analyst Dominic Noel-Johnson of Citigroup said the property needs
to meet “below consensus estimates”. He places that number at 34,000
visitors a day, each spending at least S$100 per trip.
“Expectations are in our
view unrealistically bullish for a virgin casino market,” he said. “While a few
days don’t constitute a trend, initial visitors to the Singapore casino are significantly
below our estimates.”
Resorts World countered
that it is confident that as a whole the “integrated resort,” as it is known,
will attract 13 million visitors in the first year, which is the target stated
by Chief Executive Officer Tan Hee Teck.
Analysts at BNP Paribas
and CLSA Asia Pacific Markets said last month they were keeping their “Buy”
ratings on Genting Singapore because the outlook will change as the company
completes the resort’s remaining phases.
“We estimate between 11
million and 12 million people will visit the casino resort this year,” said
Michael Greenalll, Kuala Lumpur-based analyst at BNP Paribas. “That looks achievable. More people will visit the resort
once the Universal Studios theme park opens.”
The theme park is
expected to open early this month.
When
complete, Resorts World will contain 530 table games, 1,300 slot machines and a
12-table poker pit in the casino, plus
the adjoining theme park and six hotels. Four of the hotels opened in January.
Two more are scheduled to open after 2010.
The casino has had a good
start, gauging from the $28.5 million in gaming revenue Asian Gaming
Intelligence estimates it won in its first 36 hours.
Aaron Fischer, an analyst
at CLSA Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, said, “Overall, it’s been strong, but we do
not have enough data to determine the long-term success or failure of the
casino.”
Resorts World’s only
Singapore rival, Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, is set to
open in late April.
On a positive note,
Resorts World has concluded an agreement with Singapore budget carrier Tiger
Airways to lease a chartered aircraft to exclusively fly foreign guests to and
from the property. The service is scheduled to start late this
year.
Tiger operates flights to
33 destinations across 11 countries and territories in Asia and Australia from
bases in Singapore, Melbourne and Adelaide.
INTERNET GAMBLING IN CHINA UNDER OFFICIAL ASSAULT
Eight Chinese
government and Communist Party agencies, led by the Ministry of Public
Security, the central bank and the Ministry of Information and Technology, are
conducting a nationwide crackdown on online gambling, which the Public Security
Ministry describes as “thriving”.
Online gambling “has caused large cash outflows from the country
and seriously disturbed social and economic order,” said a statement posted on
the ministry’s Web site and cited by the country’s Xinhua news
agency.
The campaign aims to “bust a number of syndicates from home and
abroad that collude to organise gambling activities on the Internet and
severely punish the illegal rings,” the ministry said.
Underground banks and third-party payment platforms and Web
operators offering connection services are also in the government’s
cross-hairs.
“[We] will clean up gambling information and Web sites across the
board,” the ministry said.
Joining in the sweep, which was launched last month and is
expected to last through August, are the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme
People’s Procuratorate and the China Banking Regulatory
Commission.
The crackdown is the latest in a series of steps the government
has taken to strengthen its control over Internet use, which is expanding
dramatically in China. The country is home to the world’s largest online
population, at least 384 million users, according to official
figures.
The government routinely censors the Web to curb what it considers
socially “unhealthy” content — which includes pornography, violence and
gambling — using a system known as the “Great Firewall of China”. Critics,
however, claim the system aims mainly to prevent the posting of information
that challenges the ruling Communist Party.
But the attack on Web gambling appears to be
motivated in no small part by a widespread match-fixing scandal in Chinese
football.
Nan Yong, executive vice president of the Chinese Football
Association and director of the Chinese Soccer Administrative Center, has been
fired after being held by police for questioning, according to Xinhua. Nan
allegedly is involved in a number of cases closely linked to the CFA, according
to China Daily.
CSAC Deputy Director Yan Yimin also was removed. Head of referees
Zhang Jianqiang was questioned by police.
Four people were detained for suspected
bribery last November, and more arrests were made in December, including two
top officials of the Chengdu Blades, one of 12 teams belonging to the
professional Chinese Super League, which is governed by the
CFA.
IGT EXITING JAPAN: NO 'STRATEGIC FIT,' THE COMPANY SAYS
Citing “ongoing
difficult market conditions and lack of strategic fit,” International Game
Technology announced it is closing down its Japan
operations.
The U.S.-based slot giant described the move as part of a “focus
on operating efficiencies” and said it will be completed by the early part of
the third quarter of fiscal 2010, which means April or May.
IGT currently estimates that charges, including severance, of up
to US$20 million will be recorded in the second and third quarters of fiscal
2010.
SPORTECH, PLAYWIN TARGETING INDIA WITH BETTING SITE
UK-based
football-pools operator Sportech has hooked up with one of India’s leading
lottery operators, Playwin, to develop a sports betting Web site targeting the
lucrative subcontinent.
The 50-50 deal calls for the partners to each pay £2 million in
start-up costs ahead of a scheduled launch of the site this spring.
The site will offer a suite of prediction and fantasy games —
centered initially around India’s most popular sports, which include cricket,
football and Formula One auto racing — and will be promoted across Essel
Group’s Zee TV network and online. Playwin is a subsidiary of Essel, a
Mumbai-based conglomerate with holdings in media, technology, entertainment,
packaging, infrastructure development and education.
London-based, publicly traded Sportech was formed through the
acquisitions of British pools operators Littlewoods Gaming, Zetters and
Vernons.
Sportech CEO Ian Penrose said of the new
venture: “India has a huge population with a long history of being committed
sports fans, and Playwin is ideal as a partner as it is already India’s premier
gaming operator and enjoys significant brand strength.”
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