Inside Asian Gaming

April 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 39 I t seems a couple of Russian entrepreneurs were left mightily disappointed after the Cambodian capital’s slot clubs were placed under lock and key by the government in a crack down on gambling by locals. Overnight they found that thousands of US dollars- worth of gaming equipment they owned or had leased to third parties was suddenly out of reach. And all this at a time when businesses everywhere need all the liquidity they can get. An American company faced with this kind of problem would in all likelihood get on the phone to its lawyers or to the US Embassy to see if any arms could be (legally) twisted. In Russia, the direct approach is more in fashion. Russian business people are by definition not shrinking violets. You need a thick skin, good political contacts and in some cases a set of body armour to make any headway in a post-Soviet economy. IAG understands several of these demi-oligarchs hatched a scheme to snatch back their equipment at night from locked premises. The plan was about to swing into action—until it was pointed out that they would in all likelihood have to face the wrath of an armed and potentially dangerous group—i.e., the local police. The boys in tall peaked hats and sunglasses were already reportedly ticked off at the loss of a lucrative source of unofficial ‘tax’ from the capital’s gambling industry after the unfortunate accidental death of their commander. IAG ’s sources suggest this was the sort of ‘law enforcement’ scenario that Russians—schooled in the world of business negotiation occasionally featuring armed back up—could understand. They decided to relent and try a different tack. There’s a general rule in developing countries (sorry,‘emergingmarkets’) that the level of accountability of public servants is inversely proportional to the number of people in uniform actually on the streets. By that measure, the Russian traders were probably wise to hold off and seek a negotiated settlement for the return of their kit. Elixir Revenues from gaming machines on participation were approximately US$1.0 million in Q4 ’08 compared to revenues of US$1.1 million in Q3 ’08 and US$0.3 million in Q4 ‘07. EGT’s total revenues for Q4 ‘08 were US$2.1 million compared to US$3.6 million in the third quarter of 2008 and US$2.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. The company said the quarterly sequential decline in revenues reflected what it called “softness” in its legacy casino table games business. It added that in February this year that business had been sold off. This is understood to be a reference to a deal last month where EGT sold its intellectual property related to card shuffling and card deck checking equipment, including the RandomPlus Shuffler, the ShufflePro Shuffler and the DeckChecker, to Shuffle Master Inc. EGT’s total revenues for fiscal 2008 increased to US$12.3 million fromUS$12.2million in fiscal 2007 as incremental growth in revenues from gaming machines on participation and growth in non gaming operations offset declines in the legacy table game business. Looking ahead to the rest of 2009, EGT said it was instituting further cost savings, including the closure of itsMacau andU.S. offices and China manufacturing plant, a reduction in the size of its Hong Kong and Cambodia offices, and agreeing to voluntary reductions in salary for senior executives. It expected the measures to produce savings of US$3 million in Q2 2009 and US$2.5 million in Q3 ’09. Russian roulette More tantalising snippets have reached IAG re: the fallout from the great Phnom Penh slot club market implosion