Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming JUNE 2015 44 Construction Starts on Resorts World Las Vegas Genting Group on 6th May broke ground on Resorts World Las Vegas, which will be built on the site previously earmarked for Boyd Gaming’s Echelon project. The resort’s first phase, which includes 3,000 hotel rooms, is slated to open in mid-2018. Boyd Gaming partially built a handful of buildings on the 87- acre site, located diagonally across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Wynn and Encore hotels, before halting construction in 2008. Genting operates Resorts World properties in Malaysia, Singapore, the Bahamas and the Philippines as well as an all- electronic gaming venue in New York’s borough of Queens. Lawrence Ho’s Russian Casino to Open 28th August According to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the doors to the Russian casino Tigre de Cristal will open by August 28th. Lawrence Ho, co-chairman of Macau casino operating giant Melco Crown Entertainment, is the majority owner in the project through a separate investment vehicle, Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings. Last month, Summit Ascent said that the first stage of the casino resort should be completed around 30th June. The project is thought to contain 15 baccarat tables, 800 slot machines, 25 other table games, 25 VIP gaming tables and 119 hotel rooms. After the completion of construction, it is expected to take six to eight weeks for the government inspection and the commissioning process. Summit Ascent has now planned to open the first part of the casino resort that is called Tigre de Cristal by 28th August. For the opening in August, Summit Ascent plans to have 700 people hired and trained. The number of employees will increase to 1100 when the property is fully open. This will be the first of several casinos to open in the Primorsky Krai gaming region of Russia. Tigre de Cristal is located northeast of Vladivostok on the north-west coast of Ussuriysky Bay to the south of Murav’inaya Harbor. The development includes Cherepashye Lake. INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS Artist’s impression of the soon-to-open Tigre de Cristal casino Aristocrat Leisure CEO Jamie Odell Aristocrat Leisure Targets New Apps as Earnings Soar Aristocrat Leisure hopes to buy more social media gaming companies to bulk up its fast-growing digital unit as it impressed investors with a huge earnings boost from last year’s A$1.3 billion Video Gaming Technologies acquisition. Net profit for the Sydney-based gaming machine manufacturer jumped 67% year on year to $110.1 million in the six months ending 31st March, beating analyst expectations. The result was driven by a first-time earnings contribution by the US-based VGT, rapid growth from its digital unit and a boost for its participation games for popular titles based on television shows like Game of Thrones, which give the company a share of recurring revenue. After buying “social casino” gamemaker Product Madness in late 2012, Aristocrat chief executive Jamie Odell said he is on the hunt for more deals to build on strong revenue growth from virtual slot games like its Heart of Vegas application. The social casino apps are free but users spend cash on extra credits and premium play. “We feel like we’ve got natural growth as mobile continues to grow, but to really accelerate growth we’ll probably have to look at other opportunities,” Mr Odell commented. “We started off with a small acquisition [Product Madness], which has proved to be highly successful. Now we’ve got that confidence level and the skill sets, then certainly for the right returns profile, we’d be open to a deal on a larger scale than that.” Aristocrat’s digital segment increased profit to $15.7 million. While the digital business continues to show speedy growth, investors were also encouraged by a strong contribution from VGT with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization up 15% on the pro-forma period to US$86.2 million ($110 million). Citi estimates VGT will contribute US$190 million for the full year. Aristocrat has been trumpeting the VGT deal, which focuses on North America’s tribal casino market, because it gives the company an additional income stream. VGT runs Class II machines based on a bingo-style of game, which lets Aristocrat take a cut of the revenue from its machines in casinos, giving it a new source of income over simply selling a machine outright to a gaming operator. The Class II machines helped to lift recurring revenues for Aristocrat to 47% in the first half compared with 22% in the same period of 2014. The company’s Class III slot machines, however, were a weak spot. A 43% improvement in Australian sales was dragged down by a soft performance in its US and European sales.