The Tigre de Cristal casino in Russia’s far east Primorye gaming zone is ditching VIPs in favor of a more modest class of high roller.
On Friday, the Hong Kong-listed Summit Ascent Holdings, which holds a controlling stake in Tigre de Cristal, released its financial results for the six months ending June 30. Revenue improved a modest 2% year-on-year to HK$207.8m (US$26.5m) but adjusted earnings improved 17% to HK$66.8m and profit swung to HK$2.6m from a loss of HK$5.4m in H1 2017.
Once again, it’s time to explain the tangled web of Tigre de Cristal’s operations: Summit Ascent holds a 60% stake in the casino’s actual owner Oriental Regent Ltd, while the casino’s operations are handled by Summit’s wholly owned subsidiary G1 Entertainment, which earns a management fee of 3% of the property’s gross gaming revenue.
The casino’s VIP gambling turnover fell 22.5% year-on-year to HK$6.5b in H1, while VIP gross win fell 38.2% to HK$189m as win rate fell 0.74 points to 2.9%. After deducting VIP rebates, net VIP win was down 44.5% to HK$41m. It’s worth noting that the casino’s average number of VIP tables fell to 12 from 16 in H1 2017.
Summit said it remains “sanguine” regarding the VIP slowdown, saying it has come under “increasing pressure” from junket operators seeking higher levels of rebates since the year began. Summit has resisted these requests, choosing instead to focus on developing its own ‘premium mass’ business.
The casino’s mass market numbers appear to support this strategy, as mass table drop rose more than one-third to HK$348m and net win spiked 47.3% to HK$84m.
The slots business, which primarily caters to a local clientele, reported handle up 44.4% to HK$1.35b but a lower win rate kept slots revenue’s gain to 27% (HK$66m).
Tigre de Cristal’s average hotel occupancy was largely unchanged year-on-year at 76% on the weekends but just 45% on weekdays. Still, hotel revenue fell 22% to HK$17m due to fewer high-rolling clients.
Summit says it’s encouraged by the Primorye region’s rising foreign tourist visitation, which is growing at a annual rate of 33% over the past five years. At the end of H1 there were 50% more direct flights to the region than one year ago.
Summit says it is currently refining the design and construction requirements of Tigre de Cristal’s Phase II, construction of which is expected to commence next spring with a targeted opening in “the latter half of 2020.” Phase II originally targeted a late-2019 opening but delays stemmed from alterations in financing and design options following “recent changes in substantial shareholders.”
Summit also says it’s observed “an acceleration of building works” by other Primorye operators, including NagaCorp’s Naga Vladivostok and Diamond Fortune Holdings’ Selena project. Assuming these other operators continue at this accelerated pace, Summit says it may start to see the benefits of a “cluster effect” of casinos as early as 2021.
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Canadian pharmaceutical company Easton Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a Letter of Intent to participate into a project for the development of hotel and casino resort in Europe. 
This is the second European casino project Easton has announced interest in participating in over the past several weeks. Earlier this month, the company confirmed that it has begun discussions with involved parties over the acquisition of an interest or participation in the acquisition of an already operational hotel and casino resort in Greece. 
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The owners of two NFL clubs have not disposed of their stakes in daily fantasy operator turned bookmaker DraftKings as the new season is weeks away from kicking off and sports betting legalization efforts are gaining pace in multiple states. 
At present, fantasy sports is DraftKings’ primary product. However, in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, CEO Jason Robins said that it will not be long before the company begins deriving the majority of its revenue from sports betting. He added that they expect that to happen in the next two to three years, depending on “how fast the states roll out”. 
come for another five to seven years following the launch of the first three.
The 2018 edition of the WPT500 Los Angeles is now in the books. The tournament drew 2,509 entries who challenged their luck and tested their skills against each other at one of California’s hottest poker destinations – The Bicycle Casino. In the end, it was Michael Copeland who posed for a celebratory picture and then pocketed the first-place prize of $181,950 for outlasting his many opponents. 
Copeland faced Pineda heads-up. The eventual winner had nearly three times more chips than his final opponent at the time cards were thrown in the air for the two-handed match. And it was not a long battle. It actually took around ten minutes for Copeland to finish off his last opponent. 
It has been three months since the US Supreme Court struck down the 1992 nationwide ban on sports betting. The historic ruling led up to the legalization and launch of sports betting offering in several states and started discussions over the potential of a regulated sports betting industry in multiple other states. 
In an email to Sports Handle, Sen. Carroll has said that the group has decided on the basis for taxation when and if sports betting is legalized in the state. Wagering will thus be taxed on net revenue, but a rate is yet to be determined by lawmakers. 
With sports betting growing into an almost nationwide mainstream venture, more and more parties are becoming aware that what could turn into an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars is currently in the making. And more and more parties want a piece of that large and juicy pie. 
The nine lawmakers tasked with crafting the state’s sports betting regulatory framework have quite some work to do. For instance, they will have to decide where sports betting will be offered and who will regulate the industry. 
Revenue for the first half was at $777.6 million, 46% more than last year’s revenue for the same period. Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for cruise-related activities, excluding startup costs for new ships, was at $63 million, whereas the company reported a first-half loss of $18.3 million in 2017.
The WPT500 Los Angeles in entering its closing stage after nine days of quality poker action at The Bicycle Casino in the Los Angeles area. The $570 buy-in tournament drew a field of 2,509 warriors, all eyeing the first-place prize and the accolades that accompany a champion. However, there are just nine of them left in contention and it is a matter of hours before it becomes clear who will be the one to claim the title. 
Day 2 of the event was played Sunday at The Bike. Play commenced with 124 players and lasted until WPT regular Minh Nguyen was eliminated in 10th place for $17,790 in prize money. The player hit the rail after failing to hold up against Michael Copeland. As for Copeland, the chips he collected from Nguyen helped him cement his lead. 
Chinese casino tycoon Lui Che Woo is confident that Galaxy Entertainment Group will build a $500-million integrated resort with a gaming floor on the Philippine island of Boracay, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s apparent disdain for casinos. 
In his CNBC interview, Mr. Lui said that their Boracay resort will target high-end customers from the Asia-Pacific region. However, there will be a clear focus on non-gambling offering. The casino floor will thus represent a small portion of the whole complex and will only feature several dozens of gaming tables. The businessman went on to say that it will be their goal to “restore the beautiful natural scenery” of Boracay to how it had been before.
K International reportedly wants to build a $263.6-million hotel and entertainment complex in the PIER. The complex would include the hotel, a casino, a shopping center and a duty-free zone to the area and would be built on a 49-acre parcel of land.
Saturday was an eventful day at The Bicycle Casino in the Los Angeles area as the ongoing WPT500 Los Angeles finally concluded its starting flights stage. Over the course of the past eight days, as many as 2,509 entrants paid the $570 buy-in fee to try their luck and challenge their skills in one of WPT’s most exclusive series. 
Day 1P (Turbo) was the event’s final starting flight. It was, too, played yesterday at The Bike. The flight attracted 189 entries who were eventually whittled down to just nine players. Paul Lee bagged the largest stack of that closing starting flight. The player will enter Day 2 with 830,000 worth of chips. 
Poker excitement is building up at The Bicycle Casino where the latest installment of the WPT500 is taking place. The ongoing WPT500 Los Angeles is a special one. The $570 buy-in tournament features a record number of starting flights, which means a record number of opportunities for player to join the field. 
The Turbo-structure Day 1N also took place on Friday at the host casino. It drew 100 warriors seeking a shot at the title and the first-place prize. After 22 levels of play, there were only five players left to whom the original field had been whittled down. 
Australian casino operator 
Days 1K and 1L of the latest edition of the $570 buy-in WPT500 Los Angeles were played at The Bicycle Casino in the Los Angeles area on Thursday. The two starting flights drew a combined of 264 entries who brought the overall field to 1,459 contenders. 
The second starting flight of the day kicked off at 5 pm local time and featured a Turbo format. It drew an 83-strong field that was eventually reduced to just four players. Jeff Yarchever will be leading Day 1L’s pack of survivors with a significant advantage over his three remaining opponents.
DraftKing was the first company to go live with a mobile betting app in New Jersey after the state legalized wagering on professional and amateur sports in mid-June. The DraftKings Sportsbook app was launched on August 6 with the company’s Atlantic City partner – Resorts Atlantic City. It was just a few days ago when Las Vegas giant MGM Resorts International entered the New Jersey mobile betting market with a dedicated app to compete for a share in that potentially lucrative market. 
The WPT500 Los Angeles is in full swing as ten of the event’s sixteen starting flights are already in the books. The most recent two were ticked off as completed last night at The Bicycle Casino. Days 1I and 1J together drew 240 contenders on Wednesday to swell the overall field to 1,195 entries. Of that overall field, there are just 60 left in contention for the title and the first-place prize. 
The Day 1J (Turbo) starting flight saw 66 players in attendance. That field was eventually whittled down to the final three players. Douglas Claybrook emerged as the chip leader, putting 600,000 in his bag at the end of the day. Chris DeMaci with 507,000 and Min Zhang with 214,000 were the other two fortunate players who made it through the end of the event’s tenth starting flight. Action lasted through Level 23. 
Would-be Tinian casino operator 
