
Studio City Macau: Despite its many attractions that are non-gaming’s failing to attract the mass market crowds.
Studio City Macau, Lawrence Ho and James Packer’s $4.5 billion integrated casino resort on the Cotai Strip is in trouble and could default on the $1.41 billion loan utilized to complete the construction associated with the hotel.
That’s the word from rating agency Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, which this week issued a negative outlook for the resort’s bonds, off the back of a 42.5 percent slide in their value.
Macau’s first ever TV and movie-themed resort opened in October 2015, with Packer’s girlfriend Mariah Carey headlining the night that is opening since the likes of Robert De Nero and Leonardo DiCaprio mingled among the list of crowd. It even had its own night that is opening, The Audition, a brief movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring De Nero, DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
Packer called it the ‘coolest 15 minutes ever made,’ but, with an $80 million price tag, it might equally be called the most advertisement that is expensive made.
Brand New Concept Doesn’t Drive Crowds
But for all the glitz, Studio City was conceived in a markedly different economic weather, before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive halted the region’s success story and delivered profits tumbling for 26 straight months.
Studio City went big on non-gaming amenities, positioning itself as a non-VIP gaming location so that you can woo China’s burgeoning class that https://myfreepokies.com/pelican-pete/ is middle.
This has sets from television and film production facilities to a Batman themed flight-simulator that is 4-D coaster ride and a figure-eight Ferris wheel, but because of a slowing Chinese economy, visitor numbers to Macau are falling and the hordes of middle classes have failed to materialize.
Melco Distances Itself
Melco Crown owns a 60 per cent stake in the property, while US hedge funds Silver Point Capital and Oaktree Capital own a 40 percent stake. Bloomberg reported this week that Melco Crown has sought to distance itself from any type of rescue package for the casino.
‘Studio City Casino Macau is at a totally split credit group and its particular debt is non-recourse to Melco Crown Entertainment Limited. […] Investors should not assume that Melco Crown Entertainment Limited provides any monetary support to Studio City Casino Macau or that it would step in for Studio City Casino Macau,’ said a Melco Representative.
There is speculation that that Melco is seeking to put the ramp up the hedge funds because it desires to buy them out for a good cost, and that the negative score from Standard and Poor’s will strengthen its position.
Duterte Takes Shock U-turn on Online Gambling
‘Gamble until you die. I do not really care,’ said Philippine President Duterte Wednesday, clearly in a more mood that is forgiving. (Image: rapeller.com)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s hardline crackdown on online gambling took a twist that is unexpected this week.
On Tuesday the federal government’s gambling operator-regulator, PAGCOR, announced that it was in the process of ‘readying applications. that it ended up being prepared to license online gambling firms that targeted ‘non-locals’ and’
‘We don’t know yet how saleable it is; there could be no takers,’ PAGCOR Andrea that is chief Domingo to Reuters.’Or there could be numerous applicants,’ she added brightly.
PAGCOR hopes that the licenses that are new offset a number of the revenue lost by Duterte’s systematic dismantling regarding the nation’s online gambling giant, Philweb. Until recently, Philweb operated 299 online gambling boutique cafés through the Philippines, which offered video that is online and slots via roughly 8,000 terminals.
Final year the company’s operations contributed around $12.2 million in fees to the federal government.
Zero-tolerance
Duterte swept to power in June on an agenda that promised to wipe out criminal activity and drugs. Literally. The president has leant his help to vigilante death squads that carry out the extra-judicial killings of criminals and habitual medication users with impunity.
As soon as sworn in, he immediately set his sights on the Philippine online gambling industry, plus in particular Philweb and its chairman, the billionaire Robert Ongpin.
Ongpin ended up being agent of the ‘oligarchs,’ which he believed were ’embedded in federal government’ and practiced ‘influence peddling.’ Meanwhile, stated Duterte, online gambling ‘had to prevent’ because too many Filipinos had been choosing to gamble alternatively of working for a living. It appeared that PAGCOR was taken totally by surprise by the announcement.
Renovation
the month Philweb was forced to announce it might wind its operations down, because of the non-renewal of its license by PAGCOR. Ongpin stepped straight down as president associated with business and, as a bid that is last-ditch approval, agreed to transfer almost all of his majority stake in the company to PAGCOR, in an effort to truly save the company and its particular 6,000 employees. PAGCOR ended up being forced to refuse.
But on Wednesday, Duterte was clearly in a more mood that is tolerant.
‘Pay the correct taxes… Gamble and soon you die. I don’t really care,’ he announced magnanimously.
Duterte happens to be willing to restore online gambling provided ‘taxes are correctly collected plus they [online gambling cafes] are situated or placed in districts where gambling is allowed, which means to state, not inside the church distance or schools.’
‘ I was angry because even the youth are gambling and there is not a way of collecting the taxes that are proper’ he admitted.
Whether what this means is he could be willing to permit Philweb to keep its operations as before is currently unclear.
Indiana Casino Union Does What Trump Taj Mahal Workers Couldn’t: Hits New Contract with Majestic Star Riverboats
Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the current GOP contender that is vice-presidential has put their state on the map for monetary gains and development during their administration. Now a new casino union contract in the Hoosier State is also showing up its cousin chapter in Atlantic City, having successfully negotiated for benefits, where its brethren failed.
The Indiana Unite Here casino union has successfully bargained for a contract that is new the 2 Majestic Star riverboats in Gary, a stark comparison from the union’s efforts in Atlantic City, which failed. (Image: Unite Here/youtube.com)
Indiana’s Unite Here casino union, representing cooks, wait staff, and housekeepers during the two Majestic Star riverboats in Gary, has now reached an agreement that is new the gambling operator. On August 19, the 2 edges officially finalized off for a contract that increases wages over the next couple of years, while maintaining the current wellness insurance coverage programs being afforded to union members.
The deal operates through 2018.
Unite Here Local 1 spokesperson Noah Carson-Nelson told the Chicago Tribune, ‘Our users are content. The individuals were excited that it ended up being settled fairly quickly and that it includes raises and equivalent health insurance.’
The Majestic Star casinos sit next to 1 another in Lake Michigan, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Chicago.
Local 1’s parent union, Unite right Here, is the organization that is same unsuccessfully proceeded strike at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City earlier in the summer. As a result, billionaire owner Carl Icahn announced that the casino is going to be forever shutting on 10 october.
The Trump Factor
Formerly known as the Trump Casino, Majestic Star II was renamed after Trump Entertainment Resorts sold the property to Majestic in 2005 for $253 million.
The sale was part of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR) filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004. The business emerged from liquidation under the brand new Trump Entertainment Resorts name in 2005.
Trump’s record in Atlantic City is obviously questionable. But in Indiana, Trump’s riverboat was decidedly lucrative. Throughout the 11 years since Majestic acquired the casino that is floating it is never won as much money because it did when Trump was the financial admiral regarding the ship.
In 2004, total victories eclipsed $140 million. In 2015, the Majestic Star II pulled in just half of that figure.
The Majestic Stars are two of 10 riverboat gambling enterprises in Indiana. The Hoosier State can also be home to the French Lick Resort Casino, truly the only land-based gambling location there, plus two racinos that offer slots and electronic table video gaming.
Marked Market Variations Between Two States
Back east in Atlantic City, Unite Here Local 54 had been also fighting for higher wages and health insurance at the Trump Taj Mahal. But the bankruptcy procedure already underway whenever Carl Icahn purchased the casino allowed the billionaire to temporarily suspend pension and healthcare benefits as he worked to upright the casino’s serious situation that is financial.
But Icahn, who had been reportedly losing $100 million in the endeavor, said he needed more time before restoring benefits. Workers stepped off the job in disgust, and Icahn called their bluff in a move that ultimately caused both sides to lose.
The market is quite different in northwest Indiana than in Atlantic City. When the Taj Mahal closes its doors in October, it becomes the casino that is fifth shutter down since 2014 in nj.
The Blue Chip Casino and Hotel in Michigan City, Indiana also recently negotiated successfully with Unite Here Local 1. Ameristar Casino Hotel did as well, albeit following a lengthy and process that is tedious.
‘We’re delighted to move ahead, and happy that people achieved it within an equitable manner,’ Majestic Star General Manager Barry Cregan stated of the new contract.
So why would small Indiana video gaming union find more success featuring its company than in the much larger Atlantic City market? Because the Taj had been losing millions every month, while the union’s demands would only drive those losses further into the muck. In Indiana, while maybe not thriving like they may have been over a ten years ago, casinos are apparently still making an adequate amount of a revenue to produce union benefits a worthwhile investment.
Paddy Power Betfair Reports £47.5 Million Loss Considering Costs of Merger
Breon Corcoran, Paddy Power Betfair CEO, said that the company would not rule away further consolidation if the proper opportunity arose. (Image: Business Post sunday)
Paddy Power Betfair has reported running losings of £47.5 million ($62.6 million) for the half that is first of when comparing to profits of £106.5 million ($140.5) for the corresponding period of 2015.
CEO Breon Corcoran this week attributed the losses to costs that are one-off to your merger between your two wagering powerhouses, amounting to £195 million ($257 million) in total. Paddy energy and Betfair agreed terms of their £5 billion ($6.5 billion) merger in September year that is last the deal was only finalized on February 2, 2016.
Thus, short-term losses incurred during through integration, including some £29 million ($38.2) in advisory fees alone, are expected to be handsomely offset by cost saving synergies associated with newly combined company further down the line.
In fact, Paddy Power Betfair has upped its estimate of future price saving from £50 million ($65 million) per year by 2018 to £65 million ($85.7 million) per from next year year.
A lot of those savings have actually come from job losings, with 650 of the combined business’s 7,200-strong workforce having found themselves surplus to needs after the merger.
Revenue Up 18 Per Cent
‘People have been really diligent, there’s been an awful lot of difficult work done, and promptly,’ said Corcoran for the integration effort. ‘Paddy Power Betfair has suffered good energy through an amount of considerable change.’
Corcoran additionally pointed to an 18 % rise in revenue for the time, to £759 million ($1 billion), also double-digit growth across all four of its core divisions. Discounting merger expenses, would have reported underlying earnings of £181 million ($238 million), Corcoran said.
On the web revenue was up 20 percent at £440 million ($580 million), while Paddy Power’s land-based bookmaking stores recorded a 12 per cent increase in revenues to £147 million ($193 million). The company’s US and operations that are australian reported development.
More Consolidation Possible
‘The restructuring happens to be mainly complete therefore the merger synergies are being delivered in front of schedule,’ said Corcoran. ‘we have been producing a world class operation by exploiting the assets that are unique capabilities of each legacy business, particularly in the key functions of technology, marketing and trading.
‘While our industry remains highly competitive and is exposed to the prevailing economic and regulatory environments, our strong market roles, increased scale and enhanced capabilities position us well for sustainable, profitable growth.’
Corcoran also refused to rule out of the possibility of more consolidation. If the asset that is right up during the right price his company will be well placed to acquire it, he said, but the moment he had been focusing on the integration process.