Romania’s gambling market looks even less attractive than usual after the government imposed a new 2% tax on gambling turnover.

Shortly before Christmas, Romania’s government issued an emergency ordinance that called for stiff tax hikes on a number of industries, including a ‘greed tax’ on bank assets and a 3% tax on telecom operators’ turnover. The changes officially took effect on January 1.

The ordinance also included plans to impose new taxes on gambling turnover, which the government euphemistically referred to as a ‘gambling participation fee.’ Online operators were to pay a 5% turnover tax, while land-based operators got away with a mere 3% rate. These were to be imposed in addition to the existing 16% tax all operators pay on their gross gambling revenue.

The government released a revised ordinance on December 29 that somewhat softened this blow by reducing the gambling turnover tax to 2%. But the government will reportedly apply the tax retroactively to Romanian-licensed gambling operators’ 2018 performance. Operators will have until February 25 to make this lump-sum payment.

Casino operator MGM Resorts is sharpening its layoff axe as part of the company’s new plan to boost earnings by $300m by 2021.

On Thursday, MGM announced its new ‘MGM 2020’ plan, a transformation that the company expects will deliver “annualized Adjusted EBITDA uplift of $300 million in aggregate, consisting of $200 million by the end of 2020 and an additional $100 million by the end of 2021.”

This “company-wide, business-optimization initiative” is intended to maximize profits by, among other things, centralizing “key company-wide functions” and investing in technology to “lay the groundwork for the Company’s digital transformation to drive revenue growth.”

While this digital transformation is what MGM would like to spotlight, the company acknowledged that half of the additional $200m of earnings the company expects to achieve by the end of 2020 will come through “labor savings.”

A major entertainment project planned for Cambodia has lost its main developer. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia from yesterday, Malaysian investment company MQ Technology announced that it was backing out of the deal that would have seen the development of a large resort area in Cambodia offering hotels, a theme park and a casino. No word has been provided on whether or not another developer will be sourced.

In 2016, MQ, through its Star Acres Sdn Bhd subsidiary, signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Cambodian Resort and Entertainment Co. Ltd in order “to collaborate on the development and management of a theme park,” that would be designated the “Jurassic Theme Park.” In making the announcement, the company added that the project would require an investment of $51.1 million and would take six years to construct. The theme park alone carried an estimated price of $5.1 million.

That initial MoU was extended eight times since then. However, it lapsed completely yesterday and the MQ stated, “The board of directors of MQ Technology Bhd wishes to announce that the memorandum of agreement, which was previously extended to 2 January 2019 is deemed to have lapsed.” MQ added that the latest extension expired because the two entities had not been able to move forward with the project’s development.

According to the MoU, Star Acres was going to be given 70% of the joint venture and would provide future funding of the theme park. The company, through various subsidiaries, designs and manufactures high-precision tooling equipment for a number of industries, and the move into the theme park was a way for it to diversify into “marketing services for gaming-related businesses.

Ability Games Pvt. Ltd. in India continues to expand at a rapid pace. In its latest move, the company, which operates a number of poker and fantasy sports websites, has announced that it has signed an agreement to allow users to make payments through Amazon Pay for its 11Wickets fantasy sports portal.

11Wickets has only been around for about six months, but has already left its mark. One of its brand ambassadors is actress Sunny Leone and it now reportedly has more than a million registered users. The site is an associate sponsor of the Mzansi Super League out of South Africa, as well as Team Nangarhar Leopards from the Afghanistan Premier League.

In touting the deal with Amazon Pay, Ability Games CEO Navneet Markharia stated, “We are excited to join hands with Amazon Pay. This will help the audience enjoy skill-based games and earn cash back at the same time. This association will improve awareness in online games. The online gaming industry has maintained its popularity because it has evolved with time. 11wickets.com aims to be part of this evolution by providing a modern twist to traditional games.

“There is an online boom and the Indian online gaming community is looking for a better gaming experience. With the rising popularity of online gaming, these factors will strengthen the bond between the user and the brand. All the ingredients of explosive growth in gaming are present in the country-be it the demographics, internet or smartphone penetration.”

Casinos in Macau saw a substantial increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) last year as it increased 14% over 2017. Casinos took in a total of $37.57 billion across the 12-month period and operators would certainly love to see a similar increase in 2019. According to analysts, however, this is more than likely not going to happen and GGR growth will remain in the single digits for the year.

Three different brokerages have cautioned that GGR in Macau will take a hit as a result of the trade war between the U.S. and China. The first, JP Morgan, indicates that growth will be between 4-6% lower than what it was a year ago for January and that subsequent months will also remain below 10%. In general, though, the banking giant’s analysts, DS Kim and Sean Zhuang, are optimistic about the future of the industry. They said, “We see a substantial amount of (what we see as unnecessary) fears baked into current stock levels, and better-than-feared industry trends and cessation of negative surprises should alleviate pressure on consensus estimates and drive up valuations.”

The stockbroking division of Japan’s Nomura, Instinet, predicts that GGR this month will grow 5% year-on-year. The firm’s analysts, Daniel Adam, Brian Dobson and Harry Curtis, believe that growth could follow, stating, “Despite trade war concerns and a tough growth comparison last year, Macau GGR increased (by 14 percent year-on-year), but the stocks underperformed. For 2019, we expect much better stock price performance and multiple expansion for those Macau operators with ramping properties.”

The analysts’ note further asserts, “For sentiment to improve: one, VIP needs to stabilise and mass increase over 5 percent; two, progress must be made on concessions; and, three, more free cash should be returned to shareholders.”