Softer economic conditions in China, coupled with the ongoing government crackdown on conspicuous spending, have resulted in a “softening” in VIP turnover across casino resorts in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia’s Crown Resorts casinos.

On Wednesday, the Australian-listed casino operator reported a 12.2% drop in VIP play turnover across its resorts in the six months ending December 31, 2018, to A$19.9 billion (US$14.24 billion). VIP revenue in Crown’s Melbourne resort was down 11.2%, with a turnover of A$17.3 billion (US$12.38 billion), while Crown Perth reported an 18.5% decline with a turnover of A$2.6 billion (US$1.86 billion).

Crown Melbourne’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped by 3.2% due to the “unfavourable variance” from the casino resort’s VIP program. The property’s main floor revenue, however, rose 2% to A$630.7 million (US$451.33 million), thanks to higher table games revenue (up 2.7%) and gaming machine revenue (up 0.9%).

In Perth, EBITDA fell 8.6% to A$117.6 million (US$841.55 million), along with table game revenue (down 5.2%). Gaming machine and non-gaming revenues were slightly up at 0.7% and 1.8% respectively. Overall, Crown’s total normalized revenue rose 0.9% to A$194.1 million (US$138.9 million).

Melco Resorts and Entertainment closed out 2018 strong. Its gross gaming revenue (GGR) grew 5% in the last period of the year, reaching $1.40 billion, thanks to a string of good luck at all of its properties, as well as a stronger performance at its City of Dreams (COD) venue in Macau. On the downside, if new revenue standards had not been implemented last year, according to Melco, its GGR would have increased by 12% year-on-year.

Operating income in the quarter increased to $204 million – a 58% increase over the same period a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) jumped 25% to reach $425.2 million and net income saw a 57.6% increase, climbing from $81.2 million a year earlier to $128 million.

COD reported a drop in revenue of 7.3% to $155.2 million. However, its adjusted EBITDA came in higher, reaching $67.9 million for an improvement of 26.2%.

Across the company, the rolling chip volume shrank to $2.5 billion from the previous $5.7 billion, while the win rate increased from 2.8% to 3.8% Mass market activity dropped to $825.4 million, but the hold rate kept steady at 27% compared to the 26.1% seen in the last quarter of 2017. The handle on gaming machines bumped up by 19.1% to $641.8 million.

China is getting behind Macau’s success. A new initiative is underway that will integrate the city’s economy, as well as its people, with that of Hong Kong and the Guangdong province in mainland China. The move will see the two Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of Macau and Hong Kong, alongside Guangdong, form part of what is dubbed the “Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area,” or simply the “Greater Bay Area (GBA).”

China published a plan for the GBA this past Monday, the Outline Development Plan for the [GBA].” According to Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen, who spoke to GGRAsia on the subject, “Ultimately, it is the arrival of visitors that will drive the growth of Macau and effectively combining Macau into the other jurisdictions of the Greater Bay Area can only result in significantly more visitation in the out years.” Govertsen further stated, “This is exactly why it is almost impossible to not be bullish on the long-term story in Macau.”

Over the Chinese New Year holiday period at the beginning of February, Macau saw an increase in visitor arrivals of 26.6% compared to the same period last year. It was the first time that the city saw over one million arrivals for the period.

The GBA also includes the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HKZM) Bridge, as it connects the three areas. The bridge is helping to propel the GBA plan and already has proven to be an integral part in the rise in visitation to Macau.

As anticipated, the Dutch Senate held a vote yesterday on its Remote Gambling Bill. The results are in and the process of issuing online gambling licenses will begin sometime during the middle of next year. It took over three years, but at least the bill has survived.

The lower house of the Dutch Parliament approved the bill about three and a half years ago and the Senate has now given its approval, as well. The country will begin to restructure the online gambling market in the country in order to allow international online gambling operators to submit license requests from the Kansspelautoriteir, the country’s regulator, and to enter a new regulated market.

Analysts have indicated that the licensing process should begin sometime in the middle of next year, with the new regulatory organization beginning on January 1, 2021. This is certainly going to draw a lot of attention from a number of operators who have been waiting – mostly impatiently – for progress to be made in the country.

The Netherlands is an attractive market for online gambling operators. This is due primarily to the popularity of betting activity in the country, which saw an increase of 20% in gambling between 2016-2018 compared to the two years prior.

Police in Macau are investigating what is being suspected as the murder of a 41-year-old man at one of the most prestigious casinos in Southeast Asia. The Sands Casino, a five-star casino resort located in Macau, notified police on Tuesday that a man had been found stabbed to death in his bed at the resort.

In November 2018, Wong Sio Chak, the Security for Security in the region, released a statement that showed that for the previous nine months that crime had dropped significantly. The report showed that a 1.8% drop in reported cases had occurred within the first nine months of 2018, with only a small number of serious crimes being reported.

The report also found that the number of serious crimes were either nonexistent or had reached levels that were negligible. This included such crimes as kidnapping, murder, and assault.

Macau became an autonomous region of China nearly 20 years ago when Portugal ceded its control over the region to the Chinese government. Since then, it has become a hotbed for Chinese tourists, rivaling Hong Kong.

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) took a dramatic step on Monday, blocking over 2200 gambling websites as well as over 15,000 adult websites. The crackdown also included the shutting down of two popular video sharing apps for smartphones – Tik Tok and Bigo.

Last Thursday, it was announced that 176 such gambling websites had been blocked in Bangladesh. There were 1279 pornographic websites blocked within the country as well, however, that number grew exponentially over the weekend.

Purity and retaliation

According to a post published on Facebook by Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar, the move was created to provide a safer space on the Internet that was free of “indecent content.” The minister explained that the use of the Internet was supposed to be for the “benefit” of young people, and that adult and gambling websites were found to be in violation.

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) took a dramatic step on Monday, blocking over 2200 gambling websites as well as over 15,000 adult websites. The crackdown also included the shutting down of two popular video sharing apps for smartphones – Tik Tok and Bigo.

Last Thursday, it was announced that 176 such gambling websites had been blocked in Bangladesh. There were 1279 pornographic websites blocked within the country as well, however, that number grew exponentially over the weekend.

Purity and retaliation

According to a post published on Facebook by Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar, the move was created to provide a safer space on the Internet that was free of “indecent content.” The minister explained that the use of the Internet was supposed to be for the “benefit” of young people, and that adult and gambling websites were found to be in violation.

Genting Singapore improved its VIP gambling segment market share during the fourth quarter, which is setting the stage for further growth throughout the current year. This is per analysts with the Sanford C. Bernstein brokerage, who reviewed Genting’s results after they were released by the company yesterday.

According to Bernstein, “We expect Genting Singapore to gain share quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year in VIP…” It adds that this has been “driven by credit extension” to players.

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for Genting’s VIP market, fueled by the company’s Resorts World Sentosa resort, reached $173.16 million last quarter. This represents a 4% decline over the previous quarter, but a 17% increase over the same period a year earlier.

Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu add that the growth could be attributed to easier access to credit by players. They also stated that the amount of money listed under Genting’s “accounts receivable” column had expanded by 27% from the second quarter of the year to the third, adding, “We will pay close attention to see if the trend continues in the fourth quarter,” and will also monitor “the impact on rolling chip volume and bad debt expense.”

Poker Master, Ali Imsirovic, has emerged as a contender for the 2019 US Poker Open after beating Cary Katz, heads-up, to win Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em. 

When it comes to the career of Ali Imsirovic, you can still smell the sulphur dioxide. Relatively new to the high roller scene, it’s going to be a long time before he becomes a burnt match.

[Image credit: Poker Central]

In the Fall, Imsirovic won the Poker Masters, and yesterday, he threw his hoodie into the ring to become the 2019 US Poker Open by winning Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em.

partypoker has stepped up their intent to move into the poker live streaming market by creating the Team Online concept and announcing Matt Staples as the first member of the team. 

When partypoker’s Managing Director, Tom Waters says they have been ‘a bit behind the curve when it comes to streaming,’ he’s not kidding. When PokerStars signed Jason Somerville in 2015, they did so because they could see the value in investing time, money and effort into this brave new world.

partypoker’s ambassadors have dipped a few fingers and toes into the stream, but never with the consistency needed to build something that can match, or even surpass, what PokerStars has done.

That’s about to change.

There are a handful of rivalries in college football that have an argument as the best in the sport, led by Alabama-Auburn, Army-Navy, Michigan-Ohio State and Notre Dame-Southern Cal. There is simply no argument, however, about which NCAA basketball rivalry surpasses all others: Duke-North Carolina.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The Blue Devils returned to No. 1 in the polls Monday and will host the No. 8 Tar Heels on Wednesday in the first of two scheduled meetings as 9-point betting favorites. There’s just nothing quite like that rivalry, and if you ever get the chance to see a UNC-Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, do it. Good luck getting tickets, though. Led by superstar freshman Zion Williamson, the Blue Devils are atop the ACC standings at 11-1. Their two overall losses are by just a combined six points and they enter on a nine-game winning streak.

North Carolina is tied with Virginia a game back of Duke in the ACC. On Saturday, UNC crushed Wake Forest 95-57 for its biggest margin of victory ever in an ACC road game. The Heels and Blue Devils split last regular season, each winning at home. They also played in the ACC Tournament semifinals, and North Carolina won by five. The Heels have covered 15 of their past 21 at Duke.

Man Utd beat Chelsea, and draw Wolves in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup as the favourites Man City draw Swansea.

Football had become a bore. Russian roulette seemed more interesting. But something’s changed since Ole Gunnar Solksjaer arrived at Old Trafford in December. Football is fun again.

As a Manchester United fan, I’ve been as fortunate as a billionaire’s son on Christmas morning with the magnificence of the Sir Alex Ferguson era making every Man Utd game a scintillating spectacle.

Then he left.