In 2010, with a certain amount of trepidation, Singapore opened two casino resorts. There were concerns over rampant crime appearing in the casinos, most of which was predicted to be led by organized crime, but the truth is apparently more mundane than the hype. According to Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Second Minister for Home Affairs, there have only been a “very few” casino-related crimes that could be tied to organized crime in the past nine years.

Teo was addressing Parliament on Monday when she made her comments, adding that Singapore has gaming-related crime “under control.” She stated, “Since 2010 – ever since we started the tracking, when the [casinos’] operations commenced – there have been fewer than 20 in total [criminal matters] that are traced to syndicates. If you look at the amounts of money involved, it was between SGD14,000 [US$10,272] to SGD1.3 million [$954.460].”

Despite a low amount of organized crime, neither the ministry nor the casinos are letting down their guard, asserted Tao. She told parliamentary members, “In this instance, the [casino] operators obviously have an interest – they have fiduciary interest, and so they are minded to work with the police to stamp out the possible infiltration of organised crime.”

Las Vegas Sands, through its Marina Bay Sands resort, and Genting Singapore with Resorts World Sentosa are the only two gambling venues allowed in Singapore under the current regulatory framework. The two will continue their control for a little while longer, as they have agreed to a combined $6.6-million fee that will keep their duopoly intact until 2030.

The drop in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau is nothing more than a temporary glitch that doesn’t have local authorities concerned. It should correct itself in the near future and Morgan Stanley expects next quarter to see an increase in at least one segment, VIP gambling.

The banking and financial analyst firm indicates in a recent note that VIP gaming will most likely recuperate and has not been as impacted by cannibalization in other markets as many have asserted. Praveen Choudhary, a Morgan Stanley analyst, explained in his note, “Cambodia and the Philippines VIP business have grown significantly in the last two years and might give an impression that they are taking share from Macau. However, if we add Singapore, Australia and Saipan, we realise that the percentage of VIP revenue from regions (other than Macau) has remained fairly stable at around 30 percent of the total VIP revenue in Macau. Thus, one cannot blame overseas leakage for recent Macau VIP revenue growth slowdown.”

He further stated, “The majority of VIP gaming revenue in the Philippines is proxy betting, which is not allowed in Macau and thus it is not a result of cannibalisation. We conclude that Macau VIP revenue could remain resilient despite leakage to ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries and should recover in second half 2019.” Proxy betting refers to an activity that has one individual placing bets for another in a remote location, usually over the phone or through instant message instructions.

Choudhary adds that the slowdown seen this year was, in part, a result of a liquidity shortage in the second half of last year. He states, “Some of the liquidity indicators have started turning around recently, with China M1 reading for March being 4.6 percent, better than the reading in January of 0.4 percent. Based on our analysis, China liquidity indicators lead Macau VIP revenue growth by around six months, and thus we expect VIP recovery to be visible by the third quarter of 2019.”

A Las Vegas casino company has jumped in and announced that it wants the properties help by Caesars Entertainment along the Las Vegas Strip, should the company decide to make a deal. Treasure Island would welcome the opportunity to purchase the properties from Caesars as the company potentially looks to sell its assets, although it’s unclear whether or not the company’s properties would be sold only as a single unit, or if it would break apart the portfolio.

Carl Icahn, who recently became the largest shareholder of Caesars, is leading the charge for the company to find a new owner. He became the largest shareholder to make that goal happen and there is already interest from other casino operations, such as Golden Nugget and its owner, Tilman Fertitta. 

Treasure Island wants to get its hands on Caesars Palace, the iconic Caesars property, along with Harrah’s and Paris and a few others under the company’s control. The company’s CEO, Phil Ruffin, says that Caesars has “great locations” and is willing to spend up to $1 billion in cash for the Strip properties. He added that he would take on debt if necessary to consummate a deal. Ruffin indicated that Treasure Island currently has no debt, giving it easy access to lines of credit.

The executive points out that the Strip properties that average between $200 million and $300 million each year in cash flow are of higher interest. Analysts assert that Strip venues should be able to sell for ten times their annual cash flow amount, which means Ruffin needs to be prepared to cough up a considerably higher amount if he wants to be taken seriously.

The second of three reports from Week 37 of the English Premier League focus on Chelsea’s qualification to the Champions League after beating Watford at Stamford Bridge.

Fans of Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester United can leave their padded cells. The unknown has become known. Spurs, Arsenal and Man Utd, had jelly beans for legs in the Champions League home straight while Chelsea got the job done.

Since losing to Everton on 17 March, Chelsea has only lost once (to Liverpool) while the other horses in the Champions League continued to stumble and fall.

Chelsea’s Champions League qualification was confirmed after another abysmal weekend for Spurs, Arsenal and Man Utd with Spurs losing to Bournemouth, and both Arsenal and Man Utd drawing with lowly Brighton and Huddersfield, while Chelsea beat Watford at Stamford Bridge.

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series returns to the Maestral Resort and Casino in Montenegro, and Steve O’Dwyer wins the first event for HK$3,708,784 after beating Isaac Haxton in heads-up action.

Moments ago, Paul Phua, the co-founder of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, stood in front of former Triton Champions, people of the ilk of John Juanda, Jason Koon and Mikita Badziakouski, and talked eloquently and emotionally about his plans to turn the Triton brand into something special.

Steve O’Dwyer stood behind him, a mere two hours after becoming a champion himself, and if this brand is not yet special, then the poker world had better prepare themselves for an assault to the five senses the likes of which they have never seen before.

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series is in the Maestral Resort & Casino, Budva, Montenegro. Phua called it his ‘favourite stop’, and said it was ‘refreshing’ that so many people, players and staff alike, had brought their families.

A couple of tales from the World Series of Poker including Maurice Hawkins winning a record 13th World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring and the World Series of Poker Europe adding a €25k Short-Deck High Roller.

Maurice Hawkins can once again park his car in the spot  ‘Reserved for the Leader of the All-Time World Series of Poker Circuit Gold Ring Wins’ after taking down Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack at the WSOPC event in Harrah’s Tunica.

Hawkins’ 13th gold ring sees him stretch his wings to fly one branch higher than Valentin Vornicu, a man he once tied with at ten gold rings for six months before Vornicu won back-to-back events in the 2018 WSOPC in Harrah’s New Orleans to take a 12 to 10 lead.

Hawkins earned $31,372 for navigating his way through a field of 432-entrants, a fortnight after beating 391-entrants to win his 12th gold ring in a $600 No-Limit Hold’em event in Harrah’s Cherokee.