
Studio City Macau: Despite its many non-gaming destinations it’s failing continually to attract the mass market crowds.
Studio City Macau, Lawrence Ho and James Packer’s $4.5 billion casino that is integrated on the Cotai Strip is in trouble and might default on the $1.41 billion loan used to complete the construction for the hotel.
That’s the word from score agency Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, which this week issued an outlook that is negative 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 a unique night that is opening, The Audition, a short film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring De Nero, DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
Packer called it play pelican pete pokies the ‘coolest 15 minutes ever made,’ but, with an $80 million cost, it could equally be referred to as the absolute most expensive advertisement ever made.
New Concept Fails to Drive Crowds
But for the glitz, Studio City was conceived in a markedly different climate that is economic before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive halted the location’s success story and delivered revenues tumbling for 26 straight months.
Studio City went big on non-gaming amenities, positioning itself as a non-VIP gaming destination to be able to woo China’s burgeoning middle income.
It has anything from television and film production facilities to a Batman themed 4-D flight-simulator roller 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 percent 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 kind of rescue package for the casino.
‘Studio City Casino Macau is a credit that is entirely separate and its particular debt is non-recourse to Melco Crown Entertainment Limited. […] Investors should not assume that Melco Crown Entertainment Limited provides any economic support to Studio City Casino Macau or so it would step up for Studio City Casino Macau,’ said a Melco Representative.
There is speculation that that Melco is trying to put the wind up the hedge funds because it would like to buy them out for the good price, 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 certainly not care,’ said Philippine President Duterte Wednesday, clearly in a far 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 government’s gambling operator-regulator, PAGCOR, announced that it was in the entire process of ‘readying application forms. that it ended up being ready to license online gambling firms that targeted ‘non-locals’ and’
‘We don’t know yet how saleable it is; there is no takers,’ PAGCOR Andrea that is chief Domingo to Reuters.’Or there could be numerous applicants,’ she included brightly.
PAGCOR hopes that the brand new licenses might offset a few of the income 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 approximately 8,000 terminals.
Final the company’s operations contributed around $12.2 million in taxes to the government year.
Zero-tolerance
Duterte swept to power in on an agenda that promised to wipe out crime and drugs june. Literally. The president has leant their help to vigilante death squads that carry out the extra-judicial killings of criminals and habitual drug users with impunity.
As soon as sworn in, he immediately set his sights on the Philippine online gambling industry, and in particular Philweb and its chairman, the billionaire Robert Ongpin.
Ongpin ended up being representative 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 were choosing to gamble alternatively of working for the living. It appeared that PAGCOR was taken totally by surprise by the announcement.
Restoration
the month Philweb was forced to announce it could wind its operations down, due to the non-renewal of its license by PAGCOR. Ongpin stepped down as president regarding the company and, as a bid that is last-ditch approval, offered to transfer very nearly all of his majority stake within the company to PAGCOR, in an attempt to truly save the company and its 6,000 workers. PAGCOR was forced to refuse.
But on Wednesday, Duterte was clearly in an even more tolerant mood.
‘Pay the correct taxes… Gamble and soon you die. I usually do not really care,’ he announced magnanimously.
Duterte is currently willing to restore gambling that is online ‘taxes are correctly collected in addition they [online gambling cafes] are situated or put in districts where gambling is allowed, which means to state, not within the church distance or schools.’
‘ I became mad because perhaps the youth are gambling and there was not a way of collecting the taxes that are proper’ he admitted.
Whether what this means is he is willing to permit Philweb to keep its operations as before is currently unclear.
Indiana Casino Union Does What Trump Taj Mahal Workers Couldn’t: Reaches New Contract with Majestic Celebrity Riverboats
Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the current GOP vice-presidential contender, has put their state on the map for monetary gains and growth during his administration. Now a new casino union contract in the Hoosier State is also showing up its sister 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 through 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 at the two Majestic Star riverboats in Gary, has reached a new agreement with the gambling operator. On August 19, the 2 sides officially finalized down on a agreement that increases wages over the next two years, while keeping the health that is current programs being afforded to union members.
The deal runs through 2018.
Unite Here Local 1 spokesperson Noah Carson-Nelson told the Chicago Tribune, ‘Our members are content. The people were excited that it was settled fairly quickly and so it includes raises and similar health insurance.’
The Majestic Star casinos sit next to 1 another in Lake Michigan, about 30 kilometers southeast of downtown Chicago.
Local 1’s moms and dad union, Unite right Here, is the same organization that unsuccessfully went on hit at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City previously into the summer. Because of this, billionaire owner Carl Icahn announced that the casino will be permanently shutting on October 10.
The Trump Element
Formerly known as the Trump Casino, Majestic Star II ended up being renamed after Trump Entertainment Resorts offered the house to Majestic in 2005 for $253 million.
The purchase was section of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR) filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy security in 2004. The business emerged from liquidation under the new Trump Entertainment Resorts name in 2005.
Trump’s record in Atlantic City is unquestionably questionable. But in Indiana, Trump’s riverboat was decidedly profitable. Over the 11 years since Majestic acquired the casino that is floating it is never won as much cash since it did whenever Trump was the financial admiral regarding the ship.
In 2004, total wins eclipsed $140 million. In 2015, the Majestic Star II pulled in simply half of that figure.
The stars that are majestic two of 10 riverboat casinos in Indiana. The Hoosier State can be home to the French Lick Resort Casino, the actual only real land-based gambling venue there, plus two racinos that offer slots and table gaming that is electronic.
Marked Market Differences Between Two States
Back east in Atlantic City, Unite Here Local 54 was additionally fighting for higher wages and health insurance at the Trump Taj Mahal. But the bankruptcy process already underway when Carl Icahn purchased the casino allowed the billionaire to temporarily suspend pension and healthcare benefits as he worked to upright the casino’s serious financial situation.
But Icahn, who was simply reportedly losing $100 million in the venture, said he needed more time before restoring benefits. Workers stepped off the task 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 will become the fifth casino to shutter down since 2014 in nj.
The Blue Chip Casino and Hotel in Michigan City, Indiana also recently negotiated effectively with Unite Here Local 1. Ameristar Casino resort did as well, albeit following a lengthy and tedious process.
‘we are pleased to move ahead, and happy in an equitable manner,’ Majestic Star General Manager Barry Cregan said of the new contract that we did it.
So why would the smaller Indiana gaming union find more success along with its company than in the much larger Atlantic City market? Because the Taj was already losing millions every month, while the union’s needs would only drive those losses further into the muck. A worthwhile investment in Indiana, while not thriving like they may have been over a decade ago, casinos are apparently still making enough of a profit to make union benefits.
Paddy Power Betfair Reports £47.5 Million Loss Because Of Costs of Merger
Breon Corcoran, Paddy energy Betfair CEO, said that the company would not further rule out consolidation if the proper opportunity arose. (Image: Business Post sunday)
Paddy Power Betfair has reported running losses of £47.5 million ($62.6 million) for the half that is first of when compared to profits of £106.5 million ($140.5) for the corresponding period of 2015.
CEO Breon Corcoran this week attributed the losses to one-off expenses related to your merger between the two wagering powerhouses, amounting to £195 million ($257 million) in total. Paddy Power and Betfair agreed terms of their £5 billion ($6.5 billion) merger in September last year but the offer 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 later on.
In fact, Paddy energy Betfair has upped its estimate of future cost 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 come from job losses, with 650 of the combined business’s 7,200-strong workforce having found themselves surplus to requirements following the merger.
Revenue Up 18 Per Cent
‘People have been really diligent, there’s been a lot that is awful of work done, and promptly,’ said Corcoran for the integration work. ‘Paddy Power Betfair has sustained good momentum through a period of considerable change.’
Corcoran also pointed to an 18 per cent rise in revenue for the period, to £759 million ($1 billion), along with double-digit growth across all four of its core divisions. Discounting merger costs, 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 shops recorded a 12 percent increase in revenues to £147 million ($193 million). The organization’s US and operations that are australian reported growth.
More Consolidation Viable
‘The restructuring happens to be mainly complete while the merger synergies are being delivered in front of schedule,’ said Corcoran. ‘Our company is creating a globe class procedure by exploiting the unique assets and capabilities of each legacy business, particularly in the key functions of technology, advertising and trading.
‘While our industry remains highly competitive and it is exposed to the prevailing economic and regulatory environments, our strong market jobs, increased scale and enhanced capabilities position us well for sustainable, lucrative growth.’
Corcoran additionally refused to rule the possibility out of more consolidation. If the asset that is right up at the right price his company could be well placed to acquire it, he said, but the moment he was focusing on the integration process.
