AGBrief Editorial

Information from the Statistics and Census Service shows that inward direct investment flows into Macao jumped by 167.8 percent year-on-year to MOP 53.99 billion ($6.7 billion) in 2019. Analysed by industry, inflows of direct investment in the Gaming sector and Financial Activities totalled MOP 43.31 billion and MOP 8.52 billion respectively.

Delta Corp shares surged after it said its casino in Sikkim would reopen from Nov. 1, whilst casinos in Goa are also expected to reopen from the same date.

China has announced further curbs on the sale of high-frequency lottery products and virtual sports and plans to ban them completely from next year. 

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. said it agreed to sell Tropicana Evansville to Gaming and Leisure Properties and Twin River Worldwide Holdings for US$480 million in cash, subject to a customary working capital adjustment.

Aquis Entertainment said its operating cash flow in the recent quarter was positive and although visitation is down, business is strong. It has now also recalled most of the staff laid off during the Covid-19-mandated closures.

Bank of America has expressed doubts about Las Vegas Sands' ability to offload its casino assets given a dearth of potential buyers due to the pandemic. The bank says there is a very small pool of buyers able to make a $6 billion acquisition and at the moment access to capital market finance is also less favourable.

Macau, which last year was given a strong bill of health when it comes to efforts to combat money laundering and financial crimes, has taken further action by signing an AML risk assessment accord with a unit of the World Bank.

PAGCOR has reported January-September revenues from gaming operations at PHP22.3 billion (US$460 million), down 60 percent year-on-year.

EveryMatrix’s remote gaming server RGS Matrix has signed an agreement, which will allow new game studio FunFair Games to distribute its new multiplayer game content through RGS Matrix’s ‘out of the box’ server.

A travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore is expected to come into force in November, renewing travel links between the two cities, Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam says.