- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Inside Gaming: Crown Resorts Sell Macau Stake; No Bump for Atlantic City Post-Trump Taj
- Updated: December 16, 2016
This week’s installment of Inside Gaming reports news regarding Crown Resorts plans to sell in Macau and abandon Las Vegas, tells of the November revenue numbers in Atlantic City, and shares an announcement of a new poker room opening in Tampa.
Crown Resorts to Sell Off Part of Macau Operations, Abandon Las Vegas Project
There is news this week that Crown Resorts, one of Australia’s largest gaming groups, has plans to “sell off a major stake in its Macau casino business amid a major crackdown on gambling and corruption in China,” reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Crown and its Executive Chairman James Packer have also made known intentions to stop pursuing a project in Las Vegas.
Crown intends to sell off nearly half of its stake in Melco Crown Entertainment with a price tag of $1.6 billion. Those funds will be used to reduce the company’s debt, pay a special dividend to stockholders, and enable a share buy-back. Melco Crown’s holdings in Macau including Studio City Macau, City of Dreams, and Altira Macau.
Meanwhile, the Alon Las Vegas project begun in 2015 by Crown has has been scrapped. Having bought land where the New Frontier Hotel and Casino was once located (until its closure and demolishment in 2007), Crown had begun construction on the new property which it has now halted.
The decision by Crown to reduce its exposure in Macau follows the sharp two-plus year decline in gaming revenue in the Special Administrative Region. “Crown’s share of Melco’s annual net profit plummeted by two-thirds in 2016 to $43 million,” reports ABC.
That decline has in large part been attributed to various anti-corruption measures and other legislation by the Chinese government that have affected Macau’s gambling industry. However another consequence of those measures has directly diminished Crown’s interest in remaining in the region.
In October we shared news here of 18 Crown employees having been detained by Chinese authorities as part of a crackdown on the promotion of gambling in China, including the company’s vice president of VIP international operations, Jason O’Connor.
Those employees were detained as part of anti-gambling measures initiated by President Xi Jinping, with a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs charging the Australians working for Crown with “suspected involvement in gambling crimes.”
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