On June 30th, 2008, NagaCorp Limited, a monopoly casino gaming operator in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia commented that they may sell a license to foreign organizations that are interested to build a casino facility in Cambodia. Chief Executive Officer Chen Lip Keong commented that they will consider subconcession when the time is right for it. The gaming company holds a monopoly to manage casino facilities within a two hundred kilometer radius of the Cambodian capital until 2035 and is not restricted to any legal hindrance on selling secondary casino gaming licenses.
Cambodia's only publicly traded organization is putting its hope on growing wealth in the country and customers coming from Thailand and Vietnam to improve its profits beyond customers coming from China, Malaysia and Singapore. Macau surpassed Las Vegas as the world's largest casino gaming market after Macau officials ended Hong Kong Billionaire and gaming mogul Stanley Ho's gripped on the Macau casino market in 2002, resulting in at least $25 billion investment by off-shore gaming operators like the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
Gavin Ho, a CLSA Ltd analyst from Hong Kong said that as larger gaming organizations focus on the higher end, they are expecting NagaCorp to remain the leader on the mass end VIP market. Singapore awarded bids for 2 casino resort facilities in 2006, scaling down taxes on gambling revenues for high-roller. Japan and Taiwan are also considering allowing gaming facilities to improve tourism. Genting Bhd from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will manage one of the 2 Singapore casino resorts, plans to construct Southeast Asia's first Universal Studios theme park at is property in Singapore.
Genting is Asia's largest publicly traded gambling operator. NagaCorp improved by 1.4% to HK$2.13 at the close of the Hong Kong trading market, the largest in 2 weeks. The shares have dropped sixteen percent this year, less than 21% dropped in the benchmark of the Hang Seng Index and thirty-one percent dropped in Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited, a Macau casino gaming operator that is listed in the Hong Kong market. Genting suffered a 29% drop.
07/20/2008 04:00 PM
Ann Pettersson