Amax International to operate VIP room at Poipet casino

A recently signed three-year deal will see Hong-Kong-based investment holding company Amax International (HKEx:959) operate a VIP room in Cambodian boomtown Poipet at Genting Crown Casino, which has no affiliation with either Genting or Crown Resorts. G3Newswire reports that 13 VIP tables will be operated by the junket group, for which it will pay Crown Resorts Co., Ltd a monthly fee of RMB500,000 (US$75,650) for the first year’s operation of the VIP room, RMB550,000 for the second year and increasing to RMB600,000 for year three. Commenting on the deal, Amax stated: “Given the support of the Cambodian government to the local hotel and entertainment industry and the booming tourism year on year in Cambodia, the Board has spotted a valuable opportunity to tap into the entertainment businesses. Cambodia is still one of the smallest economies within ASEAN and remains one of the less developed countries in Asia when competitors and other investors are still unaware of this golden gem. The local casino industry in Cambodia has been growing in recent years. In the first nine months of 2015, 75 casinos, with 10 new establishments licensed in the third quarter alone, were responsible for US$29m in government revenue and US$2bn in income for casino owners, most of which are foreign investment companies.” Amax, which is principally engaged in the investment in gaming and entertainment businesses, added that it would be outsourcing the VIP room’s operations to the group who previously ran a room in Macau at its Greek Mythology casino between 2006 and 2001 and who currently runs junket operations at Imperial Pacific Resort in Saipan and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Amax reportedly said it would be responsible for ‘formulating strategies; monitoring the human resources and administration functions; promoting the Target VIP Room; overseeing the entire day-to-day operations of the Target VIP Room as well as liaising with the operator’s junkets network to bring players to the Target VIP Room.’ A 24.8 percent equity interest is held by the Group in the Greek Mythology casino in Macau, which is the operator and manager of the Greek Mythology casino located at the former New Century Hotel, Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel, in Macau. An increase of 156.3 percent, revenues of HK$10.53m were reportedly recorded by Amex for the last year, with the significant increase in revenue mainly attributed to the revenue derived from the Vanuatu gaming operation, which continues achieve progress after in July 2016 having commenced and for 77.2 per cent of Amax’s total revenues. Amex stated, “Together with the company’s existing gaming business in Vanuatu, the Board believes that the company is gradually building a broad network in the gaming and entertainment business beyond Macau,” as reported by G3Newswire.