SkyCity Entertainment, New Zealand’s only listed gaming company, has cut forecasts for the year and says the near-term outlook is gloomy, as it grapples with the aftermath of a fire in a key project and now the impact of the Coronavirus.
The operator, which has properties in both New Zealand and Australia, hit the headlines in October after a fire devastated the Auckland International Convention Centre, whose completion will now be delayed until 2022.
The company reported a more than 16 percent drop in normalized profits in the half year to December 31, which reflect the impact of the fire, but do not yet factor in the Coronavirus.
The effects of the virus on inbound travel from Asia to New Zealand and Australia are still to be fully felt, although the company acknowledges that it has already seen some damage with international business described as “weak.”
Chief Executive Graeme Stephens told an analysts’...
This Dossier results from the “Life After POGOs” editorial project by Asia Gaming Brief which culminated with a pop-up digital forum on 9th December to discuss potentials ramifications in the industry.
Covid-19 forced the rapid and unexpected closure of venues across Australia, changing the operating environment with unprecedented speed and leaving managers scrambling to adapt...
TCSJohnHuxley has revealed that Okada Manila in the Philippines has upgraded its gaming floor with the firm’s latest Blaze LED Technology products. Using energy efficient LED lights that are fitted below the surface of the gaming table, Blaze uses its technology to deliver flexibility, reliability and graphic capabilities.
China’s embassy in Cambodia has issued a warning to China passport holders not to take part in gambling activities in the country after multiple cases of violence aimed at Chinese.
The world is bouncing back, or at least coming to grips with the fact that going forward not much will be the same as before. Commendably, this industry quickly understood the need to adapt to a new normal, and that the days of targeting the low hanging fruit of the VIP sector are gone.
Over the years, many of the answers have been remarkably prescient in their forecasts for the near-term direction of Asia’s gaming industry. However, we can safely say that no one came anywhere close to guessing what 2020 may have had in store.
While nowhere in the world has escaped the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, Macau has been hit harder than most, with forecasts for gross domestic product to shrink more than 50 percent this year.
