Singapore‘s casinos are looking at an up year in 2018, according to normally cautious Fitch Ratings analyst Alex Bumazhny. “Singapore [gross gaming revenue] grew by around 10 
percent year-on-year in first half 2017, after falling by around 30 percent over 2015 to 2016,” he wrote. “We expect GGR to continue to grow in 2018, driven by sustained growth in visitor arrivals.” Sheldon Adelson and Genting Group can utter a sigh of relief as the prospect of new casinos was deemed “unlikely.” The Fitch report follows a Sanford C. Bernstein one that predicts 18% gaming-revenue growth in VIP play when this year’s receipts are tallied. Bernstein projects year-end VIP receipts to be $1.7 billion, mainly propelled by Marina Bay Sands.
Tourism from China was credited with the improvement, although there’s room for growth. “Overall, we view the Asia-Pacific market as underpenetrated, at least in the mass-market segment,” opined Bumazhny. Casinos in Australia were also expected to see a stabilization in high-roller play following a chill caused by last year’s detention of 19 Crown Resorts employees. (Most of the miscreants have been released.) Although 2018 is expected to be a less volatile year for Macao than this one has been, analysts still expect single-digit growth. Also, Bumazhny writes, “Absent major development opportunities in Japan or Brazil, Fitch expects operators to increase dividends, which will keep free cash flow relatively steady.” That should comfort Adelson, convalescing from three cracked ribs suffered aboard a Macao ferry.
* Those braggarts at ISIS are doubling down on their claim that Mandalay Bay shooter Stephen Paddock was an Islamic militant. Of course, there is no evidence to back up this boast but that doesn’t stop the terrorist organization from running its yap.
* In Billings, Montana, the City Council voted — over heavy opposition — to allow a casino to relocated within 1,200 feet of a middle school. The criticisms were predictable ones. “Alcohol, crime and gambling are the operative words here. This is one of Billings’ nicest communities, and we’d like to keep it that way,” said one detractor. Another noted that Billings has an almost 1:1 ratio of police officers to casinos. (Strange but true.) For their part, the owners of The Den said that families often come to dine at their current location. They added that The Den would be part of a larger complex that would hopefully include everything from a yoga studio to a ‘froyo’ shop. Hopefully their grand plan will pan out.
* Predictably, the City of Council Bluffs is going to file a lawsuit against the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. The city fathers’ concern is that a tribal casino would take revenue away from Ameristar Council Bluffs and two Caesars Entertainment properties (which makes you wonder why the casinos aren’t suing too) and that the land taken into trust was intended for a medical center. Council Bluffs has an uphill slog on this one, challenging a land-into-trust award, but “the law is some tricky shit,” as Geena Davis observed in Thelma & Louise.
* Gaming operators in Russia are bracing themselves for a tax hike this year and a possible, second one in 2019. Unlike U.S. jurisdictions, Russian casinos are taxed by gaming position, not gross revenue. A bill in the Duma proposes to raise levies on table games to $4,280 apiece, while slots would be taxed at $257 per one-armed bandit. One operator’s response was to bluster that “it is too early for the board of directors of the Company to predict whether the above proposed changes will become legally enforceable.” In other words, they’ll see Moscow in court.
