Thai casinos, a risk for Singapore's?
Thai casinos, a risk for Singapore's?
At the moment, Thailand is seriously considering legalizing land-based casinos on its territory. If this project becomes a reality in the future, it could call into question the financial viability of the expansion projects of the two hotel-casinos in Singapore.
This is at least according to a note written by the Maybank Investment Bank, which has expressed concern about the Resorts World Sentosa.
A possible decline in mainstream players from China
Thai parliament has been looking closely at the possibility of opening land-based casinos in the country. Through a note published on Tuesday, May 10, the Maybank Investment Bank believes that Thailand's gaming establishments, if they are eventually legalized.
In this regard, it is worth remembering that Chinese players contributed roughly one-third of Singapore's gross gaming revenue during 2019. Yet, it can be expected that players from Malaysia and Indonesia will favor the city-state's hotel-casinos instead, for example Andar Bahar casino.
However, this is less likely to be the case for players from China. The latter are likely to be attracted en masse to the hypothetical hotel-casinos of Thailand.
While it does not yet have a gaming establishment, this country welcomed 11 million Chinese visitors in 2019. In comparison, there were only 3.6 million who visited Singapore. As a result, Maybank Investment Bank is concerned about Singapore's casino hotel expansion plans.
The Resorts World Sentosa, for example, is budgeted at S$4.5 billion, which is about 3 billion euros. If Thailand decides to legalize land-based casinos on its territory, it may not be financially viable.
2022 and 2023 forecasts for Resorts World Sentosa revised upwards
Otherwise, the Maybank Investment Bank is rather optimistic about Resorts World Sentosa. Indeed, it has increased its profit forecasts by 163% for 2022 and 123% for 2023 due to the increase of tourists in Singapore due to the easing of health restrictions.
As a result, the general public and VIP high rollers are expected to return to the gaming establishment in greater numbers to reach around 92% and 83% of 2019 levels, respectively, by 2023, prior to the international Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Expansion projects accepted in 2019
At present, there are 2 casino hotels in Macau: the Marina Bay Sands of the US Las Vegas Sands Group on the one hand and the Resorts World Sentosa of the Malaysian conglomerate Genting on the other. In 2019, both operators agreed to a major expansion of their gaming complex (read the article above). In exchange, they obtained an extension until 2030 of the exclusivity on their license in the Southeast Asian city-state.