Summit Ascent Holdings, which runs Tigre de Cristal in Russia’s Primorye casino district, has appointed Alvin Chau as chairman of the board. Chau is head of Macau junket investor Suncity Group.
According to reports, Chau’s appointment follows Suncity’s recent acquisition of a controlling 27.95 percent stake in Summit Ascent. He joins Suncity Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer Andrew Lo, who was named Deputy Chairman of Summit Ascent in April, and Lo’s brother-in-law Chiu King Yan, named an executive director at the same time.
Summit Ascent also announced the appointment of Suncity CFO Philip Wong as a non-executive director.
Suncity acquired an initial 3.29 percent stake in late 2018, became the Russian IR operator’s largest shareholder in April after purchasing a 24.66 percent stake from Taiwan’s First Steamship Co Ltd. According to Inside Asian Gaming, Suncity has since promised to bolster VIP play at Tigre de Cristal with Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen recently predicting a 250 percent increase in VIP volume by 2020.
Tigre de Cristal, the only casino now open in the casino zone near Vladivostok, has been targeting gamblers from China and other markets in East Asia. Eric Landheer, an executive director of Summit Ascent, told GGRAsia that the involvement of Suncity would be a “significant positive” for the IR, a statement backed up by brokerage Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd. Union Gaming said VIP turnover at the Russian casino could soar as much as 250 percent year-on-year in 2020 with the involvement of Suncity.
The Primorsky Krai Development Corp. has said the Primorye casino zone is on track to host 12 casino resorts worth more than US$2 billion. NagaCorp expects to open Phase I of Naga Vladivostok in the first half of 2020. CJSC Shambala, one of the operators from the now shut Azov-City, should be next in line to open. Diamond Fortune expects to open its Selena Casino as part of the Imperial complex in September 2020, and South Korean companies Ramid Hotels & Resorts and K International have both signaled their intentions to open in the zone.
Naga Corp. Chairman Tim McNally said Naga Vladivostok will “be focused on the northeast Chinese market, which represents more than 400 million people, plus South Korea and the regional Russian population.”
