Profits up in 2017
G1 Entertainment, the company behind Tigre de Cristal in Russia’s Primorye casino zone, will focus on non-gaming amenities in Phase II of development.
According to GGRAsia, G1 Executive Director Stylianos Tsifetakis recently met with the management of the Primorsky Territory Development Corp. to discuss plans to enhance the entertainment sector, where two other casino resorts are now under development.
“We want to do more than we have already done,” said Tsifetakis during the meeting. “Our management considers the development of the non-gambling sector to be promising and plans to create more entertainment facilities within the second phase.
“In our opinion, this will be useful both for the development of the gambling zone and for the social and economic development of the entire region. We plan that in summer the draft plan of our new entertainment complex will be finally approved and we will be able to present it to the Primorye authorities.”
Phase II will include 500 hotel rooms, meeting space, new restaurants and bars, and expanded retail options.
“We are considering the possibility of creating a golf club and a ski resort,” Tsifetakis added. “These are the kinds of entertainment that will allow you to relax at Primorye all year round. In addition, our new Taiwan shareholder plans to create one of the largest shopping centers in the Far East in the seaside gambling zone. He has already successfully launched the work of nineteen major shopping centers in the territory of mainland China and sees the prospect for the development of this direction in Primorye.”
Summit Ascent Holdings, parent company of G1 Entertainment, posted jumps in revenue, EBITDA and profit for the full year ending in December. Adjusted property EBITDA was HK$173.7 million (US$22.1 million), a 32 percent increase year-on-year. Total revenue for the year was HK$470.8 million, up 46 percent year-on-year, and profit attributable to owners of the company was HK$13.8 million.
The results were pegged to the group’s rolling chip business, which targets VIP customers from Northeast Asia. Rolling chip turnover at Tigre De Cristal amounted to HK$18.8 billion, up 33 percent year-on-year.
Aside from Tigre de Cristal, which opened in late 2015, two casino resorts are in development in the zone, located near the port city of Vladivostok: Selena, by Russian operator Diamond Fortune Holdings and Naga Vladivostok from Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp.
Also in Russia, Asia Gaming Brief reports that the federal government has reduced the territory of gaming zone Azov-City, which investors view as a sign it won’t be closed as planned next year. The order to redraw the zone’s borders was issued on March 5.
In January, local residents wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to save the zone from liquidation after the opening of another zone in Sochi in the same region, AGB reported.
