Asian junket operator Asia Entertainment & Resources Ltd (AERL) saw rolling chip turnover up 32 percent in the first quarter of 2012. The firm posted a figure of $5.4 billion for the three months ending March 31 with net income growing by 19 percent to $15.3 million – including a charge of $1.8 million related to the acquisition of King’s Gaming. In terms of the rest of the year, Mr Man Pou Lam, chairman of AERL, commented: “We believe that for remainder of 2012, all of our revenue will continue to be generated on a fixed commission basis of Rolling Chip Turnover. We remain committed to our Non-GAAP income guidance for the year ended December 31, 2012 of $88 million to $95 million based on the current and expected performance of our existing three VIP gaming rooms in Macau.”
Melco Crown Gaming has seen their foreign currency corporate credit rating raised by Standard and Poor from “BB-“ to “BB”. It’s been lifted as S&P think the company’s impressive performance will continue for the next 12 months thanks to their integrated City of Dreams resort. S&P raised its expectation of Melco’s stand-alone credit profile to “BB-” from B+”. The news isn’t surprising since the joint venture announced soaring profits in the latest results call and S&P could be biggin’ them up once again if they get the go ahead to start building on the Studio City site.
The drawn out bickering between Kazuo Okada and Wynn Resorts has taken another turn as Bloomberg report the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked if they could interview Mr Okada. It reports that Okada cited the request in his latest filing against Wynn and it’s related to the SEC’s inquiry into donations made by Wynn to the University of Macau. The latest filing came this week and is similar to before in that he’s seeking to obtain a number of very important pieces of paper linked to his inquiry. We’d say he’d be lucky to get a small pamphlet.
