Posted  by  admin

Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators

Crown said it would only deal with a junket operator if it was licensed or otherwise approved or sanctioned by all gaming regulators in states where the company operates.

The Macau Metro Monitor, March 22, 2012

CRA AWARDS LICENSES TO 2 MALAYSIAN JUNKET OPERATORS Business Times

The Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA) has awarded the first batch of licences to two international market agents (IMA) Huang Yu Kiung and Low Chong Aun. The two Malaysian junkets will operate at RWS.

CRA said the IMAs will focus on bringing in foreign high rollers to casinos here, and they will not target locals. It is in the midst of evaluating a few other applications and conducting probity checks for these applications. Twelve applications have been rejected.

Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators For Real

'The robust regulatory regime would ensure that licensed IMAs conduct business in a tightly regulated environment, said the CRA. The licenses will be issued for an 1-year duration and licensed IMAs must ensure that they continue to remain suitable to hold the licences.

ANOTHER MBS SUIT, ANOTHER JUNKET CLAIM Business Times

Allegations of junket activity at Marina Bay Sands have surfaced again, this time in court papers filed by Takami Shinichi, a Singapore-based Japanese businessman being sued by the casino over a $2 million gambling debt. Shinichi, managing director of Avixs Master Fund Pte Ltd, claims in a High Court affidavit that he gained access to MBS's VIP gaming rooms through Chujo Tatsuya, a Nevada-licensed junket operator. Shinichi said he met Tatsuya at a Las Vegas casino several years ago, that had arranged for him to gamble at MBS by putting him in touch with a Japanese VIP hostess and inviting him to MBS's opening party in late June 2010.
'I do not know if Mr Chujo received any 'kick-back' from the monies I gambled, but I do know that it is the practice for junkets to receive such commissions,' Mr Shinichi said. 'I am now told that if any player plays under a junket, no credit can be given to him.'

In Shinichi's case, Sunil Singh Panoo, his lawyer, argued that his $2 million debt is not enforceable because Mr Shinichi was not a premium player before he began gambling at the casino on June 25, 2010. Shinichi also said in his affidavit that 'MBS didn't follow the rules and procedures required for credit transactions'. But MBS disagreed, saying that Mr Shinichi was a premium player at its Paiza Club after he deposited $300,000 with the casino on June 17, 2010.

Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators Guide

The Casino Regulatory Authority said last night that it does not comment on ongoing court cases.
Robert Goldstein, LVS president of global gaming operations, said that he is patiently waiting for the government's instruction. 'But I don't think it'll be that material either way. If they do approve junkets, it will be a very, very restrictive environment, which will make it difficult for those junkets that operate in Macau to be here. So our approach has been and will continue to be very focused on developing a sales team that can go direct to customers. We do take on credit, direct credit, and are so far comfortable with that.'

  • —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), no licensed junket promoter shall share with any person who is not a licensed junket promoter or a licensed junket representative, all or part of any commission or other payment received by or due to the licensed junket promoter from a casino operator, or the person for the time being in charge of the casino.
  • The Macau Metro Monitor, March 22, 2012. CRA AWARDS LICENSES TO 2 MALAYSIAN JUNKET OPERATORS Business Times. The Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA) has awarded the first batch of licences to two international market agents (IMA) Huang Yu Kiung and Low Chong Aun.
ListSingapore Licensed Two Casino Junket OperatorsJunket

Singapore wanted nothing to do with the often questionable gaming middlemen who proliferate in Macau. The gambling houses in Macau get around China’s currency controls by relying on so-called junket operators to extend credit to mainland high rollers, a business model that has been linked to organized crime groups known as triads, says Steve Vickers, chief executive officer at risk consultant Steve Vickers & Associates.
But lately, Singapore’s two casinos appear to be paying the price of their government restricting that setup. Chinese VIP gamblers patronize both cities—and account for about half of all Singapore gaming revenue, says Grant Govertsen, an analyst at Union Gaming Advisors. And bad debts are mounting in both cities as gamblers have a hard time adjusting to China’s corruption crackdown and slowing economic growth.
There’s a big difference in how casinos feel the pain, however. In Macau about 180 licensed go-betweens provide credit to their customers and collect the money they owe. Singapore has just three licensed junket operators, who mainly help with foreign travel arrangements. So gaming losses there fall squarely on the casinos’ shoulders.
The burden is growing. Casino operator Genting Singapore and billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, parent of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino, already have reported hundreds of millions of dollars in receivables, or outstanding debts, on their balance sheets. Genting has established a record reserve to cover debts that are uncertain to be repaid. More will probably have to be set aside, according to Union Gaming. Receivables and notes that Genting Singapore is owed but hasn’t collected totaled $787.5 million in 2014, more than doubling from $369 million in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s about four times the average at Macau’s six biggest casino operators.
The junket setup in Macau gives gaming houses some protection from such charges. In good times, junket operators take a slice of profits that would otherwise go to the casino in exchange for bringing in groups of high-stakes gamblers with whom they have relationships. In bad times, they shield the gaming company from some of the losses by handling their own collections—with some using everything from public shaming of indebted clients in their hometowns in China to physical intimidation.
“Singapore casinos are dealing directly with the VIP players,” says Govertsen. “That makes it a lot tougher to collect receivables because they don’t have the typical resources that junket operators would have to collect such gambling debts.”
Singapore officials didn’t want its two casinos to rely on such outsiders. “The business model of junkets is inherently designed to usurp laws and regulations related to lending, money flows, and other elements,” says Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at Global Market Advisors, a tourism consultant. “Singapore didn’t want to risk its reputation as an ethical global financial center.”
Singapore is trying to use judicial means to compel dozens of Chinese gamblers to pay up. Last year its two casinos filed 49 lawsuits against individuals in Singapore’s High Court for gaming-related debts, up from just two a year earlier. The resorts brought 12 more cases in the first quarter of 2015. Val Chua, spokeswoman at Marina Bay Sands, and Lee Sin Yee, spokeswoman at Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa resort in Singapore, declined to comment. Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority didn’t immediately respond to questions.
Last month, China’s government set its lowest annual growth target in more than 15 years, a bad omen for real estate prices. “A lot of these Chinese VIPs have money stuck in property investments, and they’re probably having trouble liquidating those assets to pay off those debts,” says Samuel Yin, an analyst at Maybank Kim Eng in Kuala Lumpur.
While junket operators might be helpful in such times, says Vickers, “a major problem … is that a need for extra-legal services means that many junkets have close links to triad societies.” Those extra-legal services include debt collection and running prostitution rings inside casinos, he says.
A mainland gang in 2005 beat a man to death while seeking repayment of 1.8 million yuan ($291,000) he lost at a Macau casino. Chinese police handle more than 200 cases annually of illegal imprisonment of gamblers for unpaid Macau debts, according to a 2012 report by the government-controlled newspaper Xinxi Shibao. MDT/Bloomberg