Gambling has been in the news quite a bit over the past several weeks. It started when the the U.S. government shut down the major online poker sites (including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker), after revealing a sweeping indictment and charges of bank fraud and illegal gambling.
Recent news shows that the companies have reached an agreement with the DoJ to allow U.S. players to withdraw money that has been frozen in account since the original announcement.
What follows will likely be a long and messy lawsuit, but the fact remains that gambling, at least internationally, is stronger than ever.
Singapore opened two large casinos last year which have already generated $5.1b in the first twelve months of operations, a number that is set to grow more than 25% to $6.4b this year.
That number would pass Las Vegas to become the 2nd largest gaming location in the world, behind Macau.
According to CNBC:
Analysts say the voracious appetite for gambling among Asians and their growing wealth will drive momentum in Singapore’s casino sector for years to come. This is a stark contrast from the Strip, which has seen a slump in revenues for four consecutive months.
The 2,561-room luxury hotel Marina Bay Sands, which has a 200-meter-tall, boat-shaped SkyPark and a lavish casino equipped with 500 gaming tables, attracted more than 11 million visitors over the past year — 885,000 guests walked through its doors over just four days of the Chinese New Year holiday in February.
As a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, it amazes me that any other city could duplicate such a unique place, and yet Singapore pulling in more dollars than the entire Las Vegas Strip with only two open casinos — the growth throughout Asia is absolutely jaw dropping.
Gaming Partners (GPIC) supplies the casino chips that help facilitate all of this growth, and the company recently formed a new subsidiary, GPI Asia, to market all of their product lines to the Asian market.
Read the full article.
Disclosure
Long GPIC.OB
Hat tip to TraderMark @ Fund My Mutual Fund for the link