Each week, CasinoBeats breaks down the numbers behind some of the industry’s most interesting stories. This week we take a look at a considerable development in Arkansas, a GiG B2C sale and Swedish updates from Global Gaming.
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Arkansas is set to gain a new $225m casino resort development courtesy of a new link-up between Cherokee Nation Businesses and experiential services agency Legends.
Unveiling details of the “first-of-its-kind resort destination” to be located in Pope County, Legends Resort and Casino Arkansas is to be developed on a 130 acre site in Russellville.
Striving to deliver a world-class venue to the region, Legends Arkansas is to feature approximately 50,000 square feet of gaming space which is to accommodate 1,200 slot machines and 32 table games, as well as a sportsbook that is to be located within a high-end sports bar.
A luxury hotel will encapsulate 200 rooms, resort-style pool, spa and fitness centre, with further plans seeing the construction of 15,000 square feet of mixed-use conference and entertainment space accommodating 1,000 people, RV park with 100 spots, outdoor water park, outdoor music venue and a plethora of culinary options.
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Gaming Innovation Group has reached an agreement to sell its B2C brand Highroller to affiliate and operator Ellmount Gaming for a total consideration of €7m.
As part of the deal Ellmount Gaming is to become a customer of Malta headquartered GiG, and will continue to use the firm’s platform services, front end solution and managed services.
Furthermore, Highroller is to also initially remain as an operator under GiG’s licences via a long-term white label agreement, with regulatory approval necessary before the entity can be migrated to Ellmount Gaming’s licences.
GiG will receive the payment in monthly instalments over the contract period of 48 months, starting seven months after agreement to divest was reached.
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Tobias Fagerlund, Global Gaming CEO, has vowed that “our fighting spirit and will to prevail are very much alive,” as across the board decreases were felt in 2019’s second quarter.
The embattled firm, which runs the igaming entity Ninja Casino alongside spellandet.com had licences for commercial online gambling and betting revoked by Swedish regulator the Spelinspektionen, earlier this year.
Reporting that Q2 fell 42 per cent to SEK 132.2m (2018: SEK 227.8m) Fagerlund stressed “in one fell swoop, most of the group’s revenue was wiped out,” as “draconian measures” and “drastic organisational changes” faced the organisation.
Issuing a defence of the company, Fagerlund stressed a belief that early issues were rectified after an unclear beginning in the re-regulated market: “Like many of our industry colleagues, we too have had shortcomings in the very early days since obtaining the licence.”
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Great Canadian Gaming Corporation is striving to achieve further success after reporting across the board increases during the second quarter of the year.
The firm, which has introduced its new Pickering Casino Resort development, saw revenue for the period increase 20 per cent from $295.2m to $354.4m driven by a full quarter of operations from the west GTA gaming bundle (acquired on May 1, 2018), the introduction of table games at Woodbine and expanded gaming capacity at Elements Casino Mohawk.
Adjusted EBITDA also rose 25 per cent to $153.7m (2018: $122.7m), primarily due to increases in Ontario and partially offset by increased operating costs related to expanded gaming across the region.
