Hong Kong’s Century Entertainment International Holdings, formerly known as Amax International Holdings, has revealed it will now relocate gaming tables under its operations from their current home in Sihanoukville to a hotel in Dara Sakor – a controversial Chinese-backed investment zone covering 360 square kilometers on the Cambodian coastline.
The proposed move comes less than three months after Century Entertainment Chairman and CEO Ng Man Sun – who also owns the casino in which the tables are to be located – revealed a previous plan to relocate from Sihanoukville’s Sunshine Bay Hotel to another Sihanoukville property called Ming Guan Hotel.
Instead, in a Wednesday filing Century Entertainment revealed its CEO had received a more attractive offer to house the casino in Dara Sakor. The new location, it added, covered a gross floor area of 10,500 square meters where it was planned to install 40 mass gaming tables, 55 VIP tables and 80 slot machines as well as a Chinese restaurant, spa and night club. The casino is expected to open by 31 January 2021.
Century Entertainment revealed last year that it had signed a five-year deal with Lion King Entertainment Company Ltd – a company wholly-owned by its CEO – under which it was assigned Gaming Table Business Rights for five years at a total consideration of HK$120 million. Ng later informed the company that the decision to relocate would not impact the deal.
First conceived as a giant tourism project when granted to China’s Tianjin Union Development Group in 2008, the ambitious long-term plans for Dara Sakor include high-speed rail connections to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap, docking facilities for cruise ships, an airport, hotels and golf courses.
The airport, due to open next year, has attracted international headlines amid US concerns that its location in the middle of surrounding jungle suggests China is planning to establish a military base. Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has denied any such use.
