Century Entertainment International Holdings has issued a profit warning on an expected loss of HK$20.8 million (US$2.7 million) for the six months to 30 September 2021, widened from a HK$6.2 million (US$796,000) loss recorded a year earlier.
The reason for the widened loss was two-fold, the company said, in part due to a fair value gain on promissory notes of around HK$11 million in the 2020 period but also the result of a long delay in the opening of a new casino where it had been waiting to operate gaming tables in Dara Sakor, Cambodia. As a result, no revenue was generated from the gaming table business.
As reported by IAG, the casino in question, operated by Century Entertainment’s own Chairman and CEO Ng Man Sun, finally opened for business on 4 November with the company assigned two mass market gaming tables under an agreement inked earlier this year.
Ng’s casino had originally been located in Sihanoukville but Century Entertainment announced in October 2020 that he would relocate his operation after receiving a better offer from the owners of the building within which it is now located in Dara Sakor.
Century Entertainment had already signed a five-year deal with Ng’s company Lion King by that time to operate four gaming tables at the casino in Sihanoukville but inked a new deal in February 2021 for the operation of an unspecified number of mass market tables in Dara Sakor. The initial two tables, mainly used for baccarat, may be increased to four or more tables in the near future.
The new casino is said to cover a gross floor area of 10,500 square meters with 20 mass gaming tables, seven tables for niu-niu poker, 10 tables for baccarat, 1 table each for blackjack, sicbo and poker, 25 VIP tables, 50 EGMs and a Chinese restaurant.
