1. Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators Guide
2. Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators List

Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators Guide

Crown Resorts says it will stop dealing with all junket operations as the company fights to prove it is fit to run a new casino in Sydney. 'Crown will permanently cease dealing with all junket operators, subject to consultation with gaming regulators in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales,' Crown said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday. 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. It also said consultations had begun with gaming regulators in Victoria, Western Australia and NSW. Media reports last year alleged Crown's casinos had been used for money laundering and that junket tour operators Crown had relationships with had links to organised crime. After months of damning testimony, the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority's inquiry into Crown's suitability to hold the Barangaroo casino licence is in its final week of hearings. Crown Resorts lawyer Perry Herzfeld SC on Tuesday said the company's suspension of all dealings with junket operators should not be treated as an admission that its due diligence processes were 'not robust'. 'We accept they had shortcomings, but we don't accept the characterisation that they were not robust,' Mr Herzfeld said. 'A system can be described as robust even though an error has occurred.' Mr Herzfeld said the suspension decision occurred in the context of the inquiry where 'it was plain that serious allegations were being made by counsel assisting' and it was likely higher standards would now be applied. 'Suspension was a prudent step in order to review all of the junket relationships and consider whether to continue dealing with junkets,' Mr Herzfeld said. He also rejected the proposition that Crown had demonstrated either an 'indifference to regulatory compliance' or a 'culture of denial'. Counsel assisting the inquiry had previously suggested Crown did not apply high enough probity standards when evaluating its business partners. The inquiry was partly brought about because of an agreement by James Packer's private company to sell 19.99 per cent of Crown stock to Melco Resorts, which is owned by businessman Lawrence Ho. The regulator had banned Crown from letting Mr Ho's father, Stanley, acquire an interest because of his underworld links. Crown's lawyers on Monday argued that its business in China complied with legal advice the company had received by external lawyers, despite the fact that 16 of its staff were arrested by Chinese authorities in 2016 on accusations they had violated anti-gambling laws. Counsel assisting the inquiry has recommended finding that Crown and Mr Packer are not presently fit to be associated with the new $2.2 billion casino. The inquiry before commissioner Patricia Bergin continues on Wednesday. Ms Bergin is expected to issue a report in February 2021. Australian Associated Press

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. Mr Bromberg said that Singapore had strict requirements for the licensing of junket operators, holding license operators to the same level of suitability to casino operators, while the licensing process in Macau was far less rigorous. He said only two junket operators had been licensed to operate in Singapore. Regulations require a casino operator to sponsor junket applicants before licenses are issued to them to operate at that particular casino. Since lifting its long-standing ban on casino gambling in 2005, Singapore has established a stringent regulatory regime on the industry, including tough probity checks and licensing for junket operators. Singapore's casino regulator has issued its first-ever junket-operator licenses to two agents, in a move that hands one of the city-state's two casino resorts a coveted avenue to expand its. Junket operators should familiarise themselves with the Casino Operations and Control Regulations of 2016, Part VII, section 20. Moreover, licensees shall: ensure compliance with the Law and Regulations with respect to junket operator licences, including but not limited to continuing suitability and performing their duties under Section 43 of the Law and Regulation 20.

Singapore Licensed Two Casino Junket Operators List

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