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Amaya revenue up 360%, net Q3 results of 5,9 MUSD, Gaming Intelligence

Canada’s Amaya Gaming Group has reported a 360 per cent increase in revenues to CAD$18.3m for the third quarter of 2012, with full year revenues expected to be significantly boosted by the company’s recently completed Cadillac Jack and Ongame acquisitions.

 

Amaya said that third quarter revenues were boosted by the inclusion of software licensing and hosted casino revenues from Chartwell and CryptoLogic, as well as an increase in sales of its proprietary Mosino gaming stations.

 

“We were very pleased with the organic growth of our revenues in the third quarter over the second quarter, which was primarily due to the growth of the licensee bases in Europe of our subsidiaries CryptoLogic and Chartwell,” said David Baazov, president and CEO of Amaya.

 

Total expenses rose 177 per cent to $16.2m, with selling and marketing expenses increasing 106 per cent to $2.7m. General and administrative expenses grew by 173 per cent to $11.8m, driven by a growing employee base due to the Chartwell and CryptoLogic acquisitions and fully staffed operations in Moldova, Armenia, and the Dominican Republic. Consulting fees, amortization costs, and communications expense in connection with generating CryptoLogic's hosted casino revenue also contributed to the increase.

 

Amaya recorded an adjusted EBITDA of $5.9m for the third quarter, compared to an EBITDA loss of £0.9m a year ago, although this excludes $0.4m of acquisition-related costs and $0.1m of costs to terminate certain employment agreements. Overall, the company generated net earnings of $0.9m for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $1.8m a year ago.

 

Q3 and Jan-Sep 2012 Results

Canadian Dollars (CAD$) Q3 2011 Q3 2012 Jan-Sep 2011 Jan-Sep 2012
Revenues 4.0m 18.3m 8.9m 39.2m
Cost of Products 0.2m 0.05m 0.4m 0.8m
Gross Profit 3.8m 18.3m 8.5m 38.5m
Total Expenses 5.9m 16.2m 14.2m 45.9m
Net Earnings/(Loss) (1.8m) 0.9m (4.7m) (6.4m)
Basic EPS (0.04) 0.01 (0.11) (0.11)

 

For the nine month period, total revenues soared 342 per cent to $39.2m. On a regional basis, revenue growth was concentrated in the Caribbean and Europe during the period.

 

The Caribbean now accounts for 30 per cent of total revenues following an increase in the sale of the company’s Mosino gaming stations, while Europe accounts for 66 per cent as the customer base of Chartwell and CryptoLogic are predominantly European. Africa generated just 3 per cent as Amaya shifted away to more profitable markets in North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

A significant rise in total expenses however, up 223 per cent year-on-year to $45.9m, meant that the company widened its net loss to $6.4m for the nine month period.

 

Following the closure of the Cadillac Jack and Ongame acquisitions earlier this month, Amaya said that it expects fourth quarter revenues to be in the range of $36m to $40m, with adjusted EBITDA of between $13.5m and $15m.

 

“We're also extremely excited about our recent acquisitions of Cadillac Jack and Ongame,” continued Baazov. “Cadillac Jack provides Amaya with an important presence in the United States and the ability to offer physical, virtual, and mobile gaming solutions to our customer base, which addresses a growing trend toward convergence in our industry.

 

“Additionally, we expect to leverage Amaya's existing customer base in Europe as well as our sales and support staff to place Cadillac Jack's top quality gaming machines in that region.

 

“Our acquisition of Ongame provides us with a global online poker network reaching 20 million customers that includes 25 of the e-gaming industry's strongest brands. Having a top quality poker engine also positions us to participate in the U.S market as the regulation of online poker evolves. We expect to capitalize on revenue and cost synergies from both acquisitions early in the New Year.”

 

As at September 30th the company held cash and cash equivalents of $99.9m compared to $5.8m a year ago.

 

Shares in Amaya Gaming Group Inc (Co. Data) (TSX:AYA) will commence trading at $3.87 per share in Toronto later today.

 

Other sources:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1079171/amaya-gaming-group-announces-2012-third-quarter-financial-results ;

http://gamingzion.com/gamblingnews/canadian-gambling-amaya-performs-strong-in-q3-2012-3261

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Foreign prostitution money funds Republican campaign, Martin John Williams GamblingCompliance

A controversial lawsuit against Las Vegas Sands and a union-backed website is offering material for attacks against the sources of major campaign contributions to the Republican Party. A Jewish lobby group announced a petition drive and social media campaign "demanding that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican Party reject tainted contributions from Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson".

 

That report referred to a statement to a Nevada court by sacked Sands China CEO Steve Jacobs on June 27 that Las Vegas Sands executives and Adelson personally exerted "control and direction from Las Vegas over acts of prostitution on Sands China's properties".

 

His allegations include Las Vegas Sands sidelining the board of its majority-owned Macau subsidiary, violating Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules, associating with known triad members, knowingly hiring and retaining illegal labour, allowing an unlicensed junket room and other dealings that could infringe the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

 

Sands owner Adelson has done multiple donations to Republican-linked Super PACs and non-profit groups, including $20m to the non-profit group Crossroads GPS, co-founded by former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, and $5m each to Super PACs linked to House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.   Adelson and his wife have promised as much as $100m to ensure that Romney enters the White House, making the Las Vegas Sands mogul a potential target for Democrat strategists.

 

On June 15, McCain predicted that scandals would inevitably result from the enormous amounts of donated money now washing through the system, including "foreign money", and the "corrupting effects" on elections would make a mockery of the 2010 Supreme Court decision that ended limits on "independent political expenditure" by corporations and unions, he said. 

 

Meanwhile, the other US operator with an interest in Macau, MGM Resorts, has been targeted by the website CasinoLeaks-Macau, an ambitious trade union-funded and controlled project that compiles data, documents and analysis on Macau's junkets.

 

The International Union of Operating Engineers' (IUOE) campaign covers all of Macau's gaming operators, but has singled out MGM Resorts, demanding in writing that its independent directors probe subsidiary MGM China's dealings with the Suncity junket over alleged triad links. Suncity also operates at Sands China and Wynn Macau casinos.

 

Other sources:

http://casinoleaks-macau.com/CasinoLeaks_News_and_Updates.html

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Acquisitions of social gaming companies have showed poor results, Gambling Compliance

The social gaming sector is estimated to grow from around $8bn in global revenues this year to around $15bn in 2015, according to Think Equity.

 

Caesars Entertainment acquired Playtika (Slotomania) for $170m in December 2011. Official company description: “A lot of effort, not a lot of results.”

 

888 Holdings acquired social poker and bingo games developer Mytopia for $18m in June 2010. Official company description: “Reduced expectations of income growth."

 

International Game Technology’sacquired DoubleDown Interactive for $250m in January 2012. Official company description:"Will need to grow its user base to generate profitability." (showing loss with 1,4 M daily and 5 M monthly users) The growth of users has been “dramatically below what we believe is necessary to achieve our estimate.”

 

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment unveiled its Win.com social gaming division and announced the acquisition of  Velasco Services Inc. and Orneon Limited for $23m in may 2012.

 

MGM Resorts International is set to imminently launch its MyVegas social gaming site.

 

Wynn Resorts is according to rumours i talks with the largest social gaming developer Zynga.

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MGM is forced to pay for using trivial patent from Leap Forward

MGM is forced to pay for using trivial patent from Leap Forward | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

MGM Resorts International has announced that they start licensing Picture-in-Picture (PiP) patents from Leap Forward Gaming.

 

The rocket science of PiP technology allows gaming operators to provide additional games, media content, interactive bonusing events, directed marketing messages etc to players in a secondary picture on the video screens, while the game play is not interrupted.

 

Rumours says that drinking and playing DaP will be the next step in the advanced patent development within the world of casino technology.

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MGM to have online site by June, iGaming Post

MGM to have online site by June, iGaming Post | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

MGM Resorts International will launch a casino-themed Internet game by June, said James Murren, chairman of MGM Resorts International.

 

The game “Casino Mogul” will be similar to Farmville and other social media games and provide a perfect Las Vegas, which he told the crowd means Vegas will have only MGM properties.

 

Murren said Internet gambling will be here this year at a state-by-state level. “We vastly prefer a federal solution,” he said.

 

Other sources: http://yogonet.com/english/2012/05/14/mgm-to-launch-online-casino-game-in-june

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MGM to launch social gaming site, Tom Victor EGR Magazine

MGM to launch social gaming site, Tom Victor EGR Magazine | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

United States-facing casino operator MGM will soon roll out a social gaming site exclusively featuring its brands.

 

The CEO Jim Murren hopes the new development “will be superior to what you currently see in the market and will be a strong customer acquisition and brand extension tool for us.”

 

At this stage it is unclear whether any of bwin.party’s brands, which include PartyPoker, bwin and the World Poker Tour, would have any presence on MGM’s planned social site. The World Poker Tour brand is already active on Facebook via an app developed by Hands-On Entertainment which boasts 170,000 monthly active users.

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MGM plans to build 800 MUSD casino outside Washington DC, Innovate Gaming

MGM plans to build 800 MUSD casino outside Washington DC, Innovate Gaming | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

MGM Resorts is planning to develop a $800m casino resort at the National Harbor waterfront complex near the nation’s capital. To go ahead, MGM requires that lawmakers allow both slots and tables, plus cut the high gambling tax in the state. The changes are subject to legislation approved by Maryland General Assembly, which would pave the way for a referendum by Maryland voters. The proposed project would create 4,000 permanent jobs and heighten competition in surrounding states Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

 

Other sources:

http://gamingzion.com/gamblingnews/maryland-to-expand-poker-gambling-2807

 http://www.gamblingcompliance.com/node/49396

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Macau’s record growth is slowing down, Michael Robinson Innovate Gaming

Macau’s record growth is slowing down, Michael Robinson Innovate Gaming | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

Gaming is still expected to expand in Macau, but analysts believe these first signs of slowing growth rates will see operators face a tougher challenge in the decade ahead. This year’s revenue growth has so far been running at just over half the 2011 rate, before the abrupt slowdown in May.

 

According to recent Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau figures, year-on-year growth rates have steadily declined in 2012. Gross revenues dropped from 34.8 percent in January, 28.3 percent in February, 27 percent in March, 25.7 percent in April to 7.3 percent in May, which represents revenues of us$3.3 billion last month.

 

Other sources:

http://www.yogonet.com/english/2012/06/13/macau-june-revenue-may-grow-15 ;

http://news.investors.com/article/614514/201206120802/china-mixed-numbers-seen-benefiting-vegas-casinos.htm

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myVegas social casino games launches with partner MGM, Dean Takahashi VentureBeat

myVegas social casino games launches with partner MGM, Dean Takahashi VentureBeat | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

Social casino game startups are the cliché of 2012. Everybody is either starting a new company in this hot market — on the bet that the U.S. will allow online gambling sites again — or spending a lot of money acquiring casino game startups.

But Playstudios believes it is different because it is a blend of Silicon Valley and Las Vegas. They’ve signed up MGM Resorts International, which owns 80 percent of the casino properties on the Las Vegas Strip, as their marketing partner.

 

The myVegas app on Facebook is a social gaming destination, where players can come to enjoy games such as Blackjack or slot machines. You can earn virtual currency by playing the games and earn real rewards such as trips to real-world casinos. Then you can build out your own fantasy version of the Las Vegas Strip in a kind of meta-game.

 

Other sources:

http://www.recentpoker.com/news/mgm-social-gaming-7019.html

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MGM Resorts International's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results, Seeking Alpha

MGM Resorts International's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results, Seeking Alpha | Poker & eGaming News | Scoop.it

EBITDA was $509 million for Q1 2012.

 

Our room trends continue to improve. That increase was despite having over 70,000 rooms out of service at the MGM Grand due to the current room remodel that's underway. And overall, we were still able to increase our occupied room nights by approximately 60,000 in the quarter, reflecting a gain in market share, as well as the continued strength in demand for our Las Vegas Strip resorts.

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