Casino equipment supplier Paradise Entertainment Ltd is to hire companies controlled by the brother-in-law of its chairman, Jay Chun, for sales and distribution of products in the United States and Australia.
The deal with Feng Linyi’s companies would be on a “non-exclusive basis”, said Monday’s filing by Paradise Entertainment to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“Mr Feng is the brother-in-law of Mr Jay Chun, the controlling shareholder, the executive director, the chairman and the managing director of the company, and thus a deemed connected person,” said Monday’s filing.
Under the three-year distribution deal agreed on Friday – valid from January 1 this year until December 31 in 2018 – there will be an annual cap on the value of business between the two parties amounting to HKD50 million (US$6.4 million) per year.
Paradise Entertainment said the companies controlled by Mr Feng are “licensed to sell the gaming products in Australia and the U.S., and they are willing to be appointed on a non-exclusive basis”.
The filing added: “The group shall not be obliged to accept any order from companies controlled by Mr Feng for the gaming products on terms and conditions that are less favourable to the group than those agreed between the group and its other independent third party distributors.” Paradise Entertainment’s filing noted Mr Chun had not been involved in the board’s vote on the deal.
Paradise Entertainment develops, supplies and sells electronic gaming products in Macau and internationally under the LT Game brand. Its catalogue includes the Live Multi Game (LMG) machine, featuring a live dealer but electronic betting and bet settlement.
“Gaming products” are defined in the agreement as “the gaming machines and related products manufactured by the group or such other products of similar nature of the group”.
Mr Feng is also the director of two “insignificant subsidiaries” of the Paradise Entertainment group, said the document.
In November, Paradise Entertainment said LT Game products were undergoing approval processes in several states in the U.S., and had already been approved in Nevada.
In August 2014, LT Game Ltd, part of the Paradise Entertainment group, announced what was described as a strategic three-year distribution deal with the pre-merger slot machine supplier International Game Technology (IGT).
Under it, IGT was to distribute LT Game’s live and electronic table game products on an exclusive basis in the U.S. and Canada. LT Game was to serve as distributor for IGT’s slot machines in Macau.
