Macau junket investor Meg-Star International has confirmed to GGRAsia that it is launching a new VIP club at Crown Melbourne (pictured) in Australia, with a planned soft opening of the club to take place in April.
The junket brand specialises in serving Chinese high rollers, and also serves clients from other markets. The news that it is linking with a Crown Resorts Ltd property comes 18 months after the arrest of Crown Resorts employees in mainland China on allegations of “gambling crimes”, as reported by GGRAsia. That sparked a series of events that saw a major decline in the volume of high roller business at Crown Resorts’ domestic venues, located in Melbourne, Victoria, and Perth, Western Australia.
“This new club will offer exceptional VIP services and entertainment for overseas market, and we are looking forward to the soft opening at this stage,” the junket firm said in emailed reply to GGRAsia regarding the new Meg-Star International-branded club at Crown Melbourne.
The Australian casino operator reported a 15.9-percent year-on-year increase in its VIP play turnover to AUD22.6 billion for the six months to December 31, 2017. But its revenue from VIP play saw a decline of 13.6 percent to AUD340.1 million in the period.
“As a brand of the [Meg-Star] group in the gaming promotion industry, Meg-Star International aims to maintain sustainable and long-term development of services worldwide… We are serving a global VIP market, and we believe this [opening represents] a healthy growth for our business,” the junket firm said in commentary to GGRAsia.
Meg-Star International announced in February the launch of a new brand image that it says aims to represent the diversified business portfolio of the group. The company now uses the name “Meg-Star Group”.
The VIP gaming services unit, branded as Meg-Star International, is described as part of the Meg-Star Group.
