Casino ship operator and gaming investor Genting Hong Kong Ltd says it has renewed an agreement with a connected company to buy electronic equipment and devices for electronic games for the cruise lines operated by the group.
Genting Hong Kong – a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd – is buying the equipment from FreeStyle Gaming Pte Ltd. FreeStyle Gaming is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Resorts World Inc Pte Ltd, a company controlled in equal proportion by Genting Bhd and by the group’s chairman Lim Kok Thay.
The agreement has an aggregate cap of US$7.0 million, and is valid from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021, Genting Hong Kong said in a filing last week.
The agreement states an annual cap of US$1.0 million for 2019. The annual caps for 2020 and 2021 were each set at US$3.0 million, respectively.
The company said the annual caps were set taking into consideration the projection of the volume of purchases for the financial years 2019 to 2021; and “a reasonable buffer to cater for any unexpected increase in the amount of purchases which may arise due to future potential increase in the number of cruises and passengers”.
In recent years, Genting Hong Kong has accelerated its expansion plans for its cruise business and has developed a three-brand cruise portfolio with focus on different market segments: Crystal Cruises for what it terms the ultra-luxury segment; Dream Cruises for what it describes as the premium segment; and Star Cruises for what it defines as the contemporary segment.
Genting Hong Kong said the renewed deal with FreeStyle Gaming is in line with the company’s strategy of diversifying the offering of entertainment and facilities onboard its cruise ships “by installing various electronic games”. The firm said the deal would help it “reduce manpower”, “broaden the target age range” of its customers and “maintain the competitiveness” of the cruise lines it operates.
