Asia growth in machine management, strong sales: RGB

Aug 19, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Rest of Asia, Trends & Tech  

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Malaysia-listed casino equipment maker and supplier RGB International Bhd says it sees opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region for its technical support and management – or “TSM” – business model; as well as the sales, support and marketing – or “SSM” model.

That is according to vice president Chuah Eng Hwa (pictured), in comments to GGRAsia during a recent interview.

Venues that seek the TSM model are “usually looking for a partner to manage the electronic gaming machines operations in their casino or slot boutique and also to share the capital risk, especially in terms of the investment of the gaming machines,” stated Mr Chuah.

He noted his firm also had “the expertise to propose machine product mix” to commercial partners.

Regarding the shared operations model with venue licensees, Mr Chuah noted it was focused on “medium-sized casinos and even slot boutiques”.

“There are plenty of opportunities in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In Vietnam the eGaming clubs usually have about 100 to 200 machines each,” he added in a follow-up email to us.

In Vietnam, five-star hotels have an opportunity to apply for an eGaming licence to run the electronic games, stated Mr Chuah.

RGB said that under the TSM model, the firm typically partners with gaming licensees in order to manage their gaming machine operations. The company provides under that scenario professional managers, support staff and engineers to manage the gaming machines in the respective outlets.

The firm said in a follow-up email to us that for the calendar year to July 31, it had placed approximately 1,000 new gaming machines under the TSM model, and it expected an aggregate of 1,900 to have been placed via that model by the end of 2019.

RGB says it has more than 200 qualified engineers and technicians across the region to support TSM operations as well as product it supplies under the SSM business model.

Outright sales

Under the SSM model, “we have sold on average about 1,200 electronic gaming machines yearly for the past couple of years,” said Mr Chuah. That number excluded table games products, he explained.

The group’s overall target in 2019 for SSM business is 1,600 machines according to Mr Chuah.

RGB said that – as well as supplying its own branded products – it acts as a distributor for “renowned partners” including brands which RGB referred to as the “market leaders” in the land-based gaming industry.

RGB has a machine and other product distribution business serving end-customers in an aggregate of nine jurisdictions: the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Nepal, Macau and Timor-Leste, stated the firm’s vice president.

Mr Chuah said that in terms of the overall growth of the firm’s business segments, RGB saw “plenty of opportunities” in emerging markets across the Asia-Pacific region.

Private-sector casino resorts in the Philippines recorded overall GGR of PHP151.65 billion in 2018, up 28.3 percent year-on-year, according to data released in February by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).

Thanks to a major increase in Chinese investment in Cambodia, together with the increase in tourism to the country, Mr Chuah said that RGB “expects that Cambodia will be one of the most promising markets in coming years”.

RGB stated it had recently established a new sales and service office in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and was looking to set up new sales offices in the Philippines and Vietnam.

In a follow-up email to GGRAsia, RGB said that as of the end of July it had placed machines under the TSM model at three Sihanoukville casinos.

It added in the email that revenue the group generated from Sihanoukville outlets has increased at least 50 percent from 2017 to 2018.

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