GGRAsia – RGB advancing on remote gambling for land-based casinos

RGB advancing on remote gambling for land-based casinos

Jun 02, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Trends & Tech

Casino equipment maker and distributor RGB International Bhd says it has been conducting “test simulations” for a “remote gaming solution” being developed by the company and targeting operators of land-based casinos.

The information was included in RGB’s 2020 annual report, published on Monday.

The Malaysian enterprise had announced last year that, due the impact of Covid-19 on in-person customer volume at land-based casinos, the firm was “exploring the possibility of remote gaming” as an alternative product for such operators.

In the management discussion and analysis chapter of RGB’s 2020 annual report, independent non-executive chairman Mahinder Singh Dulku and managing director Chuah Kim Seah wrote the group was pursing a “new avenue by maximising its existing resources to increase the revenue during this unprecedented period and at the same time, conducting the test simulations on the remote gaming solution for land-based casinos”.

The report did not provide further detail regarding the remote gaming products being developed by RGB.

In their remarks, Mr Mahinder and Mr Chuah said that “the imposition of travel restrictions, movement control of people, and stringent standard operating procedures to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 by the respective governments worldwide,” had “hampered” RGB’s revenue and profitability.

The firm recorded revenue of MYR191.1 million (US$46.3 million) in 2020, compared with MYR351.1 million in the previous year, “mainly due to the decrease in number of products sold resulting from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic”. It posted a net loss of MYR28.7 million in 2020 versus net profit of MYR39.8 million in 2019.

“We expect market conditions to remain volatile for 2021 due to the uncertainties amid the fluidity of the Covid-19 situation,” Mr Mahinder and Mr Chuah wrote.

They added: “Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group foresees some recovery in the gaming market and therefore a better performance for year 2021.”