GGRAsia – RWS seeking to expand gaming customer base: exec

RWS seeking to expand gaming customer base: exec

May 24, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

Casino operator Genting Singapore Ltd says the company is looking at “broadening its customer base to those who engage in casual play for entertainment,” as gaming will “continue to be an important revenue source” for the group. The firm – a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd – is the operator of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), one of Singapore’s two casino resorts.

The comments were made by Tan Hee Teck during the company’s annual general meeting in late April, according to minutes published on Monday. Mr Tan was then Genting Singapore’s president and chief operating officer. In May, he was appointed as the company chief executive.

In a question-and-answer session with shareholders, Mr Tan said Resorts World Sentosa wanted to attract customers that “engage in casual play for entertainment”, as a way to diversify its customer base. He said the company hoped that “over the next two to three years, Resorts World Sentosa would transform the resort to cater to such customers.”

The executive said Resorts World Sentosa would need to focus on a segment of premium leisure travellers, and “develop the facilities, restaurants and hotel rooms to cater to those people”.

Genting Singapore’s management also said the group “would be incorporating initiatives” in what it terms ‘Resorts World Sentosa 2.0′, to address the “trend of change in demographics.”

The company is embarking on a SGD4.5-billion (US$3.3-billion) expansion of its casino resort (pictured in a file photo). It is part of an arrangement with the Singapore auth0rities that sees Genting Singapore keep until 2030 its half of Singapore’s casino duopoly.

Asked how long it would take for Genting Singapore to get back to pre-Covid levels in terms of growth and revenue, Mr Tan said there were “many parts” to be taken into consideration.

One issue, he stated, was what he termed a “labour crunch faced by the service industry,” in particular the hospitality industry; while the second issue was related to revenue generation.

“The whole of Singapore was working very hard to bring back the businesses, and there is global pent-up demand for travel,” said Mr Tan. “While going through this rough patch, Resorts World Sentosa management is at the same time preparing itself to emerge even stronger after this Covid-19 period.”

Air passenger volume at Singapore Changi Airport rose from about 18 percent of pre-Covid 19 levels in March, to nearly 40 percent of pre-pandemic business in April, said the city-state’s Minister for Transport, S Iswaran, in a speech in early May.

The improvement coincided with Singapore substantially easing inbound travel rules for fully vaccinated travellers from April 1, according to the minister. Singapore also removed, with effect from April 2 6, all Covid-19 test requirements for fully vaccinated visitors.

In May, Genting Singapore reported a net profit of SGD40.4 million for the first quarter of 2022, up 17.3 percent from the previous quarter. It represented a 16.9-percent increase in year-on-year terms, according to company data, providing highlights of first-quarter performance.

(Updated, June 4, 5.30pm)