A Taiwanese-invested casino in Primorye Krai, Russia, attracted a large crowd during a trial run on Thursday, leaving the owners optimistic that the project can be a success.
Nearly 5,000 guests, including the governor of Primorye, the region’s tourism head and local tycoons, thronged into the Tigre De Cristal casino in less than four hours on Thursday night, Firich Enterprises Co (伍豐科技) said.
The showing demonstrated the government’s high hopes for the development of the integrated entertainment zone (IEZ) near Vladivostok in which the casino is located, as well as the big tourism draws casinos represent, the company said.
Firich, a leading maker of point-of-sales equipment and gaming machines, holds a 25 percent stake in First Gambling Co of the East, which owns the US$172 million casino.
The company’s consolidated revenue increased by 1.65 percent to NT$2.01 billion (US$61.19 million) from January through last month, from NT$1.98 billion in the same period last year.
Firich chairman Bill Hsu (徐明哲) said the gaming industry lies at the high end of the service sector, with casinos at its core and peripheral businesses, such as hotels, boutiques and entertainment, thriving around them.
As the IEZ is only about 20km away from the local airport, the complex would not have to worry about a shortage of customers, with the casino expected to draw gamblers from elsewhere in Russia, as well as China, Japan and South Korea, Hsu said.
The casino has the market to itself until 2018, when a second casino is expected to be built. It is exempt from paying sales tax until 2020 and faces a gambling tax of just 1 percent, compared with 39 percent in Macau and 25 percent in Malaysia.
Firich’s shares fell 4.55 percent to NT$105 on Thursday in Taipei trading.
The company on Thursday said its net income reached NT$27 million in August, down 20.7 percent year-on-year. Earnings per share were NT$0.12 in August, compared with NT$0.14 a year earlier.
The company released its earnings results at the request of the local stock exchange regulator after its shares had jumped more than 33 percent since Sept. 25.
Up to Thursday's close, Firich's shares had fallen 10.96 percent this year, better than the over-the-counter TPEX's 14.28 percent decline.
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