Bloomberry Resorts Corporation rejected speculations that the company could open and build a land-based gambling casino in Thailand despite Thailand’s progress towards opening up a legal market for gambling.
This week, reports suggested that Enrique ‘Ricky’ Razon could be considering expanding in Thailand. Razon is a Filipino billionaire who chairs Bloomberry. According to an article published on Bilyonaryo.com, Razon is interested in opening a casino resort in Thailand.
Bloomberry responded by issuing an official notice to the Philippine Stock Exchange, distancing themselves from these reports. Bloomberry, however, said that legal gambling is “market-interest”.
Bloomberry stated that the article was essentially speculation about Bloomberry being “expected” to be one of ‘global gambling leaders’ who had shown an interest in opening a casino resort in Thailand.
There have been reports that Thailand may be considering a gambling law, but we don’t know what it will look like. This is a matter of interest to the market. The writer is making a lot of speculation when he says that Bloomberry has confirmed that they have plans to expand into Thailand. It is not true.”
Bloomberry’s current focus is on the casino business in South Korea, and Philippines. The group has one integrated resort per country. A second Filipino facility opened last week.
Thailand casino giants are eyeing the country
Although Bloomberry has not announced any plans for a launch in Thailand at this time, there are other companies that have expressed an interest.
Craig Billings, Wynn Resorts’ CEO during the Q1 earnings conference call, said that Wynn Resorts is looking at options for establishing casinos in Thailand or New York.
Billings acknowledges that it’s “very early” days in the launch of a casino in Thailand. Full details on licensing and regulations are still to be revealed. He said Wynn was very interested in the project.
Billings stated that Thailand is already an important tourism destination, with a significant infrastructure for tourism and world-class service. Billings said, “We’ll continue to monitor the progress of the legalisation.”
Las Vegas Sands is another operator that has shown an interest. Robert Goldstein, the CEO and Chairman of Las Vegas Sands said that they “absolutely have an interest” in Thailand.
He said, “This is a market that’s very interesting on many levels.” The sheer number of Thais, their accessibility and willingness to travel there are all reasons enough for people to visit Thailand. The city is, in my opinion, the number one destination for tourists from Asia.
It could happen even faster than Japan. It’s possible, I believe. We’re still in the early stages, but we have a lot of work to do on understanding and analyzing numbers.”
Thailand surpasses Japan in casino goals
Goldstein was not the first to draw parallels between Thailand’s legalisation of casinos and Japan.
Muhammad Cohen wrote a two-part special series earlier this month on Thailand’s situation. The article looks at how Thailand has now surpassed Japan when it comes to legalising gambling and casinos, yet still faces significant challenges.
The second part of this series examines the potential growth opportunities for leading casino operators despite how Thai legalisation could defy conventional wisdom.
