KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) says its ongoing expansion in Resorts World New York City (RWNYC) is partly an effort to prepare and be a strong contender for the potential issuance of up to three New York downstate casino licences.

This comes on the back of GenM’s recent RWNYC expansion by hiring more staff, ramping-up of operating capacity and the opening a new Hyatt Regency-branded hotel at RWNYC in August 2021.

Speaking at CGS-CIMB Research’s Malaysia Corporate Day, GenM’s group senior vice president of finance and corporate affairs James Koh and assistant manager of corporate affairs Audrey Ng said the request for information (RFI) process commissioned by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) had closed in December 2021, as it is preparing to submit a report to the New York State Governor and State Legislature by June 2022. 

GenM also told CGS-CIMB that they expect the NYSGC to proceed to issue a request for application (RFA) in 2022 and are likely to decide on the winners of the downstate casino licences within 150 days, ahead of the expiry of the moratorium on new licence issuance in early-2023. 

The application for a casino licence in New York would not be the first time GenM has attempted to win regulatory approval.

On Nov 10, 2021, GenM’s 49%-owned subsidiary Empire Resorts Inc won a mobile sports-betting licence in New York as part of a consortium led by Kambi Group plc.

The group said the mobile sports-betting licence “would help to complement RWC’s casino business and increase Genting Group’s presence in the US, though the overall earnings contribution may not be significant (partly due to the competitive market and high tax rate of 51% for operators).”

GenM also expects Empire Resorts’ Resorts World Hudson Valley (RWHV) facility in Orange County, which would feature 1,300 video gaming machines, to open in the second half of 2022. 

The group added that the capital expenditure (capex) for RWHV will not be significant — around US$30-40 million — as Empire Resorts will only need to refit an existing shopping mall, while all the video gaming machines are leased.

Even though Empire Resorts had required US$524 million in investment from GenM over the last three years, the former’s debt level is below US$400 million as GenM injected US$150 million into the company in October 2021. The group believes that Empire Resort is now sufficiently funded for its future expansion.

Better days are ahead for the leisure and gaming group, as it recently reported its net loss narrowed to RM289.25 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21), from RM704.64 million a year earlier — despite a 42% decline in revenue to RM826.27 million, from RM1.42 billion — mainly due to GenM’s overseas operations maintaining a strong recovery momentum.

At 2:55pm, GenM shares traded one sen or 0.34% lower to RM2.91 on Wednesday (Jan 12), which translates into a market capitalisation of RM17.22 billion.