Gambling Stocks: What’s Hot, What’s Not
Gambling Stocks Watch is presented by Gambling911.com and provides readers with all the latest news pertaining to the world of publicly traded gambling companies from Internet-based to brick and mortar. This is your latest update published May 25, 2011. Watch for additional updates on the Gambling911.com home page daily and throughout the day.
MGM China - MGM China, the venture between MGM Resorts International and casino mogul Stanley Ho's daughter Pansy Ho, priced its initial public offering at HK$15.34 a share, the top of its indicative range, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters on Friday.
The company sold 760 million shares, raising HK$11.66 billion ($1.5 billion), according to one of the sources. The company had previously set an indicative range for the IPO of HK$12.36 to $HK$15.34 a share.
The sources declined to be identified because the information was not yet public.
The offering will catapult Ho near the top of Asia's billionaire list, surpassing her father with an estimated wealth of nearly $5 billion, taking into consideration her stake in MGM China and other holdings. The elder Ho, known as Macau's casino King because of his longstanding monopoly that ended in 2002, has a fortune estimated at about $3 billion.
MGM China is seeking to benefit from a boom in Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Casino revenue in the tiny enclave an hour from Hong Kong surged 44.6 percent in April to 20.5 billion patacas ($2.56 billion), with the market set to double in size to $50 billion between 2013 and 2015, according to Goldman Sachs estimates.
Cryptlogoic – Watch Out! The company announced on Wednesday May 24 it had been found “non compliant” by NASDAQ for failing comprise of at least three independent directors. The deficiency notice was sent to Crypto following the resignation of David Gavagan from the audit committee.
The gambling software developer and service provider offers online casino games including poker, bingo, and slots but is best known in recent years for featuring Marvel Super Heroes within its casinos.
1.72 (up) 0.02 (1.29%)
as of May 26, 10:18 AM EDT
MGM – From Seeking Alpha
MGM has suffered from the downturn of travel to Las Vegas since 2008 and has less exposure to Macau than its competitors Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Wynn (WYNN). MGM's growth in Asia is also restricted by the company's high debt levels (4.14 debt/equity ratio) and Chinese regulations that limit travel to their resorts.
Their Aria Hotel is being bogged down by lawsuits.
This might normally be a high time for MGM and other Vegas properties with the World Series of Poker just around the corner. However, a recent crackdown on Internet poker sites is likely to result in nominal online satellite entrants (which made up a large chunk of the events). Additionally, players have had a tough time cashing out from two of the three online poker rooms indicted. To make matters worse, some in the poker community are calling for a boycott. The World Series of Poker helps boost revenues for Vegas as a whole during the hot summer months of June and July. We would note that the MGM itself does not host the World Series of Poker. Caesar’s is the company behind the WSOP. Most experts believe that attendance will be significantly lower at the event itself. This could be offset somewhat by European players.
15.48 -0.05(-0.32%) May 26 10:53am ET
When it comes to gambling stocks, just about anything Macau-related is hot right now even if there are projections of a temporary cool down in the coming months.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
