Investment Archive

If you are a seasoned player or someone working in the sphere of gambling, there’s no way you’ve never heard of Macau. “The Last Vegas of the East”, as it is endearingly referred as, actually makes six times the revenue that Las Vegas does.

Macau is an administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. This special status allows it to maintain separate economic and governing systems to that of mainland China.

Due to the unique arrangements, Macau was able to create a so-called haven for gambling companies and enthusiasts. It currently has the largest gaming industry in the world and gambling contributes the most towards Macau’s $53.9 billion GDP. This number is spectacular when you account for the fact that Macau only has 682,800 citizens.

Despite the prosperity that gambling brought to Macau, its gambling industry might experience changes. China has recently criticized Macau’s gambling operations and many people fears that the criticism would translate to harsh regulations that can forever change Macau.

Macau and China

Let us give you some information as to why everyone is concerned about the future of Macau and its status as the top gambling venue of the world. Although Macau has some of the most relaxed laws concerning gambling, it still requires valid operating licenses issued by their gaming authority.

The current licenses are set to expire in March 2022. This means that now is the time to make changes if any are to be made, and China seems to think there should be such. Lately, Chinese authorities have been regulating various businesses, but what’s concerning is that they have set their eyes on Macau this time.

As we previously mentioned, Macau has a special status, which allows it some grade of autonomy, and thus, China is seen as overstepping the boundaries. However, as we learnt with the failure of the “Free Hong Kong” initiative, China can overstep the boundaries that it had set for administrative regions in the past.

Mainland China is critical of Macau’s way of governing and doesn’t like the fact that its economy is so intimately tied to gambling. Gambling is in fact illegal in China, so their dislike is natural. Chinese Authorities want to change the face of Macau, but it might be hard considering 70 to 80% of Macau’s GDP comes from gambling and that Macau itself is the size of Manhattan.

However, let us cut China some slack here. There are legitimate reasons why relying solely on gambling can be bad. For instance, many locals choose to drop out of university to pursue career in the casino industry, which means there would be fewer other professionals in the future.

Moreover, many stores and restaurants have closed down because they can’t compete with the lucrative salaries that casinos offer. In addition, casino resorts in the city only generate profit from the casinos and not from their hotels as most tourists are day-trippers who rarely go there for anything but gambling.

There is also the issue of crime. Crime has skyrocketed in Macau for the last 20 years, during which Macau became the gambling capital of the world. This is in part for the casinos themselves, but also because the wealth gap has widened for this period. Despite the high GDP per capita, poverty is not a thing of the past in Macau.

Recent Developments

Now that we have established various factors relating to gambling in Macau, let us explore the recent developments in the saga that kickstarted the campaign to change the Las Vegas of the East.

The main sign of trouble came when Alvin Chau was arrested in November 2021. Chau is the chairman of Suncity Group Holdings, a company offering casino tours to wealthy Asian clients. He is charged with fraud and money laundering on the accusation that he operated a cross-border syndicate that lured Chinese people into gambling in Macau, thus acting as a loophole to the ban on gambling in China.

Suncity Group shares were immediately pulled of the stock market. Chau’s arrest, however, also affected the stocks of the five operators in Macau, and they’ve been plummeting ever since.

In response to the scandal, Macau’s secretary for economy and finance, Lei Wai Nong, said that the city is looking into ways to better regulate the industry. A few days later, it was announced that casinos would be no longer allowed to offer big credits to VIP clients from China in a bid to curb Chinese interest in Macau.

Final Thoughts

It seems like Macau is indeed heading towards more regulations, but this isn’t necessarily bad. While some bad prophets are calling the changes the end of Macau, it could actually be the beginning of a new era where gambling is highly available but not on the price of every other industry failing.

Strange things are happening in the world of bookmakers at the moment. Sworn enemies are suddenly expressing a new found fondness for each other. It’s almost as if we have time travelled back to the 1960’s and are experiencing a new summer of love.

The news about the proposed merger between Coral and Ladbrokes comes soon after Paddy Power and Betfair overcame their regulatory hurdles and joined forces. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority cleared the deal in December and the first shares in Paddy Power Betfair plc were listed for trading on the London Stock Exchange and Irish Stock Exchange on February 2nd 2016.

The £5 billion-plus merger between Betfair and Paddy Power was announced in August, with shareholders of both firms giving their approval in December. Paddy Power shareholders will own 52 per cent of the new business, with the remainder held by Betfair.

The merger between Coral and Ladbrokes is however likely to attract much more restrictions and attention due to the market share a deal between the two companies would obtain.

The UK’s competition regulator has already expressed concern and stated in its initial investigation that a merger would create a “substantial lessening of competition” within fixed odds betting on the high street. The regulator agreed to “fast track” its second part of the investigation, which will focus on the impact on local competition for sportsbook operators.

Certainly not everyone is happy, many players fear that the merger between Coral and Ladbrokes will lead to an inferior betting bonus offer for new customers. Others think that existing bonuses will be drastically reduced due to the lack of competition within the industry. Some are questioning if the merger will mean less variance in the odds that are available both in shops and online.

Many of Ladbrokes shareholders are also not too enthusiastic about the potential marriage of two of the biggest names in betting. Dermot Desmond who is an International Investment and Underwriting Consultant and also a shareholder in Ladbrokes has launched a campaign “say no to Coral”. He has also written an impassioned letter to all Ladbrokes shareholders explaining why this merger is particularly bad for Ladbrokes.

Mr Desmond is particularly stinging in his assessment, “Ladbrokes has a great brand but, unlike Coral, has failed to migrate its customers online. Ladbrokes needs a new management team to achieve this. However, giving away half your company and taking on over £800m of debt is a very expensive way to recruit a quality management team.”

Mr Desmond also insinuates that the stock market is also against the merger with his comment, “Since the announcement on 24 July, the Ladbrokes share price has fallen 16% from 130p to 109p, wiping out a further c. £200m in shareholder value, indicating the market’s view on the proposed transaction. In contrast, since the announcement of the Paddy Power/Betfair merger, their share prices have increased 35% and 20% respectively.”

Some of the biggest winners out of this merger may well be direct competitors of Coral and Ladbrokes. Companies such as Betfred, Paddy Power and Boylesports will be rubbing their hand in glee if, as expected, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority forces them to sell off between 400 and 1,000 betting shops. This sell off is likely to be below market price and when you consider that a quarter of Coral’s profits are realised from the highly controversial Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) in their shops, this may just be the start of Coral and Ladbrokes’ problems, not the end of them!

If someone comes up to you and says “Yo, man, give me a couple thousand pounds, I’ll just hop by the casino across the street and win some cash and then I’ll return it to you”, your first response probably shouldn’t be “That’s a great idea, why didn’t I think of that!” Sadly, two workers at McDonald’s Oxford Street branch had to learn this important life lesson the hard way after being caught taking money from the safe and handing them over to friends, who proceeded to place high-rolling bets in the Genting Club across the street. After they won, they would keep the earnings for themselves before returning the original amount to be placed back in the safe, leaving no one the wiser. If you have even a little bit of common sense, you’d soon realize that this plan has one fatal flaw – once the casino players begin losing money, which would inevitably happen no matter how good you are, the entire scam would be uncovered. Surprise surprise, this is exactly what happened – once the two employees found themselves unable to return the appropriate amount into the safe, they were quickly caught by the van driver charged with transporting the amount. Hurray for security cameras, catching idiotic employees in the act since 1942!

As soon as they found out about what had been going on, the management immediately sacked the two employees before filing charges against them. Their identities haven’t been confirmed, as the investigators have left the matter largely in the hands of McDonald’s, who appear to have decided not to press charges. Had they opted to go to court, the employees would’ve faced hefty fines or even jail time if (or rather, when) they were found guilty. “It was pretty stupid. They were always going to get caught once they started losing”, an employee of McDonald’s and a (now former) colleague of the perpetrators said. Apparently everyone at the restaurant knew what the two had been doing, claiming that such mishandling of money by the two employees “had been happening regularly”. The firing of the employees was confirmed by a McDonald’s spokesperson, who also stated that an internal investigation was currently underway to determine just how much money was missing (the amount is speculated to be in the thousands, but that has yet to be confirmed).

Remember, children – always play casino with your own money. The satisfaction is greater, the risks are lower (the worst that can happen is you lose some money – at least you won’t go to jail) and, most importantly, it won’t require you to work at McDonald’s. Now get out there and enjoy some casino games with money that hasn’t been stolen from your company’s safe!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

My name is Randall Riley and I was born on 7th January 1973 in Burnley, UK.I have a bachelor’s degree in Economics and MBA with specialization in international business.

I’ve been involved in the online Forex world for the last couple of years and the main reason for that is my current job position – I work as a Foreign Currency and Investment Advisor for a Forex advisory company.

What Excites Me about Forex Markets?

My career as an Investment Advisor is both exciting and fast-paced. As you know, the currency markets work 24/7 and sometimes it requires working extra hours and thus I don’t have regular working time. However, the environment is pretty challenging and dynamic, which is the best part. Some of the things that I find most exciting about my career is the connection with the global financial markets. The action-packed atmosphere is quite appealing to me, so it was easy to take this path.

Three Reasons to Start Forex Trading and Why I Started a Blog

Forex Markets can be a very profitable niche to trade on, you just have to know how to trade with different currencies. I’ll list you three reasons why you should consider investing in FX.

• The Market is open 24/7 – there are no boundaries in front of you, the market never sleeps and you can enter it and trade any time you wish.
• Unlimited winning potential – it is basically the largest market in the world and you can enter it any time as long as you have internet connection. Merely £1.5 trillions have been turned over every day, so the profit chances are limitless!
• You’re not dependent on the market conditions – once you buy a currency, depending on the market conditions you can choose whether to buy it or sell it.

Forex trading is the perfect niche for extra investments and making some good profits. I decided to start a forex blog, where I can share my experience as a professional financial advisor and help other financial enthusiasts explore more investment opportunities. I will regularly publish news, related to forex trading forecasts and predictions and you will get the best tips how to succeed on the market.