The company responsible for the property where Waldo Casino is located is still negotiating terms with Galaxy Entertainment Group for a possible contract renewal, but the chances of a deal being struck are “low”, an insider says. industry to Allin Media.
Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) yesterday announced the closure of two of its satellite casinos, Rio Casino and President Casino, with staff working at these two casinos to be transferred to other casinos under the concessionaire, “all terms and conditions of employment remaining the same”.
While Rio and President casinos have suspended operations since June 15, TDM Radio reported that Waldo has already submitted a request to do the same by the end of the month.
These three casinos employ approximately 600 people, most of them working in the Rio and Waldo casinos.
Adjusted EBITDA for Galaxy City Club properties fell 20% year-on-year and 68% quarter-on-quarter to MOP 8 million in the first quarter of this year, GEG’s latest financial report reveals .
Allin Media states that the house edge in Rio Casino and Waldo Casino was MOP 12 million and MOP 7.5 million, respectively in May, while the house edge in President Casino was only of 1.3 million MOP.
Rio Entertainment Ltd, the company responsible for the Rio Hotel released an announcement today (Friday) stating that gaming operator Galaxy Entertainment Group has never attempted to negotiate a possible renewal of the cooperation that could allow his casino to continue to operate.
In a half-page advertisement published in the Chinese language newspaper Macau Daily, Rio Entertainment Ltd claims to have received a notice from Rio Casino months ago that GEG had ceased operations and offered to shut it down on June 15 before the dealer license expiration deadline of June 26, 2022.
As reported by Allin Media earlier this month, Galaxy reportedly expressed willingness to continue exploring gaming businesses in Rio and Waldo under the rental establishment model, however, the proposed rent was reportedly too high, which prompted Galaxy not to accept the revival.
“During the process, the dealer never negotiated with our company to approve the renewal of cooperation, and never offered the company to lease the space to continue operations, so the rumors suggesting that the request for landlord’s rent was too high are untrue,” Rio Entertainment said in the addendum.
Rio Hotel also reportedly offered 21 different types of jobs within the hotel with monthly salaries ranging from MOP 8,000 (USD 989.5) to MOP 15,000 for former casino employees, with positions including reception, managers of Chinese restaurants. , clerks, mechanics and security guards.
The director of the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff Association linked to the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM), Kelvin Choi Kam Fu, indicated that although the proposed salary package is still lower than the average salary of dealers in casinos in the city, these former workers expected to accept offer and ‘keep their jobs first’
Meanwhile, the manager stressed that employees should wait for the future economic recovery before considering changing current jobs.
Kelvin Choi also expressed his hopes that gaming licensees will do their best to take over satellite casinos that are considering going out of business.