Operator News
Australia – Casino Canberra reduces loss and volatility in 2018
By Phil - 1 March 2019
Casino Canberra owner Aquis Entertainment, which was recently bought by Blue Whale Entertainment, made a loss of A$3.4min 2018 but remains hopeful of soon operating 200 pokie machines to boost its revenues.
The loss was vastly reduced than that recorded in 2017 when Aquis reported a loss of A$13.8m due to a $5.5m write down of deferred tax assets.
Revenues from the casino for the year fell 0.45 per cent from the prior year to $26.03m in 2018 compared to $26.15m in 2017. The result was driven by a 0.87 per cent increase in gaming revenue and a 12 per cent decrease in food and beverage and other sales.
Aquis stated: “Legislation has been enacted to allow 200 electronic gaming machines (EGM’s) to operate within the casino; planning continues for the redevelopment of Casino Canberra discussions with the Government will continue throughout 2019 surrounding the details of the legislated requirements for the EGM’s to enable planning for the future. Aquis has a clear strategy to develop and manage quality destination integrated resorts in under-served areas of Australia. We are continuing to improve the operations of Casino Canberra by engaging experienced management who are focussed on improving revenue and customer service standards.”
Toward the end of the year, Aquis said it experienced an increase in visitation to Casino Canberra as a result of its marketing efforts which reduced volatility and produced an overall improvement in hold rates. It expects this to continue and stabilise over the coming year as record visitation rates are maintained via new and continuing marketing initiatives.
It added: “Directors are confident of the outlook for Aquis. The completion of the refurbishment of Casino Canberra has proven the ability to attract new and existing customers. The casino’s highly experienced operations leadership team continue to execute the vision of attracting and servicing quality players from Australia and overseas. Several internal restructures to improve the alignment of teams within the group has resulted in better efficiency in our workforce. Our Business Development team have focused on mining of the existing customer database over the year, solidifying the efforts of the past several years which were spent building its size and quality. This focus allowed for a decrease in expenditure, resulting in a profitable VIP sector for the year.”
