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Chile – Enjoy needs three year extension to relaunch four municipal licences

By - 30 April 2020

Chilean casino group Enjoy has said it needs at least a three year extension to launch four municipal casinos in Coquimbo, Viña del Mar, Pucón and Puerto Varas.

It has lodged its request with the Superintendency of Gambling Casinos (SCJ) saying this is the ‘minimum period’ the casino sector needs to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Enjoy was awarded the licences for casinos in these four cities in 2018 with the plan to relaunch them between October this year and July 2021.

The operator has said the current economic situation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak have made it impossible for it to comply with the projects committed to in the tender. It also confirmed it is planning a judicial reorganisation to protect its gaming empires in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, which have now been shut for a month due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to a filing, Enjoy is in discussion with its lenders to restructure its debts and avoid bankruptcy, saying it was being supported by some of its creditors. The process of judicial reorganisation implies that the debtor proposes to all of its creditors that it will modify its obligations, obtaining a longer term, grace periods and a lower interest rate. Enjoy’s shares fell 32 per cent following the news.

The operator is also looking to sell $150m in new shares to raise funds to service its debts.

A statement from Enjoy read: “This decision was made based on the company’s current financial situation, expected income for the coming months and the situation of payment to the creditors of the company. One of the reasons that justify this measure is the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a result of which the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos instructed the closure of gaming casinos, throughout Chile, from March 18 and until the epidemiological conditions allow its suppression and the sanitary authorities determine it.”

“In addition to the above, the effects generated by the social outbreak that occurred in our country as of October 18, 2019, with the tourism, hotel, gastronomy and gaming casino industries being the most affected categories and at the national level,” the statement added. “This, at Enjoy’s business level, led to the forced closure of operations for several days, and then to a subsequent intermittent, partial operation, the generation of extraordinary and unforeseen costs and expenses and a general drop in the flow of visits. These effects have generated a strong financial impact, reflected in losses in business results during the last quarter of 2019 and a significant worsening in Enjoy’s financial situation since then,

Fitch Ratings believes Enjoy has enough cash reserves to last around two months with no income. It is due to make an interest payment on an international bond and pay off $23.3m in local notes May, but does not see itself meeting these obligations.

Enjoy and other casino groups in Chile are in discussions with the country’s regulator, Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, to implement ‘corrective or palliative measures’ to address the lack of income for casinos in the country.

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