Cambodia’s Star Vegas to stage limited reopening in spite of border restrictions

The property is set to operate on a limited scale for patrons located in Cambodia

After the six-month shutdown due to Covid-19 , Donaco International said that its Star Vegas property in Cambodia reopened on Friday (September 25), though on a limited basis “to test its operational systems whilst ensuring the health and well-being of staff and visitors”. 

According to a filing delivered by the Australia-listed casino operator, the venue will “operate on a limited scale for patrons located in Cambodia”. Hence, it will not currently be able to receive clients from neighboring Thailand or other destinations as borders remains closed at present. 

Donaco stated, “The company will continue to maintain its tight cost control strategy, while operations remain at limited operating capacity; and management will maintain the discretion to tailor up or down the pace of operations to local conditions.” 

Donaco also said its Aristo International property in Vietnam is ready to resume business once the Covid-19 situation improves in conjunction with the flow of cross border travel with the reopening of international borders. 

On July 29, Donaco sent a filing to the Australian Securities Exchange, saying it was awaiting a government inspection of Star Vegas in order to be able to reopen. The venue was temporarily closed on April 1 as part of Cambodia’s Covid-19 counter measures.  

On September 1, Donaco said in a filing it had lowered its fiscal-year loss to just above AUD58.9m ($41.6m) compared to AUD198m the previous year, as of June 30, even though the second half of the reporting period was affected by Covid-19.  

In a report from GGRAsia in early April, Donaco International Ltd said it expected a “cash burn run rate” of between US$800,000 and US$900,000 per month during the temporary closure of its two casinos – along with Donaco’s other Asian casino hotel, Aristo International. 

The company said in a filing that such expenses cover costs associated with “maintaining the casino assets” and other “associated corporate costs,”. Aristo International reopened casino operations in mid-May. 

SiGMA Calendar:  

SiGMA Americas and AIBC Digital Summit were launched with great success in the past week, pushing the shifting grounds of the gaming industry towards LatAm and discussing the current developments in digitalisation. In a first for SiGMA, both the gaming and the tech segments of the conference were offered in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese.   

SiGMA will launch its next series of events in 2021, with SiGMA Europe headlining next year’s calendar. Inaugural summits in Asia and Americas are also set to dominate the year, with SiGMA Asia launching in May 2021 and SiGMA Africa in 2022! Explore the full agenda here and register now!