Jimei to expand junket business in Macau, team up with Packer in Australia

Jimei International Entertainment Group has announced that it is expanding its junket business in Macau and Australia, together with the appointment of a new chief executive officer.
In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday, the company chaired by renowned local junket operator Jack Lam – and responsible for Jimei Casino and nine VIP rooms here – said it had signed an agreement with New International Club to ‘indirectly participate in the gaming promotion business in Macau’.
New International Club Ltd. and its sole shareholder Carlos José Lok received a gaming promoting licence in December to operate in Macau, and is in negotiations with Wynn Macau to manage several VIP rooms. The company expects to get ‘no less’ than 30 gaming tables in these Wynn rooms and earn ‘not less’ than 40 per cent of the revenues from the gaming tables. The agreement also stipulates that Jimei will assume all the revenues generated by New International Club activity as well as all the risks.
If executed, the co-operation with New International will expand Jimei’s junket portfolio business. Currently, Jimei runs Jimei Casino in Macau and nine high-roller rooms in several casinos here such as Wynn (three rooms), City of Dreams, Altira and Sands (three).
Jimei justified the rationale behind the operation with the goal of ‘diversifying the business of the group – Jimei – with the objective of broadening its sources of income and enhancing its profitability’, the filing reads.
Outside Macau, Jimei runs operations in Hong Kong (wealth management) and in the Philippines where it has the Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks, Fort Ilocandia Resort Hotel and Solaire Resort and Casino, according to the company’s information.
In its strategy to expand its business and markets, Jimei International also announced a junket agreement with Australian casino mogul James Packer, CEO of Crown Resorts and partner here with Lawrence Ho in Melco Crown Entertainment, who steers City of Dreams and the upcoming Studio City.
According to the same filing, Jimei will be responsible ‘for administration and management’ for its junket patrons playing at the Crown Perth Casino and provide the necessary services to them. The casino is located in Perth, Western Australia and has been open since 1985 and ‘is renowned for its world class facilities, entertainment, premium restaurants and luxury accommodation’, the filing said. The goal of the agreement with Crown is to ‘tap into other prosperous overseas gaming market of good income potential and establish a long-term partnership with Crown Resorts, which is a globally reputable casino operator and could thereby enhance the Group’s reputation and competitive position in the gaming industry’.
Separately, the company said it had appointed Wong Kwok Leung as chief executive officer and Wah Teik Hwai as chief financial officer.