Japan and South Korea are likely to be the only places for Genting Singapore Plc to expand its casino operations, says a note from Union Gaming Research Macau Ltd. Genting Singapore has seen challenging trading conditions recently in its core business as a Singapore casino operator.

But a snap general election in Japan scheduled for this month, and pushback on casino policy by the local government on South Korea’s Jeju Island – where Genting Singapore wants to build a casino resort – are creating fresh barriers for the company.

Genting Singapore, a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd, developed and operates the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) property in Singapore. Genting Singapore last month reported a 43-percent drop year-on-year in net profit for the third quarter of 2014, mainly on tough trading conditions for VIP play and a sluggish mass market.

“When thinking about alternative greenfield opportunities, it isn’t clear to us that there are other obvious opportunities for Genting Singapore outside of Japan and Korea,” Union Gaming said in a note on Thursday.

“Genting Malaysia [also a unit of Genting Bhd] already has a foothold in the U.S. (Resorts World New York), and also has a foothold in Europe (U.K. Mayfair),” wrote analysts Grant Govertsen and Felicity Chiang.

“As such, we believe that any U.S. opportunities – including the development of Resorts World Las Vegas (the former Echelon site) would be handled by Genting Malaysia, as might any potential opportunities in Europe.”

According to the Union Gaming team, Genting Singapore might not have many opportunities to explore closer to home. 바카라사이트 추천

“Given the high standards of compliance required to operate in Singapore, we believe opportunities in places like the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. are also off the table and in all likelihood would fall to other Genting entities should any development opportunities arise,” they said.