New Zealand Casino Operator SkyCity Posts Major Loss for Latest Fiscal Year - Newstbt.com

SkyCity Entertainment Group’s fiscal year 2022 financial report shows that the company has been struggling. The profit of the New Zealand casino operator has decreased significantly compared to the performance from the previous fiscal year.

At dusk, the SkyCity Auckland casino in New Zealand showed signs of resilience in the face of COVID-19, recently completing its latest fiscal year despite reporting a significant revenue decline of NZ$33.6 million (US$20.88 million). Other gaming hubs have seen improvements since the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, except for Macau, which is still battling the pandemic and as a result, seeing its casinos suffer. Yet, despite still having some COVID-19 restrictions in place, SkyCity displayed an impressive degree of resilience during its fiscal year.

SkyCity Soft in Spite of NZ Gains

In March, the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs released positive numbers for the country’s gaming industry. It was reported that during the recent fiscal year, there was a 17% upsurge in gambling spend from the previous year, the total income reaching NZ$2.63 billion (US$1.24 billion). Conversely, SkyCity has not been as successful. The consequences of decreased visitor numbers caused a 32.9% year-on-year decrease in income, the figures coming to NZ$639 million (US$397.14 million). The main cause for this being SkyCity’s Auckland casino needing to close for 107 days due to health regulations, leading to a 32.3% decrease in revenue, amounting to NZ$330.6 million (US$205.36 million). Furthermore, their Hamilton casino saw a 23.5% decrease, with the total income being NZ$56.2 million (US$35 million).

Although SkyCity Queenstown’s revenue in New Zealand dropped by 16.9%, reporting a loss of NZ$10.2 million (US$6.33 million), its casino in Adelaide, Australia saw a small dip of 6.3%, ending with a total of NZ$206.4 million (US$128.23 million}. Fortunately, improvements have been seen; SkyCity’s iGaming segment increased by 28.8% which suggests that pre-COVID-19 revenue might be achieved in the current fiscal year – a good piece of news. As an added bonus, it has been confirmed that Adelaide Casino will not be changing hands.

Adelaide Casino Not Changing Hands

Even though SkyCity’s casino in Australia saw a decline in earnings, the single-digit decrease is a good sign. SkyCity devoted AUD330 million (US$229.64 million) to modernize the venue in 2020. Recently, The Australian wrote that SkyCity reached out to an investment bank to see whether it could hypothetically sell the casino. With The Blackstone Group’s recent acquisition of Crown Resorts, there were discussions that it might buy SkyCity, however the company excluded this hypothesis. A spokesperson from SkyCity informed the NZ Herald that any potential sale rumors are just speculations and that it is devoted to the location’s success. Subsequently, New South Wales officials announced an investigation into SkyCity to assess if the casino is suitable to be “closely affiliated” with SkyCity Adelaide. The review was initiated after allegations of the same kind of offences that brought Star Entertainment and Crown into trouble.

Last year, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre initiated an investigation into anti-money laundering issues, which is still ongoing over a year later, as reported by InDaily.