SHARES of integrated resort operator Genting Singapore were barely changed hours after the Chinese government issued a public reminder on WeChat for Chinese citizens to “stay away from gambling”.
In a public notice issued on the Tencent-owned app at 10.54 am, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Singapore reminded Chinese nationals that cross-border gambling was “also suspected of violating (the Republic’s) laws, especially participating in the organisation of gambling and gambling, and will be held accountable according to law”.
Those who had information about Chinese citizens participating in cross-border online gambling, among other related activities, were also encouraged to report it to the Chinese government.
“Cross-border gambling may also bring risks such as fraud, money laundering, kidnapping, detention, trafficking and smuggling,” said the embassy in a loosely translated version of the WeChat notice.
The post had garnered about 12,000 views as at 3.42 pm on Monday (Mar 18).
At that time, Genting Singapore, whose wholly owned subsidiary is Resorts World Sentosa, had dipped only a marginal S$0.005 or 0.6 per cent to S$0.88.
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Earlier, the counter had mainly traded range-bound between this level and S$0.895, which represented an increase of S$0.01 or 1.1 per cent.
Genting Singapore in February posted a 31 per cent rise in net profit to S$334.9 million for the second half of FY2023, from S$255.7 million in the previous corresponding period.
Its strong bottom-line performance was attributed mainly to significant post-pandemic recovery of Genting Singapore’s businesses across the board.
Revenue for the half-year rose 26 per cent year on year to S$1.3 billion, driven by a 19 per cent surge in gaming revenue to S$900.6 million.
In its Feb 22 results filing, the group noted that gaming revenue growth for the fourth quarter was “very respectable”.
The group’s net profit for the full year ended December 2023 was up 79.8 per cent to S$611.6 million. Revenue was up 40.1 per cent to S$2.4 billion, of which gaming revenue contributed S$1.65 billion after rising 34 per cent on the year.