As reported several days ago, shareholders for one of the biggest casino operators, Empire Resorts Incorporated have approved a massive $128 million-worth transaction which will see the company merged into Genting Malaysia Berhad. Empire Resorts Incorporated is a firm that owns the popular Monticello Raceway located around ninety miles from New York City in the Catskill Mountains.

Once the company’s officials have approved a disposal deal, almost 90% percent of the company is owned and operated by Genting Group and Kien Huat Realty Sdn Bhd. At the moment, the company is focused on developing its Resorts World Catskills which is a five-star casino and hotel resort located on the 1,700-acre property. The site is actually the former Concord Resort Hotel’s property.

When it comes to the history of the Empire Resorts Incorporated, the company was established back in 2003 through a business deal between Catskill Development LLC and Alpha Hospitality. The Catskills Development LLC company had bought the popular Monticello Raceway back in 1996 before the business consolidation with Alpha Hospitality which marked the beginnings of Empire Resorts International.

Reconstruction of Alpha Hospitality

The consolidation between the two companies was led by Robert A. Berman who used to work as the Alpha Hospitality’s CEO. In 2003, Robert A. Berman fully reconstructed the Alpha Hospitality company after the Bryanston Group’s shareholders were together indicted on serious charges related to tax evasion. In the time to come, Mr. Berman has managed to restore the company’s financial stability mainly by selling off some of its non-gaming assets and by merging the firm with the Catskills Development LLC company.

The Empire Resorts Incorporated company was born. At this time, Mr. Berman also arranged for the newly-founded company to sell its common stock which resulted in a profit of around $35 million. Almost immediately after being founded, the company became of the NASDAQ listed companies. In later years, Empire Resorts Incorporated bought the Concord Resort Hotel. This financial transaction, in particular, was later modified by the Genting Malaysia Berhad’s Kien Huat Realty and it gave major way to the latest company’s resort project which is worth over $1.5 billion.

The Disposal Deal Announced in August

When it comes to the company’s latest business deal which will see Empire Resorts Incorporated being merged with Genting Malaysia Berhad, it was announced several months ago in August. As revealed by several news outlets, the deal involves the USA-based Genting Malaysia Berhad’s subsidiary acquiring around 38.3% of the company which goes alongside the company’s majority stake which it already has in Empire Resorts Incorporated via its Kien Huat realty subsidiary.

The company responsible for the popular Resorts World Catskills was facing serious financial issues which could potentially lead to bankruptcy mainly thanks to the underperformance of its Sullivan County property. This venue opened its doors back in February of 2018 in the Monticello village. Several months after being opened, the property generated a massive operating loss of around $73 million. These financial issues that the company faces were among the major reasons for the company’s stakeholders to agree to merge with Genting Malaysia Berhad.

Commenting on the news, President of the Genting Malaysia Berhad USA-based subsidiary Edward Farrell said that this business deal will allow his company to cords-market Resorts World Casino City racino and Resorts World Catskills to finally reduce costs and significantly improve the venues’ financial performance.

As reported several days ago, the Dutch Gambling Authority or KSA has fined one of the leading online casino operators LeoVegas alongside its popular subsidiary Royal Panda for providing their gambling services and products to players residing in the Netherlands. The LeoVegas operator was fined €350K while its subsidiary was fined €400K.

Before making their ultimate decision on the issue, the Dutch Gambling Authority’s officials carefully investigated both sites and soon found that both LeoVegas and Royal Panda were fully open to customers residing in the Netherlands who played at the sites from their Dutch IP addresses. Moreover, it was also found out that both sites allowed customers to use the iDEAL payment system for gaming here.

Because online gambling is fully prohibited in the Netherlands, this is a big issue for the operators. Even though online gambling is prohibited in the country, applications for gaming licensing are currently being accepted as the Dutch Senate has recently approved a crucial Remote Gaming Bill which will finally allow fully regulated and licensed gaming within the country’s borders.

Netherlands’ Regulated Online Gaming Market to Start by 2021

Thanks to the Dutch Senate passing a Remote Gaming Bill, the country will probably have a fully regulated online gambling market by 2021. When it comes to LeoVegas’s fine, the company’s officials are considering to appeal this fine. Commenting on the news, the company’s spokesperson stated that the company can submit a fine appeal as they wait for upcoming regulatory reforms to be fully enforced and as they wait for the licensing process to starts.

It should be noted that Roya Panda and LeoVegas are not the very first companies facing this issue and being fined by the Dutch Gambling Authority. Back in February of this year, the 1xBet operator was also fined around €400K for offering its online gaming products to the Netherlands residents. Then, in September, The Stars Group was also forced to pay the same fine after the KSA discovered that the company was operating without any license. Another investigation by the KSA discovered that PokerStars.eu was visited by more than 33,000 players from the Netherlands.

Empire Resorts Limited Hit with a Lawsuit Filled by Minority Shareholders

Another company that is facing legal issues is the firm that operates the popular Resorts World Catskills casino facility, Empire Resorts Incorporated. As it was revealed recently, the company has been hit with a serious lawsuit filed by several of its minority shareholders over claims that Empire Resorts Incorporated plans on going private despite the wishes of several of its minority shareholders.

According to one Times Herald-Record’s report, the lawsuit against the company was initiated by David Mullen with Sullivan County, which is a branch of the Supreme Court of New York. The main purpose of this lawsuit as stated by Mr. Mullen is to halt a business deal which could potentially see Genting Malaysia Berhad acquire all of the USA-based company’s shares for a price of $9.74 for a single share.

The same newspaper which revealed this news also detailed that the lawsuit by Mr. Mullen is also seeking immediate class-action status while it names the company’s board members including Edmund Marinucci, Gerard Ewe Keng Lim, Nancy Palumbo, Keith Horn, and Emanuel Pearlman as main defendants. Furthermore, the legal action lists several majority stakeholders including Genting Malaysia Berhad and Kien Huat Realty III as the proceeding’s subjects. Before this news, it was reported that Genting Malaysia Berhad and Kien Huat Realty III already own around 86% of the Empire Resorts Incorporated’s shares while they have agreed to purchase the remaining shares held by minority stakeholders in August against wishes of the company’s minority shareholders.

As reported recently, one of the state of New York’s gambling facilities, Resorts World Catskills owned and operated by the Empire Resorts company may close its doors at least temporarily. The company which owns the resort recently revealed that its officials are considering voluntary bankruptcy to head off its creditors which will definitely affect the massive, more than three hundred-rooms World Catskills resort.

According to the Poughkeepsie Journal’s report, Empire Resorts made this revelation via its official press release on the 9th of August. This news came shortly after the company released that it has lost around $73 million in twelve months. When it comes to the company’s latest venture, Resorts World Catskills hotel and casino opened its doors in February of 2018. The resort is located in Kiamesha Lake in the state of New York.

The resort was built on the Concord Hotel’s former site on a massive 65,000 square feet property. Its gaming space includes more than one hundred table games and over two thousand slot machines. The hotel area features more than three hundred suites with other areas. The resort originally was to be called Montreign Resort Casino, but the resort’s owner Empire Resorts decided to name it Resorts World instead.

Construction on the Entertainment Village

In order to enrich this area with new facilities, the owner of Resorts World Catskills started with the constriction of the massive Entertainment Village which is a building located next to the Resorts World Catskills’ casino retail space. This facility is supposed to include over one hundred hotel rooms alongside several dining areas and restaurants. Even though the project was expected to be done by December last year, it is still on hold due to Empire Resorts’ financial issues.

As it was reported several days ago, the resorts owner and parent company Empire Resorts was considering filing for voluntary bankruptcy. As the company’s official press release details, Empire Resorts reported more than $211 million in generated losses from February 2018 until June of 2019. According to the Times Herald-Record, these massive losses mainly occurred due to gaming revenues which lagged around forty-five percent below what the company projected for that twelve-month period.

Besides owning and operating Resorts World Catskills, Empire Resorts also owns the popular Monticello Raceway racino located in the Catskills Mountains around ninety miles from New York City. The company is headquartered in New York and almost ninety percent of the company is owned by Genting Group. Empire Resorts was founded back in 2003 thanks to consolidation between the Catskills LCC and Alpha Hospitality companies.

The Creation of Empire Resorts and Its Financial Decline

The entire consolidation was carried out by the Alpha Hospitality’s CEO Robert Berman who was offered this position by Stanley Tollman. Back in 2003, Mr. Berman decided to fully reconstruct Alpha Hospitality after some of the company’s major shareholders were accused of taxes-related fraudulent activities.

With this move in particular, Mr. Berman managed to restore the company’s financial stability, He also decided to sell some of the company’s gaming assets and merge with the Catskills Development LCC company which eventually led to the creation of today’s nearly bankrupt Empire Resorts.

With more than $36 million-worth of operational losses that Empire Resorts generated in only twelve months, the company’s officials are hoping to obtain some extra liquidity sources or restructure its existing debt among other obligations.