In an unexpected move, Genting Malaysia have just announced that they are completely streamlining their UK operation, which initially sees them disposing of their stake in Coastbright Limited.
Amongst other things, Coastbright owns and operates the Maxims Casino in Kensington which has always been one of their much busier casino venues in the UK.
It is a company called Sonco UK BidCo Limited that will become the new owner of the Coastbright operation and they have paid a whopping £34.6million for the company.
Cash raised from that sale is going to be used to pay off outstanding debts in the UK operation of Genting, which as you are probably aware is a huge and very successful gambling related company.
As for just what direction Genting UK are going to be taking moving forward, well that does remain to be seen, but it would appear from early indications that they are going to be concentrating more of their time and effort promoting their online brands.
It could be argued that the timing for the sale could make the Coastbright operation an especially appealing one, for it is at the end of this month that betting shops across the UK are being forced to reduce the maximum stake levels that they can offer on their FOBT machines, which amongst other games do offer Blackjack and Roulette games to players.
Players of those machines who do wish to play high stake casino games are then going to have to visit a land-based casino such as those that Coastbright offer, instead of simply being able to walk into a betting shop.
However, some of those players will also be interested in playing online, which is probably where Genting believe most players will head, rather than visiting land-based casinos.
