LET to Axe Primorye Casino Resort Amid War-Related Sanctions

LET Group Holdings, a group that develops and operates integrated resorts across the Philippines, the Russian Federation and Vietnam, is set to hold a shareholder meeting to discuss the future of its Tigre de Cristal resort. The property, located in Russia’s Primorye gambling area, could be axed amid difficulties related to the West’s sanctions.

For context, the Primorye area is an entertainment district in Russia’s far east, which sought to replicate the Las Vegas Strip’s success and attract international tourists. The Tigre de Cristal casino resort opened in 2015 and was the first of what Russia hoped would become a casino-packed area. The plan was to create 11 separate properties, providing visitors with companies and brands to choose from.

Speaking of companies, the Tigre de Cristal casino was developed by Melco Resorts and Entertainment. Despite its initial optimism about the $170 million property, Melco immediately noticed multiple difficulties, causing chair Lawrence Ho to divest his majority share in the resort in 2017.   

Things didn’t get any rosier when the pandemic came, followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

LET Will Plan Out a Sale Strategy

Citing the property’s underperformance and the West’s sanctions as the principal reasons, LET Group Holdings’s Summit Ascent Holdings subsidiary is now looking to sell Tigre de Cristal. The upcoming meeting will see chair Andrew Lo lead a discussion related to the potential sale.

The meeting will be focused on devising a sale strategy that is as beneficial as possible to the LET Group, despite the multiple setbacks.

However, the sale itself could turn out to be a precarious matter considering that nations that oppose the war could theoretically sanction a potential asset transaction. This, among other matters, will be discussed at the upcoming meeting.

A report from October 2023 showed that 3.1 million people have visited the Primorye gaming area in the first 9 months of the year. However, only 56,000 of them were foreigners, highlighting the evident lack of international appeal and adding to the area’s woes.

As of the time of this writing, Tigre de Cristal is one of the only two casino resorts open in the area – the other one being Shambala, which opened in 2020. Just like Tigre, Shambala eventually suspended its Phase 2 developments.