Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL)has announced the agreement to acquire the assets of Champion Gaming Company Limited (CG), a Jamaican-owed company with over 1,200 machines in the Route Video Lounge Terminal, (VLT — slot machines) business in Jamaica, representing around 15 per cent of the slot machines market operating in the island.
In a statement, the group referenced a recent BGLC report which noted that over 8,000 slot machines are currently operating in the island. Bingo Investments, the group’s subsidiary will sign the deal in which the majority stake in Champion will be acquired.
The company expects this transaction to be accretive to earnings and adds that the acquisition is strategically aligned with SVL’s strategy to expand in new and existing market segments and product streams. The new acquisition will also enable better partnerships with small business owners who benefit significantly from the slot machine industry, providing a partnership with a stronger entity, and enabling better representation of their interests at the regulatory table, the company said.
President & CEO of Supreme Ventures Limited, Ann-Dawn Young Sang said that with this acquisition, the company will be able to achieve greater economies of scale, leverage its synergies, and solidify its market position while expanding its product base in the gaming slots industry. This investment in the Jamaican market by a Jamaican company, she said, shows the organisation’s confidence in the economy and cements the viability and strength of the market for further investments.
“We continue to execute on our growth and expansion strategy, which creates value for our employees, our over 5,000 shareholders, and our main partner, the Government,” stated Young Sang.
She emphasised that the strengthening of the partnership between SVL and the Government is essential to the sustained growth and development of the country’s economy, as SVL is one of the country’s largest tax contributors.
She added that operationally, the current Chairman and General Manager Damian Chin-You and Preston Chin, will each remain in their positions for another year during the transition process. During this time a new board will be appointed.
The deal is expected to be finalised in January 2020.
Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/supreme-ventures-acquires-assets-of-champion-gaming_182856
Mustard Seed facility gets passing grade for night fire drill
KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Mustard Seed Community home, My Father’s House, received good marks for its response during a recent fire drill conducted by the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) in collaboration with the Supreme Ventures Foundation at the Mahoe Drive facility.
District Officer Dilton Pike of the Fire Prevention Unit led the recent fire drill under the watchful eye of Supreme Ventures Foundation (SVF) director Heather Goldson; CEO of the Child Protection and Family Service Agency (CPFSA) Rosalee Gage-Grey, and founder of the Mustard Seed Communities Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon.
The drill was executed using a newly installed fire alarm system, one of several donated to children’s homes across the island by the Supreme Ventures Foundation under a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education and Youth.
The $40 million programme, signed this year, will see more than 30 children’s homes fitted with an upgraded fire alarm system, fire extinguishers and hose reels coupled with supplementary training carried out by the fire brigade to ensure that the administrators can properly use the new equipment.
The night drill was used to gauge the home’s emergency response and according to Pike while the home passed the test, there is room for improvement.
“The response was surprisingly good. It was quick and efficient. They got everyone out in about three minutes. However, there is room for improvement and tightening up of the evacuation procedure. I would also add that the assembly point is not lighted,” said Pike.
Administrators at the home, which caters to children who have significant mobility and cognitive challenges, dropped everything once the alarm sounded, rushing their wheelchair-bound charges out the emergency exits along with carts of medication.
Persons from the surrounding community of Seivwright Gardens also rushed in to lend a hand. A quick roll call at the assembly point accounted for all wards and staff members who clapped themselves for an efficient evacuation.
According to Goldson, the drill will allow the fire brigade to identify the weak points in the evacuation process and address the points during the training that accompanies each installation.
“Our programme can’t prevent fires from happening, but it will make sure that the persons who look after Jamaican children in state care know what to do with their charges once a fire does happen,” said the director.
“It was heartening to see the housemothers taking out their charges with such speed and dexterity, and the children being so responsive and understanding of what was happening. In our discussions with the fire brigade we were told that most fires happen at night, so we wanted to test the alarm system and the home’s response in those conditions,” added Goldson.
Source:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Mustard_Seed_facility_gets_passing_grade_for_night_fire_drill?profile=1228
Other Sources: http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/mustard-seed-home-gets-passing-grade-night-fire-drill
$45 million Lotto jackpot to give St Catherine man a better life
Supreme Ventures’ latest Lotto winner says he won’t clown around with his $45 million jackpot win.
A. Regent hit the jackpot with numbers 06, 10, 11, 12, 21, 33 in draw #1630 on Wednesday November 20.
He says the combination, which are rakes from a dream, is one that he has been playing for several years with just a few changes.
“A relative of mine got a dream a long time and picked out the rakes from the dream. As the years went by, we changed out some of the numbers. I don’t remember what the dream was about, just that it had an old man in it,” Regent said.
Regent’s win is the second Lotto jackpot in seven weeks.
The previous winner copped $277 million on October 12, the second largest jackpot in two years.
The lucky ticket for the $45 million jackpot was purchased at JJ Mobile Phone & company, 372 Willowdene Parkway, Spanish Town, St Catherine.
The winner, who donned a red and blue clown costume to collect the jackpot, says the winning ticket was one of several purchased at least four draws in advance. Regent has been buying Lotto tickets for over 20 years and says it was just for fun until he was told that he had the winning numbers.
“I was headed to work and my family member left for work before me. When he came back home and tell me that I won I thought it was a joke and still went to work. When we return home we would deal with it,” he said.
Having checked the winning numbers on the results hotline, 888-RESULTS, Regent realised that the win was no joke and started to plan from a millionaire’s perspective.
“Life has been up and down but the win will give us a better life; we’ll be better able to balance life. We’ve been through a lot and that’s the main reason why we would need a permanent home. Our priority is to find a home and we’ll take it from there,” he added.
Regent says while contemplating what else to do with his life-changing jackpot, he has no plans to share the joy with many persons.
“Inside I feel great, but I am trying to remain calm and not show too much anxiety or emotion,” he said.
Source: http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/45-million-lotto-jackpot-give-st-catherine-man-better-life
SVL Banking On Export Of Betting To Grow Business – Chairman Wants Dialogue With Caymanas Park Stakeholders
Huntley Medley – Jamaica Gleaner – December 6, 2019
Gaming company Supreme Ventures Limited, SVL, wants to be a major contender in the global sport betting market and Gary Peart is convinced that this growing segment has the potential to double the size of the business he was tapped to chair in June.
That explains, he says, the careful targeting of more than $1.5 billion already invested in income-generating infrastructure at its racetrack at Caymanas Park, St Catherine, which has been operated for the past three years on a 30-year lease from the Jamaican Government by SVL subsidiary Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, SVREL.
The search for revenue and profit growth beyond last year’s gross sales of $62.9 billion and net profits of just over $2 billion, has also led to cost containment and a more streamlined organisational structure that takes effect at SVL on January 1.
The new set-up has assigned CEOs and boards to all SVL subsidiaries, which report into the main company led by president and CEO Ann-Dawn Young Sang. Young Sang has also been given responsibility to accelerate the overseas expansion of the business that started recently with the beaming of the horse racing signal for betting from its track in Jamaica to Guyana, located on the South American mainland.
Peart, a stockbroker, investment and management practitioner, explains how he sees the new group CEO carrying out the expansion function.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
“We want a president and CEO to be using their best asset, which is their mind, saying, where are the jurisdictions we can move into? She will open up a market, execute the transaction, I drop it in as another subsidiary, put in a board, a CEO, it starts to run. If we get even one every three years, it’s the easiest and best way to double the business,” he said in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.
A former chairman of the Jamaican gaming regulator, the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission, Peart is of the view that Jamaica’s advanced regulatory system within which SVL operates, provides the company with a competitive advantage in several markets of the Caribbean where regulations are still developing.
While the SVL chairman would not say where the Jamaican company is likely to set up shop next, he is clear that the market expansion would not be confined to the Caribbean. In September, the Caymanas Park broadcast signal was also successfully relayed to the New York Racing Association platform in the United States.
As an example of the potential for more revenues to be generated from the investments at Caymanas Park, Peart said that on the first day of exporting races via the signal, SVREL earned about US$2,000 in new revenues, which are now up to about US$30,000 a day.
This, he says, has helped to double annual revenues from just over $300 million in 2016 to more than $700 million in 2017. Revenues to SVL’s JustBet sport betting operation continued to grow at a fast clip to $1.1 billion last year, but the segment posted a net loss of $26.9 million.
The strategy for profit-making targets the mining of significantly greater revenues from a global build-out of the signal, as well as the aggressive development of an online sports betting platform that launched on December 1 and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. The new digital platform extends SVL’s mobile betting service, MBet, which it introduced last year, supported by mobile wallet Quisk.
In detailing the strategic approach, Peart, who has been a director on SVL’s board since 2017, acknowledged criticisms of the state of disrepair of some infrastructure at Caymanas Park, but said the company was prioritising investments in capital works that can unlock revenues towards a first-time profit for SVREL this year.
Those projects included installing the new signal, inclusive of the laying of cables; replacing an obsolete tote board as part of the broadcast operations; rehabilitating a malfunctioning well to provide water for refreshing horses, cleaning stables and preparing the track; buying several new water trucks for more efficient scheduling of track preparation to accommodate more races; as well as repairing roads leading to the park.
INCREASE IN PURSES
The chairman adds that over the period, race purses have been increased by 20 per cent, increasing operating losses.
“We are not daunted by the losses at Caymanas because we understand that once we have a path to profitability, it is just a matter of execution. And we believe we have a path to profitability,” he said.
Peart is proposing a forum for stakeholders to meet for full and frank discussions, at least once every three months, to work through what he said are multifaceted issues at the track.
Those issues, Peart notes, include the need for more horses to make races more competitive. The solution, he says, could see the gaming and betting company importing horses for resale to breeders, adding that tax policies and the high cost of airfreight have been discouraging importation by individuals.
But he is firm that losses at Caymanas Park, which are approaching $500 million, cannot continue be allowed to mushroom.
“There is no way I can take SVL’s money and put into SVREL and cannot demonstrate to my auditors that I can find a way to profitability. That would be like literally taking people’s hard-earned investment and throwing it into Kingston Harbour. SVL is the only publicly listed and traded company in the gaming sector in Jamaica. Every director has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that they demonstrate to their shareholders that they are creating value,” he said.
ENORMOUS GROWTH POTENTIAL
To achieve shareholder value, the SVL chairman wants to see the doubling of the business from the Caribbean and global expansion, leveraging the investments already made in Caymanas Park, and capitalising on what he sees as enormous growth potential in sports betting.
“One of the fastest-growing segments in international gaming is sports betting. It is one of the things that drove our decision to acquire 51 per cent of AnyBet,” he said.
The purchase by SVL of a 51 per cent stake in Post to Post Betting Limited, which trades as AnyBet, was a $572.2-million deal. SVL has an option to buy another 29 per cent of AnyBet, and Peart says negotiation are under way to close that transaction at a price yet to be determined. Post to Post principal Damian Chin-You now sits on the SVL board.
The acquisition is part of efforts for SVL to get a foothold in a segment of the local betting market it does not now serve.
The SVL chairman says he is open to talks with other competitors for similar transactions to grow the company’s share of the legal betting market, of which JustBet and AnyBet control between 80 per cent and 95 per cent. He says a big chunk of the overall market is held by unregistered and illegal bet takers in Jamaica and by foreign online betting platforms like the United Kingdom-based Bet 365, which accepts wagers on horse racing and several other sports, from anywhere around the world, including from gamblers in Jamaica.
Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20191206/svl-banking-export-betting-grow-business-chairman-wants-dialogue-caymanas
Additional News:
Jamaica Gleaner
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20191213/supreme-shake-peart-aiming-entrepreneurial-infusion-svl