$30M casino, theme park project mooted

MQ Technology Bhd, a Malaysian investment holding company, is looking to form a joint venture with a newly formed entity, Cambodian Resorts and Entertainment Co Ltd, to build a $30 million casino and theme park in Prey Veng province near the Vietnamese border, according to Malaysian media reports.

The Star, Malaysia’s largest newspaper, cited an anonymous source familiar with the deal as saying the proposed joint venture would see MQ Technology handle the construction of a hotel, casino and theme park, while Cambodian Resorts and Entertainment (CRE) would handle the actual casino operations.

MQ Technology – which specialises in high-precision mould-making and magnetic coils for hard-disk drives – had previously announced a plan to build a theme park in the southern Malaysian state of Malacca in a bid to keep the company out of the red.

A spokesman for MQ Technology declined to confirm or provide details of the joint venture proposal when contacted yesterday. The original report projected that the joint venture could be linked to NagaCorp Ltd, the operator of Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld casino and hotel complex.

However, CRE’s commercial registry documents suggest the deal could be tied to local gaming firm VW Win Holdings Plc, a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Century Dynasty that has operated CamLoto since 2013. Chan Loong Wai, a resident of Malaysia, is listed as CRE’s board chairman, while Michael Ho, chief operating officer of VW Win Holdings, is listed as a contact.

Ho did not respond to emails yesterday. Century Dynasty chairman Stanley Goh Teik Keng said he was unaware of VW Win’s involvement in the proposed casino and theme park project.

“[Neither] VW Win, CamLoto nor Century Dynasty . . . have any involvement with MQ Technology to build a casino that I am aware of,” he said, denying any business relationship with CRE.

Ros Phirun, deputy director of the finance industry department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), said he had not received any applications for a gaming licence for a project fitting the billing. However, he did not rule out the possibility it could go ahead.

“A casino could be built along the Vietnamese border in Prey Veng – but not in the provincial capital – and would be able to apply and be granted a casino licence as long as it is [intended] for Vietnamese gamers,” he said.

Contact author: Kali Kotoski

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