Casino operator Donaco International has won a legal round against the former Thai vendors of its flagship Star Vegas casino in Poipet, Cambodia according to a report which was published by reliable igaming source Calvinayre.com.
Donaco who are listed in Australia announced last Wednesday that an Appeal Court in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh had rejected the Thai vendors attempts to take a number of Star Vegas assets which included the casino’s Cambodian bank account as well as security which was against debt which the vendors claimed to be owed.
In 2015, Donaco bought Star Vegas from Thai vendors and hired them for the next two years to manage gaming operations. The vendors built an adjacent gaming hall in 2016, Star Paradise, where Donaco was to manage gaming operations for a monthly fee of around $144k.
Once their initial Star Paradise deal with Donaco expired, however, the vendors themselves took over the management of the gaming operations of the venue. Donaco accused the vendors of violating a clause of non-competition, and the races were officially off.
The vendors opposed being owed a management fee for the operations of Star Vegas for the full year of 2017, but on two previous occasions, Cambodian courts rejected the asset seizure attempts of the vendors. The decision of the Appeal Court is the final stop along this route, putting an end to what Donaco called “a campaign of legal bullying.” Donaco struggled to contain his excitement about the ruling of Wednesday, as this is the same court that considers Donaco’s appeal of a separate ruling that ruled that the vendors had the right to terminate the Star Vegas property contract.
That dispute centers on Lee Hoe Property Co Ltd, a vendor-owned entity seeking to terminate the Star Vegas 50-year lease, based on the vendors ‘ claim that Donaco had failed to pay rent for five months. Donaco reported that only cash payments had been approved by their landlord and simply stopped coming round to collect without offering any other payment option to Donaco.
It’s no big surprise that Donaco revealed last month’s intentions to’ leave the past behind’ by rebranding as Pan Asian Leisure Ltd
