The Bloomberry resorts are experiencing a torrid time, all thanks to the outcome of a lawsuit that went against them. They have been levied a massive fine, which is believed to be as high as $296 million.
The penalty is because of the termination of a contract they had with a betting operator and from the look of things, they are not ready to pay the sum as they plan to appeal the judgment.
The casino operator, which is based in the Philippines, plans to see the case as far as the Supreme Court, but for now, it will be heard by the Federal High Court in Singapore.
Before things went south, the organization put pen to paper with giants Global Gaming Philippines. The company is a branch of Global Gaming Asset Management LLC (GGAM), a United States-based company. The deal was signed in 2012 with the aim of fine-tuning and improving operations of the Solaire Resort and Casino situated in Manila.
It wasn’t up to a year before Bloomberry canceled the deal. Their reasons were surprising as they listed material breach and lack of discussions by the subsidiary of GGAM as reasons for terminating the contract. Global Gaming Philippines, on the other hand, contested the decision.
In 2016, a Singaporean arbitration panel ruled in favor of the company that they had been unfairly treated. The ruling stated that Bloomberry was in the wrong to put an end to the contract.
In Bloomberry’s appeal filed with the Stock Exchange in the Philippines last week, they had this to say;
“On November 5, 2019, Bloomberry Resorts & Hotels and Sureste filed in the Singapore High Court an application to set aside the final award on the grounds of fraud and fraudulent concealment among others. This case is pending in Singapore.”
Besides, they said the decision of the arbitration panel
“may be enforced in the Philippines only through an order of a Philippine court of proper jurisdiction, after appropriate proceedings taking into account applicable Philippine law and public policy.”
This makes one wonder why the case was sent to the Singaporean arbitration, to begin with. Especially knowing fully well that the final outcome would not go down well with Bloomberry.
According to news reports from Calvin Ayre, from the start, the arbitration panel is bound by the laws established by the International Trade law up by the United Nation’s Commission. In addition, they also relied on the country’s local law to arrive at their final decision.
From reports gotten from the filing 2 weeks ago, the company said;
“This petition arose from the fraudulent concealment and misrepresentations by Global Gaming Philippines, which are apparent in light of the outcome of two U.S. federal investigations regarding violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving two of Global Gaming Philippines’s four executives during their time at Las Vegas Sands. If Singapore courts decide that petition in favour of [Bloomberry Resorts], the partial award on liability, which is a predicate for the final award on remedies, will be vacated.”
