NLG tops gaming revenue, against all odds

By Clyde Mooney

The top NSW gaming venues for 2012 have been announced and NLG again tops the list with positions one and two.

The NSW Office of Liquor Gaming & Racing (OLGR) has detailed 1626 hotels by gaming profit ranking.

Coming in again at number one is the NLG-operated Eastwood hotel, followed by NLG’s El Cortez hotel in Canley Heights and the privately-owned Oasis on Beamish at Campsie.

Although still in receivership under the guidance of PPB Advisory, NLG are busily trading and expected to announce a new business structure at some stage soon.

Speaking to TheShout, CEO Dan Brady acknowledges the pressure the company has been facing during tough trading conditions.

“It’s a credit to all of our staff here at NLG that through the receivership process they have continued to maintain such high levels of customer service and focus on their businesses’ individual performances.

“I’d particularly like to commend the staff of the Eastwood & El Cortez.”

Ray White Hotels NSW managing director and former CEO of NLG, Andrew Jolliffe, told TheShout that the El Cortez, Eastwood and Oasis hotels, amongst others, have consistently featured in the top five rankings over the past three to four years, highlighting the fact that gaming revenue remains potentially the most reliable of all hotel revenue streams.

"Anecdotally, our clients have reported to us that gaming revenues are still demonstrably up on a year-on-year basis. This feedback supports the recently released OLGR data [pictured], which illustrates that consolidated annual gaming revenues are the equal of any previous period.

"A peripheral market created by the current strength of gaming revenues is that of poker machine entitlements and permits; over the course of the past few months we have transacted in excess of 30 blocks of entitlements at an average price of $195,000 – $200,000.

"Based on the state average gaming net per machine per annum, this purchase price still provides a double digit return on equity deployed, and is asset-backed by the perpetual ownership of the fully transferable gaming licenses."

TOP 20 NSW GAMING VENUES