{"id":13337,"date":"2021-01-13T22:38:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T22:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=13337"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:43:28","slug":"summit-ascent-seeks-direct-vip-model-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/summit-ascent-seeks-direct-vip-model-in-russia","title":{"rendered":"Summit Ascent seeks direct VIP model in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The gaming operator is said to be planning a more direct approach at Tigre de Cristal instead of relying on the controlling partner, Suncity Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Russia.- Analysts at Goldman Sachs say that gaming operator Summit Ascent is seeking to establish a more direct VIP model at its Russian casino, Tigre de Cristal, where Suncity Group is the controlling partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suncity Group is currently in charge of supplying the Vladivostok casino with VIP players but Goldman Sachs says that Summit Ascent\u2019s vision for Russia includes the intention of extending credit directly to its own players using Suncity\u2019s database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bank says the operator revealed the strategy at a corporate event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/suncity-takes-control-of-summit-ascent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Suncity owns almost 70 per cent of Summit Ascent<\/a><\/em><\/strong> but the move would allow the firm to preserve profit by avoiding the payment of junket commissions. However, the move would mean Summit Ascent having to bear credit risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company believes it can achieve US$200m EBITDA in the long run, Goldman Sachs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Russian casino showed positive EBITDA for the six months ending December 31 after a US$3m EBITDA loss in the first half of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Management believes that a recovery will be driven by the venue&#8217;s proximity to South Korea and players&#8217; demand for entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The gaming operator is said to be planning a more direct approach at Tigre de Cristal instead of relying on the controlling partner, Suncity Group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Summit Ascent, operator of Russia's Tigre de Cristal, is reportedly pivoting from a junket-dependent VIP model with Suncity Group to a direct credit model, aiming to enhance profitability by circumventing commission payments. This strategic shift, while introducing direct credit risk, targets US$200m long-term EBITDA, leveraging regional player demand.","focusai_entities":"Summit Ascent, Suncity Group, Goldman Sachs, Tigre de Cristal","focusai_location":"Russia, Vladivostok, South Korea","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.7), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Credit Risk Mitigation?","query":"What specific credit risk assessment and mitigation strategies will Summit Ascent implement to manage the increased exposure from direct VIP credit extension?"},{"label":"Suncity's Future Role?","query":"How will Suncity Group's role evolve at Tigre de Cristal, particularly regarding its 70% ownership of Summit Ascent, given the strategic pivot away from its junket services?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16331],"tags":[23701,23702,22436],"class_list":["post-13337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-elsewhere-news","tag-summit-ascent","tag-suncity-group","tag-tigre-de-cristal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13351,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13337\/revisions\/13351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}